Thoughtful Journal Series Launch

 

We're launching a series of books to help people think about all of the things they do from travel, to food, to daily life.

The first two in the series which have already come out are The Thoughtful Travel Journal and The Thoughtful Tasting Journal: Chocolate.  We started these because we've started traveling more again and realized that pictures, although good to take, are only a part of the experience we had.

The Thoughtful Travel Journal will help us and you to better record and be able to reflect on the the journeys we make.  The beginning of the book has tips on how to journal, be mindful of your experience, and tips on things you might not otherwise have though to write down.  Many of the journals that have been published for others to read started out as private journals of people who merely got to do interesting things that we today now want to read about. This could be true of anyone's journal.  What you think is ordinary, to your children or grand children might be a glimpse into the life of a beloved family member.

Our families still tell new stories that they had forgotten about or that they didn't think were that interesting at the time until something brings it up.  Just think how many stories never got told just because it was never jotted down.

The other book that we put out recently is a Stamp Book for collecting rubber stamps from various locations. There are a few places in the states where you can get such a book stamped but we traveled to Japan where it's a huge past time.  Every city we went to had multiple stamps including most train stations and public buildings. Other places to check for stamps are museums, corporate buildings, and shopping areas. All you usually have to do is ask and even if they don't have a stamp they will most likely know where the closest one is.

Cruise Coincidences

 

We went on a cruise around Japan recently and while on one of the shuttles from the ship we noticed one of the other passengers had the same USB backup fan we did.  A different color of course but it was still neat.

I hadn't realized when I got it that it was in the shape of a bear with little ears and all.  I thought the little ears were just bumps to keep it from rolling away, which they don't.

These seem to come in a number of colors but the upshot is that they really do work pretty well.  I prefer to use the fan option as the storage for phone charging really is more for emergencies than anything.  We got secondary backups for the trip which came in really handy.

But for looking stylish and having a good fan I don't think anything I've seen matches this little guy.

Aloe

I've taken care of  many aloe plants during my life.  I first used an aloe plant on a cut before I was ever even in school.  My grandmother cut a piece off of one of the plants around the back of the house and split it open, placing the gooey side on the cut and leaving it there for a minute.  Then she removed it and put on a bandage.

Shortly thereafter she got into the aloe craze and we were drinking the green stuff just about daily.  It wasn't great.

I remember that same company for some reason also had a ph color changing lipstick that she used.  I don't understand the point of it but she thought it was neat.

Years later, several moves, and a wedding later and I found myself taking care of my wife's great uncle's aloe greenhouse.  It only had aloe plants in it, wall to wall.  I watered them so well that several of the plants flowered and he started complaining about the water bill.

After moving to Arlington I got some more aloe plants which I promptly neglected, so much going on, and they died after a couple years.  They're super hardy even when you don't water them much.

This guy though is healthy and as long as I don't leave him in the car too much longer he'll be fine.  I plan to have him on the back porch along with several other plants.  The plumeria we recently got being one of them and it's doing great.  So many new leaves.  I'll probably be repotting that one soon even though it's in a fairly large pot as my pots go.

Texas Transportation

Yep, we live in Texas.  This is what people seem to think when I tell them I'm from Texas and this guy is just keeping the stereotype alive.  Granted, a couple years ago he was probably traveling this same route through a field.  As long as he has his horse properly shoed, this is just fine.  Horseshoes are specifically designed for horses that are being ridden but especially for those who are going to be on hard ground or pavement.

Wild horses of course are not shoed. They live on soft land and need to have their hooves wear away naturally.  Otherwise hooves will get out of hand and be a real mess.  We've seen horses on the side of the main highway before but this is a first.

Amber asked why this guy is riding a horse down the street but  we aren't allowed to have chickens due to the HOA.  Well, this guy isn't in the HOA and he's using a public right-of-way which the HOA really has no control over.  Anyone can use the streets without restriction since they're public.

So, looking at this picture do you think this is sunrise or sunset?  Not telling which direction this was facing since that would obviously give it away.

Water Conservation

It's that time of year again where you're starting to see signs and reminders that we need to be conserving water.  Of course a scene like this one isn't uncommon but it's also usually fixed promptly.  If not then so much water really can just go straight down the drain.  That is to say the storm drain which we have an ample amount of on our street.  It's great.

