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Please feel free to click on the links below and take a look:
My Galleries On Fine Art America
Another Way To View My Photographs On Fine Art America
Almost Time To Start Gardening
With the warmer weather just around the corner I have been spending some time getting everything ready for this upcoming gardening season. The plants that I started from seeds are doing really well. My tomato plants are getting taller and my sweet pepper plants are looking really healthy. I planted approximately 5 different types of sweet peppers. Last count I have 35 healthy plants. I have 15 large pots on the back deck to transplant the peppers into at the right time. I will have quite a number of extra plants, which I will be giving away. I will also have extra tomato plants, which I have 3 varieties.
Yesterday I spent some time putting together a fenced in area where I will put approximately 4 tomato plants after I transplant them into my largest outdoor pots. I decided to move the tomatoes away from my pepper plants since last year I battled all kinds of diseases on both the tomato and pepper plants. This way if either the tomatoes or the pepper plants come down with a disease it won't have an impact on the other.
The location of this tomato cage is on the other side of the house next to the fence. This location gets a lot of sun which the tomato plants like. My only concern will be that the casge is next to our bird feeders and birds like to peck at the tomatoes. My plan is to cage in the whole area where my tomatoes will be growing in so that no birds can get to the plants and the tomatoes themselves.
Below are photos of my plants growing indoors and of my partially built tomato cage. All I need is some open air top to fully enclose the cage...either plastic fencing or wire fencing which will be carefully attached to the fence.
I figure that I will have everything planted outside by the end of this month...corn, potatoes, sweet peppers and my tomatoes.
Yesterday I spent some time putting together a fenced in area where I will put approximately 4 tomato plants after I transplant them into my largest outdoor pots. I decided to move the tomatoes away from my pepper plants since last year I battled all kinds of diseases on both the tomato and pepper plants. This way if either the tomatoes or the pepper plants come down with a disease it won't have an impact on the other.
The location of this tomato cage is on the other side of the house next to the fence. This location gets a lot of sun which the tomato plants like. My only concern will be that the casge is next to our bird feeders and birds like to peck at the tomatoes. My plan is to cage in the whole area where my tomatoes will be growing in so that no birds can get to the plants and the tomatoes themselves.
Below are photos of my plants growing indoors and of my partially built tomato cage. All I need is some open air top to fully enclose the cage...either plastic fencing or wire fencing which will be carefully attached to the fence.
I figure that I will have everything planted outside by the end of this month...corn, potatoes, sweet peppers and my tomatoes.
Get Cash Back When You Shop Online
Not sure if you have heard of Ebates. They have been around for a while. We joined a couple of years ago...no fees at all and Vronica and I have received what they call "Big Fat Checks" totalling almost $300. We got a $99.30 check in Feb and right now we are at $56.20 and growing on our next upcoming check in mid May. If you do any amount of shopping online this cash really adds up. We bought 2 new suitcases online at ebags and got $32.93 back and this was on top of the sale ebags was having at the time. If you are going to spend the money online then you might as well get something extra back.
Here is a link for more info about Ebates. If you use the link and join, I will get a $25 bonus and you will get $10 just for trying it out. I wanted to be right up front about the $ so you would not think I was trying to pull a fast one on anybody. This is legit...check them out for yourselves.
Here is a link for more info about Ebates. If you use the link and join, I will get a $25 bonus and you will get $10 just for trying it out. I wanted to be right up front about the $ so you would not think I was trying to pull a fast one on anybody. This is legit...check them out for yourselves.
Time To start Thinking About Gardening
Today is Sunday, March 11th. I have already started preparing for this years vegetable gardening season. I am in the process of growing various tomato and pepper plants indoors under grow lights.
I went to both Walmart and Home Depot and bought a bunch of seed potatoes..Northland Red, Yukon Gold and a different variety of Yukon Gold.
I took all of the potato tomato seeds and placed them on trays and I have them either in front of a sunny window or under the grow lights. Eyes have popped out on all of the seed potatoes.
I got my portable cloth garden out of the shed and put it together for my potatoes bed. I put the initial layer of gardening soil in it...approximately 3-4" deep.
I also ventured into my 2 fenced in gardens and got some work done. Last year I dug up my oval shaped garden area. This is the garden that I had planted my huge sauce tomatoes in last year. At the end of last season I turned the soil, fenced the garden in and then laid down some landscape/garden cloth that keeps the weeds out but allow air and water the go through the cloth.
I went into both of those fenced on gardens and cut out circles where I would plant my corn seeds. I made sure that this year I did not crowd the spacing between where each corn stalk would be. Last years corn crop was pathetic because I tried to plant to many varieties and the spacing was not adequate for the corn to grow properly. Now that I am utilizing both fenced in gardens for corn there is no need to not space the corn properly.
Below are photos of what I have got accomplished so far both inside and out:
I went to both Walmart and Home Depot and bought a bunch of seed potatoes..Northland Red, Yukon Gold and a different variety of Yukon Gold.
I took all of the potato tomato seeds and placed them on trays and I have them either in front of a sunny window or under the grow lights. Eyes have popped out on all of the seed potatoes.
I got my portable cloth garden out of the shed and put it together for my potatoes bed. I put the initial layer of gardening soil in it...approximately 3-4" deep.
