Well that was nice...

I was informed that I was given a little bit of a shout out today. One of what they consider to be the 50 best gardening blogs. Thank you for the compliment!
Still can't figure out what it has to do with physical therapy... but Thank you anyway!
P~

A real treat!

I thought I'd share what a great Mom I have. Not only does she read my blog, she takes some of my cues by hanging her clothes out and starting a compost pile, and now she's hooked her "little" boy up with some winter goodness! Check these out...Huh? Was I lying? My mom sent these to me nearly two months ago (actually could be longer, I can't remember the date.) out of the blue. When I was 15 and we moved into the house they live in now there was what I remember thinking was probably the ugliest, scraggliest little tree in the corner of the parking area to the side of the house. I later learned that it was a pomegranate tree and that I liked pomegranates! I didn't live there for too long after high school and really didn't pay attention to it the last time I was back there, but that sucker is now taller than the garage!

According to Mom, they got 140 pom's from the tree this year! She sent me a few along with a note that I could store them for a couple of months very easily. I, of course, figured that that was worth a try and they've sat in the back of the fridge since I got them. Today I decided the time was "ripe" and dug one out for a taste test. It was perfect just like she said.

I also thought I'd pass on the tip that she included. Cut them open with a knife, but peal and separate the seed pods gently under some running water to keep from staining your fingers. Miracle of miracles, I can go to work tomorrow after having handled pomegranates without looking like I killed someone the night before!

Thanks for sharing Mom! Now I just need to establish some good lemon tree root stock so I can cut a grafting from your lemon tree. The lemons you brought me last year are still the best ones I've ever had!

Love ya Ma!
See the rest of you tomorrow...
P~

I don't know what to say???

Ever just have one of those times in life that just kind of leave you speechless? The kind of thing that you never really saw coming, but is welcomed heartily when it does? Well, obviously I'm not entirely speechless (I rarely am...), hence the post tonight, but I am flattered tremendously. A fellow blogger and Freedom Gardener, Andrew Stone, posted a write-up on my blog tonight that honestly just embarrassed me for it's complimentary nature. Thanks Andrew so much.

When I began writing this blog, just under two years ago, it was something I didn't quite understand to be honest. I mean yeah, I understood that it was a free repository for the written word, but I didn't understand the power for change in my own life that it could hold. Even more surprising to me is the influence that it could become to others. I began it as a way for me to, more than anything else, get my thoughts out of my head and to document them somewhere. I found that as I did they began to jell more clearly into not just random ideas but into much more, they started to redefine who I was. Actually not even redefine so much as to just put before me a clear picture of what I wanted, believed, enjoyed and strived for. Sometimes I think we get caught up in who we think we are and holding a virtual mirror up to myself helped me to see who I really was.

I found a voice I didn't know I had, and surprisingly to me, that there were people willing to listen to that voice. I don't know how to say it without sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, but when people email me from all over the world to ask questions or say thank you for "inspiring them", I just swell up. I enjoy it soooo much! I thought a lot about becoming a teacher in a past life, and doing this lets me live that just a little.

Well, enough of that for now. Why not drop into Andrews blog and give him a read. He's another Utahan, and has a really good site.

Till tomorrow.
P~

Family?

How do you define “Family”? Maybe it’s just you and your spouse. Perhaps you have a couple of kids and parents included. I was thinking about this the other day and realized it’s really a pretty hard thing to define sometimes. Of course when I’m asked how my families doing, the first ones I think of are my wife and kids, who wouldn’t? But really I think more and more it’s about the people that you chose to allow yourself to let in.

The last few years have made me have to re-think how I look at it. I’m forced to get a little more personal here than I usually do, but I think it’s with good reason. My wife and I have three boys that live with us. They’ve been with me since the youngest was just 18 months old. You see, I’m not their biological father, although I did adopt them about 6 years ago. Their biological father was A~’s ex (Heretofore referred to as X~) and there was a time that we had a hard time dealing with some of the issues that naturally come about in such a situation. We wanted things one way, he wanted them another and of course that left three little boys in the middle. There came a point when he and we came to decide that it was best just to let me adopt them. We would have the control over their future that we were so worried about, and he wouldn’t have to be so caught trying to fill a position that he seemed to be having a hard time coming to grips with. It was a blessing, I think, for all of us and is something that although it took a couple of years to fully digest, has benefited all of us greatly.

