| leatherman's log |
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March 2007 |
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| Week One: |
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First off, I need to say some send some
belated and some early "Happy Birthday Wishes". 
Jonathan (my nephew), Lisa (my sis-in-law), Donny
(my brother), Ritchie (my buddy), Angie (my friend),
Celia (my Mom), Linda (my "sister"), Mike P (my
friend), Michael (that's me!), Kayla (my niece), Jon
(my brother)
Click on the calendar picture, on the right, to see who's getting
older when. You'll notice that on some of our birthday days there are
multiple celebrants partying as they turn another year older. |
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I just got an email and
found out that ANOTHER friend, Bonnie (who you'll read more about
her later in this update) also has a birthday this month! I had her
listed on my birthday calendar and now I have a picture of her to
put up, so go check it out! One day, all of us Pisces will have to
take over the world!
 |
Although it isn't warm
enough to sit by the pool and read (oh, and my Mom never hesitates
to tell me how nice the weather is down South
 ), it has been warm enough in the
house. During the last month, I've read through nearly a dozen of
the Star Trek books from Jim's collection. We also hit up the
library for some more current reading material.
My mom had told me about the "Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic
channel, so along with his book, "Cesar's Way", I
picked up another doggie book, "For the Love of a Dog". I'm
just finished reading the newest Stephen King book, "Lisey's
Story". Although it was a pretty good book, it wasn't anywhere near as scary as the latest
Bob Woodward book, "State of Denial (Bush at War Part III)". Among my close friends, I've really been the
only one to hold the opinion that initially removing Saddam was a
good thing. I haven't changed that opinion after reading this book;
but it did re-enforce the other opinion held by me and my friends,
that this war has been horribly bungled. |
With the snow nearly melted away now
(but possibly more on the way), Jim and I tried something new. We
put collars on the red&white spaniel boys and took them for a walk
around the block. Well, I should say that we tried to
walk them around the block. The boys really didn't do too bad; but
they were pretty scared of being out in the big, bad world. So,
instead of around the block, we went around the neighbor's property
and came back into the backside of our property. It's just going to
take some time training them to enjoy their walks.
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This past week I got a call from my
Mom with some distressing family news. My youngest brother's wife
(Lisa) had a birthday (Wed.) and although I'm sure she
wasn't too happy getting closer to 40, the troublesome part was that
her brother never called her to wish her a "Happy Bday!". A few days
later (Fri.), Jon and Lisa went to check on her brother, and they
found him dead! It seems that things hadn't been well for Kurt, and
on Monday, he had killed himself.
Losing someone you love is very hard, and I called Lisa the other
night to try to console her what little bit I could; but there's not
much I could say. It's always very troubling to realize that someone
we love could be this depressed and not turn to us for help. But
there's where depression plays it's cruel trick. When things seem
that low in life, the last thing you want to do is burden others or
bring them down with you. Eventually what happens in the end is that
you ARE going to burden your friends and family - but that is
exactly what they are there for!
Make sure to give your loved one a hug today and let them know that
you are there for them no matter what their problems are.
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Our friend Loretta (owner of the
Cottage Gate, where Jim and I painted the
window sign) is closing her shop.
 But don't worry! She's
only closing down, so she can move her business to a new location.
 Her current location just cost too much and didn't
have enough traffic. She's moving into a shop next to one owned by
her friend, where teddy bears and gifts are sold.
Best Wishes to
you, Loretta!
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A few health related updates:
At least I managed to get all that moving done before I pulled a
muscle in my back. After my shower the other day, I bent down to put
on a sock, and realized that I shouldn't have done that. Ouch! I haven't
been hunched over as I have before with this problem; but it sure
hurts like heck this time. The following morning, I could barely crawl
downstairs because it hurt so much. Luckily as the day went by (and the
next few too) it's gotten much better. I'm just taking it slow and
easy for a while.
