Christmas Pic's

Happy Thanksgiving

When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.
-John Ruskin

Anna's seventh birthday

It was a cold, blustery day here; it was a nice day to stay indoors. We received about an inch of rain yesterday night, and the front that followed brought twenty mile per hour wind gusts and colder temperatures. We had Anna's birthday party today and she had a good time. She got a Nintendo DS, which made her day, and plenty of other goodies to keep her occupied for a while. We had a small party, and it was nice having everyone over. It has been a tumultuous time around here as of late, and it was nice to have a day off and have the family and friends visit......I am feeling the pressure as I race to the finish on my horticulture degree, with only three classes remaining, the end is in sight. I do, however, have to do battle with my arch nemesis, college algebra, coming up next quarter. I am in an algebraic concepts class now, and let's just say it is pushing my mental capacities! I am not complaining just venting. I am ready for Thanksgiving break. That about sums it up, bu-buy!......

Fall is in the air

It was cold last night and it is foretasted to be even colder tonight. 29-30 degrees, finally. It has been busy around here, everyone has been taking turns with all sorts of sicknesses. Flu, ear infections, and strep throat have been prevalent; what a treat it was to share all of those illnesses! I guess it is good to get it all out of the way at once, early in the season. All we have left to acquire is a good ol' fashioned cold........School is occupying almost all of my free time so not to many blogs as of late. The end is of my time at N.M.T.C. is nigh, as I am being inducted into the National Technical Honors Society in November and I will graduate with a certificate in Landscape specialization in December. Summer is the main event though, as I will be graduating with my A.A.S. Degree. Finally, the end is in site! I have made up my mind to further educate myself, and will therefore continue on to a local University. I can not decide, however what to major in. I am on the fence between psychology or social services. I plan to obtain a B.S. and then proceed to a M.S.W. and then on to an Ed.u.( if I choose social work), or a PhD if I decide to pursue psychology. Now all I have to do is justify the money it will cost and find the the will to persevere through another four to five years of school. I figure both career paths will be good choices as we will soon be socialistic if "that one" is elected.......That's all the time I have to allocate, so I will post some pic's.

Busy

School, work, economy, presidential race, etc.....It was a good weekend, despite an ear infection that I had the pleasure of suffering through all week. The weather was decent, and it was time to do some planting. In between homework sessions we had time to plant over two hundred bulbs in the landscape. We planted, in no particular order: crocus, daffodils, grape hyacinth, hyacinths, and allium. Now we just wait for spring....My last post was about the gas shortage. What a difference a week can make. The price for regular are in the $3.20 range and steadily falling. That's good......I will not bore all three of you who read this blog with all the other stuff that is going on. I will put it in summation. Algebra(ugh), physicology (Ok), horticulture(to easy). That sums up school, and that therefore concludes my post. Yeah....Fun stuff.

Does anyone have gas?

Good grief it is dry around here. It hasn't rained in three weeks and there is no gas at the "gas" stations. It has been a weird couple of weeks. The gas shortage was initially a problem in Atlanta, but has spread to the suburbs now. What the hell? What is the deal. Why is there no gas in Georgia, but plenty everywhere else? Nobody seems to have an answer. It is very perturbing to have to find a gas station that has gas and then proceed to wait twenty minutes to fill up. Moooooo cow!.......Then there is the lack of rain, oh wait I don't want to talk about it. I am bored with this drought. Damn drought!........Then there is the economic fallout on wall street. I don't want to write about that either, but I will say that there are about fifteen people that fully understand the entire situation and I am not one of them. I am, however looking forward to The Great Depression Version 2.0.....Then there are the locusts and the plagues......I kid. Life goes on. Just another day. I did find a cool plant this week. Red spider lily (Licoris radiata) I posted a picture of it. I found it growing in a customers yard and made a trade for some tulip bulbs. It is an interesting plant. It is a bulb that has grass-like foliage in spring until summer when it dies back. Then the single flower stem arises. After the flower fades the foliage re-emerges in early winter. It is an interesting plant. That is about it. I start back to school next week (oh Boy!), so I am going to go enjoy my last homework free weekend.......

