Packing the Pack

Today I am Packing the Pack.

It will be my lifeline for 3 days while we are hiking the Paria Canyon.

Here is Doug with his pack packed.

My pack weighs in at 22# and Doug's at 28#.

Hike time probably closer to 25# and 31#.

Seeing RED!

The title may mislead you about the topic of my post.

But when I go out to water the garden these days

I am not only seeing GREEN but

I am also seeing RED.

Here is the proof:

BTW - can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture of the bean plants in our garden?

Garden Update

A quick update on the garden.

The tomato plants are looking pretty good. We have 8 plants. One in particular is growing like crazy. And a different one is barely hanging in there. One looks healthy but has been stingy about flowering and starting to grow fruit. But it finally is starting to cooperate. I've counted at least 30 fruits growing. They are all sizes. We have 10 that are bigger than golf balls and a couple of those are even bigger than that. Don't have any turning red yet but I have hope that we will get some eventually.

The beans in the garden are starting to look good. The first planting only produced maybe 6 plants. Those 6 are just now starting to grow a new level of leaves beyond the first 2 starter leaves. So I re-planted in the bare spots. Now most of those have come up and are looking good. But I had a few more beans and planted those in the remaining spots where plants hadn't sprouted. So hopefully we can produced enough beans to cook and eat and enjoy.

The pepper plants have been really slow. It took forever for one to sprout. It took so long I planted seeds again. And now the first and second batch of seeds have both sprouted. I guess I'll have to thin out the duplicates. I just can't bear to do it yet.

This spring/summer garden has been weird. It has been cool (for here - only turned the A/C on maybe twice or three times for an afternoon) and just when it seems to get warm/hot with a long hot summer ahead - well then another weather front comes in and cools things off. So the garden doesn't know what is going on. But we'll hope to have some fruits to enjoy.

And as a side note to Shanna - my plant advisor - I topped off the tall plant on my front porch after getting your advice. And it has produced some nice new leaves up near the top of the remaining stem. It looks SOOOO MUCH BETTER!!! Thanks!

Mechanic

I had some glitches with Blogspot the last 2 days. I couldn't access my account. But I had typed up a nice post and saved it to my drafts recently. I returned to it today only to find that it hadn't saved at all! Dang! Now I have to start over.

Dad was a machinist in the Navy. What he learned there carried him through many challenges in this life. He could figure out why things weren't working and fix them. He could schluge things together that were broken. He was a very handy man. Anyway, maybe I take after him in that way because in the past few days I sort of feel like a mechanic.

First - someone jammed and burned up our paper shredder. Someone jammed a bunch of folded papers in the shredder. The person clearly disregarded the caution on how many papers the shredder could handle. I won't name the guilty party - but if I was writing a poem about the incident I would have lots of words to rhyme with his name (hot, not, shot, dot, lot, you get the picture). I do give him credit for telling me that he jammed the shredder and it coughed, and chugged, and started smelling like smoke when he did it. So the other day I got my tools and took a look at the shredder. I found the screws and removed the top of the shredder so I could have access to the jammed papers. With some needle nose pliers I carefully started removing the bits and chunks of paper. I worked from the top of the shredder and the bottom of the shredder and eventually got all the paper out. I screwed the top back on, plugged it in, turned the switch on - and voila - the green light turned on. So I found a small dainty scrap of paper and put it in. The shredder ate it up. Yes! I used my mechanic skills and fixed the shredder.

Again - a problem. The grass was getting long and Doug wanted to mow the lawn. He tried to start the mower with no success. He pulled and tugged and pulled some more but nothing. The mower refused to cooperate. We both talked about how old the mower was. We also talked about the cost of having it repaired. I mean if it costs $100 to fix it (which it would - probably more) then I would probably be worth it to get a new one for just a little more. But Doug got out his laptop and began searching some ways to trouble-shoot the mower problems. Air filter clogged? Spark plug sparking? Etc. Etc. Anyway the day slipped away with no solution and the grass just kept growing longer. So on Thursday I went out and tended to my garden and saw the mower. I decided to give it a try. I checked the air filter. I peeked in the gas tank. I primed the motor. Then I talked kindly to the aging mower and gave it a few pulls. About 6 pulls was all it took when the motor roared into action. A little rough at first but after a minute the engine smoothed out and sounded just right. I fixed the lawn mower too. I must be a mechanic.

Needless to say, I immediately changed into my lawn mowing clothes and got the lawns cut while I knew I could get the mower started again. During that time I began to wonder if Doug really couldn't start the mower or if he just didn't start the mower. Maybe he just didn't want to cut the grass himself. Maybe he was just dragging his feet so he wouldn't have to cut the grass. Man, did I fall for one of his tricks? I don't think he would do that - but it does make you think.

