May 24th in Utah

I think we should take Al Gore out and give him a good horse-whipping.

Emil and the Tomato Stalk Update

(See previous posts on 24 April and 1 May)

The Sweet 100 stalk (on the right) grew 7 inches this past week.

Tasha's Visit in April

Tasha and the little Lams came for a visit during the last week of April.

Tasha, Aliysa, Jace, Courtney and Spencer went to "The 3 Musketeers" at the Hale Center Theatre in SLC. That left Mallory, Zachary, Andrew and Abby with Grandma and Grandpa.

Below - Play Dough is always a favorite:


Below - there were a lot of helpers to tell the story of Jonah and the whale:

Below - We have had quite a few wind storms this spring, the kids are standing on a recent casualty:


Below - Tasha being a good mother and home-school teacher:


Below - start them fishing when they are young and they will never depart from their ways:


Below, next 3 photos - jungle gym fun:


Below - Spencer being advised by a clown and a princess on how to brush his teeth with a frog:

Emil and the Tomato Stalk

Below - Here is an update one week from the original tomato plant post. The tall plant is now on the right and it has grown about 6 inches, almost one inch per day.

Yesterday I started putting some club soda into the bottom box to enhance the CO2 level (increased CO2 in the atmoshere is not bad - it is what plants thrive on!)

I learned from a friend that there is a spray that will set the blossoms and enable the plant to produce fruit, which I have started using.

Indoor Tomato Plants

You do know what store-bought tomatoes taste like. Yes - BLAAUGH! - (if they have any taste at all). They are picked way green, ripened with ethylene gas - and are way expensive.

Below - Here is my latest project - my indoor, year-around, vine-ripened tomato growing chamber:

Below - The Sterilite storage boxes cost less than $7 each at Home Depot. They are held together with binder clips, jumbo and large. The middle two boxes have their bottoms cut out:

Below - The tomato plant on the left (Sweet 100) doubled in height in about 11 days and is blooming. The LED arrays have the optimum red and blue wavelengths for photosynthesis. Each array costs ~$40 and they are left on continuously. The plant on the right is a Sunsugar (it was a smaller plant when purchased, but is growing rapidly also):

As time goes on I will have to learn how to control/avoid plant diseases. Also, I don't as yet know if tomato plants self pollenate.

After Christmas Family Reunion - 2009

We visited the Salt Lake aquarium, it was great:

Nice stingray, nice stingray:


Grandma and Linda came to visit the fam:

How often do you get a chance to ride a flying unicorn?

We love all of our children's spouses. This is Tasha's husband Bob, who took an instant liking to our unicorn while visiting shortly after Christmas 2009: