New Blog!

Dear Everyone,

I am switching blog sites... the new address is www.jlp5.wordpress.com. Why? Because it looks a little more high tech, and I don't have to deal with any more spacing issues.

Hope to see you there!

Jen

Our Garden is Growing! (well, mostly...)

Great news! We planted about 15 bushes and a tree last fall, and all except for 1 seem to be growing this spring! Yes! Take, for example, the flowering pear tree below. Now we'll just cross our fingers that the tree and bushes fill in quickly so that we don't have to keep staring at the parking lot for the apartments next door. Also, then the indian woman and baby that live next door won't continue to stare over the fence at us (it creeps us out a little). I always want to say hi or something, but I suspect that she doesn't speak English.

Living Tree

We do have another tree, however, that looks to be about 1/2 dead (some branches are growing, others, not so much). Any clue as to what the problem might be? I suspect the black spots on the trunk have something to do with it.

Not-so-Living Tree

Also, I thought I'd take this moment to solicit advice on what we should grow - we are especially looking for plants that flourish in the shade. I've currently got bushes of: hibiscus, azalea, hydrangea, butterfly flower, and some other varieties that don't flower. I'd like to get some peonies, and perhaps some other tall or medium height flowers. And the garden in the front yard doesn't typically get much sunlight, so I thought I'd plant some ferns up in there. I also want to pick up some planters for the front and back porches and some hanging plants... and, oh, I could easily get carried away with all of this.

We spent most of the weekend in the garden, and I've got the sunburn to prove it. I blame Kentucky for this. It's closer to the equator, so we probably get more intense sunlight than I've been accustomed to. On the other hand, stuff grows quickly here. I've been walking through the yard every day since it got warm enough to do so, and I can practically watch things grow. That is, everything except the grass .

In other, completely unrelated news, only one of my NCAA final four picks (Ohio State) is still playing, and J's got 2 teams in (Florida and Georgetown). I'm down by 1 point, so I'll be cheering for OSU and UCLA on Saturday.

JTR: liability or comedian?

I should have known it was going to be a funny day when the undergrad that I'm working with this semester fell asleep at my desk this morning. (he's normally a really hard worker. also, he looks like Clark Kent.)

Jason has informed me that the title of this post should be

JTR: master of science or comedy?

but it's MY blog, and I don't think that title accurately describes what's going on here.

He's been a bit of a liability recently, and here's proof:

• He has now broken ALL 3 of the cheap plastic handles that turn on the shower. The cold faucet handle was fixable. The hot water faucet? Not looking like an easy fix. Instead, the shower has to be turned on with a wrench. (P.S. Eew. Why does our tub look so nasty in this picture? I swear I clean it. Maybe this is also evidence for why I should remodel the bathroom?)
  

Exhibit A: The tools needed to turn on the shower.

• He claims he broke his arm over the weekend. He's not sure exactly when it happened, but his arm hurts, so it MUST be broken.
  
• He actually didn't break his arm, according to x-rays taken this afternoon. Don't worry, the doctor still prescribed him Tylenol with Codiene.
• He wore shorts to work today. He was quickly informed by the characters in my previous post that shorts are not allowed in their lab, and since his desk space is in their lab, he may not wear shorts to work. Why? We've gotten several responses, from "we work with adenovirus vectors" (adenovirus vectors = fancy name for common cold virus, used in labs because it's a virus that doesn't cause much damage to lab personnel), to "Top Dog works in the lab, and that makes us worried for our safety" (because pants = safety, and shorts = danger?) to "we are in a real working lab" (as opposed to our fake working lab? I'm not clear on the distinction). In any case, the ladies in the lab are allowed to wear knee-length skirts or capri pants, so I'm not quite sure why J's below-the-knee-length shorts caused such a ruckus.
  

He was also super-hillarious today:

• I found the following note on my desk when I returned from a noon-time seminar. Of particular importance is the break in the stick figure's arm:

Exhibit B: Why is this so funny?