This of course applies to residential systems too though.  There are a lot of neighbors who are still having their sprinklers aiming badly and streaming straight to the lake.  Sure it helps the lake level (not really) but it's more or less just wasting their money and the water resources.  Of course no matter what we're losing more water due to evaporation from the lake than we're actually using.  It's a huge lake and one of many in the area.  The lake has gone down several feet since the heavy rains that made ramps disappear.  Still haven't made it out to the lake properly since we moved out there though.  Gone to look by but no boating, fishing, swimming, or even just laying a blanket out for a nice picnic. 

That's not to say we don't need to water though.  Watering helps keep the grass from completely dying out and the foundations of all of the houses from cracking and making a total mess of a brand new neighborhood.  Also trying to get trees, bushes, and other plants to be established.  It's quite an undertaking to be sure.

Among our plants we're getting up and going are of course the fig tree, a lovely addition to any home and the joy to many a bird that will without a doubt get used to its presence.  We also have our daylilies going.  At first I though I had killed half of the plants we got since they immediately died back to the dirt.  It's since been put in a pot and has now grown back in several places in the pot, doing great!  Our green onion we've had since forever (I think some of it was from the first house) is bouncing back so well we're ecstatic.  The chives as well are flowering.  The plumeria has roots I can see but so far the leaves haven't unfurled yet.  Super waiting for it.  I also planted three passion fruit seeds.  They've yet to show themselves but you never know with a seed until you know, you know?

One thing I'm thinking of getting is a bay tree.  I know they can grow in this area since there's one in Fort Worth in the historic pioneer house attraction but not sure how much care it's going to need.

If you have a favorite plant you've grown, please let us know in the comments.  Especially if it's something I can grow in my own yard.

Cluster of Figs

Figs like so many other fruits grow in stages.  Here you have a fig just about ready to eat next to four others in different stages of development.

At this point if you want the fig to continue to develop on the tree but speed up a little, you can nick it with a knife or other pointy object and it will ripen a lot faster. Typically you wouldn't want to do this with a lot of fruit, like apples, because they would not just ripen but also start to rot.

I went ahead and picked this one though so as not to attract too many birds to the tree.  I know they will eventually see this as a good source of food but I wanted to get first crack at it.  Some birds will nick the fruit themselves once they get used to the fig tree fruiting.  They know that this will ripen the fruit and give them a treat for their troubles.

Talking with Amber we thought of some other fruits that have to be picked individually because they don't ripen at the same times.  To name a few: Figs, Coffee, Cacao, Strawberries, Cherries, Apples, Oranges, Pears, and Grapes.  These last few might be a little surprising but they too ripen at different times.  Some of them are picked by machines though but this lets in less ripe fruit along with the ones that are ready to pick so you don't always get the best quality fruit in that case.

What is your favorite fruit to eat?

Plumeria Sprout

So, my wife had the chance to go to Hawaii recently and took a couple friends with her to cat sit for another friend.

One of the things that was brought back was this plumeria stick.  This is the easiest way for you to get a plumeria from Hawaii since they don't have any leaves to bruise and they are more or less dormant until you get it planted.

This one seems to think it's already planted and ready to go.  Unfortunately it's still in the bag and stored in a drawer.  It's for one of our friends but in asking what to do with it came to find out that it's for her mom.  So I still have no answer as to what to do with it.  So what do I do now?  Part of me says to go ahead and plant it and see how long it takes for it to get picked up.  I don't think I should charge a babysitting fee though.

The other thing she left to get later are sticks for hibiscus.  I've never heard of those being propagated that way but I don't know everything.

I'm almost hoping that I can plant and get a stick from it myself before it ever gets picked up.  What would you do if someone left you a plant with no real timeline when it was going home?

Lovely New Fig

My new fig tree is doing well.  It originally came with figs already on it.  A couple of them have fallen off but for the most part the figs have hung on.

To plant it I of course dug a hole.  I've done work with landscapers so I have a good idea of how big.  Typically you want a hole at least twice as big as the pot it came in.  I dug out a little more than that because our soil is clay.  If you don't know anything about clay, it doesn't do well with water and drainage.  It's also hard to dig in.  So, the dirt (mostly clay) I dug out, I mixed with a bag of potting soil.  In the end it was still a bit hard since clay will dominate a mixture down to around 20 percent.

Then I put it back in the hole until it was about deep enough for the plant with the soil ball to sit a little above the previous ground elevation.  Then I back filled the rest of the dirt mixture on top making a mound and watered it for nearly an hour, saturating the dirt so it would settle in.

I have since added even more dirt from an old pot to further give it nutrients and ability to absorb water and retain it.  I water it daily dissolving the bits of clay that I wasn't patient enough to mix in.  The resulting water slurry I'm sure it filling in the gaps that remained in the hole.

