So, whats been happening on the West Coast?

The weather has been the usual June Gloom in the mornings and sometimes that lasts all day. With the high heat the rest off the country is experiencing I guess we shouldn’t complain too much.

It does slow down our garden growth but then again we use less water. Our water bill is bad enough. The boysenberries are almost done. The first pickings saw really large berries but as time went on the rest are smaller. We won’t have as many gallon bags in the freezer as last year. Clyda makes jelly and syrup from what we do get. The blueberries are almost done also. I had one really big picking early on and froze those.

The lettuce has been great since early spring so we didn’t need to buy any. I have another crop of Romaine planted but it doesn’t look good right now so I fertilized them with Miracle grow a few days ago. Hopefully that will help.

The pole beans look good and we should have beans in a few days. The small amount of peas we planted look good and the pods are filling out.

Clyda has been picking apricots each day. The tree is over fifty years old and has termites but son Tim pruned it last fall and with all the winter rain it has a modest crop so far. To keep the birds from eating the ripe apricots we have old CD’s tied to the limbs which flash as they turn and hopefully keep the birds out of the tree. If we don’t do that the birds get all the ripe fruit. Clyda halves the apricots then freezes then and will make jam latter.

I have peppers, tomatoes, squash, beets and carrots in the garden now. Time will tell what kind of a crop I will get.

I did something last month that I have thought about for over a year. I built a Keyhole garden bed. (Google it) I basically used salvaged wood for the box and filled it with cardboard, scrap paper, and tree branches in the bottom. Then a layer of lawn clippings followed by a layer of old garden soil, a layer of potting mix then a top layer of good soil. So far I am not impressed as the plants don’t look healthy. The purpose of a Keyhole garden is to use your kitchen vegetable scraps in a compost bin in the center and water through that which reduces water usage. The concept was developed in Africa where water is scarce. Son Tim has one in Texas ans said it works very well. Time will tell I guess.

I’m working on several small projects at the present. Clyda gave me a 17 inch Blackstone grill for Christmas and I really haven’t used it. I am adding a collapsible shelf near my BBQ to put the grill on. When not in use I can collapse the shelf so it is out of the way. I Varathaned the 2x4 plywood shelf and now am gluing a piece of linoleum to the top. In use, I also have a board with a sheet of aluminum on top which keeps the shelf below from getting to hot. I’m hoping my shelf brackets will hold all this weight. I may need to add a leg for more support.

I always have multiple things going on at once which allows me to take breaks now and then. Sometimes more breaks than work. I can always say “I am doing research” when I am on the computer. Heh-heh.

Speaking of research, I actually am doing that. While in Wisconsin last month I met my Nephew Scott Seidel who I have not seen since he was 4 or 5 years old. Scott is the oldest son of my brother Richard (Dick) and his wife Germaine Seidel (Ludwig). Scott expressed an interest in family history so I sent him some documents. Prior to doing that I realized I had done very little history of Germaine’s family. Well, I still have little history of the Ludwigs. It is like they avoided all census counts, never recorded a birth and were seldom married. There is so little documentation on-line that it is hard to build up a history. Never the less, I am still working on it.

Two other things I am working on are the military record for my cousin Gerald Seidel, son of George and Myrtle. Gerald was a 30 year Navy Fire Control technician who retired as a Master Chief Fire Control Technician after serving thirty years. I want to see his name added to the Dorchester Veterans Memorial. To that end I have requested his records from Veterans archives. They accepted my request but haven’t done anything yet.

The second one is for my cousin Nyle Seidel. I did find some information on-line but no military record yet. Still looking. I did find Nyles name in a family tree on Ancestry along with photos of other relatives. I am in contact with the person who put that information out but so far, I am reluctant to give out any other information as I do not know this person. I will maintain contact and see what happens.

I also called two people who I have not been in contact with for at least 6 years. They both are most helpful with family history information.

Enough for now. Until next time. BTW, I have no control over text size in the document. Blam the incosistancies on Blogger.

Ed