I don't think I'll become a full-time mechanic. But I have the knack. Maybe I can pick up a side job now and then. Only time will tell.

P.S. Can I figure out the money I "saved" and go on a spending spree? Just thought I'd ask what you all think.

69.1

We have been blessed with another break in the weather. We know it should be warm (read hot) in Phoenix when we are halfway through May. But we have not hit 100 so far this year. It starts getting warm, on the verge of hot, and just when we think we are going to stay hot until the fall we get a change in weather. Usually it gets windy and the temperatures drop and everyone around here just smiles and breathes deeply and enjoys it for all it is worth.

We are doing that again. We haven't hit the 90's for at least 3 days now. I don't even think we hit 80 yesterday. And the nights - heavenly. We have left the fans on in the evenings and have been able to chill - that is right - chill our house completely. Take a look:


This morning it was 69.1 - inside! Ignore the 105.3 reading for the outside temperature - when the sun comes up and hits directly on the sensor it gets a little wacky and wimpy and we know that reading is way off. But you can count on the 69.1 reading to be accurate. I actually pulled a little blanket on my legs as I was doing my computer work this morning. Ahhhhh. So nice to be cool.

But all good things must end and I'm afraid the heat is coming to stay.

Hope we don't all melt away!

Mothers Day

I had a wonderful Mothers Day! It started with a delicious omlette with toast and a scrumptious and beautiful strawberry hand dipped in dark chocolate. The breakfast was cooked by Doug. The strawberry a gift from my mom. Thanks to both for a great start for me on Mothers Day.


I got 3 video calls from all the kids who are living away from home. Calvin was especially generous in perfoming for us. Sadie and Zachary were fun to talk to as well. Sadie nearly let us down when she didn't want to sing us a song. She had very weakly started the ABC song and gave out after "D". But as we were saying our goodbyes we heard her start the song again and soon we could hear it very well and she was singing it with gusto. Thanks Sadie, for the song. And thanks to you all for a wonderful evening filled with video chats! Loved it!


Doug also cooked up a great dinner. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, with delicious salad. Only glitch there was the raw zucchini he peeled and sliced into the salad. I didn't even try it - but he thought it was a cucumber. Oh well - still loved the dinner!


Now to my gifts -


Did I mention the strawberries from mom? They tasted so good! Thanks Mom.



I got a letter mid-week but didn't look at the contents until Mothers Day. It was some original artwork from Calvin. Thanks to Calvin and his parents for that.







Isaac also gave me an original composition. Wow! Thanks!






Scott gave me some Accoutrements - girlie ones. To further clarify what he gave me they are Stylish Self-adhesive Mustaches for Girls! Wow! I never even knew they had those. I never even knew I wanted them! And it turns out that there is a different one for every day of the week. Sunday - the Bollywood, Monday - the Heroine, Tuesday - the Many Missus, Wednesday - the Frida, Thursday - the Lip Liner (pictured), Friday - the Cowgirl (pictured) , and Saturday - the Grandma (pictured and best fit). So thanks Scott. Plus he got me a gift card for Kohl's.

I just got a bike and that serves as my Mothers Day gift. I've had it out for a couple rides already. We did 15 miles together in town the same day that I did 11 myself. One left-over malady from that day is a half numb left pinky and ring finger. I don't know if that will ever go away. But I'll let you know if it does. We also went to the rim last Thursday and took a 16 mile ride - checking out the route for the boys during summer scout camp. A mini comic book is being published about the ride last week. Doug also made another famous homemade card. He's quite good at it and I always appreciate the efforts he makes to make me feel special and appreciated.











**Today I received a cute card from the Kevan Family. A really cute card about apps - wink wink, nudge nudge, hint hint. Anyway they sent me my very own Abraham Lincoln with which to buy my favorite chocolate almond ice cream at 31 Flavors. I hope they have it. Thanks! I needed that!



Then my Bester delivered this nice plaque to me also. Wow is she nice! She must like me. Thanks to her for thinking about me. It is nice to have a Bester. In case you don't know, Kristina is my Bester. I think you have all met her. Thanks Bester - you really are the best!







I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Thanks to all for making yesterday a very wonderful Mothers Day for me.

20

I counted 20 (or more) tomatoes growing in our garden. My mouth already waters in anticipation of the delicious vine ripened tomatoes that we will harvest and eat. That will only be possible if we can keep them from burning up in our desert sun AND keep the dang birds from ruining them before they are ripe enough.

Wish us luck!

Plants

I have at least 2 pepper plants trying to grow in my garden. I'd like 2 more. Tomato plants are going strong too. Bean plants - 2nd try - nothing yet.