I can’t speak for X~, nor would I want to, but I assume that he’s had problems with me in the past just as I have had with him; that, I’m sure, was unavoidable. Here’s the thing though, over the last couple of years we seem to have found some oddly peaceful way of all coexisting that I never could have imagined, but am so immensely grateful for. It’s not even just he and I that have found some commonality but rather that all of us, in our hopes for what would be best for our boys, have.

So why am I talking about this? Because we just had a Thanksgiving evening that was unlike any other that I ever thought I would have, and you know what? It was good. A~ and I had family over for the evening. But to define it as such takes a little bit of creativity. You see, it wasn’t just her and I and the boys with her dad and his girlfriend, but also X~ and his mom and her husband who is not X~’s father. Two distinctly different family components came together, hers with her father and his with his mother. And each of them came with someone that wasn’t related to A~ or X~. Then there was me, not in anyway related, biologically anyway, with anyone at the table. What were the commonalities? We all wanted to be together with people we loved. Did we all love each other? No. Hey I’m just being honest here; this isn’t pie in the sky stuff. But I know we all love either the boys, or at the very least the people who love the boys. So we have a choice don’t we? Do we shuttle kids around to each others homes, schedule parcels of time when we all get to be with loved ones, and waste half a day in the process, or do we accept that we have some differences, but that really what matters most is we all care deeply for our families and want to foster that without boundaries?

As it were, we chose the latter and I think we were all better for it. We prayed together, ate together and laughed together. Our children/grandchildren were happy and felt loved. They got to visit, play with and be loved by not only one family or the other, but by both. For our part, A~, X and I that is, we didn’t have to worry about squeezing in a good holiday with the boys in time to get them over to the other house. We got to slow down, enjoy the company and be thankful for the season and for all of our gifts and blessings.

So I ask again, how do you define “Family”? Who do you chose to let in to your fold? Sometimes it really might not be entirely up to us who they are, but rather whether we chose to accept them and be happy with what we have. I do.

I hope all of your Thanksgivings were wonderful and look forward to hearing from you all soon.
P~

Taking a break

There are a couple of times a year when I will purposefully take a blogging break. Thanksgiving and Christmas are a couple of them. That said, I'm checking out for a couple of days, at least from my regular daily postings. I will be working on a post for my other couple of blogging gigs here and there, but most likely won't put anything up again until next Monday.

I wish for all of you, my friends, family and regular readers alike my best wishes. I know many of you are spread around the globe, outside of the US, and that this weekend is just another weekend for you. For me, it is time to spend with family. Work on puzzles, play games, visit and tell stories. It's a time to reflect, particularly at this challenging time for many of us, about our many gifts and blessings and to give thanks for them.

Please know that if your are reading this, whether your local to me or halfway around the world, you are one of the things I am thankful for. I enjoy, more than almost anything, the interaction that we share, and the community that seems to be building here. Whether it's a holiday weekend for you or not, enjoy it and emrace it.

God bless!

P~

More goodies!!

As promised, this evenings post is a continuation of yesterdays post in showing the sweet goodies that A~ and I were gifted by her Mom. Today's installment, the food dehydrator that she's had, if I understand correctly, since A~ was a kid but never really used very often. We know how to fix that problem!! I hung a lot of the herbs and things this year that I pulled from the garden but it would be great to be able to dry some this way as well. And then there's jerky, and fruits, and veggies...and...oh you get it, we've wanted one for a while. Ad last but not least, the coolest little "must have" for any home hennery, the egg weigher. I saw one of these on Tiny Farm Blog, and just loved it. Do I need it? No. Did I want one just because, and is it a totally frivolous thing? Yes. But really, how cool is that right?
I just love the chipped and "well loved" appearance of it too. There'll be no repainting of this little baby. The kids like weighing the eggs too.