Time to plant

Today was a nice day. The temperatures are cooling down, only making it to the low eighty's for highs. I am done with school for the quarter and I enjoyed a somewhat stress free weekend. No homework. The break will be short lived, however, as I will be returning to school in ten days. A very short break between quarters.....We planted some new plants in the Garden (I like to think my yard has reached garden status). I chose to plant a couple things today that are on the fringe of our zonal area. We planted a Bears breaches hybrid (Acanthus x Summer Beauty) , which I am counting on good results from. I also planted a couple lily of the Nile (Agapanthus sp.), that are typically a zone 8 plant. We are officially a zone 7b, so lets hope Al Gore is right. I also have a ginger lily in bloom. Ginger lily's are a great plant and it has taken a couple of years for it to establish enough to flower. It was a good day, well spent in the garden......I have changed my site around a bit to try and make it a bit more interesting. I have a poll, on who you are voting for, which is interesting to me. I will try to add a couple more interesting things in the coming weeks....Tomorrow is the first day of fall. I am ready for the first taste in the air, which usually comes around the end of September. The only bummer is that I wont be able to plant any more perennials. It is however the best time to plant trees. Anybody need a tree or fifty planted? .......Oh yeah, I have included a picture of an Agave americana 'variegata' That has been growing through the winter and is doing well. Agave's in Georgia?

Just another weekend

It has been a normal weekend. I have been catching up on all my homework. In fact I had to take a break to write this blog. I am taking my finals next week, so it is cram time. I am taking herbaceous identification, and I am forced to remember one hundred and forty Latin names. Damn Linnaeus and his binomial nomenclature. I will list a few of my favorites in no particular order: Aster novae-angliae 'Alma Potschke', Brassica oleracea var. Acephala, Dianthus gratianoplitanus 'Baths Pink', and Plectranthus amboinicus.. Say those three times fast. It's good to learn all these. They will come in handy when I feel like annoying my coworkers. I love saying "hey, have you seen that Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' that Mrs. Smith planted?", and then an hour later telling them I was talking about the black mondo grass. Fun stuff. Everyone is doing well. My back is feeling better, thank God. Just another normal weekend.

Bring on the hurricanes!

When the hurricanes reach Georgia, they are already tropical depressions. And when they hit just right, as Faye did, they usually dump rain for days on our area. We received about five inches from Faye, and it was a great thing. It filled the areas lakes up a bit, which is great as they are an important part of ending this "drought". It has been a little over two years since Katrina, and another hurricane is pounding on New Orleans, although it looks as though this storm will leave a lesser impact on the city. There is yet another storm that is headed our way, a weaker one, and I hope it makes it to north Georgia.......I hurt my back on Saturday. It wasn't a good thing. I make a living with my back, so I am hoping it is nothing major. I went to the E.R. on Saturday night (what a blast). I have never had back problems and it scares me to think this might be chronic. I am hoping for the best, as all signs point to a sprained muscle. It is scary to have such a hard time moving around. It takes about fifteen minutes just to get out of bed an firmly on my feet....Summer is coming to a close, and I am glad. The temperatures have not been that bad as of late, but hot nonetheless. I am ready for the leaves to start changing, and to get our first taste of fall.......I turned thirty last Wednesday, and I couldn't care less. It is; however, a weird thing as It seems to have sneaked up on me, as I am sure forty and fifty will. Oh well it is just a number..........

Where is the rain?

