Calla lillies

My friend Cristin came over yesterday to check out the house and hang out with Charlie and I.  She was so thoughtful -- she brought a house warming gift for us.  It is a potted Calla lily and I just love it!
Thank you Cristin!

Drumroll please...

The sprouts are done.  Well, the broccoli sprouts are done at least.  The mung bean sprouts ended up on the ground when I dropped them during a rinsing accident.  It was tragic.
Anyway, I am happy that I finally tackled sprouting.  I've been meaning to do it since I traveled to Idaho with a group of hippie-type people around 8 years ago.  The tall guy in the photo below would rinse his sprouts at every pit-stop we made along the way.  By the time we made it to the Rainbow Gathering, we had sprouts.  This photo shows folks taking a musical break while setting up the "Turtle Soup Kitchen". Someday I will tell you more about my experiences with the Rainbow Gathering.

Sprouting

I bought an inexpensive sprouting system the other day and am trying it out for the first time.  It came with a few packets of seeds to try out.  I'm not doing a ton at first, just enough to give it a try.  I'm excited though.  I've been wanting to start sprouting for a while now.  This photo shows mung beans on top and broccoli on the bottom.

I received my first seed catalogue order.  I purchased a soil tester from Gurney's this year.  I figured if I am going to put in blueberry plants I'm going to need to keep an eye on the Ph.  Also in this shipment, I got an heirloom tomato mix, lettuce and dill.

I'm ready and waiting to get outside and start gardening.  Now if it would just warm up a bit...

Looking forward

I have been working on deciding what I will be ordering to plant in our yard this year.  My will be ordering asparagus, rhubarb, blueberries, plums, and paw paw for sure.  I'm also considering a few other berry plants but don't want to overdo it this year.  I am also going to have a basic veggie garden this year -- but nothing too ambitious.  I need to work on other projects this year rather than being stuck in the garden every waking moment.
Tomorrow I will have an extra hour to my day.  We are going down to 9 hour days instead of 10 at work.  I think that one hour will really help me get stuff done around the house.  I am really looking forward to it.
I'm also looking forward to getting our tax return check.  We got the first time home buyer credit so we are going to get a nice chunk of change.  We are going to pay off some credit card debt and also purchase a lawn tractor.  I'm excited about paying off the cards -- Charlie seems excited about the lawn mower.
I am also looking forward to embarking on a diet change tomorrow.  A friend at work and I are gonna try to support each other in the process.  We are doing a primarily raw food diet for a while.  She had heard me talking about it (I've been thinking about this for a while) and decided she wanted to try it as well.  I've done it before -- years ago.  It can be difficult to eat primarily raw food -- especially in our culture.  The summer that I ate raw, I felt really good and I lost some weight.  I went to Meijer tonight and bought plenty of fruits and veggies so that I am prepared.
So that is my life right now.  I can't wait until it gets warm and stays warm.  I can't wait to start growing stuff again.  I can't wait to feel healthier and have more energy.

Say "Ya!" to da U.P., eh?

If you are from Michigan, you know what the U.P. is.  For those of you who don't know, I'm talking about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Actually, it is a peninsula attached to Wisconsin -- and only connects to Michigan by the Mackinaw Bridge.  Charlie and I took a little vacation to the U.P. this past Thursday - Saturday.  Thought I'd share some photos...

Going North on the Mackinaw Bridge

The view from the bridge.  On the right is Mackinaw Island.

This is a snapshot of Castle Rock -- just across the bridge.  I'm not sure why Paul Bunyan and his blue ox are hanging out in the Upper Peninsula....

This is the lobby of the Hotel/Casino we stayed at in Saint Ignace, MI.  We both enjoy a bit of gaming every once in a while.  We got a complimentary hotel room from this casino, so it worked out well.

After our first night, we headed West to Escanaba.  It was a nice trip and we enjoyed beautiful scenery.  The scene above was shot in our hotel room in Escanaba.  The room was gorgeous!  

Escanaba in Da Daylight.  (If you haven't seen "Escanaba in Da Moonlight", may I highly recommend the movie.  It is a comedy -- and has some pretty funny scenes.  It gets a little weird at the end, but the beginning is a hoot!)

On the road, heading back East.  US-2 runs right along the Northern edge of Lake Michigan.  In the summer, you can hop out of the car, walk 100 feet,  and stick your feet in the water to cool off.  The water was a little too cold for that on this trip.  

I was very excited to get a photo of an Eagle!  We first spotted him about 10 feet from the car, nibbling on a deer carcass.  We turned around but by the time we got back to the road kill, the Eagle had taken off.  I popped on the zoom lens and this is what I was able to get.  

More scenery...

And once again, we were back to the bridge.  We always get a bit depressed at this point.  The U.P. is just so relaxing -- it is sad to leave it behind.
Now we are back home and gearing up for another work week.  I work 55 hours this week.  Supposedly this is the end of the really long shifts for us for a while.  They have reduced our shifts to 9 hours a day - 5 days a week after this week.  Hopefully there won't be any forced Saturday shifts to go with my 45 hour shift.  Anyway, the trip to the U.P. was a much needed break from work.