Tonight we went though the Burger King drive through. We almost never eat out, but today was "Drive-Thru Day" so we figured we would celebrate. Two of the girls ordered bacon double-cheeseburgers and onion rings. We went on our way, dropping one of the girls off to spend the night at Grandma's house, and back into town to pick up some more appropriate grown-up food for Tony and I. As we pulled up to the second drive-through, #3 starts wailing that her hamburger has no bacon. Sure enough, no bacon and the wrapper doesn't have bacon marked. So we looked at the receipt. Yup, we paid for two bacon double cheeseburgers. A call to #1 to ask if her burger had bacon had her whining too - no bacon on hers either, but she'd just sat down to eat so didn't know until we asked her to look. I was so distracted with bacon catastrophe that I forgot to order my food without spicy sauce. Now we are home and Tony tried to call Burger King to let them know that we are displeased with their service, but their phone rings and goes to voice-mail. Having worked fast food, I understand being busy with dinner rush, but it's 8:30 at night. No reason someone there couldn't pick up the phone. So Tony had to file a complaint on their website. We'll see what happens.
Welcome summer! The kids have officially graduated from school for the year. We celebrated #4's graduation from preschool on Wednesday, and #1, #2, and #3's graduation from 6th, 5th, and 3rd grade on Thursday. The older two will be schooled from home next year, so their graduation was especially meaningful. They had friends over last night, and another friend over tonight. Yay for sleepovers!
My gardening plans have been put on hiatus as my basement has been flooding every time it rains. I'm hoping to get everything out of the basement, gone through, cleaned, thrown away or re-sorted into plastic totes this weekend so I can continue with my garden plans next week. I'm hoping to borrow a tiller and get the garden tilled and planted by the end of next week. I'm down to the last two guinea pigs, so I've updated the Guinea Pigs page to include a "package deal" with their cage and all of their belongings for $200. Little Azkadellia is flourishing. She walks (still not completely balanced) through the house and will follow me from room to room. Henry and Mabel introduced her to the grow light today. Henry decided it was a good place to sunbathe once the tomatoes and peppers went outside. Today I caught the whole family napping under the light, it was pretty cute. The kids and I have discovered the fun of making rubber band bracelets (and necklaces, and anklets, and rings). I hope to have photos and order information listed soon so they can sell their creations. I'm officially gung-ho about the upcoming garage sale. It's going to be Saturday from 9am until 5pm and Sunday from 10am until 3pm. It'll be nice to purge and get rid of a bunch of stuff. I could use more shelving units, and I'm just itching to buy that Litter Kwitter system and get rid of the litter box! The weather is supposed to be very warm, so I plan to bring the guinea pigs out into the yard (in plastic bins with shade of course) to see if we can't get them into new homes.
Azkadellia is doing wonderful so far. Her eyes are open, I believe her ears are too. We finally got tired of Mabel bringing her into the hallway and leaving her to cry, so we opened #2's bedroom door, and Mabel, Henry, and Azkadellia have made themselves at home on his bed. I'm concerned he may roll over and smush little Az, but so far so good (knock on wood). The various companies came last week to mark the yard where the wires and such were buried underground, so now it's just a matter of finding a tiller and getting the garden dug up. From the 10-day forecast on the Weather Channel, last night should be the last time we dip below 40 at night, so I plan to have all of the tomatoes and peppers outside today. The cucumbers will have to keep going out and coming back in when the temperature goes below 60, but I'm hoping that's not too terribly much longer. So excited to get some stuff