Coffee Break #28 - The cold, dark days

and then these 3 were out back at the bird feeders

Keeping your family in my thoughts Victor.

Very cool Bill! Are those quail? Pheasant?

Thanks, all.

Cool, Bill.

I watched a hawk fly into our front crab apple yesterday, then the crows came and chased it away
turkeys Bill?

I saw in a catalog that a crab apple will pollinate an apple tree?

They're both malus.

the shot in the backyard was turkey's high tailing it when i opened the slider

the first was a hawk - looked fantastic with bino's

Guess I was way off.

Anyone have apple trees?

I used to have apple trees.

I do. And a crabapple and yes, they do pollinate each other. My apple tree is neglected but gives a few fruit each year that the squirrells eat and must enjoy:-)

I think Celeste does. Too much spraying and maintenance for me.

I never sprayed mine.

A coworker said the same about apple trees, but has pear trees that produce well. I want low maintenance.

No diseases? Fungal?

Pear is easier.

How about those column apple trees you can grow in a container?
I wonder how well they produce.

I tried for years. Useless.

Those were the ones I saw, I'm still waiting to see how my blueberries survive in containers.

i have a dwarf granny smith - three years this spring no flowers yet - neighbor planted 5 just over the fence so i'm hoping we help each other out - the 2-n-1 plum same age produced last year for the first time, only the yellow plum's still waiting on the purple ones

We have a crabapple which I suspect was bird planted. It seems to have no difficulty producing flowers & fruit. Don't know what else is around for pollination. Our property was conservation land for 30 yrs so all sorts of things pop up.

Thoughts and prayers Victor to you and yours.

my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family Victor.. hugs

Thanks, Allison.

Jeff came home yesterday and reported that he was shown his schedule for next year.
AP Calculus
Ap Calculus B/C
College prep Physics
Honors Physics

He was excited cuz he won't be teaching Chemistry next year. He enjoyed it, but teaching 2 AP courses as well as 2 lab courses has really wiped him out. He finally let his exhaustion be known and they were scared that he would leave. They want to keep the 'old man' happy. ^_^
They do want him to get involved with the Math League though. He kinda breathed a sigh of relief.

Still looks pretty heavy to me!

Yep, but it's only 4 preps instead of 6. ^_^

Wow - new stat on how bad the job market is. 6.35 people trying for every job opening. 30 for construction!!

Don't know how good this is, but it's hard to beat the price!

http://www.buy.com/prod/brother-pt-1090-home-family-simply-stylish-labeler/q/loc/101/212543570.html?adid=17653

I guess teaching them is much easier than having to take those classes.

Job market is looking pretty bleak here, I'll say that.

Last week I heard that the unemployment rate for those with a college degree is under 5%. Without one, it's over 10%. Moral of the story is that an education is more important then ever.

Not for this college girl. Maybe it would be different if I majored in business or health care.

not for the college guy either

Well the degree will certainly help both of you. It's not a guarantee, of course.

Nobody wants artists now, it seems.

I know people with business degrees and tons of experience that havent been able to get a job in 2yrs now after being laid off. What they do want is sales people/ financial consultants to help bring in the $, but they have no medical ins. and a large chunk of their pay is on commission. Very tough out there, even tougher to keep a job, have to do the work of 3 and work overtime w/o compensation as well. Lousy...

Yes, businesses are reluctant to hire until they are sure there is a turnaround. They are also very worried about all the possible new expenses that might be imposed on them.

My son wanted to get into new media design for college, but his grades weren't quite good enough for such a popular major. He ended up taking new media publishing, planning to switch over after his first year and getting better grades. He ended up staying in the publishing side and even into more of a business major, in fact the only one is his group with a bachelor's in science instead of fine arts. It ended up being a better decision than if he had done what he originally wanted.

Our daughter started with chemical engineering, but liked chemistry so much she stayed with it. Ideas at age 18 & 19 change a great deal.

Glad I switched majors from dance.