Life is Interesting

Things have been busy lately. As if that were news!

Last weekend my girlfriend scored tickets to the Martina McBride concert in Greensboro. It was a pretty good concert. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan opened for her. I think the most impressive thing she did though was ride a crescent moon prop across the coliseum while singing the whole time. She ended up on a little mini stage at the back of the coliseum where she sang a couple songs, and then WALKED singing through the crowd back to the stage shaking hands, hugging necks, and waving to the crowd. Impressive.

Saturday I planted the rest of my corn, another row of lima beans, some more basil, and some sage. I also planted a hill of cantaloupe. I worked on some of the irrigation too.

Saturday night we had a celebration for my mom's birthday. My brother made some tasty turkey burgers with spinach and feta cheese. My sister made a really tasty angel food cake trifle with pineapple and vanilla pudding. And I contributed a veggie slaw (that doesn't use any sugar or mayonnaise) South Beach mashed cauliflower, and a wilted spinach dish with portabella mushrooms, asparagus, and cashews. It was a tasty repast!

Sunday I got to play bass at church. It was fun. I haven't gotten to play bass in ages, so I was a little rusty, but I still had a good time.

At work this week I have been trying to get used to some new software. We bought an upgrade to our database program. It is definitely an improvement, but the learning curve has been a little steep. It has slowed down a lot of my administrative duties as I have been trying to figure out where everything goes in the program. It isn't extremely intuitive. A lot of the functionality is hidden until you know where to look for it - which really isn't any different than the last version of the program. I wish they had done a widespread beta. I would have liked to make some suggestions that I think would have made it better. The program is called MarketsharpM, and if you are involved in any type of building industry, I would recommend it. They have a good team of people supporting it and the program is affordable and powerful.

I hope that you all voted yesterday. This primary came up on me pretty quickly. I really didn't have the time to prepare like I would have liked to, but I did feel pretty good about the choices that I made. I was disappointed that James Taylor didn't upset Howard Coble, but I can still put my support behind Howard. I like the way Coble votes, but I just think it is time for him to move on, and I like the way James is thinking.

My band has moved to two a week practices now. We only have 26 days until we will be playing at our church's outreach called "Fields Of Grace." Fields of Grace will be a series of outdoor events beginning the last Sunday night in May. My band will be playing the first Sunday night in June, and there will be concerts the next two Sunday nights. We're just trying to get the salt out of the shaker a little bit.

This weekend will be tricky. I want to get up to visit my Grandmother for Mother's Day (that's this Sunday, by the way) but I still have some gardening that needs to be done. I need to plant my last row of lima beans and want to plant another hill of watermelon and cantaloupe. I may also have some sweet potatoes to plant, and they will need water so I'll have to get my irrigation sorted out better than it is right now. It is always something. I have already spent as much on this garden as I really want to. Oh well.

So that is the latest. I hope all is going well for you! Thanks for reading!

Garden Update

Well, things have been going pretty well in the garden so far. Two weeks ago I planted half of my tomatoes and some lima beans. Last week I planted just about everything else. I hope to get the rest of it planted Saturday.

When I went out yesterday to check things I saw that most of my first row of lima beans have come up. I was very pleased to see that. If I can get my irrigation out I'm sure it won't be long until the others follow suit.

So far we have about 50 tomato plants, a dozen squash plants, half a dozen zucchini, a long row of blackeye peas, a long row of purple hull peas, a long row of green beans, 2 long rows of lima beans, a hill of watermelons, a dozen jalapeno peppers, 3 red bell peppers, 3 poblano peppers, 3 yellow bell peppers, 3 green bell peppers, 3 purple bell peppers, 3 mild banana peppers, 2 dill plants, one basil plant, and one cabbage plant (that belongs to my niece.) Oh yeah, and three short rows of corn.

Still to be planted are two rows of lima beans (one will get planted next week) three or 4 rows of corn, cucumbers, and several hills of cantaloupes, water melons, and maybe even a hill of honeydew if I can find it. I also have some sweet potatoes to see if I can sprout. I may do some of them too.

It still sounds like a lot, but not so much really. I will probably plant the rest of the corn, one row of lima beans, and one hill of cantaloupe on Saturday. If I can find it I'll probably do a hill of honeydew too.

