Saturday, February 5, 2000
Anniversaries!
I'm probably just a sentimental you-know-what but, Brian and I, without any pomp or circumstance, have celebrated the second anniversary of our second date. This month (and January and March) is full of these anniversaries that I plague him with every year. I think he enjoys it in a sick kinda way!
Gardening 101
Well, actually, that's probably 301 this year. We do seem to be getting better at it every year . . . we know our plants, planters and other supplies list keeps growing every year and we're starting to hang things in odd places to get enough sun on them and to just brag to the neighbors that we have green thumbs. (BTW, I never used to be able to grow anything, let alone have it live beyond the first two weeks of bringing it home. Then, I found Brian and Miracle Grow and, short of not watering EVER, I can now grow things!)
The herb garden last year never got enough sun-- it didn't really do very well so this year I'm going to try a hanging box to see if it works any better. I'm also going to try a lettuce garden because we love salads and with the peppers and tomatoes that Brian grows so well every year, we'll be eating a lot of salads again this year. Last year we also grew a green bean bush that climbs but we only grew three plants so I think this year, we'll have to fill one of the boxes of the redwood bench that Brian built.
Pat and Nathan brought us a crocus and tulip pot last weekend and, I think I mentioned that we "found" some bulbs in amongst our supply of wood in the house. Brian doesn't remember them but I think they came from a hyacinth plant he got me early on after he moved (which is another of the above referenced anniversaries). Anyway, last night, Brian took a picture of the crocus/tulip combo so that we could keep track of its growth. I watered it last night and I swear it sprang up a half inch!! That's the part about growing things that I really enjoy-- watching them grow and it seems like, in some cases, you really see the growth happening (like one of those slow-motion cameras on PBS!).
**********
So it looks like Brian is almost ready after his shower-- we've both had our chuckles about Malcolm's antics over on Bob & Barbara's sites so the day has started off great so far. We'll report progress as it progresses-- we won't fill up the whole patio this weekend but it won't be long, I'm sure!
**********
Ramblings . . .
So, all of the supplies have been purchased, Brian's even made the redwood table-- and a really cool design it is, indeed!! The problem? Well, between 4-1/2 hours of shopping and the cold weather (by comparison to what it should be, okay?), I didn't get any further than bringing everything up from the car. Its a little early for the majority of the herbs to be sold so we will be buying them in shifts again this year and, there are little or no vegetable plants yet. And, believe it or not, I'm going to try a strawberry plant layout that Sunset had in their magazine last year but, I need something other than ornamental plants for it!
I'm going to have to start cataloguing the reminiscences I tell you about; if this is a re-run, let me know and skip ahead a couple of paragraphs:
When I was growing up, we lived on a farm of 48-acres. At different parts during my childhood, we had leased some of the land to other farmers for cattle grazing or wheat growing but, eventually, my dad decided it would make sense that he should grow strawberries to make the extra money needed to take a family of seven on a vacation in the summer. He decided to do this by growing strawberries and we would: Sell the strawberry plants (which required the plants to be "cleaned" and bundled), pick the strawberries to sell along the highway in a make-shift fruit stand, allow Joe and Ro Blow to come in and pick strawberrie for themselves to can or freeze at a price per quart and, my two least favorite: 1) eat strawberries at what seemed like virtually every meal for the month of June (it is a lot cheaper than buying meat for seven people) and 2) growing the next year's strawberry plants on a minimum of 3 acres which required weeding and hoeing (don't have a clue if that's the spelling for the word but, that's what we used to call it!).
If you will recall, I am the youngest of five children. Every year, my father would require us (in order to go on vacation) to do these things and, as my siblings aged, they would one-by-one drop out of the work detail so that, eventually, it was just ME left to do it. By this time, I was close to 16 years old and my next oldest sibling was working a "real job" at a nursing home so she didn't have to do the work anymore. The next older sibling (Susan) had long since gotten a job and moved out even though she didn't like snakes so she didn't have to do the garden work anyway (Yes, this from the woman who now lives in a very dirty country with geckos and other assorted lizards running around-- that is a WHOLE 'nuther story!!)
