Tie Dyed Gone Wild

About a year ago, Jake decided to make a few tied dyed t-shirts. He did this for no particular reason. He just woke up one day and decided to make a couple of shirts. Just a little summer fun so to speak. Jake and his helpers made their first batch of shirts using Rit dye of the variety you can find in many hobby stores. This is the type that comes in a small box. The shirts came out fine, but boiling a vat of dye was a lot of work, and the dyed shirts didn't stay dyed for very long. Jake did a little research and discovered Procion MX dye. This technique uses dye in a squirt tube. Not only is this technique easier to use, but the resulting shirts are a lot more vivid and the dye stays on the shirts after many washings.

Jake has now made several hundred shirts and has given most of them away. His momma always told him that there are only so many tie dyed shirts a man needs in his life and the rest are just for showing off. So Jake makes the shirts and gives them away. Before he gives this batch away though, he thought he would take a picture to remembers his creations and the fun he had making them. If you would like to learn to make these shirts, here are the directions that Jake uses.

Seven Fall (Colorado Springs)

Jake is normally able to talk his co-workers into a little hike when they are on business trips. This week, Jake's power of persuasion seemed to be lagging because he was unable to get a single taker on a hike. Not to be deterred, he decided to go it alone. Today's destination was Seven Falls in Colorado Springs. It was a really nice day for a hike. It was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the 70s.

Seven Falls is a series of seven cascading waterfalls in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The sum of the height of the seven falls is 181 feet (55.17 m) and there are a total of 224 steps on the staircase from the base of the falls to the peak. On December 5, 1872, Nathaniel Colby homesteaded the 160 acres (0.65 km2) that included the present day Seven Falls and South Cheyenne Canyon. Colby did not want the possible value of his purchase, for nine months later he sold the land to the Colorado Springs Land Company for $1000.
Other Colorado Springs Attractions

• Mount Manitou Scenic Incline Railway (Colorado Springs)
• Garden Of The Gods (Colorado Springs)
  
• Manitou Springs (Manitou Springs)
  
• Mount Cutler Hiking Trail (Colorado Springs)
• Pikes Peak (Colorado Springs)
• Ghost Town Museum (Colorado Springs)
  
• Helen Hunt Falls (Colorado Springs)
• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado Springs)

Belle of Georgia Semi-Dwarf Peach Tree Growth

The Belle of Georgia Semi-Dwarf Peach Tree that we planted just over a year ago is doing great. The tree has grown several feet and has really filled out.
The tree has so much fruit growing on it that Jake had to thin out some of the peaches today in order to keep the young branches from snapping under the weight. This is despite the fact that the Japanese Beatles ate the tree up pretty good last year. We used the growing instructions located on this page and they seem to work pretty well. We can't wait to harvest our first few peaches this year. In the coming years we will be eating peaches, peach pie, peach cobbler, peach preserves, peach ice cream, peach cake, peach parfaits.

Related Articles:

• Belle of Georgia Semi Dwarf Peach Tree
• Belle of Georgia Semi Dwarf Peach Tree Care
  
• Japanese Beatles are eating my peach tree
• Belle of Georgia Semi Dwarf Peach Tree Growth
  

Hiking In The Swamp

Happy Memorial day everyone. Today the Pohicks took a little walk in the woods. Or perhaps I should say they took a little walk in the swamp.
Today's hike took them through a piece of the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has a number of boardwalks that allow you to walk through the swamp without actually walking through the swamp. Just close enough to hear "things" jumping into the water.
We probably could have used just a tad more bug spay. When I say a tad more, I mean some, because we didn't put any on at all. We thought about applying bug spay, but we just didn't. Hey, the bugs have to eat too, right?

Sod

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Then we put in flooring, doors and trim. And then we installed kitchen cabinets and shelving. And finally today, we did the landscaping.
Truth be told, laying sod is probably not the most intellectually challenging task that Jake has done during the construction of the habitat house. The only instruction that was given out by the foreman was, "Make sure you put the green side up."
Though the task was not mentally difficult, there were eight pallets of sod to put down. That's a lot of bending and lifting.
After the landscaping was complete, everyone took a step back and admired their handiwork. A lot of hard work and love has gone into the house. The home owner is very excited to be moving into the house in a few weeks.

