English Ivy

So many plants can be grown in an office. This English ivy is one such plant that can thrive in an office environment.  Of course they can also thrive on the side of a brick building so it really isn't surprising.

We have so many office plants where I work but unless you're looking for them you might not notice them.  This little guy showed up and had to be pointed out.  From the side it almost looks like he's growing through this wire sculpture it's sitting next to. which isn't the worst of ideas.

Then there is a money "tree".  I quote mark that because I don't think they're really trees.  At least I've never seen one being a tree or even a bush.  They have always been these spindly little things all wound up in a knot.  It sits near the break room but currently only has two leaves on it.  I hear it's being nursed back to health but I don't think it will make it.  Just my own observation with these things.  They aren't the best office plant.

I've mentioned many office plants before,  The ficus is a nice choice.  Although it looses leaves pretty regularly it can take a wide range of growing conditions.  If I had more space I'd probably get one.  Speaking of ficus trees though, that is also the group fig trees are in.  Maybe I can talk my wife into letting me have another fig tree.  It was the one tree that really seemed to do well and produce food.  Just have to keep the birds off of it and keep it trimmed well enough to keep a good lawn to boot.

Of course I couldn't forget to mention Claudette and her twin, the office cacao trees that are still growing in the same little pot.  One of these days I'll get around to splitting those two up.  The little one is hanging on but I know she'd do so much better alone in a pot.

Cat Grass

Grass seems to want to grow just about anywhere it can find that has even the slightest bit of dirt. Here we were in Galveston checking out Jean Lafitte's old castle grounds.  You can see the wall footing from part of the structure here with grass growing in and out of the footprint.  Even in the shadow, although patchy, it's taking root.

Since we got cats my wife has decided they need a bit of greenery in their lives.  So we ordered some seeds and got one of the pots that isn't currently growing anything and planted some cat grass.  That's fancy talk for wheat, oats, and barley. If I let it grow, we could even harvest grain from it but I don't think that's the idea here.  Cats are high end carnivores and don't take to salad eating much but a little green is apparently also good for their gut health.

I'm going to grow it outside for the most part and since our house faces West, the East side is in the back and gets some good morning sun on our patio.  I don't want it just out in the yard so the pot will sit there.  With proper watering and patience we should have some greenery for the cats in a couple weeks.  Again if I let it grow more we would have grain in a few months.  Might try that with a little of it just to see how it goes.  There's plenty of seed  in the bag.

Also probably going to see about getting better grass for the yard.  The stuff they have in there now is patchy and not very attractive.  It's sod though so maybe it will eventually grow in better.  At the previous house we had St. Augustine grass.  That's what I grew up having at my grandparents houses.  the both of them swore by it.  So, we'll see.

Personal Total Eclipse

So many people said they really didn't care to watch the eclipse.  It's so confusing since these same people are the kind of person that would spend thousands of dollars on other events that might be considered once in a lifetime events.

Considering where we are and how much effort it really took most people you'd think that at least they would bother to look up.

I don't know how many pictures I've seen of the eclipse.  Most of them are similar to this one I took where it's exactly as you'd expect and have been told by thousands of media outlets that you'd see.

Whereas the image itself is really nothing special, and frankly I've seen so many better pictures, the event was something I'm glad I took off work to experience.  I was able to spend hours with friends chatting about the eclipse as well as anything but the eclipse.  For the most part it was an excuse to have an off day.

What I didn't expect was the speed at which the sky darkened and got lighter afterwards.  Also the chill in the air as the sun was slowly dimming.  I guess I should have thought of that but to experience it was akin to being a small child and having an airplane fly overhead and cast its shadow on you.  But this was the moon.  It put into perspective the massive size of everything and how I'm just one person on this huge planet.

I also found it interesting that everyone experienced the eclipse differently.  Different clouds, different duration, different mood.  Although we were looking at the same thing, we didn't experience the same thing.

In conclusion, yeah, I'd do it again.

The Great American Solar Eclipse 2024

This is a picture of the partial solar eclipse back in 2017.  At that time the total eclipse was a band more northerly than we are here in the Dallas area.  We still got this much coverage though.  This was taken about the height of the eclipse in Richardson, Texas.  We had a grill out and ate burgers, cupcakes and swam in the pool.

This coming Monday we will get to experience a total eclipse, probably for a little less than two minutes where we'll be in McKinney having another cookout with friends.

I've always liked viewing all stages of eclipse.  Back a few years even earlier than this I stayed up to view the lunar eclipse.  It was a clear night with no cloud cover and the moon was nearly overhead making the viewing awesome!  My wife didn't want to bother with it and said to wake her up when it was at its peak.  She was less impressed but though it was interesting.

My first eclipse I can remember I was probably 4 or 5 years old in my grandmother's backyard.  She told me how rare it is to be living in the path of a total eclipse and that most people have to travel to ever see one.  So we're fortunate for this one to be passing over so many people.