A Day In The Life - 02/28/2011: Planting the Bales

Happy Pseudo-Birthday, Drew!

I have been watering and fertilizing the straw bales for 10 days now and it is time to plant. Digging the holes in the tops of the bales is not as easy as everyone makes it sound. I dug and pulled and tugged until I finally got out the pick (seen against the wall int he second photo) and poked some really good holes int hose bales. Then I dropped in some dirt and either the starts or more dirt and some seeds.

They are looking a little wilted after such a hard move but they looked a lot perkier the next morning after some water and a good night's rest.

A Day In The Life - 02/24/2011: Trees In The Ground

If you have been following this blog you already know that I bought these trees back in the fall and finally brought them home about two weeks ago. So it was time to get them in the ground. The holes were already excavated and just waiting for a dog or a kid to fall in. And I was getting pretty tired of watering these thing by hand every day.

The first task was to get over to the nursery and get some composed soil to add to the bottom of the pit with a little lawn fertilizer. We want these babies to THRIVE!

Then stick the tree into the pit and start filling in the holes. (No one will find the bodies now.)

Finally the trees are in the yard. Wait! In every job that I ever did, it was not a good thing to to have stuff left over but there is a whole bunch of dirt still around. I guess I'll have to load it into the planter next to the shed.
I also got the automatic watering set up for these critters as well. We are cooking with gas!

A Day In The Life - 02/23/2011: There's Straw In My Yard

How to start a Straw Bale Garden

This is a short video (somewhat better than the previous one) about how to start a straw bale garden.

A Day In The Life - 02/22/2011: A Bright Night

Somewhere I read about turning some of those cheap solar lights that you stick into the lawn into something more . . . elegant. So I went to Home Depot and bought a set of six of the solar lights for $17. One got trashed during the experiment of taking the units apart to figure out what parts I needed to keep and sizing them down enough so that they would fit into the decorative jars.

And the finished result is quite stunning.







And here is the short and awful video of how I did it.


Solar Lite Project
This video is pretty horrible as quality goes but it was my first and does explain how I made the solar lights. Just be sure to take your sea sickness medication before watching.

A Day In The Life - 02/21/2011: Can I Get Some Water For My Straw?

 The first step in straw bale gardening is to water the bales for 10 days. For a few days in the middle you add fertilizer and water it into the bale.
Being somewhat familiar with myself after more than 50 years of association with me, I just knew that I would not be a reliable water boy.

 Therefore, the idea is to get "the system" to do that on its own. So the first thing that I had to do was to pull the watering lines for the garden up out of the ground and tap into them to also water the bales.
It took nearly 50 feet of soaker hose to double-cover 24 feet of bales. Pretty good estimating, huh.

Now, as can be seen in the picture, the water can drizzle slowly enough to soak into the bales rather than just running off, which seems to happen when using a hose to water them.

A Day In The Life - 02/19/2011: A Straw Project

Back toward the end of last year (Thanksgiving or Christmas or Emma's birthday) I was talking with Steve Reiter (Jenn's dad) and he mentioned something about straw bale gardening. So we looked up a couple if videos on YouTube and it looked interesting. And because of that conversation, last Saturday I found myself at the Hay and Feed store out in Gilbert buying eight bales of straw. I know you only see six bales here but I gave one to my sister, Ann, and one to my mother. And six is enough for this first time experiment anyway.
I'll keep you posted about who it all works out.

A Day In The Life - 02/18/2011: A New Project

There is nothing like a new project to get my interest. So I was reading somewhere on the internet about how to take these crummy solar lights that you stick in your lawns and take them apart to use the internal solar unit in a jar to make a good looking unit. Now that the first step is done (buying the junky solar units I need to move on tot he next steps to make this happen.

A Day In The Life - 02/17/2011: A Visit To The Dentist

Today I made the unusually boring trip to the dentist's office. The office is not boring but the trip of a hundred miles each way is nothing to sneeze at. It is a good thing that I really like this dentist and his staff . . . and that he is my brother. That always makes it fun to visit and catch up on what that Tucson group is doing. And I usually get to stop at Eegee's on the way out of town for a great slush and sandwich.

A Day In The Life - 02/14/2011: Valentines Dinner

 Gaye is always thinking of someone else adn today was no different. A colleague was making these gorgeous cookies for Valentines and she just had to get a few for friends and family.