Cardinal Attacking Window

For the last several days, a male cardinal has been attacking our kitchen window. The first time he did this, we thought it was an accident. Oh, that poor bird just flew into our window. Then he picked himself up and did it again. "Wow", we said, "You don't see that every day." Then we hypothesized that the bird saw one of Molly's flowers inside the house and was for some reason trying to get at it. Jake, thought that the bird was trying to get in and do the Chicken Dance with us since we do that on a regular basis.

At little research on the net led us to the real answer. If we could witness the scene from the bird's point of view, the real cause of the bird's behavior would be clear. We would see what the bird sees: its reflection in the windowpane.

Apparently, Cardinals are very territorial. When a bird decides on a nest site, the surrounding area becomes its territory and it aggressively protects its territory by driving other birds away. Northern Mockingbirds sometimes display similar behavior when they are protecting a food source, such as a shrub full of berries.

Most birds have a strong sense of territory, especially during the breeding season. It is nature's way of minimizing competition for food and nest sites. The singing of adult male birds is a familiar manifestation of nesting territoriality in birds. A male's characteristic song, usually given from several preferred perches in its territory, says, in effect, "This is where my mate and I plan to nest; others of my species respect my boundaries and stay out."

We aren't sure how long the mating season lasts, but we hope Mr. Cardinal stops crashing into our window. It's kind of scary in an Alfred Hitchcock sort of way.

French Award

This week Scribbles was given an award as the top French Language student at her school. The award was presented as part of a regional assembly of the Huntsville-Madison French Teacher's Association. Jake who is very proud of Scribble's accomplishment attended the ceremony with her. Even though Jake is very proud of her, he really wanted her to study Spanish which he thought would be more practical foreign language to study. C'est la vie. As you can imagine, there was a fair amount of French speaking at the French Award Ceremony. Jake who speaks about three words of French was undeterred and began to do a comedy routine concerning Inspector Clouseau of Pink Panther Fame much to the abject horror of Scribbles.

Clouseau: Does yer dewg bite?
Inn Keeper: No
Clouseau: Nice Doggy (bends down to pet a dachshund - it snarls and bites him)
I thought you said yer dewg did not bite!
Inn Keeper: Zat... iz not my dog!

Clouseau: And who are yeu ?
Jarvis: I'm Jarvis, the butler.
Clouseau: And what is it yeu deu..?

Housekeeper: You've ruined that piano!
Clouseau: What is the price of one piano, compared to the terrible crime that has been committed here
Housekeeper: But that's a priceless Steinway!
Clouseau: Nyot Anymeur.

Scribbles who is generally immune to Jake's antics did not appreciate Jake's attempt at French humor. There were even threats of physical harm if he did not desist immediately. Though he mostly complied with this directive he still managed to work in a few guttural "Wee-Wees" during the remainder of the ceremony. Viva La France!

Habitat Kitchen Cabinets and Shelves

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Then we put in flooring, doors and trim. Today we installed kitchen cabinets and shelving. Jake got put on the shelf installation crew. He installed shelving in 6 closets plus the laundry room. While installing shelves in one of the bedrooms, we were visited by the family who will be moving into the house. The little girl was very excited to see her new room.
Another team was installing the cabinets in the kitchen. One of the cabinets contained a lazy susan. It just so happened that the two guys who were installing that section, both have wives named Susan. They decided that it would be more appropriate to call that section the efficient Susan rather than the lazy Susan.

So where does the term "lazy Susan" come from anyway? According to wikipedia, legend has it, the term was officially coined in reference to Susan B. Anthony in 1868 by political leaders opposed to her efforts supporting women's suffrage. The term began to surface after an attempted effort by Anthony to make a case for gender equality by denouncing a woman's 'duty' to fulfill cooking needs within the household. However, her adversaries dismissed the idea as an effort to disguise her laziness, hence, referring to her in the papers as 'Lazy Susan.'

Hot Fudge Sundae

Sarah Ray performed in the final concert of the year this week. This was her first year in the band. The beginner band came a long way from the start of the school year. The beginner band performed three selections. They were Hot Fudge Sundae, A Prehistoric Suite and Dr. ROCKenstein. The attached video is Hot Fudge Sundae which was written by David Martin and was conducted by Mr. Kevin Johnson who was student teaching at Sarah Ray's school this year.

Tomato Garden

It is officially spring time now. Jake got his tomato garden going yesterday. He can hardly wait until he can start harvesting those delicious ripe tomatoes.