Peaches, Cougars and Barges; Oh My!

Yesterday was peach day at our WVU university farm. We have an extensive peach orchard and we sell to the public. We sorted and bagged about 150 bushels on the first batch and will have many more in the coming weeks. I just happened to be at the farm when the brought them in so I help sort and bag. I love horticulture, not too many jobs where you get to eat your work! Yesterday evening we took the kids to a cougar sanctuary that is about 30 minutes away with the cub scout pack. One of the pics shows the cougar and the back of Sam's and Michael's heads with the West standard mohawk. This sanctuary is managed by a non-profit organization with a mission to train people that cougars do not make good pets. They rescue animals that are being held as pets and let them live out their life in peace. I was amazed to see how large they are, they had one male that stood on its hind legs and his front paws were able to reach over 7 feet. The real scary part is that they are native to WV and are still found in the wild which we have a lot of. Maybe I will be a bit more cautious when I go deer hunting this fall. This afternoon we were at a birthday party along the Monongahela River which runs right through town and saw a coal barge on its way to the power plant. These past few days have been pretty busy.

Conference in Florida

I seem to travel quit a bit now that I am a professor at a university. Each year I attend a major conference focusing on horticulture and it always seems to be in the hottest place on earth each year. This past week I was in Orlando, FL and I believe it was the hottest place on earth (except for Phoenix, AZ). I took three of my graduate students with me and we had a good conference. We drove straight through from Morgantown to Orlando in one day (16 hours) and then drove in one day on the way back (16 longer hours). We had some spare time and went minigolfing and went to the ocean at Cocoa Beach. There were jelly fish all over the beach which can be seen on one pic. Also, I had to get a pic of my foot in the ocean. We stopped over to Kennedy Space Center and drove through a horrible thunderstorm to find that they were closing. You can see the thunder clouds behind the rockets, this is the storm we had to drive through from Orlando for about 1 hour. On the way back to WV I took a picture of me next to a sign at a rest area in SC, notice the 16 longer hour look that I have. I was pretty sure there were no smiles left at this point in the trip.

New Phone and Morgantown Pictures

Jen and I finally went and got new cell phones. I wanted one that had a camera in it. It is a Motorola with a 2 MP camera. The idea was that we both would have a camera on us almost constantly so we would have more pictures for the blog. So far I have been very happy with it. The first picture is of a bowl that Clyde (Jen's dad) made that we use for fruit. Today was a busy day, we had a baptism at Church, we went to the library, we had a Church picnic, and we had a minute of downtime with the Wii. I had a few laughs as we drove around town today and I had to get two shots. The first is of our local food co-op. I took the picture while we were driving so it didn't turn out so well. The large sign says 'Yes we are open' but on the door the sign says 'Closed'. Also at the cemetery in town we saw a headstone for two related family lines and again was quite funny.

Popsicles and Bees

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Jen put out sugar water for the humming birds but on one of the feeders did not put the fake flower part on. Soon we had hundreds of bees drinking out of the sugar well that she put out. It was interesting to watch. We ended the day by having a nice popsicle snack.

Stairs and Shed

I did not post an entry yesterday because not much happened. We went to Church like usually and that was about it. We had a bit of excitement at about 9 PM last night when Becca slipped at the very top of the stairs on her way to bed and did 3 somersaults down the stairs, landing on her head each time as she went down the stairs. I was just going up the stairs when she slipped and caught her at the landing as she was upside down for the 3rd or 4th time. She looked like a rag doll as she hit the landing upside down. As you can see in the picture she hardly got a scratch and is one lucky little girl. I gave her a blessing shortly after it happened and the swelling and redness almost immediately went down. On a positive note, Jen watched some kids today and Dan was so happy that he was able to hold a 'baby'. On Saturday I finished the ramp going into the shed, tar papered the second floor walls and put the temporary roof on. The shed is really taking shape.

Washington Wild Things Scout Sleepover

Last night Michael, Sam and I went to the Washington Wild Things Scout Sleepover. We went to Washington, PA with our Scout Pack to watch a minor league baseball game and fireworks. Mike helped with the Color Guard to present the flag for the National Anthem at the game so we were able to walk out on the field. In one of the pictures, Mike is giving the Scout salute during the singing of the National Anthem. Once the game was over, the stadium was cleared and all of the scouts went back into the stadium to camp. The original plan was to set up tents in the outfield but it was too wet so we put our tents up on the concourse in the stadium. I estimate that there were about 300-500 people camping in the stadium last night. We had our tent up at 11 P.M. and then headed to the concession stand to get popcorn and soda to watch 'The Sandlot' (kids baseball movie) on the jumbo-tron that they use for the baseball games in the stadium. We finally made it to bed around 12:45 and I highly enjoyed sleeping on concrete instead of a nice grass outfield. I believe that this is the latest that Mike and Sam have ever stayed up to. We each received a patch and shirt for the event. This event was a blast, it doesn't get much better than watching a baseball game, seeing fireworks and spending the night in the stadium.

