Made a Farmers Market trip this morning and picked up a couple of shasta daisy's from our favorite vendor. Mowed the back yard but I was too tired to do much else. Dinner was Pork chops with corn and salad with a bottle of Shiraz.

This turned into a pretty productive day. I started out mowing the lawn then went to the grocery store for milk and more bacon. In the afternoon I put 3 gallons of Roundup in the sprayer tank and walked the property line spraying brush and grape vines. It could use another pass but later. Dinner was salmon, penne pasta with veggies and Chardonnay. We had carrot cake for desert. I started looking at communicting over TCP today for the Arduino data collector module. I'll still use the Arduino for tmeperature gathering as well as wireless Xbee reception but I'll probably send this stuff to Traviata for graphing, pachube updates and web services. My other thought was to put Ubuntu on the Zotac machine which has a dual Atom. I could then use the machine for NCID as well.

Worked on getting the sprinklers hooked to the timer today. All this is in prep for our trip up north in June. I also signed up for the Road Scholar Chicago trip today. This seems to be the best way to stay in the middle of it all and see everything. Dinner was
Cajun night. We had tilapia with Cajun rub, brown rice, peas and salad with pepper vinaigrette dressing.

Did some garden repair today from the rain and also cut and painted a piece of hardy board to construct a sluice for the greenhouse roof drain. This seems to be the way to go. We need a heavy rain to test it. Dinner was curry chicken which was outstanding. It's been a while since we had this.

It's a cool yucky day. I perused some of the BP stuff and also downloaded all of Popular Mechanics from 1905. This was a 41 gigabyte download! Spoke with Dr Chen in NJ today. Aunt Helen is in the hospital with pneumonia and enlarged kidneys. I gave a verbal authorization to go ahead with surgery to install a drain in her kidneys. Libbie went to a violet meeting at Sheila's Senior Center with Joanne Raymer and Sylvia. I didn't too much today, it was a lazy day. Dinner was pasta from the Kroger grocery trip this afternoon.

Joe started back this morning. Unfortunately he will encounter heavy rain on his trip. It arrived here around noon and rained all afternoon. I worked on the software for the light meter. Dinner was a BLT.

I spent a lot of the day working on the light sensor for the greenhouse. I can read the sensor, convert to footcandles and put the data out as a serial stream. I had trouble getting the device to work with the Xbee. The trouble turned out to be getting enough voltage to power the thing. I had to jumper the batt and input terminals essentially bypassing the battery charge regulator. While Joe and Libbie went to the Farmers Market I planted the butterfly bushes just before it started to rain which was a good thing and lucky timing. Joe made a lot of small and creative pizzas including a basil, a tomoat and a spinach pizza. He also made a BBQ pizza and a calzone type pizza. Lots of food. We had this with some Yuengling Black and Tan beer.

Joe came this morning. I cleaned the garage and put everything away that was on the workbench. while vacuuming in the garage, Joe arrived from TN. We spent a lot of the day talking. I showed him my Arduino stuff and the light sensor I want to get running. In the evening I was reading light with the thing. Dinner was Smithfields takeout with Yuengling. We had pulled pork, hush puppies, slaw and BBQ Beans. Nice.

Finished up the garden stuff - planted the Dahlia, put stakes in all the tomatoes and planted the watermelon in the greenhouse. It doesn't sound like much but I was tired after all this. Picked up some Pork chops at Krogers whcih we had with corn Mach choux, salad and Shiraz. Very nice.

Went out to work in the garden but it was wet and also cool. Walked up to the top of the hill in back and looked at where I need to spray with the roundup. Finished up the photo book for AVSA and sent it to MyPublisher using the groupon coupon. Shipping via Fedex is another $12. which is on top of the $19 for the coupon. I made dinner tonight consisting of tilapia filets, corn Mach Choux, salad with pepper jelly topped with blue cheese. This was accompanied by Shiraz.

It rained pretty heavy this afternoon but before then I planted the eggplants and tomato plants purchased this week. Still have to get the squash and beans in the ground. I unplugged the electric fence and didn't remember it until I woke up at midnight. Put on a robe and plugged it in via flashlight. Dinner tonight was lobster ravioli from Trader Joes. We had done a Trader Joes trip earlier as well as the farmers market. Picked up 2 butterfly bushes for the backyard.

Went to a 9:30 appt at Leith for 15,000 mile service on my Corolla. This took all mornng. I didn't get out of there until 11 PM. Dropped the IRA withdrawal off at Scottrade in Cary then went to Fairview for Eggplants and tomato plants. Didn't do too much today. Dinner was Briyani.

Went to Rocky's workshop at Jerry's this morning. There wasn't enough time to finish the magnolia painting but I learned a lot. Now I have to practice. In the afternoon I worked a little on the AVSA photobook donation then listened to Walkure live on Sirius. I stayed until the end which was almost midnight. I also sent in an email with my favorite 3 operas this season. Dinner this evening was Trader Joes barbecue on sandwich rounds.

Bought 2 bags of mulch at HD and returned the parts I had bought to make a downspout. Didn't need them because the old greenhouse downspout was adequate. Repaired the spots in the flower garden that were washed out by the rain. Our bucket shows that we received 3 inches of rain yesterday!!!! Dinner was Libbie's homemade pizza. She made fresh dough from scratch.

Worked in the garden putting the rail back up for the climbing roses. After lunch we went to the greenhouse and got a gutter end from house 1. Took a 4.5 inch white PVC pipe form the Seagrove Farms pond scraps and used it as a downspout. At 5 PM we had a heavy thunderstorm that washed away a river through the flower bed. I don't think any kind of drain would have helped. We'll fix it in the morning. I also started making a shrimp etouffe for the Tilapia filets.
Dinner was salad greens with pepper jelly vinaigrette, Tilapia filets with shrimp etouffee, and a very hot and spicy corn machoux. All this with Shiraz and moose tracks ice cream for desert. Yum. Libbie got a call late in the evening from John. Mary is in intensive care with bacterial meningitis. Wow, she's the healthiest of the sisters.

