Updates: Fish, Flowers and Fiction including The Martian & Godzilla

  By K. L. Zolnoski | August 31, 2015 - 1:02 am | Author Updates, Betta Aquarium
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Kiryu carrying half a blanched pea.

War In Flesh is off again and this time I am well pleased with how it’s going. I had to purchase a new computer and between that and working overtime lately I haven’t had any time for writing or blogging. Whilst setting up my new computer I went ahead and cruised the interwebz for some kind of editing software, with an emphasis on affordable (read “cheap” because I had just had to buy a new computer) and found something I kind of like. I did make time this last weekend to read a novel. The first new fiction I’ve read … Continue reading →

Zucchini Lasagna & Some News From The Nerdverse

  By K. L. Zolnoski | July 18, 2015 - 10:47 pm | Gardening
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Spaghetti Squash supported on tomato cage.

This last week the first fruits of the garden ripened and were harvested. It starts slow but as things get going there will be plenty more squash, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and other delicious things to add to our diet fresh from the garden. Because this is the first year of the garden I haven’t used any pesticides, weed killers or sprays of any kind. Just water, soil and sun have gone into these veggies. You can’t get much more organic than that. We got two zucchini, one cucumber, a handful of basil and two patty pan squash this week. The … Continue reading →

A Nerd In The Garden: First Fresh Veggies

  By K. L. Zolnoski | July 13, 2015 - 3:06 am | A Nerd In The Garden, Gardening
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Squash Blossoms

So i tried to grow my squash up cages to keep them all contained and well behaved. They grew up the cages, oh yes, and then they grew down the other side and started taking over the entire garden space. They look gorgeous and they are setting squash like there is no tomorrow. The squash are growing visibly from day to day. I cut up an old shirt to make little slings to support the squash so that their weight doesn’t damage the vine before they ripen. Saturday I went out to water and there were all manner of pollinators … Continue reading →

A Nerd In The Garden: Landscaping & Hummingbirds

  By K. L. Zolnoski | June 29, 2015 - 4:27 am | A Nerd In The Garden, Gardening
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Vertical gardening

This weekend the hummingbirds made their return presence known. I was delighted to see them visiting the crocosima and I’m pretty sure that I heard the chicks in their nest. The crocosima and my mallow plant bloomed about two weeks early this year and I was worried that the hummingbirds would be late. I hope the blooms last long enough for the chicks too. A local nursery was having a sale and we picked up four plants for the empty flower bed. We got two Rose of Sharons and two elephant ear plants. I also re-planted the gunnera that died … Continue reading →

A Nerd In The Garden: Heartscaping & Raised Beds

  By K. L. Zolnoski | June 22, 2015 - 2:15 am | A Nerd In The Garden, Gardening
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Taboo

Because that is how it feels to me. An oasis of calm in the midst of chaos. A little place of rest and a tiny slice of nature in my backyard. It de-stresses me after all day at work and brings a surprising peace to my soul. It’s not much, I don’t have a lot of land or anything, but I get a little corner of the yard and with a lot of help we are turning it into a place of rest for mind if not body (gardening is hard, sweaty, dirty work; make no mistake). We are also … Continue reading →

A Nerd In The Garden: The Raised Beds Are In

  By K. L. Zolnoski | June 7, 2015 - 11:31 pm | A Nerd In The Garden, Gardening
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Raised beds

Last time I wrote we had just cleared the space for my raised bed garden. I had calculated the linear feet of lumber I would need and due to pricing had gone with cedar kits which Amazon was kind enough to deliver to my door. I was too busy actually putting the beds together, filling them and planting them to blog. Now that the garden is in, though, I thought I would post about the almost completed project. There was a minor hiccup with the fill dirt for the beds. I had calculated I would require around 3 cubic yards … Continue reading →

A Nerd In The Garden: Designing A Raised Bed Layout & Clearing A Space

  By K. L. Zolnoski | May 17, 2015 - 3:08 pm | A Nerd In The Garden, Gardening
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After tilling

Good day, gentle reader. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks designing and researching a raised bed garden. This has involved measuring the area I will get to use for the garden, compiling a list of vegetables and herbs that we would like to have in our garden and preparing the spot chosen. The design side took quite a bit of time. Once I had the dimensions I made some graph paper layouts in Excel and printed the grids on paper so I could draw raised bed layouts to scale and find what appealed to me the most. The most … Continue reading →

Dragons of Tarkir Additions to some Decks

  By K. L. Zolnoski | April 20, 2015 - 2:26 am | Uncategorized
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Ojutai's Command

Those who follow Magic: The Gathering know that the new expansion set Dragons of Tarkir shipped last week. Personally I was excited to get my grubby little paws on this set because it promised a lot of dragons. Honestly, who doesn’t like a lot of dragons? So I got my hands on a box and had an enjoyable evening opening packs and reading cards, looking at art and enjoying the scent of new magic cards. I noticed that the flavor text for Pacifism got changed, which is a real shame because I found the previous flavor text pretty funny. The … Continue reading →

Snorkeling on Maui: Our Last Day in Hawaii

  By K. L. Zolnoski | April 3, 2015 - 7:47 pm | Travel
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Teralani 2

On our fourth and final day on the gorgeous island of Maui in Hawaii we decided to book a snorkeling excursion. Susan, our friendly island expert redeemed herself from the Road Less Travelled to Hana by suggesting Teralani Charters for our day trip to snorkel. If you are in Hawaii I highly recommend them for snorkeling excursions or whale watching. The entire day was simply delightful and the crew of the Teralani 2 was instrumental in making the experience amazing. I confess I was a little anxious about snorkeling. Despite being a fairly accomplished swimmer, I have a fear of … Continue reading →

Emerald City Comic Con was this weekend #ECCC2015

  By K. L. Zolnoski | March 30, 2015 - 2:09 am | Uncategorized
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Mt Rainier over Seattle

This weekend in Seattle Washington at the Washington Convention Center was the Emerald City Comic Con. I was unable to post here on M31Publishing due to a technical error with the site and because I was away from home I didn’t have the same access that I normally have and needed to correct the problem. Thankfully the fine people over at Fangirlnation published my review of day 1 of the con here . Of course there is so much that happens at a convention that I cannot possibly get it all into a single article. One of the things I … Continue reading →