I have been so busy with things lately it has felt nice to have "free time"...anyway I digest.......I have started my final year in hell, I mean school, and Rachel has begun her first year at vet school. We have settled into our apartment and have even decorated the damn thing half respectably. We are in the home stretch before the wedding and counting down the hours. I have concluded my job with Story County Conservation and have begun my interm job working for the parking division at Iowa State. I am now that asshole you yell at for giving you a ticket for illegally parking on university property. Horridly satisfying to write tickets...Sorry Lisa. :) It will be another year of surviving and hoping a job awaits me in the real world.
Stay Tuned
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Coleman's Project: Cuttings
This last summer I had Mother teach me the ways of the cuttings master herself. I took some cuttings from multiple specimens including viburnum dentatum, viburnum trilobum, flowering dogwood, mountain maple, river birch, hazelnut, and hydrangea, and went through the work with Mother in the greenhouse. After almost two months of soaking in the greenhouse I determined it was time to line them out.
I got some absolutely phenomenal root masses on a few of the cuttings. The dogwoods and the Viburnum trilobum specifically just exploded.
Dad mowed/bailed a patch for me up by the old garden and I began tilling.
Micheal Parker showed up to shoot his new muzzleloader, but I had some work for him to do first. We lined out two and a half trays of my cuttings whether they had developed roots or not.
We finished up by taking the duff Dad left after mowing and mulched the areas.
I began this project in the hopes that I could take them to Coleman's and work on a browse source out there. It will most likely be a couple of years before I see real results, but I will be able to plant some of them next spring and fall. This has been a great learning experiences and now that I know how to do this I can continue to do it.
MOM! teach me how to root graft!
Once I have learned that, I will be invincible!
Stay tuned
Dad mowed/bailed a patch for me up by the old garden and I began tilling.
I began this project in the hopes that I could take them to Coleman's and work on a browse source out there. It will most likely be a couple of years before I see real results, but I will be able to plant some of them next spring and fall. This has been a great learning experiences and now that I know how to do this I can continue to do it.
MOM! teach me how to root graft!
Once I have learned that, I will be invincible!
Stay tuned
Wood Work
It's has been awhile since I have been able to get on and post. One of my latest projects involved making my first table. My buddy, Ned Parker, helped me with some hauling last October and it was time to repay him for his help. I used 30 year old wild grapevine as the legs underneath the largest eastern red cedar slab I have obtained. It took me some deep thinking and some outside inputs from Poindexter, but I finally figured out a way to attach the legs to the slab.
I was able to get the table finished within the weekend and the next Tuesday give it to Ned.
Nick found it necessary for me to show what my shop normally looks like:
I figured Uncle Dave would appreciate it.
Stay Tuned
Thursday, August 4, 2011
New apartment meal
Rachel never ceases to amaze me. She concocted an absolutely amazing homemade spaghetti sauce made from the tomatoes we grew on our deck at the old apartment. Because of the sauce she of course had to make homemade noodles as well. There was a baguette on the side and Shiraz to complete the ensemble. Simple amazing.
Stay Tuned
Stay Tuned
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Not the Holiday I Expected
If sensitive to any graphic material please read only the first and last paragraph. Thank you.
Yesterday was my third day working the beach house at Hickory Grove Park, east of Nevada, Iowa, for the Fourth of July Holiday. Saturday was busier than ever but everyone was polite and civil. Sunday that went away, even though it rained on and of all day. Once I was done for the day it was great to just get back to my apartment. Sunday was going to be another day of beach house hell. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was going to be more hell than I ever could have imagined. At about 3:00 give or take, a guy came up to the beach house saying something about a person drowning. Before I knew what was going on my supervisor was running back up the hill and then my co-worker and I were in a canoe headed out. We were the first county employees on the water and it was imperative we find out what happened. Someone went in the water and didn't come out. We searched the water but got nothing. We then got every person either near or directly involved to the docks where there were deputies waiting to take statements. This was no longer a rescue mission but a search mission. Through all of that I was able to keep my cool and even take charge when my co-worker locked up. It wasn't the end of the world but he just had some situational shock. I helped clear the beach of all of the other people there at the time. We got all the information we could and then left the rest to the sheriff. At this point we were instructed to stay at the beach to help keep the peace. The mother was rightfully so, hysterical. The language barrier was the most difficult part of the whole thing. She kept mentioning another person that was going to freak out and then we figured out it was the victims fiance. The family spent the remainder of the evening at the beach which was now shut down for the day. The family priest came to help console the family which was necessary at this juncture. My co-worker and I then helped clean up the area and do whatever else we could to do positively occupy our time. At about 8:50 my boss comes to me and says I need to take the truck back because they can no longer have me on the clock, but that I could stick around if I wanted to.
