Returning to Previous Interests

            Dilemma.  What to write about?  I don’t have the daily experiences (varied and very interesting) from the days of my treatments any longer, but I do hope I can keep this blog going.

            It has been an interesting week nonetheless.  I re-energized my aquaponics test bed.  In a previous post I mentioned that I finally got one tomato go grow in the aquaponics environment this summer. I didn’t grow the plant from seed, but rather from a seedling give to me by good friend Frank H.  It’s still pretty cool that I actually got something to grow.  I’ve already mentioned in previous blog that I’m considering starting a blog about aquaponics, so I guess I need to get busy.  Son Luke was impressed to learn that aquaponics is such a hot topic in certain circles these days.  Maybe his Dad isn’t so weird after all!!

            In the process of getting the aquaponics going again, I have noted we have unwanted visitors in the backyard again.  As I’ve had problems with these critters before, (they have eaten my goldfish at least three times!!), I decided it was time to get the trap out again.  After catching our cat Dante twice (you would think he’d learn!!), I’ve now realized success and caught a possum last night! 

Mr. Possum

            So, I’m now conditioning the water before introducing fish again.  It’s part of the process of setting up an aquaponics project.  The desired state is to have naturally occurring bacteria converting ammonia (which will eventually come from the fish) into nitrates for the plants to consume.        

            We had a great day yesterday celebrating youngest son Erik’s 22^nd birthday.  We were going to take the RV to Veteran’s Park, but the persistent rain changed those plans.  Instead, we took in a movie, Capt. Phillips.  Highly recommended!!  Talk about intense!  I think Tom Hanks deserves the academy award for his acting in the last 15 minutes of the movie.  Absolutely amazing!!

The B-day Boy and His Mom

            I’m feeling better each day.  I still get the “blahs” from time to time, but nothing persistent.  I don’t have a lot of energy, but I am managing to keep busy with small projects and interests and I’m doing quite a bit of reading.  Most recently I’ve been reading a previously classified 300 page CIA report on the development of the U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft.  Pretty darned interesting reading, but maybe that’s because I worked in intelligence for all those years. 

            Thanks for reading!  Blessings!!