My First Black Eye!!!

First picture taken to see the damage!

 I don't usually wear my helmet gansta style.

Getting home from the doctor's office

and no, I didn't go to the doctor for a cheek implant

 The night of day one.

 The morning after...

The second night and ready to go out on the town to show off my black eye.

 Day 3

 Day 4

 Day 5

 Day 6

4 weeks later...

I went mountain biking with my sister a few weeks ago.  It started out as a normal ride.  I asked my sister to bring her camera so we could take pictures of ourselves attempting to do some of the tricks along the trail.  The trail that we ride is, for the most part, fairly easy.  There are some technical parts that you can avoid, but this girl, likes a challenge.  When we came to the fork in the trail, I told my sister to take the easy path and I would meet her at the bridge where the two trails meet again.  


As I started off on my own, I was hyping myself up for what was about to come.  There is one dip that is covered in rocks and I have only made it through successfully one time.  I was bound and determined to do it again this time.  I had one dip to go through before the dip in question.  I was in *the zone, and started to go down the dip.  I was looking ahead to see how I had to maneuver to go back up.  I had some speed and started to turn when all of the sudden, I did an *endo and decided to take a *soil sampling.  After a minute of figuring out how to get my bike off of me, I got up and look to see what made me do a *superman.  When looking at the ground, I noticed that I could see my cheek.  I freaked out because after my *auger, I slid about a foot.  My initial thought was that I scraped my face and I was seeing all the skin bunched up.  So before I yelled for my sister, I took a picture so I could see the damage and warn her.  I saw just a cut but was still freaked out.  Oh, and the only thing I saw that my bike could have possibly flipped over, was a tree stump that was about three inches above ground and five inches wide. 


 After I found my sister, we rode back on the levee.  I figured it would be easier than going the rest of the way on the trail, but I did think about finishing our ride on the trail.  It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be because we ended up having to ride into a 20 mph wind.  We were about four miles away.  With the wind, it felt like we were going no where.  It was so bad that we got off our bikes and walked for a little bit.  It felt like we were walking faster than riding. We finally made it to my vehicle.  I dropped off my sister and I went to the doctor to see if I needed stitches.  I didn't need stitches but I did have my cut glued so it would heal properly.  


When I arrived home,  I looked to see what other damages I had.  My hand was pretty scraped up.  I have a few scrapes on my shin, arm, and shoulder.  I had a huge bruise on my inner thigh, probably from my handle bar.  The next day my whole left side was sore.  It hurt to raise my left arm.  It has been about four weeks after my wreck and my cheek is still sore to the touch but other than that, I am completely recovered.  I will be back on the trails next week for some more action!

*The Zone- The state where you don't think, you just do.
*Endo- The maneuver of flying unexpectedly over the handlebars, thus being forcibly ejected from the bike.
*Soil Sampling - a face plant
*Superman - a rider who flies over the handlebars and doesn't hit the ground for a long time.  This may result in injury, and when it does, it's really funny for everyone else.
*Auger - to involuntarily take drill samples of the local geology, usually with your face, during a crash. 
Definitions found at http://www.trails-edge.com/bikedic.htm

Slow Growing???

Hen and Chicks

Euphorbia Horrida V Nova

aka

African Milk Barrel

My hens decided to produce chicks.  I was a little surprised since it is the middle of winter.  What was more surprising to see was that my African Milk Barrel decided to bloom.  I thought winter was a resting period for cacti and succulents. 

I didn't even know if I was taking good care of my African Milk Barrel.  Since it was given to me, it hasn't produced more thorns.  It has grown taller but I was still a little leery of the care I was giving.  It is really hard not to water a plant for three months, but after a couple cacti dying in my possession I learned very quickly not to over water.  Over watering is the number one killer of cacti.  I had a cactus that looked fine and then one day it collapsed because it had rotted from over watering.  So seeing the blooms puts a smile on my face and lets me know that I am doing something right.

My Indoor Plants!

 Part of My Night Blooming Cereus Plant

Hen and Chicks

A Flower From My String of Hearts Plant

Now that fall is here and winter is coming the weather is too cold for my plants to remain outside so I have moved them indoors. While I was collecting houseplants and succulents from friends and family over the summer, I failed to realize that I would have to bring them indoors for the winter.  Needless to say my apartment is now a jungle.  

My Balcony

One of these things is not like the others....

My balcony from the outside

My balcony from my chair.

My favorite picture of my balcony.

Cucumber Time!

 The best cucumbers in the world are the ones grown in your own backyard or in my case on my balcony.  

My cucumber and redskin pepper plants!