After visiting some friends a little south of us we got some mint that I planted on top of the dirt around the fig tree.  At first it was still wilting but now there are new leaves popping in on some of the stems.

Drones and the Garden

So, many years ago we got onto the "go get a drone" craze and bought this little thing with a camera thinking we would be able to get some good drone shots like everyone was saying you could get.

Suffice to say those pics never happened. This was due to many things.  The most inhibiting factor was the extremely difficult steering of the drone itself.  We at first thought this was a user error.  We'd never flown a drone before and who were we to think it would be just so easy?

Well, after many years we broke the drone back out for some very simple shots.  We figured we couldn't miss now that we had met someone who actually flies drones for a living.  Yes this is an actual job where you deliver goods by drone.  He looked at the little thing and told us how cute it was and that it shouldn't be difficult.......  Then he wept.

Not only is the drone super hard to fly for ANYONE, it's size makes it doubly so.  Within 30 seconds he had nearly lost the drone over a fence. In less than a minute he had crashed it twice and one of the guards fell off.  So no, we aren't necessarily bad drone pilots, we just have a crap drone.

So what about the fact that it has a camera and can take pictures?  Well, due to its crappiness, and low signal strength, if we ever got it high enough to take a good aerial photo, the wind would carry it off into oblivion and we would probably never see it again.

Looks cute hovering 1 foot above the ground though, doesn't it?

Local Cattails

Growing up we did a lot of camping.  So much so that I might go a month before I had a weekend at home.  On the plus side of things though that meant I learned a lot about the world outside of the four walls. Among them was plants.  Of course we had a garden and I was taught a lot about that as well but the wild plants you can harvest and use for various reasons such as the cattail

These guys are on my way home from work. They grow in a ditch near a corn field so they always get some water throughout the year.  They particularly sprang up during the spring rains we had.  And if you've read much of this blog you know we had a lot of it.

These plants are super edible.  The brown cattails can be harvested young and added to recipes in various ways.  These are a bit thinner than the ones we were around down in Southeast Texas.  There they were nearly twice the size of these.  But the one thing I always found fascinating was that the roots are edible.  I've yet to try them but originally I was told they were usable like potatoes.  Looking into this more, they are nothing like potatoes...  They are a grass and they are more like, well, grass.  One site said that after cooking they are eaten like an artichoke, peeling back the leaf areas to eat the starchy stuff at the bottom.

Bird Watching

This is a perfect spot for the cats to look outside and watch the birds.  Of course since there aren't many trees, bushes, or anything else really to attract the birds we've put in a bird feeder a few feet away from the window so the birds can come and not be too close to the cats to be startled by them.

So far we have a few little birds that have found the feeder and water tray below.  The wire basket keeps the seed from getting too wet but at the same time lets the shells fall through.

I'm sure at some point we'll have plenty of things attracting bids and I'll be wondering why I ever though attracting them in the first place was a good idea. For now though it helps keep the cats busy and their minds active.  I like watching them as well so for now it's a win/win.

I think I'll get smaller food though since I think the little birds are more likely to be the ones coming to eat here.

At the apartment we had some feeders but the birds never came.  I mean, like NEVER!  It was sad.  At least we had rabbits hopping around though.  That's something I joked about relocating to the house but that would not be a great idea.  The dig a lot and would wreak havoc to everyone's flower beds.

What's a bird you've always liked to watch?   Leave a comment below.

Lemon Passionfruit Bars

For my wife's mystery series she likes to make recipes for the different books. This one is a lemon and passion fruit bar that I ended up having to finish myself because she had a teaching gig this last week.  It came out pretty good though.  It was supposed to have more passionfruit jam than we had but it still looks good.  The seeds really make it pop.

One of the seeds I'm not so fond of are blackberry seeds.  They just about always get stuck in the teeth.  Also watermelon seeds just because there are so many of them.  We got peaches recently and they too have a seed problem but a much different one.  Many peaches have a hard time removing the pit and much of the peach gets wasted.  I love when they have the freestone peach though, that sucker comes right out.

Talked about passion fruit recently but it was about the vine and flowers, how they didn't really look real in person.  That might be something to grow though since they really do taste good.

What are some other fruits that have seeds that you find annoying or at the least problematic?  Another one for me used to be pomegranates but I've since learned how to cut them to release the seeds (also get stuck in the teeth) without much hassle.

