Puffer fish

Whew, it's been a while since I last wrote! It has been very busy and I'm not sure how time has gone so quickly! Since September... well, my mother came to visit for almost 2 months so no wonder why time has passed. We spent alot of time shopping and of course, we went on a road trip to Vegas and Palm Springss. It was nice and relaxing perhaps even on the boring side. We shopped, hung out pool-side and you can't forget about gambling!

I've been wanting a pet animal for some time now. Either a dog or cat but I figure my place is small and not pet friendly. But mom suggested I get an animal to relax a bit and for it to persuade me to stay home more instead of out riding my motorcycle all over SoCal. (She is definately not a fan of motorcycles!) I really don't want to clean up after any animals and feeding the thing? Well, lets just say I'm glad I have plants since I only remember to water them once a week, if that.

We went to Chinatown and I saw the cutest fish ever. It looks like it's smiling at you whenever it looks at you. I've always wanted a puffer fish ever since I was a kid so I bought 2 since one would probably be lonesome and I figured two can keep each other company. We got a starter aquarium and in went the fish. They looked really bored with each other and mom suggested I get 2 more. One big happy family... yeah not quite.

The original 2 are figure 8 puffer fish. I named the Puffer and Puffy. I should have done more research before purchasing the second 2 since these are green spotted puffer fish, which I named Shiny and Sinky. Supposedly the green spotted are very aggressive and it's suppose to be 1 puffer of any kind to 10 gallons of water... you can say the small space made them enemies from the start. But in actual the figure 8 puffer is way more aggressive. Puffer bit the fins and tale off of Puffy and eventually Puffy died even after being segregated for recovery. Shiny and Sinky kept getting their fins bitten but knew to swim out of the way or at least try to. Then Shiny and Sinky got some sort of bacterial infection that took almost a month to get rid of.

With a new huge tank, I ended up getting a Chinese albino algae eater to help keep the tank clean. Al sure does a good job cleaning! He's got his fins bitten but he's also a fast swimmer and knows to fight back. Now that Shiny and Sinky are well, I placed all 4 fish in the same tank and of course Puffer nipped tails within just a few minutes. Unfortunately, I had to segregate them so Puffer currently has his own tank and the others live happy ever after.

For the green spotted you can tell when they are happy or stressed. When happy, their head is iridescent - hence, Shiny's name. Sinky was named because well, when I got him home he kept sinking to the bottom of the tank. His belly was black but after a few days it turned white. When stressed, they turn black. They are all fascinating to watch since they all have different personalities. You can tell though, Shiny is my favorite.




Puffer - Figure 8 puffer fish... he swims so fast it's difficult to get a photo without being blurred!



Al - albino Chinese algae eater. He keeps the tank sparkly clean!



Figure 8's - Puffer and Puffy... RIP Puffy.

Puffer eating his meal of blood worms.



Green spotted puffer fish - Shiny and Sinky.

Brenda Fox

In March 2009, I went in for a doctors appointment and a few days later, I received a phone call from the nurse saying I may have cervical cancer and I needed to get a biopsy. There were a few cells that were of concern. And after going for a check up every 6 months, and being negative each time the medical team said I was probably ok and cancer free. During that time of waiting and the check ups, I just remember thoughts of what I must do and priority lists, like a bucket list of stuff I should accomplish. And I was glad my dream of restaurant ownership was taking place - this has been my dream since being a kid. Since then, a lot has changed and being cancer free I've become passive in following my dream. I actually wrote a blog on it that I will publish later.

Since then I've been more cognizant of cancer awareness programs and fund raisers for research. There are a lot! A few months ago, I met Flo, a woman from Canada that created the Conga, which is a Canadian & United States joint effort in raising funds for cancer. The event is annual and the crowds get larger every year. This year the ride was a success and the amount raised was over $35,000! I was fortunate to meet her, her best friend Judy, and brother Eric - the three of them rode their bikes from the rally point in Wyoming all the way to Los Angeles! They visited with us for a few days then rode on back to Canada. Total, they were on the road for about a month - what an awesome ride!

