Happy Halloween!

For those of you who follow my blog, you may remember the last post about finding the perfect pumpkin. (Or if you don't, just scroll down a bit to read it.)
Well here is the final result- the pumpkin's fate was to become a Batman jack-o-lantern! I am very pleased with how it turned out! Have a look for yourself:

Holy Spooks, Batman! You're on a jack-o-lantern!

I also encourage those gamers out there to take advantage of the Team Fortress 2 Halloween Special. What a deal! In the holiday spirit, don't forget to play lots of Left 4 Dead and shoot many zombies! If you've pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 then you  have access to the demo by now which is outstanding!

In other news, I've re-potted my rose in a larger blue pot which will be its home for the winter. It's growing pretty well. When I got it some of the lower leaves seemed a bit yellow, but the whole plant is a healthy green now. A new bud has started to bloom too!

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A Rose by any other name...

When I was in England over the summer I noticed that practically every house in the countryside had a rose garden. There were all types of roses and the gardens all looked really nice. I had always thought that roses were really hard to grow, but if everyone was growing them, how hard could it be really?

Above: A rose garden in Bourton-on-the-Water, England.

Well I'm about to find out. I recently acquired a Kordana miniature rose plant, and I intend to grow it and, if it gets big enough with nice flowers and stuff, I'll give the best ones to my girlfriend. I don't want to tell her about it because whenever I give her flowers she jokes that I have a secret flower shop in my basement... well this one is on the back porch!

Until it gets too cold... then I might set it on top of my computer which is right next to a sunny window.
Anyways I've read about growing roses a little bit online and it doesn't really seem all that hard. If all those people in England can do it then, by Jove, so can I! Here are a few pictures of it, including a bonus picture of my dog Strider. Any flower-growing tips are appreciated.

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