Saturday, May 31, 2008

Carrie.

Carrie. Carrie is beautiful. Carrie is smart. Carrie is stylish. Carrie is smooth. Carrie is a firecracker. Carrie is a killer. Carrie is a tiger. Carrie is compassionate. Carrie smells good. Carrie is two persona's... morning Carrie and not morning Carrie. Jesse loves Carrie.






Shrubs... more shrubs

Recently Carrie and purchased some shrubs for the side of the house... to make a long story short I measured incorrectly and we had 8 3 gallon Nandina Gulf Stream plants left over. I have been trying to find places to plant them. However, I don't want our yard to turn into a jungle! I decided to plant four of them by the shed. There is space on either side of the ramp going up to the shed that was rather difficult to mow... bam... good place.




I like the way it looks. The space looked really bare before the landscaping. It is kind of funny, I didn't even know there was a slab of concrete there until I started cleaning out the back of our yard a couple of months ago. It is a great place for the grill - before the smoke from the grill would blow in the house when it was on the deck.


Rummy says, "WANT SOME?"

Updating the back fence.

A while back Carrie and I installed plastic border in the back of our yard. Having never installed something like this before it took a while to get the hang of it. I didn't have the correct shovel and when it was all said and done it was pretty evident. So this past Thursday my buddy and I put in new border. This time I went with professional grade instead of consumer grade. The difference is the thickness of the border... the professional is definitely worth the difference in price.


Friday, May 30, 2008

I am a Virginian.

The process of morphing from a Michigander to Virginian took place over several years. Carrie and I were married in June of '04 and moved to Virginia in August of '04. We moved to Virginia having no friends or family... just one another. It was difficult but we were able to make it happen. During the early months of living here we spent a lot of time together. Carrie didn't have a job and usually slept in till about 10:30AM... one may think that would be enjoyable. Not so, people are meant to work and when we don't it is easy to feel useless and depressed. This was the case with Carrie. So, it was a great blessing when Carrie found a job. One of the first things we did here was try to find a community of Christ followers. I guess we looked around for a couple of months before eventually finding Brentwood Church. At Brentwood we were able to make some friends. We lived in an apartment for several almost three years... it was difficult for me to feel at home in an apartment. During the third year of living in the apartment we started thinking about buying a house. This was a major thing for us as it would indicate we are making a longterm commitment to Lynchburg. Eventually, we found a house and plant more substantial roots. At this point Virginia started to feel like home. In fact, it started to feel like when I would go to Michigan to visit that it was just that... a visit. After a few days or so I would want to come back home to Virginia. Don't get me wrong I still like going to Michigan and seeing friends and family, but it certainly does not feel like a vacation. We drive all over the place visiting people... kind of tiring. I much prefer people coming to see us. There is no extended family to see and we have more time with the visitor exclusively. Given the opportunity I would not move back to Michigan... I am a Virginian.

I guess I should add that I will ALWAYS be a Detroit sports fan!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Carrie.

Carrie has expressed an interest in posting her ramblings on onefamilyonecar.com. After much consideration and a lengthy interview process I have agreed to allow her a probationary posting period. The period is 10 years, so, if she says something that is out of line please let me know and I will deal with it and her. I drop the hammer.

This photo was taken during the ninth interview and fourth written test. I think she was having difficulty answering a question... I was reading.

Carrie and Cherries...

Carrie took the plunge into canning this past week. We picked a bunch of cherries from the trees in our backyard. There was no way we were going to be able to consume what we picked by simply eating handfuls. So, Carrie decided to make some cherry preserves. The recipe called for 3 pounds of pitted cherries... we had about 10 times that amount! Want to buy some? It is awesome to pick a fruit or vegetable and be able to sustain ones self for a period of time with something God prepared. Watching all the birds that are eating these cherries makes me think of the verse in the bible, "Look at the birds. They don't plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them..." Matthew 6:26. It is easy to take comfort from this thinking how much more I mean to God than a bird does. I look back time and time again and I can see that I was being led by God. Anyways, here are some photos of Carrie making it happen with cherries. FYI... there was no rudeness with food, especially with any other dudes.