Thanks again Mom, we, I appreciate the effort you put into finding these things. So nice to know that our family does support our endeavors, and they do, on both sides. Now, what can I dehydrate in the winter???
Till tomorrow.
P~

Addressing a comment

I got a comment posted today that I thought I would address. I don't do this to be confrontational, but I could see it being taken as such so I wanted to state for the record that that is not the intent. I had posted some time back about whether I was missing something in how we seemed to have skipped the entire Thanksgiving season. Today I got this post from a friend, neighbor and fellow blogger:

Happy "Native America Genocide Day!"
Sorry to be the wet sheet, many "American Indians" or "Native Americans" (such as myself) feel that if our forefathers hadn't held the first Thanksgiving, we might not have gone through the culling and near extermination that the settlers forced upon the native peoples.
Another common sentiment among native peoples is that our proverbial olive branch and welcoming gesture that was the First Thanksgiving was not reciprocated by the white settlers, and was answered with deceit and (despite what is force-fed to our children in public schools).
Anyhow, not trying to put a damper on anyone's holiday celebrations, just bringing up another point of view.
- http://www.joelevi.com/

To a point I know where he's coming from. I mean, our U.S. history is littered with the remnants of many cultures, not the least of which is the Native American Indians. They were in large part a trusting people when the visitors from overseas came to their shores and yes, they were mistreated, abused, killed and removed from their native lands in many cases. It is a black mark on American History.
It's not the only one though is it? What about slavery? How about the way that nearly every group of immigrants has been persecuted when they first arrived? Even the Irish were considered inferior to Anglo Americans and called unassimilatable into US culture once upon a time.

So what's my point, to ignore the plight on our Native American population because "hey, other groups had it hard too?" No. My point is that the greater promise of America, in my opinion, does not lie in rehashing our failures of the past. I wouldn't expect my children, who are of easily traceable Irish descent, to hold a grudge against their country because their ancestors were relegated to the worst jobs. I don't believe in allowing ones name, or race to hold them back either. The only boundaries we have in our way that can truly impede us are the ones we place there ourselves. No, I believe in fact that the greatest promise the America holds and the reason that day after day and year after year there are people from around the globe clamouring to get in here, is that we have the ability to admit our mistakes, do our best to correct them, and even more so, we have the unique gift of largely being able to decide for ourselves what it is that we will be able to attain.

The Irish, Italian and Asian communities (among others) have overcome the prejudices that were in their way. The children of black slaves have opportunities that their grandparents could only have dreamed of, to include of course the attaining of the highest office. And for myself, son of a poor kid who's Dad pushed him to do better for himself and, oh yeah, a direct descendant of Native Americans as well, I'm pretty proud of my country even with it's mistakes.

So just as Christmas has evolved from it's early Christian/pagan origins and became what it is today. (Minus of course the over-commercializing of it. That's another story.) So too has Thanksgiving evolved. Most people celebrate Thanksgiving today, with exception to the "token pilgrim/Indian decorations", not as a time of thanks for being welcomed to this continent, or celebration for the way the native population was wronged in the process, but rather as a time to give thanks to their God and their family for the blessings that they have. Thanks for the time we have to spend together, and to give to others of their time and their bounty.

So, that's my opinion on the matter. As stated, I don't mean to be confrontational, but it's my blog and while I will not edit (with obvious exception of spam or vulgarity) the comments left here, I can't say that I will agree with them all. Nor will I sit quietly all the time.
Thank you.
P~