planted and growing! In our adventures with cloth diapering, we found that the Baby City brand has very short front flaps, and only one row of snaps for size adjustment, which makes the front flaps slip downward through the leg holes, causing leaks. I ordered two more new diapers with a double row of snaps to replace the two tan diapers we don't much care for. They arrived this week as well and are in the diaper pile to be washed and put into circulation. And in schooling news - we finally got the paperwork signed and notarized, so we can send all of our proofs in to get #1 and #2 officially registered with the online school! I will try to get photos of Azkadellia and #2's aquaponic tank to add to the blog soon. If I forget, please forgive me. I'm crazy busy with this short notice garage sale! And to anyone considering coming to the garage sale, there's going to be tons of stuff! We're selling photo frames, clothes, a couple motocross helmets (not ours), shoes, some of our pet supplies (reptile, rodent, rabbit, and fish), the basketball back board and hoop, books, old glass bottles and jars, jewelry, toys, antiques, vintage stuff, an antique hanging light, a couple old cameras, I could make the list go on and on! Hopefully I can get it all labeled with price stickers and out in the front lawn before people start showing up tomorrow! The last little kitten is well loved if nothing else. Both parents dote on him (not sure of gender) constantly. The kitten seems to be doing alright, and remains warm and fairly plump (is nursing). I'm still praying hard and crossing my fingers hoping this little one makes it. Here is another family photo. Yesterday we held a little funeral for the three lost kittens. It was "Iris Day" and #1 suggested that we buy iris flowers to plant over each kitten as a memorial. Unfortunately, the plants were pretty expensive ($8 each) at the store, so we bought one and I cut it into three. I hope it survives, at least with all of the rain it stands a better chance. We chose "Rare Treat" which is supposed to bloom white flowers with striped purple/blue edges. We gave the kittens honorary names to remember them by. The little hairless white one that was stillborn is Arthur (back marker), the hairless blue and white one is Alvin (middle marker), and the white rex coated one is Arya (front marker).
Happy Cinco de Mayo! It's also Oyster Day and Cartoonists Day. I've discovered this website that tells you all the little-known holidays every day, and we've decided to start celebrating them. It's a fun way to interact as a family, and it doesn't have to cost any money. Today I had hoped to find oysters and see how expensive they are, but couldn't track any down. So instead we had nachos - a Mexican-style food, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo instead. The girls have a white board on their door (a gift that #1 got for Christmas), and every night before I go to bed I will be writing what the next day will be so they can celebrate, share with their friends, or just get a smile for the day. Tomorrow is No Homework Day, No Diet Day, Buddha Day, and National Asthma Day. I'm guessing we'll be celebrating the first of those...
Mabel has taken a great liking to her kitten box, and for the last couple days has only left a handful of times, usually to go potty or try to sneak into one of the bedrooms. Today she's refused her food, which is a good sign that we should have kittens in the next 24-48 hours. She and Henry are happily curled up together in the box now, fast asleep. I gave #5 his very first real food (other than sogging up an animal cracker or sucking on an apple slice). I gave him a taste of apple sauce. He made faces, and ate it and seemed happy about it, but soon after he puked it all back up. I think we'll be sticking with exclusively breastfeeding for now. There's plenty of time to introduce solids later. This has been an interesting week. Grandma (my mom) was gone on a business trip most of the week. She got back on Sunday evening, so the kids got a late bed time so we could run over there and welcome her home.
