Flower garden (mid-May)

The flower gardens are in full spring bloom now! These irises are just bursting with color.


Our neighbor's crab apple tree adds nice pink to our side yard.

Scott reevaluated our bird-feeders strategies. We were mostly feeding the squirrels and "boring" birds. He moved the hummingbird feeders and changed food.


The allium are starting to bloom.


I planted the window boxes this weekend. The pots planted a few weeks ago are thriving. They'll probably weaken as it gets warmer, but I love pansies.

Vegetable garden (mid-May)

All our efforts this spring are starting to show results!

Scott is planting the peppers and setting up the cage.


The left two rows contain onions. The middle two rows contain red potatoes. The right two rows contain fingerling potatoes. The fence at the far right is supposed to trellis the cucumbers.


The lettuce and spinach are almost ready to eat (bottom right corner). The sweat peas (along the back wall of the garden) are almost grabbing the trellis string. The squash and zucchini are planted in little mounds by the wooden trellises. The circular metal cages are ready to support peppers and tomatoes. The herbs are planted along the edge (from the upper left corner to the bottom right).

Chemistry Demos

One of my students, Soon Li, took photos throughout the semester of good demonstrations. Compliments to Jim Maynard for setting up the demos and helping me come up with good ideas.

Here I lit salt solutions on fire to show that different metals have characteristic flame colors.


We revisited the flame tests when we discussed excitation and emission spectra and the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom.


In this image, I mixed bromine gas with potassium metal and released a lot of energy as potassium iodide was formed. I am a bit nervous in the first image and quite relieved in the second image. This demo complimented a lecture on writing chemical equations.



This next image depicts the ethanol cannon. I used a spark to light the ethanol vapor on fire, released a lot of energy (sound), and popped off a cork as water and carbon dioxide were formed. I actually lit off four cannons. The fourth is made from a water-cooler jug, and it's hidden under the bench until a boring part of the lecture. Jim is a great showman, and he recommended hiding it for effect. These demos complimented lectures about stoichiometry and balancing chemical equations.


These balloons were filled with hydrogen and oxygen gas. When I lit the base of the balloon on fire, a lot of energy was released as water was formed. As you can see from the protective ear-gear, the pop is very loud. I could also feel the heat wash over me as the reaction occurred. If Soon Li had caught my expression right after lighting the first one, it would have showed relief that I still had eye brows. This demo complimented a lecture about thermodynamics and state functions.



The drinking bird was one of my last demos of the semester. It's a great application of the gas laws and review of thermodynamics. It also allowed me to talk about the Simpsons during lecture. (Remember the episode where Homer is at home in a Moomoo and used the bird to press the "y" key to keep the nuclear reactor working?)

Mulching saga continues

Like the plate of pasta that you never thought you would finish we have almost used up all of our leaf mulch.

To good effect - in spite of a chilly spring the perennial gardens are taking off.

Garden update

The tulips are in full bloom...


The mulching saga continues with steady progress.

Herbage - french tarragon, rosemary, italian parsley, sage, oregano.

And the magnolia is still in bloom!