Soap

August 19, 2013Leave a comment

It was soap and bubble time for school last week. Here are some of our projects.

If you are bored and randomly have a bar of ivory soap, microwave it. This was a big hit with Mr. C. PB was having after-nap-angst.

My brother in law talks about a slurry they use in his construction job. This is our version. It is soap, and I’m pretty such it looks and acts like nothing they are doing.

We also tried giant bubbles that only partway worked. (Dry climate? Hard water?) They only partway worked, so I don’t have pictures.

Everything Else

August 17, 2013Leave a comment

Picture time:

We went out to Willard Bay. It was fun. But we need some sort of boat to really enjoy it.

We went to Seven Peaks with my family, which was a blast. Mr. C loved about everything. PB loved the wave pool and lazy river. I convinced him to go down one slide. He wasn’t impressed. And it was too entertaining to take pictures.

The Garden

August 15, 2013Leave a comment

I should be enjoying a bountiful harvest, planting out fall crops, loving the fruits of the labor in spring.

My harvest is decent, but not great. I’m skipping fall crops, minus the beans that I planted a month ago. And I feel like this garden has just been a battle against pests.

It hasn’t been used or maintained in years, and surrounded by feral waste places, my garden is a breeding ground for pests. This is the list so far:

Slugs
Grasshoppers
Aphids
Spider mites
Blossom end rot
Tomato cracking
Cats scratching up melons
Stink bugs on tomatoes
Cucumber beetles
Wilting of squash (I lost five plants)
And lots of weeds

Many of these pests focus on preventive control. Part of my problem is the furrow irrigation that I do not control. The garden gets pretty flooded at times. I’ve sprayed my plants off occasionlly with water, but otherwise, I haven’t done anything for my list of pests. And I’m not planning to. The cost of any control far exceeds the value of the produce.

But the giant sunflowers do look good. They are probably around 15′ tall.

Praying

August 15, 2013Leave a comment

I just noticed something yesterday. I was having a rough day. I felt behind on all my work, the kids were making disasters, and I decided to can tomatoes. I did not have fun. If I were to can again I need three things to make it enjoyable: a decent sized kitchen, a friend, and a dishwasher. Without those three items, it was a just a mess.

So in the midst of my angst, I decided to take a second off and prayed. Prayers work. It helped me vent, it helped me refocus, and the rest of the day I felt happy. I had the Lord on my side again. And that is the key to about anything.

Adams Canyon

August 6, 2013Leave a comment

We went hiking up Adams Canyon in Layton. This has been our third hike for the whole year, which is a pathetically low number. But we have to haul our kids, and they weigh a lot. PB complains, and then Mommy complains, and it turns out Mr. C would rather explore than take a ride so he complains as well. After a while, we figured it out. Mr. C moved from Dad to Mom, which he liked much better. PB was encourage to not say, “I’m too tired,” or “I can’t do it”, but instead ask for a rest. PB actually did a great job in hiking most of the trail by himself.

The hike was beautiful, dead ending in a big waterfall. There is a lot of scrambling over rocks, walking through sand, and pretty steep trails. More of a moderate level hike, but doable even with little kids. Leave early, because the first part of the trail is sunny and exposed in the later morning to afternoon. At 3.5 miles, we took just over four hours to hike it, and we were one of the slowest groups. See the link posted above for directions and a trail map.

This kid got very dirty on the hike. He liked to dig in the dirt and wipe sweat off of his face.

Garden Tour in Ogden

August 2, 2013Leave a comment

I went to the Ogden Nature Center garden tour. It was pouring rain when I started out. The rain added to my already foul mood, but as soon as I started to walk through the gardens it all dissipated.

Notice the gravel edging

I started out with the best home on the tour. I believe the owner was a retired nurseryman, and it was a gardener’s haven. Even areas that he felt were weedy (I talked to him briefly), were beautiful. I want two acres that I can transform into a plant paradise, like he has.

I love the blue grama grass here

I’m a big fan of grassed planted in rows. It was windy, and the movement they create is beautiful.

Many of the homes were well landscaped, but less than memorable. I have a picture of one and I have no memory of visiting it. There is nothing wrong with the landscape, but there is nothing special about it either.

This next home stood out. It wasn’t a plant haven, but it was unique. The garden was not what you would expect driving in a cookie cutter suburb. The designer said the garden was meant to be a walking meditation, and it was.

Another home I enjoyed worked with natural features instead of excluding them. Much of the landscape was native hackberry trees, sagebrush and beautiful, natural rock.

Unmowed fine fescue blends with natural rock

Nightmares

July 30, 2013Leave a comment

On a ~~dark and stormy night~~ bright and sunny day….even cheery gardens harbor nightmares.

I recently saw this beautiful vine, climbing up the fence at the rear of a small community garden.

At first, I wondered what it was. It was quite striking, with purple flowers and berries of varying shade. And then it hit me. This was poison night shade. Prolifically growing in a community garden.

While monitoring for pests, I noticed something was eating the cabbage and leaving gruesome large holes in the head. I pulled up the plant and found nine snails, huddling underneath the leaves. They were promptly punished by a preschooler with salt.

The next day I found 11 more snails on that same cabbage. The cabbage has been rescued to my fridge, and the snails have been trampled into mush.

Camping

July 30, 20131 Comment

My Grandpa Claude is awesome. Not many octogenarians will go camping, but he took us up for a great night in paradise. We drove to this beautiful location on the Wolf Creek highway.
The kids had a great time. Mr. C was almost jumping up and down with excitement (he can’t leave the ground yet) when we put the tent up. We explored, and sat around and didn’t do much. It was wonderful.

I love camping fashion. It doesn’t matter what you wear as long as it’s comfortable.

Life in Photos

July 29, 2013Leave a comment

One evening, we went to the tabernacle to guide tours (or more appropriately, leave the door unlocked and let people wander around). I found a great spot to take a picture of my boys. This is the best it gets.

We ate lunch at Marble Park in Bothwell. It was a fun park, up until PB slipped in a pile of mud. And then Mr. C followed.

Here are some picture of playing outside. How did I ever live without a yard for the kids to play in? It is everyone’s favorite thing to do.

We took a train ride on Frontrunner down to visit Grandma. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it better than driving two kids by myself. Although I know at least one man moved because we were a little loud.

Hiking. I don’t know if this really counts, it is a 1/4 mile nature trail ing American Fork canyon. But just the right size for PB.

Viewpoint

July 27, 2013Leave a comment

I gave my old camera to my children. It is always fun to upload the photos and see what they saw. Here is some from their play outside with a sprinkler:

The perspective they see is different from my own, and it is good to think of what it means to be short, young, and not have so many expectations.