Monday morning #1 got her braces. She picked blue and black for her colors. She goes back and forth between really liking them and being excited about having them, and being shy, not wanting to show them to anyone, and complaining about having them. The list of foods she can no longer eat seems to frustrate her too ... no chewy candy, no gum, and for the first week - nothing crunchy. Tuesday we doggy-sat for Grandma and Grandpa when they took an overnight trip down to the cities to see the Blue Man Group. Wednesday was our turn. Grandma and Grandpa took all five kids, and Tony and I trekked down to the Ordway (Performing Arts Theater) in the cities (3 hours down, 3 hours back) to see the Blue Man Group. I had wanted to see the Blue Man Group 12 years ago while we were in Vegas for our honeymoon, but tickets were either sold out or crazy expensive, so we didn't get to see them. This was my mom's gift for our anniversary this year. It was also the first time I've been away from #5 for more than an hour or two. We stopped at Red Lobster in Maple Grove for dinner. The guy that sat behind us was the most disagreeable person I think I've ever had the displeasure of eating near. He was seated just before us and as soon as his waitress introduced herself, he complained about where he'd been seated. She offered to find him another spot, but he refused. He then complained about everything the waitress brought him... his drink, his biscuits, his appetizer, his meal, and his dessert! Somewhere between appetizer and dinner, the waitress got a manager, and the guy even complained to the manager! No matter how they tried to "make it better" the guy refused and just kept complaining! He got like three different dinners out of the deal, and was still nasty to the waitstaff. I felt terrible for the waitress, who was also our waitress... so we tipped her well ... wish I'd have had a pen and paper to tell her how sorry I was that she had to deal with the guy in the next booth! It was a welcome "vacation" as we aren't usually able to afford such frivolous spending. I've spent the last couple days doing more research on aquaponics, and realizing how close and yet how far my original design was to being completely functional. It looks like there are really two types... one is a floating system, where you use styrofoam with cup-sized holes cut in it, and float it on top of your aquarium, with the cups in the holes... the media (clay balls, lava rock, etc.) goes in the cup, the cup is partially submerged in water, and the seeds are sewn directly on top - voila! The other is a system where you use a pump to push water from the tank up (via tubing) into a container of some sort (filled with the same medium - clay or lava rock, etc.), which has holes in the bottom that drain back into the fish tank below. This keeps the rocks moist, but not submerged. Certain plants to better in either system. For example, lettuce does fantastic in the first (styrofoam and cups) system, but tomatoes do better in the second (pumped water) system. Since I want to try everything - I want to try both systems, or at least some variety of each system - made as cheaply at home as possible. Today I bought lava rocks from Home Depot ($3.95 after tax). I checked prices for aquarium, pond, and fountain pumps, but at $25-$30 for a pump and tubing, it's not looking promising. The aquaponic tank in #2's bedroom with Kernel Mustard is a pump filter, but instead of soaking the rocks, it barely covers the bottom part of the cups stored in the top of the tank. For now, I'm going to have to be happy with that system as my attempt for a pump set up. Tomorrow I plan to drill some holes in a couple containers and see if I can get them to "float" in the fish tank - without styrofoam. I'm finding that most of the stores (from online searches only) seem to only have 3/4 inch styrofoam sheeting, commonly used for insulation. The guides I found usually call for 2-inch thick styrofoam. I'm going to try to modify it to work without it. If I can make my containers fit over the edges of the aquarium, the edges should hold it up... assuming the weight of the lava rock doesn't cause the edges of the containers to bend. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I'm hopeful. I had a couple "floating" containers (plastic containers that are connected to the edge of the tank so they won't sink) in the tank from before, but both of the plants died... well, technically one died and the cats got the other one. Anyway, I put some lava stones in each. I took one of the red pepper plants (two plants that were seeded together and are now intertwined) and carefully rinsed the dirt off the roots and set it in one of the containers. The roots are underwater, the stems and leaves above... I'm hoping the plant does well and helps to filter the fish tank below. The other container I sprinkled some of the "lettuce mix" seeds (#2 got in the mail today) over the rock. With any luck, we will have a little salad growing in a couple weeks! In feline news, Miss Mabel is continuing to grow rounder and rounder. We can feel little kitten movements in her belly, and she's taken a liking to the box and blanket we've provided to her - though she'd still prefer to be in our beds when given the opportunity. I still think we should have kittens in the near future. We are constantly checking on where she is and how she's doing throughout the day. I will post here as soon as kittens arrive to make the big announcement. If I can't find a digital camera by then (not looking very promising right now), I'll try to take photos with my phone and email them to myself so I can get them on the computer and posted here. The camera on my phone isn't very good; it takes grainy barely-focused photos, but it's the best I can do until I can get a new camera. I've been working on getting a list of all of the seeds I have been able to collect so far. The Seed Bank page I was trying to reserve for those seeds I had several extras of to trade, but I felt the need to somehow compile a list of all of the seed varieties I've gathered, even those that I have no spares to trade yet. So I made my list on Dave's Garden. My list of seeds I have and seeds I want can be found here. The link is also on the Seed Bank page, and it includes not only my seeds, but the herb seeds that belong to #2 and the flower seeds that belong to #3 and #4, as well as #1's cucumber seeds. I'm amazed that in just three months I've been able to collect so many varieties to try out! I'm always open to more, so feel free to donate more! I also like to trade, so if you have something I don't already have - let me know and maybe we could trade!
