For my MAE 455 Design of Thermal Systems class, I am participating in a team project to develop a system that transfers heat from the waste energy of a John Deere diesel generator to a greenhouse in order to grow food in the winter in Point Baker, Alaska.  My team is focusing on capturing waste energy from the coolant and modifying a prefabricated greenhouse to be warmed in order to grow produce!  

Old-Timer Joe is back home with his family, who were so excited to see him!  Michael and I enjoyed our time with O.J., and we miss him terribly.  However, it's probably for the best as is.

No word from anyone on O.J.  He seems to be enjoying himself here at Hacienda Middlewood.  Pika and Nacho think he's okay - not good or bad but okay.  Nacho was a real help yesterday while I was trying to make up the bed - putting new sheets on the bed and cooking are his favorite household chores.  

Afternoon nap while we were out of work last week due to the power outage...

Note:  I added Labels to this post and blogger republished it as a new post; not sure what's up with that. 

Garden update:

-  We took a class on separating perennials at the Huntsville Botanical Garden this spring and were sent home with a bunch of perennials we planted in our yard - including these awesome irises that have just started blooming!  I'm not normally one to get excited about irises, but I think these are pretty awesome.

-  I think we're close to getting all our vegetables planted.  So far, we've put swiss chard, radishes, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, basil, parsley, cilantro, tomatillo, hot peppers, okra, eggplant, sage, dill, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and a bunch of different types of tomatoes in the ground.  All we have left is squash and melons - I think.  The swiss chard is going wild!  And even the broccoli is hanging in there - what a trooper!

Note:  I added Labels to this post and blogger republished it as a new post; not sure what's up with that.

View from work today:  the port that accommodates the vacuum pump and instrumentation for the Liquid Level And Mass-gauging Apparatus (LLAMA).  I'm not going to lie, even if I thought the technical aspects of my job were boring, it would still be really fun just to look at all the hardware!

Note:  I added Labels to this post and blogger republished it as a new post; not sure what's up with that.

Michael is kayaking on South Sauty today.  I was planning on going but woke up feeling crummy with a killer headache.  It's probably for the best - I really needed to get some work done, namely on a final report that was due on Friday.  We just recently purchased a new desk on Craigslist, and I'm totally loving working at it.  We have placed it in our "wood panel bedroom" so it faces the window where I can look out and see our front yard.  I love it.  Way better than my windowless cubicle at work.

I installed Instagram on my phone yesterday, and the photo above is my first attempt.