Saturday, February 6th, 2010
So today was the day we went to the New England Jiu Jitsu tournament run by NAGA (North American Grappling Association). It definitely had the potential to be a very long day. The guys who were competing had to weigh in at 8AM. They could do that or could have weighed in last night. One of our guys stayed at a hotel last night and took advantage of option two. Our other guy woke up wicked early this morning and took care of business then. That was a little early for us and since we really didn’t have to be there for that, my lady and I arrived a bit after 11.
On a side note, my lady is apparently now an avid Jiu Jitsu fan. She has suggested that I compete. I suggested that I don’t. I recollect the days of me trying to climb the tennis ladder and I would prefer to keep any competition related obsessions at bay. As I explained this evening, once I know I am going to go up against someone in a competitive environment, I lose all track of life. I would rather stay focused on work and keep this sort of thing on a more casual level. Although, I will say that as I watched all the other matches this afternoon, I had an insane urge to jump in there and roll around. So with that, I will not completely rule out getting into something like this in the future. I’m the “morning of” kind of guy.
Awesome day – When we got there, the place was packed. I mean packed. I was a little surprised because this was my first tournament. People kept saying that once the kids left, the place would clear out. It didn’t. Actually, I think more people showed up.
We watched our guy Chris compete once with no gi and once with gi. We were also there for our guy Pete to compete no gi. They both did great. I was proud that they got out there and did this. You should have seen us with the camera and video camera on the sidelines watching. There was so much adrenaline running through my body, I was shaking. I’m not sure who was more nervous, them or me.
Here are a few pics from the event. They are basically just crowd shots, but they are pretty good. Tomorrow, I am going to upload some real photos and some video.
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2010 New England Grappling Championship – Twin River Casino – #1
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2010 New England Grappling Championship – Twin River Casino – #2
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2010 New England Grappling Championship – Twin River Casino – #3
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Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
I told you I was going to take some pictures of the leaf mulch and compost. You should have never doubted me.
My little plan of mulching the leaves into the grass instead of raking them up is working out very well. You would be amazed at how much you can condense a big pile of leaves. If you mow over them a few times, it’s like they aren’t even there. Also, the new John Deere X300 Mulching Kit works great. It saves a lot of time and makes me happy to think that all these leaves are going to break down into the beautiful leaf compost that I am about to show you.
Let me post the pictures. We can talk about it later.
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Area in the woods where I dumped last Autumn’s chopped up leaves after I bagged them
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Wheelbarrow and screen used to sift leaf compost
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Wheelbarrow with nice leaf compost
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Holding some perfect leaf compost in my hand
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Worm in compost
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This year’s leaf mulch still on lawn
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Leaf mulch mixed in with blades of grass
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Pennington Smart Seed used to overseed lawn
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Spot seeding using Pennington Smart Seed and leaf compost
First off, I am going to tell you that this is what Autumn is all about…getting out there and playing with nature. There’s nothing like it. Sometimes you just have to take a break and smell the air.
I wanted to mention this before I forget. I am now using Pennington Smart Seed for my overseeding and spot seeding because there is a little something strange going on in the bags of Scotts grass seed. If you look at the “Inert Matter” percentage in the back of the bag, you’ll notice that it’s only a few % in the Pennington Smart Seed bag. If you look at the Scotts grass seed with the new Water Smart technology, you’ll see that the inert matter is up towards 50%. That means that there is around 50% actual grass seed and 50% other stuff that isn’t grass seed. Now, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, especially if you are trying to grow grass during a warmer season or a warmer climate and can’t water new seed all the easily, but for me, I would prefer buying the most grass seed as I can. Enough about that.
So did you see this pics? Pretty nice, huh? It’s hard to believe that it only took one season to break down those leaves into that compost. I am guessing that dumping the leaf mulch into the woods helped. The worms were sitting there waiting for it. The worms are the ones that did all the work. Notice how I said “leaf mulch.” Yeah, I think the chopped up leaves break down a heck of a lot faster than leaves that are just raked up. Those types of leaves tend to mat down and get wet. They turn into compost much slower.
