Courtney's Content

Everything I wanted

2012-02-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today is payday #2 for me! I finally received my first adjunct professor-ing paycheck, and it's a bit larger than I'd guessed to boot. I'd do a happy dance, but the moolah is being combined with our tax return to pay off our credit card. THAT calls for a happy dance, hopefully by this time next week we will be consumer debt free!

I'm in a good place right now. Working hard, definitely. Struggling to manage my time correctly and achieve everything I wanted, for sure. But still, doing well. Upbeat and happy with life. I came across something this week which is apt:

Damn it's a lot of work to have everything I ever wanted.

I laughed when I saw that line. Its certainly true! I've told DJ a few times that I'm really enjoying the right now as well as daydreaming about the future.

We're headed over to Jackson Hot Springs near Dillon this weekend, in search of snow to cross-country ski on. Though it is actually snowing today, we've been snow-free for the vast majority of the winter. It's the weirdest thing. So we're GTFOOT (Getting The F Out Of Town) for a bit and exploring an area we don't know much about. Looking forward to it.

And with that sunshine and unicorns update, I'm off for the weekend. Happy Friday :)

Early February, Early Mornings

2012-02-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Whooooooooowwww

Its now, what, 4 weeks into this full time working/ part time teaching thing and I am... Tired.

Here's the routine for a week: up at 6:15am every day, shower, to the office by 7:45am. Work through the day till 4:45pm, when I dash out the door to the gym. Exercise for an hour, then home for dinner. After dinner is devoted to working on class lectures and slides.

I've found that I can't lecture without a slide show. Talking about history, especially historic built landscapes is such a visual thing. So lecture preps bounce back and forth between searching for the image I want and fact checking what I want to talk about.

I've probably spent an average of 6-8 hours on every lecture. This is the first time the course is being taught, so I'm totally building it from scratch. And because I wasn't sure what I'd want to change after a few weeks, I didn't plan lectures or slideshows very far in advance. So its a lot of work.

I knew it would be a lot of work. Its work I enjoy, really, but it's been a bit of a relentless grind building this thing. Even something like a lovely surprise weekend from my sister can throw my whole "things to get done and when to do them" schedule off.

And every week I seem to fall into a pattern of totally nailing the Tuesday lecture, walking out feeling on top of the world, and then falling flat on my face for the Thursday lecture. Or vice-versa. Its unnerving and confidence-killing. Nothing to do but get back on the horse though. Especially since I'm getting paid to do this.

DJ has been awesome, absolutely awesome about giving me time to work on class stuff. I've neglected housekeeping, demanded he turn off the light by 9:45pm so I could go to sleep (oh the irony!) and generally demanded that all things fit my schedule. He's made dinners, hung out with the dog and kept the house stocked with toilet paper.

And I have a wonderful sister and friends, did I mention that? I turned 29 on Tuesday. And Harlow turned 2. In advance of the birthday, Gretch drove over from Pullman and Ali drove down from Helena for a Chico Hot Springs afternoon and Livingston Saturday night. We stayed at the Murray Hotel (awesome historic hotel across the street from the train station), had dinner at the rib and Chop house and then did a Livingston bars lap. The most entertaining portion of the evening was walking into the Mint Bar and finding it FULL of hipsters. HIPSTERS. In LIVINGSTON. That.... Was unexpected. With their serious black oversize glasses and serious conversations.

Dusty made a delicious dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes, garlic bread and broccoli for my birthday. I received flowers, cards and phone calls. It was a nice, low key day. Which is my style for birthdays.

This weekend is packed with getting my poop in a group. Writing the handout for the paper my students have due at the end of the month, prepping this week's lectures, prepping some AOII stuff for the annual Corporation meeting at the end of the month. Budgets, agendas, membership, etc. I'm good at that end of the organizational spectrum, I hope.

And with that, I think I heard the coffee ding that it's ready. Time to get to work!

On becoming my mother

2012-01-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

My mom is a pretty neat lady. She's got her shit together, handles stress with more grace and generosity than I do, and is just generally a good person.

I still cringe at some of the things I teased her about growing up. Especially how cheap she could be. Friends who make fun of DJ and I for our "cold" (64 degrees) house should remember that I'm descended from the same woman who "heated" her house to 57 degrees in the winter because she didn't want to pay the heating bill. The same woman who had her house on the market for $500k+.

But I digress. I teased my mom mercilessly for her janitor-style key ring.

And now I have one too. Let's count the shit on my key ring, shall we?

Car fob
Car key
Gym fob
Key fob for AOII
Key to office at MSU
Key to classroom at MSU
Key to office for the City
Key to room where my Board meets
Key to our house
Key to the lake house
Mailbox key for our house
Mailbox key for my parents house
Key for my parent's house in Bozeman (which they sold last month) (I think that's it)
Key to my bike lock
Some other mailbox-like key... I have no idea what its for.

Obviously the keys to my parents now-sold house can go. But how about the keys to the places I only go occasionally? Keep them on a separate key ring? Which I'm more likely to lose? Or leave at home on a day I really need my damn keys?

Is my key ring another indicator of being an adult, with adult responsibilities?

And how long before DJ starts making fun of me mercilessly?

A slow Saturday morning...

2012-01-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a week. Especially for one only four days long. But I made it; we made it through.

My lectures for class this week were... a push. I can't discuss history without starting at the beginning, which meant the geology of the northern Rocky Mountains. Suddenly on Monday night I'm cramming about igneous and sedimentary rocks. It was a little nuts.

Nonetheless, I achieved what I set out to this week. Gave two decent lectures. Was up at 6:15am each morning, and in the office no later than 8am. Avoided "double dipping"; working on class lectures while at work for the City. Knocked out a couple of important projects at work.

