Overwhelmed

Christmas was good. The girls had a lot of fun. They got so many presents it was ridiculous. It didn't seem like Christmas, with all the things going on, but after getting together with the family it felt right. We are so lucky to have a family as close as this. Everyone shows up for Christmas, and it is very comfortable. Good day....There has been a fair amount of drama recently. Cathrine fell out of my truck while playing yesterday, and damn near earned a trip to the emergency room. It was not good, a nice big knot on the head. It scared me, bad. She ended up being fine, it looked horrible though. She is pretty banged up, or "racked up" as she said. Tough little girl....The house work is going slower than anticipated. We have been painting and cleaning for four days now, and we are ready for the carpet tomorrow. It is a lot. We have to start moving tomorrow or Wednesday and that will be fun, always is. No not really. I hope we will be able to make some progress then, although I might have to take a day to get my wisdom tooth removed. It has been annoying me for a couple of days now. I am hoping to make a quick recovery as time is running out. It will be time to go back to work and school soon. Oh boy.... I posted a picture of the family. Good looking folks.

I would never want to be a painter

Here are some pictures of the work in progress at our new house. They are not great, and I have yet to take a picture of the actual house(from the outside). We have been a busy bunch. We have been working on the bedrooms for three days now. The house was left a pig sty, and we are having to clean it as we paint. It is a lot of work. It is coming along though. We are having the carpet installed in the bedrooms on Tuesday, so we have to finish them first. Slowly but surely...........

News

So we close on our new house this Wednesday. It will be official. The mortgage company cleared it for closing on Wednesday. We have everything lined up, just need to sign some papers (about one thousand of them). I am going crazy, I am so ready to do this. We visited the house today to get the final measurements for carpet. Three more days. Very long days. It will be a great time to close, as our last day of work is Wednesday also. We will go sign the papers and then it is time to move. I also finished school on Thursday. That was a good thing. I was ready to finish that long quarter. O.K., so next time I post I will have some pictures of our new house. Three more days. Come on already......

Waiting.............

I am so eager to sit down and write some good news about the house. But I refuse to until we know for sure. Fortunately, we should know something this week. I am ready for a celebration. For now, however, it is sit and wait. Let the lawyers and bankers and mortgage brokers work it out.....Not much else going on either. The temperatures were cold enough to do some real damage at the greenhouse, seriously damaging my lemon tree, lime tree, avocado tree, and pineapple plant. I hate that it damaged the lemon, as I have had it for about 5 years now. Oh well. I put down some ground fabric, put in a new louver, and have a heater at hand. Work work. It is very boring there now. I am ready for spring now.......This will be the last week of school for the quarter. Finals and final projects due. I am almost done, I have been procrastinating for a while now. I finally finished a project that is due. I worked for about three hours on it. It is a scale model of a garden center. It is rare to see that quality of work. Yeah. I was going to post a picture of it, and then realized that I did not want to make anyone suffer. Oh well It will get me a grade.....Yeah it must be winter. Cold and boring. If we get the house there will be plenty of things to do. I am ready. Fingers crossed.............

Man it is cold.

It was 15 degrees this morning. That is cold. I know there are plenty of places that it gets colder, but for Georgia that is cold. We will have three days of nights bellow twenty. Last year we didn't have one night below 18. The bad part is it is only December. We usually don't see temps below twenty until January or February. Cold, cold....The purchase of the house is looking good. We have everything but the final approval of the loan. We should know by the end of next week. Everything is looking good. I can't wait for some news, Some good news.

Homeowners?

We are in the process of buying a house. We put in an offer, have the loan squared away, and have until the 20th of December to close. Whew, that happened quick. The process is not entirely sealed, but chances are we will be the owners soon. The bank is doing the appraisal this week, and that will be the last major hurdle. There are some issues, there is no carpet in the bedrooms (who knows why), and the door jamb is rotting. I am hopping the appraisal goes well. It should not be a problems, as comparable houses in that area go up to the mid 130's. We got a great deal on it as it was going to enter into foreclosure soon. It is a lot of house with three bedrooms, two baths and one finished room and another partially finished room in the basement. Two car garage also. It is a large lot at almost one acre, and it is flat with hardly any landscaping. That is great, a clean slate. We are very excited, but reserved......I jumped a major hurdle with the greenhouse today. Two actually. I put in another louver, allowing us to close the door, and keep it closed throughout the year. Doesn't sound like much, but it is to me. I have a fan and louvers that combined with a shade cloth should allow me to keep the temperatures down in the summer. I also received, for free a used heater that I believe will work in our greenhouse. That was major. I hope to have it up and running by February. It is a natural gas heater and I will need to have it converted to LP. It also has some 'miles' on it. I am optimistic. I don't have any picture this week. I hope to have a lot of picture of a new house soon though..........

