Adventures in Beards

So I'm almost a month into my new job, and enjoying myself a lot. I love working from home, though it can be nerve-wracking when you're trying to figure out a brand new system, nothing is working and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off. Thankfully I'm good at thinking on my feet, and hopefully that doesn't happen too often!!!

This month was the "D" month, as I travelled to Denver and Dallas. It was a great chance to try out my new suit - the first I've worn in over a decade. I felt dead posh!!! While I do enjoy travelling for a few days at a time, it's always nice to come back home to Nancy and the boys.

And when I'm not travelling, I've been experimenting with not shaving and seeing how long I can go before it gets too annoying and I have to get rid of it. My record so far is 5 days - apparently it made me look a little sinister (maybe I should have taken some time to go lurk on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas)!!!

This weekend I'm doing the two-day RRCA coaching certification class, which I'm looking forward to. This class only comes through Austin every few years - I dithered and dallied the last time, and it ended up sold out. I actually went and got myself recertified in first aid and CPR last night, so I'm all ready to go and discover exactly how badly wrong my training has been all these years - haha. I'll let you know how it goes.

And some news on the Dylan front - he has discovered climbing and has summited most of our home peaks - Mount Sofa, Mount Dining Room Table and Mount Ladder to his Brother's Bunk Bed. Yesterday, our not-quite-two-year-old budding mountaineer successfully escaped from his crib and went on the lam. It seems we have officially run out of ways to keep him contained.

And that's a scary thought!!!

Garden Update

Well this is another post for my dad, since he was here when I first built my garden beds, and I haven't posted any updates in a while. I guess you could say I'm learning as I go, as I've had my share of success and failures.  But on the whole, the garden seems to be growing very well, and we enjoyed our first mini-harvest of radishes earlier this week.

The corn and cucumber are growing like crazy - I had to put up a trellis for the cucumber as it was trying to wrap itself around the corn.  In the front three rows I've had mixed success with the peppers - several of them died, but the ones that didn't look really strong.  Reinforcements are growing indoors.

Tomatoes have been a problem for me, as most of them have fallen over and died (some of them I suspect were victims of stray basketball shots).  The exceptions are two in the back row that I think will make it, and one in the pot that is thriving.  I have started more trays inside with roma, big boys, beefsteak and steak sandwich varieties.  Other things growing well here include basil (front), scallion, red onion and rashishes (2nd row) and lettuce and more radishes (3rd row).  Parsley (front row) and oregano (3rd row) are probably not going to make it.  Again, the next generation is growing indoors.

The three plants in the front are pumpkins I planted just over a week ago, and they seem to be doing really well.  Broccoli in the second row have started to take off, but the snap peas and cilantro behind them are not doing so good.  The sunflower at the back is happily motoring along.

The summer squash and zucchini plants are my pride and joy - they just flowered a few days ago, and are probably my most successful crop to date.  I have surrounded both of them with a tomato cage to try to encourage them to grow up.  The front row are filled with carrots and some experimental asparagus, but really this bed is all about the squash.

Take That Honey-Do List!!!

Which part of this did I make?

Hello erstwhile blog readers. Yes, I know it's been a while, but I haven't forgotten about you - it's just that I've been really busy with the new job.  I promise I will get back to regular updates in the near future.

And really, this post is for my dad who has been nagging me both about the lack of updates to the blog, and also about the lack of progress on the trundle I was building.  Hopefully this will give you both.

You see, when we bought bunk beds for the boys last year I was too cheap wanted to design and build my own trundle to go underneath.  It had reached a state of near-completeness several months ago, and there it stayed as other things took over. Well I finally got around to finishing it, and we rolled it into place tonight.  I think it turned out really well - it matches the bed, and (for once) I got my measurements spot on.

I am looking forward to enjoying a toy-free living room.

So boo-ya to you, honey-do list.  It won't be long before I have you down to single digits!!!!

Built to hold a lot more than Aquaman!!!