• He sent out an email re: the no shorts rule to the entire lab, and in the email, he suggested that JC (our student lab tech) wear his cross-dresser halloween costume if he wants to continue showing off his tan. Maybe it's funnier if you've seen the pictures.
• He had an in-depth discussion/rant re: what exactly would happen if some of the adenovirus happened to land on his bare leg, complete with mention of the skin being the body's largest organ.
• He explored the option of getting his Tylenol prescription filled - he's planning on breaking at least 1 limb on our upcoming ski trip, and he'd like to get some pain relief for that ASAP. Alternatively, if his drinking is indeed "hazardous" as was suggested in the seminar I attended today (the criterion for "hazardous drinking" were ridiculous), he might as well pick up an opioid addiction on top of it.

(In somewhat-related news, do they wonder why opioids are quickly becoming the most commonly abused drug class? JT essentially walked in with a bruise/bump on his arm, and was given a scheduled drug with a pretty decent abuse liability to make it feel better. He wasn't even asked about his drug use history before getting the prescription. I guess I shouldn't complain too much - if people keep abusing drugs, I keep getting paid to research them - but I think it should be a little harder to get a legitimate prescription for drugs that have such an abuse liability.)

I'll give you a dollar...

...if you can explain to me why there is spacing between lines of text on this blog is 1.5 in some places and 1 in others. Is it me or does this drive you completely nuts?

Sometimes life is just a bad episode of The Office

Occasionally, I sit at work and think to myself, "is this really happening?" And usually it is.

I think when you're younger, and even in college or graduate school, you imagine your future career as something serious and professional. You don't imagine that your future work place will be made up of a bunch of crazy people yelling, meowing, and singing in the office (I am not making this up). I'd like to chalk it up to the fact that I work in an academic setting with a bunch of college kids; however, working with the undergrads is actually one of the more normal parts of my day - it's the "real grown-ups" lurking in the space around our lab that often cause me to wonder if I'm hallucinating. Also, evidence from The Office (one of the best TV shows ever) and stories from friends makes me think this probably happens more often than I'd ever imagined.

J dedicates this shirt to some of our office acquaintances

Anyways, I think this would be a good time to describe a few of the characters that I am exposed to on a daily basis, just so you can appreciate the insanity of it all. (pseudonyms will be used to protect the innocent). Here's what I know:

Oomp-ta-doomp:

• his theme song would probably go something like (insert dopey singing voice here) "oomp-ta-doomp-da-doomp"
• tried to convince me to become baptist in my first week of work
• likes to listen to baptist talk radio, choir boy music, and Christmas music in October
• believes that "ethnicity is like stupidity - someone's got to have it"
  

Silver fox:

• has figured out that you can sing just about any lyrics to the tune of "Amazing Grace"
  
• another supporter of Christmas music in October, she likes to sing (loudly) while working
• plays "Deal or No Deal" online ad nauseum

EEL:

• walks around the lab bench for hours talking loudly in a foreign language into her bluetooth
• has worn jeans once, causing others to speculate that she was trying to get pregnant (I guess they must have been tight?)
  
• got in a screaming match with one of her lab mates on our first day of work here - the cause of the fight? the labmate had moved her scale a foot to the left

Top Dog (at least, he thinks he is):

• makes more than me
  
• they should give him his Ph.D.
• would date me, if Jason weren't in the picture
• has a tux - he doesn't rent, he buys (unless you're talking about his apartment, then he doesn't buy, he rents)
• is friends with a movie star (on my space, and he knows it's really her)

keep in mind that the above phrases have actually come out of his mouth

The Novelist:

• is writing a murder-mystery novel about the group she works with
  
• likes to just walk into the area and scream the name of the person she's looking for as loud as possible
• was talking in a foreign language on the phone the other day and then broke into, "here kitty kitty kitty" and then back into the foreign language. repeatedly.
  
• her first child was a "biochemistry accident"
  

Phone Lady:

• we haven't exactly figured out what she does yet, as she seems to always be on her cell phone or gossiping with the rest of the group

Keep in mind that I think all of them missed that day in Kindergarten when you learn the difference between "inside" and "outside" voices, since they all insist on using outside voices at all times.