I spent a couple of hours at StatCare the other day so I could
finally get an answer. See, that infection in my left hand is acting
up again. I'm sure that it's a herpes virus (like having Shingles in
my finger); but my doctor keeps asking for me to get a culture done
to prove it. The StatCare doctor was sure of my diagnosis too, and
prescribed me Acyclovir (5 times a day for 10 days!!). My sores are
already healing and the new medicine isn't making me sick with any
side effects. Knock on wood.
It is time again for blood work and I nearly forgot! (Actually, I
did forget until I started writing this, so first thing tomorrow,
I've got to make a trip over to the hospital to donate 6 vials of
blood.) I won't get these results back until March 15th - the day
after I turn 45!
At least, when I visit the doctor, not only will I have the results
back from that culture and numbers from my blood work; but I'll be a
year older and WISER!
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Hmm. Back strains, meds, doctor
visits? Yep, it sounds like "old age" to me!
Ah, but I just
can't complain. Not here, to you, my family and friends.
Looking back, I remember those times when I was sure that I wouldn't
even turn 35, must less 40. After Randy passed away, when I was
quite sick from the HIV complications, medications, and pneumonia, I
was sure that seeing my 32nd birthday was probably going to be my
last.
Now, look at me! It's been over a decade since those dark, sick,
depressing times; and in the middle of this month (the 14th), I
going to be turning 45.
It's kind of odd being probably one of the few adults around that's
actually HAPPY about having a birthday and gaining each year.
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Help save reigningpages.com
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| In case you're wondering
what I'd like as a birthday gift (I'll be happy just
to get your emails wishing me a "Happy Bday!"
),
I'll be glad to take any donations to cover my
web-hosting costs. Moving in with Jim has really
helped; but this is still a steep bill for me
($150). If you
have enjoyed my blog through the years and would like to contribute
anything to helping me keep my domain, please send contributions of
ANY amount to: |
ReigningPages
1608 48th St. NW
Canton, Oh 44709 |
Thank you for ANY help that you can offer!
The cost isn't too much, so even a few dollars will
bring me closer to the amount needed. I'll make sure to keep
you posted on how things go by raising the meter (as you can see
from the pictures to the left and right), along with a big Thank You notice to
everyone that contributes!
(Checks and money orders can be made
out to either "ReigningPages" or "Michael Bivens") |
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| Hopefully, I plan on
paying my domain bill off by myself with a new client and project
that I've been working on the last few days. Thankfully, this job
has nothing to do with cars or painting signs.
This project
comes with a bit of irony though. Although I'm seriously allergic to
horses (I've ridden them three times and ended up in the hospital
with Hives, spiking a fever, all three times!
),
this latest project is a website for a horse farm in Kentucky.
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| Through Jim, I ended up on
one of his friend's email list of jokes, etc. Of course, I have my
own mailing list for these updates, so in return for the great jokes
and political humor that she sends me, I send her my updates about
the dogz, the pool, the snow, and the camels.
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| Having had problems
getting her "computer guy" to finish up her website, Bonnie called
me up and wanted to know if I would tackle the project and help her
get her website online finally. She had a great graphic for her
front page, but nothing backing it up. If you know me at all by now,
you know I LOVE
putting together sites, so I jumped at the
chance. After a flurry of emails getting me started out with
pictures and copy of her farm and horses, I'm now working on the
nitty-gritty parts. So far, I'm pretty pleased with how it's shaping
up. |
| If you'd like to see my
work-in-progress, click here (http://reigningpages.com/suncrestfarms).
Using the original graphic, I edited it to put in navigation buttons
at the top of the page and then began to add pages, as sorted out
all the files Bonnie and her hubby, Jerry, had sent me. Below are a
few screenshots I took of the site. It shouldn't take me much longer
to finish up this site, then after some editing from Bonnie, we'll
be able to get Suncrest Farms online showing their farm and
beautiful horses. |
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| The screenshot above is of
the site's front page; while the longer image is an example of one
of the pages in the site. |
| As I've been working on
this project, I've been learning a lot about the terminology of
showing, selling, and breeding horses. Bonnie has asked a couple of
times about Jim and I coming down to Kentucky for a visit; but I'll
have to think about that one.
You know me and the Hives!
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Week Two: |
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Poor Ritchie!
