House Update, May 2009

It's been busy, busy, busy around the Swanger abode lately! While the weather continues to be nice, we have been focusing on outside projects but there have also been some pretty drastic changes to the house on the inside as well. For instance check out the before and after pictures of the great room in the back of the house:

Here are some "Before" pictures:

And here are some "After" pictures:

This is our new light fixture by the back door

This was what our house looked like in 2007 when you came down the street:

This is what our house looks like now when you drive down the street (some of the plants have exploded over the past 2-3 years):

Babies....again!

I was outside taking some pictures of our lanscaping in the front yard, and this is what I found.....

I actually think we have already met...the other day on the sidewalk, but as long as he/she stays out of the back yard, everything will be okay!

Delayed Easter Pictures

I had to share some of these pictures of my niece, Josie! She is 4 years old (as of Mother's Day) and ready to take on the world. She has started to become quite the "fashionista" and likes to dress up!

For her birthday she got lots of fun clothes (some from her fun Aunt Blythe and Aunt Melissa) and she got mad when someone tried to put them away for her to open the next gift.

She is a lot of fun and can talk your ear of these days!

Josie was caught enjoying one of Grandma's yummy homemade rolls! She even managed to help her Mom and Aunt Blythe make them earlier in the day and made some "Jojo rolls"!

Here she is showing of her wonderful spunk and smile!

Seeds of Hope Community Garden Blessing of the Seeds

Last Saturday about 20 people gathered at the Seeds of Hope Community Garden for a Blessing of the Seeds. It was a nice way for the gardeners to meet each other and have a time of prayer and fellowship. Most of the plots have been planted and lots of things are starting to sprout and grow.

There are several beginners and several experienced gardeners in the mix. It has also been neat as one of the other local churches has a youth Sunday School class that would like to work on the Hot Meals plot. Everything grown in the plot will go towards serving people in the community. Having the help of these students will be great and my hope is that they learn a lot as well and it sparks their interest in gardening.

Scott and I have a plot as well and we put in a wide variety of fruits and veggies and most everything seems to be doing well! Here are some pictures!

Paul and his dog Kinsey working in their plot with help from Little Jay

Roxie & Chris's plot starting to bloom and grow!

Gotta love the Smokies!

Not much new to report here at the homestead. Scott is still working on our great room getting it ready for primer. He hit a few hiccups with the first coat of primer so it has of course taken longer than originally planned.

I was supposed to be a garden group today but it was cancelled due to the weather so I decided instead to update my blog and add a picture that makes me happy any time I see it! I love this picture from our trip last year to the Smokies. Isn't it beautiful??

Hail, Hail to Old Purdue!

Yesterday I spent April Fools Day driving to Purdue to attend a meeting for the Purdue Veterinary Alumni Association. I didn't realize that most of the schools have their own alumni association in addition to the Purdue Alumni Association.

Anyway, the drive there and back was uneventful and the meeting was great. The Veterinary Alumni Association want to ensure that Technicians graduating from Purdue feel like part of the Veterinary Alumni--not just for Veterinarians. They asked myself and several other Technician Alumni to sit on the board and help promote the association to Technicians.

The meeting was held in the Dauch Alumni building and I had never seen the building so that was neat too. It always amazes me how much the campus changes each time I visit!

Here is the inside of the Spurgeon Hall of Spirit. The Boilermaker Special is a complete replica of the engine that goes around campus on game day...right down to the rivets...those engineers!!

By the way, have you joined your Purdue Alumni Association lately??? See, on the job already!

Babies are cute in any species!

When I came into work today I found out one of the surgeries today was a Labrador that needed a cesarean section. She was expecting 9-10 puppies and the breeder didn't want her to deliver without assistance. Surgery went really well and she delivered 10 healthy puppies (with some help from the BRAC crew). Mom and all of her babies went home as soon as mom could get up and move around. No rest for the weary huh? And we think it's rough to breast feed one baby and take care of it....imagine 9-10 mouths wanting food all the time! One of the boys weighed in at 1 pound, that is HUGE for a puppy.

Here are some pictures from today!

Seeds of Hope Community Garden

For the past two years I have helped with the landscaping at my church here in Columbus. It has been a lot of fun and a great way to get to know some of the members of the church. It even inspired me to take the Master Gardening Program through the Purdue extension.

The leader of the landscape group asked me to take on another project for this summer. He wanted to build a community garden on a vacant lot that the Church owns. So for the past month or so we have been working together to get the ground and the information ready to begin the Seeds of Hope Community Garden.

To date, we have prepared the area for the 15 available garden plots and will till, add compost, and mulch as the plots are reserved. I have also worked on getting the Registration and Garden Information in written format.

