Worm Update

Well, it's been 10 days and this has been very fascinating! This is a great project for kids, my boys are getting a kick out of it.

I've been checking up on the worms every day or so, most days just opening the lid to make sure I don't have any more mass evacuation attempts. But every 3 days or so I would toss in a few food scraps. After tossing in some "sweets" on day 3, things seem much improved. There are usually worms crawling up the sides, but now no more than 4-5 at a time.

Those food scraps did the trick last Thursday. The worms took a couple days, but eventually all migrated towards the banana peels and tomato slices and in 48 hours, had been pretty cleared out. So on Saturday I added about 1/2 lb. of kitchen scraps: apple cores, banana peels, old lettuce and cabbage. And a couple eggs worth of shells, crumbled. I need some more guidance on how often and what techniques to use for feeding, but I'll get a system together soon enough.

Happy Worms! Enjoy some pictures from this afternoon:

From 2009 09 03 WormBin_Vermicomposting

This is the worm bin after 10 days. It's simply COVERED in worm castings now...despite adding food daily, there is no odor.

From 2009 09 03 WormBin_Vermicomposting

A closeup of the worm poop trails. Lovely, huh? This is pure compost, as good as it gets for your garden.

From 2009 09 03 WormBin_Vermicomposting

If you find some REALLY rotten food, you can find a HUGE tangle of worms. This grouping was tangled around a banana peel.

From 2009 09 03 WormBin_Vermicomposting

The top peel was added last night, the middle peel is about 3 days old, the bottom peel was from Friday.

Being Sick Sucks...

I'm just wrapping up a pretty nasty cold, upper respiratory infection, whatever you call it.

Whatever it's called, it sucks.

I don't get sick often. I last got quite sick the last week of February 2008. Yes, you read right: 2008. It was a horrible case of the flu, actually. Once I came home from the desert I felt like a time bomb, I figured if you go too long without getting sick, it's bound to happen at any time.

And for me it was two Saturdays ago, the family had eaten dinner at Upstream Brewery and then took the kids to the Heartland of America Park in downtown Omaha to run around. My throat was getting that telltale soreness that heralds a cold.

Oh crap.

I was right -- Dave let me sleep till 9am on Sunday and I didn't want to move when it was time to get up for church. In fact, I ended up not going at all...

On Sunday and Monday I was in pretty bad shape. Dave took most of Monday off so he could help with Timmy, and he took me to the urgent care clinic so we could rule out strep or H1N1 (a.k.a. swine) flu. It was none of that.

Tuesday was the beginning of improvement, but as is typical with my kinds of colds, I end up with a lingering post-nasal drip that results in a lot of coughing at night. Since I turned 30, I've had a hard time shaking such a cough without a follow up trip to the doctor for some sort of antibiotic.

This one seems better -- instead of the lingering cough, I have this river of snot -- I think I've plowed through 3 boxes of tissues over the past 10 days. My nose is a nightmare...

I need to get better about the blog posts, folks -- really. I used to be so on top of things, until Facebook and that friggin' Bejeweled Blitz that sucks up so much of my time...

I'm getting busier, though -- I'm now involved in my local AMS chapter, PTA and Dave's unit's spouse's group. Jacob's signed up for Cub Scouts and starts piano lessons this week. Timmy and Jacob both start soccer in a couple weeks, too. It's going to be nuts!