Orchid 's sense of time

Mom you hit the nail on the head when you said orchids are on their own schedule. It's been three weeks since I posted the last picture of this plant's buds. Now the first one is finally getting open!

I can say that it has been worth the wait to grow this one out to blooming point. this is a very vivid  color and not what I was expecting at all. Another day or two (hopefully) and it will be open for us to enjoy fully!

Winter Barbecue and more

The "and more" part may have to come later today, but I will start with the Elder's Quorum barbecue we had last Saturday.  We covered the front of President Mecham's carport with tarps and blasted the place with our arsenal of space heaters.(There were more that aren't pictured here)

There was plenty of food and fun to go around. It was surprisingly well attended for a semi-outdoor winter barbecue. I guess one doesn't need much of an excuse to escape the dreary, cold cabin fever atmosphere.

It got to be quite comfortable in there warmth-wise by the time it was ready to be over!

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Cali and I are going to go run some errands now, so we will have to update some more later! Take care..

Ok, we are back. i wanted to put up a picture of my little aloe plant that is blooming right now. It's Aloe descoingsii x A. Haworthioides, and blooms every winter.

Each flower lasts about a day or two , then closes back up and eventually falls off. They're very cute while they last!

Now the story of a nice little dracena I replanted yesterday. When I got it a little over 5 years ago it was about an inch and a half tall with only three leaves. It grew and grew and got healthier and healthier. Yesterday I did a switcheroo. with a couple plants that needed repotting, including this dracena. Debbie had this tiny cactus growing in a pot that was way too big for it. I transplanted it into a more appropriate sized container and it looks very well suited to it's new home.

The dracena had gotten so big that it was top heavy it the pot it had been growing in for the past year and a half. It was also very rootbound!

It went into the cactus' former pot, which was a perfect match for the marking's on it's leaves.

Granny's blackberry jelly

Tonight Callie and I enjoyed some dough gobs with the yummiest homemade blackberry jelly ever!

You can tell that Callie REALLY enjoyed it, so did her face, her hair, her hands...

After such enjoyment, it's only right to be hosed off (or in this case, bathed). I don't remember being small enough to flatten my legs in this direction in the tub, do you?

And Zach thinks she's getting sooo big! Ok, she IS getting big, but still little enough to wiggle around the tub with ease.

Thanksgiving

This morning we ran out of juice to drink- on Thanksgiving, no less! Ever resourceful, I went over to the neighbor's apple tree and grabbed a few of the ones that were still left on it. We blended them up, squeezed 'em out and viola! Very fresh and tasty apple juice!

7 years

Not in Tibet!

But that is how long I've waited for this plant to bloom. Here is an orchid that I started from just the tiniest little nub/growth from it's parent plant long, long ago. The parent one has since passed on, but this one has grown all up and taken it's place(finally).

The buds are a couple weeks away from opening still, but I'm so excited about it I couldn't help but share. I thought it was going to be this variety with the green petals and purple lip called burana jade, but upon closer inspection there are distinct differences in the coloring on the unopened buds so far compared to other pictures I've found of that cross. 

I guess it will be a surprise! I can't wait!

A Wii bit of fun...

(These are links, so you have ro click on them to watch the videos)
Callie playing on the Wii this weekend (she had some help)

This one was pretty fun to watch too!

These pictures were taken last Sunday and were supposed to have been posted on Sunday night, but for some reason the blog wouldn't let me put them up on that day. I'm trying again to see if it will work this time! Debbie gets the credit for capturing these moments of perfect angelicy. We won't talk about the two hours of fussing and orneriness(sp?) that took place beforehand.

I'm free and clear!

After several months of waiting, and fixing and waiting, and dealing with issues and waiting, I"ve finally got everything taken care of with the Cadillac. I put the liscence plates on it this morning and now I can finally drive around with out worrying about anything.(I have had the temporary ones in the window, but it just wasn't the same) I've been doing everything by the book exactly the way they've wanted me to, jumped through every single little hoop, gotten every document, paid every fee, done every repair, every insurance thing- everything! All done! What a relief! Phew!

Now I think I can be ready for my next trial/affliction. Bring it on!

The week's news

Let's see if I'm cognicient enough to formulate a post for you all. Wednesday we had a Halloween party at the Primerica office, it was pretty fun.

Gaylen, our Regional Vice President:

and his wife Debbie the cereal killer:

My trainer (Justin) as our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, and the mamma-to-be ladybug (Sarajayne)

With special guest, Chris Rock  !!

