OhCripes.com

I have added more pictures of all my upside down plants to the Big Ugly Bulletin Board. I will harvest at least one more bean tomorrow- April Fools Day. I thought it would be fitting as plants growing upside down is kind of a silly concept. Again, If any of you good folks out there have been growing your own upside down plants and would like to show them off; email me some pictures along with a brief comment to matt@ohcripes.com. Your Name and email will remain confidential. I will only include your first name or nickname if requested. Also feel free to comment or share your IPlanter experience on the board.

Eveyone has seen them. Warning labels are everywhere. Some people just aren’t given the gift of common sense. We all do stupid or foolish things from time to time myself included. That’s called learning. For those that don’t learn and try to blame the manufacturers or businesses for their own stupidity and try to cash in on it; that’s just plain crooked. Yes lady who sued Mcdonalds over coffee you’re in this group. However, I would like to thank this group of crooked morons for causing businesses to create crazy warning labels. I have started a page dedicated to just such labels of caution. Please take a look and feel free to email me with any you may have come across to add to the collection.

Click the picture.

Well, as promised I have uploaded plans for a modified version of my original inverted planter.
No more hot glue or dealing with the possibility of seam leaks. This method is without a doubt the best way to get plants growing upside down in a fraction of the time.

Here is my last tomato plant finally transplanted to the newly constructed planter.
Click the picture to go to the plans or via the link at right.

This week in confused plants. It’s IBean vs. ITomato.
ITomato was crushed by the veracious growth of ITomato. The bean well, has several beans growing and more to come. The tomato-notta. Just a whole lot of green foliage. Here’s a teaser for the rest you know where to go. (cough, Big Ugly Board, cough)

Just a quick note, you’ll notice that the level of soil is very near the top of the inverted planter. I had to add about 1/3 more soil to the container from the plant absorbing the nutrients. And yes the roots look lovely as ever too. Judging by the votes my IPlanter has received it would seem to be the winning topic. I have a few “modifications” in the works which I hope to post soon. Here’s to dirt under the nails thanks for dropping by .

Hello! Yeah, everything after the ent in judgement caught your attention didn’t it?! I’ll venture to say that the first thought that popped into your mind were images of Barbara Eden. Who? You know her. Jeannie as in I dream of Jeannie. Hey, it was before my time too but I watched the re-runs when I was growing up.

To cut the crap and drive straight to the chase here’s my point:
In the past if a woman told me in conversing that she belly danced I probably would have thought to myself 1: I dream of Jeannie, 2:wow that’s hot, and 3:What would Mom say.

Well none of that matters nor applies in my situation because as it so happens my incredibly talented and beautiful wife decided some time ago that she would like to take up belly dancing. There of course was no possible way I could object to this so that being the case I have taken the extra step and created a web site for her and her group of dancers. Which is localisé ici.
Click the pic:

This is another quick how to that most anyone can easily do within an hour or two. I refuse to buy another case that doesn’t fit properly and probably won’t provide all that much protection to my video camera if it were to drop or get jarred. Solution, I made one myself for less than $14. If you can cut foam than you can too.
Click the picture

Alright; now that I have a few seconds of your attention I want to throw a couple things out there. One, a quote which I personally believe to be the originator of: “It’s better to be a smartass than a dumbass!” This is something I’ve been meaning to put in print for some time now. It goes back to a coworker calling me a smartass after I said a candid, yet witty remark following something she said.

Nerdery. This is a word which I have heard in other mainstream formats before. However I feel that it shoud be included in records of modern diction. An example of use: If you need me I can be found in my Nerdery where me and my fellow geeks will be postulating the theorem that electromagnetic power can counter that of the earths gravitational pull.

Do use the words and phrases regularly so that they may someday become part of the major diction-aries
Yes, there is more to come. I am currently tied up with a global telecommunications company that is my employer and the decison to transfer or terminate employment. Stay tuned, I have projects to post…..

Here it is folks, my first harvested I-Bean.

I picked it yesterday and yes I did freeze it. I plan on freezing each one I harvest until I get enough for a meal. If anyone else out there has been growing inverted plants in a planter using my plans please post up a comment or better yet share your results on the Big Ugly Board. I have also posted additional pictures there for those that are interested. Just a bit of advice. Before you throw produce such as beans in the freezer; blanch them. Wha? you say. Boil a glass of water in the microwave and dip the bean(s) or other produce in it for a few seconds, put them in a bag and place in the freezer. Doing this will make them nice and crisp and also help to retain flavor when you cook them.

This is a post I made on the board at my dogs web site. I feel it also belongs here because the amount frustration involved absolutely fits the realm. Poochie VS. Little White Shaker Dog Syndrome

Yes, you read that right. Little White Shaker Dog Syndrome. Ok, take a few minutes to stop laughing.
~
The week leading up to the 28th of January my wife and I noticed that Poochie was shivering a bit more than normal. We didn’t think much of it as earlier in the week a hawk was perched on our clothesline in the back yard and was flying around the area. So we thought she was nervous from the large bird being around. Well, Saturday came around and I was at work. My wife called to tell me that she had taken Poochie to the 24 hour animal hospital because Poochie was shaking uncontrollably. She went on to say that they were going to draw brain fluid and have it analyzed to rule out any types of infections, brain swelling etc. The vet also told my wife that they thought it may be “Little White Shaker Dog Syndrome” and that they would keep her over night to monitor her.
We had never heard of this condition but were told that it is Very rare and only occurs in small white dogs such as Maltese, Poodles etc. The name is an exact description of the condition.
We were also told that the treatment for this “Syndrome” is an oral steroid that had to be given for up to 3 months.
Sunday morning we went and picked poochie up; they didn’t find anything abnormal in the blood or brain fluid so of course concluded that it was LWSDS and we should give her the oral steroid and have a follow up appointment with our regular Vet. That week we took Poochie to our regular Vet. He had also never heard of such a condition and felt that it was probably something a little more common such as a back injury. Now I have to say that early the previous week, Poochie had jumped off the bed and landed funny because she had caught her foot in the blanket while jumping. We hadn’t thought much of it because she was her normal self until later in the week. So our vet examined Poochie and felt along her spine. She winced just a bit in a couple spots. He felt that it was most likely a minor back injury and that we should continue the steroids for a couple more weeks slowly weaning her off.

As our Vet told us, when a very active dog like Poochie starts behaving in such a manner it is most likely some form of injury. Because she was used to jumping on and off from furniture she probably irritated the injury.
I’m happy to say that Poochie is back to her normal self again.