He looks a bit
dumb-founded
as we all sing (very off-key) Happy Birthday.
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| Some Pictures of the kidz this month |
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The boyz, on the back of couch,
were watching the kids
in the neighborhood
coming home from school. |
| Though Baba still hides
out from us a lot (she is a VERY shy cat!), we have been seeing more
and more of her lately. I think she's finally getting used to me and
the dogz being in her house. |
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| My little Gabby has a
birthday this month too! At 10 years old, she's doing pretty good.
She's moving a little slower these days; but she still holds her own
against the boys. On the cold days, you can be sure to find her
cuddled up with Jim under the blankets. |
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| A New Mailbox |
| Remember last month when
our mailbox got whacked by the snow plow? The snow and cold hung on
for a while too long; but as soon as the weather started getting
nicer, a crew showed up to replace the mailbox. |
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| Two Canton City workers
replacing the post and box |
| Within about 15 minutes, the city
workers had done a terrific job!
Not only had they
replaced the post as we had asked; but they replace the entire
mailbox too! We're going to have to write the city and the newspaper
a nice letter about the good service. |
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| This Spring I'm going to
have to figure out what to do with our mailbox now. We have a pretty
decent stack of bricks by the garage (that I brought over from 14th
St.), so maybe I'll build some sort of planter around the post -
something the plow driver will notice next Winter and hopefully NOT
hit with the plow or the slush. LOL |
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| Client Problems |
Unfortunately, I've had some a serious
problem with my latest client. Personally, I had thought things were
going well with the project. I had completed many special features
for her site (rotating selection of pictures on the front page,
special ad locations throughout the site, and even included a blog
page for her to continue to add stories and pictures to the site in
the future). Every time she sent me more information or pictures of
her farm and horses, I tried to get the updates done quickly ,so
that she could check the temporary version and see the progress.
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But then things started to go wrong.
She began to complain about some of the text that I was putting on
this temp site, although all the important text was straight from
her emails. I'll admit that I wrote some of the captions for
the pictures; but in my updates, I made notes of those so that she
could approve them or write her own. I tried to explain to her that
her site being online meant that the whole world would be seeing
this site and some captions would be necessary to help the viewers
know what they were seeing in these pictures; but she didn't agree
with that philosophy at all. Actually, I'm just not certain what
philosophy she does agree with. By this time, I had completed the
navigation system, the blog, and all the basic pages. We even had
information and pictures on the site for at least half of her
horses. I believed that we were coming near the end of the project
and that I would soon turn it over to her, so that she could add
pictures and text in the blog on her own.
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Instead, after several email
exchanges, some of them quite nasty on her side, I was more confused
than ever. She was even so upset with me and disgruntled with my
work, that she called Jim about the situation. Her biggest complaint
seemed to be that I was actually putting information onto her site!
We had a brief email "flame war" as she ragged on my about my
knowledge of horses and I zinged her about her knowledge of
designing websites. (I had researched over 100 Kentucky horse farm
web pages) After reading through her last lengthy email about her
personal problems with her husband, an ex-farm manager, and a horse
that was late delivering a foal, I decided the best course of action
would be for us to temporarily suspend work on her site until she
had things more under control, and had the time to sit down and
finish up the site. If she knew so well "exactly" what she wanted
stated on her site, rather than fill my inbox with useless pictures
and text, I wish she had spent just a little more time sending
me the information she wanted me to have.
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Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the
end of the situation. Although I had told her in my last email that
I thought she should just wait and contact me again in a few months
when she had her data and idea together, along with the time to
actually deal with this project, I still received more emails from
her. Emails with more horse pictures and information, and emails
"demanding" that I should just accept her apology and move on with
the project.
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Fortunately, I did receive a payment
from this lady before everything went to hell in a hand basket. I
haven't decided whether to wait and try to work with her again, or
just send her a zipped copy of her site completed to this point. If
that's the last of this project, I can't say that I'm upset though.
I believe that she has easily gotten what she paid for; but I got a
lot more headaches and worry than I was expecting.