I also ventured into my 2 fenced in gardens and got some work done. Last year I dug up my oval shaped garden area. This is the garden that I had planted my huge sauce tomatoes in last year. At the end of last season I turned the soil, fenced the garden in and then laid down some landscape/garden cloth that keeps the weeds out but allow air and water the go through the cloth.
I went into both of those fenced on gardens and cut out circles where I would plant my corn seeds. I made sure that this year I did not crowd the spacing between where each corn stalk would be. Last years corn crop was pathetic because I tried to plant to many varieties and the spacing was not adequate for the corn to grow properly. Now that I am utilizing both fenced in gardens for corn there is no need to not space the corn properly.
Below are photos of what I have got accomplished so far both inside and out:
Our Most Recent Adventure Was Rome, Italy - Part 1
Veronica and I just got back a couple of weeks ago from our most recent adventure. This time we went to Rome, Italy with a Valentines Day and over night side trip via high speed train to Florence.
A few years back while we were on a Med cruise we were supposed to have a day long private excursion to see some of the sights in Rome. The excursion was to include a visit to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately the weather was so bad with rain, a lot of wind and really rough seas that our ship was unable to dock in Civitavecchia, which is approximately 50 miles North of Rome. Veronica had her heart set on visiting the Vatican City and seeing the sights within its walls and she was very disappointed as we sailed away seeking calmer waters and weather. I made a promise to her that we would go to Rome in the future and this trip was a fulfillment of that promise.
The journey over to Rome made for a very long 24-48 hour period of time. We flew out of Norfolk in the early morning and into Atlanta where we ended up having an approximately 9 hour layover.
We ended up spending a majority of our time in one of Deltas SkyClub Lounges. These lounges are great for layovers with food, beverages, wifi, re-charging stations, a spa and even showers...which I took advantage of just to get refreshed before our 11 hour plus flight from Atlanta to Rome flight.
Upon arriving in Rome after the very long flight, we got our luggage and met up with a driver/vehicle, which we had reserved before leaving home in order to get from the airport to our hotel.
We stayed at the Rione Monti Suites which is in the Rione (neighborhood) of Monti. We arrived at our hotel before our room was available so we dropped off our luggage and sluggishly headed out to check out the sights of Rome.
Throughout the course of our next 8 days we saw many sights in Rome and even took a high speed train to Florence on Valentines day, where we also spent a night and got upgraded to a Suite which was "Sweet" . We returned to Rome the following evening via a high speed train.
A few years back while we were on a Med cruise we were supposed to have a day long private excursion to see some of the sights in Rome. The excursion was to include a visit to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately the weather was so bad with rain, a lot of wind and really rough seas that our ship was unable to dock in Civitavecchia, which is approximately 50 miles North of Rome. Veronica had her heart set on visiting the Vatican City and seeing the sights within its walls and she was very disappointed as we sailed away seeking calmer waters and weather. I made a promise to her that we would go to Rome in the future and this trip was a fulfillment of that promise.
The journey over to Rome made for a very long 24-48 hour period of time. We flew out of Norfolk in the early morning and into Atlanta where we ended up having an approximately 9 hour layover.
We ended up spending a majority of our time in one of Deltas SkyClub Lounges. These lounges are great for layovers with food, beverages, wifi, re-charging stations, a spa and even showers...which I took advantage of just to get refreshed before our 11 hour plus flight from Atlanta to Rome flight.
Upon arriving in Rome after the very long flight, we got our luggage and met up with a driver/vehicle, which we had reserved before leaving home in order to get from the airport to our hotel.
We stayed at the Rione Monti Suites which is in the Rione (neighborhood) of Monti. We arrived at our hotel before our room was available so we dropped off our luggage and sluggishly headed out to check out the sights of Rome.
Throughout the course of our next 8 days we saw many sights in Rome and even took a high speed train to Florence on Valentines day, where we also spent a night and got upgraded to a Suite which was "Sweet" . We returned to Rome the following evening via a high speed train.
Below are some of the sights that we saw in both Rome the Vatican:
We had made reservations through Walks Of Italy for a Pristine Sistine Early Entrance Small Group Tour ... Walks Of Italy Tours that started at 7:30AM so we had to wake up before daybreak and walk approximately 2 miles to arrive at the meeting place just outside of the Vatican City walls.
A tunnel that we had to walk through en route to our meeting place for our tour
Below are the Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Ugly Boat is a Baroque-style fountain found at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome's Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square)
Below is one of many many fountains that can be found in Rome. This is the Babuino Fountain.
This old subway train arrived while we were waiting at our meeting place for our tour to start. I asked the conductor if I could go in the "car" to take a few photos before the crowds arrived and I was allowed to.
And now we begin our tour
While our tour was going through the museums hallways I took the opportunity to take some photos through the amazingly clean windows. Below is a guard who was greeting and directing incoming traffic
Other views from the museum windows
Many of the items within the museum have been either donated or given to the Vatican as gifts
The dome of St. Peter's Basilica
During our tour we visited the Pio Clementino Museum and its Round Hall. The hall features several important sculptures, including this colossal gilded-bronze statue of Hercules
The walls and ceilings werte adorned with beautiful paintings and artwork everywhere I looked
Here is a link so that you can take your own 3D tour of the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peters Square. Check out a few of their other videos too....
This ends part #1 of our visit within the Vatican City Walls
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