During the Conga visit, I met another woman Brenda Fox. A friend of mine had told me she had cancer... had... I assumed Brenda was in remission and doing well. Brenda is such a fascinating person - and she rides totally like the wind! She took us for a ride around Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica mountains. My friend Carrie, that introduced us is the only other woman I know that enjoys riding curves, fast. Most of the bikers I know think Carrie rides too crazy and gets nervous around her. I like riding with people that know how to handle their bike and I was just totally impressed with Brenda. Even though I was trying to keep up and I thought I was going fast Brenda was gone and Carrie was right behind her. I'd round a curve just to see Brenda and Carrie go around another curve. Amazing! Truly amazing, I wanted both of them to keep on riding so I could just watch them ride around the curves super fast.

But the reason for today's blog is Brenda's cancer. It's not in remission like I thought. She's still has it. I didn't know she was in bed for one whole year. The cancer almost killed her...and two years trying to recover... she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. It's been a tough road to recovery for her but she's making it. I have this link, yes I know it's another fundraiser but this is for a really good cause. October 2 is a cancer declaration day Livestrong 2010, where people from around the globe can urge for better treatment, more research funding and care. Part of your donations will be given to Brenda for her medical treatment. Please donate what you can  http://starride.net/brendafox/

Thank-you.

Iron Butt Bun Burner Gold

Since last year, I've been wanting to complete another mini Iron Butt ride. I was thinking since I completed the Saddlesore 1,000 mile ride in 24 hours, that I should move on to bigger competitions. Thus the Bun Burner idea was born... 1,500 miles in 36 hours.  Then a fellow biker friend said she'd like to try the Bun Burner Gold which is 1,500 miles in 24 hours and better yet all in the state of California, which is a different competition.

We just hadn't had a matching schedule to make this a reality until this past weekend. For one of my vacation weeks, I flew to Washington state to pick up the rest of my belongings from my parents home and drove it back to Los Angeles. My father came with me and I had thought he was going to stay for 3 weeks but after 3 days he wanted to go home. With this 3 week unexpected freedom and having the weekend off from work, my friend and I discussed going. Then another biker friend who had never gone on an Iron Butt wanted to join.

I had prepped my bike a few days before - she got the works done... as much as I think I ride, I've come to realize that my bike (named Gray because of the color) doesn't get out too much. As a 2001, Gray only has 30,000 miles on her. I had the 30,000 mile service done with complete oil change, brand new front and rear tire, new front and rear brakes - the first time I've ever changed the brakes! It was a good thing I took Gray in because I didn't even notice my rear brake light was out. I had told the mechanic I was doing this competition and asked him if 3 days was enough to fix everything. I think he was so excited about this competition for me, that he wanted me to break in the new tire before I left on Saturday. Dropping Gray off on Tuesday evening, the mechanic was super fast and Gray was ready to pick up Thursday morning.

The 3 of us - Boo, Judy and I -  decided to leave early Saturday morning and for sure complete the 1,000 mile Saddlesore ride within 24 hours... and if we felt up to it and had enough time left to ride another 500 miles within that same time frame. If worst came, we decided we would get a hotel and finish the remaining 500 miles the next day... as long as it was within 36 hours - and that would definately not be a problem!

Since this would be my second Iron Butt, I wasn't as anxious and actually slept 4 hours, which is about average these days. The last ride I was so excited I couldn't sleep and only napped 2 hours before the ride. I had completed it in 18 1/2 hours, which is about average timing according to the Iron Butt forum. But with this 4 hour sleep and having two other buddies to ride with, I thought it would be no problem at all. Boo had mapped the route following Interstate 5 all the way South to the California and Mexico border... exit 1B the ride all the way up to the California and Oregon border... exit 796 at Hilt. We decided to leave my place since there was a fuel station and easy access to the Interstate. That receipt print out began our ride... 4:33AM Saturday... so we had to be finished with the ride at 4:33AM Sunday... or at the very latest 4:33PM Sunday.

I had purchased some new clothing attire with the new bike I got last month. You can't really wear Harley-Davidson stuff while riding a Ninja so I got textile jacket and pants for riding this bike. I debated whether to ride with Harley leathers which have been tried and true or the new textiles. In the end, I decided to wear my new helmet I got last year with the cool sun visor and the leathers. I didn't want too many new variables that hadn't been long distance road tested and I wanted to be familiar with my equipment.

Boo figured out the gas stops should be around 7 minutes long and no longer than 10 minutes per stop in order remain on schedule. So we would gas up, hydrate, snack and restroom break all within that 10 minute time frame. She had made the gas stops roughly every 120 miles since my bike empties quickly. I must have felt a bit rushed since I forgot my wallet at home. It was a good thing our first stop was only 2 blocks from my house! I had to return home and fetch it.

