life|simple

Sheep, sheep, and more sheep!

craigkendall — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:45:11 +0000

Well, I’ve been kind of more silent than normal but I have an excuse. I’ve been traveling weekly shooting (video of) sheep. It all began in late July with a trip to Sacramento followed by trips to Ohio, Iowa, Meeker CO, and Greeley. Below are some photos of the folks we shot interviews with for the American Sheep Industry. The interviews will break up the panel discussion segments during a live television broadcast on the RFD-TV channel in September. It was a very interesting set of shoots and the editing is going great. I learned so much about sheep and what it takes to raise them here in our country… oh and I met some GREAT folks who put food on your table every year.

Great times! Thanks Amy Trinidad from the American Sheep Industry and Dan Borgmann of Vendor Hippo for all the help!

Spread-arden

craigkendall — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:33:49 +0000

I’ve dubbed it our “spread-arden” because we’re using small places across the yard to grow our veggies rather than one big section. The seedlings we planted on May 2 are transplanted into a large brick area around a tree, but we’re going to have to move them since they don’t seem to get enough sun. More on that later.

The tomato plants we got from a friend that were in a little Target starter pack (seeds, soil, envelope — just add water) started out great in the starter pack, but once transplanted went to pieces. So we replaced them with a starter plant from a local nursery and added two other types of tomatoes as well as red, green, yellow and orange bell pepper starter plants, a jalapeño starter, an Anaheim green chile starter plant (thank you Rod Grice for introducing us to these as hors d’oeuvres to be placed on the grill as it’s heating up and eaten while the real meal is cooking on the warmed grill), and last but certainly not least a cucumber starter plant.

It’s only been 2 months and we’ve already learned so much and can’t wait to set out next year’s “crop” based on what we’ve learned so far. Nonetheless I’m really enjoying tending the small plants and watching the beginnings of the fruit (or veggies) of our efforts. Today we added tomato cages around the tomatoes and bell peppers so I thought I’d snap some photos to share.

"Caged" Tomatoes

"Caged" Yellow, Orange, and Red Bell Peppers

"Caged" Green Bell Peppers, Jalapeño, and Green Chiles

Three Years Ago

craigkendall — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:10:05 +0000

Yesterday was a busy day and an important anniversary slipped by. On June 12th 2007 I was summoned to the office of my supervisor to find out I would be part of the sweeping annual layoffs at LifeWay. I’d watched a number of friends go through this experience as it happened about this time every year. There was little anxiety.
Today is the more memorable anniversary. On June 13 on my way to lunch with some of our very best friends it became clear it was time to return to Colorado. The events that followed from June 14 – August 26 when we arrived back in Colorado were unmistakeable. We put our house on the market in early August and had a contract for our asking price within 5 days. Closing wad in two weeks. We loaded up all the stuff and headed to CO.
Three years later were still delighted to be here. Starting your own business during a horrible recession (no doubt fueled by a volitile election season) I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Herb Garden & Veggies

craigkendall — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:06:02 +0000

Week 4 plus a few days we planted the herbs and we got some starter plants for our veggies. Here’s some pics:

Herbs Planted & Sage Transplanted

Tomatoes

Green Bell & Jalepeno Peppers

Cucumbers

Seed Nursery Day 14

craigkendall — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:02:03 +0000

So we are 14 days into our seedling nurturing. As you can see several FINALLY have sprouted and are beginning to look hopeful. Lavendar, Spearmint, and Parsley pots still show now sign of life but the others just popped out one day over the last week (Basil was first) and seem to be progressing quite well. Today we may spend some time prepping their outdoor home for transplanting in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday we bicycled around town to a couple of nurseries to look at starter plants for some flowers, fruit, and vegetables we hope to add to our horticultury mix for the season. Other than a few pretty flowers for Julie, we’re planning to put out some tomatoes, peppers (jalepeno, anaheim, bell), squash, cucumbers, cantalope, watermelon, and I want to try some beans of some sort… green, peas… not sure yet.

