OK, so this week, we transplanted the pole beans to the garden. We started then from seed inside several weeks ago. I am hoping they make it. The reason I say this is, they grew like crazy and I didn’t give them poles to climb before I moved them outside and the wind did a number on them. If has been a few days since I transplanted them to the garden, so look like they are going to be fine, and some of the others aren’t looking that good.
Now if you are wondering what the beans are using to support them, it’s PVC pipe. This is the first year we have grown beans of any kind. It just happened by chance that my wife picked up a book a few weeks ago Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance. The information in this book is great. I have learned a lot just flipping through it. In the garden section there is an entry about pole beans. It recommends using a tee pee or A-frame to support the bean plants. So that is what I did. I made mine using schedule 40 PVC.
Last Friday evening we went to the Cool Kids event in Brockport. They were featuring Wild Wings, a non-profit organization specializing in birds of prey. They house and care for permanently injured raptors. They brought four of their friends, Quiver (American Kestrel), Wink (Eastern Screech Owl), GHO (Great Horned Owl), Amber (Red-Tailed Hawk).
I was hoping to get a chance to talk with them after the presentation but the weather didn’t cooperate. It did however hold out until the end of the presentation. Then the skies just opened up.
Well, we started planing our garden a couple weekends ago. I have decided to keep a running log of our garden’s progress here on my blog. I am planning on posting at least once a week (about the garden), with pictures.
So far we have onions (red and yellow), bell peppers, Roma tomatoes and a couple beefsteak. We have some plants that we started from seed inside that I need to harden and then transplant them to the garden.
This a picture of my pride and joy, Alexsia. She loves to help in the garden. Every time I go out to work in the garden she is there to help. She even helped plant the beefsteak tomatoes.
Last weekend we went away for my wife’s birthday. Originally we were planning on going to Herkimer Diamond mines, but she decided she wanted to go to Niagara Falls instead. So off we went. We planned on going to the Buffalo Zoo, the Buffalo-Erie botanical gardens, and the Niagara Aquarium.
We left on Friday morning and went to the zoo.
The above picture is part of the old Niagara Falls power plant.
We decided to take our two year old daughter to feed the ducks this past Saturday. We live about five minutes from Lake Ontario, so there is a variety of water and wetlands in the area.
We figured we would be feeding them for a while, but it was pretty much a bust. The only ducks we found were out in the bay far beyond our reach. I even tried to lure them in with bread. I couldn’t even throw the bread out far enough for them to even notice it. So we drove around for a while trying everywhere in the area that was accessible within reason. The only ducks we did see were either out of reach or inaccessible.
We stopped at a small bridge on our way home and we saw a muskrat and this duck like creature. It took me a little while to actually figure out what is was. I tried searching for “black duck with a white bill”. What I found out was that this isn’t a duck at all, it’s an American Coot, a duck like water bird. I have been an outdoors man my entire life and I don’t ever remember seeing this wonderful bird before. I hope it sticks around for a while, I want to go back and take some more pictures.
Well, I haven’t been able to get out much lately to take pictures. So last Sunday we decided to leave a little early to drive around and see what might catch our eye. We didn’t have that much luck. It turned out to be a cloudy, gloomy, wet day. It actually started raining. The geese above were in the Irondequoit bay area. We were actually on our way back when we spotted them and decided to stop to snap some shots.
Well, here it is. My first of many galleries to come. There are 124 pictures in this gallery. There are a variety of photos, including, sunrise, sunset, scenery, waterfalls, skyscapes, and more. These are all low resolution images for on-line viewing purposes.
Also, I created this blog layout using 2 of the pictures from my collection.
In December 2006, my wife’s family and our family went to Hilton Head Island for a week. There were several enjoyable things about going to Hilton Head during December such as the weather was not unbearably hot, it was off season so there were not too many people there and there were no lines trying to get into a restaurant or onto a tour boat. However, we did find that several places that would have normally been open during season were closed because it was off season. But that didn’t stop us from getting some much needed rest and relaxation. Especially in a spectacular place such as Hilton Head Island. Every day we woke up early just to see the sun rise. There is no better sunrise than that over a beach bungalow with some palm trees and the ocean waves rolling in…it was breathe taking. We went on a dolphin watch and actually caught some photos of dolphins. Believe me, that was not an easy task. Every day we combed the beach in search of the best sea shells and in hunt for the infamous sharks tooth. And, we actually found them. It was the best time ever.
What an amazing site! You wouldn’t believe it unless you actually saw it with you own eyes. And each turn my wife and I took, the better the view got. It truly was amazing. One end of the the Letchworth Park, also known as the Grand Canyon of the East, in New York State, is all cliffs and stunning sites. And as if that was enough, the other end of the park is beautifully covered with multiple waterfalls. The day we were there, we happened to see not one but three weddings taking place and caught a picture of the waterfalls while a wedding party was taking photos by the falls as well. Not a bad place for wedding photos! My wife and I enjoyed the photos that we were able to take while we were there but better yet we camped and we were able to go white water rafting and had a blast.
It is amazing what you’ll find out your back yard if you just look. I always had an eye for taking photos however one evening after playing with my daughter in the back yard, I saw the most amazing sight. There was the most amazing sunset developing over the farm down the street. It looked like something right out of little house on the prairie. It was then that I started to realize that opportunities as all around you…. you just have to look for them. Had I not walked to the end of the yard, by the farmers field, and looked down by the farm, I would have missed it!
ago. I am hoping they make it. The reason I say this is, they grew like crazy and I didn’t give them poles to climb before I moved them outside and the wind did a number on them. If has been a few days since I transplanted them to the garden, so look like they are going to be fine, and some of the others aren’t looking that good.
Last Friday evening we went to the 
We decided to take our two year old daughter to feed the ducks this past Saturday. We live about five minutes from Lake Ontario, so there is a variety of water and wetlands in the area.
