21 May 2009
Hedgehog
Well, here are all the bushes planted! Can you spot the crooked one? Of course, I'd really like to trim these suckers into a nice hedge over time. It's amazing what a few blocks and bushes can do to cozy up a home.
19 May 2009
Putting Up Hedges
Together we...trimmed the hedges of many small villages! I threw down some Julia Jane Boxwood hedges tonight.
Boxwood plants are evergreens, and there are many different species all over the world. The Julia Jane Boxwood is named after a noted local (Denver) landscape architect who reportedly adapted these Korean versions to our Colorado climate. If you've ever seen a formal hedge (think a fancy garden or castle) chances are they are using a Boxwood.
As I mentioned, they stay green year-round and due to their dense foliage they make great hedges. The picture below makes them seem attractive as individual specimens in our yard, but when you step back and see the dwarf alberta spruce along the driveway (not pictured), they both have the same "look". As a whole, the landscape will look better if I form them into one hedge over the next year or two. They are slow growing plants, so it will take a awhile for them to grow and be shaped into one plant.
We're going to put these same plants along the right side of the house too, but I need to do some more prep work in that bed before I can put them in.
Boxwood plants are evergreens, and there are many different species all over the world. The Julia Jane Boxwood is named after a noted local (Denver) landscape architect who reportedly adapted these Korean versions to our Colorado climate. If you've ever seen a formal hedge (think a fancy garden or castle) chances are they are using a Boxwood.
As I mentioned, they stay green year-round and due to their dense foliage they make great hedges. The picture below makes them seem attractive as individual specimens in our yard, but when you step back and see the dwarf alberta spruce along the driveway (not pictured), they both have the same "look". As a whole, the landscape will look better if I form them into one hedge over the next year or two. They are slow growing plants, so it will take a awhile for them to grow and be shaped into one plant.
We're going to put these same plants along the right side of the house too, but I need to do some more prep work in that bed before I can put them in.
17 May 2009
Putting Up Walls
For those of you who read the title of this blog and thought I was going to make some deep, heartfelt admission about my innermost fears and insecurities, you're wrong. Think more literally...like China or Berlin.
Well, my version is on a much smaller scale. After church today I swung by Lowe's and picked up 128 four inch by twelve inch gray flagstones for our front yard. Our plan is to build an area in front of the house where we can plant some bushes and flowers. I left for Lowe's about noon, and I had finished the entire project at 6:30 p.m. It actually wasn't that hard to do, just tiring. I was able to get through it all with the help of a Wendy's value meal, l-glutamine, creatine, and my Y-coulior leftover extra large Red Bull.
The most technical part is making the bottom layer level...and if you have a level and a hand tool for the soil it really isn't that difficult. After that, the rest of the blocks go right on the top. The hardest part was at the end when I had to break the bricks into pieces with a hammer and a pick axe to fill the smaller holes. All I needed was a ball and chain and a striped suit and I would have completed the entire cartoon prisoner look.
I'll take pictures once we get the plants in. After this little project, the front yard will almost be completely landscaped save a few quick projects (like the area around the base of the maple tree and the side of the house). For now I'm just going to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I think this turned out great (if I do say so myself). I've already received compliments from the neighbors and I hope it inspires them to keep their yard looking nice too.
Well, my version is on a much smaller scale. After church today I swung by Lowe's and picked up 128 four inch by twelve inch gray flagstones for our front yard. Our plan is to build an area in front of the house where we can plant some bushes and flowers. I left for Lowe's about noon, and I had finished the entire project at 6:30 p.m. It actually wasn't that hard to do, just tiring. I was able to get through it all with the help of a Wendy's value meal, l-glutamine, creatine, and my Y-coulior leftover extra large Red Bull.
The most technical part is making the bottom layer level...and if you have a level and a hand tool for the soil it really isn't that difficult. After that, the rest of the blocks go right on the top. The hardest part was at the end when I had to break the bricks into pieces with a hammer and a pick axe to fill the smaller holes. All I needed was a ball and chain and a striped suit and I would have completed the entire cartoon prisoner look.
I'll take pictures once we get the plants in. After this little project, the front yard will almost be completely landscaped save a few quick projects (like the area around the base of the maple tree and the side of the house). For now I'm just going to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I think this turned out great (if I do say so myself). I've already received compliments from the neighbors and I hope it inspires them to keep their yard looking nice too.
16 May 2009
14 May 2009
I'm Lost
The 2-hour season finale of Lost aired last night, and as we do every Wednesday, Stacey and I watched it hoping for some answers. For those of you who aren’t up to speed on the show, don’t worry, it’s not like I’ll be giving anything away. That would imply I know what’s going on and that the show has actually produced some answers over the past 5 seasons.