By Friday DJ, and probably the doggie, felt a little abandoned. I barricaded myself into the office on Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week to prep lectures and basically ignored them. DJ has been a very supportive husband while I try to teach this class, which I appreciate so very much.

We celebrated the end of a trying week with a great dinner at Over the Tapas; goat cheese-filled croquettes, bacon wrapped steak, lamb sliders and a steak salad. OMG, we may have a contender for new favorite restaurant in Bozeman. The best part was leaving without feeling that we needed to unbutton our pants.

From Tapas we went to Lowes to pick out tile for the fireplace, a project which is finally happening next weekend. I'd still rather tear out our entire mantle and put in built-in bookshelves and a smaller mantle, but I'll compromise on just finishing the damn thing.

Upon arriving home, I poured a whiskey drink and got in bed with a book. DJ watched "Gold Rush" (yeaaaah, the quality of television ranges widely in our house). By 10:00pm the lights were out and I slept wonderfully until 6:30am, when my internal alarm when off. It was nice to snuggle in our warm, comfortable bed for an hour while thinking through gardening plans for 2012.

Now I'm in the office with a cup of coffee. DJ went downtown to meet friends for the Saturday morning coffee date, but I stayed home to enjoy a quiet house. I'm giving myself until noon, after which I'll start working on lectures for the next two weeks.

How was your week?

A busy three day weekend

2012-01-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

I spent pretty much all day today preparing my lecture notes and slides for class tomorrow. The kicker is, I still don't have keys to my office, keys to my classroom, or any certainty that I can turn on the projector in the classroom. I know I can turn on the computer, but I didn't test drive the overhead projector when I as in class last Thursday. Foolish of me, since I've now spent 10 hours or so prepping this lecture.

This week, especially tomorrow's lecture, will be a little tricky. It's a subject area I don't know well, so I've had to do a lot of re-learning over the last 18 hours. I think I'm good to go.

In an effort to wind down and sleep at night, I'm making myself stop working between 8 and 9pm tonight. I'd originally hoped to have all the lectures for the week completed by 8pm on Sunday (Monday, this weekend since we had today off for MLK), but chose to not miss out on the Moonlight weekend instead. C'est la vie; I can work on the lectures Tuesday and Wednesday night. And Thursday's subject area is much closer to my knowledge base, so it shouldn't be quite as much work.

I keep reminding myself of the advice a fellow adjunct in the History department gave me: "Contex, contex contex; why is this important, why are you teaching this to students?"

It's been a busy weekend. DJ's mom worked in Helena last week, and will work in Butte this week, so she stayed with us through the weekend. I worked until 5pm, then ran down to grab dinner with DJ and Michelle. After dinner friends picked me and my cross- country ski gear up so we could say in Moonlight for the weekend with our wonderful friends the Kuntz'es. We've nabbing a weekend at Moonlight Ski Resort since 2010, and I think it's one of my favorite weekends of the year.

Saturday morning we fought hangovers and ventured out for some cross country skiing at Lone Mountain Ranch. It was wonderful to get outdoors in the sunshine, mountains and with wonderful friends. DJ and I need to do this a bit more often.

Kelly (due with their second child, whom A calls "Soucie", in early March), Me and Emily.

DJ and Michelle came up on Saturday afternoon while we skiied. It was fun to show her the amazing "mountain home," and have her get to spend some time in the mountains with us. DJ made great home made pizzas for dinner, served tapas style. Mmmm, that man of mine, he's one heck of a cook!

Saturday morning we wolfed down breakfast before heading down the mountain to Bozeman, a snowstorm, and lecutres and slides waiting to be compiled. I've been in the office of our house since about noon on Sunday compiling information to share with my students.

It looks to be another difficult week in terms of management of expectations and time. Hopefully I can keep getting up early, making it to work and being productive! At this rate, the spring will fly by.

Good morning moon

2012-01-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

I snapped this photo of the dog on Wednesday morning about 7:30am. The moon is in the west, the dog is illuminated by a street light and the sun is starting to come up to the east.

Poor doggie. With me so busy, and DJ having late meetings this week too, she's spent a lot of time home alone. Hopefully she'll get a lot of time with her people this weekend, as it's a three day holiday.

A snowy drive and time management

2012-01-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

Is today Wednesday? I think it is. Right? Yeah. Yeah it is.

Holy cats it's only Wednesday.

I knew this week would be rough, and it's a doozy. I started setting my alarm for 6:15am this week, and have been in the shower by 6:25am all three days this week. I am not a natural morning person, so this is a big step for me. It's helped me be at the office before 8am, which makes me feel better about getting stuff done.

I need to be particularly careful about tracking my time at work this spring, as I step out every Tuesday and Thursday between 10:30am and 12:30pm to teach. I can't have any accusations of "double dipping" on my time sheet (doing class work while at my work office and calling it work work time).

I think this is a rough week for this. Tuesday morning I had a 3 hour orientation session for new faculty and TA's. The usual "these are the resources available to you and students on campus" and "you must report the following issues even is you just suspect" and "don't ever do this".

Tuesday evening I drove to my favorite city in Montana, Butte, America, to discuss their preservation ordinances with the Preservation Commission. We were just wrapping up the discussion at about 7pm when a sudden snow squall knocked the lights out. Now you can laugh, but I always have my headlamp in my purse. I use it all the time! And it came in handy last night, when we finished our discussion by the glow of my headlamp.

So I got back into the City's Honda CRV, with all wheel drive, and planned on driving back across the continental divide to Bozeman. Crept down from "Uptown" Butte, onto the interstate and snuggled in behind two logging trucks. I figured I could follow their tail lights, and since they were loaded down they'd be going slow. I could barely see the end of my headlights.