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| Even though I would like to think that
that's the end to this story, you know it's not.
I've already gotten e-cards from this lady for my birthday, along
with an email that the little foal finally arrived. It sounds like
this little one was ready to go and already bucking around.
Soon things will be calming down on the farm, and I'll have to
decide how to deal with this all over again.
But
I walked away from Doug Waikem and I don't even have to walk to get
away from this client.
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| A Happy note about Jim: |
For several weeks now, Jim has been putting in applications and
going on interviews trying to get another job. So far, nothing has
panned out - until Saturday morning, that is. Early in the morning,
Jim got a phone call from his former boss, at the last car
dealership he worked for (Fred Martin Nissan in Akron), wanting to
know if Jim wanted a sales job at another dealership (Tri-City
Nissan, also in Akron) where this boss had recently moved to. When
Jim asked my opinion, I told him the thoughts I had when I got my
old job with Waikem Motors. "How often does Opportunity actually
coming knocking, unannounced, at your door? At least, go open the
door and see what Opportunity wants."
Bright and early on Monday morning, Jim went to find out the details
about the job, and returned home as a new employee! WooHoo!
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| Just a little health note: |
| I got a call back from StatCare this
week. It IS a herpes type 2 virus in my finger. WooHoo! Now that I
have an actual lab result back, the next time it acts up, I can get
my regular doctor to prescribe the med I need.
This recent outbreak is healing up nicely and I've only had a little
reaction to the new meds. I've had a couple of days of feeling sick
and being a little barfy
;
but luckily that was all the reaction. All-in-all I'm feeling back
to normal now, and just waiting on some birthday cake next week.
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Week Three: |
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| More Clients! |
| Making up for the problems
I had with the one client this month, I've got two more clients to
visit as soon as I can make transportation arrangements (since Jim
has gone back to work). Once again, Do came to my rescue, well, her
vehicle did, and I got to go over to see Loretta's new location. |
"The Cottage Gate"
has moved about seven miles away to historic downtown Canal Fulton,
OH. Although this downtown area isn't very big, the streets are
lined with gift shops and art shops, so Loretta's place fits right
in. The building she has moved too is owned by her friend who runs
Keillor's Teddy Bear Shoppe on the left side of the building.
Even though Loretta has less selling space in the location, there's
a lot more foot traffic. I really think that these stores stores go
together well, in the decor and the gifts.
Best
of Luck Loretta! |
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| Loretta's white wrought-iron "Cottage
Gate" fits perfectly in her window. I don't have to paint a gate this
time, just her shop's name above the gate's top arch. |
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| Although this newer
location is smaller than her old place, I think Loretta will do much
better here. Matter-of-fact, in the first five days in this new
location, Loretta did more business than the entire previous month
at the old location. |
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While taking pictures of both store
fronts,
I got a picture of me!
MouseOver to find me in the reflections |
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My project for Loretta is actually TWO
jobs. Her friend, who owns the building and the adjacent teddy bear
gift shop, would like me to paint her store name on the windows
also.
Look for more updates later on this Project! |
| birthday |
| WOW! I tell you, it really
is good to be turning 45. I would have never dreamed it fifteen
years ago. And all-in-all most things are pretty good. Except that
my hair is just too gray!
Of course, a little bit of time and a little bit of hair color will
help me look a little more my age. Here I am covered in hair dye - I
had to fix those white chest hairs too!
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Although I don't know what the doc is going to tell me tomorrow
(more on that below), I feel pretty good today. My doggies are still
doing pretty good too, napping at my feet. (Sigh! To live a dog's
life.
) DO just left after a short visit (she's been to see me more here
than at my other house.
). In a few hours, my honey Jim will be
coming home. After dinner, we'll visit DO's to watch American Idol
and eat birthday cake. |
| MouseOver this picture, taken from my
webcam (you do check in on the cams
once in a while, right?) and you can see a birthday gift from
Loretta - cute green "artsy" doggie to sit on my table.
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Fulfilling her duty as my "local" mom,
DO made sure that I had a birthday cake again this year and Jim
brought me two beautiful white roses. In the mail, I got a card and
donations to my domain fund from my GrandMother and from my friend
in Charlotte, Jackie.