I haven't had that much time to put up any posts as of late. So here is the summation of what has been going on: School, work, no rain, sleep, repeat. It is hard to find anything exciting about those things. I don't want to seem negative, but just more of the same old boring stuff I always write about in this blog......Cathrine and Anna are in school again, Anna is officially a first-grader and Cat is in kindergarten. Cathrine's' school started two weeks later than Anna's, so last week was her first week of school. They both seem to enjoy school, and for that I am glad. As for my schoolin', I can't wait until it is over. I am ready for a break. This is the first and last summer quarter I have taken, and it is has not been fun. I am nearing the end though so I am hitting it hard to finish up. After this quarter I will have but a handful of core classes left......We are in the "dog days" of summer, it is hot,it is dry, and the yard is struggling. We need rain. Hopefully the rain from the looming tropical depression will be headed our way. Fingers crossed. The leaves are falling, from lack of water, making it seem like early fall. It is August for Pete's sake. It has also been rather cool the past couple of nights with temperatures in the upper sixties, an anomaly for Georgia this time of year. Not complaining about that one.......Other than that everything is going well. Same old grind, but every one is well around here.

?

I don't have anything. Here are some motivating posters.

It's summer........it's stinking hot.......

There is not much going on as of late. Not much at all. It is the middle of summer, it is hot, and the grass keeps on growing.....My side work has came to a standstill, as it always does this time of year. I really do not like not having something to do on Saturdays. It means that I cant do the thing I like to do on Sunday, like go to the nursery and find a plant. It will pick back up............Anybody in the working middle class poor feeling the pinch? It is getting rough paying these prices, whether it be gas, groceries, or the cost of living. Hell, I'm thinking of voting for Osama, I mean Obama, as he is bribing me with another one thousand dollar stimulus check. I mean come on. Times are tight......I mean it's all about CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE.......What kind of change who knows. He never says. O.K. enough with the politics thats boring, about as boring as Obama. I would never vote for that Pendejo by the way, I'm voting for the pasty white guy........No pics, no updates, that's it......

I tried to tell everybody...Apple sucks!!!!!

I recently.....and I mean recently bought a refurbished Ipod. It was a big piece of crap. It froze up multiple times, and then the battery went dead. Then the hard drive failed............So I blew it up. Piece of crap. Stupid Mac/Apple crap!!!!..............................................................................
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I kept my other Ipod though;)

Rain, rain go away.....no wait...it's supposed to rain...

It has been raining...a lot. We have had over four inches in the last week at our house. It has been great. I have seen downpours that I haven't seen in years around here. It has really changed things here, even within one week. The grass is finally growing, the wilted plants are back to normal, and my mood has improved. I love to see it rain; after two years of being in a drought(of which we are still in), it is nice to see it rain. O.K. that is enough about that, I just get excited when it rains like this, hell it is raining as I write this:) I started back to school this week. Back to reality, or more of it. The classes should be a lot easier this quarter as I am taking a greenhouse class and an herbaceous perennial I.D. class. I have a lot of experience in these subjects, so they shouldn't be that bad. They will still be demanding though. Business is going well. I finished a large job this weekend that has been going on for over a month. That was a good thing. It turned out nice, I believe, and I will post some pictures of it soon. I have two more medium size jobs lined up for the coming weeks. Good times.....thats about it. Cathrine is doing well, and Anna is on vacation with here grandparents in Boston. It is an annual trip. She is having fun. These girls have had it made with all the vacations they have had this summer. I wish I had their schedule! I am glad for them, as they are at the age that all the memories start to stick. I hope they are making good ones......

Weekend get home, I mean get away...

We took a little trip to "them there Smokey Mountains" this weekend;> It was a nice weekend getaway. The girls, as usual had a blast. We did all the touristy things. We went to the Rip-me...I mean Ripley's attractions(the highlight being the aquarium), went out and walked the strip(man my feet hurt), and went to the top of the Smokey mountains. We hiked to Clingman's dome, the highest point in Tennessee, and it was the highlight of 'my' weekend. I hiked trough that pass a lot of years ago when I crossed that section of the Appalachian Trail. It brought back some fond memories......Over all it was a pleasant trip, albeit an expensive one. Gatlinburg is a cool little town, and the backdrop is always spectacular. I will; however, never be there on the Fourth of July again.....Bad timing......Mooooooo cows! I am not complaining, as even a mediocre vacation beats no vacation. Besides, it is all about Anna and Cat, and they are not complaining....Another highlight of the weekend....We had the chance to see it rain. Two days in a row! Sure do wish it would do that around here Damn-it!.....It is dry as a bone....