This year I selected 4 main varieties of tomato. I have a dozen Better Boy plants, because that has been my family's favorite for years. I have also planted a dozen Roma tomatoes for canning and salsa. There is also dozen Celebrity for eating, canning and salsa. Finally, I got a dozen Cherokee Purple for juice. I also added a grape tomato and another "tommytoe" variety. And my friend Terry gave me another variety that I have divided into three plants. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of that one.

Saturday's work in the garden will also be spent getting my irrigation sorted - or at least planned. Every year you have to chase leaks, and I'll have to take some time to find out what hoses are working, which ones can be repaired, and which ones need to be trashed. Then I can figure out what else I need. I also need to put down some lime and fertilizer. It probably wouldn't hurt to get the tomato stakes in the ground too.

So far the weeds haven't shown up yet, but when they do, I have a handy new pointy hoe to take care of them, thanks to my girlfriend's mom! As much work as gardening is, for some reason I really enjoy it.

Well, that's all for the farm report tonight! I'll try to get you caught up this weekend.

Garden Time Again

Today was the official beginning of gardening season for me this year. I got to disk the garden, which was pretty fun. But then it is always pretty fun to get to drive the tractor.

I had thought to go ahead and till tomorrow, but I think I am going to hold off. I don't really want to plant anything for the next couple weeks until I am reasonably sure that the danger of frost is past. I'm not planning to do any colder weather crops this year.

As I have been thinking about things, I am reasonably sure that I will do tomatoes, green beans, corn, cantaloupes, watermelons, peppers, squash, cucumbers, basil, and fordhook lima beans. I am also probably going to do black-eyed peas as well.

I plan to do a lot of tomatoes - at least 4 dozen plants. I want to do a dozen Cherokee Purple plants for juice, a dozen Better Boys and a dozen Celebrity for just plain eating, and a dozen Romas for canning and salsa. I'll probably also throw in some grape/cherry tomato plants too. I had good results from the Goliath hybrids last year too. They produced longer than the others did. I may do a few of them too. I'd like to do at least 2 Ox Hearts too. That's a lot of tomatoes.

I am going to try something different with my lima beans this year. I am planning to wait until most of the beans on the bushes are just beginning to turn a little yellow and then pull up the plants. In the past two years I have only gotten 1-2 good pickings off of the plants and the first was always bigger than the second. I think that I will have better results by planting pulling and re-planting than by doing what I have done before. Time will tell. Gardening is a great place to experiment!

Well, that is all for now. I'll keep you updated!

Daggum!

I can't believe it has been so hard to keep up my posting here lately. There are a couple of contributing factors though. My poor computer is in dire need of some attention - not nearly enough memory for what I am trying to do with it. This sad fact makes everything that I try to do with the computer take much longer than it should. The other major factor that has been playing in is the size of my garden. It has been much more demanding this year. Add to that a project that I have been working on at my parents' house to reclaim the basement from its oblivion as the world's largest junk repository and my participation in a new band, I guess it isn't too surprising that something had to give.

Speaking of the band...

If any of you are in close proximity to Rowan County today you should come out to Godstock. It is an annual festival that is held at the South Rowan YMCA on Kimball Road to raise money to help NC families with critically ill children. The money that is raised from Godstock doesn't go to pay medical bills, but is used to pay other expenses like car payments, rent, electricity, etc. for these families who have had to take a parent out of the work force to care for their sick child. It's a really good cause.

Today my band, which is for the moment called Crosswire, will be playing at Godstock from 12:00 noon to about 1:30. Our style is rock. Our music is mostly worship. I wish I had been able to give you a little more notice. I will, however post some pictures in the next several days and let you know how things went.

And with that I need to sign off and finish getting ready to go. I need to leave in about an hour and a half to get set up. In the meantime, I'll leave you with what I am listening to to get me psyched about today!

The Latest

It has been a while since I have published, and that is almost entirely the garden's fault - that and the fact that I have hardly been home in the past month. Tomorrow I am finishing up a house-sitting commitment that I made, and then I'll be back to my own bed. YES! You know, it is hard to beat sleeping in your own bed.

I overdid it with the garden this year for sure. Some things have been sadly neglected - like my purplehull peas. I'll be surprised if I get much from them at all this year. You do what you can do, and decide what to get done with the time that you have. Sadly, the purplehulls have taken a back seat to the limas, green beans and butter beans.