It may sound weird, but through a morbid curiosity I stayed. I got back from the taking the truck back to my co-worker, whose car was at the garage, just to see the Denison dive team working the water. I watched at the bubbles tracked across the water, and then pause at the third buoy marker. The team surfaced and one diver tapped his head twice. They found him. I watched as they pulled him ashore and went through their protocol. They found him not 10 yards from where my co-worker and I last marked the spot, in 27 feet of water. Mere hours before we filled out paperwork for the boat to be rented.
This was more of an experience than I ever thought I was capable of going through. I have a new found respect for those that were or are EMT's. They go through this frequently and I am thankful that they knew what they are doing. I also have a deeper respect for my sister. She has seen things that most cannot fathom. I have come out of this whole ordeal with a better outlook on life. Damn it is fragile. I hope this is the only time I am involved in a situation like this, but I know better and next time I will be that much more prepared.
In God we must trust
Stay Tuned
Yesterday was my third day working the beach house at Hickory Grove Park, east of Nevada, Iowa, for the Fourth of July Holiday. Saturday was busier than ever but everyone was polite and civil. Sunday that went away, even though it rained on and of all day. Once I was done for the day it was great to just get back to my apartment. Sunday was going to be another day of beach house hell. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was going to be more hell than I ever could have imagined. At about 3:00 give or take, a guy came up to the beach house saying something about a person drowning. Before I knew what was going on my supervisor was running back up the hill and then my co-worker and I were in a canoe headed out. We were the first county employees on the water and it was imperative we find out what happened. Someone went in the water and didn't come out. We searched the water but got nothing. We then got every person either near or directly involved to the docks where there were deputies waiting to take statements. This was no longer a rescue mission but a search mission. Through all of that I was able to keep my cool and even take charge when my co-worker locked up. It wasn't the end of the world but he just had some situational shock. I helped clear the beach of all of the other people there at the time. We got all the information we could and then left the rest to the sheriff. At this point we were instructed to stay at the beach to help keep the peace. The mother was rightfully so, hysterical. The language barrier was the most difficult part of the whole thing. She kept mentioning another person that was going to freak out and then we figured out it was the victims fiance. The family spent the remainder of the evening at the beach which was now shut down for the day. The family priest came to help console the family which was necessary at this juncture. My co-worker and I then helped clean up the area and do whatever else we could to do positively occupy our time. At about 8:50 my boss comes to me and says I need to take the truck back because they can no longer have me on the clock, but that I could stick around if I wanted to.
It may sound weird, but through a morbid curiosity I stayed. I got back from the taking the truck back to my co-worker, whose car was at the garage, just to see the Denison dive team working the water. I watched at the bubbles tracked across the water, and then pause at the third buoy marker. The team surfaced and one diver tapped his head twice. They found him. I watched as they pulled him ashore and went through their protocol. They found him not 10 yards from where my co-worker and I last marked the spot, in 27 feet of water. Mere hours before we filled out paperwork for the boat to be rented.
This was more of an experience than I ever thought I was capable of going through. I have a new found respect for those that were or are EMT's. They go through this frequently and I am thankful that they knew what they are doing. I also have a deeper respect for my sister. She has seen things that most cannot fathom. I have come out of this whole ordeal with a better outlook on life. Damn it is fragile. I hope this is the only time I am involved in a situation like this, but I know better and next time I will be that much more prepared.
In God we must trust
Stay Tuned
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Company Whilst Splitting
After work I took some time to split as much of the wood as I could that I and Rachel have been collecting for our apartment. In doing so I hit a cherry log, glancing of the side. When I turned the log to get a better whack, this not so little creature showed itself.
To give a little bit of size reference here it is next to my hand
This was a cool creature to come across during my wood splitting, plus I needed a break.
Stay Tuned
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