The end of a four day weekend

Why is it that vacation time goes by faster than work time. Oh well, it is time off. It was a good Thanksgiving day, and there was plenty of food. Everybody had a good time, and the girls had a blast, as always. It is a great time of year, and it is always good to get everyone together. It was really warm this weekend, with highs in the seventies. It didn't really 'feel' like Thanksgiving. But we mustered up the spirit and went to the depot for a x-mas tree. It is a good tree, although it really doesn't fill up the room. I like it though. The girls got to go with us to pick it out, and also helped us decorate it. Fun stuff for everybody. We officially have our own Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Now it is time for Valerie to go shopping and fill that bare spot below it with presents for me.....I don't really want to go back to work, but it will not be all that bad. It is the time, finally, to slow down a bit. Leaves are coming to an end, and our two weeks off will begin in a couple of weeks, something I am very much looking forward to. I will just have to find something to do to fill the time. I have been tempted to go ahead and buy the heater for the greenhouse, but have held off. We are still looking for a house, and we need every penny we have. We did however receive x-mas bonuses at work (which I was Very glad to get),which allowed me to purchase another louver for the greenhouse. I have been leaving the door open all night, as the fan I installed tries to suck the plastic of the greenhouse. I also bought some ground fabric so I can put all the plants in one spot, and not have to worry about the weeds all year. It will make the place look a little bit more professional....My other picture is of a Lithop that I have in bloom. They are interesting plants that look like little rocks. The bloom doesn't even look real. I also have a couple moth orchids that are about to bloom. The grow lights are working out real good...Thats about it......

Anna's Birthday

Whew what a day. We had Anna's b-day party today. It was a good party and the girls had a blast. Lots of folks showed up, and we grilled hot dogs and all that good stuff. I had the chance to get a good deal on an inflatable playground, and the girls played on it all day. I think they liked it. They will sleep well tonight. The girls are growing up so quick. It is hard to believe that Anna is five, and Cathrine will be four in February. Good day. Next up Thanksgiving.....Short work week, Monday through Wednesday. I am glad for that. I also have a week of of school. Ok, thats about it.

The leaves are STILL falling

I have found my new least favorite thing to do. That would be blowing leaves. Five days a week, eight hours a day. Yeah....It is a rare Sunday, as I have no homework, and we finished early at the greenhouse. We even had time to cook a good dinner. Thanksgiving is coming and I am looking forward to it. We all have four day weekends coming up. We finally planted the beds and cleaned up around the greenhouse. The beds are nothing special, I used only the left over stuff we grew. They will mature nicely, as long as the damn deer don't eat them. The population of deer must be decreasing, as all I hear at the greenhouse is distant rifle fire. Thinning of the heard. They have been a real nuisance this year. I planted about fifty bulbs in the beds and the deer have been digging them up. Pain in the.......We found the house we want. We even put a bid in. We were underbid, and did not get it. That was a bummer. It did however give us more time to get a better loan. Now we have everything ready to go except for a stinking house. There is not much to choose from, and even less to choose from in our price range. This area is growing so fast it is hard to believe. It will be completely different in five years. I am sure will will find a house I just don't know how soon. I just want a house under 150 that is worth buying. It sounds stupid, but we need some more subdivisions. Never thought I would say that. It will be time for the minivan soon. Good grief.......School is good, I am taking Design and Spanish next quarter. Spanish will be no problem, design will be interesting.......The girls are good, the 'Valerie' is good.....

Movie of new vent fan

I put up a new ventilation fan in the greenhouse last week. I know it is not very interesting, but I had the video...Don't mind the mess, and yes it is very noisy.