So, I'm 16 and working the same 3 acres BY MYSELF and my father comes home from work one day and asks me "Why haven't you gotten all of these rows done?" I stopped my hoeing and leaned on it and said "You've got to be kidding me, right?" "No," he replied very seriously, "Your brother and sisters used to be able to get this finished-- why can't you?" "Did you just hear what you said?" I asked "FOUR other people could get this dome and why can't I?" Well, as you can well imagine, that was the beginning of the end of my working for my father. No, I didn't go on any other family vacations but that was beginning to get to be old hat anyway-- this was Michigan, not California and there weren't any "Beach Boys" records playing in the background where we went camping!
At any rate, the summary of the above story is that, to this day, I very seldom, if ever eat strawberries. I will make my mother's killer strawberry shortcake recipe once a year and mash some strawberries for it. The good news is that Brian doesn't care about strawberries that much but, I think this hanging basket arrangement in Sunset magazine will do very nicely on our patio-- thanks!
I'll bet you're glad you didn't ask that, huh?
Tomorrow, there will be picures of the patio and, we will continue as it
goes along. Have a good night-- I've gotta go spoil my carpenter.
Home Early
Well, its not like I don't make up for it on other days! I figure the end of the quarter will darn near kill me again so while I can, if I can, I'm going to leave early. Seriously, everything that got handed off for me to do today was either on the east coast or Texas (tain't no coast there!) so there was nothing to do anyway! In a few weeks, when I've forgotten this post and I'm complaining about the amount of work and stress and hours, remind me about this post again, okay? I'll try not to snap at you when you do, I promise!
No Fishing!
Brian escorted me to the front porch when he got home tonight, pointed to the sky and said "Honey, that isn't the kind of weather we can go fishing in!" MAN, I hate the fact that we can't go fishing when it rains-- its just too muddy and the water is too murky . . . Maybe Sunday if it clears up or next weekend, for sure!
Oh, well, that leaves more time for writing and for starting our garden. There are a couple of things that I want to build like a planter box for the herbs this year. They didn't do terrifically last year because of "Earl, the Squirrel" disturbing them but I think we've got Earl figured out after all the trials that we ran through last year! We must've spent $50 or $60 JUST on trying to figure out ways to keep Earl (and his cousins) out of our garden! We've got a lifetime supply of chicken wire, black mesh netting that allows the plants to grow while keeping the dirt inaccessible and, of course, Rocky Raccoon, and his/her kids partly because they're cute and partly cuz I'd heard that having animals around scares off the squirrels. There were other alternatives attempted and considered but the thing that worked the best was the black mesh over the dirt and the chicken wire around the containers until it was started well. There are a couple of angled pictures of the patio last year but, they aren't scanned yet. When they are, you'll be the first to see 'em.
Whale Watching!
The weekend that Brian and I are going away in a few weeks is going to have us near the ocean, directly in the path of the migrating whales. Thinking that this would be a good investment of time and money and the digital camera, we've made our reservations! Hopefully, I will not be able to quote Scotty of Star Trek fame-- we will definitely NOT want there to be any whales on board (the boat, that is)!!
**********
Well, as I said, this is an early post-- it seems like I was going to remember to say something else to you but, I can't remember it. If I do, I'll let you know . . . later!
**********
Plants
Last
year, apparently in an artsy mood, I took the picture to the left of our
garden. This was fairly early in the year and, for the record (because
I need to transplant it soon), note the size of the aloe plant in the lower
right corner. One of us will take a picture of it tomorrow for inclusion
on the website and you'll see the difference. (BTW, notice the chicken
wire around the pot with the black mesh netting on the dirt? That
would be the result of "Earl" and his friends.)
