How to Climb Your Brother

How to Climb Your Brother in 6 Easy Steps:

Disclaimer: This may not work, or may result in injury if either participant is over the age of 18.

Thanks for your patience with the flash, this is from before Christmas when I was still figuring out how to work my new camera. 

Step 1 

(this is my favorite one, younger son looks like a cat about to pounce)

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

And now, the video, which shows all 6 steps in rapid sequence. Enjoy!

Seeds, Seeds, and more Seeds!

I finally finished my seed inventory today.  It's that time of year again...time to order seeds.  I knew I had a lot already, so I wanted to make sure I knew what I had before I ordered duplicates.  I didn't really realize I had this many though.  Part of the problem was that I found a couple of seed sales at the end of last year and stocked up.  The list is a mixture of many companies...many Seed Savers Exchange, some Botanical Interests, many Renee's Garden, and several Seeds of Change.  I still do need to order a few, but nothing compared to last year. Just in case you care, this is what I have.

Seeds I Have Now

 

Flowers

-Orange Climbing Vine Pod *

-Blue Conflowers *

-Milkweed *

-Painted Lady Runner Bean

-Summer Splash Marigolds

-Lemon Queen Sunflowers

-Moonshadow Sunflowers

-Tarahumara Sunflowers

-Vanilla Ice Sunflowers (Little)

-Blue Mirror Delphiniums

-Purple Hyacinth Bean

-Polar Bear Zinnias

-Cactus Zinnia Burpee

-Double Click Cosmos

-Blackberry Lily *

-Cigar Flowers

-French Flounce Carnations

-Radiance Cosmos

-Garden Orchid Sweet Peas

-Perfume Delight Sweet Peas

-Nasturtium Spitfire (Little)

-Enfant deNice Carnations

-Chocolate Flower (Little)

-Antique Apple Green Bells of Ireland

Herbs

-Napoletano Basil

-Chervil

-Lime Basil

-Genovese Basil

-Red Rubin Basil

-Hyssop

-Moss Curled Parsley

-Mrs. Burns Basil

-Summer Savory

-Catmint

-Chives (Little)

-Golden Purlane

-Cumin

-Borage

-Dill

-Cilantro

Beans

- Asparagus Beans (Pole)

-Blackeyed Peas

-Royal Burgundy Bush Bean

-Frosty Pea

-Tom Thumb Pea

-Burpeeana Early Pea

-Stringless Bean Burpee

-Jade Bush Bean

-Blue Lake Bush Bean

-Contender Bush Bean

-Slenderette Bush Bean

-French Climbing Green Bean *

Veggies

-Artichokes

-Kohlrabi Crispy Colors Duo

-Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi

-Calabrese Broccoli

-Early Green Broccoli

-Luffa Gourd BI

-French Primor Baby Leeks

-Falltime Leek

-D’Avagnon Radish

-Easter Egg Radish

-French Breakfast Radish

-Cherry Belle Radish

-Chubby Checkers Corn

-Strawberry Popcorn

-Tricolor Pattypan Squash

-Crispy Winter Greens Lettuces

-Corn Salad Lettuce

-Peppergrass (Little)

-Cimmaron Lettuce

-Gala Mache Lettuce

-Red Sails Lettuce

-Royal Red Lettuce

-Reine Des Glaces Lettuce

-Forellenschuss Lettuce

-Grandpa Admire’s Lettuce *

-Early Palla Rossa Radicchio

-Space Hybrid Spinach

-Bloomsdale Spinach

-New Zealand Spinach

-Chioggia Beet (Little)

-Red and White Chard

-Five Color Silverbeet Chard (Little)

-Rhubarb Chard

-Long Green Eggplant

-Rosa Bianca Eggplant

-White Globe Turnip

-Mammoth Salsify

-Black Beauty Zucchini

-Trombetta Climbing Summer Squash

-Spaghetti Squash

-Musquee De Provence Pumpkins

-Crookneck Squash Pennsylvania Dutch

-Regular Orange Pumpkin

-White Pumpkin *

-Red Core Chantenay Carrot

-Tatsoi Mustard Greens

-Sweet White Spanish Onions

-Mini Purplette Bunching Onion

-Spanish Utah Onion

-Delicious Duo Scallions

-Early Dell Celery

-Emerald Envy Cucumber

-Lemon Cucumber (Little)

-West Indian Gherkin Cucumber (Little)

-Japenese Climbing Cucumber (Little)

-Early Flat Dutch Cabbage

-Lacinto Kale

-Silver Queen Okra

-Honeydew Melon *

Tomatoes

-Amana Orange

-Roma Paste Tomato

-Yellow Pear Tomato

-Marvel Striped Tomato

-Brandywine Tomato

-Heirloom Tomato Mix

-Nebraska Wedding Tomato (Little)

-Cream Sausage Tomato (Little)

-Copia Tomato (Little)

-Mortgage Lifter Tomato (Little)

-Early Cascade *

-La Roma *

-Purple Cherokee *

-Yellow Brandywine *

-Speckled Roman *

Peppers

-Spanish Padron (Little)

-Carnival Bell Pepper Mix

Whew!  The ones with the asterisk are ones I saved myself from my garden last year.  Little means I only have a few seeds of that variety.  Do you save seeds?  What are you ordering this year?

Christmas Presents...Anyone want dragon soup?

Christmas is over and the new year begun, but we are still enjoying the last of our Christmas break.  I am so thankful for the wonderful holiday that we had.  My son in particular got one present he has been asking for for months. He was so excited to get his bakugan dragonoid colosses...at first he was completely astonished.

 His face is beginning to morph into an expression of total joy, but in this shot he looks kind of silly. 

This is what a dragonoid colossus looks like when it is all put together.  Somehow my son knew just how to put this thing together, even without reading the directions (which were in another language anyways).  It only took a couple of minutes, and he had it ready to show off.  

 I did really well too.  Last Christmas, we didn't do presents for each other, only a few things for the kids, because we were putting all our money towards our new house.  This year, we did grown-up gifts.  I asked for mainly cooking things, since that is something I can play with in the winter time.  My guy did really well, I was very happy to see my new cooking toys.  This is my new pizza stone...I've heard great things about those.

Of course I got a pizza peel to go with it, so I can get the pizza stone out of the oven without burning the heck out of myself.  

I've already used this, my new over-the-sink strainer.  I scrubbed potatoes in it this morning before our New Year's Day dinner.  It is really convenient to get to the colander up above the water when I am cleaning things...this will be a real help when canning. 

I have wanted a cookbook stand forever...I also used this today, while whipping things up for dinner.  I love the antiquey look it has. 

This is a butter bell.  It is a lovely little crock that keeps the butter soft inside, but submerged in water so it is protected from the air.  I am going to put some fresh butter in it this week after I thaw some out. 

Speaking of canning help, this giant stock pot will allow me to water bath can several quart jars at once.  At this very moment, it is full of a turkey carcass and  lots of yummy turkey stock. 

Santa brought me a meat cleaver!  At first Santa said he wouldn't bring me one, even though I really wanted one, because he didn't know if he trusted me with sharp knives.  But he must have relented because here is my meat cleaver.  I accidentally learned the power of this knife.  I thought I was being careful taking it out of the packaging, but I grazed the tip of my thumb with the corner of the cleaver and peeled my thumb like a grape.  I got a little scared, but I guess it taught me about treating this knife with respect. 

I know it seems like we spend a lot of money on Christmas, but we really don't.  We look for deals and we are very good sale shoppers, so we get a lot of bang for our buck.  So now I have a soup pot and a dragonoid colossus....dragon soup anyone?

What neat toys did you get for Christmas?