Of course, the iPod was ready to go too. Now, I haven't had time to change the songs since I uploaded it over 3 years ago. And I really don't use it much since I haven't found time with this new job for gym time. Anyway, almost the entire ride to San Ysidro I was thinking what the heck kind of music is this?!? OMG! Some music was good classics but some wow! I didn't think my music taste has changed much over the years but perhaps they have abit. Course, it was either listen to the whistle of the wind in the helmet (I thought it was fixed but apparently not) or listen to music, so music it was. Then after a while the tunes kinda just grew back on me with the likes of squeaky high pitched women singers No Angels, Britney Spears, Evanescence, etc and lots of techno. The only worry I had was I would get bored in silence. The iPod's battery life is about 14 hours so if we completed the ride in 24 hours, I would be riding in silence for the remaining 10 hours. My best thinking and brilliant ideas have come from long rides and inspired by music. But these days I'm not sure if I have enough active imagination and thoughts to tide me over for that time frame. I haven't had much time to daydream these past few years... just no time after moving to LA.

Anyway, our next stop... San Ysidro near the Mexico border... It was a bit chilly out and I was glad I chose the wear my leathers. I wished I had bundled up a bit more but knew it would get warm once the sun came up. I went ahead and took lead but Boo took over once we got near the border. I didn't know the exact location of our stop and the Interstate split between I-5 and I-805. Usually around 1/4 tank, I get nervous and begin searching for fuel but I trusted Boo enough to know we would make it to our destination plus I had about a 1/2 gallon of emergency gas in my saddlebag. 6 miles before our scheduled fuel stop, I ran out of gas. Yup, there we were chugging along then all of a sudden no power. I knew it would be a close call but I figured the reserve tank would get me there. So the debate was should I honk and notify the others I'm out of gas or hurry and switch to reserve? No honking... and no switching to reserve... clumsy me, my glove got caught twisting the reserve valve and by the time my finger got free, the girls were long gone. Then I found out I don't have a reserve! The motorcycle manual states my tank is 4.9 gallons and holds a reserve of .9 but that's not true. But now that I think about it, my reserve valve could have been switched along time ago and perhaps I've forgotten to return the switch? I'll actually have to go check. Anyway, pulling over to the side of the road, I was quite thankful I brought emergency fuel - enough to make it to the next gas station.

After San Ysidro, we would be traveling North. Seemed like an easy thing to do... stay on I-5 and keep going. Traffic was quite foul around LA and we lost about 10 minutes. Almost every stop we were about 10 minutes behind schedule. Now this Bun Burner Gold, it seems like everyone that has completed has come within 15 minutes of that 24 hour mark, so we knew it would be a close call and it was quite pertinent to stay on track. Eventually the traffic cleared and we made up for lost time going alittle faster since the legs were shorter. I came close twice more on running out of fuel. I was nervous but I knew I had back up. At one point we were almost half hour ahead of schedule!

We had made a pact to remain together. Anyone could call off the ride, if safety became an issue. Come to find out one of the women was having bike problems in San Ysidro. Maybe I wasn't listening but I didn't become aware of it until several hundred miles later. She had added some sort of additive when we re-fueled and it seemed to have helped her bike performance.  In hindsight, had we known of the throttle problems were going to be that bad we could have called it off when we were still in SoCal. The throttle continually worsened and by the time we got to Hilt, the bike could only go 50mph. with some unexpected bouts of going 80mph.  The exhaust was horrid smelling like the gas was not combusting correctly. Thankfully, we had plenty of time and less than 50 miles to finish the 1,000 Saddlesore. We actually went 1,144 miles in 16 hours 35 minutes. At least we got one ride pin and will have to attempt the Bun Burner again.

We made it to Hilt, CA... the very last exit before you get to Oregon. This was our turn around point to return to LA. We arrived at 7PM and was quite lucky! They were just shutting down and we were their last customers. Not to fret, if they were closed we would of had go 20 more miles to the next fuel stop.

Only 2 pumps in Hilt, CA. Last customers of the day.