I got about four wheelbarrow loads of compost out of the woods the day I took these photos. I screened it and used it to cover up and seed some areas of the lawn there weren’t doing too swell. I know it’s late in the season for planting grass, but I figured that much of the other grass I planted in early September is just starting to germinate, so this round should be fine. Also, in the grass seed that I bought, there is a high percentage of Perennial Ryegrass, which germinates very quickly (like four days). The other other types of seed in the blend will take a bit longer, but I have faith that it’ll be just fine.
If I had some advice to give (which I do) someone who lives in a cooler climate like I do and who wants to do some overseeding, I would say to do it October 1 instead of September 1 like everyone suggests. Unless of course you have an irrigation system on your property. I say this because September is still quite warm and it is very difficult to get grass to germinate on dry soil. Hey, if you can figure out a way to get out there with the hose twice a day and water your entire property, then go for it. As for me, I’ll wait for the cooler weather and let mother nature take her course. As I said above, the new grass really started coming up around October 1. I am attributing that to cooler weather and more rain.
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Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Since it was fairly cool outside today, I am in the mood to write. Yes, outside temperature has an impact on indoor activities. If it’s too hot out, I tend to get lazy. If it’s chilly out, I get to work. Today was in the lower 70s and that’s just fine for me. Now this evening (right now) is in the 50s and that’s even better for me. I think I might have to order that big hoody I have been wanting a little early.
Anyway, I decided to run up to Lowe’s this afternoon after my companion and I finished discussing how much better Lowe’s nursery is than Home Depot’s. Actually, I have seen some good Home Depot nurseries out there, but Lowe’s does seem to have that area down.
I wanted to pick up a few things. I needed to get some fruit trees, some evergreens, a *** and a ***. I will leave those last two as a surprise for my next post.
Okay, so I got to Lowe’s. I quickly browsed their garden area and found that they didn’t have any small White Pines or Norway Spruces. What else is new…nobody ever seems to have any of them. I mean, sure, whenever they get them in stock, they sell out immediately. Hmmm…gee. Weird that they don’t order more to satisfy the hungry evergreen crowd. No, that would make too much sense. Just keep filling the aisles up with those medium sized evergreens that never seem to leave. Yeah, everyone wants those. Okay, sarcasm over.
I went shopping inside to get the other items I went there for and then I returned to the garden area. I looked through the fruit tree area and picked out two apple trees that I believed my better half would like. I was given a slight nudge from my partner before I left. She wanted something what would grow some fruit on it and no more of those crabapples that I love so much. Hey, if it’s good enough for my mate, it’s good enough for me (okay, I’m out of funny names for her).
The two fruit trees I decided on were a Red Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree and a Yellow Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree. I don’t think either of these types of apples are on our most favorite lists, but they were the only ones there and I needed something to plant in the front yard. Also, I have eaten Yellow Delicious apples and I don’t hate them. Red Delicious I can do without.
I got back and grabbed the shovel. I also grabbed the wheelbarrow and dug up some compost from my little compost area. That stuff is coming along very nicely and is chock full of worms. You just have to see it. I supposed I should have taken some pictures of it, right? Maybe next time. Sorry about that.
I brought the compost and trees up to the front yard and got to work. It took a few minutes to dig the holes because they were larger than I normally dig them. I thought it would be neat to follow the directions on the back of the tag for once. You know, “Dig the hole twice the size…blah blah blah.” Yeah, I did that and used the majority of the compost I dug up from the pile. We’ll see what happens. Usually, if I follow the directions on a plant, it ends up dying. Although, I did read somewhere that if you plant a tree correctly (instead of just shoving it in a shallow hole like I usually do), it will grow twice as fast as it would if you plant it incorrectly. I guess it has something to do with the roots being able to get out there in the dirt.
So, here are the photos of the two trees I planted today.
