9/09/08: Bits and Pieces

Health:
Doug has a doctor appointment for this afternoon. That sinus pressure and resulting headache has really gotten over-the-top so I'm glad he'll be seen today. Guess the netti-pot, echinacia and goldenseal supplements aren't always the solution.

My own sinus headache is getting worse but thank goodness it's not one of my migraines. If I don't start feeling better soon, will make my own doctor appointment. Meanwhile, I might drink some tea today. Hot, if I must. Hmmm, with honey.

Garden:
Our little bit of land did NOT like the couple of cold days we've had over the last week or two. Yesterday's especially. The tomatoes look like they don't want to put forth any more, and the poor little strawberries and raspberries are almost shriveling up into the stems. I'm thinking we've seen the last of the summer squashes, and just when the little white bush scallops were starting to appear. Dang!

I'm behind in planting the Fall produce. Did some Wando peas last week which are starting to poke out of the soil but need to plant more soon. Here in about an hour Weslee and I will go to the bed where we pulled out the soybeans - and there's still carrots growing there. In will go Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach and a couple of Iceberg Lettuce seeds on the west side. The middle has some carrots but I'm thinking I'll add some more (Danvers Half-Long) and some red bunching onions. On the east side of the raised bed we'll bury about 2 feet of a Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce seed tape, and some buttercrunch lettuce seeds. As to the kiddie pools where we had the black-seeded simpson lettuce before it bolted (and there's still some radishes and carrots there), I think we'll add more carrots, radishes, and perhaps some dutch corn salad or european mesclun salad. Probably in a couple of weeks, we'll buy some think plastic sheeting to use as a cover on both the raised bed and the kiddie pools so we can eat the above yummies as far into the Winter as possible.

Schoolwork:
Weslee really enjoyed the schoolwork he had yesterday. Not so much wanting to get into it today but at 9:00 a.m. (a full 30 minutes later than planned), he's started reading his first novel of the school year.

Websites:
As you know we've been working on getting two interactive websites up and running. The first, http://www.backyardgrocery.net/ is to help people get started (or give people a chance to exchange info and ideas) who want to participate more in growing the produce they consume. Today I'm adding an article I wrote entitled: "Windowsill Meals". The second, http://www.kidwhispers.net/ is for the new kids of today who need more opportunity to chat with like-minded kids, about anything from peer pressure to sex to friendship to school to special gifts and more.

The websites are actually up and available to take subscriptions and comments in the forums but we still need to add the chat function, add a few more articles and work out a few more bugs. I'm hoping the blog function will be fixed in a day or two. If you know of someone who might be interested in either of these websites, feel free to pass along the word. I hope to have up today (hope hope hope) a press release or two on our company's main website: http://www.newviewgroupllc.com/.

Storage:
I'm thinking I've noted before, somewhere in this blog, that although we're not "survivalists", we do stock up some things. And since we live near the mountains of Colorado where blizzards ARE possible, it is actually a good idea. I remember in March of 2003 (I think) Denver got so much snow that Weslee (just a young thing at that time) was only an inch or two taller than the snow in the parking lot of our apartment complex!! Luckily I was prepared even then. The electricity was out for a while so we bundled up, and I put the milk out on the porch, snuggled into the snow.

It's not just weather to be concerned about but it's a start. However, we've just been throwing things wherever we had a little space but I think I probably should make a note of what we have, and start storing things in a centralized space. That's my goal for the next few weeks, AFTER I get the two websites up and working and AFTER we've tidied up the house (got that Mabon/Fall harvest celebration coming up).

There's always something to do! Vikki www.newviewgroupllc.com