I've made up my list and found a sketching program that allows me to draw the herb box that I want to build. We also need a table to go between the two chairs that are out there but Brian's been promising me that for almost a year-- we'll have to see if he comes through with that sometime soon. I've got one huge pot (16" diameter) that will be perfect for the lettuce garden I want to grow and, I'm going to try to get a few more plants, instead of flowers growing this year. I did go through the Burpee's site but, we decided that since Orchard Supply Hardware warrants the plants you buy (if you remember to bring them back), we'll probably just buy them there.
So tomorrow looks to be action packed for us,
eh? I'm already looking forward to it!!
Weather Report
It seems like everyone, at some point in their journals recently has been reporting about the weather-- some have been bragging, others lamenting, still others are just plain old relieved. I have lived in Texas, Ohio and California after being born and raised in Michigan and every one of those states (and probably the state or country from which you are reading this article now) has a slogan/motto of "Give the weather a minute and it'll change its mind!"
Obviously, California, and in particular, the Bay Area, has the same slogan. Today, when I left for work it was sunny and warm-- exceptionally so for February! When I got to the office, a woman I know commented that she thought it was going to rain-- I agreed to a degree but to me, it smelled like Spring was in the air! Yeah, right! By noon, half of the smallest branches from the trees in the parking lot were on the ground of the parking lot and, according to a weather bulletin on the Yahoo! Get Local page, "The National Weather Service issued a high wind advisory this morning which will remain in effect until 4 p.m. The advisory is for winds from 20 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph."
I don't know how much rain came but a lot of rain came! It is our rainy season and, if you'll recall, Brian and I were just complaining about one of the local reservoirs being low so we do need the rain but, for it to come up this quick??? Oh, yeah, that's that "California weather-- give it a minute and it'll change its mind!"
Update of Coordinates
Notice that I've had to add an extra line-- Brian thought of it this morning with his reference to his work's email address because the PacBell site has been having problems getting our email through to the @pacbell.net and @dutchgirl.net addresses. That made me think that I should post an alternate here as well so, above I've got my alternate email address on my Yahoo account posted: mlbilbrey@yahoo.com. I can get my home email (@pacbell and dutchgirl) there through Yahoo! Companion and I can also get regular email if you use that address. (Yes, that's bordering on one of those re-statements . . . again.)
Interesting . . .
The web crawlers were in last month, in fact, on the first of January, I had 190 pages read by a web crawler (www.alltheweb.com). The good news is that I'm now found on several search engines under "Bilbrey" and "Dutch Girl Productions (use the quotes if you go to look!) but, the bad news is that it really skewed my numbers for last month if they aren't coming back this month! That's pretty strange . . . Ah, I'm not going to worry about it . . . the month is way too new!! Besides . . . I am showing up on search engines!! Maybe there's work in them-thar hills for this writer, yet, eh?
On that note . . .
While this may seem a bit short, it probably is
but I've got some things I want to work on tonight so I need to get started
on them. Have a good one!
Better Start!
This is the first time in two days that I haven't woken up with a headache!! I already feel better!! That's a relief-- for sure and hopefully, it'll stay away and I can move on through my week.
My nephew, Brian, is having a birthday today-- He's the oldest step-son of my brother in Michigan. I hope he has a wonderful day!!
My husband, Brian, and I are talking about going fishing on Saturday morning-- I'm looking forward to it already! I hope the rain stays stopped so that we can . . . it would be nice.
I did some brief programming on my sister's site yesterday; the "Prayer Prompter" for the month of February is up and, it is (to our knowledge) the first time they've had a chance to "advertise" their website so hopefully they'll start seeing some results!
More to come later on but I did want to give you a short update on my day . . .
Its Later Now . . .
Well, DAH!! Like you didn't already know that, huh? Well, what can I say? Its just been that kinda day . . . the day where obvious things are stated and re-stated. Speaking of "obvious" things: Note that the format has changed back to the original current date at the opening of the page. Well, its like this: Beside the fact that Brian was having a hard time with the "click here" concept, even though it was saving me from having to change the date every day (and avoid the 19-2000 dillema), I still had the problem of not being able to see the page upon opening it. I didn't notice this before because I seldom look at my website out of the drafting index file; today, I bounced in from the internet and couldn't "find" my post from this morning (which is unusual from the standpoint that I made a post this morning). Needless to say, knowing that I had made one and, at first, not being able to find it is quite amazing indeed. So, between the not wanting my husband to lose me (an important ingredient in a successful marriage) and not being able to find myself (which hasn't been a real dillema for me in a long time), I decided to go back to the old format-- in the middle of the week, and everything!
