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• Impatient for Impatiens Apr 21, 2006
  

  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?!
  

• Double the flowers Apr 11, 2005
  

  Two galleries of the flowers coming up this season - the first gallery was only a few days before the second gallery, but you can really see the difference! The second round of shots also has Notch and Tucker playing around outside.

• Halloween Party 2004 Oct 26, 2004
  

  Pictures from our Halloween Party this year - what alot of fun! We were sad some folks couldn't make it, but we also had some surprise appearances that, although invited, we weren't really counting on....that made it even more fun. And Brett decided this year we'd be giving out prizes (small ones!) for the best costumes - that seemed to add a little something extra. Thanks to all who made it!

• Day in Cleveland... Jun 12, 2004
  

  More fun than we planned on! Brett and I planned on heading up to the West Side Market and Cleveland Botantical Gardens. After an hour or so at the market and loading stuff up in the cooler, we headed on over to University Circle. Little did we know there was Parade The Circle (odd title!) going on! Parking was a real pain - we lucked out by pulling into a parking garage for the VA Hospital. The attendant wouldn't let us in until I said we were just trying to find the gardens and asked for pointers. He told us to park in their garage and where to walk. Cha-ching - free parking when we were planning to have to pay $2/hr!??! Great!
  
  So we parked, walked along the sidewalk towards the gardens, and WHAM! right there in front of us was the parade - talk about colorful and wild! People using brilliantly colored umbrellas to form a dragon, winged hippos, girls dresses as the elements, dancing whoopie cushions, giant aliens, representatives from all different nationalities, oh, and more people on stilts than I ever would've guessed existed in Cleveland! WOW!
  
  Annnnyhow, after all that fun, we went to the gardens as planned (half price for the parade day - great!), went all around the inside gardens, saw all the butterflies, then roamed the outside gardens. Finally, when we had had more than enough walking, we went over to where the parade festivities were winding down and got food - most of which was being marked down or practically given away by that point. (Rachel Ray would be so proud of us!)
  
  Will definitely be planning a similar day next spring!

• Sun Kitty May 22, 2004
  

  Notch sat out with me catching some rays and spending more time in the shade... This is one thing that Notch is definitely smarter than Tucker about. Tucker will run around in the sun and start to overheat (well hey, with all that black fur??) so after he starts panting and not resting, I have to put him inside. Notch knows better - he likes the lounging! Talk about a cute cat - look at those eyes!

• The garden begins... May 12, 2004
  

  First day of gardening this year... Lu's parents started their garden plot, and Todd helped out with both their's and mine. Not much here in the pics yet - but there will definitely be more pictures once things start growing. After this initial day of digging and planting, Lu's parents actually asked for another plot! (Weeks later and I think they're starting to realize it might be more than they need!) Should definitely be a fun summer! I've got TWO 16x40 ft plots! WOO HOO!

• All about Tucker! Dec 28, 2003
  

  Seems the new kitty has a name! After tossing around a bunch of names, with Beemer and Tucker being the most popular, "Tucker" seems to have stuck! Where'd we get the name? Well, if he's not rocketing around and tearing through stuff, he's, you guessed it, all tuckered out! What a cutie! And don't worry - Notch is still getting plenty of loving and seems to have come to terms with his new roommate. Sure, sometimes he takes to the high ground when he's tired of having his tail swatted at, and we've yet to catch them napping together or cleaning each other, but give 'em time!

• Christmas with the in-laws... Dec 25, 2003
  

  While you'd expect these photos to be all about the in-laws meeting each other for the first time at Christmas, it turns out they're mostly about my gift from Brett - a little black-and-white 8-month old kitten!! The cute little guy stayed at Brett's parents' place for two days before Christmas - sounds like he spent most of his time loving and kissing on Blake (and keeping him awake at nite!).

