too cute, memoriable memorial weekend, organic roundtable, bb

TOO CUTE
this is too cute not to post

MEMORIABLE MEMORIAL WEEKEND
had a memoriable memorial weekend
on satuday spent the day with two brothers (both ex military)
one always gives an update on a memorial day email he sends
reminding us all to remember those who made the ultimate
sacrifice for our country and to remember those relatives of
ours who made that sacrifice and to remember those who
have served or or serving in the military

he also has some dictums that he reviews and ill post them
in a later blog

the other brother needed some rainwater harvesting advice for
his home
was glad to offer my advice as long as it doesnt involved a shovel
he is attempting to harvest rainwater off his house to obtain enough
water to irrigate his reduced lawn, his other landscaping, and also
to irrigate his garden which he has landscaped into his backyard
so it is very pleasing to the eye but is quite productive

he is doing this under the confines of an hoa and its rules
he will catch water off his roof and route it to to tanks in
each corner of his yard
the tanks have to be lower than his 6 foot fence and the end
result has to be pleasing to the eye (his wifes eye)
the lines will be buried and will be 2-4 inches in diameter
he may be able to catch 2-3000 gallons in these tanks and
other small tanks he has

remember the less city water he uses the less his water bill and
sewage bill will be

i think we/he have a plan now to follow
just have to beat the hoa and his wifes eye

he also just put in a solar system that should go online today
will blog this later

we also went to a roundtable discussion of organic gardening by
some of the gods of organic gardening in texas
see below

on sunday spent the day with friends that are moving out of state
we enjoyed the visit
we also gave them a tour of our recycled house, our rainwater
system, our solar system, our chickens and their condo, our
organic garden, and our xeroscaped landscape
over the years we have given a lot of these tours and hope we have
influenced some of them to try some of these things
the friends will be missed

on monday i actually for the first day since i quit working 6
months ago did nothing outside or productive
i took a slug day
i took three naps of 1 hour, watched shows on the history channel
on the civil war and the viet nam war, watched a movie with
my wife she, read the paper and at the end of the day bbqed
hamburgers and cooked sweet potato chips for supper/dinnner

a memorable memoriable memorial weekend

ORGANIC ROUNDTABLE
my brother and i went to an organic roundtable discussion on saturday

there on the discussion panel was
malcom beck the god of organic gardening in texas,

john drumgoole the 2nd god of organic gardening in texas
the owner of my nursery the natural gardener and owner of
the lady bug organic products and host of a local austin radio show
on organic gardening

judy barrett a gardening writer-she wrote and
published the homegrown magazine that could be found at many
nurseries in this area,

bruce deuley an author and host of tv and radio shows on organic
gardening,

stuart franke the president of medina agriculture products,

noel garcia of the texas plant and soil lab and

bob webster who owns an organic nursery and hosts a local radio
show on organic gardening


boy 2 hours of discussion wasnt enough
bottom line compost is the answer to good gardening
it provides benefical bacteria and fungi, nitrogen, minerals etc
pesticides and insecticides are really bad to use in the garden
and in the yard
more and more people are becoming involved in organic
gardening every year

one panel person produced 150 lbs of organic squash on
a 15 ft row
it cost him 20 cents a lb to grow but retail organic squash is
$3-5 a lb
you do the math

great panel

BB
finally the finals
heat vs mavs
south beach bs south fork
should be a good series
wish both teams could win

the organicgreen doctor

memorial day, drowning

MEMORIAL DAY
today is memorial day
initially it was started to recognize the fallen soldiers in the civil
war on both the union and confederate sides that were
buried at the arlington national cemetery

now its used to celebrate those soldiers that have died in all wars

many people today wont think of the soldiers as they picnic and
go to the memorial day sales or start a 3 day trip or start the
summer vacation

take a moment
remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and
remember those past and  present who have served in the
military

in my family
my brotherinlaws brother died flying missions for the air force
his other brother flew over 50 missions over europe during ww2
pilots could go home after 25 missions
the life expectancey was 18 missions
hes is still alive at 90

his cousin was killed flying missions over europe in ww2
his sister served in the airforce

my uncle was wounded fighting in the pacific during ww2
my dads first cousin was killed on iwo jima in ww2

those serving or served in the military are 3 brothers who
served in the air force and army and now are retired

a nephew who served in the navy on subs
a great nephew now serving in the marines and another who
has enlisted

thinking of those who made the ultimate sacrifice
those who served in the military, and those who are
serving now

makes those vacations and bbqs and sale seem not as important

thanks


DROWNING
this is an article on drowning that was posted by a facebook
friend
today as many people are celebrating memorial day on lakes,
beaches and swimming pools and as people start the summer
reviewing this article may save a life from drowning

go to drowning doesnt look like drowning

thanks to sn for the article

the organicgreen doctor

drought, rain, bb

DROUGHT
this area is in one of the worst droughts since the early 1900s
according to the texas gardeners newsletter one of the writers
went  fishing and the lake was so dry they had to throw the fish
back because they were covered with ticks
(thats a joke)

the high heat and dryness coupled with the high winds we are
having will dry out your plants fast
most vegetables and flowers need about 1 inch of water a week
the best time to water is in the am
some type of drip irrigation is the best way to deliver the water to
the plants roots
dont water with sprinklers in the heat of the day

keep the veggies and flowers mulched well this time of year
to conserve water loss

trees need to be watered at the drip line
newly planted trees need to be watered more often

info from texas gardener newsletter

RAIN
well we got some relief last night from the drought here
we got two inches of rain
as usual for here we got it fast and furious
it comes down so fast it overwhelms our downspouts
ability to capture all the rain

collect rainwater and you know how much a rainwaterer
hates to see rainwater losses to a overflowing system

we got 2 inches of rain so it helps a lot for this area
we just need more to get closer to being caught up
we captured enough water to add 1-2 months to our
rainwater supply
whew was getting low on rainwater
the life of living with rainwater collection as your water source
in the middle of a drought

side effect of the rain storm was it knocked out our electricity
and our computer
our computer came on but slowly and said it was monday
may 17 2004
its working but slowly this am
hopefully this blog will come through ok today

BB
well the heat won the series over the celtics
that demon is released for them now
now for probably the bulls and the mvp

the thunder won against the grizzlies
one more please so this playoff can move on

the organicgreen doctor