Thank You! |
| Notice that blue dog leash
on the table? I'm going to have to replace it now. Jim took Aries
for another walk/drag the other day, and as Jim was opening the door
to come back in, Aries chewed right through the lead.
Thankfully, he didn't escape but ran right on inside the house.
Aries must still be practicing his Houdini tricks.
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Oh, and speaking of my
domain fee coming due soon, I also want to thanks again to Jackie.
He sent me a donation, only to have it returned. It seems I screwed
up posting my own address.
So, if anyone else sent anything and it came back, change the house
number to "1608" instead of "168".
 Thanks
again for everyone's help! My domain fee is due in May, and I over
half way to having the required amount. |
| Visit to the
doctor |
Before I tell you the news from the
doctor, I have to tell you about this crazy Ohio weather. We always
have the wackiest weather here as Winter turns to Spring. For
several days leading up to my birthday, the weather turned much
warmer. Although my Mom has been taunting me about the the lovely
weather in the Carolinas, by this week the temps were in the upper
60s and we had even hit 72 one day. However, in Ohio we live under
this saying:
If you don't like the weather in Ohio, wait an hour.
Holding true to that adage, day after my birthday I woke up
at 6:30 to see the heavy rains of the night turning into sleet as
daybreak approached. Since I didn't have anything on the schedule,
and it was Jim's day off, I went back to bed until 8:00. When I
checked out the window this time, I was quite surprised to find
about a quarter inch of sn*w on the ground!
Thankfully, the day warmed up to almost 40 and most of this snow has
melted away again. |
I got Good News from the Doctor
today! My latest blood results were very good.
My viral load went back down to 255. It's not quite back to
"undetectable" but it's better than the 3,892 that it was two months
ago. Even better news about my T-cell count. For the first time in
just short of a decade, my T-cell count is over 300!
Although 311 isn't much over 300, it's really great news. I
haven't had this much of an immune system working since I rebounded
from my second bout of pneumonia in 1998.
Click the chart below to see a larger version. |
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| New Special Feature Added to My Log! |
| If you look at the bottom
of each monthly page, you see a new link that looks like this: |
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Clicking that link will open up the bottom
frame, and you'll see my new Guest Book!
Each
month will have it's own guestbook, where you, after reading through
my update, can post comments. I hope you enjoy this feature, and I
can't wait to read what you'll write back to me.
Just remember, your comments will be visible to all. If you would
like to send me a private message instead of posting to the Guest
Book, rather than using my email link (top left area above the
calendar in the menu), change your comment to PRIVATE and it'll be
sent directly to me and not posted for everyone to see. |
| Since that's all for this update, why
don't you post a comment right now?
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Week Four: |
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The weekend after my birthday, Jim and
I finally got things arranged so that we could go visit Carolynn for
a while. To celebrate getting older, Carolynn took us out to a
Chinese buffet for lunch. MMM, I ate till I was stuffed. Thankfully
Chinese food wears off fast
,
since we were invited to a turkey dinner at DO's that evening. (more
on that later).
While visiting, Carolynn showed us this recent article in the Salem
newspaper about Trent, our friend and great Magician!
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| I finally found the right font to use
for my friend's gift shop sign and now I'm trying to match the font for
the Teddy Bear store. I hope to be able to start on the project of
painting their window signs
real soon now. Until then I've had a few home clients that I had to
visit to un-virus and un-spyware. Oh, and the lady with the horse
farm website - well, she seems a little better and we're back on
track working on her site. |
| Spring is finally arriving
here in Ohio. The nights are still chilly; but we've had highs in
the upper 60's for a week and even had two days hitting over 70
degrees! According to the local records, our first day hitting a 70
degree mark wasn't until May 23rd last year, so we're really getting
a good head start this year. Of course, it's only the end of March,
so I'm still predicting that we'll get one more snowfall within the
next two weeks. After that, we'll be moving into Summer! |
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| Of course, with the nicer
weather here, I've been out working in my NEW yard.