• Pasta Party for the Holidays Dec 20, 2003
  

  The guys came over with the understanding that we'd all be participating in a Pasta Party, rather than pot luck or having the food ready when they got here. Instead we had the place all cleaned up, food purchased, and almost NO food prepared!! Once they started milling around wondering when we'd eat, I asked for three volunteers (Thanks Randy, Nick and Jay for getting it started), dumped two cups of flour on the freshly cleaned countertop in front of each of them, gave 'em a bowl of eggs, and told 'em to start mixing! Dinner didn't come fast, but we just sort of winged it with some initial plans laid out, and had a GREAT dinner followed up by a super yummy dessert provided by Jay and Dave - mmmm....who doesn't love chocolate fondue! (And if you've only stuck with the "normal" things for fondue, try Dave's secret - Krispy Kreme doughnut holes - WOW!) No gifts were exchanged for Christmas, just the entertainment of each other's company...perhaps a new tradition?

• Photos By Sharon Dec 20, 2003
  

  Sharon took these GREAT PICS of us to give to the parental units for Christmas... Sharon always says she prefers doing nature shots, but you can tell she's just a great photographer period. The pics were taken at the golf course behind her condo - aside from the still-falling snow, and snow blowing out of the trees, it worked out perfect! I even managed to convince Sharon to let me take a few photos of her, which we had alotta fun doing. There are also some pics of Notchie outside in the snow back here at home after our photo shoot. All of this took place earlier in the day before the pasta party.

• May Need To Fix Pix Oct 27, 2003
  

  Odd.....many of the pics I auto-processed yesterday to add to the site seem a little jaggy.... May need to revisit them and figure out why the web gallery building software made 'em all pixelly. Man, these computer things just always go flooey, don't they? :-\

• Halloween Party Oct 25, 2003
  

  Now that we've got a bigger place we might be upping our leveling of prep for parties.... Our Halloween Party 2003 (which sort of doubled as a housewarming party) was a blast, with a good turn out, lots of food, fun decorations, fun costumes, and hey, OUR OWN HOME AND STREET TO PARK ON!! YAY!! We're already working on ideas on how to improve the fun for next year!

• The Gay Hay Ride Oct 24, 2003
  

  Brett and I got to go for the super fun gay hay ride nite at Boyerts Farm out in Medina this year. The rest of the gang chose not to join, so it was a fun night for just the two of us. It was just chilly enough - the weather was otherwise PERFECT (considering it's been raining alot!). We met some fun guys - wish we would've chatted with 'em more after the hay ride. LOTS of straw was tossed around (found it in our clothes later than night!)

• Sharon & Jeph went hiking... Oct 23, 2003
  

  Trying to catch up on old pics - and I'm certainly behind on entries here... It's been a busy summer and a busy fall. Now we're in our new home, doing all kinds of home stuff added to the regular busy social, work, etc stuff. But it's fun! Anyhow, here's pics from a recent little hike Sharon and I went on... Sorry many of the pics are so blurry!

• Waaaay Behind! Jul 20, 2003
  

  It's been awhile! Lots of condo purchasing stuff going on, a bit of freelance here and there, tons of time out in the garden, fun times with the guys, helping people move this summer, preparing for our own move, and visiting our cat off at summer camp. Here's three new batches of pics in the meantime: Helping Sharon Move (07/12/2003), Garden Pics (07/13/2003), and more Garden Pics (07/19/2003). Enjoy!

• New Garden Shots Jun 24, 2003
  

  Took a bunch of new pics at the garden this afternoon....plenty of stuff to see. I'm trying a new web album generator, so it'll look a little different - hopefully an improvement!

• Our New Home? Jun 16, 2003
  

  First pics of the condo! Take a look and see what you think - they're not all the best angles for making it look "pretty" so much as aiming for funcationality, notes about what's in the place, to help with questions later (like is that a security panel in the utility room?), etc....

• Lush Green Garden! Jun 15, 2003
  

  Check out the latest garden pics! NOW we're really growing!! I was able to harvest two salad's worth of spinach and a ton of herbs. Had a lot of weeding to do, but that's fine - very relaxing, so that's good for me right now. Added four purple pepper plants and 4 ichiban asian eggplants...let's hope these eggplants hold up better! Dad's raspberries are really perking up, as is mom's lemon balm and mint (just try to kill the mint!).

