Living Room Baseball

Ugh.

I've been sick since Friday evening.  Feel alot better this afternoon, but I'm still not back to 100%.  And for the record, it's the 48-hour flu that we've had, NOT strep throat, sweetheart... With my folks in the medical profession, on top of the fact that they are natural worry warts, you'll start getting people all flustered saying things like that.  Anyway, I'm glad we're getting this out of the way before our upcoming vacation.  I'm praying nobody else gets sick.

New topic....   Sports.  I love to watch a good game, race, or fight, just as much as the next guy (or girl) -- and I always have.  But I have never been the type to keep up with player stats, individual players, coaches, who's getting traded, drafted, retired, etc.  I guess I just feel like there are a lot more important things to spend my time and brain power on.  As far as playing sports, I played a few years of tee-ball, one season of soccer, and that about sums up my career in organized sports.  Not because I wasn't athletic, but because around age 10, I found a love for martial arts.  I spent 7 years in Yoshukai karate, and ended up with 2nd degree black belt.  I guess with all the time, money, and effort invested in karate, it didn't leave much room for other sports.  I mean, I've played lots of backyard football and the like, but nothing organized.

And so I guess that's why it amazes me that my 4-year-old son, Braden, has such a fascination, and almost an obsession with sports.  Of course, I'm sure it helps a lot that his older brothers, Zach and Chase, are star football players in their league and very athletic and interested in just about all sports.  But ever since he could crawl, and even before he could form complete sentences, Braden could tell you the difference between a football, baseball, basketball, and soccer ball.  And despite his brothers' main focus on and consistent participation in football, Braden has always seemed more drawn towards baseball.

Lately, Braden has been asking to play baseball all the time.  I don't know where his drive is coming from.  We don't really watch baseball on TV; our kids don't play baseball; I'm not aware of him being exposed to baseball anywhere.  And of course, when he does ask, he usually wants to play when it's dark outside, or right after mosquito-thirty PM.  And so I've decided to go lax on the no-playing-ball-in-the-house rule.  (Yeah, I know I'm a sucker.)  But we're using plastic bats and the soft, cushiony balls, so it's not that dangerous, right?  So while the rest of us are sitting on the couch, winding down from the day and watching a little TV, Braden brings me the squishy ball, and runs to the opposite side of the room.  And he's patient.....  Like a young energetic pup who desperately wants his owner to throw the ball for a game of fetch, Braden glues his eye to the ball and waits for me to pitch.  Naturally, I never make him wait very long.

After only a couple of lessons on showing him the proper batting stance, this kid has it down.  Right hand over left, hands over right shoulder, hips facing the plate, head turned with eye on the ball, feet slightly spread, and cute little but sticking out.  I think he takes as much pride in getting his stance right now as he does hitting the ball.  And boy can he HIT!  One time he surprised me with a line drive, over my head, over the bar, and into the dining room.  When he does connect with the ball, which is most of the time, regardless of how good of a hit, he has this ritual of dropping the bat and running a long circle of furniture bases, into the kitchen, through the dining room, around the foyer, and back to home plate in the living room.  And then the setting up of the batting stance and the patient waiting for the next pitch begins....  Where does he get this stuff from?

This morning he came downstairs after having been upstairs for a short little while, and he wanted to play another game of "Living Room Baseball."  When I saw his choice uniform, I almost died, before I reached for the camera.

Braden's preferred baseball uniform:
Older brother's UnderArmor shirt, clip-on tie, birthday suit bottoms, and Vans slip-on shoes.
And none of it matches -- Go figure!

This particular uniform is quite mild compared to some of his other costumes.  Especially when he decides to be a gun-slinging cowboy in boots and tighty-whities, and stuffs guns, handcuffs, etc. into his waistband.  Yes, he is a riot.

Right now, I'm hating the fact that I wasn't blogging when the other kids were doing stuff like this regularly.  At least I still have some pictures and vidoes that I could (and may one day) retro-blog about.  Oh yeah, that's right Chase, I've got photos of your Steve Urkel and Family Auto Mart impersonations, and I'm not afraid to use them.  Now or in the future.  Lots of blackmail material indeed!  You're not safe either, Zachary!

Well, before I let you go, in case you've been following my earthbox story, I thought I'd share some pictures of my okra sprouts.  We planted 10 seeds, 2 in each of 5 holes.  So far, all holes have sprouted, but 3 holes only have 1 sprout each.  But some of them are really shooting up!  If you saw my earlier pictures of the construction of the Sub-Irrigated Planter, you may remember that I started with black plastic.  But I later read that lighter plastic is better in hot regions since darker plastics absorb more heat and raise the temperature of the soil.  So you can see my little sprouts peaking through the slits in what's left of our white Force-Flex trashbag...  OK, so there is a bit of a blue cast since these were taken in the shade; but trust me, it's white.

