Growing!

I love Spring! I love the flowers, the promise of new life, little bitty plants in the garden--all of it! Here are some pictures from our spring this year.

Heading out to the garden!

Pointing out the watermelon seedlings :D

I promise he's not trying to look grown up! He's just proud of our green blueberries

Grandma Laura's roses are really something!

This gorgeous rose bush was cut down several times in the name of the hedge, but just kept coming back! This year is its most beautiful yet. We're going to find a way to keep it from getting chopped this year.

This bush has gotten so big! 

Cucumber

Zinnias--to attract pollinators! (don't worry, I'm going to thin them)

Carrots! (also going to be thinned)

Levi's trying to point out a developing pear.
We're finally going to get pears this year! (I planted the tree at least 4 years ago)

Can you smell this picture?!
Look closely for the photobomber.

Just precious.

He looks so worried!

Levi cleared out this area with just loppers and brute force!
Before, the area was impenetrable and you couldn't see the fence back there.

The thorns on these trees are vicious. It's called Callery pear and it's an invasive species.
These trees made up bulk of what Levi cleared out, along with a fair amount of privet.

This is similar to what the other area looked like before it was cleared out.

He likes to nibble on the clover

 I have to say, my garden is coming along nicely, but I love my crop of boys even better!

How to choose a career

I've been thinking lately about how to choose the optimal career (yes, I'd like to go back into the workforce someday). I'd like to live in a specific area of the country and find fulfillment and success in whatever career I choose.

When I was choosing my college major, I only thought about my aptitude and desired income. However, I have come to realize that there is so much more to this. Here are some factors I've considered as I've pondered my options:

1. Location. Some jobs are only found in the city,  others in the country; some are more plentiful in specific parts of the country or world, and others have demand almost universally.

2. Social interaction. Do you enjoy talking to others, or would you be happier being left alone for the majority of the day with periodic interaction with co-workers that you see every day? How comfortable are you with interacting with strangers, and on how personal a level?

3. Future demand. How much demand will there be for your profession in 10 years or more?

4. Current demand. Is the job market saturated with people in the job you're considering, or is there a high demand for it with few suitable candidates?

5. What standard of living are you willing to accept?

6. Is the subject matter you have to learn to work in the profession appealing to you? Is this something you'd like to think about for a large portion of your life?

_________________________________________________________

Since I'm interested in a smaller city than the one I'm currently in and have considered the town I grew up in, I had to think about which jobs are available there. The town I grew up in is very small (less than 10,000 people). I realized that in order to work there in a profession that would be mentally stimulating and provide the income I wanted, my choices were limited. The professions I came up with were: Something related to the school system, the government, health care, the law, or business ownership. There are almost no mechanical engineering positions there, and almost certainly very few tech positions, which is a profession I think I would be well suited for. So I'll probably have to choose a location that is close to but not in the town I grew up in.

I have to learn more about the opportunities in tech to know which specific position would most appeal to me, but I would love to have something with a reliable amount of social interaction and something with a lot of demand so that I can have a lot of choices as to which company I would work for.

My Bucket List

Travel outside of the country to see something interesting (Machu Picchu? Mexican pyramids?)

Bike 20 miles at a time (or more!)

Go on a cruise

Become a temple worker

Get another college degree, possibly teach college

Find new information on Callie Nolan (ancestor)

See Providence Canyon; hike and take pictures!

Hike with kids in at least 5 different parks

See the Aurora Borealis

Vacation in Hawaii

Go to Yellowstone National Park and see Old Faithful

Visit Mesa Verde and tour the cliff dwellings

I'm a Hero!

I literally put out a fire the other day.

It was pretty exciting!

I had gone to a friend's house, and when I got there, I realized that I had forgotten an essential item for what we had planned to do while together. Thankfully, it wasn't a long trip to get back to my house to pick up the item. While on the way home, I saw what looked like a broken sprinkler head with a small stream of water spraying out of it.

I got home without incident, picked up the item, and started back to my friend's house. Halfway there, I saw that the water spraying out of the broken sprinkler head was actually smoke blowing in the wind, and it had spread 15 or 20 feet from the original area. There was a circle of flames about 15 feet in diameter in the grass. I quickly pulled over the car, ran up to the closest house, and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, a woman came out.

"There's a fire!" I said urgently, "In your grass!"

She was confused for a minute. "What?" she said.

"A fire! Do you have a hose?"

She then looked where I was pointing and saw the fire there. She gasped and said, "Yes, it's right there," indicating a hose hanging on her porch railing that I hadn't noticed before.

We took a couple of minutes to connect the hose to the tap and undo the kinks in the hose, then I started spraying. The hose wasn't long enough to reach the fire, so it was a good thing 10-year-old me had spent so much time practicing spraying my sisters with the hose! I was able to put out most of the fire with the hose, and they brought a bucket to get the area in their neighbor's yard where even the spray from the hose couldn't reach (where the fire had started).

For the most part, I think the fire wouldn't have done much damage where it was--the grass didn't give it much fuel--but it could have blown over to one of the houses nearby. It had already spread to the mulch under a dogwood tree in the yard I was spraying, and the tree would have been lost for sure if the fire hadn't been caught in time. The mulch needed to be sprayed a lot longer than everything else to completely put out the fire and stop the smoldering.

All in all, it was a pretty exciting experience!