We started watching the show when we were living in Hawaii – on the same island where it is filmed actually. It’s been fun to watch the show over the past few years and recognize Korea, or Los Angeles, or wherever the scene is set as really a place in Hawaii. In one recent episode Kate visited a neighborhood in “L.A.” which strongly resembled a neighborhood nearby where we took walks.
I don’t watch but 3 shows anymore: Lost, The Amazing Race, and The Office. That is it. I don’t dabble here and there with any other show on television anymore. I do consider myself a patient guy when it comes to Lost – however, the show is really starting to drag on for me. There is one season left, starting at the beginning of 2010. In typical Lost fashion though, they have continued to create more questions then answers. The few questions they have answered have been small in my opinion.
Here’s my fear about the show: the ending is going to completely suck. What I mean by “suck” is this:
1) This show has been on the air for so long and has so many details that the ending is going to be “Lost” on me. I might get it on a basic level but won’t be able to recall the previous 6 years worth of shows that would make it a good ending. Additionally, the approach they’ve used for this show really requires and points to a blockbuster ending. Sometimes, this approach completely ruins the entire series if the ending isn’t appropriate, is “whacked”, or just doesn’t live up to the expectations that have been building for years.
2) The show is going to have a happy ending for the characters but not answer any of the major questions. I’m more nervous about this happening since the producers have said things like “not every question will be answered” and implied things like “the focus in season 6 returns to the main characters” and people’s connection to the characters. Personally, I couldn’t give a toss about the characters. For example, I don’t care and will never really care if Kate ends up with Jack or Sawyer – or if they even get off the island in the end. Whichever season it was (3 and/or 4), where they spent the entire season building each character and their past, really left me bored and dissatisfied. The story on the island didn’t progress, and for me, entire episodes on a character’s background didn’t really add much to the story for me anyway. I am more concerned with the bigger questions in this series, like, why is this all so important? I.e., why should I care? What’s so special about the island? I think they will tie everything together and explain how and why each person is there. However, there better be a pretty good reason behind all of this – more then just that it’s a “special place” where weird things happen and in the end we only find out the true fate (good or bad) of the cast.
In my opinion, the ideal final season would explain the major questions about the island, its history, and its importance in time and/or the universe. Then, in the last second of the last minute of the last episode, have an ending that completely turns everything I’ve known on its head but, 1) in a way that completely obliterates my perception of what I’ve been watching 2) causes me to think about it/realize things that make it an even better ending for the next couple of days or weeks afterwards.
Is that too much to ask? Probably. I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised. At any rate, the producers and writers have put all of their eggs into one basket. The show’s reputation will sink or swim based solely on the final season in my opinion, mainly because the first 5 seasons have really all been background information.
We started watching the show when we were living in Hawaii – on the same island where it is filmed actually. It’s been fun to watch the show over the past few years and recognize Korea, or Los Angeles, or wherever the scene is set as really a place in Hawaii. In one recent episode Kate visited a neighborhood in “L.A.” which strongly resembled a neighborhood nearby where we took walks.
I don’t watch but 3 shows anymore: Lost, The Amazing Race, and The Office. That is it. I don’t dabble here and there with any other show on television anymore. I do consider myself a patient guy when it comes to Lost – however, the show is really starting to drag on for me. There is one season left, starting at the beginning of 2010. In typical Lost fashion though, they have continued to create more questions then answers. The few questions they have answered have been small in my opinion.
Here’s my fear about the show: the ending is going to completely suck. What I mean by “suck” is this:
1) This show has been on the air for so long and has so many details that the ending is going to be “Lost” on me. I might get it on a basic level but won’t be able to recall the previous 6 years worth of shows that would make it a good ending. Additionally, the approach they’ve used for this show really requires and points to a blockbuster ending. Sometimes, this approach completely ruins the entire series if the ending isn’t appropriate, is “whacked”, or just doesn’t live up to the expectations that have been building for years.
2) The show is going to have a happy ending for the characters but not answer any of the major questions. I’m more nervous about this happening since the producers have said things like “not every question will be answered” and implied things like “the focus in season 6 returns to the main characters” and people’s connection to the characters. Personally, I couldn’t give a toss about the characters. For example, I don’t care and will never really care if Kate ends up with Jack or Sawyer – or if they even get off the island in the end. Whichever season it was (3 and/or 4), where they spent the entire season building each character and their past, really left me bored and dissatisfied. The story on the island didn’t progress, and for me, entire episodes on a character’s background didn’t really add much to the story for me anyway. I am more concerned with the bigger questions in this series, like, why is this all so important? I.e., why should I care? What’s so special about the island? I think they will tie everything together and explain how and why each person is there. However, there better be a pretty good reason behind all of this – more then just that it’s a “special place” where weird things happen and in the end we only find out the true fate (good or bad) of the cast.