It's November

Yeah. Not much to say. We put the plastic on the greenhouse. That wasn't fun but I am glad it is done. Everything is good. Nothing out of the ordinary. We went and looked at a house we really liked Saturday. We are going to put in a bid for it this week. I wouldn't mind if we got it. We really liked the house. We shall see. I am mid way through the quarter at school. Blah. Nothing else really.

Early Halloween

Had to do Halloween two days early this year because Cathrine's' mother wants her this year. It was fun. The girls got dressed up, and we went to a couple stops (witch and a penguin). Candy, candy,candy. They even had the chance to play with silly string. I wish we had the chance to share all the holidays together, but I guess Halloween is not a big deal...Had to go back and fix a problem with a job this weekend. I hate that. There is always something. It rained about three inches this Friday, and it flooded a job we did that wasn't graded perfect. It turned out not being that big of a deal, I just hate mess-ups. I will only be out another bag of fescue, and some good old fashioned hand grading. We put up a new ventilation fan in the greenhouse that will make the summer a lot cooler. It pumps out about four times the air volume that the previous fan did. I like improvements.

Sunday, already?

Oh boy. Don't really have much to say. Same old thing really. Homework, going back to work, greenhouse. Same ol', same ol'. We did a grading job today, and it went well. I loath working on Sunday, but money is money. It was a good job though, I basically sat and watched a bobcat for five hours. That is my kind of work. We are seeding the entire house this week, or I should say Hybrid Landscapes is. I pretty much have done nothing but talk on the phone, and make arrangements. Ah the life of the General Contractor. I would much rather talk on the phone than push a shovel all day. The money is just not as good......The folks went on a vacation to Cabo San Lucas, so Cat didn't get to spend the night with them, I was glad to have the whole weekend with her. I finally got around to planting some arrangements for the deck. I used all of our stuff, with the exception of the pansies, which I broke down and bought. Yeah, ours are still not ready. Those are our violas in the picture though. I put some tulip bulbs in them for spring. They don't look like much now, but in the middle of winter they will be welcome color....I ordered the plastic for the greenhouse, so I guess that is what we will be doing next weekend. I also ordered a new exhaust fan that we will be putting in. Next up a heater. Heat, heat, heat. Wish I had it now. I will turn that thing into a greenhouse, damn it!. I have finally got YouTube, so I will be posting some videos from time to time.

Video of the aquarium trip

1/2 rain day

It has rained for about 18 hours strait now. That is a good thing, and the only reason I write about it is because it has been very dry around here. I can literally count on one hand the amount of times it has rained this month. Whatever. We only worked half of the day, and I had time to change my site around a bit. I think it looks better. It is a lot easier to post also(better software). I also had time to mess around with the grow light set-up I have built for the plants(cactus). I hope it will help them make it in the house for a couple months. I wish I was further along in the greenhouse, or I should say I wish I had a "greenhouse" instead of a cold frame. I ordered the plastic today, so It will be closed in soon at least. I have learned a lot, and have realized that I need a lot of equipment that I had initially not planned on installing. So, in a way I am glad I waited, or procrastinated. We had our first frost last week, and it dawned on me that the cold is coming, duhh. It always sneaks up though. It is going to be in the eighties tomorrow. Pants or shorts?.....

My Vacation is over

What a week. We took a trip to the Georgia Aquarium this week. I was impressed. It was very interesting, and the girls had a lot of fun. I put a couple of pictures up(below this post). I was on vacation all week, although it didn't seem like a vacation. All I did was work. I enjoyed it though. We finished two jobs, both of which turned out nicely. It was even more fun, as I did the design for both jobs. I am always working on projects from someone else's design. There have been countless times that I have thought to myself I would never have put this plant here. So that was fun. I even made a little bit of money. So even though I worked all week it was good. I have two more jobs lined up, and a possible third on the way. I am contemplating starting a business, I just don't know when. I want to make it legal. Things are good though.......The greenhouse, or that structure with plastic on it, is o.k. I lost a lot of pansies, and that wasn't fun, but everything else is good. There is always to much to do there. I am becoming frustrated at the fact that it is not a full blown greenhouse, with a heater and adequate ventalation. Also I feel a bit cramped. I should have built it two times longer. Oh well. We had our first frost of the season, and it was a mild panic to rescue the cactus and succulents. So they are all over at the house, well half of them anyways. We have well over 100 arrangements and not enough room. Liquidation sale?. I have installed grow lights in the kitchen, which will expand the area a bit, but it will be tight. School is good. We went to Rambo nurseries, one of the biggest greenhouses in Georgia. It was amazing, about three acres of greenhouses, connected. It was all completely automated. I had to wipe the drool off my mouth from time to time. I also got some good advice and tips on growing pansies from a master grower. Good stuff....That's about it, need to do the old homework and get back into work mode.......Here are a couple of pictures of one of the jobs we did. Also the pansies are starting to bloom(violas also).

