Topsy Turvy Tomatoes with Pepper
We are growing tomatoes and a pepper in Topsy Turvy planters this year and so far, they are doing very well. Topsy Turvy allows you to "Grow delicious homegrown tomatoes without the backbreaking work!" and I'm always in favor of avoiding backbreaking work. This also avoids having to continually stake the tomatoes to keep them from resting on the ground and rotting. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:18 AM |

 
Officially laid off today from my web developer position at the U of MN
Update: Original post title said I was "laid" today. I wasn't. I was "laid off." Oops.

I have 28 days left with the Masonic Cancer Center IT dept. My options
at the moment include:

1. Bumping someone of lower seniority and taking their job.
2. Going on the "layoff list" where I get priority for jobs I'm qualified for.
3. Taking the severance package which includes 8-weeks salary,
vacation payout, and healthcare at current employee cost for a year
(and I still qualify for unemployment).

I will leave the Cancer Center with a Masters in Public Affairs from
Humphrey (if I finish a paper and pass the stats class by the end of
the summer session). So I am seriously considering option #3. With
unemployment, I should have a nice cushion to look for something in a
policy/strategy area or maybe help a group use the social web. I have
ideas. I have dreams.

If I go that route I will be interested in any freelance web work to
help pay the bills. Or how about a freelance web project that has a
social web component to it? I have some great ideas. I have deep
blogging and twitter experience and I can fake it on Facebook.

If you have some ideas (or work) for me, I'm pfhyper at gmail.

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- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 5:07 PM |

 
Sustaining the sparrows & finches
These feeders are generally empty about five hours after filling. At
any given time, there may be 10 to 12 birds feeding on both or
jostling for a spot. We get mostly sparrows, plenty of finches, and
occasional flicker and chickadee. Also spotted on the (wire) feeder
this year: red-wing blackbird, grackle, mourning dove, downy
woodpecker. Cardinals also hang around but don't come to the feeders.
 
The population growth on the feeders took a while. The first year we
saw very few birds. Each year there were more. Now I think our address
in imprinted in the DNA of most sparrows in Minneapolis.
 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 12:28 PM |

 
Mary heads for the summit
http://www.themckeevers.com/photos/photo/img_8305jpg
 
In May, Mary visited Breckenridge, CO and went on her first 14er hike
on Quandary Peak (at 14,265 ft. it is the 13th tallest mountain in
Colorado and one of 53 peaks above 14,000).
 
With winds at 60 mph and her aversion to cold, she didn't quite make the summit.

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- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:33 AM |

 
Richfield Baseball: Robbie at the plate

This was at the last game of the regular season for Robbie, the eldest
grandson, and his team, the Richfield LA Dodgers. I really love
watching these games.
 
The season is almost over. Next week the Dodgers start the playoffs
series. Oh, it was a great game and the Dodgers won 5-2.
 

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- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 12:07 PM |

 
Playing with Posterous
I'm playing/testing Posterous, a new service that is sometimes being
called life streaming. It works with email. You send an email (which
is what this is) to Posterous and it publishes to your Posterous blog.
You can also auto-enable other services like Twitter and have a link
to your Posterous account appear there. I'm trying to send this to my
PF Hyper blog (pfhyper.com/blog). It should appear there and in
Posterous.

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:25 PM |

 
Tree hacks in the Seward hood


Tree trimming in Seward Neighborhood. I wrote a bit about it at my Tumblr blog.

Labels: 2009, minneapolis, Minnesota, Seward, trees

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:15 PM |