And then the logging trucks came to a dead stop. On the interstate. I couldn't see around them, so I wasn't sure if the pass was closed? I crept around (I think they stopped to chain up), and no one was in front of them. I happened to be on the phone with my sister at the time (hands-free device), and as I'm creeping up the pass, I remembered the time I drove to Missoula in similar weather, like an asshole. I told my sister I was taking the last exit at the base of the pass and maybe staying in Butte that night. "I have a husband and a doggie who love me at home, I'm not doing something stupid," I told her.

Yes universe, a Kramer actually made a cautious decision due to snowy roads!

I got back into Butte, got gas, and was trying to figure out what to do when the squall died out. I got back on the interstate, with about two inches of snow but no wind, and found myself behind two snowplows about to head east. Perfect.

Now is the part where I lecture to people about being an asshole on a snowy road. You see, at first, it was just the snowplows, then me, then a line of cars behind. Then this Honda apparently thought I was driving too slow of my own accord, so they passed me. I had to hit the brakes to make room for them between me and the snowplows.

And then ANOTHER driver did the same thing. This time in a Dodge truck. Asshat.

Thankfully after that, everyone else seemed to figure out what the deal was, and stayed behind me.

The lesson here? If you're stuck behind a really slow moving vehicle on a mountain pass, consider all the reasons the driver might be going slow. Including the idea that there are two snowplows in front!

I arrived home about 9:30pm, wiped, stressed, and without dinner. And it's only Wednesday, which means I can't sleep in any time soon.

Plans for 2012

2012-01-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

It seems funny to set "Resolutions." I don't know why the word bothers me. Kind of like "professor;" what am I "professing?"

The next year holds the potential for pretty substantial challenges and changes. Starting next week I'll be adding 15+ hours a week to my workload by moonlighting as an adjunct professor. I'm absolutely thrilled with the opportunity and so excited to start. The extra responsibility will, though, require careful prioritization and time management. I've recognized that I need to be effective with my time in order to avoid the 2-5am insomnia which struck so frequently over the last year.

Anyway, here's what I hope to accomplish in 2012:

Start getting ready for bed at 9:30pm every night, lights out by 10:15pm.
Be a good friend to friends and family. I have a couple of girlfriends getting married this year, all of whom were crucial in holding my shit together during our 2010 wedding. I'd like to return the favor. The deteriorating health of my grandparents holds the potential for heartache in 2012. I'd like to vow to "be there" for my parents in a manner that doesn't add to their stress level. Ie, don't tell them how to do it, just ask how I can help them do it their way.
Prioritize and make time for what's important. This spring could be pretty difficult for me, unless I manage my time wisely. First comes DJ/ the dog/ family. Second comes healthy eating, exercise, and giving myself a break, which enables me to succeed at the rest. Third comes work. Fourth comes my moonlighting job as an adjunct at MSU. Fifth comes AOII stuff. The rest, after that, is all gravy.
Save, save, save money. I think I've said this every year, but continue to evolve our grown up finances. Pay off the Europe trip, then start adding to our base savings account and exploring options to expand our retirement savings. The key, for me at least, will be budgeting for "carrots" to keep me motivated. New phones in March, for example. A bedroom furniture bender in July. Finishing the damn garage.

Those seem like kind of big-picture goals. Nothing specific and cross-off-the-list-able. But things that are important to me for the next year.

Do you set specific goals, or more big picture goals?

On to 2012

2012-01-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at that, a new year!

We had a nice Christmas. It was a road trip year. First to Harrison for a night to break up the drive, then on to Castle Rock for Christmas, then late in the week back to Harrison for New Years. It was nice to get to spend time with all of our family members. They're good people. Harlow was spoiled beyond belief, both in gifts and love. She cuddled on the couch with anyone who would let her, ran around the woods, went for runs at the lake, played fetch with the new duckie, and was exhausted when we arrived home. I felt her pain, in a good way.

Before getting into how I want to be successful for 2012, let's rehash my 2011 goals:

Organize the business end of life. I'm declaring this partially done. We've got a decent system for organizing our paperwork. I'm hoping to work on improving our retirement savings for 2012.
Prepare for Europe. Success!
Pay of the wedding/ credit card. Success! Of course, a week later we started making charges for Europe
Improve my gardening skills. Success! I'd say that gardening 2011 was way more successful than 2010. I didn't can my own salsa, but I made a lot of fresh batches. I also have a couple of meals with home-grown veggies stocked away in the freezer. This week we're eating a veggie-heavy lasagna from the garden. Made in August, frozen, then cooked on Tuesday night. Spaghetti squash and zucchini, mmm!
Evolve my job into what I want it to be. Dude... I think I'm declaring success on this. Well, I will be a week from tomorrow when I start teaching my first class as an adjunct!
Be a better dog owner. Ummm... well, I think we're better on the dog front, but more likely because she's matured than because of anything we did. She'll be two years old at the end of January, and, well, she's awesome.
Blog steadily. Again, I fell off the wagon at some points. I'd like to make sure I blog at least twice a week, but with so much going on in my life it's just not a huge priority.
Ride my bike to work in the summer. Um, fail. I rode a few times in the spring, but in the end, it's just not a huge deal for me.
Continue to feather our nest. Success! New bed, bed frame, paint in the office, paint in the guest room and a guest room remodel. Yeah. It's not done, but it's better.
Sew. OMG, dudes, I went on a sewing bender in October. A blanket for Gretchen's boyfriend for Christmas, new duvet covers and shams for the lake, sheer curtains in the donwstairs area. Yeah. I sewed, a lot.
Expand my exercise horizons. FAIL. I've stuck to what I know. Running, biking, gym cardio machines. I could evolve this a bit in 2012. Or, just focus on getting ANY stretching in.

Alright, I'll set 2012 goals tomorrow :)

The Dark Days

2011-12-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my parent's 37th anniversary. I'd show you a photo, but I lost my digital scans of the originals when my hard drive crashed the week of our wedding.

