Crafty

My new curtains...so the sun comes up in Iwakuni at about 4:30am. It comes right into the bedroom window too...not nice to wake up to!
We looked for Blackout curtains on base at the BX, we looked in town, and even online...what we found we did not like, or they were crazy expensive, so Tracy got crafty!
Tracy went to the BX and bought a sewing machine (thank goodness she paid attention to Granny's lessons). We priced fabric in town (~$25/yd) and decided to go an alternate route.Tracy came home, and started to get creative. She remembered unpacking linens, and having pieces missing. Luckily, we had a dark chocolate top sheet that was missing the bottom sheet...aha fabric! Tracy went to town measuring (twice), cutting (once), and sewing. She took the white curtains off the window, and lined them with dark chocolate, giving them a cool layered look.

The result was awesome! Not only do the curtains look awesome, they block out the majority of the morning sun. This will be much appreciated when Jon starts working 24 hour shifts, and naps during the day!

Up next, the guest bedroom...Just need to find more fabric!

You are probably thinking, this does not look very dark, the picture was taken at noon and the bedroom light was on....trust me, it is dark in there!

Garden Update

Zucchini!
There is about 10 this size, and 10 new buds...yummy!!

Zucchini plants...I ended up thinning the one on the right

Relocated "Hedges"
This is where the cucumbers used to be
Let's see if these plants survive the move...I hope not!

Tomatoes
I counted last night, there are 22 tomatoes
on 3 different plants

Planted a few new flowers
On the right, one of my faves
the Bougainvillea

What's New in Iwakuni!!

Ooops,  I just realized that we have not posted anything in a long time. Well there is not a whole lot to talk about. Tracy is still waiting to hear about a job she applied for, and interviewed for. She has several different things going on, but still no job. Tracy has been named the Head Coach of the Iwakuni Swim Club. Practices are only two nights a week, and it is a volunteer job, but it does give her the opportunity to travel throughout Japan. Hopefully Jon will be off-duty, and able to do some travelling with her.
Jon is almost certified in Iwakuni weather...although the weather seems to change minute by minute. Currently he is working Monday-Friday, but that should be changing soon, to a 24 hour on, 48 hours off schedule. That will be a nice change, so that on his days off, Jon and Tracy can get out and explore more of Japan.
The garden is continuing to produce yummy veggies. It will be undergoing some changes soon, but it is to make it bigger, and better. The tomatoes have finally started to grow like crazy...a little advice from dad (who knew they did not need daily water) and now we have too many tomatoes. The cucumbers finally started to die out, and after the last few were picked, we pulled the plant out of the ground. The green onions/chives I don't think will ever die...we pick them, and cut them back, and 3 days later, they need to be picked and cut back yet again. Our Soybeans....well they never came back! After we picked all the pods off, the plants never re-grew anything, so they too were pulled out of the ground. Lastly, the Zucchini. The plants are huge, and there are about 15 small zucchinis on them...but they did not seem to be growing...until Tracy got a brilliant idea.
In front of the Zucchini were some hedges that housing planted, and Tracy thought maybe they were crowding the zucchini, and blocking the sun. Guess what happened to those plants....yep they were removed. 2 were relocated, and 4 met the garbage...oh well! Now the zucchini have plenty of sunshine and room to grow, and that they are doing. I am hoping to start picking in the next week or so!!
I guess I should take some pictures of the new changes...but more changes are coming...Tracy had a little too much fun with the Burpee Catalog, and may have ordered a lot of seeds!!
This last week Tracy has been sick with what started out as allergies, and turned into a horrible head cold. She spent most of Saturday sleeping off a fever, and getting well. On Sunday, we hit the road and explored the island of Oshima. The bridge to the island is about 25 km away, and the bridge itself is about 1km long. The island is small, but a nice place to go to. We drove around, and found that Oshima has a lot of really nice beaches for swimming, as well as a lot of water sport rentals. There are also tons of hiking and biking trails on the island....I have a feeling we are headed there this weekend to do some biking!
I will definitely take pictures of that!!

Update....garden pics too!!

So I planted 7 zucchini seeds 8 weeks ago...this is one of my plants

These are all of the flower buds on 1 plant.....multiply this by 7
Good thing my neighbors are excited for zucchinis!
I am going to be making so many zucchini recipes...I think next year I will plant 1 seed!

Little frog I found in the cucumber plant
He is cute at this angle

Not so cute...he did not have a happy face either
Jon kept saying "don't touch him, he is probably poisonous...it is Japan remember"
How can I forget!

Seriously, these plants are on steroids...or radiation

Jons new truck
The Suzuki Mini-Cab

Ugly little bug eyes



They call this a truck....
It is 4 speed manual transmission
No AC, No power steering
He just had to have it...



So not much new going on over here on our side of the world. We got rid of the "Jalopy" van that we were given, and we became a 1 car household....that lasted a week. A Suzuki Mini-Cab truck was posted for sale, and Jon jumped all over it, why I don't know.
The truck is a 2 seater (that's all we need), manual transmission ((I don't know how to drive it), and it has NO A/C and NO power steering...piece of crap!
Any who...so we now have 2 cars again, and don't plan on buying anymore, unless one of them dies, explodes or falls into the ocean (it's a possibility).
We haven't done too much lately, as Jon's work schedule is constantly changing. He was working nights, then switched to days, then went back to nights, and for the next 2 weeks is on the range.
This week he is on the rifle range here on base. He has to check out an M-16 rifle every morning, and then walk from the armory to the range (not authorized to have an M-16 in the car...I don't know why!)
Next week he will catch a flight to Okinawa, where he will be on the rifle range and be shooting for points.
At least that is the plan...we will see if the weather allows that, as Super Typhoon Muifa is approaching Okinawa. Currently it is tracking to hit Okinawa on the 4th of August. Notice I highlighted Super, yea this is projected to be a biggun!!
If you want to follow the storm track, click on the link below. It is for the Joint Typhoon Warning Center out of Hawaii. Once on the site, click on the TC Warning Graphic under Current Northwest Pacific/North Indian Oceans...thats us.

http://www.usno.navy.mil/JTWC/

If you want to see what our weather is here, as well as another way to look at Typhoons in the area, take a peek at Weather underground. The site posts the weather via the metric system, so to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply it by 1.8 and add 32...or find a conversion chart online to make it easier.

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/47764.html

Well that is all for now...I have to work on some projects I have started. I purchased my own sewing machine the other day, and started playing with it. So far I am in the middle of making blackout curtains...a must when the sun comes up at 0430am!!
Pics to follow when I am done!!