Friday, December 30, 2016

Indoor Gardening

Texas Mountain Laurel

Am sorting everything today, for my indoor trees. Will get them sprouted and strong before taking outside... probably next Spring. Have already called an indoor gardening shop to start arrangements for some decent lighting. Am setting up for Texas Mountain Laurel Trees and Ornamental Plum.Planted three laurel seeds and two plum seeds in two planters right up against the door. It is day three for three of the laurel seeds and day one for the two plum seeds.

The above image is Texas Mountain Laurel. Captured during 2015,Sophora secundiflora is an awesome shade tree. Once these are sprouted will purchase some grow lights to keep the plants healthy for a season or two indoors. Will transplant them when ready. Below are some of the seed pods.

UPDATE: December 29th. Nothing sprouted. This is trial and error. Will research online... Do I need to supply radiation to the plant bed to encourage growth. Have noticed something that bothers me because I didn't notice it already. I have not published this post and the dates are changing as I add information. Can note that this post was begun 3-4 days ago. (which would make the begin dates December 26th.Below is one of the laurel seeds just before planting. Soaked the unopened pods in water to soften and opened them.

The containers I have put the seeds into are right next to my door. That way I can easily move them outdoors when the weather permits. One image is pulled back so that the door gives some size perspective. Below:

I have an indoor cat, so I covered the containers with wire.
UPDATE:10jan17. Am still at it. Kind of slacked off. None of the seeds have sprouted and I ended up buying a litter box for my outdoor feral cat that lives inside. He is leaving the planters alone. Am going to start exploring alternatives to get these seeds to sprout.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Hacking Health - Back To Basics

Hacking Health - Back To Basics

Hacking Health - Back To Basics

Am going to stick with my new exercise regimen developed over the past few days. Am going to focus on Chrysta Rae's Scavenger Hunt, which is photography, for a couple of days,... intensely. Plus, while inside out of the cold, am going to re-acquaint myself with html5 and css. Maybe, purchase my own unique domain name, so that I am not writing inside Blogger's container. This will allow me to learn more and become more developed as a blogger. Feeling the urge to move up and that I have not been challenging myself, except am quite uncomfortable physically.

20dec16: have been at it since 0700 hours this morning. Muscles hurt, worse than usual. Sure hope this exercise regimen pays off. Am hoping that strength will compensate for the damage that has been done.The time is 2120. Captured some images today and wore myself out. Time for bed. May have balanced my sleep hours. Hope so.

22dec16: Was literally ill yesterday so was only at my desk about two hours. Cannot remember the last time I was ill. Hmmm. Today, am headed over to Best Buy to purchase a wireless headset. My brother scheduled some time to speak with me on Skype. He is very busy and knows a lot about computers, so he has agreed to allow for some uninterrupted time to speak with me. If there is something important, he is always there for me. Don't misunderstand me. This is just to chat. Am really looking forward to the time.

UPDATE:December 27th. We have been given an extension for the Scavenger Hunt. I need to capture images for three more categories. Have submitted four images out of the seven catagories. Have been maintaining my exercise regimen. Am sitting here now using my ten pound barbells in my chair. I just lift the weights up and do a set of ten repetitions for each movement. Am able to endure the exercise comfortably and my strength is increasing. What is really cool about this endeavor I have undertaken, Healthy Hacking, I am exercising,... have food set up that will take just a short time to prepare,... and am composing an addition to this post while reading my e-mails, and surfing. Have been sorting my images for another year that is about to begin. Found some nice photos, too. Yaaay! Cool stuff. Am getting prepared to view "friends online" category in my bookmarks to see their blogs. It makes me feel good to do this, and cannot get enough of it.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

New Ideas - Daily Thoughts

New Ideas - Daily Thoughts

New Ideas - Daily Thoughts

It's about exercise!! I have been concentrating on food as well. This post illustrates the focus.

One thing that has caught my attention is genetic modification of our food at the cellular level. Its nutrition and the time taken to prepare. Today is Sunday. Friday 9 December 2016, I did some sit-ups and other light exercise. This morning I will do the same. Slept through Saturday.Literally.Time to nap, now.

Am ashamed of my weakness and endurance levels. Sheesh. Suffice it to say, I did some sit-ups and leg lifts. And a few odd exercises. Really have learned.

UPDATE: December 12th. Have done some exercise used my dumbells. Am letting my shoulders rest. Just ate so won't sit-up or leg lift for about one hour. Am going to keep this up.

UPDATE:December 13th. Guess this is day three. Did "basic" exercizes again today. Still a long way to go. When I am strengthened enough to share the pitiful quantity or repetitions, I will. Too few at the moment. Think I will just get into the habits, and develop with time.Right now, will sit-up, leg lift, and pick up barbells.

UPDATE:December 14th. Day 4. Am still doing exercises. Yaaay! I am doing 10 sit-ups with 3 repetitions. There is an adductor muscle squeeze. My legs are screwed up so this exercise is neccessary. I put a pillow between my legs and squeeze. Three repetitions of ten. This I do while sitting in my chair,... they can be done laying flat and also laying with knees raised.Nothing fancy as illustrated below. Also, today the yard needing tidying and I used my new pinchers for the first time.

The most important things at the moment are one, not to overdo the exercise and to follow through.