So I haven't actually put many recipes before but for all of you who might want to make this, here's the recipe

Butter, for greasing the pan

1 box (10 oz.) Chocolate Teddy Grahams

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the Lemon Curd

1 tsp gelatin powder

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Finely grated zest of 2 limes

½ c. lemon juice

¼ c. lime juice

10 oz. sugar

8 large eggs, at room temperature

6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pats

For the Glaze Layer

½ tsp gelatin powder

10 oz. Passionfruit jam

 

Use butter to grease a 9” x 11” baking dish (which we call our lasagna pan). Line the dish with parchment paper, letting the paper drape a few inches over the long sides of the pan. Set aside.

Place the chocolate Teddy Grahams in a blender and pulse until crumbly. Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture is the texture of damp sand.  (Originally we tried to use 4 Tbsp. but the crumble was not good.  I think too much was left in the bowl we melted it in.)  Pour the graham mixture into the prepared pan and use the bottom of a cup to press the crumbs down, to make an even crumb layer.  Place the crust layer in the refrigerator to chill.

For the curd, sprinkle 1 tsp. gelatin over 1 Tbsp. water in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes until it blooms.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine lemon and lime zest, lemon and lime juice, sugar and eggs.  Whisk until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until thickened. Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the bloomed gelatin and whisk until it dissolves. Add the butter in batches, whisking until melted.

Strain the curd through a fine sieve over the chilled chocolate graham crust. Spread evenly, then refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. (I left this overnight for a nice solid base)

When it is almost ready, sprinkle the other ½ tsp. gelatin over ½ Tbsp. water in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes until it blooms.

Heat the passionfruit jam in a microwave-safe bowl until warm.  This should be just above body temperature.  Add the gelatin and stir until melted. Pour this mixture evenly on top of the curd layers, gently spreading with a basting brush so that the jam reaches all corners. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Once set, cut into bars.

A Chocolate is Announced

Finally have the advanced copies of A Chocolate is Announced!

Honestly it didn't take very long but you know how it is when you've ordered something and there's no tracking number.  The ferret is super cute on the front and the wrap around image is perfectly aligned.  Is should be by now since I've been doing this for years now.

Amber is going to be going back to Hawaii again next week cat sitting and doing a little more research for the new book she's been working on (not a Bean to Bar Mysteries book).

In every book she has a new animal she interacts with.  In book 1 it was her own bunny Knightley.  Since she's had goats, an octopus, a dog, a horse, a cat, and a cockatoo. We almost got a Miniature McCaw years ago but it just didn't pan out.  Of course we've had cats before and now our two new feline friends.  We've also had cockatiels and  parakeets but they didn't last long.

What are some of your favorite pets?  Is there an animal you'd like Amber to use in one of her upcoming Bean to Bar Mysteries books?  If we get any awesome ideas and use it you may just get a free copy of the book it shows up in.  Of course that probably means you've read some of the series already to get a good feel on how it would play in.

Pink Hibiscus



So pretty but this is one plant that I probably won't grow.  My grandpa grew these and cross bred them down in southwest Louisiana where the humidity and temperatures were nearly ideal for these to thrive but even he had to overwinter them sometimes by bringing them into the house due to occasional cold snaps.

Up here we get both colder and hotter so growing them would be an issue.  Not to say you can't grow them since this picture was taken up this way but not what I want to sign up for.

Another plant I do plan to grow and possibly cross pollinate is the day lily. If you've read a bit of this blog you may remember the one I used to have that I had crossed back down south and brought with me.  I should have put it in full sun and kept is alive better but alas it's been long gone. This past week though I have purchased 2 different varieties and plan to put them up front of the house in the planter area.  They should do quite nicely.  I got them the same time I got the fig tree I planted out back.

The fig tree by the way has been in the ground now three days and seems to be acclimating nicely.  I must remember to water it regularly though for a while until it's fully set.  Also the clay soil around here is a bit rough so I amended it with some potting soil and cut it in before I planted.

Morning Glories

This guy was catching a ride on a much larger plant to get some vertical going on.  Cant remember if it was a banana plant or a travelers palm but you can see the leaf peaking out there on the left.

Some of the best flowers are on these kinds of vines.  The passion fruit flowers are surreal.  The first time I saw one I didn't think it was a real flower but a plastic ornament in their garden on the fence just so it didn't look like weeds.

Honey suckle was what we grew up having all around the neighborhoods.  Eating random flower nectar was the afternoon past time for us kids. I still pick up random fruits (pretty sure I know what they are but not 100%) and nibble sometimes.  My wife tells me I'm going to poison myself one day and she isn't going to feel sorry when it happens.  But I know better.  She'll feel a little sorry and make sure it doesn't kill me at least.