Our securities leader, Kathleen "Money Tree" Moser!!!!!!

My great District Leader, Paul Phillips as the Great Pumpkin!

Kelly Mathers, telling us we are in a "bear" market...

Primerica: So easy, even cave-folk can do it!

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The other news of the week: I harvested some Saffron for the first time!

Those red things inside are the saffron threads

Pluck them out , dry them up and they're ready for your next saffron-needing meal! Yay!

 (Joni, I'm working on getting you a recipe from a lady in my class)

Pumpkin Walk 2009

I took Callie to this year's Pumpkin Walk last night and here are some pictures of what we saw! I have to admit that it wasn't as good as in years past but there were still some pretty creative displays.

 Well, there you go! Hope you enjoy them!

I'm just mad about...Crocus!

Doesn't sound quite right, does it??

 It is highly doubtful of course that that song by Donovan back in the 60's was actually about the real spice Saffron. The  meanings about that "mellow" song I found while doing a quick google search revealed some less-than-reputable activities akin to a 60's lifestyle that aren't going to be mentioned here.

Crocuses(Croci?) do however, have a lot to do with the world's most valuable spice, beleive it or not. They have everything to do with it. It is harvested from the stigma of a fall-flowering version of the spring bringer and I have some! Yay!

 A Lady at school asked me why her Crocus sativus(saffron crocus) weren't coming up yet. I told her that I would look at them, but my fee was that I got to have one of the bulbs. Today she brought me one of those two gallon Ice cream buckets full of dirt with one little nub poking out of the hard pan soil. I think part of the problem is that a lot of the plants here are just barely beginning to realize its actually Fall, and another part is that even the loughest of bulbs have a hard time pushing through concrete! well, I told her that she oughtta get some peat moss to put in her other bucket of bulbs while I take this batch under my wing. Between her, another guy, and I we will get a good harvest of saffron threads in a few weeks or so!  And by next year when these bulbs mutliply, I'll be able to share those with others!

Alright, I'm way tired but I just wanted to share about my acquisition of this interesting flower.Maybe it will inspire you guys to actually BLOG about something in your lives!

Just for the sake of blogging

As the title of this post implies, there's really no rhyme or reason for it! The colors are changing and our summer-blooming Delphiniums are still going strong well into October on their second round of blossoms for the year. 

A couple pictures

Here are a few pictures from my visit with Callie tonight. She was so excited to try out her new cold weather gear! The coat is a little big for her now, but we're hoping it might last two years.

I just like this one

Callie looks great in this one. Me- not quite ready yet...

Mother Nature

A couple weeks ago we moved my greenhouse from it's spot on the parking area( A) to cover the gardenspot(B) so our tomatoes would some protection from the frosts. Last night, the wind storm decided to move the greenhouse to the neighboring field and plop it right side up on the other side of the fence(C)!  My biggest question is how it managed to lift it up over the 2 1/2 foot tall concrete retaining wall, and through the fenceposts in one piece!!?

White Pine lake

Here are some pictures from my hike on Friday afternoon. I went to White Pine lake in the Mt. Naomi wilderness area in Logan Canyon. These photos don't even begin to do justice to all of the inspirational scenery I encountered on the trail.

This reminds me one of those color-blind tests. If you can see the number 111,111,111,  you are not colorblind! Congratulations! (If you see a greater or fewer # of digits you probably still aren't color-blind though. But maybe you are... who knows?)

Another detail of this hike that has never played such a role as any other hike that I've been on was the smells that enveloped me. As I walked through some of the grassy meadow-y places, there were large expanses of sage with some relative of the mint family that was interspersed among all of them which made for a VERY aromatic trip! It made me want to lay down and roll around in it; and if the ground were drier I might have done it!

 

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These two mountains are called Gog and Magog. I don't know which one is which, but they are at opposite ends of the lake and are both quite impressive in real life!

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He's kind of hard to see but that's a beaver that wasn't too happy with me for snooping around his lake!

Good form!

A few pictures from last night. Callie was doing her own ballet recital for us!

Ta daaaah!!!!!

Just peachy!

Since my peach tree produces perfect Callie-sized peaches, it's only fair that she should be one of the first to enjoy it's bounty of the season!

Them's the brakes..

