Brrrrrrr

It's cold outside. Baby it's cold outside.
Friday's are my early release day from work so I had hoped to make it to the house before this mini storm hit the area as we all know, southerner's can't drive in bad weather. No such luck and my normal drive time of about 45 minutes turned into about 2 1/2 hours. Ice, ice baby. Everywhere.

This is just one of the accidents I passed on the way home. Apparently the truck went up into the trees then rolled back down the hill. 10 mph was the maximum speed all the way home. Needless to say we did not go to Charlotte to see Ahmed at the show. That and it is 3 hours over and 3 hours back home. Add the time there and we couldn't leave the dogs alone that long. 

So Saturday saw me seeding. I cruised down the the dealership first to pick up my hitch then cruised by Lowes to see if they had anything new inside (no) but I did get a small tomato and cucumber kit for The Youngest boy to try. I want him to get attached to gardening too. Maybe I'll actually get some help out of my family when I do stuff. 

Pretty cool kit. After getting him going i started on my seeding adventure for the day. I started tomatoes, peppers, and few herbs. I got soil from Johnny's this year and it works great in the soil block maker. 

Mixed it up in the sink and worked out pretty well. 

All and all I got 128 tomato plants going, 32 peppers, a few herbs and flowers from my $0.10 pack find last year. We trade plants with people and I'll take some up north this year to share so no, I won't be planting 128 plants. 

An outbuilding is on the list and I purchased a book with outdoor projects in it and lo and behold, an outbuilding with a greenhouse attached to it. Two for one, off The List. 

Well, got to go to town and get my work truck. Going to be a long week. Oh, know fixing the lazy susan and  start remaining seeds off of the list too! Hope to get to bathroom sink tonight. 

WOF of The Week. 

Too damn cold to go out even. And you're welcome for the Ice, Ice Baby song in your head today!

Lists

As alluded to in my last post, finishing the new light stand was a another thing off of my list. Lists is what I seem to live by as I think most people do. But these lists always seem to never get done and hang around our necks like an anchor on a rubber band. The way it bounces during a particular free period is what seems to get done or at least started to get done. I've started finishing the garage after we moved in and made good progress until more things popped up. Now I can't do anything about finishing off the ceiling until the weather improves some. Too cold to do anything. So without further ado, here's my list. For now. This list is liable to change without notice and the recipient of this list is not bound to anyone for any items to be done on the list in a particular order. Under copyright of law, or until I get tired.

My Long “TO DO” List

• Build outbuilding
• Design and build water holding tanks to catch water from outbuilding for gardens Compost barrels
• Finish framing upstairs for rec room and bathroom
• After electrical and plumbing complete, finish upstairs
• Fix and finish side table
• Fix broken small chair
• Build two more card stock holders for The Wife
• Build trellis (pergola) over current garden beds
• Expand garden with in- ground plantings
• Start remaining seeds (a lot) this coming weekend
• Finish garage ceiling
• Yard sale
• Fix cold water faucet in small bathroom
• Fix The Wife’s bathroom ceiling and repaint it
• Build Chewie’s new water and food dish holder
• Re- bend lawn mower blade bent when hitting big rock
• Patch holes where I screwed up hanging living room curtains
• Touch- up paint on walls around house
• Finish and hang pictures in my bedroom
• Redo front flower beds and KILL ALL BERMUDA WIREGRASS!
• Fix lazy susan in kitchen
• Greenhouse
• Fix small car and sell
• Taxes (Uhhhggg)
• Fix small 4 wheeler and sell
• Build paintball enclosure
• Build golf club holder for bags and shoes
• Invisible fence for the WOF's
• Pool? That means decking.
• Landscaping the side yards
• And I’m sure there’s more; stuff that pops up everyday
• Winning the lottery

That's my list at the moment. I actually added a few things as I made it out. The Wife also wants bead board in her bathroom. Maybe tile too. Paint the office. House is now settling so I have more touch- ups I need to do. There's three more things as I type. We have decided to take a Staycation in April just to try to catch up on loose ends. This I have heard from Tami at 500 Dollar Tomato. Good idea! And it will be the week of getting everything in the garden too. Just The Wife and me for a whole week together getting shit done. And we'll never get everything done. You know that as well as I do. What's on your "To Do" list? You know you have one!
On a separate note and no good to my list, Ahmed Hassan will be appearing at The Greater Charlotte Home & Landscape Show this coming weekend. I have mentioned this before but this may be a trip worth taking.

That's it for now so improve on your list kids and happy landscaping!

A Quickie

Tried to post last night but couldn't get any photos to upload. The internet around us has turned to shit. I don't think it is our modem, I think it is the provider. They will be getting a call later today. One big thing I miss about cable.

Light stand completed.

1/2" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe and fittings. I had some left over from the water line this past summer. Realistically I'd probably use 3/4". The 1/2" is about $1.50 for a 10'-0" joint. Cheap. I used 3/8" plywood for the shelves and light hangers but I'll change this later to something a little heavier later. I need one more light and done. All in all I'll have about $230.00 total in this, maybe a little more. Beats paying this or this. It's looks good for pipe and holds 16 plats. And I didn't glue it together, just stuck the pieces together, so I can knock it apart when not in use. All lights are on my timer. One thing off of my list!

Drilled a small hole through the pipe the a big one on the outside. Lateral supports is what these side pipes do. I used self- drilling screws to attached them.

Finally received my order from Park Seed this past Friday so that rounds out all of the initial orders. Until The Wife tells me what she wants to do outside I'll wait. Maybe. I am thinking of trying a few new plants this year to spread our palate out a bit. We visited some friends yesterday and the canned pickled okra. I never thought about that myself nor have I grown okra so that may be a new one. 

Quick post so back to work. And get your mind out of the gutter :) 

These Days

If I could find the pace that has the temperatures year round as the ones we've been having the past few days, I'd pack up and move tomorrow. No doubting it. Gone. My goodness it has been great. 70s in the day and 50s at night. Perfect. Santa Barbara, California may be close but I don't think The Wife will want to move there. And after checking Realtor.com for housing, we would need really, really good jobs. Closest house to what we paid for ours here was a 2 bedroom mobile home. It's expensive to say the least. Oh well.....

I have built a new light stand and will have more details on it next post and will replace the link to the right. I made it out of 1/2" dia. schedule 40 plastic pipe and fittings with plywood tops. It's cool. A few minor modifications and you'll see it.

Started some onion transplants this weekend (reason for the new light stand) and a few flowers just to see something grow. I'll move the onions out into the beds middle of next month then start the major crops for the summer season. Strangely none of the stores had any seed starting mixture so I made some with sphagnum peat moss and perlite.

Worked pretty good. It is about a 9 to 1 mixture, peat moss to perlite. Just mix it good, wet it down and set into you pots, etc. Also got my orders from Territorial Seed Company and Johnny's Seeds AND found a small cashe of seed packets hidden from me.Some tomato, pepper, and cucumber seeds from last year. 

Picked another good red cabbage from the garden for supper Sunday evening. Definitely planting these things again. 

Chewman likes to ride in the truck. That's all for now. Done with lunch and back to work.

Christmas Again

I have finally gotten off my rump and ordered the last of my seeds and supplies for this year (2013, hard to believe isn't it.) Orders to Park Seed, Territorial Seeds, and Johnny's Seeds have been placed and I am anticipating their arrival. This doesn't count what I will get at the stores here but I shouldn't need too much else unless something catches my eye. It's like Christmas all over. I have received my shipment from Sustainable Seed Company for all of the tomato and cucumber plants a few days ago.

With this I got my soil mix, herbs, and hopefully some border plants to throw about for landscaping. The Wife and I talked and we can get the strawberry and blueberry plants from a local nursery. We have 3 within 3 miles of the house. Oddly enough they are all right beside each other. And continuing on landscaping, Ahmed Hassan of past Yard Crashers fame will be in Charlotte, NC January 26-27th at the 9th Annual Greater Charlotte Home and Landscape Show. This is something I would love to go to as I really like his energy and designs. Maybe only if I let The Wife cruise IKEA again. On second thought, this may be a bad idea pocketbook- wise. But if I could get him to do our backyard for free, what the heck!