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Red Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree tag from Lowe’s
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Yellow Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree tag from Lowe’s
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Red Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree
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Yellow Delicious Semi-Dwarf Apple Tree
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
I have a few more photos of flowers for you. I have three identified, but am having some difficulty with the fourth.
I just found a website that helped me identify the Mountain Bluet. I already knew what the Bailey’s Gold was, along with the Rose. The last one is a little troubling. I have actually never seen this flower before. I am going to write a description of it below the photo in hopes that someone with know what it is and leave a comment.
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Mountain Bluet, Centaurea montana
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Bailey’s Gold, Sedum floriferum, Weihenstephaner Gold – Photo 1
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Bailey’s Gold, Sedum floriferum, Weihenstephaner Gold – Photo 2
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Red Knockout Rose
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Dianthus barbatus – Pink flower with white specks and spiky green leaves
As you can tell, it’s that last one I am having trouble with. I wrote down that it has pink flowers with white specks and spiky green leaves. It’s a pretty cool flower. I just wish I knew what it was.
UPDATE – I have learned that the last flower is a Dianthus barbatus. Thank you.
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Saturday, February 7th, 2009
I’m not sure if I am using the correct terminology here. I am not talking about some sortable photo gallery plug-in with tons of features. What I am talking about it the “Gallery” feature that comes with the Wordpress package that allows you to place thumbnails into your post.
I just found this today. I know, I am probably the last person on earth to realize this was even available. I was going through an old post about Luray, VA. My brother took a bunch of photos a while back that I posted here. Basically, I wanted people to see what the area looked like. I noticed that I didn’t put any captions in the photos, so I clicked the “Add an image” button, just to see if those photos were stored somehow. They were and there were a few tabs that I hadn’t noticed before in the pop-up window. One of them said, “Gallery.” Mind you, this tab only appears if there are photos already uploaded.
I clicked the link and saw all the photos. Each photo had a link next to it that showed its properties. I still had the option of adding captions and all that. At the bottom of the list of photos, I noticed some neat little options that let you post all of the uploaded photos for that post as a gallery. How sweet. I chose the number of columns I wanted to see in my post, the order of the photos, how I wanted each photo to show when it was clicked and hit “Insert gallery.”
Take a look below for an example gallery. I found some random pet photos to post. Be sure to click each photo for a larger view.
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Simon sleeping on top of Jambalaya
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Simon lounging around
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Mickels on the grass
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Simon getting all nestled in
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Mr. Quack stopping by to say hello
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Flipperhumanbodyman laying on bed
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Simon licking Michaels ear
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Holly looking through door waiting to come inside
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Michael sleeping on the floor
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Holly and Simon sleeping on the floor
What is the benefit of putting your photos in gallery form? Well, for one, your page will load a heck of a lot faster. Also, you will give your readers more of a choice. They can click what they want and ignore the rest. You know, I am all about reader satisfaction.
(Well, this isn’t the greatest example. I had to adjust the “medium” picture size to fit the screen better. Now, you have to options. You can click the thumbnail, which will bring you to a medium sized photo. Then, you can click that photo for a full sized photo. In this post, the medium sized photos are too small. They will be correct in later posts.)
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Sunday, January 18th, 2009
I hope you forgive me for typing this post with dirty hands. I just got finished cleaning out the St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove.
Actually, I gave it more than a regular cleaning, I gave it more like one of those seasonal cleanings that everyone says you should do, but no one does. I even took some pictures.
The reason for this post is really to follow up from a comment left by “Linda” over at my original pellet stove post.
Apparently, many fine pellet stove owners out there are having issues with their #2 light blinking. I received tons of great comments on my other post regarding this. We have all been looking for the answer. Linda offered a lot of insight, so I decided to give her ideas a try. I think the main point of her comment was to say that cleaning out behind the “ash clean out covers” is very important. I thought I had been doing that, but she mentioned that what I was doing, wasn’t enough.
Okay, so let’s get going. I am going to show you some pretty interesting photos in this post…photos that are hard to find. Sure, there are tons of good pellet stove shots out there, but usually when people start cleaning out their stoves, they forget all about the camera. Not me, my friends. Not me.