In my opinion, the ideal final season would explain the major questions about the island, its history, and its importance in time and/or the universe. Then, in the last second of the last minute of the last episode, have an ending that completely turns everything I’ve known on its head but, 1) in a way that completely obliterates my perception of what I’ve been watching 2) causes me to think about it/realize things that make it an even better ending for the next couple of days or weeks afterwards.
Is that too much to ask? Probably. I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised. At any rate, the producers and writers have put all of their eggs into one basket. The show’s reputation will sink or swim based solely on the final season in my opinion, mainly because the first 5 seasons have really all been background information.
10 May 2009
09 May 2009
08 May 2009
Warm Weather
Warm weather can only mean one thing: cute new outfits for Julia. We were hoping for some new sprouts up top, but the clothes will have to do.
05 May 2009
Welcome Home Party
A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of Julia and Quincey seeing me off to work from the kitchen window. Well, they always greet me from the same place when I return from work too. Naturally, I wanted to get it on video.
Unfortunately, Julia is too far away for most of you to see her "excited dance" when she sees me at the beginning of the video. That's probably one of the funnier parts. You can barely make out that she's moving though - that's the dance. The rest is just Jules.
p.s. the annoying sound in the background of the video is my truck warning me I had left the keys in the ignition and the door open. Sorry.
Unfortunately, Julia is too far away for most of you to see her "excited dance" when she sees me at the beginning of the video. That's probably one of the funnier parts. You can barely make out that she's moving though - that's the dance. The rest is just Jules.
p.s. the annoying sound in the background of the video is my truck warning me I had left the keys in the ignition and the door open. Sorry.
01 May 2009
Swine News – Part Deux
This is too easy. To see the latest example of swine news today, click this article. The Reuters article starts like this:
“Mexico voiced hope on Friday it might be getting control of an outbreak of a new flu strain that has killed up to 176 people there, shut down large parts of the country and raised fears of a global epidemic.” Interesting, so up to 176 people have been killed? At first glance all I saw was the words flu, killed, and 176.
Scroll down to the 9th paragraph. Ahh…they have only actually confirmed 7 people have died from this in Mexico (interestingly the same number listed below in my original post)…but “suspect” it could be as high as 176. Wait a minute…that’s totally different fact we’re led to believe from the attention-getting opening paragraph. I knew I saw a number somewhere that made me believe hundreds have died already from this strain. I guess you actually have to pay attention and really read what they write/say.
So they took the extreme position upfront, to get to you read it, and buried the facts in the middle of the article. It all seems so dishonest and sensationalized to me. Anyway, not surprisingly the article goes on to say this strain doesn’t seem to be as bad as we were led to believe. One of the final paragraphs is the icing on the cake:
“Even normal flu can be deadly, with seasonal influenza killing an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people globally every year.” Wow…that’s way more then the 8 people the H1N1 (I feel so educated now) has killed in this “rampart global pandemic”. Wait a minute…where are they getting the 250,000 to 500,000 number? I better check my sources.
“Mexico voiced hope on Friday it might be getting control of an outbreak of a new flu strain that has killed up to 176 people there, shut down large parts of the country and raised fears of a global epidemic.” Interesting, so up to 176 people have been killed? At first glance all I saw was the words flu, killed, and 176.
Scroll down to the 9th paragraph. Ahh…they have only actually confirmed 7 people have died from this in Mexico (interestingly the same number listed below in my original post)…but “suspect” it could be as high as 176. Wait a minute…that’s totally different fact we’re led to believe from the attention-getting opening paragraph. I knew I saw a number somewhere that made me believe hundreds have died already from this strain. I guess you actually have to pay attention and really read what they write/say.
So they took the extreme position upfront, to get to you read it, and buried the facts in the middle of the article. It all seems so dishonest and sensationalized to me. Anyway, not surprisingly the article goes on to say this strain doesn’t seem to be as bad as we were led to believe. One of the final paragraphs is the icing on the cake:
“Even normal flu can be deadly, with seasonal influenza killing an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people globally every year.” Wow…that’s way more then the 8 people the H1N1 (I feel so educated now) has killed in this “rampart global pandemic”. Wait a minute…where are they getting the 250,000 to 500,000 number? I better check my sources.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)