Seeds are tiny miracles of creation.  So small, yet so remarkable if you really take a moment to think about it.  How do the stems know to grow up?  How do the know to roots to grow down?  How can a seed remain dormant, sometimes for many years, and then, only when it senses conditions are right (temperature, moisture, presence/absence of light, etc.), it germinates and "sprouts into life" as it reaches for sunlight?

God is great!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are feeling as blessed as I am right now.

I Approve This Message

Cheers.

Haven't posted in a few days, and thought I would craft a relatively quick post just to stay in touch -- I've been working overtime this week to try to get caught up enough so that I don't feel bad about taking my week-long vacation to the mountains.  I know, I shouldn't feel bad about taking vacation; Stacy always tells me, "That's what it's for!"

But we are already behind schedule on "by far the most important software release" that my business area has signed up for since I have been employed at my company (a little over 2 years now) and probably a lot longer than that.  Officially, my group develops Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) software for utility companies.  In other words, rather than developing custom software for a particular high-paying customer, we develop a reusable, configurable software suite that can be resold to many different customers for a lower price than it costs to build the entire suite.

However, in this case, we are effectively doing just the opposite.  One particular high-paying customer is funding a huge effort to expand capability of the existing, standard software suite such that it could be sold into other markets.  And as the first official customer of the this new functionality, it is key for our future business that this project is successful.  Bottom line, a lot is riding on this.... And we've all been informed of this point..... repeatedly.  On top of that, it doesn't help that I am terribly responsible when it comes to my work duties, sometimes to a fault.

But the overtime is well worth it to earn this vacation.  I can hardly wait to see my family in the mountains.  My immediate family of 6 will be headed to my uncle's mountain home in North Carolina to meet up with my parents, my nieces, my aunt and uncle, and hopefully my cousins.  My Uncle Wayne affectionately calls it a "cabin," but it's really much more than that.... I'll post pictures when we return.

We made the same trip last year for Memorial Day, and it was the best vacation I can remember; at least as an adult.  It would be fine with me if this became an annual (or even semi-annual) tradition.  The area and climate are gorgeous, the facilities are luxurious and spacious, and there are plenty of things to do...... or even better yet, there are plenty of things "not to do," as typically desired.  But the best part is having the opportunity for our respective families to get caught up, keep in touch, and build lifetime memories.  I'm literally hurting with anticipation, so I'm gonna stop writing about this now.

Before I go, I'll share a recent Braden quote that my mom relayed during our recent trip to Pensacola.  Mom took Braden and Zachary to McD's playground to let them expel some energy while we were cleaning up our house for re-rent.  For some silly reason (I honestly can't remember; Mom, you can comment and give more details), this little girl wasn't happy with Braden -- And so she told him, "I don't like you."  Without missing a beat, Braden tried to reconcile, "I don't know why not.... I'm Braden Michael <last name>, and I'm a very nice person."  All the adults within earshot just fell out.

I told my mom that he should run for office.  He could have followed up his appeal with, "...and I approve this message!"

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are having a blessed week!

Miracle Fruit -- Myth Confirmed

The other day, I mentioned how I have been juicing fruits and vegetables for the health benefits and the increased energy levels (although not so much in the past couple of weeks since I've been stressed and busy with my house rental situation).  Last summer, when I really started getting into juicing, I mentioned my newly found interest to a buddy of mine, Brian.  Very coincidentally, this guy is not only a big-time juicer, he is also the president of our county's "Rare Fruit Council."  What is this, Mayberry?

So on top of being a successful Electrical Engineer and a devoted Christian husband and father of four, Brian is like the walking almanac of all local plant life, their growth characteristics, and nutritional benefits.  He has a yard full of fruit producing plants, including banana, pineapple, mango, herbs, pomegranate, and a variety of citrus.  And somehow, he manages to avoid the wrath and scrutiny of our very picky, power-abusing-because-I-have-no-life HOA police.  This guy has more energy than anyone I have ever met (Of course he must, in order to keep up with his large family and all of his hobbies and clubs).  I'm not sure if he has always been this energized, or if it's really working.... You know... "wheezin' the ju-uice."

Anyway, one night, our family was having dinner at their house.  Yes, it was 11 hyper people in a single family dwelling... Loud and lots of fun.  After dinner, while we were all chatting when Brian pops out a little baggie of the Miracle Fruit.  Ever heard of it?  Me neither.  Yeah, well, it's really not a fruit.  It's actually more of a berry, but very full of Miracle.  These things are apparently pretty rare, and about $60 to buy a small Miracle Fruit-producing tree; unless you're a friend of Brian, who can pick them up for $20 and who is very generous with his personal stash.