I first went downstairs and shut the stove down. When it cooled itself and shut all the way down, I unplugged it. That’s very important, so make sure you do it. After that, I gave it a quick once over to make sure there were no large piles of ash anywhere. I didn’t give it a good cleaning, because I just did that yesterday. It didn’t need to be done again. I did push some ash into the ash pan and empty it though.
What I want to show you here are those ash clean outs that the owner’s manual talks about so much. I just realized this morning that there are about 4 warnings to keep these things clean. I guess it’s pretty critical. I have been doing this every time I clean the stove, so I really didn’t think I needed to do it again. Linda mentioned that we should be cleaning these out with a bottle brush or something like that to really clean them well. Good thing I had bought one of the bottle brushes from Lowe’s a while back. It’s really made for a fireplace or stove, but I was using it to clean bottles for my home brew.
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Left pellet stove clean out cover – closed
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Left pellet stove clean out – open
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Cleaning the pellet stove clean out with a bottle brush – straight up
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Pushing bottle brush into pellet stove clean out – towards center
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Right pellet stove clean out with ash showing
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St. Croix Prescott EXL exhaust fan
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Fan blades of a pellet stove exhaust fan
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St. Croix Prescott pellet stove exhaust vent
Notice how there really isn’t too much ash in there? I’m talking about inside the hole. I just vacuumed this out yesterday, but I can imagine what it would look like if someone never cleaned these out. Probably like a packed wall of ash.
I didn’t take pictures of the right side, because it is identical to the left side.
By pushing the brush straight up, I didn’t get all that much ash to come out. There really wasn’t all that much up there. By pushing it sideways, I got a little bit more. I’ll show you in the next photo.
To get the pile of ash in the photo above, I basically pushed the bottle brush straight through, from the left side to the right side. I actually saw the brush coming through the right side.
I figured that was done, since I saw all that ash coming out. I decided to move on to clean out the exhaust fan. This is one of those things the book tells you to call the dealer for. It took me about 15 minutes to do the whole job, so it’s up to you.
To remove the fan, I took off the 6 nuts that surround the motor. I believe I used a 9mm 6-point tall socket. I also removed the vacuum hose and took off the vacuum switch wires as well as the fan wires. After everything was removed, the motor and fan popped right out.
With the fan in hand, it was easy to clean the blades (if you call them that). You can use an old paint brush or a rag or something like that. Just get the ash off the blades. The owner’s manual says this fan does not require oiling.
I also decided to take a photo of the rear part of the exhaust vent. This is one of those things we always wonder about, but unless you have taken a pellet stove apart, you will most likely will never see.
As you can see, there wasn’t really too much ash buildup on either the fan or the exhaust vent. I brushed them off and put everything back together. I lit the stove up and watched it burn for a while. I haven’t yet put the wires back on the vacuum switch. I still have them jumped. I’m not sure I have the heart to go through that again, since the stove has been running so wonderfully the way I have it now.
Questions, comments, concerns?
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Remember my post a few days ago about how bright the moon was? I knew I wasn’t sniffing something, it actually is bright. It just so happens to be one of those full moons.
I didn’t get a chance to take a photo for the last post, but I did get one tonight. It’s not of the ground like I would have liked, but it is of the moon.
Full moon
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Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
On my way back to the crib this morning, I couldn’t help but to stop the car in the middle of the road to take a few photos. You should have seen me…I kept reaching my hand over to my bag to grab the camera. Then, I would lose motivation and pull my hand back, then I would do it all over again. I did this about three times before I just grabbed the camera and started shooting away.
There really is something to be said about clear weather during winter. It just seems more…clear. I like it.
Looking down the road during winter
Looking at the winter sun
Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised if National Geographic called me to get permission to use these shots on their next magazine cover. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit.
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Friday, December 19th, 2008
I guess I couldn’t leave it alone. I had to go back outside with the camera. It didn’t help that I just got an email from my mother asking me to take some photos of the pretty snow.
Here they are…
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