The upstairs addition is coming along nicely. I have all of the wiring done to a point and started insulating. I did pick up a few OSB sheets to lay down in the very back of another section so I could relocate a bunch of CRAP that we have to access some wiring that I needed to get to. In doing so I left a small gap between the new and existing sheets and low and behold the Murray Curse strikes again. I will say this, I landed in a position as to not inflict too much pain but The Wife's bathroom ceiling caved like a left hook from Muhammad Ali. A small patch was then installed until I can get the right material to permanently fix the ceiling. Ahhhhh!

WOF of the Week. 

So she decides to curl up behind the couch pillows, until someone says her name.

She is special for sure. A little snippy with the Chewmeister but The Girl all the way.

Until next time kids, be on the lookout for your post- Santa!

Unexpected Discoveries

Well, The Wife and I went out this afternoon in search of a 'junk' antique store she was told about up in Smithfield, NC. It was described as a 'junk hole in which you would have to dig and dig for treasures.' As thrilling as that is for me (sarcasm inserted here) I begrudgingly agreed to go.
On the way to this ultimate find we cruised past a store named JR's. There are two of these stores that I know of (may be more) in North Carolina and we have passed one continuously throughout the years in Greensboro, NC without stopping. "Discount cigarettes, bargains galore, must see, cheap prices" reads the banners that cover the exterior. We always imagined a disorganized mess with bins everywhere and trash on the floor. So you can imagine we entered the store with trepidation. Complete opposite than what we thought. It was crowded and there was a lot of stuff everywhere but it was clean and the prices were indeed cheap. Clothes, boots and shoes, flags, aforementioned cigarettes and also cigars, bedding, you name it. We cruised by a small garden section they had and made a great discovery.

The smaller pots were $2.00 each and the larger ones were $3.00 each. I have seen these same pots in the Big Box stores for $8.00 to $10.00 each for the small ones. Always have a use for a good pot. The Wife picked up some flags, we got a wind chime and a few other items and headed for the door. Surprising place and we'll definitely be back but we'll be there earlier. The place was full of Yankees. 

Our next stop was the junk antique store. And upon arriving in the parking lot my suspicions were confirmed. And it got no better inside. The building was a small part of the Selma Cotton Mill, once a 1,000,000 sq. ft. plant. Most has been torn down down except this section and the office building outside. It's more of a consignment shop but there was stuff EVERYWHERE! The don't have heat or AC to keep costs down and the lady running it also takes in stray animals until they get adopted so they were everywhere too. Here's a few pictures. 

You really have to dig and dig to find what you want but I'm sure it's here. I found this and wondered the chopping count that died over this stump? The Wife found herself a sleigh for decorating and a coal bucket for the dogs toys. 

We may go back but only when it warms up some. Outside. 

Good surprise when we got home was that my main order for Sustainable Seed Company arrived. I am going to work on getting the Green Beans plus some herbs and stuff on order tomorrow.  

Well, Chewie (Chewman, Chewster, Chewmeister, whatever) has hit his stride and now has been WOFIFIED. 

Off to bed so until next time go find those "treasures."

First Day of the Year

And what a day it is.

• The beginning of 2013
• A day off
• The Wife's birthday

Yes, The Wife had another birthday today. We didn't do anything per her request but I believe if the weather is cooperative this weekend, we'll all go out to a nice place in nature and do a family photo. Something we have needed to do for some time and she enjoys them. There's a nice state park not too far from us so we might look there. And maybe hit those hiking trails to rid the 'holiday' weight I have added :)

Ordered most of my seeds this past week and only have a few more to get. Green beans are one and I'm kind of gun shy as what to get this year. My snap bush beans failed last year so I am thinking of runners this year. I still have a lot of the bush beans if someone wants them. Beans, Peas, and potatoes, plus a few more flowers here and there. I did pick a head of the red cabbage yesterday. Good sized and hope to have it later this week for supper. 

There are a few more in the garden but I'll wait to get those later this month. Then it will be close to seed starting time for the vegs and some of the flowers. 

Resolutions anyone? Mine is obviously getting out more this year. Stay of FB and other crap sites, keep up the blog and keep moving. The WOF needs to lose some weight too so we'll be walking buddies. 

Another is to simplify things around here. This is definitely involve getting rid of a bunch of crap. Yard sale in the near future if you're interested. 

Off to work tomorrow (sigh) so we'll catch up later.