Point your browsers, everyone, we're changing locations!

After nearly a month of being unable to get this site to load images (and finding only a dead link when I searched to find out if the issue was that I'd reached capacity) I decided to go with a host that is a bit more advanced. 

For now I'm leaving this Mcfamily page as is, but from here on out I'll be posting over at the new and improved McCfamily page! (hey, even a new spelling!) If you're curious just come on over and check it out. And please bookmark the site for future reference, because that's where all the new action will be. 

The pace is picking up

Still no luck posting pictures, so I'll just say it in a thousand words. I'm seriously miffed about the no-picture thing. 

I've been germinating seeds like crazy these days and if everything goes well we'll have plenty of stuff to set out in the garden. Our last freeze date is April 15th, but some of the cool weather stuff can tolerate being out even before then, so we're getting ready. The lettuce we originally planted got really lanky and floppy, so we've got a new batch of seeds germinating. Apparently lettuce seeds don't keep from year to year, so we'll just go crazy planting lettuce. Robbie made a really cool light stand yesterday, so we now have two places to germinate seeds. 

Another thing that Robbie's building this weekend is a work bench for Riley to use out in the wood shop. He's getting to the point where he can actually do stuff in the shop, like use a crank drill, sand, saw, hammer etc, so it's time for him to have something his size to work on so he doesn't have to stand on a chair at the big bench. Robbie just called me out to see it in it's raw stage and it's COOL! :-) Ri's going to flip out. 

I've been trying to squeeze in a little bit of time to work on some button-themed stuff the last couple of days. I've been checking out some of the ideas and tutorials on this site and have made one necklace so far, but there are lots of ideas waiting that I look forward to getting to. 

One thing that's been a nice by-product of the button interest is that I've had an opportunity to go through my buttons and get a idea what I actually have. Most of them are old I'm not even sure where they came from (probably acquired by my mom and I at our respective thrift stores/yard sales etc) but they're beautiful and amazing to look at in bulk. I spent a little bit of time last week sorting them by color into canning jars and it's quite a sight to see. 

Riley's watching Wall-E for the five millionth time, so I'd better get some things taken care of before he's on the move again. 

 

Wow, this is annoying

I've been trying to post for the last several days and can not for the life of me get any of my images to load. It seems to be related to how many other people are also using the blogger server because at low-use times they load in seconds. Normal use times it takes many minutes or they don't load at all. (I tried during the recent big sporting event--I think it was the super

bowl--and the pictures flew up in seconds!) 

We have been so busy here getting our little garden going and I have a huge pile-up of pictures waiting to be loaded, but we're still undecided how to get them up. We were talking tonight about maybe moving the blog to see if that'd help. 

Anyway, if you check back and see I haven't updated, it's not because I haven't tried. 

Spring, just like that!

Spring in the south always takes me by surprise, despite the fact that I've lived in this region for 16 years. (which in itself is a surprise) This year it has come on especially dramatically, given that we had four inches of snow last weekend and within days it was in the mid 70's, but so it is here. Riley and I were out back putting down mulch today (that is, I was putting down mulch, he was cavorting as only a four year old boy can) and I noticed that our dogwoods are blooming! Just like that! 

Our seedlings are doing really well, though they're lanky and would clearly prefer real sun to the florescent grow light, despite the fact that it is a mere fraction of a inch above the leaves. I brought them out to receive some diffused light both yesterday and today, but today one of the broccoli plants suffered a pretty significant injury today at Riley's hand. I didn't see it happen, but heard him say that he'd given the plants 'a little drink' and when I came to check things out the plant's stem was broken. I guess it's all part of the learning curve for all of us. 

Two weeks old

The sprouts are just shy of two weeks old and they're still changing by the day. The broccoli and lettuces have moved past seed leaves and are now producing the leaves that they'll sport as adults. They all got their first 'food' today in the form of a diluted fish emulsion fertilizer, which is truly foul smelling stuff, but is apparently just what these babies need. 

The broccoli and lettuces as of yesterday.

The pepper plant in it's jaunty hat!

Sprouts!

It is flat out amazing to see what these seeds have done. Or at least it is to us, who are new to this seed germination thing. We put them in the soil last week, set them in our little make-shift germination box, and within two days (two days!) most had sprouted. The basil only sent up it's first leaves a couple of days ago and the pepper seeds are just beginning to open up and show hints of green, but everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

If all goes well between now and April 15th, our last frost date, we'll be able to transfer many of these tiny sprouts out to the garden. 

The broccoli and lettuces are now about an inch and a half tall.

Wee sprouts! 

What's amazing about the sweet basil is that these are from a packet of seeds that Robbie and I grew when we first started dating. I found the packet when I was cleaning in the basement and thought 'what the heck, throw them in and see what happens'. Voila! Basil. 

It's all wide open from here

Well, we've decided it was too much of a nuisance to too many people to keep the McFamily site invite only, so here it is, log-in free. 

Initially it felt a little weird to think of our family details out there for the world to see, but in light of the endless blather on the web it became a little ridiculous to think that 'the world' would seek out irrelevant minutia about our gardening perils and various ailments, so we're not freaking any longer. 

Our annual snow!

Wow! The forecast said to expect some snow today, and they were right! We woke this morning to the sound of Riley sprinting through the house exclaiming "It's SNOWING!!". The flakes fell thick and huge and in no time everything was covered. Before it stopped we got something like three inches and it was hugely fun for everyone! :-)

Riley, outside, even before it was fully light. 

After breakfast we all got bundled up and went outside to frolic and play! 

Riley was the snowball master. Look out, Dada!

Wow, it's really snowing!

Lets make a snowman! 

Rrrrrrrrrrraaahhhhh!

Hi there! Welcome to Birmingham, Alabama, AKA Winter Wonderland!