We ended up spending the night in Willows. We thought rest was needed and maybe Boo's bike would recharge and be ready to go in the morning. We didn't know what was wrong with her bike - she checked the air filter and spark plugs. It was good we packed over nighter clothes just in case. And I was glad to bring the cell phone charger. We used up alot of phone battery trying to contact any truck rentals and even hotels! There was some local race and lot of the hotels were booked full. I'm so glad I have this cell phone... it truly was a life saver as far as finding hotel phone numbers via the Internet, instead of driving to each hotel checking on vacancy.

 

We were also lucky one U-haul location was open until noon. Every single moving truck place was closed on Sunday. We had to return 30 miles north to Corning but we made it, putting along at 50mph. It took over 3 hours to load and tie down the bikes. We were all wondering why we weren't feeling so good also... but it was because we hadn't had a decent meal since the night before and on the dehydrated side. By the time we had lunch and hit the road it was past 1:30PM and we were worried traffic would be horrible.

Quite the mess huh? But we got the bikes all tied down... until there was a test hard brake check which the side wood slats broke letting the back bike crash into the two front bikes. My bike (front right bike)got the brunt of it with a dented in fender and a foot long scratch on the left saddlebag. Judy's bike (front left bike) somehow did not get a scratch even though Boo's bike (back middle bike) had the foot peg stuck under the fender.   

Boo (left) and Judy (right)

Boo was really lucky. It was a good thing her throttle had problems. Imagine having the rear tire blowout going 50-80mph, in the dark and on a mountain! Yes, that would be a bald tire and that's the actual fabric inside the tire showing. And imagine still having to go 600 miles on that bald tire. All I can say is wow! As much as the broken bike was a hassle, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

So we got the U-haul and check out the door panel. Do those moving boxes look real to you? OK well maybe I'm just more gullible than everyone else. It was my turn for the junk food run while someone else filled gas and the other one checked the tie downs on the bikes. I came out of the store and missed the U-haul. When I left the U-haul the back door was open and the bikes were showing. When I returned, in my delirium, I thought those boxes were real and wandered in circles looking for the truck not realizing it's just a picture on the door...yeah, I could probably dye my hair blond and get away with it at times (if you follow blond stereotypes). Actually, I thought they pulled out and was hiding around the corner and magically another U-haul took that gas pump...until Boo stepped out from the vehicle asking me what I was doing. But to my credit, there really were quite a few U-hauls on the road.

South of Sacramento, there was a fire on the side of the road... rubber neckers almost caused a few accidents applying their brakes at the last moment. I later learned this fire was about 750 acres... it was really smoky.

It took about 8 hours to get back to Los Angeles. It took another 1 1/2 hours to unload the bikes. Fortunately, friends of mine were in Sacramento returning to LA, so they trailed behind us the whole way in their vehicle and helped unload. 3 others arrived to help also. I was home by 1145PM and was glad to finally be home. What a weekend! Perhaps, I'll attempt the Bun Burner Gold before the year is out... I'm just not quite sure of my work schedule and cooperating weather. If not this year, then next year... we had made plans to attempt again in June.

Washington

These past few weeks have been a blur. With some vacation time, I took a trip to Washington State where I visited with the parents. It was a rush trip home since the main purpose was to clean house, have a garage sale, pack my stuff in a moving truck and drive it to Los Angeles, where I have been living the past 2 years.

It seems that where ever I have traveled, I have accrued souvenirs and returned them in boxes for storage at my parents’ home. When I moved to LA, a few years ago I brought whatever I could pack in the car and purchased almost everything else. Now, that the parents are getting older and have a need for a junk-free home, I was requested to claim my stuff or donate it. And most of this stuff I don’t need but also don’t want to give away – old military uniforms, boxes upon boxes of books (seriously, I could open a book store with all my books!), certificates and awards, my collection of Harley-Davidson articles, etc.

“Project Clean Home” took all week and the yard sale only 5 hours. Living out in the country, there were few people and we ended up donating a majority of it. I really didn't think I was going to see any of my friends during this visit - there was no time since there was alot of cleaning to complete but I did end up seeing a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in about 17 years. Luckily and thankfully Kris came over to see me at the parents’ house. When I had first thought about it, I was thinking it was just a few years but time has passed quickly… Kris and I met while working together when I was still in high school! I was amazed to think it was indeed 18 years ago that we met and that her oldest twins are 14 years old! Whew, time flies!

Kris and I at my parents house.