Barbara's Article!
Hopefully, you've all had a chance to go over and read and bookmark Barbara Thompson's article about home improvement websites on the internet-- Bravo, Barbara!! This is an excellent read and highly recommended!!
Computer Lottery
Well, we were hopeful but not terribly anymore . . . my company had a computer lottery to sell 15 decent computers that were only a couple of years old at an incredibly cheap price to its employees. I technically had three entrants into the lottery but, I was fairly outnumbered-- I am first alternate if someone else doesn't come through on their purchase but otherwise, we've failed-- could've sent it off to Michigan for permanent transplantation in Brazil but, there are some laptops that are coming up in a few weeks I'm told . . . hope springs eternal, don'tcha know? ;>)
Projects
In case you haven't noticed, I do get a little obsessed and excited and over-enthusiastic about projects that I have going from time to time. Christmas Crafts is one of the obsessive projects I have and, now, my sister's website has become another. Today, I was notified by the ABWE, the organization the Sue and Bill "work" for, that the website has been linked from the ABWE site's Brazil page. Needless to say, I'm excited and enthusiastic! I've let them know by email but, they won't see it for awhile again . . .
The Night . . .
Brian's out for the night to the SVLUG meeting so I'm on my own . . . not a problem though cuz I'm nursing a book/play/screenplay idea and trying to flesh it out a bit so maybe that'll give me guilt-free time in front of the computer for a change? Yeah, right? Its also "How To" night and I'm not sure I can live without "This Old House" even with my brand-spanking-new bookmark referencing one of my other favorite How To night shows!
**********
I think that's enough links for one night, don't
you agree? Oh, yeah, have a good one!
Not much . . .
Topical, indeed. Not much to update today
. . . I've had a splitting headache for two days now and came home from
work with it today. Probably a combination of new medication and
my eyeglasses. (Even the optician admits that the hamburger in my
left eye shouldn't be there!) Sorry to say, this is about all there
is to the post tonight . . . more tomorrow, I'm sure.
Monthly Statistics
Of the websites that hit my page this month, 40.35% were from the "Unresolved/Unknown"-- I guess only YOU know who you are!! Additionally, and I don't know the difference here, 30.71% of you are "US Commercial" and 16.82% of you are "Network". Maybe the difference is that "Network" people are people who come in from an ISP like Mindspring or AOL or Earthlink (there are a lot of those!). My "international appeal" for the month was as broad as usual: The Netherlands, France, Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, India, and Ireland. There were also an assortment of ISPs and other web sites from the US Eductional, Non-Profit Organizations and the US Military!
Of the stop-bys this month, there were 310 unique web sites, 1775 total pages read (YOWZA!!) and almost 6,000 total hits!!! Y'know, I've said it before but it does bear repeating: Thank YOU!!!! Your patronage is appreciated and I've really enjoyed the correspondence and communication from around the world!!
A Bit of Clarification (And Appreciation!)
Have you heard/read me say something about Brian doing the housekeeping or being shocked that I would do the housekeeping? I'll bet you thought you'd read it wrong or, certainly, misunderstood what I had written or maybe, I'd just written it oddly. Well, fortunately for me, no, I've not written incorrectly and you've not read it incorrectly.
