Author Archives: Greg Thames

In the car

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Conversation while heading back from the library…

Z: Mom! Go faster, faster!!!

M: I can’t Zoe. If I any faster I might be pulled over and given a ticket.

Z: That’s OK. I got MONEY!!! Go Faster!!

~ Merriann

Kangaroo Farm

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Friday Zoe and I had the great surprise of being invited to tag along with our friends Monica and Xavier to the Kangaroo Farm in Arlington. We had a blast. They have all kinds of animals and the kids were able to feed and pet almost all of them.

One of the kangaroos was named Zoe. She was Zoe’s favorite. I’m not sure if it was because they shared the same name or because she was a bit smaller than this guy.

Zoe (the kangaroo) had a little joey in her pouch. Zoe (the child) was a little confused when I explained the reason Zoe (the kangaroo) kept putting her head in her pouch was because she was licking the baby that was in there. I think she may have been wondering if I ever did that.

Monica found a new friend. This little guy (a Capybara…worlds largest rodent) came running up from nowhere, passed everyone else and headed straight for Monica.

Lets not forget the llama kissing. (I was trying not to laugh while holding a pellet in my mouth…not an easy thing to do with a llama headed for you)

Zoe was able to hold a little joey. He had just turned 6 months old. As soon as she got him she starting rocking back and forth. The joey fell out of his mama’s pouch and wasn’t able to climb back in so she left him on the ground. Luckily, they found him in time and have been raising him inside.

~ Merriann

And we’re back

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It probably hasn’t seemed unusual that we haven’t posted in a while since I am not the best consistent blogger out there but, this time we had a reason. Our computer decided (just on a whim) to stop. It just froze up, turned off and had the slight smell of burning electronics. So we had the lovely time of being without a computer for a little while. (and anyone who knows Greg understands how even a short time without a computer can be a very long time) He was lucky to have a computer at work he could check. I, on the other hand, did not. All the best stuff was posted on Craigslist while I was out of commission :O). But we are back now and all is good. I am fortunate to have married a man that does the whole computer thing and just builds us one instead of having to actually buy one off the shelf. It saves a lot of money.

This also happened at the same time my car, Ginger, (yes we name our cars) needed to have some work done. And of course once you take them in for what you know is wrong they will inevitably call you with more things. We paid them to take care of some of the bigger issues and Greg took care of the other things himself. (he just gets more and more handy)

Well, that’s about it for now. There are no pictures today. We have misplaced the cord to get the pictures off the camera. Our laptop had its own little spot for the card. Now that I know its missing we’ll find it soon.

~ Merriann

Ah, Spring

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I just love waking up on a nice spring morning to SNOW! Don’t you? (note the sarcasm). Despite the cold weather and SNOW! we started our seeds a few days ago. They are starting to come up but the pictures weren’t working for me. Instead of using soil this year we are using a product called rock wool.

It is rock that has been spun. The picture didn’t turn out great but you get the idea. We have a friend that uses these in his garden and has had great success. Since we haven’t had the best of luck with seeds in the past we decided to give it our all this time. We also got a plant light to be sure they are getting enough. In the past our seedlings have been tall but very weak. The reason for this is most likely because they did not have enough light while starting out and were growing tall looking for more light but not being able to “bulk up” in the process. Our friend also told us he will brush his hand across the plants as they are starting out to knock them down. This forces them to strengthen their stems in order to stand up again. So, I figure if we give them plenty of light and smack them around a little we should be good.
~ Merriann

More Wine and then some

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We bottled more wine last night. We are almost done with these batches. Today we are going to finish the last of the blackberry. As Zoe gets older it’s fun to see what she remembers. When Greg told her last night we were going to bottle more wine she got really excited and asked if we were going to stamp them again. Greg told her yes, we were going to cork them. She confidently said, “I’m going to do it myself. You just take the pictures.”

The things she has been saying lately have really been cracking me up. She found a necklace that no longer had a clasp and wanted me to put it on her. I explained the clasp was broken and there was no way for it to stay on her neck. Her reply…”Please, it will be my dream come true.” I couldn’t contain the laughter.

Another one from yesterday…just minutes after putting her to bed, Zoe threw up. As I was changing her sheets said to me, “Thank you for saving my life.”

~ Merriann

New Mower

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This year we decided to get a “real” lawn mower. Last year I found a free one on Craigslist and it worked well for us that year but it was going to take a bit too much money and work to get it up and running again this year. So now we have one that starts every time you want it to. Of course as soon as we got it it rained for days and days. Greg was extremely eager to test it out. The rain finally stopped for a few hours and although it was still to wet to cut Greg and Zoe headed out for a ride (and to knock down the hundreds of mole hills that developed over the winter). The only ear plugs he could find for Zoe were the ones that attach to his hard hat so, that’s what she had to wear. I love watching them work and play together.

~ Merriann

St Thomas here we come!

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So, we are officially going to the Virgin Island in July for my sister-in-law’s wedding. Wednesday I spent about 4 hours total getting tickets. I will tell you it was not a pretty process but now I know how it all works so if anyone needs help on their next trip, give me a call. I would advise you to not contact customer service on the matter.

But, that part is done and we have the tickets we wanted. Zoe and I will be leaving a week before Greg and going to visit my sister in Texas. I am very excited to be able to visit with them. It has been too many years since we have seen each other. She has what I am sure will look like a mini farm (the mini part may be disputable :O) and Zoe will have a blast with all of that and the pool. I will let you know later what it is like being 7 months pregnant and in Texas in July. I told Zoe we would be going on a plane and meeting her Aunt and cousins. She informed me the ant would bite. Hmm…we’ll work on that one later.

Greg will meet us at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport and we will all leave together to go to St. Thomas. (that was the challenging part of the plane tickets since our connecting flights had to match up.) We will be spending a week in St Thomas and them returning home.

Right now we are trying to figure out where we are going to stay. The hotels are really pricey. When we were in Hawaii we really enjoyed having a condo with a kitchen and washer/dryer. The kitchen made our food bill much cheaper and easier. Even on vacation you can get tired of having to go out to each for every meal. We are looking into those now in St. Thomas and I think we will be able to find a better deal with the condos.

I am very excited about going now. Once you get over the initial shock of price its not so bad.

~ Merriann

Its almost garden time!

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Last year we discovered Zoe absolutely loves cucumbers. She gets just excited over them as she does candy. Lucky for her we are planning to put some in the garden again this year.
We have started planning out the garden and we found a nice rototiller on Craigslist so weeding will be easier. Last year we used just over half of the space we had available but this year we taking over all of it. We will have corn, tomatoes, onion, lettuce, beets, cabbage, pumpkins, squash (not as much as last year though) cucumbers, broccoli, green beans, and maybe carrots. We may also do a section for cut flowers.
I am excited to get things started. With the nice weather we have had lately I’m ready to go. We are going to try most things from seed this year. We haven’t had the best of luck in years past but given how many plants we are doing we are giving it another try.
~ Merriann

Bear Feet

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So the other day (on one of our not so nice wet days) Zoe headed out the front door. I was glad she went out on her own and I didn’t want to disturb what she was going to do so I didn’t get up to check to be sure she was dress appropriately. When she came back in a few minutes later I noticed she had no shoes or socks on. I asked, “Did you go out in your bare feet?” Her immediate reply was, “No, I left my bear inside. I just went out in my feet.”