• Latest Garden Pics Jun 06, 2003
  

  Something ate my brocolli! At least they nibbled the tops out of some of the brocolli. The sunflowers are really starting to come up...

• The plants are in.... May 28, 2003
  

  ...now GROW! All of the tomatoes, peppers, and the wimpy looking eggplants are in. Was sad to see some of the burpless cucumber transplants didn't make it - seem to have rotted out in the stems? I hope I'm not overwatering - I went easy on them this time. Tied up strings for the viney things to grow - the cuke transplants on one end, the oriental cuke seeds on the other, sweet peas and sugar snap peas on the ends, and melons in the middle once they arrive. Got some weeding and watering done. Poor brocolli and brussel sprouts had little flea beetles all over them - chasing 'em away was pointless, I'm sure. I put the last of the radish seeds (plus some carrot and mesclun seeds) in loose soil around the victim plants to hopefully provide a diversion. Flea beetles are supposed to love the sacrificial radish!

• Bamboo TeePee Trelisses May 25, 2003
  

  Poor Brett got drug out to the garden after we did some open houses with Sharon today. While it was nice to have someone else get pictures showing I'm actually working in the garden, I'm not sure they were the most flattering (is that my gut?!?! Must've been the big lunch at TGIFridays with Sharon!)

  Today's trip to the garden was very brief - I told Brett I'd try to keep it to a half hour, but he said we were there closer to an hour. In that time I dug a new pathway thru the back raised bed to split it in two, put in the bamboo tee pees and "cross beams", from which I'll later dangle strings for the vining plants (cukes, snap peas and cantelopes), and put in one each of the tomatoes and peppers I got. I had to get SOMETHING in the ground to feel like I made progress - this way, if it's too cold for 'em, I've got more I can put out in a week or so. Need to get some cages for those tomatoes! Eggplants can go in when it warms up a little more. Also scattered some petunias around (picked those up in the bulk-priced flat), and put in some extra mixed mesclun lettuce and sweet peas around/under the vining around.

  Noticed some of the plants were still doing really well (lettuce, onions, herbs), and more spinach, radishes and now the carrots are coming up nicely. And something walked through the garden and even went to the bathroom just off my plot. Deer? Dog? Not sure the footprints and poop pile belonged to the same animal...

• Third trip to the garden May 22, 2003
  

  Nuts - guess who forgot to take his camera with him to the garden after work tonite! Ooooh well - I'm sure there will be enough pics showing progress. At least I've finally posted pictures from my second trip out there.

  Today I put in seeds for green beans (two varieties), one variety of yellow summer squash, and two varieties of zuchini (3 seeds per spot; I figure I'll have to weed them out later). And thanks to super cool Bob from work (and his wife), I think I doubled or maybe even tripled the amount of herbs in the garden - VERY COOL! I planted some LARGE DARK chard seeds this time - I've seen pics of the plants in books and they look really cool - almost more decorative than anything else. I also scattered various herb seeds and lots of flower seeds in and around the other veggie and herb plantings, and some just on corners - the flowers are for both decoration and pest control (companion gardening should make a very impressive garden!)

  It was really cool to see that, in just one week, I had radishes, one of my two varieties of spinach, and all my onions coming up. I expect herbs, carrots, the Rainbow Lights swiss chard and the other variety of spinach will be coming up by next week. Can't wait for the sunflowers to start doing their thing.

  Worries include finding out today that the lady across from me soaked all her seed packs before planting the seeds (I didn't know to do that!), that I should've worked manure into the soil, that the soil may be too hard for some of the plants to come up, and that I have too much mulch on my taters so they won't get any sun light. Yup, I'm worrying waaaay too much!

  Watched some guy putting in those store bought tomato cages tonite. They look kinda small, but maybe those'll have to do. I'm starting to think, weather permitting, I should get out Saturday and plant peppers and tomatoes. I hadn't expected the nurseries to suddenly start running out of transplants or jacking up the prices, but it seems that's the case. High demand! It's that time of year... I'm learning!