The cucumbers continue to flower abundantly. The largest Roma tomato plant has three yellow flowers. I swear I saw a flower on one of the pepper plants yesterday, but I don't see it today. The two remaining pea plants have each produced a single pea that they seem to be putting all of their energy in to. Both continue to be a favorite spot for the cats to sit in the big window. Some news from the Research page; the beans are now producing. I'm including a photo below. The mango tree is finally starting to look like a tree. I gave up on the water and planted it directly into soil. Photo below - it looks like a little palm tree! Too cute! And in cat news, Mabel is getting rounder by the day, and is content to nap and groom most of the time. Tony thinks she may have kittens this weekend. I say she should have them within a week (between tomorrow and May 3). I'm still guessing four kittens, but we'll have to wait and see. I updated baby guinea pig photos today as well, but unfortunately my camera died as I was trying to get photos of the adult guinea pigs. I think the camera is beyond repair, though I'm not sure what happened. Tony will take a look at it later today, but I may be out of commission on photos until I can make enough money to buy myself a new camera. I felt the need to share some photos. The rhubarb looks alright. I think both of the damaged stalks are going to die off, but I see new growth on the leaves already, so I'm hoping for the best. This is one of the plants coming from GRIN, so it will be posted on the Research page once I have some sit down time to get a page set up for it. The peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes look wonderful. The peppers are getting so big, I'm wondering if I'll see blooms on them soon. The cucumbers are flowering like crazy and tiny cucumbers are now turning into easy t- spot cucumbers. The tomatos continue to surprise me in how well they're growing. Some varieties are still struggling behind the pack a bit, but some have really taken off! I'm concerned they may start fruiting before I can transplant them outside. I'm not sure if that would shock them into stopping tomato production in favor of branching off more roots. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. This week I've been trying to work on getting stuff listed for sale on eBay as they have a 25,000 free listings promotion going on, but I'm finding that I really have no time at all. Between all kinds of errands, appointments, and breast feeding every two hours, there's not a lot of extra time to play on the computer right now.
Today #1 had eleven teeth pulled. Eleven!! They were all baby teeth that hadn't been pushed out by the adult teeth that came in behind them. I felt so bad for her, they gave her laughing gas and used numbing gel before the Novocaine injections, but she still felt it. And then they came back and gave her more Novocaine when they confirmed with the orthodontist that they would pull two or three additional teeth, this time without the numbing gel. My poor girl. The dentist had to get tools to pry one of the teeth out, it took several minutes. The sounds of the teeth being pulled made me sick. I understand why many parents don't go back to the room with their kids. Yikes! She's uncomfortable now, of course. I'm hoping that her mouth will be mostly healed by Monday when she goes in to get braces put on to straighten the adult teeth. I got the rhubarb planted yesterday, and somehow in kneeling down to fill a pot with dirt and water the rhubarb, I seem to have hurt my toe. It hurts to put pressure on it, but it's not black and blue and I didn't feel a pop or anything. I'm confused how I could have broken or sprained a toe gardening. Perhaps it's one of those "comes with the territory" kind of things. Very strange.