Thirty seven years. Sometimes I think they've made it this far only through stubborn resolve not to quit. The years immediately after dad was fired were hard on all of us, and especially hard on their marriage.

They seem to have come through it though, and both of them take a quiet, deep pride in the accomplishments of the other person. They are good people, and I am grateful to have them in my life.
__________________________________________________________________________

Today is the winter solstice; the shortest day of year. The longest night. We woke up this morning to a snowstorm, and I told Dusty and the dog "Guys! It's the shortest day of the year, which only means that tomorrow is a little longer, and the next day even longer. Spring is on its way!"

I think I've been mildly depressed this fall. There are many potential causes: the shortening days, the health of my grandparents, the post-trip blues and the impact the trip had on our finances. The Next Big Thing on the horizon, but a difference of opinion in when and how to get there. Career expansion that's both thrilling and intimidating.

I just haven't felt very sparkly, you know? It's manifested in two drinks a night (more on the weekends), falling into tears easily and serious apathy at work.

It finally poured out to Dusty last night, and he asked all the right questions. "Do you want to go talk to someone about it?" (No, I think once we get through Christmas and the days start to get longer and I'll be so busy that I don't have time to be sad it'll lift).

DJ mentioned that he's always thought that January and February sucked too, and asked "what we can do during those months as a preventative measure?" (Since a trip to Mexico isn't possible, date nights, using our new cross-country skiis on sunny mornings to get me outside, getting big projects done around the house).

My family has a history of depression. Whose doesn't? My grandpa gets particularly owly in the winter, when he's cooped up inside and its dark out. I suggested a light box for him a couple of weeks ago, and now I think it might be on my post-Christmas purchase list.

I've told Dusty about this many times, and given him permission to ask probing questions if I start getting overly crabby at any time. He asked all the right questions last night. He kept asking, "are you okay," to which I kept replying "I will be."

Because it gets brighter from here.

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-20T06:11:00.002-07:00

Inspired by this post by one of my favorite bloggers, I tried my hand at photographing our Christmas tree tonight. Harlow-dog was, as usual, a very excellent helper dog. She especially excelled at being the dark dog head-like mass in front of the camera.

Like Linda (the blog attached above), I like Christmas ornaments with stories. As such, when I give an ornament as a gift I try to link it to something I've experienced with the person.

This is from 2009, when I was working for Montana Gift Corral.

My parents have a long tradition of giving my sister and I an ornament every Christmas. They say its because in their first Christmas as a married couple, they had no ornaments. I received my ornaments as a wedding gift. I'm not entirely sure, but I think my dad is the ornament-buyer. He usually gives pretty sentimental gifts.

My dad gave me the doll-house ornament below when I was 15 or so. Its a reflection, or, almost an exact replica, of the doll house that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was two or three.

It even opens in the back like my childhood dollhouse did.

I try to buy an ornament for Dusty and I every time we travel. This one is from our Hawaii trip in the spring of 2009.

And, I think my mom gave us this one, a photo from our wedding.

This is another parent-gift ornament. My parents were trying to sell their house when I was three, but had mice in the kitchen. Apparently a would-be buyer arrived, and I was giving them a tour. I asked them to "come see my kitchen, where my mices live!"

This isn't really an ornament. But I'm making it one. My parents are hugely generous this year, which is humbling. After wanting a road bike for nearly a decade, my dad insisted on buying me one as a Christmas gift. I can't wait to ride it on the bike trail at the lake, and have promised my dad (a road biker for over 20 years now) that we'll go together.

It seems to me like the Holidays are mostly about channeling your inner child, aren't they? Kind of a time of nostalgia and looking forward. All of the ornaments on our tree make me smile.

I want a new car. Today.

2011-12-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

I purchased my 2005 Nissan Altima in 2004 (yep, brand new) during my senior year of college. It's the first major purchase I ever made, that I ever paid off (early!). The odometer just rolled over 80,000 miles. In reality, we "should" own the vehicle for another 5-6 years/ to 200,000 miles.

It also lacks Anti-Lock Brakes, All Wheel Drive and has $5,000 worth of hail damage. My ride, it ain't so pimp.

DJ and I are pretty financially conservative people, though you might not see that from our decisions over the past two years. We've jumped from one big purchase to another: a house, a wedding, a Europe trip. In almost each situation, we anxiously awaited our Tax Return to pay off the credit card which funded said Big Purchase.

Neither of us "like" to do things this way, and we're breaking the cycle with this tax return. Seriously. Our plan is to be consumer debt free by March, and then start stockpiling away money for a hefty down payment on a new (to us) vehicle that has AWD (or front wheel drive with studded snow tires), ABS and will last us for the next decade. If we could make my car last long enough, we might be able to pay cash for such a vehicle.

Except that my car doesn't seem to be lasting long enough. I've gone through 5 headlights in the last 18 months. Assuming it was just the bulbs, we kept replacing the damn things. I finally called last Tuesday and made an appointment with the shop. And then the other headlight went out on Wednesday. No headlights during literally the darkest part of the year. >>>Enter four letter word here<<<

It's apparently a wiring problem, but the shop hasn't figured it out yet.

I also mentioned to them that the fuel door is getting harder and harder to open and close. It had a big ding from hail damage, and I swear, the wind speed from interstate driving has sculpted the thing closed. Is that possible? Because I practically need a pliers to open my "auto-open" fuel door. The dealership today said they'd have to replace the entire fuel door, and custom paint it to match the car. Oh hell no. I'd rather buy a $10 set of pliers for the next 9 months.

I haven't told DJ that little jem yet.

I hate spending money on a car we're going to be getting rid of. But more than that, we don't have the kind of down payment we are comfortable with to purchase a new vehicle. So what can you do, right? Grr.

I wonder if we should re-evaluate the "Single Car Family" model?

