First day of class

Today was good.
For the first time I had the intro day of class with out handing out paper.
I did it all digital, and it went well. 
I used a monitor we installed and word documents.

I am still working on the video project and have got ll the needed hardware and just need a bit of software.  The budget is tight but I think I can make it work. 

Today I was so grateful for my piers. I have a great group of people in my professional life that I am able to ask for advice. This is why I can do this work, I have support.

My girls helped me start some seeds today , mostly onions.

Dinner tonight is a poached chix breast with my pesto on pasta with side lettuces salad with avocado and grapefruit.  And some bread with oil, salt, sour dressing.

I did a good bit of work on Garrisons Memorial Piece.

Rebecca has to work late tonight.

Classes begin, found my cell phone after 4 weeks, Maura and I had a special night

Well the students are coming back.  Love the energy- even though it is a bit overwhelming.

Worked on the Memorial for Garrison, mainly working on hanging his show, and building a collaboration piece with Veronica, Yumi, Me, Evan, Valery, Shelley, Heather, a nice collaboration.

Still ramping  up for the videos for the wood shop. Looking at software and a new computer for the project. And getting ready for class tomorrow.

Maura and I had one on one tonight.  Mommy and Maddie are at a girl scout rally.

Dinner tonight is poached mustard chicken breasts over lettuce greens and rice; and a whole bunch of ready made chocolate chip cookies.

Maura tried one cookie from each baked batch.  That is 4 cookies or so before dinner.   She was definitely talking with humming bird wings.

Found my cell phone, glad for that.  It was in a sweat shirt pocket that I wanted to wear for Rebecca tonight to be old sexy. Found I didn't miss not having the phone much.

Started seeds

Started my onion seeds today.
Last year when I started seeds I has a good deal of blue green alge growing on top.
This year I made my own sterile starter mix both microbe and nutrient free, since seeds are self sustaining little vessels.
This required cleaning and sterilizing the soil and the gear.

I mixed one part 1/4 inch. sieved peat moss to one part perlite i.e. one full hotel pan each.
Mixed with water to make nice and moist- rung out sponge wet.
Baked in the oven at 170 degree oven until internal core reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes which took about 5 hours.
Let soil cool for an hour.

Sterilized the planting trays and drip pans in 1:9 bleach to  chlorine bleach, sprayed and let air dry.
Re moistened soil with DE-chlorinated water, made by boiling 20 minutes and allow to cool.

Seeded, logged, and covered  the planting trays with plastic wrap.
Put in boiler room germination station- door open- with light.

Mostly about loss, Maura lost her hamster and a tooth ; and a bit about Jesse

Well my sweet Maura had a bit of a day.

Today Pumkin Pie died.   Maura's  hamster of two years which is about all you can ask for from a rodent.

I made Punkin Pie a nice cup cake coffin

Most importantly Rebecca  helped her with her grief with a mommy daughter moment.  I think these short lived pets are great for introducing our children to life and death.

A sad Daughter with a loving Mommy

Latter Maura lost a tooth, nice distraction from pumpkin pie, and she is looking forward to the cash which is two bucks a tooth.

She still believes in the tooth fairy

Jesse is wanting to play the banjo so I have been showing him what I know. He is a bit of a son too me and my daughter Annie's boy friend of two years.  You know if you have daughters you will have sons.

Dinner tonight was Onion rings, fish and chips, and Annie made a lovely coffee cake

Got my seeds, Pruned the grapes- fruit trees- roses, Little Bear

Got my seeds in the mail,  which reminds me that I have got to start planning and planting for the next growing season.

A kitchen garden is a year around activity.

I decided to Journal blog every day in order to  keep trak of what I do for one year- which is inspired by a 'you tube' series I saw made by the BBC about the Victorian kitchen garden that spoke to one year of activities.
I hope I will be disciplined enough for one year.

It starts- I pruned today.

Before I pruned the grapes

After Prune of grapes- double trunk cordon method

It is January and I took a stab at a structural pruning,  which is removing dead wood and open up the cultivar to the air and light.
I pruned my fruit producers which are four grape vines,  and  a cherry,  an apple,  a plum, and a peach tree.
While I was at it,  I worked on my and roses.
I do a first trim in January and wait to see what survives the hard freeze season,  January and February, and then do another prune in June.

While I cooked dinner

Family on the couch

I cooked  chicken legs baked at 350 degrees until  done with a light camel coated with a mix of julian onion, honey, mustard,  glaze with a bit of thyme.

I served it with rice cooked in a light chicken stock and a bit of saffron.

The veg was blanched carrots dressed with olive oil, persevered lemons, dill seed. white pepper and season with salt.

I think Little bear at age 15 is about done.  She needs help from time to time to get up on all fours, and smells pretty bad.  But she is eating and going out side to potty.  And she is always at my side. 

Bear on the Kitchen floor- with me

Finished the Bandsaw voice over, Dinner corn beef and not cabbage

 Today at work I finished the voice over for the video band saw orientation.
At least the first attempt.
Now we can start creating a story line with the audio and start creating visuals.

I am starting to realize the gravity of my dission to digitize the safety organization program I started working on in 2000 at CU boulder Dept. Art and Art History in the wood shop.

It is a huge learning curve.
It is a lot of work.
It feels really right.
I truly believe it will serve the students.

Tonight we are having corn beef.
Take the contents of the bag O Corn Beef  purchase from the super market
Put in a dutch oven with about three inches or so of water- just don't let it go dry- with the contents of the brine from the bag, the spice package, one onion, one grapefruit both quartered,  and one cinamon stick.

Baked in the oven for a couple of hours,  covered.

Drop in some potatoes at the end and we had steamed cauliflower with garden made pesto for a veg.

Learned a bit about digital cameras, dinner, some seeds

Well today I learned how wonderful learning is.
I asked a coluge of mine some 20 plus years my junior questions about how my digital camera works and shooting strategies he has learned.

I have a MFA in photo from 1985 but I worked with the practices of silver based processes and drifted away over the years from the medium.
I now feel I have control again.
I came home and practiced my new info in my kitchen while making dinner.

Image I would of taken before my learning

Image taken with new information

The images aren't much to look at, just a diseray kitchen but they represent a door reopening to me.


Dinner tonight is hamburger gravey on mashed potatoes with frozen corn

Another fruitful day in the production of the Band Saw video, mostly worked on the voice over and script.