The green beans and butter beans have done better this year than I ever imagined that they would though. I have only picked the limas once and have already gotten more than twice what I got all season last year. The butter beans have produced well too, but I have discovered that they are the devil to pick. They are about 10x harder to pick than the limas - and I used to think that limas were hard to pick. I doubt that I'll be planting butter beans next year. I don't like them well enough to justify the work involved in picking them.

The broccoli has stopped and I need to pull it up, and my corn is coming along nicely. It is a little over knee high. I am still getting tomatoes too, but some of them have quit and others are starting to slow down some. My okra is doing nicely too. The green beans seem to be hitting their second wind, but I am leaving a couple rows for seed. The squash and zucchini are done, but my peppers are still producing very well.

Well, that is all I have time for right now. You can expect to hear more from me next week!

Garden Update

Things are going well in the garden. Yesterday I had some good help too. My nephew and my niece helped me pick cucumbers, tomatoes, banana peppers, onions, broccoli, and green beans. They also helped me to put out some more soaker hose for irrigation. And we also encouraged the purplehull runners to climb the trellis. My niece told me, "Uncle Jonathan, this is the most fun we have ever had together!" That did my heart good!

All told we picked about 2 gallons of green beans. They were some of the prettiest ones I have ever seen. I'm looking forward to tasting them soon too! My niece even helped me to string and break the beans last night. While we watched the Braves finish their sweep of the Phillies! Whoo! Now if the Braves can just keep it going for the rest of the season. Gardening is great because it gives me an excuse to watch baseball! You might as well do something while you are processing the harvest!

Some of the new tomato varieties that I grew this year are pretty good. I really like the taste of both the Celebrity and the Early Girl tomatoes. The Celebrity tastes a lot like the Better Boy whereas the Early Girl is really sweet. The German Johnson had a good taste too. We should have some other varieties to taste soon. I have been a little disappointed with the Roma tomatoes' seeming proclivity to bloom end rot. I haven't been able to get any Calcinit Tropicote on them this year and I am sure that it isn't helping matters, but I have only found the problem on my Better Boys and my Romas. I have been putting off putting out the CT because the pellets melted and have become one large block. I don't look forward to breaking that block up into a powder that will get all over my hands when I go to put it out. Blech.

Onions are hanging in there but I'll be pulling them up soon. I think they are about done.

I still need to sort some irrigation issues. I need to get some for my corn and some for the remainder of the purplehulls. My corn isn't up yet, probably because I haven't been able to get any water on it yet. I need to get that sorted quickly because I need to get it going. And I also want to do a couple successive plantings and that needs to be done soon. I'd also like to get some pumpkins planted soon.

Loving the summer weather this week. If it would stay like this I wouldn't mind summers at all. Keep me under 90 degrees and I'm a pretty happy camper.

Garden Update

Things are going nicely in the garden, although it is starting to get a little dry. I have started getting tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, broccoli, and peppers. All of my beans are blooming, the cantaloupe and watermelon are doing nicely, and the okra is finally getting going.

It is a pretty garden this year. We have put up trellises for the green beans, purplehull peas, and cucumbers to climb. Everything is nice and green. At least for now.

I'm still sorting out irrigation issues. I noticed my green beans starting to go a little yellow on me from the lack of rain and abundant heat over the past week so I went to work to make sure that I got irrigation to them today. I ended up putting 6 patches on one of the soaker hoses. It could have used 8, but I only had 6, so I cut out a bigger section than normal so that I could get the last two leaks repaired. I have two more hoses to get sorted out. I need to do so soon because I have corn in the ground now that I doubt will come up if I don't get some water on it. The purplehulls are going to be needing water too.

And that is your farm report!

It Has Begun

Yesterday I spent a good bit of time in the garden. I was able to get some plants in the ground. I planted some more tomatoes, some jalapeño peppers, and cucumbers. I also transplanted some tomatoes that had come up volunteer and some green beans that managed to get out of their rows. I also got up some rocks and tilled one row to get the weeds out. I drove some stakes for the new tomatoes and tied the tomatoes.

I also dug six post holes. That was the toughest thing I did. On my next to last hole there was huge rock about ¾ of the way to the depth that I was digging. It would have been nice to have some dynamite.... After an epic struggle I finally managed to lever that thing out.

Today I plan to do some more work. I need to spray, get up rocks, and till. I'd like to get the rest of the irrigation sorted, but that is probably more than I'll get done today. I also need to fertilize, finish the trellis for the peas, get the peas up on the trellis, and weed the peas. Anybody bored today? Sounds like I have another day's worth of work to do. More later!