Thanks for looking.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Side yard.

This past Friday night I was able to knock out the small side yard that was pretty bare. My cousin Scott and I worked on it from about 8:30PM to 12:00AM. It is funny to think that on a Friday night I am working on landscaping when in the past I would have been out with friends. Funny the way things and interests change. I am pleased with the way the space turned out. I really like the way the bed looks like it is a continuation of the bed I finished last weekend.

1 - Camellia Japonica Greensboro Red
2 - Spirea Japonica Goldmound
1 - Spirea Japonica Little Priness
2 - Dwarf Azalea Gumbo Pink
3 - Dwarf Azalea Gumbo White

What do you think of the turnout?







You may think Rummy is smiling at you... he's not, in fact, he is laughing at you... not with you. He just wanted me to let you know.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Cherries!!!


So the cherries are ripe! It is amazing how in a matter of a couple of days they went from almost ripe to great! We picked a lot of cherries. I would guess that it was in the neighborhood of about 30 pounds. I never expected it to be that much but Carrie and I weighted what we have and it is around 18 pounds... and our small group from church took home a bunch. Carrie and I are going to try our hand at canning some, making preserves, and a cobbler or two or twenty! The idea of having a tree in my yard that produces something that I can eat and enjoy is really awesome. It is just one of the ways God provides for me.


Our friends from church. Tim, Colleen, Deb, Carrie, and I. Jordan is behind the lense and Joe & Jessica were unable to make it. I think they hate cherries and anything to do with them for that matter. In fact, I think they hate people that like cherries. I haven't spoke to them since I told them we were picking cherries.


Working hard to get those cherries. Carrie is my cherry pie!


Carrie doing what she does best... hanging around with a weird look on her face.


Even my watch likes cherries. You may or may not know but I really enjoy mechanical watches. Their craftsmanship is outstanding and they love cherries. So I took a photo of my watch with my cherries.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Going Solar.

It would be amazing to be able to be completely energy independent. Unfortunately, that is not consumer realistic at this point. Here is an interesting article I found that suggests the possibility of going room by room. Doing a little research further into this setup reveals that in theory it is a good system but would likely not pass local code inspections. An interesting article none the less.



I’d bet you thought that you’d have to spend thousands of dollars to go completely off the grid? Even with state sponsored incentives, going all solar could set you back quite a bit. What would you think about going solar, room by room!? There’s a system out there that makes going solar very affordable and you can add to it as you go! No, this won’t take you off the grid in one fell swoop, but it can get you closer to energy independence without breaking the bank!

Now folks, this is a DIY project and if are not handy with electricity, you may want to leave that up to the pros, but with a little help from your professional buds, you can make it happen. Your mother-in-law will think you are a genius! Here’s what they say you will need to get started:

(all costs are stated in approximate figures, and if you hunt around the ‘net or your own backyard, you may find the system will cost you even less)

One Uni-Solar 32-watt amorphous-silicon PV module, 12 volts: $180.00

One Morningstar 6-amp charge controller, 12 volts: $40.00

Two Deka 92 amp-hour sealed batteries, 12 volts: ($130.00 each) $260.00

(get the sealed ones so you don’t have to build a vented housing unit for them)

One Aims 800-watt modified sine wave inverter, 12 volts: $65.00

This is a total of under $600. You can spend extra on wiring, etc or extra batteries. You can never go wrong by having more batteries. Now, I bet you think you’ll only be able to run one compact fluorescent for about 15 minutes, right? Wrong! I was quite surprised to find out that with this set up, a stereo system can run or about 100 hours. (not that you’d want to), a laptop for about 40 hours, (ok, that I CAN probably do in about 3 days), and the ubiquitous compact fluorescent bulb for 80 continuous hours! Frankly, I think that is pretty good!