Growing random plants is another story though.  Those I'm usually not eating and by the time they get big we can easily identify them.  I do however pick up Texas walking onions though for soups, when I can find them.  They make tiny little onions instead of flowers for the most part and you can collect them and use them instead of having to chop anything.  Super handy.

What do you like to plant or wild harvest?  How often do you get to eat what you grow?  I'd love to hear in the comments.

State of the Garden

This may well put things into perspective.  So far I have a nice hazy vision of what I'm thinking I might want to do with a portion of the yard... maybe.

Right now what I really need to do is mow.  In fact that's what I'm probably going to do straight after I get home so the neighbors don't get upset with me now that we've had more that 24 hours between rains.

At work I was looking at regrading an amenity center open space with lots of grass.  At least that's what it looked like before they dumped 12 feet on top of half of it.  Now I get to figure out how to put in an ADA ramp down the 4:1 slope without it costing much...  I've found though that if  you start at the top and wind a little you can get under 5% down the walkway and although you have to do some cutting and filling along the way it should look nice when it's done.

I'm still evening out some spots in the back myself.  Might need to do it again and make the back a little smoother.  It's so hard to get a nice even slope.

On the plus side, the green onion and rosemary plants are loving the new place and have kept right on going.  The pineapple plant super loves it and is growing a lot more than previously.  The center is getting thick.  I can only hope it might produce a flower and of course a new baby pineapple.  That would be awesome!

And if you're wondering what t hat white thing is in the middle of the picture, I don't have any clue.  I was just holding my phone and the camera came, on as it does, and I accidentally pressed the power and up volume buttons and took a screen shot of the camera looking at something probably in my hands.  But I don't recognize it.

Enough With the Spring Rains

 

I'm sure we're going to want the rain months from now but at the moment it's feeling like a bit much.  The ground is thoroughly saturated and the lakes are filling up to the point that they have to release water downstream.  And because each lake feeds into the next lake for overflow they all have to release at some point.

The gate to the lake at the side of one of the bridges is entirely underwater now.  The sign marking the gate is also now underwater.  Suffice to say you shouldn't try entering the lake from this point since you're bound to hit something you can't see.  A large majority of the trees we had been able to see in the lake, from when it was turned into a lake, are also now not visible.  Of course they're probably mostly rotted but they can still cause damage or at least make it difficult to maneuver around those areas in a boat.

Also on my way home recently I was routed down a road that had a bridge that was prone to flooding so much that it has gates on either side just in case it's under water.  I've seen this before and actually seen the gates in use down around the Venus area.  I had to walk for about 45 minutes to get back to my car since I couldn't find a ride.

Fortunately we're well above lake level by thirty feet or so.  One of the things I looked into when thinking about purchasing a house where we did.  So although we get the weather, we don't get the flooding like we've been hearing about with older neighborhoods where they didn't plan for rain events as much.  Individual houses were built up but not the roads or ditches.

Bean to Bar Beach Vid

 Here's one of the Bean to Bar mini clips.  This one is for book 3 where the mystery is aboard a cruise ship out of the port of Galveston.  This is a busy port in real life and this would probably be a difficult murder to pull off but, hey, this is fiction.

Texas Spring Weather

We just moved and already our area has been declared a disaster area.  How is that fair?  Of course this is at a time when hundreds of thousands lost power due to the storms across several areas.

Today it's raining but not like it was a few days ago.  Driving to work there are several areas that have downed fences and walls.  Some areas where people had lost control of their vehicle and left tire tracks in the dirt on the sides of roads.  Overall a real mess.  We were under a flood warning and so I stayed off of the roads until it cleared.  

That morning was trash day and we had such winds that trash was everywhere in the neighborhood.  One neighbor's tree was blown over.  We all have newly planted trees as of a few months ago and so blowing over really isn't a surprise.  Our tree doesn't have enough limbs on it to have caught the wind well enough to blow over.  And we were worried it wasn't filling in very fast...

A friend texted a meme about Texas weather trying to kill you and how people who move here are often surprised about this.  We do get heat, tornadoes, floods, and ice so I guess that isn't too far off.  All of these have had a toll.  But those few days when the weather is nice....

Fortunately the lakes like the rain and so that's a plus.  It also washed down our roads from all of the construction grit.  Sometimes there's a bright side but not always.