Coming Soon...

I've begun thinking about the next installment in the Spiritual Warfare series. I think that it is going to be about grace. The trick is going to be figuring out how to unravel this very difficult concept. It is more abstract than the concepts that I have tackled so far and is something that I have been pondering for almost 20 years.

Yesterday I managed to write my first query letter and submit my first article for publication. I hope that I'll get a positive response to it. I should know something by the end of June.

I hope to head over to the garden for a little while this afternoon. I have some plants to set out and I will probably also tie up the tomatoes again. I don't think that I'll do any heavy work today because I am playing guitar tomorrow. I'm visiting a friend's church in the Charlotte area.

Now I am going to take a little time and practice guitar and figure out what I will be singing for tomorrow. I hope that you are all enjoying this beautiful Saturday!

Garden Pictures

Hello everyone. Well, I was able to upload my pictures over at Mom and Dad's house today, and I thought I'd share them with you. To start out I thought I'd show you a picture of the garden from about this time last year.



Here is this year's version:


OK. Not only is the picture larger, the garden is too. In the top picture you will notice that the garden stops at that persimmon tree. This year the garden has engulfed the tree. Also last year's garden ended about where that soaker hose is cutting across the picture horizontally about ½ the way up the picture. I figure that I have probably added about 50% more area this year.


I have rearranged things this year some. The row to the far left is where my okra is planted. Next to the okra are my tomatoes and my sweet peppers. Next to the tomatoes are my fordhook lima beans. And next to the fordhooks are baby lima beans. I also will be planting some jalapeño peppers next to the baby limas and may plant some Irish potatoes in that same row. I also hope to plant some white sweet potatoes on the other side of the persimmon tree in that row.

The section with horizontal rows is arranged as follows: in the section nearest to the camera are my various squash plants. I think I have 9 summer squash and 3 zucchini plants. Next to the squash are my cucumbers. I have six more cucumber plants to put out. Next to the cucumbers I have 5 rows of green beans. Next to the green beans are one section of my onions. There are two different varieties in that section. I really can't remember what they were though. (I think I had some Cherry and some Texas Gold and one other variety, but I really can't remember.) Next to the onions are my green peas. And beyond the green peas are my cantaloupe and watermelon plants. After that is my second section of onions (a third variety), which adjoin my broccoli, and finally 5 rows of purplehull peas (crowder peas.)

Everything seems to be coming up nicely.

Here are green beans a week ago verses where they are today:









I have a squash bloom now!


Onions last week:

















And now:


And peas:


Broccoli then and now:



















And Purplehulls...




The first picture doesn't show the plants that well, but it does show how much the garden expanded this year. It began on the other side of that tree.

And this is one of the bigger problems that I have to contend with - leaky hoses. The soakers do a pretty good job overall, but they tend to need a good bit of repair through the course of the season.



There are tomatoes coming on and blooms on lots of the plants. Everything is looking good. If it will stop raining for a couple of days I'll re-spray everything because it needs it again. There are some hungry pests out there. I also need to tie the tomatoes again and weed the peas and finish making the trellises. It's always something!

Might As Well...

Well, it is extremely late, but I still have the energy so I might as well give an update on the garden while I am writing.

Today saw me finishing up some of the work in my garden. I managed to finish weeding the broccoli, hoed in between the last two rows of onions, put out some soaker hoses, and applied an insecticide to the plants that the bugs have been so enthusiastically eating. I also tied the tomatoes for the first time.

Things are going well in the garden. The green beans all appear to be up. The purplehulls are about up, the baby limas are up, and the okra is poking its way through. The fordhooks haven't shown themselves yet, but I think that if I can get some irrigation to them that they will spring forth as well. I about lost my watermelon plants and a couple squash plants to thirst, but I think that I got to them in time.

The big challenge so far this year is trying to figure out how to water this large garden. I don't have nearly enough soaker hoses. At this point the budget for such things is tight, so my only option may be to move the hoses from day to day as things need to be watered. All in all I don't guess that would be so bad - just a little inconvenient.

