So I just got a great idea.
I have been telling Laura for some time now that I want to go to Bermuda. She kind of doesn’t really respond because she doesn’t want to go. I will have to strong arm her. Anyway, since I never get to see my parents anymore, perhaps I will call the travel agent and get some prices. Then, I will invite my parents to meet us there.
How is that for a family reunion?
I opened my birthday present early.
My mother emailed me a few days (or weeks) ago and told me that I should be receiving a box from Amazon. She told me not to open it, and I didn’t…until last night. I was so proud of myself too. I even called her up just to tell her that I didn’t open it.
The box was just looking at me. It was kind of like that box of donuts looking at Mickey from all the way up there on the counter. What am I…a robot? I have feelings. Of course I am going to open the box!!! I felt like this venue would be the best way to break the news to my mother. I am a horrible person.
Anyway, for some time now, I have been aware that I have not been using my frontal lobe. It is kind of like mush. This has been hindering my thought process and decision making. The lack of activity, I suspect, is due to my lack of reading and continued education. I am nowhere near the level I used to be. I even have trouble writing these days.
Good thing I opened my birthday present early. It was just in the nick of time. In the box, I found two very interesting books. The first one is a thick paperback entitled, “1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die.” I started reading this last night. It felt very good up there in my frontal lobe. I am not sure if it was from reading the book or the thirty push ups I did. Yeah, that’s right.
What’s interesting about this book is that the author, Patricia Schultz, grew up in Beacon, NY. She even mentions Walnut Street. I thought that was pretty cool, since I eat lunch in Beacon quite a bit.
I read the first few sections…right now, we are in Connecticut, somewhere near the Connecticut River. It seems like a very interesting book and it feels very good to sit on the couch and read.
The second book is entitled, “The World Without Us,” written by Alan Weisman. I haven’t read anything in this book yet, but I am sure it will be good. If my mother ordered it from Amazon, she surely read the reviews. That’s just the way she rolls.
Anyway, since I opened my present early, it might be a good idea to get me something else that I can open on my actual birthday. Ok, just think about it.
And finally, THANK YOU!!! The gift was very thoughtful. Also, don’t feel too bad, I opened Stephanie’s gift early too.
The other day, I planted a few new Crabapple trees. I watered them and they looked great. Then it rained and they still looked great. I got home today and they looked a little droopy. Hmmm.
I know you are supposed to water new trees every few days. Time flies by these days, so I may have been derelict in my duties. When I planted the trees, it was like digging in dust. The dirt around here dries out very quickly. I don’t think there are nearly enough organics to hold any moisture. Some parts of the lawn are fine, with the soil being nice and black, but anything near any pine trees are very dry.
When I see any of the trees getting like this, I immediately water them. They usually perk right up. That’s what I expect to happen here. This whole thing got me thinking…what am I missing here? If the trees had a constant flow of moisture, they would get more of the nutrients they need to grow, along with the water they need. I always notice that a few days after it rains, I see new growth.
I just did a Google search on, “mulch helps trees grow faster” and found a few good sites that talks about the benefits of mulch. I liked these the best…
- The Right Tree in the Right Place
- Edinburgh Tree Warden Network - Tree Planting
- How to Plant a Tree
All three of these websites do a great job of explaining why it is so important to place mulch around a newly planted tree. I especially like this line…“A tree growing in grass will be only a third as high as one mulched or away from grass after three or four years!”
Some of my trees are taking off nicely while some are kind of just sitting there. One Maple has about doubled in size, just this Summer, yet the other Maples seemingly haven’t grown at all.
As I have learned, mulch is valuable because it keeps the water where it is supposed to be. It is far easier to get the water to the roots when there are two to four inches of mulch spread around the base of the tree (without touching the trunk). When I was just outside watering the trees, some of the water just rolled off the hard dirt.
Needless to say, I just left a message for our local mulch dude. Hopefully, Saturday I will be receiving ten more yards of the fluffy gold.
I thought it might be a good idea to give some mad props to my sister, Laurie. True, she is not part of the “Young Astronauts” program, but she’s ok anyway.
Laurie took some very nice photos of the dogwood trees in her front yard. I thought they were good enough to publish on one of the hottest sites on the world wide web. Here they are, let me know if you think she has a future in this stuff.
Yeah, that’s right. Garlic? Hmmm…what’s this guy up to?
I don’t know about you, but I can smell it from here. Garlic Passion that is. Good ol’ Bob just launched another blog devoted to food. I like this one, just like the last one…Olive Oil Passion.
Keep it up. I hope to see some more good posts coming out of these things.
Hey, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? If you guessed a T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set, you’de be right.
The set only cost me $12,100…or 12,100 points on my credit card. It’s pretty cool…I got the points, went on the website and placed the order. I think I did it last week and the pots came yesterday. They are nice stainless steel. I gave up on those teflon things because, if you look at our old pot set, you will notice that there is no teflon on them anymore. Plastic or no plastic, the stuff wears off.
Here is a pic…
Here is the description…
Two-tone brushed/polished stainless finish with engraved measuring marks on saucepan interiors. Offers aluminum core, cool-touch handles, and glass lids. Oven safe to 500° and dishwasher safe.
I must say, for a free pot set, they are pretty damn nice.