Shed

I took a day off from work today to work on the shed (AKA Borg Cube, I am 1 of 6). I was able to get the end walls of the second floor and the roof finished today. I am excited with the progress. I would have made it further but we had a swimming break during the day with the kids.

Tractor Driving

I finally was able to get out to the farm to make hay. We are doing a study on primocane blackberries and comparing organic methods of production to conventional methods. The organic method utilizes non-synthetic fertilizer nitrogen sources and we needed green grass clippings as one of the ingredients to the raised growing beds. We tried to square bale the green hay but the baler was not able to tie the green bales. I ended up using a pitch fork to throw it on a hay wagon to fill the raised growing beds. You can see the raised growing beds in the picture where I am driving the tractor on the lefthand side of the picture. Not a fun job but I did get to drive a tractor today! Who would have ever thought that a boy from suburbia Madison, WI would be making hay and working on a 180 acre research farm. Did I mention that I got to drive a tractor today?

WALL-E and Corn

There was a threat of thunderstorms today so hay cutting on the farm is going to wait until tomorrow. We all went to Disney's WALL-E today instead. This was the first time that Becca and Dan went to the movie theater. Dan walked the isle from end to end almost the entire movie and Becca had a hard time whispering. Dan's favorite word of the day is "WALL-E". Overall, everyone did well and really enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend WALL-E because of the social statement that it makes on the problems that the U.S. is facing such as idleness, obesity and the 'throw-away' mentality. I included a picture of Sam eating corn-on-the-cob, this is the first time that he has eaten it without dipping it in ketchup. Yum-yum!

New Cargo Box

I was very excited today. My new silver Thule Atlantis 2100 cargo box arrived at the local bike store. It has 21 cubic feet of storage which is larger than my old white Thule cargo that I bought when we lived in Carbondale, IL. We have planned several trips for this year and having more room will come in handy. We did not make it to Wall-E today. I had hoped of going tomorrow but I will be cutting hay on our research farm to help one of my graduate student's research project on sustainable primocane bramble production. It is supposed to be hot tomorrow but I don't care because I love driving tractors!

Family Swim Time

Today was a typical Monday work day, nothing too exciting. It finally did not rain today so we were able to go swimming for Family Home Evening. We watched a beautiful orange sunset from within the pool. Dan can finally stand on the bottom this year which makes the pool perfect for our family. We try to swim at least two times a day weather permitting. Jen took a picture of the shed that I am building. When it is finished it will be 10 x 12' with a height of 14' and have a second story. I can't wait to get it finished. I hope to put in a 40' zip line from the second story to the kids playset when it is finished. This evening I started working on the second story and roof rafter sections. The question that everyone keeps asking me is why the two doors. I will have to answer that other day. Tomorrow we are going to try to see the new movie WALL-E by Disney. The local theater has a special on Tuesdays, bring your own bowl and they fill it for $0.50. I plan on bringing our Tupperware Thatsa Bowl (4 quarts) for myself.

Family Picture

Today was usual. Go to Church in the morning and spend time with the kids in the afternoon. I took a family picture before we left for Church and it did not turn out so well. I posted it anyway since it is the only updated picture I have. Also, Becca wanted her picture taken with me so we set up the tripod and took this wonderful picture. I am wearing my Red Cross shirt that I received for donating blood. I went to give blood on July 4th for selfish reasons, they were giving out free shirts and a $5 gas card. Jen went at 11:30 A.M. and received her free shirt and gas card. By the time I got there one hour later they were out of gas cards and I was given the last XL shirt. At first I was upset for not getting the gas card but during the screening process I was reminded that I am a "CMV Hero" and by donating I was not being selfish at all. This is a designation for donors that are CMV-free and my blood is used specifically for infants, cancer patients and transplant recipients. Cytomegalovirus or CMV is a common virus and anyone can become infected with CMV. Almost all people have been exposed to CMV by the time they reach adulthood (Citation - NY Department of Health, 2008). It was a nice fuzzy feeling moment to know that I can help others even without getting a $5 gas card.

4th of July Fun

The 4th ended up being nearly rained out, we had nearly 2" of rain. The Morgantown parade was rained out which was sad because we all enjoy going to the parade. It stopped raining around 6 P.M. so we were able to do our annual 4th of July pinata. Everyone had a blast. There is a video of Dan and Mike and pics of Sam and Becca. The kids still do not like big bangs and are not able to stay awake late so we opted to do our own fireworks this year at home. Our family really enjoyed the personal show. It lasted about 20 minutes long. Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July and remembered those that have served and are currently serving our country to give us our freedom.