Big Wind

Finished my annual report today - of course the "new" computer program has rejected all of my attempts to enter the data. Several others have had problems also. Looks like all the merit raises will go to the IT boys once again. Guess I will print a hard copy and carry it with me at all times. Life is great if you don't take it too seriously.

The winds of March are here and fishing is a no go. One year it blew all month and several of our plants started dying due to their bark being rubbed off at the soil line because the tops were flopping in the wind.

My father was cool. He had cute sayings and nicknames for things. He used to call my older brother "Big Wind". You can interpret that anyway you want. He used to call me "sugarfoot". You can interpret that anyway you want.

We put Mel's car on the lift yesterday for 5 hours. It held. Life is good. Also reattached the rear control arms, differentail and springs/shocks to the Big O. It had only been sitting 6 months since the first hurricane hit last August. Things happen when they happen.

Annual report and other stuff.

Have to get our annual faculty report done by Friday. What a pain. Thankfully there are quit a lot of good things going on to expound upon.

Looked up some plant patent information and found out how to get the photos downloaded. They are black and white only but anything helps to compare with the written descriptions. So now all of our university patents are in a folder for easy access. Total is 8 patents completed and 4 more in the final stages -- all aroids. Have to feel pretty good about that.

Crossed two tetraploid Dieffenbachia today and a couple of Spathiphyllum. The dieffenbachia are fun since no one else has these stock plants and the results should be interesting. 'ploids could be good.

My lab director gave me a sample of her homemade split pea soup today. I guess I will be working in the Z shop tonight.

Tied a few fishing rigs last night. Found most of the gear from last fall. Came up a couple of poles and reels short though. No use looking too hard -- just have to go to ebay and restock. Just kidding mosaic mom.

It is Finished and Yet It has just Begun.

The final of 3 major winter tasks is complete (see photos below). The lift is in and works great. It will be used for many tasks other than just lifting vehicles. Thanks to Mel, Barry and Nancy who made the work fun. Onward and upward.

Now it is time for spring cleaning all around. There are weeds, more hurricane trash and all sorts of crud to be swept, raked and hauled away. Mosaic Mom has the gardening well in hand so I will work on the non food items.

Speaking of food, the loquats are back and will be in full production in a few days. Man that is good eating. Couple them with some of the remaining citrus and life is good. Plus, the grape tomotoes in the greenhouse are like eating off a desert buffet. No wonder going to work is tough.

Temperatures are expected to be 60-80 this week. Guess I can get used to that. Also broke out the surf fishing gear since the pompano supply is getting low. So much to do, so little time. Need to get started making another sand flea rake.

Have to write up our annual report this week using a new computer program. There are always ways to make a miserable job worse. I love the practicality possessed by the IT crew. You can only find it with a microscope - a real good one at that.

The loyal lift crew stands before their handywork.  

Greenbean goes airborne. 

Almost there. A welcome sight for sore backs. 

An Uplifting Day.

Yesterday we got the car lift home to the Z shop and bolted it in place. We are waiting 1 day for the epoxy to harden and seal the bolts into the concrete. This is getting pretty exciting. The job was not as hard as I had feared thanks to Mel, Barry and Nancy's help.

The last hurdle is to finish wiring up the pump motor and do the lift test. Only problem is, on one wants to have their car used as the test specimen. Maybe we can draw straws. I think we will let Mel go first - he will try anything once.

The other hurdle is to see if I can get Mosaic Mom to let me get near the beast.

Today is just perfect. Sunny and 75 degrees with a slight breeze. It truly is an uplifting day, if you get my drift.

Aglaonema 'Moonlight Bay'. Its plant patent is soon to be finished. 

What a Fun Morning.....

Since I get to teach tonight I spent and extra hour playing at home before zipping to work. It was a perfect morning with sunshine, warm temps and some extra humidity.

There also was some extra poop piles in the backyard deposited last night by our resident art critic (i.e. rogue cow), whose handy work was featured in an earlier blog. Feeling frisky I moved a couple piles to within a few feet of mosaic mom's prized pea patch. All I can say is MM's reaction was just as expected. I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. It was great.....

Also, layed our the guides to show where the car lift is hopefully going in this weekend. I am just not sure it can be done in one day. Just, hope no one gets hurt.

The oil pressure in the greenbean read zero most of the way to work. I just kept going knowing that the oil pressure sending unit doesn't always work. It finally kicked in and I could finally get zippy. I guess it is time to get a new sending unit.

The aroid hybrids and mutants in the greenhouse are starting grow well now that we have had a few warm nights. No question this is my favorite time of year.

More Working Space

The Z shop has a new 25 x 25 foot concrete pad. This will soon house the car lift. That should reallly be a fun thing since the Z boys have aged dramatically and crawling under cars is tough.

It is cold again with AM temps in the low 30's. It just takes away my enthusiam for getting things done. Can't move with all the clothing on. Grrrrrrrrr.

I met today with the University cultivar release man. We had a good discussion and tour of my greenhouses. It looks like we will make some changes in how contracts affecting the release of future cutivars is handled. All for the better I think. These decisions will be very important and must be given careful consideration as to their affect on royalty collection.

Got to self pollinate my second Pothos inflorescense today. Also checked the pollen and it is binucleate. Maybe using the 1-week-old pollen from the refrigerator will work. Here is to hopes of another breakthrough. Also cut and propagated some of the pothos mutants we have been caring for. The future looks bright here.

Still coughing a little from the virus. Overall feel pretty good though. Nothing beats good health - especially when the temperatures warm up.

Surf fishing is out of the question for now. Too much to do for the next 2 months. Fun stuff though.

Now that looks good - let's get going. 

Ohhhhhhhhhh. So that is it. Looks Good!!! 

Five Happy Little Aroid Hybrids for Sring. 

Is something happening in the Z shop? 

Now things are looking up - in our backyard. 

Felt Good Today

Finally over whatever nasty virus I had. Man it did not cause you to be bed ridden but it sured created a nasty attitude. Stress, dispair, grumpy, angry, depressed, and of course 'poor me' were the feelings that predominated. I hate that. After 10 days it is gone. Hadn't been sick in at least 10 years and did not like it. No more.

That virus plus several crappy cold coudy days were disgusting. I am not in Minnesota anymore.

Today the sun was out and it hit 75 magnificant degrees. I was happy and goofy - much more normal. It was good to be back at work and stirring up a few laughs here and there.

Now spring is coming and must get to work. Besides it will be summer in 3 weeks down here.

That wasn't very nice. Eat more beef. 

Everyone is a critic.

I have been trying for 5 weeks to finish a steel structure for little Mind Escape. The first two builds were total failures. So this time we a doing it differently and making a full sized model. This required making a 5 x 5 foot PVC model of the base plate.

Once we layed out the inner pieces based on Mind Escape's drawings, it started to look pretty good. But, since Mosaicmon and I have been fighting a nasty virus we decided to walk away last night and let it set. During the night our neighbor's rogue cow "dropped by" within 5 feet of the project and made her little comments. Grrrrr...

She is probably right on. But I will not give up. However, I may take up taxidermy in the near future.

My First Banana Harvest!

I have been trying for 3 years to grow a crop of Bananas.

Mosaic Mom has her pineapples; I have the great Banana challenge.

This is a Dwarf Cavendish variety that I got from a garden center. Usually we lose them to freezes but two back to back mild winters have given us a crop.

It's easier to pick 'em up in the grocery store...and cheaper in the long run.

Hey, Mr. Tally-Man, Tally these Bananas!