28 February, 2011

Happy belated birthday MOM!

It was Mom's birthday yesterday - but at first she was at work and then she came home with a fever and went to bed. So she didn't really turn the computer on for us to use. Today she has to get out of bed for a few hours and go to school (obligatory attendence) so we made her turn the computer on!

Due to the sickies (P.A. is sick, too, he started this mess) we haven't any fun new pictures. But after all the greenhouse is Mom's birthday present from P.A. and grandpaw so this is somewhat birthday related. Mom finally got out a fan to strengthen the seedlings a bit! She couldn't remember where she put hers, so ended up borrowing P.A.'s.



Hopefully this will make them super tough! BOL!

Kisses,
B

25 February, 2011

Fruity Friday

Virus is very fascinated by the little greenhouse, or perhaps why we've gotten a little indoor garden.. This is one of the chilies when mom got the greenhouse.

Now it's grown nice new leaves, as have most of the other chilies (all 18 of them)!
The little baby oriental greens have grown nice and big and several of them are starting to show their first true leaves, too. We've repotted them to give them some more space to grow now (and the basil, too).

Have a great weekend everyone!

B

24 February, 2011

Wordless.. Thursday!




23 February, 2011

Foraging

Every February there's a big sale on books here in Norway over 800 titles in all sorts of categories are sold at up to 80% discount. I've limited my number of paper books these last few years, with my limited space. But since we're moving now I don't have to get *only* kindle books. Some handbooks are better to have as paper varieties.

I only got one book from this sale - a book about hedgerow/wild food. What weeds and wild plants can be used as food (and how)?

I look forwards to spring and trying out some of the things in here! I love foraging. To me it symbolizes a way to reconnect with nature (as opposed to our modern lives).. I'll let you know when I try things, and wheter they were a hit.




But for now we forage at the supermarket - here's a shot of last night's dinner. Since it was a Rachel Ray recipe, I suppose we should say it was yum-o. LOL!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Ane

22 February, 2011

Happy Birthday P.A.!

It's P.A.'s birthday today. Mom went downtown with him this afternoon and he got to pick out his own birthday gift (comic book, Mom was afraid to get the wrong one) and then they had lunch.

They saw these strange snow/ice figures when they were downtown. The opening ceremony of the FIS nordic world championship is tomorrow night. Looks like they have a bit of work left, but they're pretty cool!

A whole lot of screams!




Tonight they'll make yummy dinner and we'll all relax on the couch! This is what's for dinner btw: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3225 Very yummy!

B

20 February, 2011

Seedy Sunday

Mom got her mini greenhouse the other day. She's started a little trial to see if it's possible to grow a few greens in there in winter. Since the chilies are the only plants we need to start this early most of the space is unused, so it's worth a shot anyways.

Here are the seeds that sprouted today




How it's supposed to look if it ever matures:


Salad
We didn't get this online, so don't have a picture for it.

Pak Choi "Santoh"
If it ever matures this is what we'll get:



"Kailaan" stem broccoli
It could turn out looking something like this:



And finally "Tsoi Sim"




Now time will show if it works! We've started a few herbs and onions, too, but they haven't waken up yet.

Now if she'd only get those meatables started...

Kisses
B

19 February, 2011

Where's the Virus?



Hehehe.. I knew he was in there!

B

14 February, 2011

Puppy Love

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones. We don't really celebrate Valentines around here, allthough it is becoming increasingly popular (who doesn't like gifts, right? plus the stores make money). Yesterday was mothers day around here and since we are somewhat shopping challenged with paws and without monies P.A. gave Mom 1 hr massage so she just got a gift anyways. BOL!

We thought we'd find a cute puppy movie to post today.. And then we decided we could as well tell you the exciting news along with it! After we move (June) and re-decorate and stuff we'll be getting a little baby sister or brother. Most likely looking a little like these guys;



I think that will be fun. At least mostly fun.. BOL! I was a pain when I was a poopie, or so I'm told..

Kisses,
B

12 February, 2011

Black pug in the darkness!