For those of you who may not be familiar with Utard's automotive laws, the rule is that you must get your car inspected every other year before you can re-register it. Mostly it is just an opportunity for the state to suck more money out of your pocket and another excuse for repair shops to make up reasons that you need to finance their boat payments.(By the way, have you heard about the Jiffy Lube scam?) So, at the end of August when my Cadillac was due for it's tags, I took it to get inspected. Lo and behold, they said it needed brand new brake pads and the brake hoses had some cracks in them! It would cost about $220 for them to fix it and I said, "Don't be ridiculous!"  (well, I wish I had said that.)

I went to the parts store and got a set of lifetime warranty brake pads for under $20 and the hoses for a grand total of $54 and change.  MUCH better than $220, don't you think? My brother-in-law Justin said that he could help me put them on on Friday afternoon (last Friday).  We got too busy to do it that night, so we rescheduled for Monday morning, Labor Day. I was willing to sacrifice my only 'sleep-in' day to be able to get them done and over with, so I agreed to be there at 8. We got it up in the air, the wheels off, took a look at the caliper thing, and said, "huhh..." Wouldn't you know it took a special tool to release the caliper from the hub???!!! More importantly, a tool neither Justin or I had in our possession. So we ran to the farm store in town and got what we thought was the right size socket- the largest size they had of that type in stock. We got back, climbed under the car, and . . .still too small! That meant we had to go to the big dogs and try a real live auto parts store all the way back in Logan!

OK, so we go to Checker's to get the right size tool. We ended up purchasing two different sized sockets just in case and headed back home. The largest sized one worked and we finally got the brakes off after having the car in the air for two hours! Upon opening the boxes of new brake pads, we noticed something. Something we really could have lived without seeing. (No, the box didn't have those springy snakes in it!) They were the wrong brake pads! No amount of fandangling would have ever gotten those things to fit on where the old ones were; not that you would want to mess with anything in that system, anyway.  Luckily, we checked the hoses too before we went BACK to town again- yeah, they were wrong. We took everything back and made quadrupley sure everything was right before we went home again. We were now three hours into a 1/2 hour project!!

Once we got home for the last time, we got the brake pads on and everything done in about 20 minutes. good grief!


Wouldn't it be nice if the story ended there and we all lived happily ever after???


 Well, on the way home from the Hansens, I was at a stoplight and a silver toyota pickup pulled up behind me with cop lights flashing behind the grill. A dude in shorts and a t-shirt came out and told me I had cut off another vehicle. When he asked for my registration I couldn't find it at all. I also couldn't find the proof of insurance. There was nothing in the glove box, nothing under the seats, nothing anywhere! I knew I had had it a few days earlier because I needed it in order to get inspected in the first place! But now, when I needed it most, it was invisible! I was able to call Debbie to have her bring the extra insurance cards from home, so that wouldn't be on the ticket, but there wasn't anything we could do about the registration at that moment. They ended up towing my poor car away, which put quite a damper on the rest of the holiday.

Next week I have to make an appointment to go to court with all the documents and everything to prove to them the only reason I was driving the car was to get it fixed so it COULD be registered!!! Hopefully the judge will have pity on little ol' me...

I'll let you know how it goes.

An opening bud from the alive part of a half-alive, 60% off rose bush from K-mart. There are more buds coming too!

Callie helped pick her zucchini and some of it's vegetable friends today.

Not to brag...(well, maybe)

This is how many we've picked in the past few days.We've eaten lots, given away lots, and there are still many, many, many, many more to come! Looks like Deb's sorted these according to ripe-ness.

Callie and her Daddy

I thought you'd like to see some pics of the special, sometimes funny relationship Zach has with Callie.




An eskimo kiss in Washington.

Floating on the Newton Reservoir.

Relaxing in the camper

(well, almost).

What a good sport I am!

The beach at the reservoir we went to with the Hansens was slipperiest, slimiest, ickiest clay I've ever seen. But it's great for your complexion if you ever want a mud bath from Madi's Salon and Day Spa...

Her highly specialized formula is SPF 150, contains completely natural ingredients, and is 100% environmentally friendly/ recyclable. Her exotic resort location offers expansive beach access with warm sun, blue skies and excellent service with a personal touch! Book now, her schedule is filling up fast!

There are many more pictures from this trip to upload, so keep checking back!

Begonia chop

I followed Mom's lead and chopped my Angelwing begonia down to size. There were 18 stalks, most of which were taller than me and going everywhere. They were so heavy that the only thing strong enough to hold them up was several lengths of rebar! Now it will be a very happy. bushy, compact plant (for a little while). :0)

Exercise, in spite of myself!