Sean and Addi Getting Along

Sometimes these two actually get along.  Of course it's only when they're done playing and not getting in eachother's way.  They really have settled in though.  They're perfectly ok with finding us while we're busy doing something on any electronic device and curling up on top of us and either demanding to be petted or just falling asleep.

Looking at this picture I almost see a racoon but not quite.  The sun is hitting them just right to put a shine on them and make them look a little different than they normally do (except for the napping part.)

These guys have all of the signals that they trust us though.  Some of what you hear can be misleading on this matter.  One guy online was saying that you should never rub their belly.  Again this seems to be a trust issue.  As long as they aren't in play mode both of these guys are just fine with it.  In play mode however they may take your hand to be a toy and attack it.  They don't hiss or actually try to hurt and after a second they go from attack to groom but their mood plays a big role in how they react to things.

We also make sure to play with them a bit and give the rare treat (maybe once a week or so) to keep them engaged.  Their feeding times are automatic and they know there will always be more food coming.  Often they don't eat all of their food right away, leaving some for later.

They still like their cat grass.  We don't leave it inside though so they don't overdo it.  Not sure they can but we like to monitor how much grass they eat or play with.  Sometimes they'd rather pull it up and bat it around.  They are super different though to the point I wouldn't have thought they had grown up together but I guess that's probably true with most siblings.

Oatmeal Cookies

We got a ton of oatmeal recently from a family that was also given a ton of oatmeal from another family.  Not sure how many people have had these packages of oatmeal.  But when life gives you oats you make cookies.

We of course went with what is most familiar and made the cookie recipe off of the Quaker Oats package, with some modifications of course.

This is one of the most adaptable cookies you can make.  Need to go gluten free?  This is the cookie to use.  Of course we always use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour since it really is the best for all your gluten free recipes.

Ok so we didn't exactly follow the recipe.  First off we only heated the oven to 350°F.  We also use a Pampered Chef baking stone instead of your usual cookie sheet.  The stone bakes the cookies evenly.  Also a bit more vanilla.  An extra splash doesn't hurt anything.  Also we add 1/4 to 1/3 cup more flour per batch.  This helps them hold together better.  One of our friends really doesn't like raisins in oatmeal cookies so we keep with our favorite add in, chocolate chips (also a gluten free item).  We use a medium scoop instead of a tablespoon for forming the balls which helps keep the size consistent.  Due to the lower temperature we also bake them for 14 minutes.

When we told our friend what we did with the oatmeal she gave us she said we could freeze some of it in balls to bake later but oatmeal cookies actually freeze very well as a baked cookie.  We made three batches and froze 2, 1-gallon bags in the deep freeze for later.  It made well over 100 cookies.  The cookies in the picture are not all of them.  There is a whole other cooling rack plus the ones we already ate.

Backyard Design

Was trying to figure out what to do with the backyard so I asked for a simple layout with a tree in it.  As you can tell there is no tree in this yard and most of it is shrubs instead of vegetables.

I have to admit the layout looks nice but it doesn't even come close to what I asked it to do.

First off I gave it dimensions and where to put things in a layout design.  This is not oriented correctly and there are things all over the place that have no reason for being there.

The furniture, where did that come from?  And there's so much of it.   I think if I did put furniture in the backyard it would probably not be this much or it would be consistent on whether or not it was on grass or a deck.

And there are so many things for shade here but I don't really see any shade on the ground.  It's like there is the idea that it would be nice but the light must be coming from the air and so the trellis, umbrella, and pergola don't really do anything to keep you safe.  It's the kind of place where you would know that something was off if you were there but might not figure out what.

There also doesn't seem to be any access to the table and chairs on the grass.  You'd have to step over the plants.  I'm also pretty sure that on the right corner that that's actually a huge tissue box.  And at the top it looks like a secret garage door that is partially open. 

This could possibly be a cool writing prompt to see why some of these things are placed where they are.  What exactly is in that strange short garage anyway?

Boletus Mushroom

This is one of a few boletus mushrooms I found in a yard the other day.  I didn't pick them though since they looked so pretty and they weren't in my yard.

Since I didn't pick them, I also didn't test them to see if they were of an edible variety.  The initial look though is promising.  Wild harvesting mushrooms is not a thing around here either so there's only a slim chance that these would ever be picked.

I find that mushrooms are much more likely to be left alone and admired for the look of them in an area.  We've had a lot of rain recently and so there are more mushrooms than usual popping up.

Backyard Cooking

This is one of the better frames from the video I was able to capture. It looks bigger here than its usual flame height but this also give a better view of what it looks like.