Needless to say, I am not convinced that communal lab space is a great idea. Forcing scientists from different disciplines and laboratories to cram into a room of lab benches for long periods of time does not necessarily produce good science. On the other hand, it does produce good comedy (and occasional headaches).

Sweet Sixteen (March Madness Style)

Because I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seats wondering, I thought I'd post our NCAA round 2 picks. I've also starred the teams that we've chosen for the elite eight.

Jason/Jen:
MIDWEST
Florida*/Florida*
Maryland/Maryland
Oregon/Notre Dame
Wisconsin*/Wisconsin*

WEST
Kansas*/Kansas*
Southern Illinois/Southern Illinois
Pittsburgh*/Duke
UCLA/UCLA*

EAST
UNC/UNC*
Texas*/USC
Washington State/Washington State
Georgetown*/Georgetown*

SOUTH
Ohio State*/Ohio State*
Virginia/Tennessee
Texas A&M*/Texas A&M
Memphis/Memphis*

(teams in italics have already lost. bummer. i hope some of J's teams will start losing, especially since I'm now losing the bball challenge.)

Card Craftiness?

Home-made cards: crafty? or cheap?

I can't decide. Both, maybe? In any case, I am both stingy and good with a glue stick, so home-made cards it is.

I have to admit that I was slightly inspired by these cards for your boss. They are so funny! The cards that I've been crafting recently are neither funny nor made with stolen office supplies, but I thought I'd post pictures of them anyways.

crafty? cheap?

made with love and a gluestick

Also, I'm up by 1 point in our b-ball challenge! I've never liked basketball so much!

NCAA Round 1 Picks

Let me begin by saying that I know exactly nothing about college basketball. Jason knows all sorts of stuff. So maybe it wasn't the best idea to suggest that we each pick tournament winners and whoever ends up with the most points wins. Loser takes winner to dinner. I was initially pushing for higher stakes (e.g., when I win, J has to buy me a furniture item of my choosing), but then realized I am going to be picking teams based on name only, and I really didn't want to lose and have to spend $200 on the grill he's been eyeing up (sorry, J).

So here are our round 1 picks:
(each game is worth 1 pt if the higher seed wins or the difference in seeds if the lower seed wins.)

JASON/JEN:
Midwest
Florida/Florida
Purdue/Purdue
Old Dominion/Butler
Maryland/Maryland
Winthrop/Notre Dame
Oregon/Oregon
UNLV/Georgia Tech
Wisconsin/Wisconsin
West
Kansas/Kansas
Villanova/Kentucky
Illinois/Virginia Tech
Southern Illinois/Southern Illinois
Duke/Duke
Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh
Gonzaga/Gonzaga
UCLA/UCLA
East
UNC/UNC
Marquette/Marquette
USC/USC
Texas/Texas
Vanderbuilt/Vanderbuilt
Washington State/Washington State
Boston College/Boston College
Georgetown/Georgetown
South
Ohio State/Ohio State
Xavier/BYU
Tennessee/Tennessee
Virginia/Albany
Louisville/Louisville
Texas A&M/Texas A&M
Nevada/Creighton
Memphis/Memphis

Let the games begin!

Spring Surprises

The past 2 days have been absolutely beautiful here, so we've spent as much time as possible outside in the garden. We've got to clean up some of the dead stuff from last season and try to get new stuff growing this season.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that there are random patches of daffodils all over the back yard. And we found 3 other small flowers that we can't identify.

random patches of daffodils

can you name this flower?

Jason's been trimming bushes, picking up trash that we've found in the yard (and we've actually found a lot of it - mostly beer bottles and golf balls), and preparing the planter in front of our garage for planting (the guy before us just placed 3 evergreen trees in the planter, without removing the plastic around the roots - needless to say, they were dead before we even moved in). I have been raking the moss out of the yard and planting grass seed in the bare spots that it left behind. I'm crossing my fingers that it will actually grow.

The Explorium

Saturday morning, J and I headed downtown to the Explorium for 2 solid hours of volunteering. After spending an awkward 15 min standing around and staring at each other, some kids showed up, and from there on out, things seemed to go well.