Yesterday (Thursday) was a hard day in the garden. All of my onions needed weeding and I have a LOT of onions. First I needed to get the weeds out and then I needed to pull all of the dirt back away from the bulb of each onion so that only the roots were left in the ground. From all reports, this is the way that they like to grow. The only way to do them effectively was to either get down on my knees or to bend over and work on them. Some of the onions are really starting to come along. I am anticipating them to do so more readily now that they have gotten some fertilizer, water, and the other attention that they need.

I also drove all of the stakes for the tomatoes. It was a good shoulder workout!

Dad helped out by setting up trellises for my garden peas to run on. I really appreciated his help. We still need to do them for the purplehulls and the green beans. He also helped to get some of the soaker hoses put out, ran the hose from the wellhouse to the garden, and hooked everything up. He even patched a leak.

Speaking of leaks, one of the soakers that I put out today sprung a big one. Keeping them repaired is a constant process.

I believe that I should have some peas ready for picking soon, I have seen a couple small tomatoes on a few vines, and I noticed an itty-bitty head of broccoli forming in one of my plants.

Next week I need to finish tying the strings in the trellis for my peas, put up a trellis for my cucumbers, and finish my hoeing.

I took some pictures tonight of the garden and I'll try to post them here tomorrow. We'll have to see how it goes. I don't have that much memory on my computer, and I think that I took pretty high resolution photos. I may need to wait until I can download them at my parents' house. I should make it over there some time this weekend. I think that I got some interesting shots.

Hope you guys all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. In the midst of all of your recreation take the time to remember all of those who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms. God bless!

The Next Installment

I have basically finished the second article in the warfare series, but it needs a little polish still. I'm going to let it sit over night and try to clean it up in the morning. However, if you can't wait and want to see it now it is available at my blog Conspiracy of Kindness.

Tomorrow I hope to go and do some work in the garden to do some of the things that still have to be done in the wake of planting. I'll try to remember to take the camera.

Garden Planted... Mostly

So today was planting day in my garden. Yesterday I was able to get everything limed and tilled (having a tiller that attaches to the tractor is a serious blessing!) and so all was ready for me to start planting when I got to the garden today.

When I first got there storms were all around. I had passed through a couple significant rain showers on the way to the garden. I was praying back the rain as hard as I could! God heard my prayers and had mercy on me and allowed me to get everything planted before the rain came back. He is so good to me! (My poor Grandmother still hasn't been able to beat the rain and get her garden planted. Mom and Dad went to help her yesterday but it rained all night. I'm going to have to do some prayer for her! Maybe if we link up we can get it dried out enough!) It was a long day, and I'm quite tired now.

The garden this year is quite expanded from last year's model. I have probably added about 50% more area to it. That has allowed me to plant more stuff! I'm not sure how I am going to keep up with all of it and process it all when harvest time comes, but that is beside the point.

So this year I have broccoli, onions, green peas, purplehull peas, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, baby lima beans, fordhook lima beans, green beens, straight neck squash, zucchini, cilantro, basil, dill, okra, a least 10 varieties of tomatoes, sweet banana peppers, and bell peppers. I was thinking about getting some blackeye peas to plant, but I think I'm going to pass on it. Do I really want something else to have to pick and process? I also toyed with the idea of doing some potatoes or sweet potatoes, but I come back to the same thing. Is it really worth it? I don't know. The insanity may have not left me yet. If I can find some white sweet potatoes to start I may very well go over the edge. I am also planning to plant some corn a little later when my onions are closer to being done.

I need to do some fine weeding in the onions and also pull the dirt away from them so that they can grow. I figure that it will probably be a painful afternoon on my knees in and amongst the rocks. Not really looking forward to it to be honest. (I pulled a rock out today that was almost the size of a shoebox!) I also need to start getting trellises set up so that my peas, cucumbers and green beans have something to run on. Most everything needs fertilizer too. I need to stake the tomatoes, and I need to put the irrigation lines out. I'll probably need to buy more. We barely had enough last year. There will probably be repairs that need to be made too. I'm wondering if the sprinkler heads may not be more efficient this year than the soaker hoses. For the time involved and the expense it may well be cheaper. It may also make weeding easier.

Anyway it is late and I'm tired so I'm going to call it a night. I'll try to get you some pictures soon. It is starting to look pretty good!

Sun And Red Dirt

It was another glorious day in the garden. I started out by putting out some pelletized lime - about 150 pounds of it. So that got the day started off with some exercise! Then I got the tractor out and tilled. It was great - it didn't break this time. It seems that we have finally gotten the problem with the drive shaft figured out.

