Harvest

Baby was born last Thursday. His name is Finn Edward Dean. He's the best baby in the whole wide world.

The garden is doing pretty well. So far we've harvested quite a few cucumbers, which are very very good. We've got some bell peppers and a couple of egg plants that should be ready in the middle of July. Tomatoes are chugging along, should be ready to pick by the end of July.

Finished reading the Lord of the Rings this week. I want to live in a Hobbit hole now.

That's all I've got.

-Brian

Bike Tension

Over the past 2 weeks I have ridden my bike to and from work on several days. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but always came up with some dumb excuse not to do it or was just too afraid in general. I'm not really sure what I did to get over these mental hurdles, but I just decided to go for it and see what happened. So what happened? I brought my bike and a change of cloths to work last Tuesday. After work I changed, got on my bike, and went home. Uneventful. I was nervous as all get out, but for no particular reason. The act of riding my bike wasn't new. The environment wasn't particularly different, I've been ridding in traffic a lot recently. It was the idea that I was performing an activity that was labeled as something I've never done before and in a somewhat new environment that fed my fear. I feel that I get that way a lot. I put things in a mental box and build that box so large that it seems impossible to open. The things inside this "box" are unchanged,  just opening (doing) them are difficult because of how I perceive them. I know there are many other things in which I have this barrier with, so I'm trying to identify those things that I'm not doing because of an unfounded fear, or otherwise general anxiety and try to overcome that. Identifying those things might be tough though. Of course, this is fueled by the fact that I felt  absolutely great when I got home for the first time.

-Brian

Grass

Grass is starting to grow in the front yard and I'm super excited...pictures to come in due time.

I played Mass Effect (1) last weekend and was totally blown away. Probably one the best games I've ever played. Also probably one of the only RPGs (hybrid?) I've actually finished. I think I need to work on that some...

I haven't been reading as much as I've wanted to recently. I read Ron Paul's The Revolution and it was pretty good. I'm not huge fan of investing a lot of time into political research but I found it to be worth while. I feel that our natural opinions on politics should spring from our religious beliefs, as with all other opinions we hold, so I would be more inclined to spend more time studying the Bible rather than reading and analyzing various political stances. Granted, research into people we vote into offices is very important to make sure our principals are aligned, but even that shouldn't take a large amount of time. Accepting the fact that no one is perfect, especially those making decisions in offices, also mitigates the need for immense amounts of time spent analyzing politics.

Right now I'm reading through Francis Chan's Crazy Love. Not saying that I didn't take it seriously the first time I read it, but I probably didn't give it enough consideration. The general message of the book challenges me in a  lot of ways and I hope my attitude and ambitions can be influenced in a way that allows me to lessen my wants, needs, and desires for a level of comfort that could ensue a sense of apathy towards increasing my reliance on God. I think a lot of people get overly confident (my self included) in what they can seemingly provide for themselves which could open a door for a feeling of self-reliance that would then leads towards having less of a desire for God's influence in our lives.

That was pretty much me typing out loud and a self-reflection...

-Brian

Garden Pictures and Diagram

Here are some pictures taken today of the garden progress. The filled box has two rows of Spinach that we planted earlier this week, nothing has come up as of yet though. Also below is a diagram of our planting arrangement and a snapshot of the compost progress - it's coming a long nicely.[gallery link="file" columns="2"]

Click the pictures above again on the next page for the real thing...

School and Garden

I need not apologize for lack of update as I've been hard at work doing other things...Had I been lazy and not doing other things then a firm dose of discipline would be in order, but that's not the case, so on to the updates.

Over the past several weeks I've been studying and taking tests to complete a few certs that I've been wanting to finish. I took and passed MS 70-291 and the Network+ exam. These tests combined with previous ones I passed gave me the MCSA credential, which could be worthy of putting after my name in email communications or business cards. I don't  think that's necessary though...

These test have also given me the ability to exempt the classes needed to graduate from PTC with an associates in information systems. This makes me ecstatic because I've been enrolled at tech since 2004 (though not continuously)....I plan to continue my education at an institution of even higher learning. More to come on that.

Garden update....

Lot's going on here. I don't have pictures of everything yet, but I will be sure to post some this week.

The raised bed garden boxes have been built and two rows of Spinach have been planted in one of the beds. This plant requires direct, outdoor planting and should not be started indoors (like all our other plants).

Our squash has reached a milestone in maturity and has been transplanted from starter boxes to interim boxes it will grow in until it's ready to be planted in the raised beds. These things sprouted and grown rather quickly.

All the other plants have been growing at a normal rate. More to come on these.

That's all for now. I will post pictures of everything sometime this week.

-Brian Dean, MCSA

Curb Appeal

While I've been composting for the past few weeks another outdoor project has been looming above me...the front yard.
A few months back we had a driveway poured, and while this resolved the bulk of our front yard problems, it left a larger problem for the rest of the yard.

The plan was to lay sod around the driveway and easily create a magazine-quality front yard....talk is always easier than action. I went outside yesterday to start work on preparation and realized that a ton of concrete debris and rocks has integrated itself into the soil. Not good for grass.

So now the plan is to craft a large sifter for the top soil and shovel the bulk of the yard through it. Hopefully this wont take a ton of time and will produce good results. Someone once said "The harder you work, the better the results"...yeah.

Meanwhile I can think of the type of grass I want to lay...

Building a Soil Sifter
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/landscape/tools/sifter/soil.htm

Local sod farms
http://www.modernturf.com
http://www.carolinafreshfarms.com/index.html
http://www.pattenseed.com/index.html

Compost Happens

Several years ago, there was a station wagon that was covered from side to side with bumper stickers (on the back). I saw this wagon quite often rummaging about Greenwood, and I was fond of reading the various extreme, anti-government, we can-do-it-ourselves types of messages plastered about, but the one that I was most fond of, and still remember to this day simply read "Compost Happens". And it does.

This is the first major step in the garden project. I'm hoping that if I mix it up every day that I might have something usable in a few weeks, depending on the weather. Right now it's just a mixture of mulched leaves from the fall and about a weeks worth of kitchen scraps. If you have any kitchen scraps you'd like to contribute, they would be much appreciated.

For those of you interested in starting a compost of your own, I purchased this compost bin from Lowes for about $50 US. It was in the way back of the outdoor garden section (part of the store you've never really been to).

Here is a useful link for more information:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/building.html