One of my favorite daily visitors!

Hang on Snoopy, Snoopy hang on

So far things are a little slow going on my balcony due to the extreme heat this summer.  I finally was able to pick five cucumbers off my plant.  There are about a dozen still growing.  I picked  four more peppers off my pepper plant.  I had to move my pepper plant to my balcony because the sun was burning my peppers.  I had it beside my apartment building and it was in the sun from sunup to sundown.  I moved it to my balcony, which limited it to the afternoon/evening sun and the new peppers didn't get burned.  One of the benefits of container gardening is that you can move your plants.  I witnessed a bee pollinating my cucumber plant.  It fascinated me because the bee went to every single blossom.  There are probably at least 50 blossoms on my plant. The last pictures is of a tendril from my cucumber plant that somehow found a spider web to wrap itself around.  Take a closer look and you can just barely see the web.  If you click on the picture, it should enlarge it and it gives you a closer look.  It starts at the tip of the leaf at the bottom of the picture and goes straight up to the roof. Nature simply amazes me.

My Lemon Tree

Looking a little sad :(

About six years ago when I lived with my sister she received a small lemon tree.  If I remember correctly it was approximately six inches tall so not very big at all. Since I am the one who has the green thumb in the family, my sister so graciously gave it to me, or at least that is what I thought.   We continued to live together and I continued to care for the lemon tree.  It grew to a couple feet tall and we found out that if you pulled off a leaf and rubbed it, it smelled like a lemon.  I wonder if all citrus fruit tree leaves smell like their fruit.  Anyway, my sister decided it was time to get married to boyfriend.  She moved out and got married and I continued to care for the lemon tree for a few months after her wedding, which was in April.  August rolled around and I actually moved back in with my sister and her husband.  My sister has an awesome sunroom so when I moved in, all my plants ended up in her sunroom, including the lemon tree.  While living with my sister, again, the lemon tree bloomed and produced a couple of lemons.  The blossoms are very sweet smelling by the way.  After awhile, I decided that I should move out, or was given a gentle nudge to move out.  While my sister and I were sorting out what was mine and what was hers,  she decided to lay claim on my lemon tree.  She claimed it was given to her and I agreed but then she said that she never gave it to me.  I disagreed. After much debate, we decided to share it.


I hadn't been over to my sister's for a couple of weeks so when I went over there I noticed that the leaves were falling off.  When I took a closer look, I noticed tiny webs all over the tree.  I immediately knew what was going on.  My tree was being attacked by spider mites.  I loathe spider mites.  I immediately made my insecticidal soap and went into battle mode.  After covering every leaf, thorn, blossom, and branch, I felt much better.  I knew the battle wasn't over yet.  They lay eggs and the soap won't kill the eggs.  Once I conquered the mites, it was healing time for my tree.  


The lemon tree resided with my sister for a few months after the war.  I felt it wasn't bouncing back fast enough and determined it was not getting enough direct sun light in its current location.  It had two lemons growing on it and I felt they weren't helping the situation either. When there is fruit on a tree, it uses all its energy on the fruit.  After discussing what we should do, we determined the tree should go outside and the fruit needed to be cut off.  If you know anything about taking plants from the indoors to out you know that there is a transition phase.  If you take your plant outside in direct sunlight you risk burning the leaves.  So I took the tree to my place and put in on my balcony where it would receive partial sun.  After a week, I took it back to my sister's and it is now getting full sun and growing quite nicely.

My First Harvest!!!

Redskin Hybrid Pepper Plant

peppers, peppers, & more peppers

don't these look delicious

This is my first year trying to grow a pepper plant in a container and so far I am having amazing luck.  This is a picture of my first four peppers from my redskin pepper plant! You may notice that these peppers are not red.  It is because I just could not wait for them to turn red. This variety of pepper plant matures green to red, but you can enjoy them at either color.  These were the four biggest peppers on my plant. They are about three inches long and two inches wide. I will try to wait for the next batch to turn red and post pictures of them.  Now I have to decide on how I want to eat them. Fresh, stuffed, or steamed? 

Bell peppers are rich in vitamin A, C, and B6.  They are also full of fiber and have many other health benefits.  One cup of bell peppers will fill your daily needs for vitamin A and C. According to www.organic.org, bell peppers are among the "dirty dozen."  The "dirty dozen" is a list of the top twelve types of produce that are known to have the highest amount of pesticide residue.  Growing your own peppers allows you to know that what you are eating hasn't been treated by any pesticides.  Another alternative would be to buy organic and support your local farmers by visiting the farmer's market in your area.