I went through the garden and tilled, but the level was too high so I was only able to get a couple inches deep. While I was tilling the first pass, Dad asked me to get the really big rocks out of the garden before I tried to go any deeper. Picking up rocks! My FAVORITE... not.

So when I got done tilling I set about the task of getting the rocks out of the garden that grew there since last year when I hauled off three truck loads! Oh, you can say that rocks don't grow, but I know better.

There were also a couple low spots in the garden that I wanted to get raised up so that they were more level to make the tiller more effective. So I asked Dad to work on that while I got the rocks up. He hooked up the front-end loader and did a very fine job if I do say so myself. His job was a lot more fun than mine! After he finished that chore he took the tractor fixed it so that I could get the tiller a little lower and dig deeper. He finished that a little before I had finished picking up rocks. I figure I got over a ton of rocks for my wall today.

I doubt that anyone would say that I am fast at picking up rocks, but I'm pretty sure that I'm a lot faster than I was as a kid. Back then I pretty much stood there and whined about having to do that terrible job. Mom was usually the one out there with us when we were doing it, and since she hated doing it as much as we did I think that our approach generally got us out of having to do it very long. Today I managed to get the majority of the garden done in a couple hours.

Once I finished the rock collecting, (I really need to find a geologist who could tell me if there is anything valuable in these rocks that I am picking up. I have a feeling that there may be some hidden treasure there....) I got to do some more tractor driving, which brought the fun factor way back up again. I got the entire garden tilled. It looks pretty good.

I really wanted to get my stuff planted, but my afternoon in the hot sun (which was gratefully not nearly as hot as I would have expected for the middle of May) had me pretty worn out. I probably would have pushed on and at least gotten something planted, but the weatherman was pretty sure that I'd have a sunny day again tomorrow with showers in the evening. Perfect for planting! I love it when the Lord sends rain on my stuff just when I need it.

I think I have my layout for the garden pretty well figured out now. Dad and I surveyed it yesterday, and he had some really good suggestions that I plan to implement. So, that is the plan for tomorrow. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get it planted this year, but the Lord has finally given me a break from the rain. Soon as I have it in the ground He can bring it back!

I love the smell of freshly tilled dirt in the morning....

Hoping The Rain Will Hold Off

Huzzah! If the Weather Channel is right, I may actually have another day to work in my garden this week. It is looking like Thursday should be clear and warm now. Was anyone else cold today? Wow. That caught me off guard.

I still plan to go to the garden tomorrow and see if it is dry enough to work. I hope it will be, but if not at least I should have one more day of sunshine to dry it out. That will also give me the time to get the last few plants that I need and allow me to soak my okra seed before I plant them.

Hopefully over the course of the next two days the majority of my garden will be put in. Then comes the weeding, hoeing, spraying, watering, staking and tying that are required to get ready for the harvest. Then the real work begins.

I hope my Grandmother will be able to get her garden in this week too. She has been fretting about it.

Today I worked on the article I mentioned yesterday and got about a third of the way done. It is funny; after 21 years of reading various books and listening to various people teach, I can't remember where I got some of the information that is in my head. Is it something that I learned directly from my own experience or the Lord's instruction, or is it something that I picked up from someone else? Oh well, I suppose I'll treat it as my own unless I come across the source of the information somewhere along the way, and then I'll go back and give credit where it is due.

I hope that the week is treating you well. I hope to write more tomorrow!

A Few Days Away

Huzzah! Tomorrow is the departure day for a camping trip with a friend of mine. I have been counting down on Facebook for a few days now and tomorrow is the big day! I have needed some time away and it will be fun to get out of Rowan County for a weekend.

Originally we had planned to go to bee-U-ti-ful Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside of Blowing Rock. However, I discovered today that their campsites don't open until May 15. Bummer. So as an alternative we have decided to go to Cade's Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It should be a fun trip. It is a little further away, but I haven't been there in years, and I'm looking forward to visiting some of the places that I used to go with another friend. I hope that we get to see some wildlife, and I just discovered that Rocky Top is within walking distance from the park. (But then again, so is San Francisco.... We'll see if I venture that far.)