Revisiting Alternative Fuels

One of my first blog entries was on alternative fuel sources. In it I stated that I felt that bio diesel would be the best alternative to wean us from fossil fuels. In some ways I still agree with that, but in so many others I have changed my mind greatly. I think that if getting off fossil fuels were the biggest issue, to me at least, then bio fuels would be a pretty acceptable solution. But over the last year, since I made that statement, I've learned a lot about how that solution could impact other areas of out lives. Take for instance the fact that I learned today; wheat prices have risen to record levels. This may not seem like an issue to a lot of people that don't buy wheat (we do.) but I think everyone buys either bread or flour, cereal, or any other number of other products that are grain based and are being pushed aside for bio fuel and ethanol production. Add to that the fact that the ratio of calories of fossil fuels energy used to the created calories of bio diesel energy. If it's not a flat curve, it's very close. Is it one of those damned if you do damned if you don't scenarios? Perhaps we would be putting less CO2 into the atmosphere, but with everything going up in price and reducing in availability, we won't be driving as much anyway. What do you think?

It's interesting to me to look back at my opinions and ideas as they progress. It's one of the things that I love about blogging. I get to share and watch myself evolve, as well as receive input from you and learn about your opinions and ideas. Thanks for the time you give me it's made my life much richer.

Tomorrow: A big bookcase update for those aspiring DIYers out there. If I can do it you can too!P~

An orderly home / A healthy child

We're not there completely, but we did clear out the things we had identified as "need to go" things this weekend. All the decorations and old frames that we had went to a nice lady we met through freecycle and a desk went to a friend of mine from work. The rest of the things went to our local charity thrift store on Saturday and lo and behold, we began to feel a little freer and had a lot of extra garage space all of a sudden.
Another thing that we have been doing so far this year, is to make specific plans with finish dates. This has served us so well It's amazing. It's like the world favors the prepared. We planned to take a trailer load of trash that's been sitting in the side yard since early fall before the first weekend in January, and we did. The day after we went, we started getting snow, and we now would not even have the ability to get the trailer out. Good timing. We also planned to take the last items to the Thrift store this saturday afternoon, and we did. The next morning, surprise, unexpected snow storm that would have been a pain to move stuff in; again, good timing.
A~ and I have really been happy with the way the new year has been shaping up. How's it going for you?

*************************************************************************

On the heart murmer front, we finally got the news from the echocardiogram. (I previously referred to it incorrectly as an electrocardiogram. My mistake.) It seems we have a healthy and active boy with a slightly leaky heart valve. In short, nothing for us to worry about. We will need to monitor it by having it checked every couple of years as he matures just to be safe but there are no expected issues.
Thank you all for you caring posts and encouragement. It means so much to have people we've never even met send us such well wishes.
I'll post more soon, I'm almost done with the catch up on the woodwork and will be a little freer with my time.
P~

I'm dreamin, of a ....

White Christmas of course! But this year we don't have to dream, only to look out the window. It's just started to snow in the last hour, and is projected to keep going all night. So tomorrow we'll open presents, put together puzzles, and watch "A Christmas Story" all with a view worthy of a Norman Rockwell cover right out the window. I just managed to finish the Christmas presents for the boys. I wasn't sure I'd make it, I was a bit ambitious and started late so I consider myself lucky. I'll post some pics of the final product, and a little jig I came up with to use for them, probably this weekend.

I hope all of you are having a great weekend and just enjoying the heck out of each others families. To my family who is scattered far and wide. I want to let you all know how much I miss you, and love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas. To my new friends around the world, Happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad, God Jul, Joyeux Noel; there are too many ways to say all of them, but I wish you all peace and happiness tonight.

I took a little video from my front porch at the same time as this picture... Thought it would be night too share.
Merry Christmas.
P~

Ahhhhhh

What a great Thanksgiving! We spent out Thursday giving, and our Friday thanking and eating! We cooked a beautiful turkey, and of course all the appropriate trimmings. I'm going to pass on my secret turkey cooking technique now. Stuff under the skin. I make a slightly wetter than normal stuffing, slide my hand between the breast and the skin, and fill the resulting space with the stuffing. 8 yrs ago, when my wife and I were having our first thanksgiving dinner we decided that we wanted to come up with a recipe for turkey that we could make a tradition, this was what we came up with and we have loved it ever since. This is my one real contribution to the thanksgiving feast, I am the turkeymeister!

A~ set a beautiful table for us as you can see. She makes all the holidays special for us with her decorating and enthusiasm.

