A bit of Randomness

Eating the cookies Grandma sent. They were delicious!!!

This is where our swing has lived all winter long. Late in the fall the wind, on one of our abnormal (haha) windy days, decided to place the swing up in the tree. Turns out it has been quite well kept there! One of our nicer days this month BG talked me into getting it down so they could have a ride.

All dressed up for Sunday meeting! Little Lady always becomes very serious when the camera comes out. :-)

Little Lady decided that her baby needed a diaper. So....along comes brother to help. It ended that the diaper was on backwards and the baby's legs were both in the same hole! *chuckle*

The Moments...

...We treasure...

Tonight Little Lady was not obeying and Big Guy, although he was sitting on the toilet, was pleading with me not to get her in trouble. :-)

A picture of BG with his piles of toys. Not exactly sure what he was doing but each 'pile' was a different box he brought out of his room and dumped 'neatly' on the living room floor :) Trying to be tidy anyways.

'Green House'

Have had a couple people interested in how I start plants so here is a little peak. (keep in mind that I don't have years and years of experience! Just trial and error and some research! This is what works for me:) )

These are the little 'pellets' that you can get one anywhere they sell gardening supplies. You can buy them separate or in a tray. First time starting seeds buy them in the black tray with the clear lid then reuse the tray each year just buy replacement pellets or use ones leftover from the previous year. The tray will come with directions on how to expand your pellets. After expanding the pellets 'rough up' the peat in the pellets and plant seeds according to package directions. For artichokes it was 1/4 inch deep. Place the plastic lid on top and put in warm area.

After the first leaves have emerged that is the best time to put them under a grow light. I waited a little bit to long to get out my grow light and you can see the stems are quite long and thin. some are having a time standing up straight!

Notice in the above photo the first 'true' leaves starting to form between the first leaves. This is a important time. After they have completely formed is the time when you can 'pot up' if you need to and start fertilizing. Artichokes need to be in 3-4 inch peat pots so will be potting up before long!

Anyone with information on growing artichokes is welcome to give me some advice! :) this is my first year 'doing it right'. Last year I started some with the rest of my seeds. They grew like crazy then seemed to stall out. My Farmer decided that they needed some phosphorous so out to the tank he went. Well we just put a tiny tiny bit on but they died that afternoon!!! So no artichokes last year. Lesson learned: Spend the extra and get fertilizer tailored for indoors!

This is my 'stone age' grow light. Nothing fancy and the one light does not always stay on but it works!


NOTE: these plants started here are Artichokes. The research I have done says to start them in Late January, Early February so that is why I have plants this far along when the weather is still getting below zero! Other plants need not be started till later. Most seed packets can tell you when to start seeds indoors for best results.

Beginning of 2011 Garden

The started Artichokes.

Scrappin'

Neglecting to post again due to Scrapping!!! This is what we have been up to lately. Finally all the scrap books are caught up to current date and a few pages ready (just add pictures) for upcoming events! Such as Big Guy's birthday, New baby and Little Lady's birthday. Need to add a few for the upcoming wedding too! But that might have to be for a later date. My scrapping table is now being used as a home for plants! Yes it seems a little early but I am trying artichokes this year and did more research on them. They say to start them late January early February so they are started and doing fine so far! Enjoy the pages

Elk

These pictures were taken just north of our house this morning. The nearest count we could get was 21 Bulls!! No cows. They were all pretty skittesh so did not get many good pictures but a little peak anyways.

Entertainment

It is the simple things in life that give off the best entertainment! For sure in the eyes of a little one! Big Guy found these pieces of wood in a pile of stuff that I had put in my garbage pile. They have entertained him for hours!! Then of course he had to have mommy take a picture! Everything from building tunnels, bridges and towers...

...to a 'shop' for his tractor and 'grain cart'.

Both kids were quite entertained with some old cusions. They spent a couple days bouncing around on them until they discovered...

Forts!