The goal is to provide a place for people to have a garden when they might not be able otherwise and build community at the same time with our neighbors. There will also be at least 1 plot dedicated to growing produce for our Hot Meals Program at First United Methodist Church.

I will try to post pictures over the summer to document our progress!

Seattle Eggs

I just had to share a picture from this morning of our breakfast. These are what I call "Seattle Eggs" as they were first made for me by my Aunt Jane and Uncle Scott who live in Seattle. I don't make them too often, especially when the weather is crummy as I don't want to stand outside at our grill (still remodeling and without a kitchen).

Well, this morning while it was a little chilly it wasn't too bad to stand outside and cook the eggs on the side burner. I love making them because they are super easy and they taste great! In the Bennington house they are called "Blythie Eggs" as I showed Laura and Jeremy how to make them!

They are super easy:

Scrambled Eggs (I used Egg Beaters with milk and they tasted the same)
Chopped Green onions (I used 3 today) added once the eggs have set up a little
Lite Cream Cheese (again, the "lite" and the amount are up to you, but I probably used 2-3 tbsp)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Toast

I wanted to add some Canadian bacon, but alas, we were out!

Try them and let me know what you think!

The joys of auto repair

I must start this post by first thanking the Benningtons for letting me "hang" at their house along with providing lunch and a fun trip to the park today while my car was serviced in Greenwood, so thanks Jeremy, Laura, Tessa, Charley, Hayden, and Rosie for a great time while I waited! :)

Okay, now I have to share my recent experience at a dealership to be unamed, but if you know what kind of car I drive right now, you will be able to easily figure it out! So anyway, last Friday on my way home I stopped by said dealership to schedule an appointment for some "routine" maintenance that was now due. I also wanted to have the oil changed, tires rotated, and the sunroof checked as it has been giving me some trouble. So the estimate I received was high, but I figured it would be a pricey visit.

Today I arrived at the dealership and reviewed again the previous estimate and signed my life away. I must add that they did in fact get me a rental car and they are paying for the cost of the car while mine is being serviced, to this I give Kudos as the cost of the rental is a drop in the bucket compared to what I will be paying them later this week.

Well, a few hours later I got a phone call from the service assistant and after she rattled off another long list of recommended services (some were optional, some weren't--replace oil pan, fix a bracket on the engine,etc) my new estimate was more than double the original...in the $2000 range, oi vey!!! At this point I have her email a copy of the estimate to both Scott and I and then I call him on my cell phone to see what he thinks. There were several words not to be repeated in front of small children and he even called our service assistant to "discuss" the estimate.

Bottom line, my car is still in the shop, I still have a rental car and as much as we both hate to pay for the new oil pan (Scott figured out he can replace it for a fourth of the cost quoted today) I think we are going to have to have them do the work as Scott is probably going to be traveling starting tomorrow and I need wheels for work.

To be continued later this week...

Master Gardener Status

It is official--I have completed all of my volunteer hours and am now officially considered a Master Gardener. I have heard there will be some kind of ceremony at some point where I will get my name tag. I am going to try to continue accruing hours to work on my Advanced Master Gardener status...in the midst of everything else!

Saturdays

Since I have worked at my job I have never routinely had Saturday's as a day off. I have been so used to getting up early and heading into work while most of the population gets to sleep in and enjoy a cup of coffee and the newspaper for as long as they wanted.

Well, for the past couple of months I have had most Saturday's off and while they still manage to be busy with errands, family events, and various activities, I decided to take today off! Scott and I both slept in and enjoyed our coffee, newspaper, and Norm (PBS home improvement guy). It was great! I managed to take a nap this afternoon as well while Scott worked on texturing the ceiling in the great room. I will post pictures later when it isn't so messy and wet back there.

Chloe, Molly, and Bear even got in on the relaxation!

Scott and I were joking that Chloe looks like she has been sleeping all night in a park with only the latest news to keep her warm! She even managed to get onto her back with all four feet in the air covered up with her newspaper. It was pretty cute!

Sad day in Columbus.....

Well, we had a sad day today....Molly's toy (green and white stuffed dog bone) suffered a major injury in that about half of the stuffing is now gone and her toy is now in serious intensive care. I am sure that within the next few days, the toy will officially have to be laid to rest as no major life saving feats can realistically be made.

I know that this will greatly sadden Hayden and Rosie, Molly's former house mates, but alas, another toy will be in the picture soon I am sure. Besides, Hayden and Rosie now have a totally cool toy called Tessa, the Oneder child as she just turned 1 and is a pez dispenser for dogs! HA! Sorry, it's kinda late for me and I am a bit tired!

Well, I have some pictures to share of the recent injury....