As for our actual Thanksgiving day, this is where we spent it. This is the Marshall White community center in Ogden UT. It's the nearest center of it's kind to us, and it's where we have gone for thanksgiving to help out and serve a meal every other year.

We had an opportunity to experience a different perspective this year. It happened while we were off the active serving line, and were helping some of the elderly or disabled to get their meals. A~ looked up and poked me to draw my attention to someone in the line. It was our old neighbors. As I said before, We began to do this little bit of service as a sort of thanks of our own for our blessings and after having come through a particularly rough period in our life together. It was strange to see someone that had been in so similar a place as us at one point, obviously worse off. She was with her kids, and after she seemed to notice us there, she looked down and didn't seem to want to be seen. We respected this, and continued as though nothing had changed. It stuck with me though, and made my thanks the next day even greater.

I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good thanksgiving, I hope we can all try to keep the spirit of thanks in our hearts much longer than just the weekend.

P~

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanks giving here. Well, it will be tomorrow anyway. We'll be heading over first thing in the morning to help set up for the meal that we'll be serving. As I said before, it's something that we've done before and we all really enjoy it. I hope you all have a wonderful and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Enjoy your families and your time with them. If you have the opportunity while you're out and about hold a door open for someone, or maybe just a smile to a stranger. Think about the things you're thankful for and keep them in your heart all day.

I'd like to also take a moment to let you know what I am thankful for.

• I'm thankful for my family. My wife, and my kids are my greatest blessing and I am thankful for them every day.
• I'm thankful for my work. I am lucky enough to to have been able to work with a great group of people and to know my imact.
• I'm thankful for my health. I feel like I've been in the best health of my life lately.
• I'm thankful for all of the service men and women here and abroad serving during this holiday season to keep us safe and secure.

Now, get off the computer, eat some turkey and have a great day!

P~

Giving

So often in the blogosphere I read about supporting local agriculture and local businesses to build stronger communities. I’ve written about it and I’ve tried to do my best to move that direction in many ways. While eating local and shopping local are both great ways to help build stronger communities and have a lot of merit on their own, what I’d like to bring up, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, is what we can do not necessarily with our dollars, but with our time.

My family and I have made a tradition over the last 6 or 8 yrs to spend every other Thanksgiving Day at a local shelter helping to distribute and SERVE meals to many of the areas less fortunate. I emphasize the word serve for a reason; not just that we are physically serving food and hot drinks, we are serving our fellow man. Most of us have had a time in our lives, either because of circumstances or bad decisions, when we hit a rough patch, sometimes it’s a very rough patch and we've been able to get by because of anothers time and help. When we first decided to begin this tradition, we were feeling particularly thankful, having just come through a particularly rough period in our early relationship, one where we certainly had received help from others.

There are a lot of things that we can do to help others. Spend time at a shelter serving food, help a widow fix things around the house, mow a lawn for an elderly couple or just make a dinner for a neighbor that has had a health problem. These are things that we've done, but there are so many other things. I'd like to hear from you about the things that you have done, or what you will be doing as this time of thanks is upon us. If you have nothing planned, then I would ask that you perhaps take a look at what you could do. Maybe spend some time at a shelter, or fix a meal for a less fortunate family, whatever.

For those of you reading who blog as well, take a minute to share your service with others as I am and help me to motivate them to get out and SERVE. Let's try to add this to our community building efforts.
P~

Skansen and thank you's

I was born in Umeå Sweden and grew up in California. When I was nine, my parents put me on a plane and sent me back there to get to know my family. When I got there my Mom had arranged to have a good friend U~, pick me up at the airport and show me around for a day or two, it's been 27 yrs the details are a little foggy. One thing I do remember was the trip she took me on to a place called Skansen. It is a living museum in Stockholm that shows how the Swedish people lived throughout history. I remember glass blowers, and timber frame barns, and all of the crafts and architecture. There are all things that are all near and dear to me even now.

