zoomquilt2.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Worlds within worlds within worlds, this may give you motion sickness! Caution, some of the images are very disturbing. But the idea behind it is very cool.

zoomquilt2.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)


8 am 52 degrees
Partly sunny

Water is coming up!

Not a great photo, but you can see how the water is coming up in the inlet. There are two guys in a boat fishing there. If you go back to February I have a picture of the same spot, mostly dry. The shale wall is now completely underwater, making it about 8 ft deep in that spot.


8 am 53 degrees
9 pm 58 degrees
Sunny and hot

Greenhouse update 3-25-07

Well, all the arches are up, and the purlins (things that connect the arches) are up too. It doesn't look like like all that much work, but it was! And dragging that scaffolding around was fun, too...

That Casey!

Casey likes to sit on things, and I mean SIT on things, like she is a person. She's quite a character, there are a lot of little odd things she does, but she is the biggest sweetie and loves to be petted and brushed. Her fur is so soft!

More Wildflowers

Two more wildflowers, I'm not sure what they are called- if you do, please let me know!

Spring is here...

White blossoms






Yellow Trilliums (I think)
They smell citrusy.
Trillium cuneatum var luteum?











I guess this is the north side of the tree??


8am 55 degrees
5pm 84 degrees
Sunny and HOT (88 degrees)

Greenhouse update

Well, today the guys from Trinity Construction gave us a hand and helped us put up the last 4 spans. Then Harry clambered around on the scaffolding all day trying to get the purlins in place. (The purlins are the long supports that run the length of the greenhouse and anchor the spans in place- I think!) Each purlin is about 8 ft long and heavy! One end is swaged, or narrowed, so it can fit into the end of the next piece. Each purlin has to be threaded through a fitting on the span- not easy when you're standing on the scaffolding 12 ft off the ground! Poor Harry. It was a lot of hard work on a warm day.

On a more positive note, Happy Birthday Madison!

8 a.m. 52 degrees
7:15 p.m. 73 degrees

Happy Birthday Madison!

Today it is Harry's granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday Madison!

8am 52 degrees
7:15 pm 73 degrees
Partly cloudy

Tryin to kill my dog???

News of the pet food recall broke Sunday on the Anatolian Shepherd Dog list, and Monday I checked out the Menu Foods website to scan the list of recalled food. So far it is only canned or pouched food, but I'm still worried since we use a few of the affected brand's dry food or biscuits.

Tonight after an update on local pets on the news, I rechecked the list. What the???? Now we have a recalled can of food- Paws with Lamb Cuts and Vegetables. Did I miss it the first time I checked? How scary!

We don't routinely feed our dogs canned food as a meal. They do however, get a little snack every night of a spoonful of canned food. I've been meaning to open the Paws can but since it is a 22 oz. can I wasn't sure my plastic lid I use on the cans would fit. Right now I'm so happy I never opened this can.

You know, the can has no indication on it that is is made by Menu Foods in Canada. As a matter of fact it has "Product of USA" printed on the label. Tsk! Shame!

I'm getting a little scared about food. Just a few weeks ago we had to toss a jar of peanut butter because that brand recalled them. Hope they never get my Cheetos!

8 am 50 degrees
5:30 pm 68 degrees
cloudy, rain in late afternoon

Pine trees

We have a really nice neighbor in Mike Coffee. He and his wife Karen are also new to the area, and between us we are finding good places for lumber, salvage, eating, renting equipment, etc, etc, etc!

A few weeks ago we had a conversation about planting trees. In Wisconsin the Natural Resource Department would sell reforestation trees at a very reasonable price, and we both hoped to find something like that in TN.

Yesterday morning Mike drove down our driveway and said, "how many trees do you want?".
He had been out running errands and heard on the radio that the Forestry service was giving away pine trees- small seedlings, 8-10 inches tall. Wow! How nice!

This morning Harry and I went down the road to plant them. Our road comes off a frontage road, and there are pines running along it blocking view of the freeway and blocking some of the noise. In a few areas there aren't any trees, so we planted ours there. When they grow up they'll help keep things quiet.

8 am 30 degrees
4:15pm 50 degrees
Sunny

Happy Birthday Carie!

Happy Birthday Carie Bryant!

rained all night last night. cloudy today.

8 a.m. 55 degrees.
6:30 p.m. 39

You, Turkey

You'll probably have to click on the photo to enlarge it, but see if you can count the turkeys in this picture. We have a large herd in the area- we've counted over 30 birds. They are wonderful and awesome. So big! I hope no one shoots them! Here they are casually strolling away since they've spotted me in the distance.


8 am 55 degrees
6:30 pm 39 degrees
rained all last night.