The story goes like this: When Brian and I moved in together, I had a woman coming in every other week and cleaning the apartment-- Yes, I had a cleaning woman for a two-bedroom, 1-bath apartment! I am not a housekeeper-- I am lousy at it and always have been! Besides, there are other things that I would rather spend my time doing than CLEAN!! Soon after we moved in together, I had a business trip or two scheduled and, during the second trip, Brian was in the apartment essentially alone for the two weeks between cleanings (I had breezed in for three days and then left again) so the apartment didn't really have a chance to get dirty. I was in Brazil and called Brian to see how things were going and just generally chat. The conversation started hesitantly, "Marcia", he began, "Why do you have Jane come to clean?" "Because I don't like to," I said confidently. "But she does such a lousy job", Brian exclaimed, "I could do better!" "Yeah," I said, "But I can't so I'd rather have someone else do it." Brian repeated himself: "You don't get it-- I could do better. Please tell her not to come back!" I still laughed him off and told him we would talk when I got back.
When I got back from the Brazil/Mexico trip, he was still talking the same talk. So, after a long conversation about how bad I was at housekeeping and that if he really didn't do it we would need to have Jane or someone come back to do it, I called Jane and told her that her services weren't needed, at least until he caved and gave up. That was two years ago next month and he still hasn't caved . . . AND he still does an excellent job of cleaning-- WAY better than Jane ever did (she doesn't read this site, that I'm aware of anyway . . . ). Every time that you hear me say that I'm going off to get my nails and pedicure, Brian is staying home and doing the cleaning (because its easier when I'm out from under foot!).
Yes, I know I'm a very lucky woman . . . lucky in many ways and in very special ways. Thanks, honey, for being so tolerant of my short-comings and capable of taking over where I'm just not!
Webmaster!
My sister sent her comments and suggestions after viewing The Spoelhofs in Brazil website. There are some new pages and a correction-- of major proportion-- Sue's age has been put back to her REAL age as opposed to my typographically-erred age! Whoa!! That was close!! Bill probably liked it, as well as our older siblings-- it finally got her older than the rest of them!!
I'm really having a lot of fun doing this stuff-- I actually didn't expect it to be as easily put together as it appears to be. That's something that had always come easily to me-- even when I was doing the real programming by means of HTML, its never been difficult. Maybe I should look at a career change, eh?
Evening has come . . .
Well, actually, try night time! I've done
my website (now), Sue's website and made dinner-- Brian's doing some technical
edits for the sorely missed Tom Syroid but assures me that he'll be done
fairly soon. And on that note, again, let me wish you a wonderful
evening and an invitation to join me again next month for more of the same!
Weekend? What Weekend?
I am tired . . . I don't feel like I got anything accomplished these last two days but somehow, I did, just the same. Maybe that's why I said that it would completely stall out on me-- it was a premonition. I worked on an agreement that needed to get to the customer before their open of business in New York.
We had a nice visit with Nathan and Pat last night and it is good to know that I haven't forgotten how to cook food for the Italian army . . . we have plenty of left-overs to share with Brian's boss and a few other people.
Earlier today, I went to the jewelery store to pick up my ring that was being re-sized and, their computers wouldn't come up so, oddly, I had to pay by cash-- that's twice this weekend when actual US Dollars came in handy-- I don't generally carry cash but Brian keeps insisting that I do so, as it turns out, there have been two occasions when it came in handy.
Search Engines
I've been trying to find search engines to sign up to (if that's the proper terminology) but had a little problem with Netscape's "Add URL" system. First it wouldn't let me in and now it won't let me get past a certain step. I'll figure it out eventually . . . in the interim, I learned about Meta Tags and have had fun trying to figure out the most efficient use and see if they help any. I'll have to keep you posted on that one.
**********
As I said, I'm tired so maybe I'll post more later but, since I've gotten the agreement off to New York, I'm going to try to doze again . . . I'll let you know later if I succeeded.
**********
Later still . . .
I didn't doze and, in fact, got kinda excited toward the end of the Super Bowl. That surprised me since I have no interest in either team but it was fun, nonetheless. Somewhere around 6:30 or so, I had Brian build a fire in the fireplace-- our first this season. It smells like smoke in the apartment now but it is a cool smell to have inside for a change.
I'll sign off for the night and catch you more
tomorrow evening.
All Content Copyright © 2000 Marcia
L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.