Notes For Me ( and You)

We are at the beach for a week, our family together with Peter, Bev, and their four kids, and Amy and Vince and their three kids. A full house – exactly the right number of beds, not one too many or too few. The house is just across the road from the beach. The house is in great shape and perfect for this crowd – maybe not as fancy as some we have rented, but all the essentials – pool table, pool, and hot tub.

The weather is looking good, with no hurricanes in the forecast.

Amy did a great job of braving Harris Teeter on a “move in ” day at the beach adn we are chowing down on chicken, spaghetti, salad and bread.

Good timing this weekend on the garden. I managed to get some seeds into the ground before a cluster of thunderstorms moved in Sunday night, bringing some much needed rain and soaking in the newly planted seeds.

First into the ground this weekend were two kinds of carrots, Danvers and Nantes. Next I planted standard (green) and yellow zucchini – from seed this year, direct into the ground. We will see how they do, and I can still back fill with seedlings if necessary.

Finally asters and bachelors buttons went into the small cutting flower plot, plus nasturtiums and bush type morning glory for a couple of pots on the decks.

A few more square feet have been added to the what has been the potato patch. This summer the plan is to grew 50% potatoes and 50% corn. I will also probably add a couple more pots for potatoes – the two I had last year were a success. The corn crop will be small, but should be big enough for pollination.

Peas have been planted, along with a new sowing of lettuce and rocket (arugula). We are still eating the winter rows of both that had been under the cold frame. I moved the cold frame over to cover the new rows to encourage germination.

Alex is back to school and we are back to a quieter house. In fact it was really quiet this weekend because Peter was away on a ski trip to Canada – Friday afternoon until early this morning.

I picked him, and four others, up from the bus just after 4:00 am and he is now catching maybe an hour of sleep in his bed (he said he slept on the bus but that’s never restful) before getting up for school – his choice. He said he had a good time, but we will probably have to wait for years to find out the details.

Today is the start of the second semester, so some new teachers for Peter but no new subjects. Jake continues with the same cast of characters.

After a really warm day yesterday, we are heading back to winter with snow forecast by Friday.

It has been a snowy and cold start to 2010. My cold frame has struggled to preserve heat – my 100W light bulb has helped, but clearly a couple of changes need to be made for next season.

(My home control software program measures and plots the temperature inside the frame and temp immediatly outside, so I get clear record of what is happening)

First of all there are a lot gaps at ground level, between the bottom boards and the rough ground. On windy days this allowed the cold air to push in and drop temperatures. Secondly, some sort of thermal blanket to drop over the glass would help. Finally, for these really cold nights, a proper heater would be nice.

Having said that, the lettuce and rocket is still alive, albeit hardly growing ( we had to buy lettuce at the store last week for the first time for months).

The first true cold night of the season arrived (down to 21 deg F) and I am afraid that I was not fully ready for it gardenwise. The plan had been to put a small heater in the cold frame where the lettuce and other greens have been growing – but I did not get around to that. I did install a temperature sensor, connected to my house computer, so I was ready to control a heater from the computer – just failed to install the actual heater!

So this morning, when I went out to pick the lettuce, etc to make the lunch sandwiches, things were frosty inside the frame. I think the plants will survive – only problem is that anything picked at that temperature turns to mush when it is brought inside and washed. I did quickly run out a simple extension cord and light bulb to act as a temporary heater to help things until day light.

Last week I replaced the original florescent tube fixture with two pendants above the island. This does mean less light in the kitchen, but combined with the recessed lighting above the sink and work areas, there is still more than sufficient light available. The complication in the project was that the two new lights needed two new boxes installed since the electrical wiring to the original fixture did not come out close to either of the new locations.

The far hole is where the wiring came out originally. The middle of the three lower holes was cut to gain access so as to run the wires under the double joists.

I used a router to slot these two joists just enough to run the cable. A nail guard was then installed over the wire to protect the cable in the extremely unlikely event someone would try to poke a hole in the ceiling at that location.

Two new electrical boxes were the installed and the ceiling repaired ( and I must say that worked out very well).

The only real problem came when the lights were installed. It turned out the chain on one light was different from the other. A few frantic phone calls and a replacement was overnighted, just in time for the final installation, just a few minutes before the neighborhood book club was due to meet in our house.

Here is the final result.

Jake may or may not have a slight crack in his collar bone – that’s the verdict from the ortho doc. That’s an improvement from the Sunday morning status at the emergency room. Treatment is now do what doesn’t hurt, so he will be back out and about really soon – although he might not be playing soccer goalie again this season.

For those of you keeping score at home, this would be his third broken collar bone – that is actually why the diagnosis is unclear. The “maybe” crack line is right in with the damage from before.

He was playing goal keeper for his soccer team ( a first!) and came out diving at full speed at a player’s feet. Jake claims the player kicked him, but I would have to say that Jake was flying out there and was responsible for at least 50% of the collision.

So he is still sore on his shoulder, but should be back in action really soon.

November 1st, and the zucchini are still producing, and actually much more welcome now than in the middle of the summer bounty. We had the last of the pototoes for dinner last night, along with almost the last of the carrots. Also on their last legs, a few green and yellow peppers.

Still to come, maybe a couple of weeks away, will be broccoli and cauliflower, along with the fall lettuce and rocket. Then it will be time to start planning next year!

Jake is playing this year for the middle school football team that is afilated with the high school team. This means they run the same type of plays, use the same style of calls, etc.. Here he is on picture day.

There are a lot more pictures of the team in the Gallery.