Back in the day, Laura and I lived in Naples, NY. It was an interesting adventure, I would say. If you have never lived in Western NY, I would recommend it. Even when we talk about that year today, I always mention the peace and quiet of it all.
At times, usually around the holidays, we would travel back to Southern NY to visit family and friends. We were always kind of disturbed by the buzz that was in the air. I mean, we had fun, but were getting way too used to the quiet of upstate. We would drive back to Naples and (I always say this) right at the entrance of town, I swear the buzz would slide right off me. It was a really nice little town.
One of the best things about that town was the wine. Naples is a wine town. The biggest winery in town is called, “Widmer Winery.” There were vineyards all over the place. In the Autumn, you could smell the grapes in the air. After the winery would scrape the barrels, they would dump the pulp in the fields. That pulp filled the air with scent.
The other night, Laura and I went down to the local Chinese restuarant in town to grab some veggie Chinese food. I didn’t order over the phone because I wanted to spend some time outside the house, even if that meant sitting in a parking lot waiting for the food to be prepared. She sat in the car reading while I walked down and placed the order. During the wait, I decided to walk up to the liquor store to restock some of what we have been craving. I walked in a picked up a bottle of Manischewitz Wine. I like the rasberry one. I also got some Brotherhood Winery spicy holiday wine. It’s a great dessert wine. I like sweet wines. After I had those two wines in my arm, I walked to the back and picked up a gallon of Carlo Rossi Sangria. That’s my favorite cheap red wine. It should be on the counter all the time.
What’s the point of this post? Well, it really has to do with Naples and Manischewitz Wine. Widmer Winery makes the Manischewitz Wine. When we went on the wine tour, they showed us that brand of wine. It’s fun because you can mix it with a bunch of other stuff on hot summer days. After the tour was over, we sampled some of it and bought a few bottles. They do a good job of “getting you loose” to purchase more.
I drank a glass of Manischewitz Wine the other night. It tasted delicious, of course. The only issue is that I think this wine has something in it that gives me a headache. I really like it, so I think I will have to drink it in smaller doses.
Wow, that was an abrupt ending.
This morning’s drive was a mixed bag…sunny in some parts and foggy in the rest. I thought I got some really cool shots of the fog, but they ended up to be just gray.
If I was able to stop on the side of the road today, I think I would have been able to get some really interesting photos. There was cool fog mixed with the Newburgh/Beacon Bridge and some clouds were hanging about half way up Mount Beacon. Since I was on the highway, I thought I would look like a herb pulling over to take pictures. Also, I probably would’ve been killed by that one 85 pound woman driving that huge Suburban all alone. I thought it was a bus.
Anyway, to the pictures. One of them actually has some leaf change…
Ok, this isn’t the one with the leaf change. It’s a pretty picture of a field. Remember, this isn’t too easy to do while driving. I think whoever was driving behind me probably thought I was drunk.
Here is another good shot of some trees.
This is the one with some color change. Right in the center of the photo, you will notice a little something peeking out. Actually, there was some action today, but I didn’t get too much of it. I will have to make more of an effort next time.
I thought this was pretty neat. I was sitting on Rt.208 in Montgomery, waiting to turn left to get on Interstate 84, when I looked to the left. Up on the wires were some birds. Since it was cloudy, I was able to get a nice pic right into the sun.
Well I hooked up the new Brother printer. I must admit that I was a bit skeptical, because I have never actually used that brand. I was very used to HP printers.
I think every printer I ever had has been an HP, except for that one Epson printer I bought back in the day. I remember I bought it over in Danbury, CT. I was so excited. I brought it home and hooked it up to my laptop. I printed the first page and looked at the outcome. All the print looked “spattered.” I printed a few more sheets…same thing. I thought there was something wrong with the printer, so I brought it back to the store. I handed it to the guy behind the counter and told him what happened. He said, “Did you use the special Epson paper?” I said, “What?” He continued that the Epson printers need special Epson paper so the ink doesn’t spatter. I almost started laughing. I told him that I have been using regular copy paper with every printer I have ever used and the print had been just fine. Now I was supposed to start buying special paper just to use an Epson? Pleeeeeease. I just bought an HP instead and the regular copy paper worked fine. Life was good.
Anyway, this new Brother printer seems to be doing the job nicely. It’s not too big on the desk and it seems like it can live up to the “Workhorse” nickname it has. The print is very clear. It should be fine for my two pieces of paper I need printed per year…yeah, just fine.
Hey, if there’s a problem, I’ll let you know.
So I returned the HP laser printer. I was getting a black line down the right side of the paper every time I printed a graphic. I didn’t need the hassle. I even uninstalled the driver and reinstalled the new one from the HP website. Nothing worked.
Really, I am getting too old to diagnose a brand new printer that is supposed to work when plugged in. I paid for the plug and play technology when I bought a brand new laptop and desktop and, pardon me, I expect it to work. It’s HP’s job to have updated drivers for printers they claim to work with Windows Vista.
I returned the printer to Staples today with no problem. I went over to the shelf and grabbed a bigger Brother HL-5240 Laser Printer. All I really wanted was a small home office laser printer, but walked away with something described as a “work horse.”
I am going to hook this one up tonight and see what happens. I looked on the Brother website and saw printer drivers for Windows Vista. I will let you know what happens.
