06 August 2010

Washed out

This week I've been trying to go and do some gardening after work - not too successful. I get rained on or it gets dark and I need to leave, etc.

First tried to go and water some on Tuesday after work, but I went to late, so had little time before it was dark.  Did do some weeding and a little watering. Rushed away to beat the "Park closes at dark" but forgot two things - my $300 camera and our $100 digging fork.  Deej drove me back and we retrieved them in the dark and escaped out of the Azalea Park before it closed.

Wed - went and weeded in the no-corn area some, and picked a few flowers and peppers.  Then the rain came quickly before I was ready to leave. What a deluge. and I left a handful of peppers, but grabbed the camera bag before it got too soaked.  It was touch and go driving on the way home, the inside wind shield fogged up and would not blow clear, so had to wipe with my hand, at the same time drive the 4 miles in the trusty 1987 Dodge Diplomat through sheets of rain, loud near-by thunder and bright flashes of lightning, splashing slowly through flooding streets, and trying to make sure to avoid anything in the headlights.  Whew, made it home.

Thursday - got off the #6 bus and had to run the last two blocks as the 50-mile an hour wind and beginning rain started.  I knew Deej and Karen would be getting off the other #4 bus in pouring rain, so went up and got them as they got off the bus - they still got soaked in the 20 yards to the car.  Dropped off Karen and then drove in the downpour to the Greyhound bus depot to pick up the two boxes of mangoes Betty had sent.  The rain had almost stopped by the time we loaded the 2 boxes in the trunk.  Unpacked the 56 of them, in pretty good shape, but the smell ! good at first, but then overwhelming.

Friday went an picked up Deej's sister at Barracks Road Kroger.  After we got home, I grabbed to soaked corn and bean seeds and went to the garden, working about 1.5 hours as it got dark, and weeded, prepared the soil, and put most of the corn and bean seed in as it turned dark.   Nice hotdog, potato, corn, tomato simple meal.  No more rain today.  We had gotten .82 on Wed, and then .52 yesterday, Thursday.

Washed out roads some places, but the vegetables are going to enjoy and thrive on this week's rain.  And three packages came Friday - a hand held voice GPS, a portable photo gps tracker, and 3 $10 digital thermometers.  I set up one already so we can see the temperature in the basement where Deej's beer is bubling and brewing.  Now, how do I learn how to use the other two devices?  All those gadgets.

04 July 2010

Garden, visitors Early July 2010

Today went to the garden in the morning and evening - about two hours each time

Our garden this year is not great - we had a very late start and have not done much very often. Got the peas in mid-May, too late to really get much from them. We pulled them this week, and tilled over them and planted corn, very late now.

We got up fairly early for a Saturday, around 9, ate and stuff, and went to the City Market with the slim possibility Robert and Suzanne would be there for breakfast stuff, but didn't see them - I got beans as Deej dropped me off, and she found a parking place quickly and got peaches. Then we went to get seeds at South States - corn, squash, zucchini, okra, and (against Deej's advice, cause it's way too late) watermelon and pumpkin. They had no veg plants so we went off to K Mart which had a $6 pot of about 8 watermelon plants.

Then home, and off to the garden around 11, working there in the hot sun until about one. Deej watered some and picked garlic, dug holes and planted zucchini and squash seeds; also a third row of beans; I weeded and then tilled the pea area.

Came home and rested, after picking up Taco's taco and burrito each. Saw Spain beat Paraguay. I went by myself around 6:30 and worked until about 8:30. Planted the corn, dug holes for watermelon and pumpkin and planted their seeds. Also dug six holes and planted watermelon plants. Also okra seeds at the east end between the corn rows. And watered what I had planted. Indian family came to water the east Europeans garden. Earlier the girl, just to the Indian's eat pot, worked and watered her plot.

Exhausted, showed, made ice tea, drank refreshing vodka and tonic, before warming and eating the hamburger, corn cob, and bean supper.

The garden has pretty good pepper plants, and the tomatoes are coming. Last weekend we worked, forked up and tilled the northwest area, and planted two rows of beans.

That was Saturday.