Hard to find the words

2011-12-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I fall off the blogging wagon and struggle to get back on.

There have been a lot of things going on lately, and yet... not much to write about. Or, not much I can adequately put to words. Maybe a good way to do it is go through the recent cell phone photos and tell you the stories behind them?

Lets start with this one: of my mom's birthday dinner at my grandparents house.

It's a blurry cell phone picture. If I could set up this picture again, I'd have a nice DSLR camera, with a timer on it. I'd put the camera on a shelf facing the dinner table, set the shutter on continuous mode, and the camera would capture images of the lit candles, the smile on my mom's face, and my grandparents singing "Happy Birthday" to her as she blew the candles out. Somehow the camera would capture the sound of my Grandma's light (alto? soprano?) and my Grandpa's deep baritone.

The camera would not remember the shit storm of an argument Gretchen and I walked in to that Sunday afternoon, as we came over to make a Sunday birthday dinner for my mom. I think all families have this argument at some point; failing health, elderly grandparents, working adult children, lack of in-home care in rural America, the difficult decisions that must be made. What we don't talk about is the fear of losing the ones we love, losing the traditions and memories and institutional family knowledge that comes with their impending death.

It is hard.

I was in eastern Washington that weekend, over Veteran's Day, to visit my sister for "Dad's weekend" at Washington State. Since dad was a little busy playing at Sacramento, I was the stand-in. We ended up down on the field before the game, due to Gretch's participation in a student booster group. My mom was in the area too, so we were able to snag tickets from a friend on the WSU coaching staff and all sit together for the game. In a snowstorm that looked like this:

Pretty epic. The best part was the come-from-behind victory.

And... less than a month later, 'Cougar football has reminded me why sometimes college football can be cruel. You see, the 'Cougs head coach used to work for my dad. He stayed on at Eastern Washington University when my dad left for MSU. After his first wife died of a brain tumor, he remarried and now has a son and a stepdaughter. In 2007 WSU fired their football coach (whose wife, ironically, had died of ovarian cancer the year before) and our friend was hired at his alma mater and where he played, WSU. Four years later, and about 3.5 weeks after this picture, Paul was fired from WSU.

I think I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when it comes to people we know being fired. Seriously, all last week I was weepy and had a chest ache every time I think about it. It makes me sick.

And so, it seems the only thing to do is come home and cuddle this furball, who never fails to make me laugh:

(Don't fear, she punished me for this indignity by eating one of the glass ball ornaments the next day).

At least the doggie knows how to hang out and roll with the punches.

How I feel

2011-11-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry to leave that post up for so long. Not exactly a warm and cheery greeting when you come here.

I haven't posted in a while because I fell out of the habit. Because I haven't been sure what to say. Because there is a lot to say, and nothing to say, at the same time.

My grandma is dying. My grandpa is... hanging in there, though he's not all there, you know? I drove over to see them over Veteran's Day weekend in a visit which was simultaneously too short and too long.

I developed a cold on Thursday afternoon, and spent Friday home on the couch. We had wonderful houseguests for the weekend. They were here for the annual rivalry football game. We had a lovely visit.

Thanksgiving is in two days, and we've been whipsawed back and forth about the plans. First we're hosting, then we're going to grandmas, then we're hosting, now we're going to my parents. Someone just make a damn plan and stick with it.

I seem to have become pretty crabby and morose as the days have gotten shorter. I'm short tempered, quick to say something biting, crabby, petulant. And this cold has kept me from the gym, my usual coping mechanism. So now I feel grumpy, crabby and fat.

Dusty's brother finally got engaged, and I'm so happy. For them, of course, but for me too. As Brian seemed to drag his feet, I started to worry about how I'd keep his girlfriend as a friend if they broke up. So yes, I'm selfish even in that aspect.

I mentioned to Dusty last night that between Veterans Day and New Years Day is hard for me. Lots to do, and sometimes nothing to do, all at once. Short days, snowy weather, the stress of holiday shopping, etc.

Man, this cold needs to clear so I can get back to the gym!

It's THAT weekend.

2011-10-27T08:44:00.000-06:00

My sister and her boyfriend are headed to Bozeman this afternoon. They're visiting to attend this weekend's MSU football game, which is against the team our dad currently coaches, Idaho State.

I've been dreading this weekend for the last year. Dusty has considered going fishing or hunting instead of to the game.

After MSU threw dad under the bus, he was out of football coaching for four seasons. For a guy who's entire persona is tied to what he does as a profession, it was torture. It was a really, really difficult four years for him, and all of us by extension. It finally feels like things are getting back to "normal"; whatever our new "normal" is.

And of course, Montana being a small town, there have been stories in all the major newspapers. The Great Falls Tribune had one, the Billings Gazette had this one on Wednesday and this one today. People comment on those newspapers. The internet chat rooms have been all over it. I've had three calls and two emails at work from people trying to contact dad, or asking to interview me about how I feel about it.

The party line this week is "no comment."

How do I feel about it? It's too painful to drag up. The wound has finally started to form scars; I'm not ripping it open only to invite the internet trolls and their uninformed comments to further infect the re-opened wound. No thanks. I'll go along privately licking my wounds.

Overdramatic? Maybe. But tell me how I'm supposed to feel about having my dad publicly flogged for shit he had absolutely no control over?

Theme song of the week might be Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Dad was fired on the cusp of really doing something amazing at MSU. I'm talking lots of wins, playoff games, national championships.

The scars of your love remind me of us

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling

We could have had it all

Instead of having it all, dad's coaching at a school that's never had three winning seasons in a row. That's down scholarships and practice time because of Academic Progress Rating issues. It's a total rebuild; a resetting of the institutional persona. And he'll get it turned around, because he's done it twice before. Because he's good at this. And because we're all so damn grateful to have him back where he belongs.