Yesterday #5 was weighed again. He's gained a full pound in just two weeks! For a baby who had a rough start, he's finally looking like he's catching up with his weight. In guinea pig news, Tripoli is back up for adoption. She was supposed to be going to a new home far away, but it seems the distance was just too much, so she is again looking for her forever home. She won't be weaned until the 29th anyway, but I will try to get to posting her photo in ads as soon as I can. Tomorrow #1 has an appointment to pull her baby teeth (that never fell out) so we can get braces put on next week. I knew braces were expensive, but wow. Over $5000 and a two year treatment plan. What an ordeal! My mom is off on a business trip to Virginia this week. The kids always miss grandma when she's not home, but I think she really enjoys traveling for work. It lets her see new places and meet new people. I assume it's pretty lonely to go places all alone, but she seems right at home with all the hustle and bustle of new places. And of course, she usually brings home some souvenirs too. This past weekend she actually changed a cloth diaper! I was impressed. She always said she'd have #5 in disposables if she was watching him, but maybe she's had a change of heart! Tony and I are planning to go to see the Blue Man Group on the 30th down at the Ordway. The kids will be staying with grandma and grandpa for the evening. This will be the very first time I'm away from #5, and I'm nervous. I've been trying to store extra breast milk for the occasion, but I'm afraid it won't be enough. When he drinks from a bottle, he drinks fast and wants more. My mom has already said she'd give him formula if she runs out - and I am adamantly against that. It's frustrating, and stress-inducing. How do you tell someone how important certain things are that may not be so important to them? The cucumbers are in full bloom - lots and lots of yellow flowers! And now we're starting to find tiny cucumbers too! Of the two remaining pea plants (that are now smushed to the dirt from the cats repeatedly sitting in the containers to look out the window) - we have one pea growing so far. So exciting! Today I got a rhubarb plant in the mail from the USDA/GRIN (research). I will be planting it in a container indoors until it's warm enough to safely plant it outside. I'm very excited for this one, as I will be buying a different variety from the local store as well so we can compare them as they grow. This one is called "Cherry Red" and the one from the store I'll be picking up is "Victoria." If either gets big enough to harvest this year, I'll post my mom's Rhubarb Coffee Cake recipe with photos of our home grown creation. The last 24 hours were busy when it comes to animals. Yesterday our last two rabbits found a new home. Today Sheep, my favorite baby guinea pig, left to her new home, and today I also got confirmation that Othello will have a home lined up once he's weaned. He will be going to live with one of #1's friends.
We're expecting kittens in the next 8-21 days. The kids are guessing how many Mabel will have. #1 is guessing 6, #2 is guessing 5, #3 is guessing 5, #4 is guessing 4, Dad is guessing 6, and I am guessing 4. Since this is her first litter, it wouldn't surprise me if she only has one or two, but we're hoping for more. We are very excited and have the vet on speed dial in case anything comes up. The kittens will be F2 sphynx. Henry (dad-to-be) is a blue and white blue-eyed sphynx. Mabel (mom-to-be) is a dilute calico, half sphynx and half Cornish rex. It's good for the genetics of sphynx to be outcrossed to other breeds to offer more genetic diversity. I've created a page for Henry and Mabel and their upcoming kittens here. It's kind of been a long and stressful week for me, so I apologize for the lack of blogging going on. Today I received the red pear tomato seeds I ordered from eBay. I'm still waiting on a number of other seeds, but I went ahead and bought some more seed trays from Fleet Farm. They were out of the 72-count tray with the soil pucks, so I got the 50-pack peat pots instead. It gives the seedlings more room anyway I think. I'm hoping to get some planting done this weekend.
Long weekend for the kids. On Wednesday, #1 and #2 took a school field trip to Deep Portage and got to spend the night up there with their friends/classmates. Then #3 got to go with her class today. It's nice to have them all home again, and they're all asking if we can go back this summer, so it must have been pretty fun! I shoveled the walkway today, hopefully for the last time for several months. Looking forward to Easter this Sunday. I think we'll be dying eggs on Saturday. It's always messy, but the kids have fun and that's really what counts. We're starting to feel a financial crunch. I've been slacking on my eBay auctions with all the stuff going on with #5 and being a sleep-deprived mom of a new baby who nurses every few hours. I really need to get back to listing stuff to make some extra money. I don't want to sound like it's all about money, but I'd like to be able to fill the gas tank, take the kids on educational trips (to the zoo or the Science Museum for example), and fix up the house. My new "Purple Ruffles" Basil seeds arrived today. They sound like fun! I'm trading with someone again, this time I'm sending some broccoli, Columbine, and corn seeds in trade for Voyage, Bosque Blue, and Black Sea Man tomato seeds, and she said when her OSU Blue (smurf) seeds come, she'd pass some along as well. How fantastic! The voyage should be very similar to the Reisentomate that I planted and they haven't come up. I've been trying to get a hold of Bosque Blue and Smurf tomato seeds since I heard about them. Well worth the cost to mail some of my extra seeds out!