Last night, Friday night - Robert and Suzanne came to town, staying at the Hydraulic / Emmet road Holiday Inn, we figured out. We picked them up around 7:30 and went to Maya restaurant; moving to a back quiet room to ourselves. Fish and oyster suppers - including Robert's story of bumping into an Indian women at a Texas convention, getting her to pinpoint she was from Jabalpur, with an aunt in Pendra Road, and maybe even one of her aunts was a nurse for Robert's father. Robert was facing the window and got exited as trains went by - much to the derision from the women - hey, trains were important in our Indian childhoods. And I told them the story of killing Frederick Hart and Gene Markowski's cockatiel. Robert had asked if we knew Fred, and so I told him.

After going past the parking lot for the City Market, we took R and S back to their hotel. It was a pleasant, and different Friday night. Really glad they contact us when the come through.

03 March 2010

Signs of Spring 2010

There were beginning signs of Spring all around and in our yard this last weekend Feb 27/28, the last weekend of February - sprouting daffodils and other plants, crocuses, snowdrops, melting snow, melted snowman, birds - even dog, raccoon, and deer poop. Lots of limbs had been broken off from the heavy snow during the storm, many from our evergreen 'pine' tree.






































Also tis the season of birthdays - mine last Wed, Tim's the next day, and the twins on Sunday.  Deej took me to supper and then made a cake Thursday.  We took over and left gifts and a card for Tim on Saturday, even though no one was there.  Didn't get over to give the twins gifts and cards, though.



My digital classes keep going on - last Thursday we had a nice session at the Bayly Museum. In teams of 4-5, we decided on cataloging schemes for our 7 MesoAmerican art objects - I was the Handler for our group, wearing plastic gloves and carefully lifting and turning the objects.  Two schemes were hierarchical and two were serial.  This night's (Tuesday 2 March 2010) class focused on Mind as Metaphor with the developer of a web site, Pasanek, at the class for interactive conversation about his work.  The dreaded mid-term is coming up.

09 February 2010

Snow in early Feb 2010

Snow - we've had unusual amounts of snow and storms this winter of 2009/2010, and last Friday was another one, though not as huge (about 8-10 new inches of snow). But it lasted all Friday and all Saturday.  Luckily a neighbor clears our street, but still it was hard to get the refrozen snow off of Deej's car and shovel for more than an hour to clear out the snow around her car.

See Snow Feb 2010 and click on Slide Show

Lots of limbs fell with this storm - Ned across the street had about 3 large limbs fall.  At 502, the owners moved two cars from their drive way, and 4 hours later two large branches came down on top.  Over night Saturday a huge branch fell on to our front east-side yard - luckily hitting no roof, but ruining a couple of bushes, like the bamboo 'holly'. 

I went late Sunday morning to help Ned and his son to carry branches down to the bottom of the street, and Ned kindly chain-sawed our fallen branch.  The smaller longer branches are in a pile to the right of our sidewalk, while the sawed logs are to the left of our sidewalk -- ready for Shirley to pick up some time.

The wet snow just kept building up, and building up on the branches all Saturday.  I think the low temperatures (around 10 F) Saturday night stopped some of the build up, and Sunday's 40s degree sunshine made snow to keep plopping down and falling all day long - squirrels had a hard time getting out of their nets on the snow-laden branches, and walked or clung to the underside of branches to get around.

Then Monday morning we woke to a broken furnace - by 10 am a repairman had come and replace the thermo coupling so that the pilot light would light and the furnace would run again - after $119 expenses.

I'll try to link some photos here later

Deej took me to work around 1:30, and I went to a somewhat disorganized Kaltura training hour in Clemons, lead by a trainer in Israel. And then did other work.

Int the late evening, Mark came by to pick up a check for his college expenses - the same amount for a check I had sent to him in the last days of December, and to Brian, and Rachel (and Eliza and Lauren), but which Mark has not been able to find where he put.

We had a nice steak, baked potatoe, and broccoli dinner Monday night.  Norton anti-virus people called or chatted with me twice, and remotely took over my computer - Priyankar before I left for work and Sripad in the evening, supposedly to fix the Norton software which keeps saying I have to uninstall and re-install my software.  Still not fixed.

24 January 2010

Minds in Motion 20 Jan 2010


Minds in Motion is a program for 4th graders
in Charlottesville, Virginia to encourage physical activities linked
to mental activities - improve and develop those synapses.


on Wed night the 20th Jan 2010 at their school, for parents



(and grandparents like me



Afterwork Tuesday 19 Jan 2010


Librarians meeting after work just to relax? what a concept!  I joined several other librarians AfterWork at a Corner restaurant, for cheap beer, good snacks and nachos, and conversations - personal, professional, the whole range!  Good time.