The Great Sunflower Project
The great sunflower project is a people powered research project that is taking place everywhere to help track bees. We got our sunflower seeds from the project and planted them, and are just waiting for them to grow so we can start observations. I think it’s going to be really interesting, and fun too!
The seeds they sent are “Helianthus annuus”. We planted ours at the back of our home, along a wall that rreally needs a little brightening up. So far I haven’t seen any signs of the sunflowers, but we have had some unusual weather this year. Things were cold far longer than they should have been, and now everything is hotter by about 10 degrees than what is normal for this time of year. So while a lot of plants in the garden are doing well, some of them are a bit behind schedule. It makes me wonder if the sunflowers will grow or not, but I am hoping they will just arrive a bit late.
Besides watching for sunflowers to sprout and for bees to visit, we have been planning our patio. Hopefully we can get it going soon, but we are still perplexed about our air conditioning unit. It needs to move regardless of what we build (patio or deck), but there isn’t much slack on the connections to make a move possible. We are trying to figure it out though, and hopefully in the not so distant future I will have some photos of the project to share.
Pink October, the second!
I realize that October is still far off, but we all know how fast time flies! So, I am already planning for the second installment of Pink October. Last year was a great success, and such a fun way to raise awareness for a serious disease. It also raised quiet a bit of money for Komen.
This year is going to be a bit different from last year. Instead of a month full of pink giveaways, there will be one big giveaway done raffle style. Right now I am working hard on getting awesome prizes, and this is one of the reasons why I am starting so early!
If any of you would like to donate a prize for the raffle, please let me know. Hopefully we will get enough donated prizes to put together a grand prize package to make everyone say “I want it”! 
In the garden.
Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a great day (post to come about it soon), and we are still in celebration mode. We are also still recovering from our super quick office redo! Seriously, cranking out the whole thing in less than 24 hours was quiet the exhausting task. Luckily we have the rest of the week to recover.
Our garden is full of life and color right now, and it’s only just begun! There are some plans in the works for our backyard, but for now it sure is nice to enjoy all the results from what we have done already. Here are just a few of the flowers blooming right now! Sit back and enjoy the visual treats!
Oh dear me, I’m 33!
Today is my birthday, and I just can’t believe the number! 33! When did that happen?
The above photo is our rose bush. As you can see it is exploding in gorgeous flowers! It was one of the things I was excited about when we bought our house. I had always wanted roses, and this amazing rose bush was the only pretty thing in the entire yard. They smell even more amazing than they look… I wish that we had scratch and sniff photos online!
And did you know that the flower of June is the rose? Yes indeed, June’s flower is the rose which stands for magic, passion, and perfection. The birthstone for the month of June is Alexandrite (and also the pearl). So today we are celebrating the start of another year. There will be cake, and there will be some fun too (though we have no set plans, we’ll just see where the day takes us). And to all my friends who also celebrate their birthdays this month, many happy wishes to you too! “June goons” rock!
The finished product!
We finished the office project over the weekend. We are both sore, tired, and happy that we have a bit of a break this week to recover, but I think the results are great! Not only that, but our bird seems to be adjusting just fine to the change in floor and the color on the wall (we kept the furniture arrangement the same so she would be totally comfortable). Here is a reminder of the “before”:
And here is the “after” (click to see bigger):
The project took a little longer than we thought, mainly because of waiting for stuff to dry. We painted, and we had to also prime the floor before the tiles could go down. Removing the carpet was fast though, and once the tiles got going laying out the full sized tiles was really quick.
The tile is already proving to be so much better to keep clean with the bird. We painted the walls a color called lemon whip. It’s so bright and cheery!
I haven’t had a chance to put everything back in yet, my bookshelf is sitting here empty and there are still some paintings to be hung… but the important bits are back (computer, comfy chair, and of course the bird). So, what do you think?