Jason colored with the kids. I ran around giving everyone the Stroop Test (basically, it's a test of attention). We had slightly different approaches to teaching. For example:

kid: I like coloring.
Jason: That's because your brain releases dopamine when you color.


kid: I know that your brain makes you smart.
Jen: That's right! Do you know what kinds of things you should do to keep your brain smart? One thing you can do is eat your fruit and vegetables.
kid: I like carrots. And broccoli.


Excellent. Even though the kid Jason was coloring with was a few years older, I am fairly certain that the dopamine comment was lost on her. It's good to keep it simple.

J's recently been impersonating a med student that we volunteered with, and it's pretty hillarious. At the organizational meeting, this guy made sure to inform everyone that he had gotten his fellow med students to volunteer so that they could test reflexes (by the way, reflexes don't require your brain, just your spinal cord), and he went on and on about it to the point where we were all clear about how much better he was than the rest of us because he was a med student. Also, he sat and typed on his computer through the rest of the meeting, and at one point made the speaker repeat information because he was typing - but he continued to type while the speaker repeated the information. (FYI: this type of behavior makes me lose confidence in and respect for doctors). Anyways, we're at the event on Saturday, and the guy can't even get people's reflexes to work - all that bragging for nothing! Think it's karma?

(which makes me wonder what's coming our way for making fun of the guy)

Afterwards, we ate at Brooklyn Pizza, and it was delicious. Both the Explorium and Brooklyn Pizza are housed in Victorian Square, which is a pretty cool little mall housed in historic buildings in downtown Lexington. I am certain we'll be back for more.

Science is Silly

We've been having one of THOSE weeks... Without going into too much detail, we'll just say that it's been a pretty long week in the lab. Fortunately, we can take it easy tomorrow (I plan to work 9-12), we only have to go in for about 10 min on Saturday and Sunday, and Monday we'll be at a conference all day (I have to give a 10-min talk, but can relax the rest of the day).

The comedic relief this week has been pretty good, however. For example:

(walking to work this morning)
Jen: Ohh, it's a little cold out here. I'm going to put my hat on. Aren't you going to put your hat on?
J: No.
Jen: What? Why? Aren't you cold?
J: I have to look good for my presentation this afternoon. I don't want to wreck my hair. Because when I look good, my data looks even better.

(yesterday, at the lab bench)
Josh (our coworker): Are you sure you should heat and stir that with the top on?
Jen: Sure, last time we heated and stirred this, we had the top on and it was fine.
(30 sec later)
Bottle: Explodes, spilling about $100 worth of antidepressant everywhere.
(that one was not quite as funny as it was ridiculous, and a little sad - especially since I occasionally claim to have been a chemistry major in college)




Tuesday, we went to an organizational meeting for an event that we're volunteering for this weekend. This is the first time that this particular group has planned an event like this, and I think they may have been overestimating the amount of things that 2-10 year olds already know about the brain. For example, check out the puzzles below - who knows what these pictures are referring to (much less the function of the word in question)? Am I underestimating the abilities of kids? I just don't remember learning ANYTHING about the brain when I was a kid (although, given the incident above, I don't remember much from college either).



(PS if you ever need a good neuroscience resource for kids - or adults - Neuroscience for Kids is super-awesome).

Rainy Day Shoes

Spring is just around the corner, and we are getting particularly excited about gardening. I have all sorts of plans for the yard, including growing a serious number of moonflowers and morning glories, which I hope will grow quickly and vine and flower all over the fence surrounding the back yard.

The moonflowers are a new thing, not planted in our original garden. I am going to borrow an idea from Cottage Living (a super-cute magazine that J's mom got me for Christmas) and plant some of these on the front porch like so:
Most of the things in the garden seem to be growing okay, but there are a few, for example, the poppies, that grew and then toppled over and died. Any thoughts on why? My current theory is that the basement may have gotten too cold at one point and killed them. Jason suggested that they grew too tall for their root system. Either way, I'm attempting to grow more.