I've been working on setting up a list of what seeds I have on DavesGarden, and while I have almost all of my seeds listed now (what I have anyway, though some I don't have enough to trade right now), I'd like to start working on a "Want" list of seeds that I'd be willing to trade for. It'll have to wait though - I didn't get all of my pepper transplanting done yet! My husband complained that the cucumber plants were starting to reach out and grab things around them ... so I went in with dowels to give them something to hold on to. Lo and behold I found two yellow flowers and stems full of buds! Yay! I must be doing something right with these plants if they're to that point already! Cucumbers here we come! After much thought, #2 has decided to grow five varieties of Basil in the aquaponic fish tank that Kernel Mustard lives in. He will have Purple Ruffles, Common, Large Leaf, Thai, and Genovese basil. Now we just need to get it all set up! A quick update on our cloth diapering endeavor... I don't mind washing the diapers every other day, and I don't mind that they have to hang to dry. I have noticed that sometimes #5 leaks when the pad in the diaper doesn't fit seam to seam. If there's space between the pad and the edge of the diaper, it will leak. As a result, some of the pads are virtually useless because they're too thin for the diapers. I've doubled up the cheap thin quilted pads all along, and had good results. Now I have to double up the narrow pads with a quilted pad to get by - which means all of the extra pads I bought originally are now in circulation. I was worried I'd need more diapers, but really - it's the pads I seem to be needing more of. Over-all, I'm still satisfied with the experience and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to save money in the long run, or just go more natural and avoid stuff going to the landfill. If anyone is looking to give away extra All-In-One pocket diapers, or the pads that go in them, I could definitely put them to good use - I just can't afford to go out and buy any more right now. Tomorrow, #1 will be heading to the doctor for vaccinations to catch her up for school enrollment in the fall. No fun, but she can't go to school without being vaccinated. It might seem odd, since it's an online school - but with all of the field trips they offer, they do require current shot records. And speaking of field trips, both #1 and #2 came home with permission slips to go on a school field trip with an overnight - on a school night. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm told boys and girls will be separated, and there will be teachers with them. It's 50 miles away, and the school will pay for them if they want to go and we can't afford the full cost. I'm still not sure right now, but the permission slips need to be in by Wednesday, so I will have to have a talk with Tony tomorrow about it. And speaking of over night stays, our very first overnight was a success. The girls had fun, stayed up until 2:30am watching movies and giggling, as expected. Now the other kids are asking if their friends can come spend the night. Why not? So long as they're respectful and clean up after themselves, I don't mind it too much. It is a bit of an inconvenience to have to hide in the bedroom to breast-feed #5 though. I'm never sure how other people will take seeing that. I don't mind breastfeeding in front of my kids. It's a natural part of human biology and is the purpose of having breasts. That said, I understand that not everyone feels that way about it, and out of respect for other peoples' right to raise their children in the way they see fit, I'd rather hide in the bedroom when #5 gets hungry than risk having one of the kids' friends go home and tell their horrified parents about seeing boobs. Today's mail delivery brought three new seed varieties...