Miracle Fruit


Without a proper introduction, Brian announces, "I want you to try a little experiment."  He also had a bunch of fresh limes from his neighbor's tree, sliced up into slivered semi-circles.  "Bite into one of these lime pieces."  I complied.  Ok, very sour, squinched up face -- no real surprise.

"Now..." he continued, "Eat one of these berries.  Be careful, they have a hard little seed in the middle; but what you want to do is chew off all the "meat" of the berry, spit out the seed, and then smear the rest all around in your mouth -- all over and around your tongue and the inner walls of your mouth -- for about a 60 seconds."  Again, I conformed.  It was curiosity, not peer pressure, really, it was.

"And now another bite of lime."  At this point, I was looking around for the Tequila, about to put on the brakes because I thought I was being lured into some drinking ritual....  And then....

Bliss!  It was the weirdest, most bizarre thing.  It was like someone had shoved the sweetest lime-flavored candy in my mouth.  I thought my senses were deceiving me.  How could something so sour and tangy only a minute ago, now taste like a juicy, sugar-swirled key lime pie.  And that's where it gets the name "Miracle Fruit."  We moved on to grapefruit, lemons, and anything else we could find that was sour -- The more sour of an item, the sweeter it was.  And the effects from one berry lasted for about an hour.  Amazing!

The exact cause of this phenomenon is unknown, there is some kind of chemical reaction according to Wikipedia, "One hypothesis is that miraculin works by distorting the shape of sweetness receptors so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things."

I'm wondering why we haven't heard more about this berry being used as a sugar substitute.  Apparently, this berry is being used by some diabetics that can't say no to their sweet tooth.  Nifty.

So I better wrap this up since I'm on my 10th paragraph and I'm feeling pretty hypocritical that I just advised my wife, Stacy, last night, that shorter blog posts are "better."  But at least they're short paragraphs.....

Oh, but before I go, I wanted to share with you that I finished my Sub-Irrigated Planter tonight!  All I need is some potting soil and some fertilizer and I will be ready to plant my okra!  I know, I'm so excited, too.  I'll keep you posted on the progress of the okra growage.  Here are some pics... Not the best quality because it was poor lighting.... But what do you think?

The aeration screen and supports (Top View)

The aeration screen and supports (Bottom View)

SIP with lid off -- Ready for planting!!



SIP with lid on -- Holes will be cut for plants to grow through


Ok, bye, for now.

Okra Earthbox..... Here I come!

Until this past year, I never imagined I would ever have any interest in gardening.  I mean, gardening is for women and maybe old geezers, too.....  Right?  OK, that was very narrow minded of me.

Several family members of mine have been diagnosed with cancer in the past couple of years.  Obviously, you begin pondering the mortality of your loved ones (and yourself) when you receive that kind of news.  After being reminded that I, too, am mortal, I finally started giving consideration to nutrition and health for the first time in my life.  Yes, you are indeed what you eat.  And of course, yucky exercise and sufficient sleep are things I have neglected for years.

I'm the type of person that tends to spend a lot of time and focus on new areas of interest.  One topic that almost became an obsession for me is "Juicing."  Yes, there is a lot to learn about juicing machines and techniques, and about fruits and vegetables and their many nutritional benefits.  I ended up paying $360 on my second juicer, the Omega VRT 350HD, to give you an idea of how serious I am about this -- And I love it!  After maintaining a regular fruit and vegetable juice dietary supplement, combined with a bicycling regimen, for only a couple of months, I literally felt better than I have in more than a decade.

So I could write many blog posts on juicing (which I suspect I might do over time), but now I'm digressing....  The point is that my new interest in nutrition has now piqued my interest in the idea of growing my own organic food.  As I learn more about gardening, and the particulars of each plant, fruit, or vegetable, I'm further intrigued by God's design of each individual species.

Today, one of my coworkers introduced me to the concept of an Earthbox, a self-watering patio container garden.  As I understand it, there is a company who has registered this term specifically, but the generic term for this type of contraption is Sub-Irrigated Planter (SIP).  My coworker shared a link to this PDF which describes several designs and instructions for creating your own -- Sweet!  Am I the only sheltered individual who has never heard of this method of home gardening?  This other website lists the advantages of using SIPs over conventional in-ground gardening:

• The SIP's water reservoir and wicking chambers use capillary action to automate watering for several days, reducing the frequency required for watering.
• Portability allows easy set up and removal when necessary.  
• The host does not need to have a yard. Space in the sun is all that is required. 
• There is no need for a toxic metals soil test since the SIPs are self-contained and provide a safe and hygienic environment separated from any contaminated soil. 
• There is no digging or disturbing of the host property or the host. 
• Incremental design makes it easy to increase or decrease the size of the garden at will. Start with one, two, or three SIPs to allow the host to experience having the garden. Think of it as a beta test before full implementation.