She really always has this sad, yet satisfied look on her face when she does this to a toy!
Seemed to be a pretty good team effort between Chloe and Molly, huh?

Not to undermine the seriousness of what is facing everyone affected by the flooding in Indiana, but hopefully this brings a smile to your face! Good night!

Okay in Columbus

We just wanted to let our faithful few know that we are okay in Columbus. We were not in the areas affected by the flooding, close, but no problems here. We did loose power last night about 9:30ish and it came on about 4am. I ended up sleeping part of the night outside in our hammock and Scott made a makeshift bed on the deck and had some company with the dogs.

We have power today (Sunday) but no cable and we are being cautious about using water and just doing the bottled water thing.

We got out very briefly yesterday and we are pretty much an "island in Columbus" as we are trapped by all of the closed roads and flooded areas at this point.

Please keep neighbors, friends, and those further south in your thoughts and prayers as it sounds like the worse for them is yet to come.

Weather excitement

I hope that everyone has made it through all of the storms this past week! We are okay here in Columbus, no damage to our home, just a few limbs out of our trees.

I worked last Saturday and the damage from the storms last Friday night was very evident as I drove north on Meridian. There were a lot of down trees and limbs, stop lights not working, and part of Meridian Street was completely flooded. As I drove I just continued praying that my car didn't stall out!

Camp Attebury was hit hard by the tornado that touched down on Tuesday and we lost power at the house on Wednesday night.

I have some pictures from our local paper of the damages. Hope you all are doing well, and I will try to post more exciting topics later!

Memorial Day

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of the veterans past and currently serving our country for everything they have done and continue to do to ensure that we can live in a free country!

Thank you

Birthdays!

Not only have I stayed busy with gardening, there have also been a couple of birthdays celebrated since I last wrote.

Scott's dad, Steve, turned 60 this year and to celebrate his birthday we tried to suprise him with a party Morton's Pub and Grub. Scott's sister and brother-in-law (Stacy & Ty) own the restaurant and wanted to host the party there. While the attempt was sincere, Steve is really hard to suprise and he knew something was up. A good time was had by all and it was nice to be able to spend time with family.

Scott, Steve (Scott's dad), and Stacy (Scott's sister)

Not only did Scott's dad celebrate a birthday, my niece, Josie, turned 3 this year and she had a Princess party (complete with crown cake, princess shoes, and tons of cloths & toys). This party in particular was super memorable as some of the party participants witnessed an amazing crash as a car flew off US 31 and into someone's home. Now, in a small town (Edinburgh, IN--I know, you've never heard of it) you would think this would make news in one of the local papers, but alas, it didn't! My theory is that if someone had been injured, it would have...so sad to think that the only time news gets made is when someone is injured! It was quite the site though to see this grand prix hanging half in and half out of a house. When it first happened, we thought that the car had gone into the living room area of the home, but once we drove by, we realized that thankfully the car had gone into the garage area of the home. Anyway, here is a picture of Scott, Josie, and I from her princess party!

Long time, no see....

I feel that I first must apologize to my fan base (all 2 of my readers) for my lack of posting since February! I guess I haven't really had much to post about that I felt was interesting but I promise to try and be better about posting!

Anyway, too much has happened to share everything, but let me just say life is good and life is busy! Although I know everyone already knows those things as well!

I started with the Gardening group at the church in April and the grounds are looking great. I will take some pictures and post them so you can see what our group has been up too the past month or so....

I also finished my Master Gardening class and I am now considered a Master Gardening Intern until I complete my volunteer hours. I decided to make my project landscaping the parsonage house for our church. Scott and I have become friends with Brian and Rachel in the past 18 months that we have been attending First United Methodist Church so it has been nice to be able to do something like this for them. I have included some before pictures and once we get a few more things done, I will post some after pictures!

Hope you are having a great day!

The Champion of Dogs

Just in case you missed the news this morning, the Westminster Dog Show was last night and the winner of the Best in Show was a 3 year-old male beagle named Uno. This was the first time since 1939 that a beagle won. How cool, huh? His is very cute and made an apperance on the CBS morning show today.

Check him out!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/02/12/dog.show.beagle.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Gardening class

I just decided to do a quick post today! I have been sick with a sinus infection and haven't felt like doing too much....it has been a long time since I posted.

Anyway, the end of January I started the Purdue Master Gardener Program that is being offered through Bartholomew & Brown Counties this spring. So far we have had 2 classes and it is really interesting. We have learned all about soil and how to adjust it so the pH is good for the plants.

Last week we learned all about roots, stems, parts of flowers, and the functions of each. Did you know that a potato is both a stem and a root???

Anyway, check out the website if you are interested in learning more about the program!

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/mg/

Have a good day and enjoy the ice and snow!