One of my weekend projects was making a window garden for the two windows on either side of the fireplace. I have to admit that I copied this idea from a magazine, too. I think it's a fun and cheap way to bring some spring cheer to the house, and once the seeds grow big enough, I'll probably plant the flowers in the yard once they get big enough. So really, it's a double whammy.



With spring, we're anticipating a lot of rain. We're hoping that it won't come in the basement. Also, we're trying to figure out why one of J's shoes always gets wetter than the other.

Ogres have layers (and so does our house)

On Saturday, we set out to repair the study ceiling and we quickly learned that there were several layers of paint and wallpaper between us and the plaster. Yes, wallpaper on the ceiling. I've seen it successfully pulled off in smaller rooms, like the bathrooms in my parents and Jason's parents houses. But in a study? Hmm. So, we peeled it all off:

Then, we had to get some chemicals to peel the final layers of paper and glue off:



Finally, a clean(er) ceiling. Luckily, the plaster ceiling is in REALLY great shape, with only a few small cracks that we're not going to even bother repairing since you can't really see them.


This week, we'll be washing the ceiling with water + the wallpaper remover chemicals. If all goes well, we'll be priming and painting the ceiling this weekend. The Lowe's man suggested that we do a faux finishing technique on the ceiling, but I suggested we go sistine chapel-style on it.

a good look for our study ceiling?

Naming Fiasco

Recently, our friend Dan pointed out that Karl is actually a girl. Oops. We've tried Karl-y and Karl-a, but they just don't seem to click as well as Karl. I think we're probably going to keep referring to the snake as "Karl" and use the appropriate male pronouns.

We fed Karl yesterday, and boy was he hungry! We drove the 7 miles to Nicholasville (subarb of Lexington) to get a "pinkie" (because it didn't have hair yet) mouse, and when we got back, J waved it in front of Karl and he snatched it up. I think J is going to handle Karl in the next few days in order to get him used to people. I'm assuming that (at least) Trevor will want to touch him the next time he comes to visit, and I don't want Karl biting our guests.

I sometimes think we should try to train Karl to do other tricks, seeing as we are animal behaviorists. I think Karl's behavioral repetoire may be limited, being that he doesn't have any appendages. And I don't quite know what we'd use to reinforce his behavior, since he only needs to eat once every 7-10 days and hasn't proven to respond well to touch/petting (like your dog would, for example). Maybe someday we'll get a dog and we can teach him all sorts of circus tricks.

Other than that, still not too much going on here. I started a second experiment last week, and it requires me to be at work by 6:30 a.m. That means that I am usually tired and boring (J asks if that is a change from normal). On the other hand, I am getting a lot of work done, which is great since I am still finishing up some papers from Minnesota.

We did actually go out last weekend to eat at The Pub. The Pub is supposed to be a knock-off of British Pubs, but it is seriously Americanized. The prices are a little high - in England, we ate pub food when we wanted something cheap. The beer prices are ridiculous for Lexington - $5+ for a beer, when other restaurants/bars we've been to have been selling beer for $2-3. Certainly beer should be cheap in a British Pub. Also, the atmosphere is a little off, and the place was insanely crowded (~2 hour wait at 5:45 on a snowy Saturday). Getting past all that, though, the deep fried pickles (I LOVE pickles) and fish and chips were delicious, and it's always great to get out - especially since Josh's wife, Kim, came along. This officially made me not the only girl hanging out in a group of guys, which is typically the scenario here.

It's all about Karl

I thought I'd post some more pictures of Karl, since he's the most exciting thing happening here (and because the pictures in my last post weren't very good). Jason added a clay pot to his cage last night so that Karl would have something to hide in and Karl thought that J's pinky was his dinner. As in, he was actually trying to swallow J's pinky (apparently, snakes will usually just strike and let go if it's an aggressive manuever). So, I think we might have to feed him soon.

Karl, enjoying his new home.

Silly Karl, Jason's finger isn't dinner!

Karl the California King

I am proud to announce the arrival of our new housemate, Karl. He's black and white, about a foot long, and as big around as your pinky.