Jennie and Kyle come over for dinner for Valentines. After dinner, Gaye and I go over to drop a cookie off at Mom and Dad's. We come around the block from the other direction this time and as we get near to the house we notice that one of the cars is gone and only the white car is there and the lights are off. Then I notice that there is gravel int he front yard - It is not Mom and Dad's house! so we drive down a few more houses to the right house. And we walk up to the door, which is set back from the front of the house about 10 feet. The porch light is not on and it is really dark back in there. Gaye and I cannot find the door bell. We are rubbing our hands all over the wall by the door but cannot feel the doorbell any where. Now we are laughing hysterically and afraid that they will hear us and call the police or something. I finally take out my cell phone and turn it on so that we can find where the doorbell is to ring it. Dad comes tot he door and invites us in and goes to get Mom who is "reading in bed". She comes out and eventually tells us that Dad came down and said, "Richard and Gaye are here. Did you forget to make dinner?" So we all had a great laugh together.
Who said getting old wasn't a hoot!?

A Day In The Life - 02/07/2011: The Laundromat

It wasn't enough to have the reservations provide enough excitement for a few weeks but on our arrival home we are informed that the washing machine is making a funny noise. Then it quits. But, after a trip, there is laundry, of course. So it is off to the laundromat to get ours and Quentin's done as well. I love laundomats. It is not like I love having to gather all of my stuff up and haul it off to another place to wash my clothes. It is not even the superb and spectacular clientele. But it is nice that you can stuff all of your clothes into several washers or dryers at once and be done with all of it in about an hour.
The wash got fixed a couple of days later. The bearing in the pump went out and was replaced in about a half hour for only $60 through our home warranty.

A Day In The Life - 02/06/2011: An Extraordinary Error

It is Sunday morning. We are getting ready to leave on our return trip to the Valley of the Sun and warmth and aridness, which I love even more after the chilly weather of Texas. Gaye and I go down tot he lobby to print off our boarding passes. We put in our names and confirmation number and the computer spits an error message back at us. Gaye says that it happens some times. So we just put in our names. Same thing. Soon we begin to pay attention to what the error message is telling us - something about needing to be within 12 hours of takeoff without being too close. We are 4 hours away. So we bring up the actual reservations. We begin to look more closely at the dates, and as you can see, we are not scheduled to return for another month! Gaye's first thoughts are about not having sub plans for that long. Myself, I have no issues at all since I have my work computer and can, and have been, connecting to work already. The rental car and the hotel would be a bit bit pricey, however. Gaye quickly gets on-line and changes our reservations (for a measly $400 extra) and suddenly the computer is giving us no problems at all printing our reservations. Ah, the simplicity of life - until you do it wrong.

A Day In The Life - 02/05/2011: Remember The Alamo!

Saturday was a very fun day. We first went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then it was off to downtown San Antonio. We parked near the mall and headed in to check out the sights. From there it is only a short walk to the Alamo. However, it was a surprise to us that, because it is a shrine to those who died, no photos are allowed inside.

It is both smaller and larger than I imagined. The actual fort that the men defended from Santa Ana's army is very tiny. You can see most of it in the top picture. But there are huge grounds with several buildings and walls that were also defended for a time.

After the Alamo we wandered down to the River Front and caught one of the water tours that troll the river and tell you the history and all about the sights of the San Antonio down town area.

The River Front area is beautiful although, because of the unusually cold weather for them, many of the plants were looking a bit the worse for wear.
But the weather was perfect today - clear and in the 60's.

The old government building that we passed had in the building architecture, some wonderful grotesques (not to be confused with gargoyles which are much uglier and more like someone's mother-in-law. Not mine of course.) They were so wonderful I just had to include them here.

My biggest fear is that someone will wonder how Gaye and I managed to get our likenesses put on these buildings.

Near the location of the Hemis-Fair mural stood an Egret on a rock looking quite serene and very . . . feathery.

When the river tour was over we still had some time and so we decided to walk the river to see some things more closely. Drew and Beth chose this colorful bench to take a break from walking.

. . . and there was this cute young couple there as well.

The old Aztek theatre made a spectacular presence along the way. The boat seen here was similar to the one that we had ridden in.
Then it was time to eat. Drew had chosen the Texas Land and Cattle Company as one of the places that he would like to eat so we had an early and very superb dinner along the water front. We ran into a woman and her daughter in the restaurant that we had continually run into over and over again during our trip. I discovered that they are LDS and that their son/husband was in Drew's Flight. Their name is Payne. The mother is also a teacher.