I was thwarted in my efforts today to finish planting my garden. Unfortunately the drive shaft that dad had bought for the tiller didn't fit. We ended up taking it back and then going to the John Deere place only to discover that they didn't have what we needed either. They have ordered it and it should be in tomorrow. Unfortunately, I won't be here when it gets in. Hopefully this will fix our problem with the tiller, and I'll be able to finally till the entire garden without it breaking! I have purchased most of my plants and have also discovered a large collection of seeds that my dad had in his freezer. I look forward to getting things squared away when I get back. I have expanded the garden considerably this year. I hope that it will be big enough to handle all that I hope to plant. And I hope that I will be big enough to keep up with it!

I'll share pictures when I get back!

Stuff...

Tomorrow will be a major gardening day - at least as I have it planned right now. There is tons to do. I need to do some plowing and I need to weed and hoe. I need to re-plant some of my peas and get my ground ready for tomatoes and other things. It should be a day full of activity.

Beyond that there have been some good things happening. I recently got to attend the MorningStar Spiritual Warfare conference at Heritage. That was really good. I learned some things, but mostly they helped me to fit some pieces together for me. That was the best part. I was pleased to hear the harmony of their message with the guys at the International House Of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City.

Of course on the heels of a spiritual warfare conference there has been some to contend with, but the good thing is that it has mostly been helping to cement the lessons that I learned at the conference and is teaching me how to fight better from day to day. I look forward to expanding the Kingdom of God in my sphere of influence. It starts with my own home.

The weather here has been glorious. I really could not ask for better, and I am looking forward to doing some camping with a friend in the mountains this weekend. I need a retreat. I think this should do nicely. It is supposed to rain some this weekend. I hope it won't be too bad. I'd be fine if it would bypass the place where we are camping, but I think they need rain up there, so I won't complain. I just hope that on this camping trip the skunk that I encountered on the last trip won't show up.

I noticed that Arlen Specter defected to the Democratic Party today. All I can say is that it is about time. I don't know why he didn't do it years ago. It's not like he was a real Republican to begin with. He's been acting like a Democrat for all these years. It isn't that I want the Democrats to get any more votes. I certainly don't, but it chafes me for people to pretend to be something they are not. I guess that applies to just about everyone in Washington.

The only down side is that it puts us one vote away from the Democrats having the ability to stop a filibuster. Thank God for that one vote. We weren't helped any by Al Franken's theft of the election for his senate seat. If only Republicans would be so audacious as he.

With the legislation that is getting rammed through these days the Republicans need to figure out how to filibuster and use it well. I am very displeased by this hate crimes bill that is being run through. Once again, I am astounded by how long it takes to pass reasonable, helpful legislation and yet how quickly a bill that tries to gut the constitution or something that the government has no business putting its hands on can rip through both houses. Refer to the quote in my banner if you want to know how I really feel about it. God will judge.

I will try to do a better job of blogging. I have stayed away from the news a lot lately because I have a severe allergy to stupidity and liars. This allergy makes me want to yell and say ugly words, and it makes it very hard to pray for the people that I am supposed to be praying for. This is bad because it could cause me to be mistaken for a Right-Wing Extremist. Oh wait... But then again in this "new" atmosphere even a centrist looks like one. God help us.

Anyway, that is enough ranting and rambling for one night. I'll do my best to get you updated again soon!

Ahhh, A Normal Routine

It is so good to be back to a somewhat normal routine. Today is my 4th whole day back in my home and only the second that didn't involve a bunch of running around.

After I got back from Japan I had to go almost immediately up to the mountains to visit my uncle who was dying from cancer. He had been fighting for almost nine years and everyone knew that the time was short. I was very happy to get the opportunity to speak with him and visit a couple of times before he died this past Monday.

Of course, the snow came Sunday night and between the snow and the cold temperatures I ended up staying most of the week with my parents. The funeral activities began on Thursday and went through Friday.

Friday night I had to come back home and prepare for a band rehearsal with some folks that will be helping me to put on a worship seminar at my church this weekend. The rehearsal was in Apex (since half of the band members live up there.) I got home about 11:30 Saturday night.

Sundays are always busy for me too. There is church in the morning and Youth Band practice in the afternoon. I finished up the night at a friend's house watching the National Geographic Channel special on blue whales. It was interesting. We had a lot of fun making fun of the scientists and some of the dumb things that they said. It seems to me that there ought to be a better way to do things than they were doing them.

Monday was my first day to get back towards my normal routines. I won't say that I really hit them, but at least I was in familiar territory and was able to do some of the things I normally do in the course of a day.