For a while, Zach and I have talked about using our Wii Fit and the accompanying workouts and virtual personal trainers to improve our health; and last week we concluded that this week was the start of our regular fitness workouts and training program. Unfortunately, I started a new medication on Monday that makes me incredibly tired, giving me the desire to sleep an exorbitant amount of time every day. (I hope I get used to it soon so I can resume a more normal sleep schedule.)

Today was no exception to my tiredness; after sleeping for six hours last night, I was only up for two hours this morning before going back to bed to sleep for another three! That was after riding my bike with Zach to his school, to the store, then home again. That felt like enough exercise for me...but NO!

When Zach came home from school, we went to our garden and collected several cobs of corn, one banana pepper, three onions, and a plethora of cherry tomatoes (YUM!!). After that, he used the Wii Fit while I began recreating and updating my PAF files; my niece has a school assignment and needs information about her ancestors, and since I am my family's historian, my mom called me for details my niece could use in her report.

Anyway, when I was done with PAF for today, I went out to the living room and saw that my sweet husband had completed his workout and then pulled up my profile so I could work out as well, in spite of my opposition and tiredness. Due to technical difficulties, I was only able to complete about 20 minutes of workout, for which my sweetie congratulated me.

I love that Zach knows my personal goals and my struggle with weight loss. I love that he supports me in those goals even when I don't want to support myself. I love that he is so willing to help me have the motivation I lack on my own. And I especially love that he wants me to be the best I can be, for me, for us, and for Callie.

I know this post isn't a must read, but I wanted to share.

Some of my latest projects at school

I finished the AutoCAD program a couple weeks ago and now I'm working with a program called Autodesk Inventor. It is more practical for building parts and solid models, etc. These are a few of the things I've made in the past few days. they are mostly simple things but they help learn the basics so you can elaborate from there. It's pretty fun to watch these things transform from a few lines to a realistic object before your eyes!

I just did the hair dryer today- on the second or thrird attempt!

A restoration project

A couple of months ago Deb and I endeavored to take on a project for a friend of ours. We were going to help her reorganize her garage and do a couple other things that she is not able to do. We ripped out the noxious weeds that had taken over her flower beds, re-did her food storage, and she had some faded, kind of worn-out-looking benches she wanted to be able to use again.

After I tackled the weed beds, I went to work on the benches. They were wrought Iron and wood and the wood was very weathered and not smooth anymore. I took them apart and sanded and sanded and sanded till they weren't that aged grey color any more. Sorry I don't have any before pictures, but you can imagine what it looks like. The stain that she had picked out for the new color was (supposed to be) this nice, dark reddish, Mahogany color.

Nice, huh?

Well, we got them stained that day and proceeded to become extremely busy with wedding plans. The wood sat for awhile and we got a call from Charmaine a few weeks later saying that the wood turned out to be not what she wanted. In my mind, I was thinking 'Tough noogies lady... do you know how hard I worked on those and now you're saying it's not right!?' But bless my wife she told her that we would fix it for her.

When we finally made it over there we saw what she was talking about. the wood had turned almost black in color and it just wasn't acceptable. A bit hideous, eh? I guess some people might like it, but when it was clearly not the color we were hoping for, we realized it had to go.

I got out the sander and burned through I don't know how many sheets of sandpaper, but I finally made it though the blackness. I found some linseed oil in the garage, applied it to the wood and came out with this very lovely, vintage-antique look that really looked fantastic.

The finished product turned out with a very nice color, VERY smooth, and created a very pleased Charmaine! The transformation from too light, to too dark, to just right turned out to be a great experience in the end!

Yesterday we went down to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.

And when we got home got to have fresh raspberries for a treat and swung on the swing!

orchid bloom

when we got home tonight I noticed that this Phal is finally blooming! This was my first orchid and has been quite a reliable bloomer for me, with the flowers typically lasting from 4 -6 months. One year they stayed on from early June till after Thanksgiving!

Tubing

Tubing is going to become one of our favorite things to do, I think. Today our same group plus a couple more decided to go somewhere a little wilder than the concrete irrigation canal. We went to a place called the Oneida Narrows. It offers a little bit of everything for everyone; calm, peaceful slow spots and a few places that will jiggle your jello. It was really fun! Only one person got dumped out, and that's because she was in this small inflatable boat thing that wasn't very stable.