UPDATE: December 15th.Thursday. Am resting today in order for my muscles to recoup from my work the past few days. I need to get out to capture some images, and I have a long term goal. To be able to walk for an extended period of time which will require another commitment. Photography is my favorite pastime alongside computers. Going out and walking is a way to capture images and accomplish some light exercise. Have to remember that I am damaged. Some things will never recoup. Something of importance that I forgot: I went to a meeting with other bloggers way over on the South side of town. A neighbor drove me over there, and it took four hours to return by bus. While I was there two things of major signifigance happened, one, interfaced with the Internet using my cell phone for the first time and left a comment on this very blog. Am having difficulty trusting wireless privacy. Am going to research this as time passes, also. Two, I may have come up with a site name for a blog when I improve my code writing skills... "Nine-fingered Code Monkey." The date is 15 December 2016.
As I sit here posting this entry, am noticing how different my muscles... my body in general... are feeling. The sensation is wonderful. Guess I have been couped up for too long. It is later in the day, now, and can say that I have tired quickly and am clumsy.

UPDATE:DEcember 16th. Yaaaay. This is the sixth day in a row. Was feeling sore and crumby last night. Stayed awake almost twenty hours. Went to bed about 6 A.M. this morning, Friday. Woke once yet slept until 3 P.M. when Fed Ex delivered my photo frames.

Had a cup of coffee and decided upon more sleep. And finally decide to stay awake at 8 P.M. Along with exercise and eating habits, will begin to focus on redeveloping sleeping habits that are conducive to productive blogging It is all about healthy hacking.Have started watching a series of lectures on YouTube about Computer Architecture. Seems quite interesting.

UPDATE:Am still at it. December 17th. Saturday. Feel good after taking a day of rest and repair for this old bod of mine. Am continuing with some light exercise and am thinking about going out for some images. Viewbug has a challenge named "Show your city." Need an entry for this.Have done a round of exercises (a set) and am starting to get a plan organized in the way of approaching this light exercise. Basically, I want to be able to get up and down off the ground with a reasonable amount of comfort instead of grunting and groaning. Panting while trying to get up and down when accomplishing my sit-ups.

UPDATE:December 18th. Sabbath. Almost slipped today. It is 1900 hours (am going to stop using am and pm) and have slept most of the day. My sleep habits are still messed up, but I have an orange flavored cake in the oven!!

Need to get on with my exercise and html5 studies. Get back to ground... kind of lost focus today. Sure am glad to have this post up to remind me of my focus.

Update:December 19th. Exercised and captured some images. Am watching a video about websites. Everything is okay today. Alongside watching the videos, am planning on creating a spreadsheet checklist in order to monitor the progress in my exercise regimen. Yet, am feeling like a nap. Wrist is agony. And watered, moved some of my planters out front around. Called my landload about buying her stove. Am trying to buy this stove from the landlord because it is so neat. There are a lot of broken parts, missing knobs, parts rebuilding, and labor to go into restoration. It's a keeper.

It's really cool... 1956 GE. Have an image somewhere that I will upload upon waking up. Need to make a tobacco run too. It is almost 2300 hours so until tomorrow then.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Hacking Health - 24 Hours Of Food

Hacking Health - 24 Hours Of Food

Healthy Hacking -24 Hours Of Food

A Quick Healthy Breakfast

Half a cup of old-fashioned rolled oats, one tablespoon of brown sugar, and one tablespoon of strawberry jam. Yummo. Over the years have become accustomed to oat for breakfast. I even enjoy just plain boiled oats, if they are cooked the way they taste best to me. Have tried many other's style, and have learned the hard ways that mine are best to me. Prepared with a 2-to-1 ratio of water-to-oats, at a slow boil. I would guess that each person has to learn to cook the oats to their own preference.

Starting with a healthy start to my day with oats, will go through 24-hours of food in this blog. Eating is so very important when spending so much time on the computer. Am old and single so can choose what I want to do. Got into photography and then moved into other computer things, without the corresponding changes to my health care. This was a mistake. Got soft as butter and my diet was yucky.

A Filling Lunch: Healthy and Quick

Turns out these were not as filling as I thought so added some store bought chicken fingers, below.

Homemade Spicy Dip For Chicken Fingers

  • 2-3 tbsps of mayo
  • 1 tbsp. of yellow mustard
  • 1tbsp. of sweet pickle relish
  • 1 tsp.of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. of green habanero sauce

As you can see by my previous posts and this post, I like quick, easy, and healthy foods.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Photos While Out 12-5-16

Photos While Out 12 5 16

Photos While Out 12 5 16

While at the neighborhood laundry, stuck my head out the door. The sunsets of Las Vegas amaze me.

Captured quite a few images of this bright orange sunset and will share two more. It was a chilly, windless unban evening.

Will round up some others to show that this particular evening is not unique. Eastern Mojave Valley sunsets are awesome

The day this image above was captured included a flash flood warning. Deceptively peaceful. The tower at the center is named Stratosphere Tower. The golden building to the right is Trump's Tower. This image is captured from North Las Vegas, looking south upon the Las Vegas Strip. Quite a unique perspective.

The desert is strange. The above image was captured at roughly the same spot as the next image. The color difference is obvious. Could have been standing in the exact same location.

I even named the image above... "Blue Sunset."

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Some New Art

Some New Art

Some New Art

Had plans for a photowalk, but was unable to complete the task. Did capture some nice art though. Have been unable to identify this tree, yet it did make for some nice images.

#1

From a distance the tree is just a regular tree. Going up close to detail the plants reveals their real beauty

From A Distance

And Closer

DEcided to get as close as possible. I think these images are true art

#2 - And Still Closer

As I played around with details, distances, and composition, the beauty really came to the surface.

A Bit of Minimal

This is probably one of my favorites.

My Favorite

Started getting tired, so I headed home.