Check him out:

Karl, the California King Snake

Cute, isn't he? Not a great picture, but he hasn't come out of hiding tonight. Last night he was all over the cage, and we even watched him drink some water.

Yes, I've completely lost it. What female is actually excited about having a snake in her home? Scary. What's even more scary is that I even bought the snake - as a Valentine's Day present for Jason, of course. Jason was really surprised since he thought he was getting homebrewing equipment... I was just excited that I managed to keep it a surprise - I am usually horrible at keeping these things a surprise from him (or he checks the history button on my computer and figures it out a la Christmas 2004 - sneaky).

Jason's Valentine Surprise

Karl has brought on all sorts of fun, especially because he tells us things. For example, Karl likes it when I go shopping. Karl wants me to finish the curtains for Jason's room (Karl lives in Jason's room, and yes, his cage is double- and triple-secured so that he can't escape). Karl wishes it would snow more. Jason claims that Karl told him that he likes J better than me, but I don't think so. Karl enjoyed tonight's episode of The Office. Karl thinks this week's episode of The OC was lame. Karl wants me to stay home from work tomorrow so that he doesn't get lonely.

You get the point.

Curtains and Other New Additions

The dining room curtains are finished! Yes! Here are some pics:

Dining room curtains open.

Dining room curtains closed.
(the seam at the bottom is not quite as noticable in person... I think the lighting and camera are playing tricks with us.)

So this works, no? I think it will keep a little of the cold out - and boy has it been cold here recently. We've been walking to work in 8 degree weather (Minnesota weather, if you will). However, the Kentuckians are not quite as used to this weather - schools were cancelled today for the 4th day in a row, since we got 1/2" of snow last night. 1/2". Seriously. Is this why Kentucky's education rates are some of the lowest in the US? Because they never go to school?

Anyways, in the midst of last night's "blizzard", we managed to hang up a new shelf and put some things on it. I'm particularly excited about the metal star, as I have been eyeing them up for months and only recently allowed myself to purchase one. The picture is actually a photo of the Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We like it because it reminds us of our Minneapolis roots. And because it reminds us that we can eventually move back (or at least, we're crossing our fingers that it will become a possibility at some point).

The new shelf above the TV, complete with metal star and cherry on a spoon picture.

Jason and Dustin's Birthday Bash

I suspect that our party on Friday was a success. My evidence for this statement:

1. The word "keg stand" was spoken at least once (by actual college students, which means that it is cool - a contrast to what it would be if it was one of us old folks).
2. We kicked both kegs that Jason had on tap.
3. I was up past my usual 10pm bedtime.
4. There were people at our house until 3ish.
5. I spent all day Saturday sleeping and craving greasy food (with the exception of 7:30-11am, when I was at work).

Here is some photographic evidence of our party's awesomeness:

The birthday boys (why is J making such a funny face?)

Josh and I - awesome picture!

(some of) our party guests!

The only bummer of the party was that there were no "lampshade on the head" moments.

The Entire State is Closed Today

Look what I woke up to this morning - a light dusting of snow in the backyard!

Kitchen Curtains

I love sewing. Love it.

My mom, brother, and grandma came to visit me last weekend, and we had a blast. They helped me make a quilt, which I still have to finish, and that will be the subject of another blog. Suffice it to say, I am fairly certain that it will not be my last quilt (although, I suspect that I haven't gotten to the tricky parts yet, so I reserve the right to change my mind).

Since then, I have been hard at work sewing up some kitchen curtains. Check them out:

The big window over the kitchen sink.

The butler's pantry window.

The back hall.

My next project: the dining room curtains (see below). I hope to have them done before tomorrow night's birthday party for J and our friend, Dustin. I also love throwing parties.

Hard at work on the dining room curtains.

