Earth Day, 2009

If you didn't already know it, today is Earth Day. As an environmental steward (not to be confused with one of those hatred [or hated] environmentalists), I look forward to this day every year.

And my small part this year was to spruce up our yard.

I cultivated and planted a herb garden for SisIggy. If it turns out, we'll have fresh parsley, basil, oregano and mint.






I also prepared the gnome garden for some type of annual we'll plant this weekend and a pot for Sis to plant a Rosemary tree.

Last but not least, I moved our Adirondack chairs from the patio to a nice grassy spot overlooking the bird bath and
rigged up a hummingbird station
that's nestled among the peonies.

It even looks like we'll have sunflowers growing around our feeding station since volunteers are growing taller every day.



All in all, Earth Day 2009 wasn't a bad day afterall.

Yum Yum

Tuesdays in Dirtman-land is French Toast day.

SisIggy prepares a delectable breakfast consisting of fantastic slices of French Toast smothered in maple syrup.

Today, however, was even more remarkable as she had made a Banana Nut loaf the day before and at my suggestion, sliced and toasted it before dipping it into the egg batter.

What can I say. It was yummy.

The only downside is she will have to bake another loaf of special bread next Monday so next Tuesday's French Toast Day can top today's treat.

My suggestion: In honor of the 82nd Annual Apple Blossom Festival, a nice Applesauce Cake might be nice.

How Many Eckersons Does It Take To Plan a Roadtrip?

John Adams once said "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress! So how many Eckersons would it take to screw up a simple Saturday roadtrip to tour a Civil War battlefield.

It started simple enough. John Boy and I thought it would be good to tour the Battle of Monocacy Junction, an 1864 battle that ended the South's last forray in Yankee territory.

Only problem, we couldn't find any information about it on the Internet and didn't even know where in central Maryland it was located. We decided to be polite and invite John Boy's siblings along for the ride, knowing from past experience they wouldn't "waste" a Saturday touring one of John Boy's battlefield excursions.

Guess what. We were wrong. SisIggy and Dark Garden both said "what a wonderful idea".

We met in the railroad town of Brunswick because we knew there was a National Park Service Visitor Center for the C&O Canal. Surely someone (a park ranger, for example) there would know something about Monacracy Creek (especially, as it turns out, the battlefield is located in the same county).

Not a clue. The man could talk all day about the C&O and even about Civil War skirmishes protecting said canal. But he was clueless and suggested we tour Antietam instead. Guess that battle was big enough to at least know the name.

But before we could start the Exodus , we had to wait on John Boy, who's fascination with the Civil War Trail network is reknown the world over. Here, he reads about Brunswick's role in the war.

So we loaded up in the cars and tried to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. Should have been pretty simple.


But then the Eckerson clan doesn't know the word simple. Before we could head out, there had to be a pow-wow to mesh out the details.

We knew if we followed these signs we'd be on the right track. Only problem, Maryland is stingy with these signs. I think we missed one in Boonesboro - or there wasn't one - but about an hour later we got a call from Dark asking where everything was. Seems he was cruisin Hagerstown and we were in Funkstown, about 15 miles out of the way.

Credit John Boy.

He took the map from me. And so he should since he's a professional cartographer. Hell, he dreams maps in his sleep.


Finally we made it to Sharpsburg (I am a southerner) and then there were more decisions to make:


1) Should we take the guided tour from a ranger?
2) Should we buy the CD, pile into one of the cars and hit the military park on our own?
3) Should we buy the brochure (ain't nothing free anymore from the government)? OR
4) Should we all stand around a cannon and discuss it for another hour?


OK. Perhaps it was only 30 minutes but the point is, let's make a decision how 'bout it.

Finally, it was decided that we buy a brochure for Monocacy River and use a brochure someone else purchased; then dropped in a trashcan after realizing the CD was the route to take.

I won't bore anyone with the actual tour. Dark Garden did a nice take on his blog and SisIggy did one too (though I'm not sure I cared for the poke at my size and my looking like a "honkin' big war memorial blocking your view". She followed that comment with a Photoshop-distorted picture of yours truly. Decide for yourself and I'd be interested in your comments.

Now all we need to do is decide when we're going to Monocracy Creek. And how many Eckersons will it take to get us there.

24 Hours Later: My Fix For a Year

Just finished watching two epic movies: The Blue and The Gray (1982) and North and South (1985, 1986 and 1994).

About once a year I get in the mood to watch these two made-for-TV mini-series. I thoroughly enjoy the Geysers and the Hales and as SisIggy says, "Stacy Keach single-handily winning the war".

The same with the Main and Hazard families though by the third book in the series, it gets a little contrite. Or maybe I have tired of the saga.

Thank You Heir I

It took me about two hours on and off today to bury a 100-foot long, 7/8-inch diameter garden hose for our soon-to-be backup water supply from our neighbor landlord.

In that span I had managed to bury about 20 feet.

Heir I came out to help once he arose from bed, had a shower and breakfast.

And am I glad he did.

In less than a half hour we had completed the task with him doing the grunt work with the shovel and me, burying the hose and tamping the earth with my big fat knee.

He did almost nick my pinkie once or twice but fortunately I was able to pull it in time. And it's a good thing too.

"Whew, you almost got me," I said.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't get you," he said. "I don't want to have to take you to the ER. I want to go to my girlfriend's this afternoon."

Well I feel better now, thank you very much.

Editor's note: There is no photo for this blog as Heir I doesn't like his mug on the internet and with a buried hose, all one would see would be the open expanse of the back 40 and you've seen enough of that already.

Heir (II) Testing

SisIggy, Heir II and I will get up really early tomorrow morning and head off to Salem so the Heir can take a battery of tests and interviews for several scholarships offered by Roanoke College.

We hope he does well.

A Sump and A Pump: Water Issues - Again

"Dad, something is wrong with the sump pump," Heir I told me as he tried to shake me from a deep sleep. That was early Tuesday morning (around 3:30 am to be exact) and after finally waking up I muttered, "unplug it and if water doesn't back up into the basement, I'll fix it in the morning."

I did investigate Tuesday and found the reason the float wouldn't drop, fixed it and thought our worries were over.

This morning, around 5 a.m., Heir I again woke me from my warm bed: "Dad, water is spraying all over the basement," he said. "You got to get up and fix it."

I got up, went into the dungeon he calls home, looked at the pump that brings water from the cistern and indeed saw a fine spray emitting from a plug. I fixed it then by turning off the breaker in the electrical panel and went back to bed.

Later, I investigated and found the pump had run the cistern dry and popped a rubber hose off the pump. After re-attaching it and ordering in another 1,500 gallons of potable water, the problem was solved for now.

Our landlord, however, wants to install a backup plan and tomorrow, Heir I and I will dig a 100-foot trench to place garden hose from our outside water bibb to our landlord's water line. This will work until he can get permanent structure in place later this spring.

And maybe, I'll be able to get a full night's sleep.