Churchill Brussel Sprouts (heirloom) Connecticut Field Pumpkin (heirloom) Yellow Pear Tomato I guess the Brussels sprouts are supposed to be started several weeks in advance, much like tomatoes and peppers, so I'll be heading back to Fleet Farm to buy yet another seed starting tray. The herbs that #2 planted are starting to come up now, and the last seed tray I started (with tomatoes and herbs and odds and ends) needs to be moved under the light - which means moving the pepper tray out and transplanting them all. Sounds like I know what my weekend project is going to be! And in other news, we're about to hit a new milestone - our very first sleep-over. Our oldest (#1) has a friend over, and they're trying to get a hold of her family to see if she can spend the night. This will be the very first time we've had a sleepover at our house. How exciting! The new aquaponic tank is half set up. The tank itself is set up and Kernel Mustard is enjoying his mansion, but we have not yet set up the top portion for the plants. I'm letting #2 pick what he's going to be growing. The kit came with three packets of Wheat Grass, and one of Genovese Basil. We won't use the Wheat Grass, so it will be going in the Seed Bank as soon as I can snap a photo and get it posted there. I think the plan is to use the new basil, but I'm not sure which other herbs he will choose. He has plenty to pick from. I received another variety of seed from the GRIN (USDA), this time Black Beauty Eggplant. They will be planted outside in the spring to be compared to the store-bought eggplant that we already have. I also got an email from them asking if I was still interested in the rhubarb I had requested. Hopefully that means it comes soon. We had a rhubarb plant when we moved in, but the neighbor put up a wooden fence just feet from it and lack of sun killed it within a season. The Black Beauty Eggplant, and the rhubarb (if and when it comes) will be monitored on the Research page. Wow, this 24-hour stomach bug is awful! Shortly after my last post, I got sick too. All day yesterday (Sunday), #1 and I were down and out. She's feeling better today, but I've still got body aches and I feel physically exhausted even doing simple things (like watering the plants today). I hope I feel better tomorrow. At least everyone is keeping food down now (though #4 threw up this morning and missed school - she ate a normal lunch and has kept it down).
The tomato plants are looking nice, but I'm a little upset to see that several varieties did not come up. I'm glad I planted three of each! None of the sekai ichi seeds came up, and of the three Kosovo seeds (of only 5 that I was given), only one came up and shriveled almost immediately. Two of the Chocolate Stripes, and two Black Mountain Pink didn't come up. Of the Paul Robeson, one didn't come up and another came up sick looking. Otherwise one each of the Tigerella, Green Zebra, Red Cherry, Mister Stripey, and Rideau Sweet didn't come up. The Great White seeds were the first up and remain the tallest seedlings. Of the Roma tomatoes, most look small still, but the one that got placed directly in front of the grow light has gotten huge very quickly. I should really transplant it soon to give it more space to grow. The others remain only an inch tall. Some of the pepper plants look big enough that they could really go outside, but the weather won't be cooperating for some time yet. I've got kids sick left and right! On Thursday and Friday #3 was sick. This morning at about 5am #3 woke me to tell me that #4 had thrown up. Fortunately, she's quick to rebound and was feeling better by this afternoon. Now #1 is throwing up, and #5 has been fussy this evening, but has not projectile vomited yet. And as always, #2 somehow remains unaffected. He has some super immunity powers or something. He didn't get sick in January when we were all down and out with the flu either.
A friend gave me some marigold seeds. That's something new to try, and I'm told it keeps deer away - not that I have a real deer problem here in the city. The last time we went to the grocery store, #2 found a bell pepper with an unusual shape. Normally bell pepper have three or four "feet" on the bottom. This one came to a point instead. We bought it and today he ate it and saved the seeds. We want to plant them to see if the resulting pepper plants will grow normal peppers, or weird pointed peppers (is the deformity genetic, or aesthetic?). I also was able to work with a couple raspberries to try to get some seeds out of them. I'm not sure if raspberries can be grown from seed. Everywhere I look it seems that people use cuttings instead. It's worth a try anyway - nothing to lose if they don't work out, but we might be able to get something new if they do come out right. I planted the seeds that fell out of the eggplants as I was rinsing them on Wednesday. I think I ruined them though, as I had salted the eggplant (as called for in the recipe). We'll see. No progress with the lettuce head yet, but the onions continue to grow. |
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