  Oh yeah... I cut some of the leaves off my lettuce already - there were NEW LEAVES IN A WEEK! I'm going to have the tinest salad tonite - heh heh. The lady in a lot across the way actually laughed and asked her husband "what's he doing?!?!" LOL

• Farmers Remley and Ryan May 14, 2003
  

  Big thanks to Todd for helping get my first ever community garden space set up this afternoon. It's amazing how you can have such specific plans for what you want to do with it, then get out and see a plot of rocky dirt with weeds peeking up here and there, and wondering what the hell you were thinking! After meeting another guy who was starting his DOUBLE lot (!!!) and chatting with him for a bit, finding out why he was doing what he was doing, how long he'd been gardening, etc, all my plans for the very tidy Square Foot Gardening planned map (see image) went out the window.

  First we measured a rake handle and used that to plot out spacing, and then tried stretching strings across the lot to make straight lines and, finally, hey, just winged it for the most part! I'd guess we got about 4/5 of the garden shoveled and mounded, paths prepped with straw, and even some growies in the ground...

  I should get back out there this weekend to get the last of the cool-hardy veggies in (basically the potatoes), and see how it's holding up, make sure none of the transplants bit the dust, etc. Warmer weather plants (tomotoes, peppers, eggplants, squash) will go in later....towards the back and left side. Bob from work wants to give me some herbs from what he and his wife grow, so that's super cool. And later will come trellises for melons, cukes and maybe snap peas, and cages for tomatoes, and big sunflowers, and winter squash and...oh boy fun!

  But first - Todd and I have to recover from tonite's work! I was there about four hours and, well, looking at the pics, can you tell? (Check the labelled version of the last pic - it'll tell you what's where...wonder if I forgot anything?)

  And quick Buffy comments: Wow, last nite's really rocked! Definite improvement over this season's sucky episodes!!! Wheelchair fight anyone? Heh heh

• Lotsa Notch May 13, 2003
  

  The Notch pics have been piling up, so it's definitely time to post some here.... What a cutie cat - and you'd think he ENJOYS posing for the camera!!

• Cold Day in Cleveland Dec 28, 2002
  

  Brett and I decided we had nothing planned - why not go for a fun day in Cleveland - see Lake Erie, get some good dinner, and then check out the Cleveland Zoo Lights before it was too late. What a fun day! And boy was it coooold! Too bad the pier was closed due to winter...but we still got to scare some seagulls at the park! Dinner was at The Harp - a very good Irish restaurant Brett had been to with coworkers. And then off to the Zoo Lights - a very pretty night with the snow falling, animals, pretty lights, and a fun time with my honey!

  • Edgwater Park pics
  • Zoo Lights pics

• Christmas With Jeph, Brett and Notch Dec 26, 2002
  

  After I got home from visiting my family in New York, Brett FIIIIINALLY let me open my presents!! Notch made out like a bandit, and Brett and I did pretty darn good too! Thanks for all the goodies Santa! (But, um, about that box of Fruity Pebbles...?)

• Christmas With The Pietrasz's Dec 25, 2002
  

  While I was in NY, Brett did Christmas with his mom, dad, brother Blake, Clancy the Bassett hound, and Val the cat.

• Christmas At Randy & Larry's Dec 21, 2002
  

  Yay presents!! This turned out to be a really fun night, although I have to admit I was a little concerned when Larry told me it was "Hamster Night" beforehand. Uhhhhhh....?! Turns out Kyle and Tyler (hi guys!) were getting a hamster for Christmas (I think they finally settled on Mr Snuggles for his name?). Let's hope Mr Snuggles can outrun Adonis and Snowbell the cats! Oh, and then there were the sour/shock candies - yuck! That should explain any funny faces in these pics...