Trip to the Georgia Aquarium

Newer technology

Ah, the first blog on my new computer. I have finally set everything up and taken all the junk programs off that came installed on the computer. I love the convenience of getting a decent computer from dell, but I do not appreciate having all the resource hogging applications installed on it. It literally took four hours to un-install all the programs that just take up space. Oh well. The new computer is nice, and about twice as fast as my old laptop. The battery was giving up on my old laptop, running only about 20 minutes without power. I also installed a new wireless router. Finally. I had been putting it off for about a year, in part because the router still worked. It was just so old that I was not getting the 5 Meg that I pay for each month. So now are wireless connection went from about 1.5 megs to 3.5 megs per second. More than double the speed, a very good thing. I know this all sounds pretty dorky, but I love quicker. Faster computer, faster internet. I have realized that my knowledge of computer technology is quickly becoming outdated. I am out of date and am not even familiar with the latest processors. It is impossible to keep up with, it changes so quickly. I give myself three more years. I still understand the basics, but soon I will be like an old man trying to set the time on a v.c.r. , or d.v.d, or blu-ray disk player, whatever is around in three years. Whatever, I don't have the time I once did to keep up with computers. There are to many plants that need to be planted......I am on vacation this week. That is really cool, usually about this time on Sunday I am already gearing down to get back into work mode. I have a lot lined up for the upcoming week. We are going to take the girls to the aquarium, and to ride the marry-go-round. I am forcing myself to take at least two days off to spend with the family. It is not that I do not want to spend time with them, It is the fact that I have lined up so much side work that I need to get a lot of it finished up............Started the fall quarter at school this week. I really enjoyed the schedule, and the classes are enjoyable. Both of them deal with greenhouses. We will be taking "field trips" to the Atlanta area nurseries and greenhouses. I will be able to see how a real greenhouse runs. Fully automated, climate controlled, all that good stuff. I am sure it will not be anything compared to that massive mess of a greenhouse we own. Ha. Oh yeah lost about thirty more percent of the pansy's. That was good news. Temps were in the nineties on Wednesday. And for anyone that was wondering, pansy's don't grow to well when the greenhouse gets to 110+. In case anyone did not know that..... I will have pics of the aquarium visit shortly.

I have a second, better write something....

To say I have been busy would be an understatement. It has been a good kind of busy. Lots of things going on. The greenhouse is going good. I have started all kinds of annuals, and the first crops are ready. Well almost. I have learned that growing pansies in Georgia in the summertime is no easy feat. They are by far the most challenging annual I have grown so far. Not in the fact of getting them to germinate, but keeping them growing. Fluctuating temperatures, and therefore water usage make it hard to keep them growing happy. I have had about a fifty of sixty percent success rate. Not to bad overall, we will still have enough to be profitable. Live(or grow) and learn. We will end up with about 20 or so flats. Lost about 10. All of the other plants are doing well though. We finally have set up a wholesale account, which will allow us to buy seed and supplies for a fraction of the cost that we had previously paid. That is a good thing. It has been a good year at the greenhouse. We have decided(or have been forced to realize) that we will not have heat in the greenhouse this year. Not a big deal, as I don't know if I feel like babysitting it all winter. I have decided at least for now to shift my attention to growing perennials and landscape plants. No heat required.........Lots of work after work. Side jobs gallore. That is a great thing for now though. Who needs weekends off anyway? I have did a couple grading jobs, and I have a couple big beds and a complete front yard coming up. We spent Saturday, four of us, laying sixteen pallets of sod. That was a lot of work, and we are all sore today. Oh well. Good hard work. We still have four more to go. I will be glad to get it over with, then it is over to the neighbor's yard. I love word of mouth advertising. I just hope I can balance the day job, my work, and school. We will see. For know it is working out. I start school this Wednesday, and I am looking forward to it. It seems like I took half a year off. I have fourteen or fifteen more classes to take to get my degree, after this quarter. That seems like a long time. Seven more quarters if I only take two classes a quarter. Four if I take three classes per quarter. I am sure it will be over before I know it. I enjoy school, but I want to get it over with one of these years..........I am on vacation the week of the 9th, and I am looking forward to it. To say the least. It was a long summer at work, and it is time to have a week off. I am going to make myself have at least two days where I do nothing. The rest of my vacation I am sure will be spent working on the side jobs......That's about it. The girls had a fun weekend. They went to the local festival and watched the parade Saturday, and Cat got to watch the fireworks last night. They both had a lot of fun. Everyone is good. We all had our first round of sickness over the last two weeks, but everyone is better now. Between school and daycare the girls have managed to bring home some funky viruses......I will have some pictures next time. I have plenty to photograph, but always forget to bring the camera...........