What should the topic be?

There has been lots going on as of late. School finally ended, the quarter that is. I think I emerged with my 4.0 intact. I will know next week. It was a very rough quarter and I am really, really glad it is over. I don't have to go back until July ninth.....Anna and Cathrine went on a vacation with the grandparents this weekend. They took a trip to the cabin. It was weird not having them around, as we stayed behind for work. They had fun and Grandma and Grandpa made it back unscathed....We have been working, and working, and working. Things are going well.......It looks like we will be facing another damn drought year. We haven't had a decent rain in about a week in a half, and all the usual subjects are showing signs of drought stress. The back yard is looking rough as at least half of the fescue is dead, or on it's way to dying. Oh well, there is always next year. The drought has not had that much of an impact in business, but I expect it will soon. Where is the rain? Where are the "gully washers" of the old days? Who knows. I haven't been taking many pictures as of late, I have been really busy. That's about it around here, nothing really out of the ordinary. That is a good thing.

Another vacation?

Things have been hectic. No understatements. This is my last week of school for the quarter....Finals. We are planning a trip to the Smokey Mountains for the fourth and I am ready to go! I don't have much, as the week has been rather monotonous. Once school and work grant a break, I will have a more interesting post.....

I wish we were still on vacation.

I have been busy. Very busy, but who hasn't. I have posted some more pictures of our trip to Florida. Two weeks later. Between work, more work, and school I have been neglecting the Blog.......It is finals week, hell yeah. I love finals. Most of them should be easy, but they are challenging none the less. I will be very glad to finish this Spring quarter. It has been a rough one, as the classes have been running late, resulting me getting home around ten thirty or eleven. One more week. Summer quarter should be a tad easier as I am attending as a special student (I'm riding the short bus...). My instructors are allowing me to participate in class through e-mails and on line. This will be so helpful. I am close to finishing, and I have been putting off the Summer quarter for two or three years now. Going to school after working a full day with temps in the nineties, and the going to school until ten P.M. never excited me.....Speaking of the temperature it has been very hot here. It was 99 this afternoon, a good ten degrees above the average (what global warming?). It has also been on the dry side. It looks like we might be headed for another drought year. Let's hope not.....My second job has been going well, and I have a steady supply of supplemental money (to spend on the equipment that I need to do the work). Things will get better though, and I am assured I will be a millionaire in a couple of months:). Don't I wish. I should have been a doctor.......We have done some more work on the yard, and I will have some more pictures of it next week. I have refused to go out and do anything in the yard today, including taking pictures, because of this damn heat. ...I need one day off. That's it. I hope everybody has a good week.......

The Vacation

Oh boy, I wish I was at the beach.....We had a great time on vacation. It was long over due, and I can see us doing it again next year. We did all the touristy things, visited the local theme parks, went to the pier, the beach, and of course, the pool. The girls had a blast and we did too. It was an all around good time. Enough said.

Cocoa Beach, FL

Here is some pics of our vacation......More to come........

Vacation next week

Yup, We are going to take a vacation next week. I am looking forward to going, as we haven't taken an official vacation in a couple of years. We are going to Coco Beach, Fl. I'll be sure to take plenty of pics....I started a business last week. I have been hesitant to write about it because of any conflicts of interest with my current job, but I can't help it. My goal is not to give up my day job, but rather to supplement my income. It has been going well so far, and I am really busy during the weekends. We spent Saturday building a retaining wall, and it was tough work, and there were lots of sore muscles this morning. It will continue on for a couple more weekends, and I will post some pics as the job progresses. The last couple of weeks have been strenuous, but productive. There will be more on this later......School has been tough, and I am going to force myself to take two courses this summer. I need to get those classes out of the way. Managing all the things I have on my table as of late has been tough, but I am not complaining.....It has been raining this year (knock on wood), and the drought is not as evident this year. Thank God.....I guess it's back to mowing wet grass, and pruning bushes every week.