10 February, 2011

Impressive

We saw a quite impressive movie today - now who need agility equipment when there's a world of challenges out there?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Also - thanks for all the kind words and advice for Mom. She is starting to feel a little better!

Kisses,
B

08 February, 2011

Ouch!


Would you all send a little power of the paw magic to Mom, please? The silly hooman went and got herself the biggest, baddest canker sore she's ever had right at the back of the mouth. Despite taking painkillers before going to bed she woke up from the pain in the middle of the nigth and had to take more. They are often pretty painful but she's never had to take painkillers for them before. (She's got a pretty high pain tolerance, really. She doesn't want the dentist to give her anything for the pain when fixing cavities among other things. Thinks it's a waste of money as it feels the same either way. This makes it sound like she's got lots of cavities, which isn't really true, but one has been fixed 3 times and then two more. One dentist begged her to use'em, though, as it made her nervous. BOL!)

Either way - she's managed to get a little breakfast down, but most of the time talking and eating is asking too much. Thankfully she's only got one class today, so the need for talking should be minimal.

Kisses,
Bajas

07 February, 2011

Grow, chilies, grow!

We thought we'd better keep you up to date with our "babies" - all kinds of chilies but the lemon ones have sprouted and they're growing as best as they can. I think it's about time Mom order those plant lights if she want to have them before these guys outgrow the kitchen counter!



Kisses,
the Wriggles

05 February, 2011

Gray, gray, gray..

No sun today.. Just gray, gray, gray..

04 February, 2011

Glyoxylate Friday

Okay - so first you need to follow this link to get the required soundrack:
http://www.csulb.edu/%7Ecohlberg/Songs/glyoxylate.mp3 It's nothing scary, just another song from the Biochemist's Songbook.

So - what is this Glyoxylate Cycle thingy, some of you might ask? Well, it's one of those neat things that plants can do and we cannot. They can take the fats stored in their seeds and turn it into carbohydrates. Us animals can only take carbohydrates and make fats, but not the other way around. In other words - this is what happens in the tiny (and not so tiny depending on the species) seed when it germinates. It takes fats and makes carbohydrates of it, since carbohydrates (and water) are the main components on the roots and stems of the baby (and adult) plant.

We are, of course, playing the Glyoxylate song for our little chili seeds. And guess what? A few tiny roots have appeared in at least 3 of our seeds. We can't see the rest of them, so we don't know if they're growing yet. They're too tiny to get a good picture of yet - but they look a little like these sprouting mung beans (just smaller).



We thank you for all the well wishes for Mom. She's feeling a whole lot better today, just a little tired. And waking up to see that the chili seeds had sprouted made for an extra happy start to the day. She checked them before bedtime last night and they hadn't and during the night they grew little 2mm "worms". But don't worry. There's plenty of time for her to kill them yet. BOL!

Happy Friday everyone!

Kisses,
B

03 February, 2011

Curly

Photobucket

See? Hyssy is getting really nice and curly. He's even grown more furs since this picture was taken. :)

Mom's been having a migraine yesterday and today. They don't come very often, but she sure is poor company while they last!

Kisses,
B

02 February, 2011

Wordy Wednesday



BOL!

B

01 February, 2011

Sowing Chilis

I picked up the seeds from the UK this morning on my way to school. I'll introduce the different varieties later.

I stopped by a garden center on my way home to get some supplies. What I had was mainly good for regular potted plants.

I chose the lazy version, so I didn't get dirt all over the apartment this time. Good thing, really. I was cleaning out the kitty litter pan and Hyssing jumped into it and emptied the ENTIRE thing all over the livingroom.. Had to run and get out the vacuum to prevent the kitties from deciding the entire livingroom was their new bathroom while I was away. Why do these things always happen when you are on your way out?
All nicely soaked with hot water, seeds are in and they've been lightly covered and placed in a cupboard on the bathroom floor. I hope the heated floor underneath will provide the necessary temperature to germinate these seeds. I had only 8 seeds of the Lemon Drop and Nepalese Bells varieties, so I've sown all of those, and half or less of the Jalapeno and Filius Blue. So at least I have something to fall back on if these fail.

Oh.. and here's another pretty winter sky picture! :)

Ane