Need to make this quick

This has Been for the most part a long boring summer. But the seasons are changing. I have went from a comfortable routine to a hectic schedule..finally. I have to much to do, but that is a welcome change. The weather has been great. Temperatures in the fifties at night and eighties at night. I love it. I am , however looking forward to the 50/70's. So much better than 95 with 100% humidity.......Greenhouse, greenhouse, I feel as if that is the only thing that I talk about in my posts, but it is a big part of our lives. We finally, yes finally, finished the irrigation/misting system. I(we) are happy with how it turned out. Mist for the benches and a couple of sprinklers for the rest. It was tricky to find the right equipment for such a small greenhouse, and required a fair amount of research. It will make things easier not having to water every 12 hours. As of now it is all automated. Fantastic......Lots of side work, and little time to do it. I haven't did any side work all summer(that was probably a good thing). Now, however, everybody and their brother has something for me to do. That's a good thing.....I will put some pictures up soon, as soon as I have time. Maybe by next summer....

Time to grow again

It was a good weekend. Finally the temperatures are bearable. It is even enjoyable to work in the greenhouse again. We had a chance to catch up on some things that we had been putting off. I finally managed to get the water line finished, divided some plants, and preped for the pansy and fall annuals. We had the greenhouse 1/2 filled with cactus and succulents. I had propagated so many succulents this summer, it would have been impossible to keep them all through the winter. I wish we had a heater, but the power and fuel costs are to much relative to the amount of money we make. So we needed to get rid of some, and we did. They sold like hotcakes. Now we have a lot more room...The pansy's and other stuff are growing great. It will be time to start the second batch this week. It will be the end of October before they are ready, but that's o.k......I finally sold my old truck. A guy I work with bought it. I was glad to get rid of it. I was also glad to get the much needed money. I am enjoying my new truck........ The house hunt has slowed. We haven't viewed any houses lately. There are not many houses for sale around here that are worth it, or that I (we) like. Oh well who knows............ The countdown has begun for school. Another three weeks. I am ready. Greenhouse Management, and Garden Center Management are on the schedule. I better be able to manage something after all the management classes I will be taking....That's about it. No pictures or anything..... Everybody is doing good enough. The girls are good. Anna is enjoying school, and Cathrine started a new daycare last week. Her previous daycare provider abruptly decided to quit with only a two day notice. It all worked out though. That's about it..........

Labor Day weekend

There should be more three day weekends in the year. That would be nice. This labor day was a good three day weekend. Saturday we all loaded up and took off to the cabin. It was a lot of fun, especially for the girls. The four-wheeler was there and the girls had a blast riding on it. It is nice to get away for a day or two.......The seasons will be changing soon. Oh boy. The temperatures have been bearable lately, highs only in the 80's. Soon It will be highs in the 70's, then 60's. I can't wait.........The fall annuals are growing, very slowly. I will be starting the second round of pansies next week. I have also decided to propagate some 'Nellie R. Stevens holly's, and a couple of boxwood's. I have been so lazy this year, hardly propagating any woody or perennial plants. I do however have an overwhelming collection of succulents......... School starts the first week of October, and I am taking a week of vacation the second week. I am ready for both......

