The Wild Life and Times of a Botanical Geek

Well, it's still only January, but I've started gathering things for this year's growing season. I think I may have gotten a little ambitious. But the seed packets look so interesting!

So far I've gotten more brandywine tomato seeds, some multicolored cherry tomato seeds, some watermelon seeds, more snap bean seeds, some poppyseed seeds, some sage seeds, and some onion seeds. I'm also going to dig up the packet of pumpkin seeds I have and try growing pumpkins again.

I've also started saving egg cartons to use as teeny seed cups so hopefully I can start growing things a few weeks before the last frost. I think I may try doing some actual garden-growing as opposed to doing everything in pots. It's probably going to require several bags of topsoil and other soil things, as, well, this is North Carolina. Our soil is CRAP. It's all red clay, which most foodstuff plants don't like. So we'll see how this goes.

On a different note, I finished a hat I made for Dad! It's always so satisfying when I finish a knitting project.

Speaking of knitting projects, the second Dalek is nearing completion! Its body is done, so all I need to do now is weave in the ends, give it some appendages, stuff it, and knit up the bottom. I'm calling it Dalek Redshirt, for reasons that will become apparent when I take pictures. <3

Wow, whatta day. Buuuuusy busy busy. I went to the mall and made a KILLING on underthings, which I was needing. I got 10 for $50, and according to the cashier, saved something like $130. I'd say that's pretty damn impressive. You could hear the dollars SCREAMING as I stretched them to the breaking point. XD

Then we went to the flea market so Mum and Dad could look for a bookcase. I went wandering and found a little yarn shop in the permanent building. It looked like they didn't have much--mill ends mostly, but a really nice selection of cotton yarn, and sounded like they were going to be expanding their stock soon. Hopefully I'll be able to go back at some point. <3

And THEN, after going to a different craft store to get more supplies for the Daleks, I got my first official lesson in driving a standard. Oh gods. This is going to take a TON of practice before I feel comfortable driving on the road. So many things to remember to do. And I really really REALLY don't like trying to drive one on an incline. I squeal the wheels horribly. The gas is incredibly sensitive too, which means I'm much more inclined to jackrabbit the poor car forwards. Reverse is kinda scary too, as I feel like I'm not in control of the car, as the only way to get it to move is to go faster than I'd really like. I back up very very slowly, as I don't exactly trust myself to back up quickly and not run into something. And it's just very tempremental in general. I hope I'll get better with practice.

And finally, trip pictures! Eien-chan did a lot of picture taking on the trip, and put them all up on his site. You can see them here. I recommend reading the captions both for the gallery and for the pictures themselves. They're cute. <3 <3 <3