Roto-tilled the garden this morning then planted the rest of the tomatoes. Put cages over them and now Ii need some plants for the grow boxes. In the evening we left for first Friday. Went to see Nicoles new studio, had a glass of wine and some wonderful dip then drove over to Artspace. We parked near Caffe Luna and walked over. Paris Alexanders daughter was in the lobby with a chisel and hammer working on a piece of stone. Cute beyond cute. Met Rocky in the building, chatted about the class I will have with her on Monday. Talked to Nancy Taylor and Judy Crane upstairs also. Went to Caffe Luna where the service was very slow. Our waiter was not very attentive and seemed to forget about us a lot. I had the Pescatore which was shrimp, calamari, mussls and scallops over pasta in a tomato based sauce. Had 2 glasses of Rodney Strong Merlot. The bill with tip was $68. A very pleasant evening it was! One side note: I have become so accustomed to Cajun spices that the shrimp and scallops in my pasta seemed bland in comparison.

This is a much better day. I have more energy and hooked up the rest of the sprinklers. Put together the hoses and solenoids inside the greenhouse and temporarily used the remote Christmas timer on the solenoid that controls the water to the flower garden. While having lunch we ran the watering for 15 minutes. we measured approx 1/2 inch of water in a plant saucer. I went to Home Depot and got more 1/4 inch tubing and added 3 more sprinklers, 2 of them on stakes. Finished this by 4 PM and ran another 15 minute test run. The coverage looks great, I'm happy. I need to do a more permanent job with the solenoid wiring but first I need to finish planting the garden. Dinner was pad Thai from a Whole Foods noodle box. Very good. I originally was going to do some Cajun cooking tonight but we were so tired that it didn't happen. Listened to Gotterdamerung on Sirius live. During the thrid act I got tired so I pressed record on the DVR. We'll see if that works.

This was a tough day. I put down the water pipe around the backyard fence and hooked up one of the misters. Went over to help Libbie by spreading bark mulch. She planted over 100 seedlings. Earlier I got a call that our Knock Out Rose was at the Farmers Market so we drove over to get the rose, our veggies and a few more perennials. The garden planting is going good. I put the cucumbers in the growbox also. Now we just have the 3 more empty grow boxes to fill. It got up to 91 today and was very hot working in the sun. Dinner was crab cakes with fresh tomatoes from the Farmers Market and homemade strawberry shortcake for desert. This is a good time of year when the strawberries are coming in.

May Day!!! I did the grocery run getting fixins for another Cajun meal on Thursday. Got the grow boxes in place and ran the hose to each one for watering. Lib planted some of the flower seedlings. I mulched them. One bag of mulch was infested with termites so I poured it into a wheelbarrow and sprinkled insect powder over it. This killed all the little buggers. I also planted all the tomatoes that were destined for the grow boxes. They joined the peppers which were done yesterday. Dinner was Chinese takeout with a bottle of Rodney Strong Merlot.

This morning we watched CBS Sunday then had to leave at 10:30 for Bright Stream live from the Bolshoi. We were the only ones in the theater!!!! It ended around 2 PM. We came home and I mowed the front lawn. Dinner was Libbie's amazing pizza. Worked on a photo book donation for the AVSA convention.

It's a cold day out, not much motivation for outdoors stuff. I started studying how to do the outdoor garden watering. Dinner was broiled tilapia with sweet potato and homemade pepper vinaigrette dressing over a spring mix of salad greens.

This was an unplanned day. The back porch was covered with water from the fish pond which sprung a leak. We worked at draining it and taking out the liner. It looks like a rock went through the liner and caused the leak. After lunch we went to the Farmers Market for tomatoes and a butterfly bush. Our favorite vendor said next week for the bush so we'll wait. We had the leftover gumbo and bread pudding for dinner with a bottle of Shiraz. I can't believe it but the WSR I bought has gone up .85 this week. I originally purchased this to get the 8.72% interest but I may sell early. We'll see how it goes. Our garden is looking great.

Surprising rain today, I was planning to mow the front lawn. Made Gumbo this afternoon. It wasn't very good since there was too much Roux in the mixture. The recipe calls for 4 oz, we put a cup of oil and a cup of flour into the gumbo as roux. Will try again but with less Roux. I did not like that the crawfish were sourced in china and the crab legs didn't add anything to the texture. The bread pudding was a delight. Libbie made the praline sauce, I think I'll keep her out of my cooking since she's not very good at sauces. Listened to the Rheingold live this evening while reading the Steve Jobs book.

It's a cold day with some rain. We went to Lowes for brick chips and also picked up some perennials for the fenced in garden. The garden is pretty soppy and footprints sink in pretty far. Despite this I was able to mulch the mint garden by the fence and Libbie planted the perennials we purchased. dinner was out to La Cocina because the lobster ravioli we purchased in Trader joes was moldy. I had a Margarita and a Quesadilla La cocina. Nice.

Lazy day. Did the Tuesday groceries searching for ingredients for Gumbo. Did not find cane vinegar or shrimp base so I tried Whole Foods with Libbie. I've been using the BAC Visa to get 5% cash back. Will be pissed if this doesn't work. Mowed the back lawn entirely yesterday. WSR, my purchase yesterday using Cap One 0% checks, went up 67 cents. I think it is an anomaly that will correct itself. Dinner was pulled pork barbecue on buns. The pulled pork was purchased in the store this morning.