• Christmas Party 2002 Dec 07, 2002
  

  Wow - we had a big crowd for the Christmas party this year! Ooooor, maybe we just have more furniture and clutter and less space?? Was a fun turn out, with lots of fun people, good food, and waaaaay too much sangria and sugar for one nite!! How much fun is it to get your boyfriend and friends drunk! And with fruit, it's HEALTHY! :) This time kids were involved, so at some point during the nite the Nintendo was fired up for a short bit - who'da thunk skateboarding could involve so much digital blood? Glad everyone came who could make it, and now Brett and I get to take a break from hosting parties for awhile! ;-)

• Cinco de Mayo Party 2002 Nov 02, 2002
  

  Salsa! Salsa! And more Salsa! Ok, so we had alotta salsa and chips this year...and the leftovers were supposed to be put out at the Christmas party! Another fun party with yummy food and good friends. And the bell of the ball? Raida with her "pull it all together with melted chocolate" fondue pot! YUUUUUUM-OH!! Raida's joked that the American Fondue Association needs to be giving her commissions off've all the predicted fondue pot sales after that party! Let's do it again soon - maybe just a fondue party sometime? (That girl can really know how to work a banana!)

• Halloween Party at Deb & J Oct 26, 2002
  

  It was another fun Halloween at Deb & Joe's! This time we bailed on joining them to go downtown Kent to see all the costumes - sounds like there were fewer people dressed up this year, so we didn't miss much. Just like Deb's decided, I feel I've gotten "too old" for going downtown, or maybe I've just seen it too many times. After their party we went to the Interbelt, which was fun - too bad we don't have pics! Thanks to Deb & Joe for a fun nite - for the good food, fun times, lots of rowdiness and laughter, a pumpkin carving contest (my own boyfriend, one of the judges, didn't even vote for the pumpkin Deb and I carved! ...guilt, guilt, guilt...), hanging out with fun people, etc. Next year: NO DRAG FOR ME!!! Next year Dave can do it - when he goes as Anna Nicole!
  Note (1/19/2003): I've removed the videso due to file size issues... If you want copies of them, just let us know and we'll make sure you get 'em.

• Cinco de Mayo (en Septiembre) Sep 29, 2002
  

  This was just an excuse to have a party!

• Ravenna's Big Storm Aug 14, 2002
  

  Timber! After our fast, short lived storm tonite, many of our tree's got an unexpected trimming this evening! Winds at 70+MPH knocked out power in over 60,000 homes in the local towns, and 6 hours after the storm many homes are still without power, and cops are still out in intersections waving flares and directing traffic. I guess this is one time I'm glad we don't have our own yard with trees!

• The Practically Cornless Corn Festival Aug 11, 2002
  

  About the only thing fun at the North Ridgeville Corn Festival was getting an amusing picture of Dave (pay attention to the sign behind him!)... Other than that, our hour long trip for a fun day full of corn was pretty much worthless. There was only one stand with corn on the cob, which Brett and Dave decided to pass on. The town locals controlling the kids rides were very scary (I wouldn't trust my kids around some of those guys!), and there were more fried-dough products for sale than corn! Ooooh well!

• Pool Day! Jul 19, 2002
  

  Splish Splash! Michele and I took the day off from work, Sharon's on vacation, and Brett doesn't have a job right now - so what's a better thing to do on a nice, warm summer day than GO TO THE POOL (and take Michele's famous margaritas!!!)! We're not going to be quitting our jobs to become synchronized swimmers. Perhaps just swimsuit models instead?

• Dinner at Sharon's Jul 19, 2002
  

  While Tim's away hiking for the week, Sharon had the gang over for dinner... Talk about a whacky, fun nite. See Sharon's COOL house (I'm so jealous!). See people imitating the Janet Jackson CD cover. See couple's trade off partners (ok, no, not really) (it just looks that way). See us hork down alot of chips & salsa, pizza, and Cinnabon....ugh, we weren't feeling so hot on the drive home...