I've been a good and made sure that I've gotten all my plans
approved by Jim, and I've been having a blast.
After playing
with the pups in the big back yard (that's out behind the pool, not
their fenced-in area), I've tackled a few projects, while they've
lounged around in the yard. |
| I started my projects by tackling Jim's
brush pile/compost heap. Over many years of yard work, a large pile
of clippings, branches, and even whole trees have ended up in the
pile. Underneath this stuff is some very nice rich loamy soil now,
so I've been pulling stuff off the pile and gathering buckets of the
good dirt below to use around the front and back yards. |
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I made sure to take a panoramic camera shot of the backyard while I
was working back there. As this picture revolves (oh, and you can
control the picture speed and direction by clicking and dragging on
the picture), you'll see the pampas grass at the very back of the
yard, which I hope to spilt apart later this year to fill in the
gaps. Notice too, just past the fence, where the blackberry bushes
are. Last year we filled up two gallon bags of berries; but with
some more gardening care this year, I hope to get even more. I
recently used up one bag of berries for a cobbler to go along with a
turkey dinner DO made to celebrate the batch of March birthdays we
just went through. MMMMM. |
Click the picture to stop the motion. Drag left or right to restart and scroll.
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| At the start of last Summer, this
bamboo out back was only to the top of the patio roof. You could
almost watch it grow some days, as it grew by 2 to 4 inches daily!
We might have to trim it down some this year if it grows that
much again; otherwise it just might start to shade the pool! |
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Of course, the pool isn't open yet; but
we'll be handling that job within the next 30 days hopefully. Until
then, I've been taking my breaks from the yard work to sit up on the
deck, in the sunshine, and read. You know, it's never too early to
get started on a tan.
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I should mention the books
that I've been reading lately. Let's see, I read 5 Star Trek books
written by William "Captain Kirk" Shatner himself. (The
Ashes of Eden, The Return, Avenger,
Spectre, Dark Victory, Preservers)
These books follow the last Trek movie in which he stared and seemed
to have died (Generations). Captain Kirk is brought back to
life and now continues his adventures in the time of Star Trek:
The Next Generation. All-in-all these were quite excellent
books, and although the story sounds a bit implausible, he's written
them so the premise does seem believable.
As I sat around the pool recently, I read the first Eragon
book (Inheritance) and have gotten about halfway
through the second book (Eldest). Pretty decent books
- especially when you find out that the author wrote the first book
at fifteen, the second at nineteen and is currently working on Book Three at
21 years old. |
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| You're probably wondering
what I've been doing with the buckets of dirt that I excavated out
back. We're planning on planting cosmos along the sides of the
driveway again this year; however, those flowers beds have gotten
washed out over the years and have become gullies more than
flower beds. This first picture shows that on the first day, I
filled up one bed quite nicely. The following day was too rainy, and
I spent my time cleaning up the workbench in the garage where the
last of my tools and lawn/garden supplies had been put during the
move. The next day, Jim spent his day off finishing up the other
side, and installing driveway lights that had been out around my
fountain at the old house. |
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MouseOver for a Night Time Light-Up |
| Along with the supplies
and outdoor lights that were brought from the old house, we had also
packed up a bunch of bricks and a bucket of the big beautiful irises
that had been in my old front yard. |
| Jim recently cut down the bamboo by the
front door, leaving a tall cedar pretty bare on one side. After
cutting down the bush, I had to scrub the siding, as the bamboo had
left a green stain up the side of the house. With bamboo and bush
out of the way, I used those bricks to create a flower bed for the
irises underneath the front window. I'm not sure hope well these
irises will fare; but I've got hope.
I'm sure I won't see
blooms until next year, so I'll have to pick up a flat or two of
something to plant in this area for this season. |
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| Guess what? Next Tues. the weather forecast says we'll reach 75. Then on Thurs. we'll have a high of 35 and snow showers! I told you that we'd have one more snow. It shouldn't last too long though as we'll be back to the upper 40's by the following weekend. |
| Don't forget to use my new Comment
Section below, if you'd like to leave me any feedback!
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