Tomato update

The "tomatoes in a box" are growing nicely.

They are heirloom tomato plants purchased from a local nursery.

Purple Russian and Eva Purple Ball.


Striped German and Rose.



I'm also trying "upside down tomatoes".

5 gallon buckets are used for containers. Drill a 3" hole in the lid and in the bottom of the bucket.

Mortgage Lifter and Hillbilly tomato plants have just been added to the buckets.

The plants have been adjusting to the buckets for about 3 weeks. In another couple of weeks, I'll hang them upside down and see what happens.

Easter flowers

A few of the flowers I found in our yard on Easter Day . . .

It's tomato time

Well, not exactly tomato time . . . It's tomato planting time.

I'm experimenting with container planting this year.


The container looks like this




I filled it 3/4 full with soil



added tomato plants



and herbs





and a plastic bag barrier to hold in moisture and keep out pests --



Now all I have to do is wait for tomatoes!

Instructions for making your own container can be found here.

Another musical cat

While looking up the names of the people who wrote the hymn "My Faith Looks Up to Thee", I found this video of a feline who appreciates acoustic guitar music (or maybe it's the 15 seconds of fame).

This musical cat is not to be confused with Cats, the musical or Cat's Music.

There is music specifically for cats and music videos that remind us to "stop littering".

And there are numerous blogs about cats.

But my favorite online "kitty treats" have to be The Daily Kitten and I can has cheezburger.

Free prize inside!

As a child, one of my favorite treats was a box of Cracker Jack. If the sweet and salty taste combo wasn't enough, every box has a FREE PRIZE INSIDE!!!

Yesterday I stopped at a nearby farmers' market and picked up a few more native plants for the yard, some kale and New Zealand spinach, and goat cheese.

When I rinsed the spinach this morning, I found a prize inside -- a lady bug!

I enjoyed the spinach, and the lady bug is now happily flying through Historic Cocoa Village.

How to deal with criticism

As my new year has gotten off to a less than roaring start, I've decided to focus on quotes made by people who successfully negotiated their way through life.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." -Eleanor Roosevelt

This was my first choice because it reminds me that it is very difficult to reach a goal when I am listening to a variety of conflicting voices. My intention this year is to remember the people who are sources of encouragement and wise advice and listen to them. Everyone else is welcome to find a more appreciative audience. ;-)

It's beginning to look a little like . . .

I found this entry hiding in my drafts. It was supposed to be posted in December. Ooops!

This year we decided to do a little more Christmas decorating than in the past.




In addition to Garfield and our fiber optic Christmas tree, we added a couple of Christmas trains to the top of the TV.





Here's a close-up.






The trains needed a little something extra, so we added snowy mountains in the background.



The trains on the television were so nice we added more trains . . . to the dining room table.





The dime in front of the train car gives a better sense of the size of the set.