After dinner we walked a bit more (because the only other choice was to swim out of there) and went looking for a good place to have some ice cream for dessert.
Up above the river a bit we found this Ben and Jerry's ice cream place and enjoyed watching the people along the river as we enjoyed both the rich delights and the warm heating lamps.

Video of RiverFront action
This video is a bit long but it is fun to watch the servers from the restaurant dancing on the side walk as the river boats go by and the people walk, eat and watch.

A Day In The Life - 02/04/2011: Snow & Show

Friday is graduation day. We are excited. At about 5:30 am we get this phone call from Drew that the graduation ceremony has been canceled. I think there was a bit of perverse humor in these young men getting to wake their parents up after so many years of it being the other way around.
The reason: San Antonio, which is much like Phoenix in climate, got 2-3 inches of snow over night. With no equipment to clear the roads the freeways were shut down. With the freeways shut down, most people could not get to work and so about half of the businesses were closed. The schools were also closed. And, knowing that many of us had not come prepared for such chilly weather in San Antonio, they did not want us standing out in that kind of cold for that ceremony.

Notice that there is not a car on the freeway. Even after noon as we traveled to the Air Force base there were still slippery patches on the road and the emergency lanes and freeway medians were littered with the remains of the morning's fender-benders.

So we were told to arrive at 1:00pm when our airman would take us on the tour of the barracks where he lived and then would have the remainder of the day to leave the base.
What a mother's joy to see a bed made so perfectly and drawers so perfectly kept - can we send all of our boys beginning about age 8?!

So Gaye and Drew get their picture shot at the Screaming Eagles statue in front of his barracks. And note: Mom has NOT gained weight! She is wearing about 6 layers of clothing.

Drew was very proud of having not only received his ribbons for enlisting in a time of war and for graduation from Boot Camp, but also for being an honor graduate. Great job Drew!

But, being the proud, yet dutiful parents, we left Drew and Beth to enjoy the first free day off base without their parents.

So, Gaye and I head downtown to the Market area. We found this cool restaurant named Mi Tierra. It is open 24 hours a day and has been for 87 years with the exception of the day of the owners funeral. The food was very good.
Many of the other shops were still suffering the effects of the morning weather and were not open. That was too bad. But we wandered down town to the River Front area, checked out the main mall there and saw where the Alamo is, but saved that visit for another day.

A Day In The Life - 02/03/2011: Intro To Military Life

Yesterday we flew to San Antonio to see Drew graduate from the USAF Basic Training and become an Airman rather than a trainee. It was a pair of action-packed days, getting through the airports, getting rental cars and hotels. Finding our way around San Antonio. Thank heavens for St. Garmin (the GPS navigator on our phones).

Our first intro was at 7:00 am this morning which meant starting our day at 5:30 am! Some vacation! :) They took about an hour and explained what our air men had been doing and listed the Honor graduates from each flight group. Drew was one of them and his Flight was the men's Warrior Flight as well (which means they were the top performers during their boot camp experience.)

Finally we walked over to the barracks (in way to far below freezing temperatures) to watch the coin ceremony where each graduating airman receives his coin(s)
Drew is being recognized for being in Honor status during training at the Coin Ceremony.

Drew received two coins: the one on the right for becoming an Airman, which he must keep in his left pocket at all times, and the other for Honor status.

After the ceremony we took a few pictures, went to the BX, ate and spent the afternoon together. All of the trainees were restricted to the base so our activities were limited but it was so much fun to see Drew and spend time with him.
By the way, we are not as chubby as it looks in these pictures. We are wearing nearly every stitch of Arizona clothing that we could gather for warmth. I know that I was wearing at least 6 layers and I could have used another 6. But I wasn't the one standing at attention or marching in that cold weather.

Here are the coins all lined up prior to the presentation. The men's flight on the left and the women's flight on the right.

A Day In The Life - 02/02/2011: Another Moving Experience

Jess is supposed to be out of the condo by the first but that is not happening so she extends it for a couple of days. The routing is the same as Monday except that Hero is now with us and not at all happy that we are hauling all of her stuff out the door. She just doesn't understand that it is all going to her new house in Tucson. But when she sees Alley cat there she is a little better. But all day packing and driving and unpacking takes its toll on little kids. Fortunately, some McDonalds helps her smile a bit. It is finally done on Wednesday. I had the day off so we did an early run with no turning back because not only was she losing the house entry but also Gaye and I were leaving for San Antonio. Man! I really need a vacation. :)