The visit to Washington was refreshing. I think I was tiring from civilization. It was nice to stay home and become a hermit for a week just listening to the wind in the trees, hear the birds, see fields of wheat, corn and nothing else… no hordes of cars, no rush hour, no mass crowds of people - just the quiet of country. And I was actually averaging a sleep pattern of 8-9 hours a night versus the 1-4 hours I’ve been having since moving to LA!

Mom's flower garden.

Wheat fields

Corn fields

Wheat fields

I did get to check up on the chickens dad got a few years ago. There were two 2 month old baby chicks that kept getting attacked. Not sure if the adult chickens were threatened or just liked picking on the smaller ones. One chick died but dad saved the other one and segregated it. Eventually, it escaped and we thought the coyotes got it but it was hiding in the garage.

The adult chickens

Baby chicken that ran away to live in the garage.

Loading up a rental truck with all the items I wanted to keep, my father and I pulled an all-nighter and drove the 18 hours to LA, unpacked and organized. Amazingly, everything fit in the garage… hopefully; nothing will fall over when an earthquake occurs!

Dad and I had time to hangout for a day and we drove all over LA – heading to Japan town, Chinatown, Malibu, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Griffith Park.

Griffith Park and Hollywood sign in the distance.

Griffith Observatory

View of Los Angeles from Griffith Observatory

Click on video to see Los Angeles from the Griffith Observatory.

In the Santa Monica mountains overlooking Malibu. This area is a big motorcyclist area due to the curvy roads. There's a biker hangout that several celebrities are known to visit - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Leno, Jillian Michaels... and just a few weeks ago, I was at the biker place and saw Joey Buttafuoco and met Brenda Fox.

 

Palm trees were all over the place!

Over looking the ocean from Rancho Palos Verdes.

Click on the picture to watch the video. From Rancho Palos Verdes, you can see several cities and the beach... Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, Torrance Beach.

Thinking that dad was staying a few weeks I had made a list of restaurants he should try. Since he’s a Sushi Chef, and was nominated in Cambridge Who’s Who 2010 in Food Service/ Restaurant, most of these restaurants were sushi locations. Perhaps it was the shock of civilization – too many people, an over abundance of noise and traffic that made him want to return home after a few days. I can understand the shock since I’m still trying to adjust to the close proximity of people everywhere and little space. It is quite a difference from country living where it is not too populated to being around people, noise and vehicles everywhere constantly. I was glad to have my dad visit me in LA. It's the first time he's come to visit where I live - in all the places I've traveled to.

Weekend adventure

Wow, what a great three day weekend! After work on Thursday, my best friend, her kid and I headed up to Lake Isabella. I had called for a hotel reservation a few weeks prior and since it was a small privately owned hotel, they said they went to bed around 10PM  so our room would be left unlocked and the key on the table. I called to confirm our late arrival and was informed of the room number. It sure is freaky to walk in our assigned hotel room at 1AM to find people in it! A call waking the owners up and perhaps she was sleepy or something but we were informed it was a mix up and got a different room... only to find people in there again! How many people do you know go to a hotel room and forget to lock their door? How crazy is that?! Anyway, the owner came downstairs still half asleep and unlocked an empty room for us. Thankfully it was empty and we had to hurry to sleep since we had an early morning.

Friday - July 23, 2010
White water rafting! The office was only a few miles away and my friend and her kid had never been rafting before. Usually, the first time you start out on a small rapid - perhaps a II-III class. But since I had gone several times prior (although not on this river) I booked us a class III-IV rapid called the Gusto on the Lower Kern River. Pretty exciting! It was an all day event and 12 miles of river... I think 8 rapids total.

There were a total of three rafts and about 20 people... Us three were put in another group of four so our raft was packed... seven of us plus the guide.

We ended taking the scenic way home and stopped by Lancaster. I had seen this video called a musical road and wanted to check it out in person. The road is designed by engineers to awaken a vehicle driver by listening to the road music. You know how you're driving down the shoulder on the road, you hear that strange noise to wake you up in case you fell asleep at the wheel or to just let you know you're driving off the main roadway. Anyway, this road was actually built for a Honda car commerical. You have to drive a certain speed and the noise the vehicle tires emit is the William Tell Overature - the finale. Or to most people, it would be called the theme song to "The Lone Ranger" television program. It's only about 40 seconds long and 1/4 mile so it's not too much of an attraction. We went over it three times!