I've said before that early on I began to be interested in old ways for lack of a better word. Well, if I had only a cursory interest in it prior to nine, then after Skansen I was enamoured. The home in the picture is one that has been in my head for most of my life. I had never seen a home with grass on the roof, and it wasn't until recently that I learned how efficient they are. All I know is that it felt so comfortable to me; like I had grown up there. Being as I was nine, I don't know if I ever took the time to let U~ know how much I appreciate her taking the time to do show me around, and unwittingly as it may have been, shaping a young mind. I talked with Mom tonight and she told me that when U~ was out recently visiting her, she gave her the address for my blog. So U~ (I assume you know who you are, I never use full names here, it's a silly little thing I do.) thank you so much, I hope you'll come here and check in on me once and a while, and if you click the link below the post where it says "_ comments", you can leave me a note.
Strange how life puts things in front of you that are just meant to be there isn't it?
Namaste~

Floor Update

Here's the latest progress on the flooring. I've been plinking here and there over the last week and a half at finishing our stairs. This is the "Grand Staircase"; it sounds better saying that than the big staircase in the front room don't ya think? Anyway, there is another smaller four stair set above this that goes to our room that is also finished. This one actually is not quite done yet; the bottom two steps are still unfinished. It has been a pretty major work to do this by myself. I knew I had the skill, but it has certainly made me dig deep for some of them. Now I see why doing it myself is saving me in the neighborhood of $6.00 sq/ft. I have also been manufacturing all of the millwork like the bullnose edging, and door treads on my own in the garage. This has taken a bit of time, but I think they came out pretty well. I hope to be finished with the stairs this week, and then prep the living room for the flooring next week. Our goal has been to finish it during the month of September all along. We should come out fairly close to that.

On a side note... Dad, thank you for teaching me the basics when I was a kid, and letting me tinker with your tools, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this with out that foundation.

P~

Low Impact Reflections IV

What did I like best about Low Impact Week? Throughout the world are bells, of one sort or another. They ring out daily calling the masses together. Like waves, spreading out catching ears and bringing in citizens to worship or gather; to learn and lead. Like these bells I felt a calling to come and join in Low Impact Week. I wanted to join in the gathering, I wanted to learn from you and I wanted to share with you. This is what I liked best about Low Impact Week; YOU. because of this project I linked over other sites and read about your challenges. I learned about your experiences and your failings, and in that I was able to accept mine. Of course I enjoyed the challenge of trying new things, and by in large most of the things that I tried out during last week I will continue to practice regularly. But without a doubt I liked the sharing and the community of change that we all became a part of. I believe that this type of community will be the catalyst to spread, by example, the word about these kind of changes. They're not that hard, but I think people get scared, or feel overwhelmed. Being a part of a community and having people that have either tried something already, or that are doing it for the first time with you will make it so much easier for people to want to try at all.
I congratulate everyone that took part in this challenge, to whatever degree, and thank those that supported us, whether they participated or not. Can't wait to see what you have for us next Crunchy.
P~

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day; a day that we should all take a few moments to think of, be thankful for, and to remember the service men and women that have served our nation during wars and times of peace. My grandfather was a part of that greatest generation that liberated Europe, my father was one of the volunteers to serve in the Pacific during the Vietnam conflict, and I completed two tours in the Persian Gulf during my 5 yrs in the ARMY. I am proud to say that I was a part of the uniformed services, and an quick to say that in many ways it played a great part in making me the man I am today. Far too often we hear about bad things that have happened, or our attentions are drawn to misfortunes or mistakes in our conflicts abroad. I would submit that regardless of our different opinions with regard to policy or administration, the soldier is not to be anything but thanked. Don't let us forget that these men and women are volunteers. They have put their lives up to protect our way of life. A way of life that is all too often taken for granted. I thank you all, Army Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard for your service and your time. I remember and honor the fallen and thank them for theirs, the greatest, sacrifice. I am also thankful for those that wait for these men and women, the wives and husbands that keep the homes and wait with anxious children; without their support the soldiers job would be infinitely harder.

Thank you and God bless you.
P~