Hometown Celebration

I'm sitting here realizing I don't know what the name of this weekend's celebration is.  Damascus Days?  Huh.  Well, you get the point.  Some kind of celebration with a parade and some other stuff happening tomorrow.

The parade is always the place to be.

I'm always reminded how unique this little town is.  First, it's not really little.  There are over 15,000 people here.  Second, it's like something you'd see in small-town America...like Ohio or somewhere.  Except it isn't.  We're not far outside of D.C./Baltimore.  I like it.

 

 

Waiting in the rain for the fireworks...

Summertime Randomocity

 

Making, Playing and Eating through Summer...

Moody 16 year-olds...on the happy end of that at Waffle House.  We were feeling sad for Christina whose had previously been deprived of the experience.  Big summer, for her, I guess.  LOL. 

"Salad Bar Lunch"

Jac is going to a summer enrichment thing for math.  It's like summer school, but for kids who are ahead, not behind.  He rushes home, because I've started making lunches.  I have to admit, lunch is kind of fun.

 



Peach Crisp

 



 

Summer Lax for Alicia

 

All the "good moms" took their kids to 7-11 for "Free Slurpie Day", right?  The poor people who work there...I can only imagine how much it must suck to have a constant stream of children going through all day long...making a huge mess with the slurpie machine.

*Note she was much more excited when posing with her friend.

 

Making a mess...

Alicia needed a birthday gift for her friend.  I had a Starbucks gift card and a really strong desire to not go shopping for an actual gift.  I'm not huge into shopping unless it's online.  Alicia is huge into shopping; online, real stores, anywhere that sells stuff.  I talked her into giving a smash book.  We added the gift card and a "Happy Birthday" note.  I guess it's like a greeting card that is really a scrapbook?  Just add pictures and stuff.

 





 

 

 

Tell me you are impressed with my "mad bow-tying skills".

 



Jac reading with Zeke Wigglesworth.

Blueberry Pie.  To be honest, I don't usually like pie.  I have to be in the mood for it.  This one?  I was just going to have a slice.  Pretty sure I'm getting ready to be on my second slice.

Working on merit badge documentation...

Black bean and pumpkin enchiladas...

Cat TV

Mystery Trip Tuesday

Union Station/Smithsonian Postal Museum

 

It seems like his face is changing this summer.  He suddenly looks older. 

 

 

First, we don't make it down to D.C. as much as we should.  When we were talking about moving here, from Alaska (which is really awesome and there needs to be a really good reason for anyone to be tempted to move from there), I remember talking about all this stuff here there is to see.  (O.K....we really moved here, because we had a baby and the grandparents are here, but still...the fact is we did acknowledge all of this stuff exists and our kids would grow up around it...)  Seeing it is kind of a project.  That's the best explanation I've got.

If we do make it to the Smithsonians, it's always the ones everyone goes to see.  Never the more obscure collections.    Should I mention how thrilled they were when they found out we were going to a postal museum?  They weren't.  It worked out, though.  I mean, we probably don't have a reason to go again, but we are all glad we went.

Alicia isn't really into having her picture taken.  Or climbing into stagecoach exhibits.

So...this is creepy.  Wouldn't it have been enough to just put a model of the "Post Office Mascot" (His name was "Owney".) on display?  I looked him over pretty good and am reasonably sure this mangy thing is the "real deal". 

My camera died at Union Station.   I love Union Station.  It's one of my favorite places in D.C.  Alicia liked it, too.  I probably could have gotten some good pictures of her.  If my camera wasn't dead.

If there's another station as beautiful inside as this, I'd like to see it.

The last stop was a walk around the Smithsonian Zoo.  It was late and most of the animals had already been put away.  Will have to plan another trip for that later.

Freedom

1.  This is the first day in a long time where I don't have a paper due in the near future.  The good that came from that is I became able to write papers without even thinking much about what I am writing.  Pretty sure that was not the objective.  The better part of that is I am free for some weeks. 8, I think.  Maybe 6.  Who cares?  I'll take whatever it is.

2.  The rabbits ate most of my green beans.  I didn't have time to deal with them.  I've got time now.  Sending Jac out tonight to re-plant them.  Hoping I can get another harvest in the time that's left.

3.  Time...time...what the heck am I going to do with all of this time?  I've already finished all of my summer reading.  (Because I cheated and started reading when I wasn't supposed to be reading.)

I love summer.

How to Make a Hydroponic Garden

For demonstration purposes, pretty much.  I guess we could grow lettuce or something, but for the most part we are just playing around to see how well it works.

Pardon the lighting in the pictures. 

You will need:
2 Styrofoam coolers
heavy duty trash bags
1 aquarium air pump
2 airstones
plastic tubing
1 t-connector
duct tape
plants
some kind of fertilizer...We haven't added any to ours yet, because I can't remember where I put that bottle of fish emulsion.

Step 1:  Styrofoam coolers will leak after awhile.  So, you need to line them with the plastic bags.  Use the duct tape to hold the bags in place.

They should look like this.

Step 2: If your plants are in connected containers, cut them apart.  Trace the bottoms onto the inside of the cooler lids.  When you cut, make the holes a little bigger to accommodate the containers.  We made six holes in each lid.

Your lids should look like this.

Step 3:  One at a time, remove the plant from it's container.  Cut a hole in the bottom of the container.  Gently remove most of the dirt from the plant's roots.  Place the plant back in the container with the roots dangling through the hole.

It should look like this.

Step 4:  Using a screwdriver, poke a hole in the top of the one side in both coolers.  Feed a length of tubing through each hole.  The tubing should reach the bottom of the inside of each cooler.

It should look like this.

Step 5:  Using the t-connector, connect both tubes from the coolers with a tube that is connected to the air pump.

Step 6:  Attach the airstones to both tubes in  the coolers.  Fill the coolers with water.  At this time, if you know where your fish emulsion (or whatever you are using) is, add it now.

Step 7:  I realize this is a very poor picture, but the bottom of the lids should look like this.  Place them on top of the coolers.  Rearrange any small plants that are trying to fall through the holes.


Place the whole contraption under a light.  You could put it outside if you have a newer house than I have....one with outlets installed on the outside.    Plug it in and hope for the best.

It would be interesting to do this with aquariums which would allow the fish to fertilize the plants.

 

 

Because it's what we had laying around, we planted basil, petunias and some kind of unidentified, ornamental perennial.