We picked this up at Kohl's while standing in line to buy towels for the guest bathroom.  It's the perfect size to roast marshmallows.  The marshmallows we cooked were very small though but that's just because that was what we had on hand at the time.  We plan to cook bigger stuff in the near future but I'm sure it's up to it.  It runs off of rubbing alcohol from 70-90 percent.  You know I'm going to put some 99 in there though and see how well it can burn.

I did a temperature test not too long ago where I tested different strengths of alcohol to see what the temperature difference would be.  They're not too different but they do go up.

This burner also has a wick though which helps the alcohol have more surface area to create the fumes needed to burn.  It's the gas not the liquid that actually does the burning.  Once it mixes in the air with oxygen it can combust.

Since I mentioned it I figure I should just go ahead and post the test results here from the burn test.

Performed a quick test since I really wanted to know the answer to this question as well.
Burned about 2 Tablespoons of different percentages of isopropyl alcohol in a copper censer and used a K2 pyrometer model DP-902F to measure the temperature.

The results:

70% alcohol observed a maximum temperature of 1210°F

91% alcohol observed a maximum temperature of 1300°F

99% alcohol observed a maximum temperature of 1430°F

Facing North

You may have heard about cat's insane ability to find their way back home from even a long way away.  It's true that cats have a remarkable ability to navigate the world but so far there hasn't been enough evidence that they have any sort of internal compass.  It's more likely that they use their other highly tuned senses to make their way through the world.

Our cats however don't have to worry about navigating the world, they're inside cats and merely have to navigate the house.  It's so much simpler.  We just moved and this is our first home with them but their third home that they've had to get used to.  They're adjusting nicely though and seem to already think they own the place.

That all said I can't figure out why they decided at this point to both sit in a doorway facing north.  They are usually running around or lying in a box, or on their cat tree on one of the many many levels, (I'll get into that at another time but I don't understand why there are so many cat trees that should really be called a cat bush or even just a cat chair....) or gnawing on each other as they still fight for who's the dominate cat.   But here they are spaced apart just sitting there.  I can't explain it.

Does anyone else have a cat (or other pet) that seems to face north or any other direction.  They rarely face north but they also rarely are just sitting there so there's that.

The Fog is Thick

The fog is thick this morning.  Outside our back window the fog hangs over the neighborhood.  You can barely see the trees at the edge.

The drive in this morning to work was not as bad as I'd figured it would be though.  Some coworkers had some slower traffic but for the most part it was smooth sailing.

If this was more consistent, there are quite a few plants that would love this kind of weather.  Mostly vines and such like ivy or cucumber.  Orchids like this kind of high humidity as well since they take moisture out of the air rather than from the ground.

I don't expect these kinds of days to happen too often though.  Sure we're on the lake but this is really the first good fog we've seen.  Sure there's been more dew around us but that's not the same thing.  It is promising for our grass though since a good dew will help keep everything greener.

Do you have a favorite kind of weather?

Living Room Rug

The right rug can make all the difference in how a room looks.  We originally had a much darker rug in this room, which we've since moved to the study, but have replaced it with this one.

It's a lighter color that matches the floor but at the same time brings in the colors of the items in the room.  We have also since put back the glass table with the flowers in it.  We added  some blue ones to tie into the rug better since they were pretty much tan, browns, and reds in a brown pot.

The change was in response to one of our friends who insisted we change the rug.  This rug is also bigger that the previous one and takes up more space.  We thought about turning it the other way but this is the direction you would come into the room from usually and it just makes more sense.  Also the kitchen is to the right and we are wanting to get some bar stools for that area.  It makes more sense to have it this way and keep the stools off of the rug.

The kittens are also getting bigger so we've opened up the blinds more too.  It gives a good view of the back yard which we still haven't done much with.  We're trying to plan better with this house so we're taking it slow and not overwhelming ourselves too much with clutter.

Claude in His New Home

Claude seems to be getting along quite nicely in his new location.  He still has a window we can open on nice days and we bought him a new Feit Grow Light.  This one has more settings.  We got it at Home Depot in the commercial lighting area.  They guy there didn't know they even had them over there.  He tried to get me to get grow fluorescent or screw in bulbs...

The light we got has different switches for different light on the strips. There's white, red, and violet. Violet seems to be for general growth where red is for flowering.  I probably want to use red soon to see if I can get Claude to make flowers.