Puppy's Birthday

Puppy is our big dog that we got through Anatolian Shepherd Dog Rescue. We initially signed up to foster him, but even before we got him home we knew he was our dog. My big fuzz ball.

Today is the Ides of March, and we picked Puppy up 4 years ago, so I guess we can consider this his birthday! He got extra brushing and petting today, and this afternoon I took him for a walk all by himself, and let him go swimming. He was a pretty happy dog after that.

8 a.m. 55 degrees
7 p.m. rain.

Google Mars

Harry loves Google Earth, and spend hours looking at it, seeing far off places and sites of interest. Now he can do the same on Mars!
Google Mars

Woop Woop?

The other day, I was googling Australian nicknames and Australian slang. Since I like to grow Australian plants, I thought I'd give them some cute or funny names. WOOP WOOP is slang for a remote or backward location, and since we just moved to Tennessee, where the nearest town boasts 2,000 residents, I thought it would be a perfect name for a gardening blog.

Goin' Swimmin'

This morning it was so nice I walked Puppy and Casey down to the lake and let them wade a little. You can see how much more water there is in the lake now.

7 a.m. 54 degrees
4 p.m. 74 degrees
Sunny

Starting actual Greenhouse

Today Harry started attaching the GH feet to the base boards. It was pretty hard work, all the screws had to be put in by hand.
I helped him, but he did most of the work.

It felt good to get started on the greenhouse.
7 a.m. 41 degrees
4 p.m. 73 degrees
Sunny

Greenhouse update

Robert and Mark finished up the greenhouse base today. Wow, it is really tall on the side. And to think I thought the ground was pretty level!

In the afternoon I went to work in the inlet and burn some branches and logs. Within minutes of me lighting the fires, the wind started gusting. The bonfires leaped higher and higher, and some leaves about 20 feet away started smoking and then burning. I tried to pull the wood piles apart so they wouldn't burn as fast, but was afraid that would cause more sparks to fly.
All I could think of was that I would be on the news! The woman who caused a forest fire! Or even worse, burned down her husband's dream home 4 months after they move in! I was in full panic mode and this time I used the cell phone to call Harry for help and urge him to come down and help me. To make matters worse, a neighbor across the inlet came down to see what was going on. I felt horrible, I kept saying "I have a burning permit!" "It wasn't windy when I started!"
Harry finally arrived and helped pull the brush piles apart. I was worried that now the wood would burn too slowly, and possibly smolder all night. I suggested dowsing the fires with water, and Harry agreed. It took lots of buckets from the stream, but I felt much better putting the fire out completely.
The experience dampened my enthusiasm for burning all the driftwood in the inlet, I won't do any more burning until we get some rain. There had been two other bad forest fires in the area- one in Knoxville and one in Pigeon Forge, and I'm so happy I didn't add to them.

7 a.m. 37 degrees
2 p.m. 70 degrees
Sunny

Greenhouse Arrives!!

This morning we got a call that the greenhouse was on its way. The driver was about 50 miles away. When he got to our house, there was some bad news. The greenhouse was in a full size semi trailer, 52 feet long. The driver wasn't worried about driving down our driveway, but he didn't think he'd be able to turn around once he got to our house. Somehow someone (not me!) came up with the bright idea of backing the truck up the driveway to our house. Now, I wouldn't even back a car down that steep, narrow driveway! And it is 2/10ths of a mile from the road to the house!

We also had to get the greenhouse pallets off the truck by ourselves. We don't own a forklift, so Harry planned on pulling them out with his tractor.
The truck driver walked back to our house and said we'd have to unload up at the road and bring everything down on our utility trailer. We weren't too happy about that but felt better when the driver offered to help us lift the boxes.

Luckily one of our neighbors was driving by. He owns a tractor and tire center and called for one of his tow trucks. By the time we got up to the road the flatbed tow truck was backed up to the semi. Although our greenhouse was all the way in the front of the semi, the tow guys hooked a chain on it and pulled it all the way onto the tow truck. Then they drove the truck down our driveway, tipped the flatbed part up, and slid the pallet onto our driveway. What lifesavers!

Did I mention all the greenhouse pieces were on a 19 foot long pallet? It would have been almost impossible for us to get that up to our house, even using our 8 ft long trailer. And moving everything by hand? Our Bill of Lading said the shipping weight was 4542 pounds. We can't thank those tow guys enough! They were very, very nice.

7 a.m. 37 degrees
4 p.m. 70 degrees
Sunny and breezy

gh update

Boards are all on. Now they will cut the tops off the post and put a board running along the top edge.

7 a.m. 27 degrees
6 p.m. 57 degrees
Sunny day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOPER!!

Happy Birthday to my nephew Cooper! He is a cool kid and VERY smart!

7 a.m. 42 degrees
8 p.m. 61 degrees
rain