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!