We also got these nice brick feet for the pot instead of the trash can rollers.  They were much more expensive than regular bricks but the pot is heavy so I don't really mind.  The trash can base really couldn't take the weight of the pot and had started bowing in.  Not the best thing to use.  Looked on Amazon for something similar but they didn't have any basic ones.  I don't recommend plastic, cork, or rubber since these will deteriorate over time if  you don't move your pots.  I did find these feet though.  Amazon has them in different colors too but I'd suggest red.  It just feels more like the pots.

A Chocolate is Announced, Bean to Bar Mysteries No.7

Here's a glimpse into the next Bean to Bar Mystery, A Chocolate is Announced!

You can get your preorder on Amazon HERE.

It can be difficult to really get the sense of a thing sometimes when you can't see the whole picture.  This is merely a glimpse into the process of getting the cover art done for these books.  Everything you see in this image will not be the same on the final cover.  Text placement, art, and arrangement are all up in the air at this point.  This was a rough talking point sketch that gives some of the elements we're looking for, as well as the color scheme.

There have been two rounds since this and we're still hammering out what we want things to look like and where everything should go.  Can you tell what animal it is in the photo that Felicity is going to be interacting with in this book?  If you've read the other books in the Bean to Bar Mysteries series what other animal would you like to see her meet?

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. 

Addi Saying Hi to the Camera

To be fair she'd say hi to anything you're holding.  Or more like she wants to know and smell and bat around, because everything is a toy, whatever you're holding.

This was the least fuzzy frame I could get from the video of her saying hi.  Many are too close and blurry to see her well.

The rug is one of my favorite pieces that we've bought in recent years.  Since we moved to a house though we're rethinking where it should go.  Currently in the middle of the living room but it may wind up in the study as nearly a carpet replacement since its nearly the same size.  I think there will be about a foot all around where the carpet would be able to be seen almost like an edging for the rug.

Speaking of the study we have to take my desk apart to get it in the room.  One thing they don't tell you about some new homes is that the doors aren't necessarily as wide as they should be.  I guess they have to cut corners somewhere to get the price down to be affordable.  Fortunately I've already taken this specific desk apart to move it myself and it's marked for easy reassemble. Once it's in I don't plan on moving it any time soon so it will be fine.

The rug we're looking at getting for the main room is going to be brighter and more fitting for the rest of the decor.  A bit less bold.

Sean Taking a Nap

After a couple days Sean and Addi are finally settling down.  They took a fairly long nap yesterday and had a good play afterwards in the evening.

They are starting to get used to the idea of not getting fed immediately when I get up in the morning.  Our previous cats Grade and Solomon were fed in the mornings and Grace specifically made sure meal time was not missed.  So if I either forgot or was for some reason not able to feed them at the usual time Grace would lightly tap my wife's face as she was sleeping to alert her that meal time was severely (5 minutes or more) overdue.

They are really cuddly, good lap cats when they want to be.  Last night it stormed and they were wanting comfort.  Both of them stayed either under foot, on lap, or next to whatever computer was being worked at by either of us.

Still a lot of things to unpack and organize.  We cooked for the first time yesterday evening and gave them a small piece of chicken each.  They had already had their wet food but they had been stressed.

You can tell this is Sean because his nose is all black.  Addi has a faint stripe down her nose.

Moving progress

These have got to be some of the best boxes for storage and of course moving.  We borrowed these from a friend who still has 20 some odd left they have to unpack from the last time they moved.  They stack well and stable.

Beware some brands are less durable.  Also don't put anything living in these.  They are hard enough to open from the outside.  I don't think it would be possible to get out from the inside if the lid is put on properly.

We will have to make sure of this with the kittens we're bringing home since we'll be unpacking for a while and these bins will be everywhere.  We'll probably empty them and put the empties in the garage in stacks so they aren't a hazard.

We went by and did the initial walkthrough yesterday and they were putting up the fence.  Have some pictures of that as well but for a later post.  It was interesting the way they were keeping the fence line straight though with a custom made fence leveler. 

Sean and Addi

Just under 2 weeks before we can bring our new kitties home with us!

Of course that's because we don't yet have the new home to bring them to.  We're finally moving back into a house though and one of our friends was kind enough to find these two for us.  She also helped nurse them back to health after they had been found abandoned and did a great job socializing them.

Sean is going to be a bit bigger than Addi but they are the cutest siblings.

This also means we will be getting back to some larger scale gardening!  I'm going to plan better this time since we have a new home and a fresh yard to map out.  I can get things where they should be instead of where I can fit them in with everything that's already there.  I'm not sure about trees just yet though, they are a bit more than I think I want to take care of just yet, except for Claude of course but he's an inside tree...