B-Day

Yup, today is my 28th birthday, and I could not care less. I have never been to big on birthday's, but this year I am especially not interested. Maybe it is the age, or maybe it is how busy I am. I don't know. Maybe I will be excited at 50 when I buy a ferarri, and get a hair piece, who knows.........I have decided to do some experimenting with the fall annuals. I have planted a couple flats of pansies, ornamental cabbage and kale. It is way to hot to start them now so I am starting them inside under grow lights. I just hope that the temps start to cool down by mid-September. Very unlikely. I plan to start the main crop of winter annuals at the end of September. We are growing a lot of stuff. We have about ten different types of pansies, red bore kale, ornamental cabbage, ornamental mustard, Swiss chard, and violas. I am looking forward to the change of seasons. It has been a hot and dry summer. Not long now though........We looked at a couple more houses this weekend, this time in Adairsville. One of the houses we saw was decent. It was a ranch style on a slab, which I don't to much care for, but it was nice none the less. The search continues...........

Getting ready for fall

Oh boy it's Sunday again. I have a love hate relationship with Sundays. It's a day off, but tomorrow starts a new work week. Oh well. We accomplished something this weekend, we finally managed to run the plumbing for water in the greenhouse. We have been putting it off for some time now, mainly because if you don't have to work in the heat then don't. With our heavy schedules however, it has been harder and harder to get to the greenhouse to water twice a day. I have decided to install an irrigation/sprinkler system in the greenhouse to simplify things. It will be completely automated and low tech. It will definitely make our lives simpler. I don't really have much else............

End of the weekend

Another decent weekend. It was a little cooler than normal for the middle of August, which was a nice change. This week was very hot. Heat indexes above 100 all week. That makes life miserable when you work outside. I am really looking forward to the change of season. Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I just hope it is a long fall. The transitions of seasons in Georgia tend to be very abrupt, going from one extreme to the other. This spring for example was almost nonexistent, with the temperature going from the fifties for highs to eighties in only a couple weeks. I am definitely looking forward to fall colors and planting some trees and shrubs that I have been growing all season. I have a couple of redbud trees, a kousa dogwood, fatsia, forsythia, and a couple of crepe myrtles that I need to find a place for. I was hoping to have a hose to plant them at, but I don't believe that will happen any time soon. It has been an interestingly frustrating process so far. The combination of nothing really appealing in our price range and the available loans have definitely dampened the process. We still plan on buying a house, but we definitely have some work to do financially. I hate the fact of struggling every month, even more so than now. I had to have a new truck though.....School is starting soon, and I believe this will be the quarter that I start working on my A.A.S. degree. It will be a big process, as I have to apply for a new scholarship. I will also have to take a lot of classes that will be a lot more challenging. College algebra, I don't even remember high school algebra. I will also have to change my schedule a lot, as a lot of the classes only offered during the times I work. That will surely take some creative solutions and bargaining with my boss. We will see. I have taken a lot of my core Horticulture classes and it will be time to take the boring classes. Psychology, Economics, English, oh boy......I do not have any pictures this week. I am glad I bought the new camera,now I need to go some where worth photographing...

On the hunt

It was an eventful week. We have decided to look for a home. Oh boy. The process itself does not excite me, but the end result will. I am ready to live in our own house. I am so tired of living in apartments, and throwing money down the drain. I am also getting the craving to do some gardening at my own house. Some long term landscaping. We have looked at only one house so far, and I liked what I saw, but I definitely want to view more. I most of all hope the process goes relatively quickly as this has been a long time coming. I am also ready to pay the $1000 a month payment....Yeah that will be great......Anna started pre-k this Friday, and she really enjoyed it. I think it will be a great experience for her, and no more day-care!.......School, yes school, is starting back soon and I am looking forward to it. It has been kind of boring not attending college this quarter. North Metro has obtained accreditation for Associate of science Degrees, and that will make my life easier as I will not have to attend two schools to get one degree. A great thing.........There is not much going on around the greenhouse, but the cactus and succulents continue to bloom. I bought a new camera, and at 7.1 mega pixels the close-up's of the flowers are amazing..........Oh yeah, there is a picture of the pineapple we grew. Mmmm.......

