Greg's General Store

I will be taking a very short break from blogging. I have some business to attend to. I will return on Monday and tell you all about it. I should have some great pictures (hopefully) for you too. I hope everyone has a great week. I look forward to catching up on all your blogs on Monday. Take care, Greg PS don't forget about me. :)

I had a really good weekend. I started a little early on Friday by taking off an hour early. That always makes for a nice weekend. I was able to get everything ready for the Farmers Market so there was no rushing around at the last minute to get things going. The weather was just about perfect on Saturday and the Market was packed. I can’t seem to get a picture once the people get there though because when they do, we get busy. Mid morning, my daughter and her family dripped in from out of town. We were able to visit briefly in the morning and then had a longer visit in the afternoon after we left the Market. This is how the Market looked and also how our display was set up. We managed to talk my daughter into staying the night which was great because we got a chance to talk some more. Even though we talk via email and on the phone, it is always nicer to talk in person. My grand kids wore me out though so I woke up a little tired this morning. I think they get their energy by taking it...

I wish I could have zoomed in closer on this bottle brush because up close it really looked spectacular. I am so happy to report that from about 6 feet away, I could hear the buzzing of bees. I expected to see bumble bees since honey bees are very scarce these days but it wasn't. Yes we have honey bees again. Yea. There must have been several hundred on just this one bush. Welcome back bees. Here is a little closer shot but I don't think you can see the bees. I love frogs. This green frog watches over our ivy vine and keeps other critters out of the garden. Have a wonderful green day, Greg

I cut this hydrangea way back, in the fall of last year. Now it is full again and looks better than ever. Last year it was wild and gangly looking with some long and some short branches. Since I cut it back, it has gotten full and has a new greener color to it. Sometimes you have to cut back to go forward. I am also cutting back a number of other things in my life. I already mentioned that I cut way back on any medications I was taking. I still take a low dose aspirin a day but that is about all. I do take supplements like fish oil, flax seed oil, pomegranate and my goji berries. I am feeling better every day and something amazing has happened. My night vision has gotten better. I now drive most of the way to work without my glasses which is something I just couldn’t imagine doing a month ago. And speaking of driving to work, I am cutting back on my speed. I have dropped my driving speed 5 MPH. I do pick the pace back up if traffic starts to back up but in general, I have slowed down. ...

I am a patient man. I try not to let little things upset me but sometimes they get the best of me. Take yesterday for example. I am interested in getting my son’s phone added to my family plan. He wants to keep the same phone number because he uses it in his plant business and has business cards and signs made with that number on it. So I called my cell phone company with only one question. The conversation went like this: Me: Hi, my name is Greg. I want to add my son to our family plan……(she cut me off) Her: What is the primary phone number on the account? I gave her the number and waited while she looked up the account. Her: Yes you can add a phone on that account. Me: I knew that. My question is can he keep the same number. He already has a phone with another company. Her: You will have to speak with “new accounts”. They can look up the number and see if it is transferable. Me: That sounds great, can you connect me? Her: Yes sir. Is there anything else I can do for you today?...

In the first picture, there are the following shells: Oyster, coquina, Anger wing, Razor, clam, cockle and scallop. There are also three crab shells. One is from a Sargasso crab and the other two are from spider crabs. The second picture is of a Horseshoe crab. Horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes. They have one main pair on the front of their head like we do but have 4 other pairs on their body. They are used a lot for vision research because of this. This is the body of a sea urchin. After they die and dry out, this is all that is left. They are a cousin to the starfish and there is a small star on the bottom of the shell. The last “creature” is my son. He thinks he is a sand crab so he buries himself in the sand. Thanks for visiting. Maybe next time I can make it a contest and give away a prize. I am going to start participating in Project Green. I will be posting a green picture every day if possible. With all my gardening going on, this should be easy but I bet it is harder than I think. ...

Sunday at the last moment, we decided to take a ride out to our favorite beach. It is on a small island just south of Seabrook Island. It consists of 250 acres of sand with some vegitation. It is a place where many shore birds nest as well as Loggerhead turtles. Because of this, you have to stay near the water and walking in the dunes is prohibited. My wife and oldest son picked up trash, while my youngest son played in the sand. I spent some time rinsing out the boat since it was dirty from not being used all winter. We always spend part of our trip to this island picking up trash. It is amazing how much stuff washes up on a beach like this. Later on, I did some beach combing and found some intereting items. Can you tell what kind of shells these are? The waters around this island are home to many animals including this horseshoe crab. This one got stranded on the beach and died which is very common. You would think they could tell the water was leaving them since they have so many ey...