Hell, he's so proud to be back in football, even with only two wins this year and few prospects for another, that he's cried at three different press conferences. CRIED. Had to hold back SOBS.

(I tease him about being speaker of the house John Boehner).

We could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside your hand

And you played it to the beat

Could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside your hand

But you played it with a beating

Throw your soul through every open door

Count your blessings to find what you look for

Turn my sorrow into treasured gold

You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow

(Now I'm gonna wish you never had met me)

We could have had it all

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all

He'll beat MSU again someday. It won't be on Saturday. It might not be for a few more years. But he will. In the meantime, I still have more than enough to say.

Security Blankets and Whatnot

2011-10-24T20:40:00.000-06:00

I ma, or may not, but most likely totally do, have a not so small obsession with having food stocked away in the freezer. Preferably in single serving containers:

Also, we have an abundance of half-eaten ice cream boxes. I think one of them dates to last Christmas (for serious!).

My obsession with single-serving soups comes down to this: LUNCHES PEOPLE. That right there is like 3 straight weeks of don't-even-have-to-think-about-it lunches. Plus leftovers from dinners that will randomly pop up.

I feel a weird sense of relief at having a refrigerator stocked with grab and go food. It's my security blanket.

Anyone else want to share their secret security blanket?

Year of the House (Fluffing)

2011-10-18T06:06:00.000-06:00

On our way back from Pocatello a few weekends ago, DJ and I discussed our financial goals for the next year or so. We've spent the last three years (of a four year partnership) saving for One Big Item each summer. In 2009 it was building the house. In 2010 the wedding sucked up most of our cash. 2011 was all about Europe.

We've declared 2012 to be another Year of the House. I'm calling it Year of the House Fluffing.

We've lived in our house for two years now. I don't think a house is ever "done", but I would like it to feel more finished. We need to finish the tile around our fireplace... if I can't convince DJ that we should really rip our entire mantle off the wall to have it rebuilt with built-in bookshelves flanking the fireplace.

We need to insulate and sheet rock and organize the garage. Which means putting some kind of heat source in the garage.

We need insulated blinds for the two windows in the office and two windows in the guest room. While we're at it, I'd also like to have the same roller shades in our bedroom installed in the windows and dining room windows downstairs to block west-facing light in the summer.

Most importantly, we need a new queen mattress for our bed, so that we can shift our old one into the guest room. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, and need all the bed space we can get. It would also be nice to fill out our bedroom furniture with a amoire or extra wide dresser and nightstand.

Annnd maybe start saving for a new vehicle. My Altima is wonderful- the first "grown up" purchase I made, but it doesn't have ABS brakes or all-wheel drive or snow tires. While the vehicle runs fine, we should probably start preparing to replace one of our vehicles so we avoid the two-new-car-payments-at-once issue...

It also wouldn't hurt to beef up out savings account too.

We've got a ways to go before being able to spend money on these items. We need to pay off Europe, and they won't be all at once purchases. But it's fun to browse!

Alive

2011-10-16T21:13:00.000-06:00

We are alive over here. All is well, I just fell off of the blogging bandwagon for a bit.

In the near month since we've been back, we've been busy each weekend. First it was just getting settled back into the Bozeman routine. Then it was Homecoming weekend in Bozeman, with friends and tailgating and football and a wedding reception in Helena. Last weekend we sprinted down to Pocatello to see one of dad's games at ISU. It's a quick four hour drive if the weather is nice, which is probably is only three months of the entire year. There was snow on the ground on each side, but not on the road.

This weekend was another home MSU game, friends staying with us, dinner in Livingston with friends. Friends who make me laugh, whose husbands make me laugh, and all of whom I admire. I am lucky, very lucky in the friends department.

In between all of that, I've sewn a duvet cover for a bed at the lake (shams, bedskirt, second set for other bed to follow), a cushion slipcover for the chair at the lake, processed probably 20lbs of tomatoes (all in the freezer), harvested crookneck squash, zucchini squash, spaghetti squash, made squash lasagna, done the usual vacuuming, dog running, etc.

It's been busy, for sure. But we've been lucky to have a nice fall. It hasn't frozen yet (probably Monday night). It's been sunny. It hasn't snowed. I've been able to wear sandals. I'm mentally bracing for the crappy weather that's sure to come our way.

But for now, I'll go walk the doggie in flip flops (and a sweater).

We're back!

2011-09-20T06:51:00.000-06:00

The regularly scheduled posts over the past few weeks probably tipped you off to our Europe trip, huh? I'm not very sneaky.

I have a lot to say about the trip-- it went beautifully, with only unavoidable glitches like the unseasonably warm weather in Rome. It was in the low 90's every day, instead of the upper 70's/ low 80's like we planned for. Lets just say my husband posted a lot of facebook comments about sweaty balls.

I'm still trying to process our trip photos, all 1,030 of them. I promise I won't subject you to all of them. In the mean time, I thought I'd start with the highlights and lowlights of the trip.

Highlight (for me): Day 1- D-Day Tour. I'll post more about it later, but a couple of quick images:

German guns overlooking the Normandy beaches.

Omaha Beach, looking towards the east.

Overlooking Omaha Beach.

American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.

Really, I have so much more to say about this day. The short version of it is, GO THERE. If you can swing it. If you're in France. GO.

Now, for the lowlight. I'll explain more of it later too, but the lowlight was the Vatican Museums/ Sistine Chapel. Check out these photos and tell me if you can figure out why:

Yeah... The Vatican Museums host 20-40,000 people in one day. We didn't know that. They also don't make you set up an appointment (like at the Borghese Gallery) so they can send everyone in waves. It was a giant mass of people shuffling in one direction. It was alos 85 degrees outside, and either they don't have AC, or it couldn't keep up with the masses. By the time we reached the Sistine Chapel I just wanted OUT. OUT OF THERE RIGHT THIS SECOND. OMFG GET ME OUT OF HERE. And someone brought a baby. And yes, I took a picture of the screaming kid, because I'm an asshole like that. The poor kid was expressing exactly how I felt at that exact moment too.