The last time we attempted a garden was in TN and we planted a number of seeds for tomatoes and peppers. What we got was WAY too many. Yesterday we were thinking one or two tomato plants initially. Then we remembered we could make fresh salsa and decided to up it to four or five. YUM!

TV 2.0

craigkendall — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:43:11 +0000

After many years of a love=hate relationship with paid cable tv we decided last week to give it up. There were several longstanding annoyances that led up to us finally deciding to pull the plug:

paying for someone to advertise to me
I actually remember when cable tv was appealing because it had few or no commercials.
paying for 800+ channels 24/7 when I only really DVR’ed and watched a handful of shows each week.
whenever I did sit down to just watch something live while sipping a cup of coffee or something clicking repeatedly through 800+ channel and finding NOTHING worth watching.
the simple reality that all the shows we watch are now posted online for free by the network, or they can be bought for a much smaller fee than the sum total cable tv bill for a month.

That’s just a few, but the most obvious and highly contributory factors. Last night I watched my first two shows from the computer that I did not have DVR’ed due to no longer having the service. It was easy (fewer commercials too) and overall a pleasant experience. I had to wait one extra night after they aired but usually we don’t watch shows the night or even the week they were aired.
So, that’s a report on our latest experiment. We are now paid (subscription) tv free!

We’re trying something new this year!

craigkendall — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:08:33 +0000

When we lived in Hendersonville TN we attempted to plant and eat some of our food from a garden. We were not very successful. Partly because we were pulled in SO many different directions with work and other commitments. Now though, we’re less over extended and more motivated since Julie’s diagnosis with a wheat allergy and it’s associated food changes. This morning thanks to some seeds and materials from our daughter and friends we attempted to launch at least the seasoning and spice portion of our new garden for this year. (and some tomatoes not pictured here… maybe another day)
We’re attempting to grow some seasonings and spices, as well as some vegetables. I’m going to try really hard to post regular pictures and blog posts of some of the stuff we’re trying to do. So for today, here’s the first post and picture:

Our Seed Nursery Day 1

Fix Hijacked Search From URL in Firefox

craigkendall — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:18:14 +0000

So I don’t really know when it happend but I noticed a few months ago when I entered just a set of words in the address bar in Firefox rather than giving me a list of Google results I was presented some kind of Comcast sponsored Ask.com search (thanks Comcast… I’m guessing some “gift” from you since I’m a Comcast subscriber). I wanted my Google results back. A quick search on Google gave me the answer to fixing it. Here’s the page I found to help me get it back the way I wanted it:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/06/12/hack-to-modify-firefox-3-address-bar-to-return-search-results-when-query-or-invalid-url-is-entered/

Thank You

craigkendall — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:37:37 +0000

With all the hyper-marketing to buy stuff surrounding them these days, holidays in the USA seem to have simply lost the essence of their meaning. To many, Easter means candy and gifts, Christmas means food and gifts, and Thanksgiving means food, football, and Black Friday. Today I’m going to do my best to spend the day looking at the many amazing people who have been provided all around me to help me become a better person and to just plain enrich my life. So if you are reading this, chances are you are one of those folks and I’m just plain thankful for you.

My Favorite Veteran

craigkendall — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:13:02 +0000

Captain Charles E. Kendall

Today is Veterans Day and we all have much and many for which to be thankful. Though my dad never went to war, he supported the war and defense efforts of our country for over 27 years in the United States Air Force. I truly appreciate those who put their lives on the line with bullets and rockets flying all around them. But today I want to also remember that behind them are guys like my dad who work their tails off helping to make sure there are fewer bullets and rockets flying around for those on the front lines to dodge. Thanks Col. Charles E. Kendall (US Air Force Retired)!

Mom pinning Colonel eagles at promotion

Links for 2009-07-08 [Digg]

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

My Mom Just Joined Facebook. Now What? - Ryan Wanger @ryanwa
Lot's of great info about what you can do as the 'rents' interest in Facebook grows and encroaches upon you.