Today has been much closer to a normal day, although I still haven't gotten back into my schedule totally. Perhaps tomorrow?

Or perhaps not. It is gardening time again and I need to take a good portion of my day tomorrow and get my garden ready. I am already running late. (Can you believe that we are a third of the way through March already? Where does the time go?)

I had been somewhat dreading the start of the gardening season, but I am about over that now! I am ready to get some stuff in the ground and smell that great smell of freshly plowed dirt. Plus I get to play with dad's new tractor! Whoo hoo! That in and of itself makes it all worthwhile.

I am sure I'll be adding to my rock collection - yippee. You would think that eventually you would run out of rocks. Seriously, how many rocks could possibly come out of one small patch of dirt? If it were all rock you shouldn't even be able to plow it. I think that they are growing like potatoes - they must be! So you can expect to get some new garden pictures soon.

I may be also playing in a new band soon. An old acquaintance from high school is interested in getting a band started to play out and we are going to explore the possibilities. It should be fun. I don't know what we'll end up playing yet, but perhaps it will be a combination of cover tunes and Christian music. It sounds like a lot of fun. We need a guitar player or two, a keyboard player, and a drummer.

And that is the latest from Lake Woebegone! More to come soon.

I'm Back

Hello, friends. Sorry for the long absence. The main reason for my silence was a problem caused by WindStream. Fortunately (after about 3 weeks and much hoop jumping and much frustration) they finally got someone involved who could and did fix the problem. I didn't have internet connectivity from September 9 through September 27.

I could have posted from my parents' house, but blogging - to me - is something that I need to be in familiar surroundings to do. I need to feel like I have the luxury of time to be able to write well. Usually when I am at their house, I am busy with outside chores and computer work is pushed to the back burner. By the time I am done with outside work, I am generally ready to get a bath and go to bed, not sit and type on the computer!

Of course I am sure that many of you are perhaps wondering about the gap since I got my service back. Well, there are some reasons for that too. I have been busy transitioning things in the garden from the summer crops to the fall crops. That has taken a good bit of work. I have felt like I have been behind the 8 ball trying to keep up with everything here at the end. However, things seem to be settling down nicely. I have only 3 tomato plants left and have picked the last of the purplehull peas that I plan to pick. The okra has slowed down considerably and I only expect to get a couple more pickings from the lima beans.

My green patch is doing very nicely. I picked three nice messes of greens yesterday and there is plenty more where they came from. The collards finally seem to be taking off and my cabbage is looking good. I have rutabagas coming up and will be thinning and transplanting them when they are big enough. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some pumpkins on before the season ends. God has truly blessed my efforts this year. What a good God! It has been a great opportunity to learn and to see His hand in operation. I never dreamed when I started the garden that I would get to witness so many miracles first hand. It has been awesome.

Another reason for the delay in getting back to writing on this blog is that I have started a new private blog that is a personal prayer journal. I had hoped to write in it daily, but unfortunately, that hasn't been the case so far. It has been a very good endeavor, though. The only problem is that it takes time and we all know that time is in pretty short supply. Writing in one will often mean neglecting another.

Yet a third reason that I haven't written is that I have been avoiding politics lately like the plague. I am so sick of this unending campaigning. I am tired of the bias. I am tired of everything about it. I have already made up my mind and am sure that nothing that any of the candidates is likely to say will sway me to go in another direction. So, I have been insulating myself against that too, and as you know, much of my material is a reaction to the headlines.

God seems to be doing some interesting things in me lately. Some of it is very unconventional. I often wonder where it will lead me. I don't know if I could put a finger on anything specifically - I doubt that I would write about it even if I could - I just feel that something is going on. Something good.

I guess that the final reason is that I have just gotten out of the habit of writing. I have a goal to do 365 posts on this blog this year. I may have a little catching up to do to make up for the pitiful showing last month, but I think I can still make it. Thank you all for the inquiries and concerns about my whereabouts. I haven't been kidnapped (at least not physically) and I haven't joined the Foreign Legion. I've just been restrained, distracted, and busy. God bless you all and thank you for reading.

First Fruit

I planted a fig tree at my house last spring before the terrible drought. Not surprisingly, it didn't bear any fruit last year. I'm just happy that it survived! However, this year has been much more productive. I have gotten the first figs on my little tree. They did come on a little late, but that is OK. Better late than never!