Dog day

Valerie turned thirty this week. Ha ha.....I had better not laugh, it will be my turn soon. Happy birthday Valerie....................Just some pics. The girls, and Cactus. Here is a pic of some succulents I have propagated, that are finally growing plants. Tiny as they may be...........Anna starts school (pre-k) Friday. That's big news around here, and will surely be a change.

Nothing really

Hmmm... Not much to say. There is a lot going on but not much to talk about. It' s to hot for the greenhouse, no time for a vacation, not much out of the ordinary going on. Work, rest, sleep and repeat. Not very exciting.... I am ready for a season change.

Mid Summer

Not much to say. It was a good weekend and an average week. It has been very hot, what's new. I am ready for fall. I can't wait to start growing the winter annuals. We were at the greenhouse today, and not much is going on. The weeds are growing, and the flowers that we had planted around the greenhouse are growing. It is to hot to do much in the greenhouse, or for that matter grow anything. There is always the cactus and succulents. Here is a picture of the eucalyptus we have grown, along with an Aeonium, a Kalanchoe in bloom, and a Blue candle cactus.

Rare treat

I treated myself to the pleasure of a doctor visit today. I did not have much of a choice, I have had trouble with my ears, and it developed into an ear infection. I can't decide which is worse, an ear ache or a toothache. Who knows, they both suck. I hate going to the doctor, or the hospital. Not because I am scared of shots, or too tough, but because I hate the racket. What a process, take a person that feels like shit, put them in a stuffy waiting room(with other sick people), and then make them wait........I don't really have to explain the rest, as I am sure every adult in the U.S. has experienced the process. It is ridiculous. And the doctors, all they are is pill peddling machines that should be working for the pharmaceutical companies. I was thinking, I haven't seen a decent doctor in years. They are definitely few and far between...........And then on the other hand...If I had to deal with all those whinny, sick folks all day, trying to get there oxycontin prescription filled for the thirty-second time with a bad case of an aching finger, or some other fabricated pain, all the while their six welfare children whine and climb on the exam table......A big revolving door. It is a horrible system that I personally dislike and don't want to experience for at least another couple years. Oh yeah then there are the insurance companies, with there "we don't cover that medication" plea. I payed the so called"discount" price of $95 dollars for some stupid ear drop solution that the doctor prescribed for me. The bottle is as big as the last joint on my pinkie finger. The pharmacist made it a point to tell me that it is the discount price, all the while wondering why the Doc didn't prescribe on of the medicines that costs less.........I guess there is a method to this health care madness, but it seems to run about as good as our bloated government.............Man this ear ache is making me grumpy.....

New truck, finally

Yep, bought a slightly used 2005 GMC Canyon. It has four doors and air conditioning! Oh sweet air conditioning. I am glad I bought it, as I haven't made my first payment yet. It really makes a difference in the 500 mile journey I make each week to and from work. I had forgotten what it was like to drive a new GM truck, I'm sure I will enjoy it. So anyways, that's what's new. It is hot today, what a surprise in Georgia in July. The greenhouse hit 115 with both fans running. To hot for me(and most of the plants). All except the cactus, they are loving it. There are to many pictures to post but there are lots of things blooming, although they are best admired from a window in an air conditioned house. Its hot......I haven't had much time to post lately, and I guess a lot has happened. I am taking a break of from school for the summer quarter. Glad about that, but oddly I kind of miss it. Gonna hit it hard in fall and take three classes to compensate. It will be nice to have the time in fall. Work is going steady, no time for a break. Not even a holiday, we are stuck working Monday the third, so no four day weekend. Bummer, but oh well. One of our foreman quit so we have been short staffed. Bought an Xbox 360, for what I don't know. I guess to waste some money, and fill up boring summer days(of which there are none). I just don't have the time, or patience for that matter, to just sit around playing games. Getting old I guess, or maybe I just have a life now, don't know. It gives Valerie great pleasure to tell everyone how that is all I do is sit around and play that damn Xbox. We bought an aquarium a couple of weeks back, and that has proved to be entertaining for everyone. Three of the fish have 'kicked the bucket' so far. We still have a goldfish, two little tropical fish, and an algae eater. Pretty neat. I guess that's about it.

Just some pictures

Here is a couple of pictures. The Adenium in full bloom, aloes in bloom, stargazer Lilly in bloom a sunset, and our fish aquarium