Expanding the system is quite easy and will provide you with even more power–therefore you can expand your soon-to-be-off the grid system as you can afford it and/or have time. I think my chances of convincing my husband this is a good thing are pretty good!

Article from ecotality.com.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

It's Sunday and rainy...

I am sitting at my computer working on stuff going to eBay. It is kind of rainy outside which I am thankful for because all of the stuff we planted yesterday. Carrie is having a little birthday party for me tonight with some friends. It should be nice... hopefully, it will dry up by then. Madi and Rummy are sitting at my feet staring at me.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Side yard...

This morning my buddy Josh and I set out to redo my small side yard. This side of the house had been forgotten about for a long time. However, this is a great space and I was excited to transform it... I believe we did! Check it out:




As you can see from the three photos above there was the start of a landscape. The two plants are a rhododendron and a burning bush. As the pictures notes, the space is pretty unkept.


Josh and I laid out the plants. Josh made a small change moving the new rhodo to the left of the Japonica Gold Mound as the Gold Mound is smaller and would be overshadowed.


I wanted to bring a line from the fence post to the edge of the concrete to completely separate the bed from the lawn. As you can see, that is a lot of grass to get rid of.



And that is the finished product. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I am pretty amazed at what a transformation the space has experienced. A run down... 2 rhododendrons, one oakleaf hydrongea, one japonica gold mound, one nandina burning bush, three coral encore azaleas, and one rock.


I am pretty sure Rummy is cursing at you in that photo.

Thanks Josh for all your help!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Gardening and cherries...

Our backyard is like the garden of eden! We have a vegetable garden and two cherry trees that are bursting with cherries.



The cherries are going to be fully ripened in the next couple of days. They are even more red today than yesterday. I can remember when I was a kid Mamaw would be in the backyard on Polk Street high up on a ladder picking cherries for pies and cobblers. Papaw would be at the base shaking it! I think this is where my sister Heidi fell in love with cherries. I hope we can figure out how to make something with all these cherries. If nothing else, I will throw them at the guy that lives behind me... he is kind of a curmudgeon.

Our garden is beginning to sprout! So we know we have done something right. It is amazing the way you can put a seed in the ground and give it water and in a short time it begins bursting through the soil. That is just what happened with our beans.




Our tomatoes are growing very well. I think it is just about time to put something in there to support them. I hope we get a lot of tomatoes... I love them!

I feel like Carrie and I were pretty thoughtful with our garden space. It was a place in our backyard that was for the most part dead space. It is such a small spot that it was pointless to plant grass because it was difficult to mow. So we used it for a garden. Frankly, I think it will be a great space for two people and a garden. I have already blasted 8 rabbits with my taser gun that were in the garden. They are hanging in the basement by their ears. I will let them go when garden season is done with.

Finally, our cactus's and hen's and chicks.



Our cactus's are growing like crazy. We have four of them that are huge. In the phot you see three because the other one is in the basement under the rabbits in case they try to escape. This cactus originated with my moms, moms, mom. So that puts them at about old. When my mom gave us a little piece of one I was like, "that's cute." Now that we know they reproduce like rabbits I am second guessing the gift. They are however great for pests on lockdown.

The hens and chicks came from similar origins. We started with a pot of maybe six and they have gone wild. One of the chicks is easy.




That is the OG cactus. It is astounding to look at the way God can take something small or minimal and multiply it. All we have done with the cactus and H n C is give them water and sunlight. Pretty cool.

I am off to Home Depot. I would have never thought that I would be so into HomeDepot until we bought a house. It is more of a love hate thing!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Birthday dinner... it was good.

Carrie made dinner for my birthday... which is kind of normal since she almost always makes it anyways. However, this time she made it naked, that was a treat. She prepared new york strip steak smothered with boursin cheese, corn on the cob, an amazing salad, and baked potatoes. It was really good!






We planned on cooking the steak on the grill but our charcoal sat out in the rain and was therefore unable to perform its duty. No worries thought, Carrie came through with the George Foreman grill. Then for desert we had a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. It was a nice birthday.