What's New with Jephers?
Apr 24, 2006 Blogging at Blogger So I'm thinking I'm going to have a new home....OR figure out how to bring a new blogging engine here. For now you can start finding my content over at http://jephers.blogspot.com/. I have to say I prefer having someone else's CMS running my stuff. I program this sort of stuff all day at work - do I really want to come home and build a good blogging engine? Nah, not right now! ;-)
Apr 24, 2006
Where'd the patio go?!?!
Here's what our patio looks like right now. These are just the homegrown and store bought growies that are out back - not including the pot of basil I'm growing on the front porch, the mini greenhouse inside the patio door with seeds starting, the three shelf tower in the closet with grow lights and heat mats (more seeds starting!), NOR the grow light and heat mat in the garage (yes, more seeds)
Many of the plants you see here will go off to the rental garden plot before long - notice all the tomato and pepper plants! Ditto for many, but not all, of the herbs. I'm also growing a bunch of flowers, and have picked some up - a bunch of those will get potted real soon, plus I'm about to put together the hanging baskets... Really looking forward to seeing how those turn out!!
And why am I hiding most of the plants under the umbrella and/or table? Because we're forecast for so much rain right now that I'm afraid they'll float away and/or drown in their little trays before I can pour out the water. This way they get a limited amount of rain. This is DEFINITELY a good time for hardening them off - nice mellow temps, humid, etc...
Apr 23, 2006
Tuckered out...
I'm trying to remember just how much of the fresh catnip I gave him here... They definitely know when I'm picking from the plant, which is starting to bush out nicely! This cat is definitely too pooped to party now!
Apr 23, 2006
As American As...
Thanks to my addiction to the Barefoot Contessa series on Food Network, sometimes I get into a crazy cooking jag. For example, one day last week after watching an episode we'd DVR'd, I gave Brett a short list of stuff to pick up (he was heading to the grocery store anyhow), and proceeded to trash the kitchen. I didn't do too bad because in an hour and a half I cranked out Ina Garten's Oven Fried Chicken marinated in buttermilk (holy crap was that good), mashed potatoes, and this apple pie!!
As good as the pie looked, it was a little tart for my taste. I had a slice for dessert (Brett doesn't eat apple pie) and took the rest in to work the next day. It was GONE by the time I left for the day!!!
Notes for next time: Try boneless skinless chicken and just don't cook it as long (or maybe fry it the whole time?). Use sweeter apples than Granny Smith (or more sugar). Oh, and don't overdo it on the black pepper in the taters - oops!
Apr 23, 2006
Growing Notchie
Notch recently discovered the lower levels of the mini greenhouse was empty and open in the living room - AND it was in HIS way for catching some afternoon sun. So what better to do than get INSIDE the liner of the greenhouse!! Good thing it wasn't zipped up or he could've either steamed, baked, or found himself covered in something growing on him!
Apr 22, 2006
Making Bread!
So after reminiscing about some amazing french bread loaves I made yeeeears ago when I first moved out on my own for awhile now, I came across Farmgirl's site where, amongst lots of other cool things, she talks about making bread. And so started the bug - once again I would have to make bread!! I STILL haven't been able to get Bread Alone
I killed the first batch. I wasn't prepared, didn't plan out the timeline, had it all ready to go too late at nite, refrigerated it over nite, and it wouldn't rise the next day.
Round number two worked, but I was still very rushed. Gotta stop doing this stuff on a weekday! Anyhow, check out how it went in the pics here. Now I've just got to figure out why they came out more ball shaped. Even the ball shape would've been ok if one of the loaves didn't appear to explode out the side during baking. Hm. Oh well - it WAS called a learning recipe! ;-)
Apr 21, 2006
Impatient for Impatiens
Here's what my impatien seedlings were looking like waaaay back at the beginning of the month. I'm afraid now they're not looking much better - a little washed out from too much sun maybe? I forgot that these were probably the variety that prefer shade... They're also not real pretty right now because they're pinched out at the top - hopefully their looks improve, they grow alot, and I'll have them out in the flower beds before long?!
Apr 04, 2006
Daddy's Little Helper
More pics of me starting seeds (and looking like I really know how to handle a pair of tweezers) - this shows just how involved Tucker likes to be with the whole process. What you didn't see is him trying to sit on 'em!
Welcome!
Welcome to Jeph's Spot! Been busy playing around with layouts, content, pics, style sheets etc...
I've still got alot of work to do here, but it's getting off to a decent start. Other pages either need to be created or, in the Gallery's case, I have some work to convert the existing blah pages to this format.
This site is meant to be my HOME site now - not work related. Wanna see the work stuff - click on 'Work' in the nav bar above - that'll take you to jephersmedia.com. And if you wanna see the photogallery of fun stuff we do with friends, on hikes, etc....then click on 'Gallery' above. Not all of the nav buttons do anything yet. But hey - this is still VERY MUCH a work in progress!