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

On Sunday, we had the pleasure of joining our friends Josh and Kim and their little Reese on a trip to the Newport Aquarium. It was a pretty great aquarium, and highlights included shiny fish, glow-in-the-dark fish, and a shark-ray mix named Sweet Pea. Lowlights included the family who named their children after disney characters (i.e., Ariel, Belle) and ran around the aquarium yelling things like, "If you don't behave, I'm going to tie you up" (I'm assuming they meant with one of those kid leashes) and, "I'm going to take you out to the car and spank you". Now, I'm completely aware that kids don't always listen... but I can't imagine that yelling idle threats in the middle of an aquarium really solves the problem. The kids, who looked to be between 2 and 4, were just really excited, running from one exhibit to the other. And while they may have run up in front of other people watching the fish, I think the parents running around screaming were much more disruptive.

Anyways, back to the fishes. Here's some photos.

Jason points out a shark.

The shark is bigger than me!

Jason petting a baby sting ray.

J is a great aquarium accomplice because he worked at an aquarium in college. He's a pretty good tour guide and knows a lot of random fish facts (or, he makes them up and we just haven't caught on yet!). And, the aquarium had tons of fish, a bunch of snakes and frogs, alligators, penguins, and birds. The birds were housed in a huge room that you had to walk through, and it was seriously stinky. Those sorts of arrangements always make me a little nervous, since I'm completely convinced I'm going to end up with bird poo on my head.

After the aquarium, we had lunch at an asian fusion restaurant near the aquarium and then hit the Gap Clearance Center and DQ. It was a great day, and fun to get out of town for a bit. I'm sure we'll be back.

Snow!

Look what I woke up to this morning:

Yes! Snow!

This is enough snow to close Lexington area schools and churches for the day.


Unfortunately, it was almost completely melted by the time I got home from work...

Lettuce Wins!

An update on the garden situation:

The lettuce officially was the first to sprout, followed by the dahlia and one little onion sprout. This proves 2 things:
1. we aren't completely inept at planting seeds.
2. the basement isn't too cold for gardening (we were a little worried that that might be the case, especially since temps have dipped to a cool 30 degrees recently).

Excellent.


An additional garden note: the mole is still at large. Apparently, the poison was a no-go, so now we're going to try a trap. The only thing is... we can't tell if it's a live trap or not. The trap box suggests that we can remove the trap after catching the mole, but we don't quite know what to expect. Are we going to have to figure out what to do with a live mole once we catch it? Or are we going to pull the trap out of the ground to find the thing smooshed in it? Ahh, the mystery and excitement of it all.

Another Important Lesson

Earlier we learned to say no to drugs in the hillarious spider video.

Another important lesson (to be learned on YouTube.com, of course) is gun safety. Here, a DEA officer teaches us more about guns. Note that he is, "the only one in the room professional enough to know how to carry" the gun. Excellent.


Just for fun, here are some pics of our living room/dining room.

Living and Dining Room

A Step in the Right Direction

It snowed* here today! Yes!

The back stairs - slippery when icy.

One of the bushes we planted last fall - safe and sound in a burlap sack.

*and by "snow", I mean, a miniscule amount of frozen rain fell from the sky. Not such a fun walk to work.


Looks like we may get more later this week:

Few Snow Showers
High
41°F
Overnight Low
34°F
Precip
30%

If anyone understands how the above temperatures + precipitation = snow showers, please let me know. I am baffled.

Diggin' in the dirt

Today, J and I started what we hope will be an awesome garden. Our goal is to actually grow some of the food we eat so that we don't have to battle the rotting produce at the nearby Kroger. And, I want to grow some pretty flowers, of course. We're just hoping that our neighbors don't find it suspicious that we've suddenly got plants and a grow light in the basement...

Pics of our set up:

Jason filling pots with dirt.

Jen planting seeds.

Ready to grow!

Here's a list of what we hope to grow:

Vegetables:
Green Beans
Carrots
Cucumbers
Habanero Peppers
Green Peppers
Lettuce
Yellow Onions
Cherry Tomatoes
"Big Beef" Tomatoes
Garlic (we haven't planted it yet, though)

Flowers:
Dahlia
Poppy
Cardinal Climber Vine
Morning Glory
Butterfly Flower
Chinese Lantern
Cupid's Dart



In other news, we've got most of last week's issues resolved - the car repair wasn't too completely outrageous, Jason is becoming quite the plumber, and I'm coming to terms with cancellation of the OC (not that I agree with it).