• Mentor Headland Beach with the Boys Jul 13, 2002
  

  We went to the beach! Ok, so there's no OCEAN involved, and the water was too cold (Michael and Dave were the only ones who got in), but we had alotta fun getting sunburned, working on our beach preservation, checking out lots of hot guys, stirring the seagulls into a frenzy (they almost ate sleeping Brett's toes!), checking out hot guys, walking the treacherous path out to the light house, and then going Winking Lizard in Coventry for dinner!

• Brett does 4th of July in Akron Jul 04, 2002
  

  Brett whipped up a cool Jell-O flag, went to Michael's cookout, and then saw fireworks in Akron with the guys while I was in NY. Sure looks like they had alotta fun!

• Jeph Visits His Parents in NY Jul 04, 2002
  

  Visits to my parents aren't usually the most eventful, but I get to veg out, spend time with the cats, catch up on some reading, etc. This time I got to spend over an hour with mom stemming gooseberries for pies (ew - too tart!), and saw Men In Black II with Dad (not as good as the first movie!).

• Notch Visits The Grandparents' Jun 26, 2002
  

  Ok, so it wasn't a social trip so much as we needed to get him out of the apartment overnite for maintenance... Brett got to deal with the cat in the car all by himself, and Notch got to visit his extended family on Brett's side, including Brett's parents, brother and Clancey the Bassett Hound. Notch discovered the wonderful world of freezable pads - to help cool him off on the hot summer days!

• Hiking the Tow Path Jun 23, 2002
  

  Our second hike on the Tow Path - this week we hiked at least 5 miles and were plenty tired and sweaty afterwards (it was a lot warmer than last week's barely-5-mile hike there!). Talk about beautiful scenery and plenty of wild life! Check out the beautiful WIIIIIIDE panoramic view from one of our stops on the trail (it's a big pic - you may have to be patient)...

  • Panoramic view

• Michael's Bushes/Landscaping Jun 22, 2002
  

  We showed up at Michael's at 10am, had Krispy Kreme, and then he put us to work! It was actually fun getting out with the guys, playing in the dirt, and telling Michael how to arrange his bushes! Too bad we forgot to take "before" pictures so you could see the white picket fence we hammered/yanked out, as well as all the work we put into shoveling/turning the soil and pulling out rocks, cement, etc before putting in the bushes. Afterwards we went and saw "Minority Report" (GOOD movie!!!) and then went out for Indian food (YUM!). When we got home we found Notch was worn out just from waiting for us....he'd been hitting the Long Island Iced Teas pretty heavy! (Actually, he'll lean up against any cold drink on a hot day....even the NORMAL ice tea you see him with here). Would love to upload all the movie clips, but I just don't have the server space for 'em! Instead you can see the narrow-but-panoramic nite shot of Michael's house from the front yard that I took:

  • Panoramic view

• Cleveland Gay Pride 2002 Jun 15, 2002
  

  We had fun taking pics of ourselves, the skyline, stormy weather on the water, and cuties up until we were asked to stop taking pics of people in the crowd who "may still be in the closet!" That's a first - I've taken pics of people there EVERY year I've gone to Pride. Grrr... Anyhow, after such a dreary day, we didn't make it out to the unofficial gay day at Cedar Point the next day. Bummer.

• Sharon's volleyball game at Edgewater Park and Dinner with Molly & Joe Jun 09, 2002
  

  Brett and I spent the afternoon at Edgewater Park, where Sharon was playing volleyball - we never DID manage to find her. Turns out we were sitting right across the field from her. Hey, YOU try finding a volleyball-playing-chic mixed up in the middle of a bunch of scantily clad jocks launching balls at great speeds! Afterwards, we headed on over to Molly & Joe's for dinner - yuuuum - good food! Congrats to Sharon & Co for coming in 1st place!!

• Sunday Day Picnic and Hike Jun 02, 2002
  

  We talked the guys into going out and having some fun with a picnic lunch.

• Halloween 2001 Oct 31, 2001
  

  Another fun Halloween with the gang!

• Stan Hywet Jun 15, 2001
  

  Brett and I go for a stroll through Stan Hywet's gardens.

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