(click to play - sorry my finger got in the way of the camera)

Then we went downtown Hollywood to Thai town to hangout a bit and went shopping. There's a Buddah shrine on the street and my friend wanted to pray alittle. She bought some packaged crackers as a food offering and prayed. I went back to the vehicle which was the next store over and by the time she returned to the car, pulled out of the parking lot and drove by the shrine - maybe 2 minutes - the food offering was gone! Homeless people are plenty in that area so we figured as soon as she left someone snagged the bag. Amazing...

Saturday - July 24, 2010
We arrived home last Friday night and I promised a friend of mine I'd go riding with her in the morning. Morning sure arrived early! This friend is a web design consultant who decided to help out a Canadian fund raising organization to raise money for breast cancer research. This was the third annual Women Who Ride Conga Line based out of Vancouver, BC. Conga lines throughout the United States met up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. http://www.gowitheflo.org/ After the event was over, Flo the organizer, her best friend nicknamed Fancy Pants and her brother Wilbur came to Los Angeles.

Eric, Eli, Carrie, Judy, Jayna, Brenda, Flo, Jack

So my friend and I were going to take these Canadians on some rides... not that they needed to ride more - they had already been on the road for 23 days and logged over 5,000 miles... yup, on motorcycles. We took them to biker hangouts and some really cool roads in Orange County.

Sunday - July 25, 2010
Another early morning! This time a ride around Los Angeles County. We took them to more biker hangouts and met some more biker folks that would help with next years Conga. They start their roadtrip home tomorrow and by the time they reach Vancouver Island, BC they would have been on the road for almost one month! What an adventure!!! I did feel bad for them - the LA fundraising wasn't what they had hoped but there is always next year. The meet location will again be in Wyoming but I think they said the new location would be Greybull. I'm hoping to join the Conga next year and ride from California to Wyoming... and that would be a great roadtrip!

There's a place called The Rock Store. It's a biker hangout near Mulholland - a lot of celebrities that ride stop by. We met up with Brenda Fox, who is a spokesperson for women in motorcycling, motorcycle test rider and journalist. She's also in the American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Fame.

Brenda Fox

Q-Tip... who is "The Beast" on TMZ.

La Brea Tar Pits

Today was an interesting day at the La Brea Tar Pits. I had no idea Brea in Spanish meant tar... learned quite a bit today. The museum was also open and there were alot of skeletons that have been dug out of the tar, cleaned up and assembled to for which ever animal that fell into the pit. I was amazed that from 1913-1915, there were about 500,000 skeletons that were discovered... and that lions and saber-tooth cats once roamed California!

Mammoths were plenty back in the day. Some weighed as much as 10,000 pounds and could get stuck in just one inch of tar or asphalt as it's mostly called now.

The tar is not what usually killed the animals that were trapped. It was mostly exposure, dehydration and starvation that killed them. Then other scavenger animals would try to eat these trapped animals and also get stuck. The most common animal the paleontologists have found are dire wolves. Inside the museum, they had a wall of 400 skulls on display out of the 1600 skulls that have been found to date. Each skull was different in shape and size - there were some pretty big wolves!

I was surprised to see the level of the tar pit had gone down. You can see along the tar lake the recession is about a foot more shallow. What was even more interesting was that around the park there were coned off areas with tar coming out of the ground. The tar itself is not hot, but bubbles from the methane and H2S gas that is released from the ground. It kind of reminded me of going to Yellowstone National Park.

This is called area 91. It's an actual area that is used every summer to dig up more skeletons. You can see the flags where there are some bones. Usually, 3-4 squares are dug up every summer. It is a long process but also it's up to the museum funding and they can only afford 3-4 squares per year.

Back in the early 1900's, people would use kerosene to clean the tar off themselves since it's so sticky.

Also, in the park were these baskets of plants. I just discovered the word hydroponics a few weeks ago as I drove past at least a half dozen hydroponic/ aquaponic shops on a different route home from work. Curious as to what these shops were, I googled information off the Internet. Very interesting stuff! You don't even need soil to grow vegetables! In these baskets were various vegetable plants - tomato, various lettuce, squash, corn... perhaps this is the future of personal home gardening. The plants are put in gravel and water is constantly flowing to water these plants. At the bottom there is a basin to catch the water and a pump to keep recycling the water.