If' you're in Rome, don't go to the Sistine Chapel. If you really want to see it in all it's beautiful detail, buy a coffee table book and enjoy it (for about the same price).

Also: Jet lag is kind of awesome. I've been up since 3:45am (having gone to sleep at 8:30pm). I've gotten a ton done!

Guilt over leaving the pupperoni

2011-09-11T07:35:00.000-06:00

My friend Emily is house/ dog sitting for us while we're in Europe. It'll work well; Emily grew up with golden retrievers and she's headed home to the family farm for a long weekend while we're gone, so Harlow will get to be a temporary farm dog. Emily will also be able to haul in the bushels of ripe tomatoes I'm sure to get while we're gone. I have big plans for those tomatoes.

But in the meantime, I feel a certain sense of guilt for leaving our dear pupperoni. She's been getting extra loves and treats for the last few weeks. She's seen the suitcases out, and I think she know's something is up.

Cuddling this morning in bed; nothing like hanging out with your wang out.

Muddy paws?

Favorite hanging out position.

Snoozing in the morning sun while Courtney works in the office.

Someday I'll catch that tail!

Oh gosh we love this doggie.

Glads

2011-09-09T06:55:00.000-06:00

The whole point of gardening, for me, is to be able to bring flowers inside. Check out my gladiolus!

Landscaping: What's not working

2011-09-06T07:54:00.015-06:00

Overall I've been really pleased with our landscaping and veggie garden this year. Last year was so disappointing, but this year things are doing really well. I've even held off on purchasing new plants, which is amazing considering my obsession with perennials last year.

There are, however, a number of things not working.

Like this aster plant. I think it suffers from a number of maladies; including no water, being overtaken by weeds and being a favorite place for the cats to poop in (thus making yanking the weeds out not so fun).

Or how about the plants near the back step? They have to be hand watered, and I forgot to point them out to our neighbor when he agreed to water our plants in later July. Darn.

The trellis-less sweet peas are also not really working. They kind of just build on themselves and then flop over.

Or how about this vacant spot on the north side of the garage?

The hanging baskets are just not thriving either. I have my doubts about the soil in the baskets (which we scavenged), and because there is no mulch on the top, the baskets dry out really quickly. We'll see what we can do next year.

You know what's really had a rough summer? The Adirondak chairs on our front porch. A wind comes up and knocks them over, usually into a post, and off goes an arm. Damn.

So there's our dirty little secrets about what's not working in our landscaping. Anything you need to get off your chest?

Home made salsa

2011-09-04T09:52:00.001-06:00

I love home made salsa. Having the ingredients out in the garden makes it so easy to throw together a batch of yumminess.

First, tomatoes: Juliet and cherry tomatoes (left over from a pasta dish from last week).

Hungarian hot wax pepper.

Garlic.

Cherry bomb pepper.

Cilantro. For some reason I am unable to grow cilantro. I think it gets too hot and goes to seed before it really grows leaves.

The big green bell pepper is also store-bought. Same with the red onion.

Salsa is so easy to make! you just chop everything up, toss it in a seal-able container, throw in salt, pepper and a few squirts of lime and you have a delicious snack!

I'll admit it, sometimes I have chips and salsa for breakfast in the summer.

What's so wrong with that?

Back in the game

2011-09-03T07:42:00.024-06:00

This afternoon my dad retakes the football field as a collegiate head coach. After three years of being out of the game, he'll lead the Idaho State Bengals onto the field at Martin Stadium in Pullman, for an afternoon showdown against Washington State University.

Man, there is so much emotion wrapped up in those two sentences. Dad is finally actually coaching again. He and my mom grew up 12 miles from Pullman. He was recruited by Washington State, but chose to start at the University of Idaho as a freshman. WSU drubbed Idaho so badly in 1975 that my dad's brother Pat, who was being recruited by WSU, refused to speak to the 'Cougs coaches. Pat signed with Notre Dame instead, married a girl from the east coast and has lived in Massachusetts since.

Football is a game, don't get me wrong. But sometimes it has life-changing consequences.

Dad was on the staff at WSU last year. Let me make it clear: he made $24,000 as the glorified water boy. He couldn't interact with college athletes. He wasn't coaching. But he and my mom had fun being 'Coug fans. Even if the 'Cougs only won two games last year; one of them an overtime victory against Montana State.

A long time assistant, and good friend of his, is the head football coach at WSU. Paul's WSU teams have won five games in three years- he's on the end of a one-year contract extension. Saying he's on the hot seat is like saying I've got small fingers. Duh.

My sister and her boyfriend are seniors at WSU. It's amazing how much this university, which I didn't attend, has been in my life lately. Can I call myself a bandwagon 'Coug fan if I became a fan when they sucked?

The sportswriter for the Spokesman Review out of Spokane has been a longtime favorite writer of mine. His article this week gets to the amazing irony and sometimes gut-wrenching coincidences that come with college athletics. You can, and should, read it here.

Don't get me wrong, it won't be a close game. The 'Cougs have been terrible, but the Bengals have been worse. But it's awesome to see dad get another chance to do what he loves, and is so damn good at.

Toiletries for Europe

2011-08-30T06:54:00.000-06:00

When packing for one of our first trips, DJ had a list of things labeled "Toilet Trees". He knows that's not the proper spelling of all the gear one packs to deal with their body, but since then we've always referred to things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. as Toilet Trees. Sometimes just "'Trees".

Given our carry-on only travel plans, the 'Trees need to be pretty light. They'll also have to be divided into liquid and non-liquid items.