OK, I'm in.  Let's do an earthbox.  I can put it on my backyard patio by the pool.  My thumb is turning green as we speak.  Now to figure out what to plant?  I'd like to do something that's healthy, easy to maintain, resilient, with a long growing season, that grows fast, and produces a high yield for the investment.  Here is a helpful website with an abundance of useful information.  After only a little research this evening, I came across the perfect veggie.....

OKRA!!  I love it; my wife loves it; even the kids love it!  So we have a winner.  I'm told okra grows very fast, has a lengthy growing season (especially in warm Florida), and must be harvested at least every other day.  EVERY OTHER DAY?  Wow, that's a lot of okra.  One guy posted online that he planted two okra trees and had more okra the first season than he new what to do with.  That's exciting to me, since I've loved okra ever since I was a wee-little-guy.

Well, I'll keep you posted.  Since I don't have loads of free time, it may take a while for me to construct my earthbox and acquire my seeds, but I also want to try to get the kids involved in this, so I'm not really in a rush -- except for my excitement.  I can't wait until my orka trees look like this:

Palm Pruner Extraordinaire

So, the day after my first blog post, life got complicated and pretty stressful...  Literally every day since then, I have had new blog-worthy events taking place -- but not a spare moment to sit down and write.  Of all the things that have been going on, the most significant situation was caused by our tenants splitting up due to marital difficulties.

It's funny how people seem to think that just because they are going through hard times, they are somehow freed of their financial responsibility.  (And further, I wish the bank somehow cared about my personal life and struggles enough to excuse me from paying my mortgage.)  Anyway, they were already a month behind on the rent.  I started by executing a quick and successful eviction, followed by loading up the family for an emergency trip back home (520 miles), followed by walking smack dab into a brick wall of depressing reality as I walked through the door of our home.

At some point, after I have had time to fully process this situation and put my heart back in my chest, I will post more details of this situation.  For now, I'll just tell you that we spent 2.5 days, working all day and night, with about 6 hours of sleep each night, trying to turn the place around so we could get it rented again -- And that's on top of hiring professionals to clean the house and carpets.

So I am still working daily, long distance, to coordinate activities to finish getting the place ready again (locks changed, pool water balanced, garage door reprogrammed, etc.)  I don't know what I would do without my amazing parents, and one of my most loyal and best friends, Jason (who coincidentally just moved into the same neighborhood as my house), who are doing the leg work that I can't do from here.  All I can say is.... don't EVER be a landlord.

Now we are back home, and today was yard work day.  We have most of our landscaping duties included as part of our rent.  But I have agreed to take care of pruning the palm trees, since there seems to be some discrepancy between the expectations of our landlord and those of our landscaping folks.  But I don't mind, because it only has to be done once every 6 months or so, and it's nice to get out and work up a sweat in the yard every now and then.  And I don't guess it's very difficult work, but there is a part of me that feels like a foliage artist when I'm pruning palms......  Here are some pictures of my work.  What do you think?

Palm Tree 1 (Before)

Palm Tree 1 (After)

Palm Tree 2 (Before)

Palm Tree 2 (After)

Pool Area Palms 1 (After)

Pool Area Palms 2 (After)

It always tickles me when my kids use my own words against me.  My 4 year old, Braden, sees the pruned palm leaves laying all of the ground as I'm trimming today.  He says, "Daddy, you need to clean up that mess."  I said, "Are you gonna come help Daddy clean it up?"  He abruptly replied, "Nope!"  So I probed, "But why not?"  Then he scolded me, "You made that mess all by yourself, so now you have to clean it up all by yourself!"  ......You little stinker!

On another note, when we got back home from our trip to Pensacola the other day, we had to turn right around and go to Jacksonville for our kids' CTS competition for 2 days.  When we finally got a chance to come back home and look around, my wife, Stacy, took a look at the pool in the backyard.  Somehow, the pin on the timer for the pool pump had fallen off, so the pump/filter had not been running all week.  While the pool had survived the neglect, our pool's integrated hot tub, with the smaller water volume and naturally warmer temperatures did not.  Now it's somewhere between green kool-aid and pea soup. I guess this is kinda funny, in an ironic kind of way.  So I'll be treating algae, and shocking and balancing water for a while.  Check out the interesting contrast in color:

I hope you are having a blessed week.  May you have a nice pool, and may your water always be crystal clear and balanced.  Oh yeah, and may you never have irresponsible or malicious tenants.