First, the non-liquid items. Below is a combination of personal care items and first aid items, including two kinds of blister relief pads, Drammamine (in case DJ gets train-sick), probiotics (for me and my sometimes unpredictable GI tract), Tums, UTI pills (I haven't had one in a while, but I don't want to deal with that uncomfortableness in Europe), deodorant/ antiperspirant, two kinds of anti-chafe stuff (I'm packing skirts and want to wear them to walk around in without having the "OMFG OUCH my thighs!" issue), Dove sensitive skin soap, which I use on my face and body, My red nail care kit (any idea if they'll let me fly with little tiny scissors?), and the scraper thing for when I get calluses on my feet (Gross to share, but important to have). And floss.

The liquid bag is still a little uncertain. Packing contact solution is the biggest pain in the ass thing; I wish I'd been able to have laser eye surgery last winter! Also: hand sanitizer, various types of sunscreen (won't be enough for the whole trip, but will at least get us started), moisturizers, Tide packets for washing clothes, 2-in-1 shampoo/ conditioner (takes less space!), eye makeup remover and toothpaste.

Obviously I'm not showing you my toothbrush, my daily multivitamin, my makeup and all of the regular stuff I use which will go along. I've found that packing the daily stuff is usually pretty simple, since I really don't wear much makeup!

Gear for Europe

2011-08-28T07:51:00.000-06:00

As we near our departure date, I'm pretty certain we've finished up our For-Europe purchases. I told DJ last night that I have the same feeling I did in the last week before our wedding: damn the price, if you think you're going to need it, buy it. The good news is, I think I'll have a lot less buyers remorse about Europe than I do about our wedding! At least all the Europe stuff will be used again, unlike say... the 12 tiki torches we bought.

I've shown you my shoes for Europe and most of the clothing I'll be taking, but now let me show you most of the gear I plan to pack.

As I've said before, we're planning on traveling light, with carry-on sized baggage. I'll have the Samsonite roll-aboard I bought with the remainder of our wedding gift cards, and DJ will have his tiny little roll-aboard. DJ has a messenger bag he'll use as a personal item and I just purchased a purse/ small day bag which will be mine. It's been a kind of fun challenge to work through exactly what it is we want to take.

First, a sort of fanny-pack for the most important documents. There are pickpockets in Venice and Rome, and at train and air travel locations. It's inevitable that our pockets will be picked, so we might as well prevent loss of important items. Bastards better not steal my chapstick, is all I'm gonna say! Anyway, thus the purchase of the silky fanny pack, which you wear around your front and tuck into your pants/ skirt waistband. Into it will go the passport (duh), wallet (the little green flip'n'fold wallet is from Target), and any other important paperwork. My only concern with this item is that clearly I can't wear a full-length dress if I'll need to be getting into my pouch...

While it'll probably pretty warm in Italy, I'm anticipating cooler weather in France. The weather forecast for Normandy right now calls for highs in the upper '60's (F) and lows in the upper 50's (F), with wet weather a possibility. On the left is the North Face Venture rain jacket I purchased this spring. In the middle is an underarmour pullover I've had for a few years. The green square to the right is a big green scarf which I'll wear with my black Patagonia dress on the plane. The scarf will be a cover-up, blanket, etc. while in flight. The crimson 'Cougs hat will be just an accessory- I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone comments on the hat!

Below is my carry-on items. From left to right: inflatable pillow, new Jon Grisham paperback, the day-bag I bought, a bottle for water, eye mask, Neutrogena makeup-remover wipes, travel journal, goldfish crackers and granola bars. Both DJ and I are planning on sleeping from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, so the inflatable pillow, eye mask and ear plugs (not pictured) will be important. We've both also debated taking a Tylenol PM, just to make sure we're not miserable for the lengthy flight. The paperback and goldfish are my go-to plane entertainment items. I'll fill the waterbottle once we've cleared security. The granola bars will go with us because I get really bitchy when I'm hungry, so they'll be our first line of prevention for that.

Other gear not pictured includes guidebooks (we'll separate those between our rolling luggage), a file with all of our rental car, hotel, and flight reservation information as well as tentative train schedule information for Italy. Of course, camera, camera charger, extra camera memory chip, DJ's droid phone (on which we'll turn the phone mode off and just find wireless hot spots to use it as a small computer), phone charger. I'll want to have my glasses case/ contact stuff handy, as I'll take those out pretty quickly into our trip. We've also got handi-wipes, small packets of laundry detergent for doing laundry in hotel sinks, a mini-clothes line for laundry, shout wipes (I'm taking 3 white shirts to a country that eats pasta, you know how this story ends).

The spreadsheet for this packing is actually pretty detailed, but small, since we're trying to pack so lightly! I'll go over toiletries for Europe later.

August 26 Friday Farming

2011-08-26T21:47:00.000-06:00

Sigh. It's a Friday Farming post, as Friday is about over. I have photos for last week's Friday farming post, but never got around to actually posting them. Summer flies by so fast!

August has been, well, rather stressful. Working to get all of the work items taken care of, personal items attended to, and trip thoughtfully planned before we leave has just been a lot of...work. It feels like Monday through Friday has been an absolute sprint.

But in between all of the to-do lists, and the waking up at 5am with thoughts of things-to-do running through my head have been a couple of really good things. My friend Alli, the one of the the great hike, and who did the awesome pamphlet map for our wedding invites became engaged last weekend. I'm thrilled for them! But even better is that Alli and her ~~almost~~ fiancee Bill are visiting us for 'Cat-Griz weekend (rivalry weekend in college football, the weekend before Thanksgiving). I'm so excited to have them here!

Along the wedding lines, I had a chance to loan out my wedding shoes to my "little sister" in the sorority, Jenni, who is doing her engagement photos next week, and getting married July 7, 2012. I'm so excited to get to pass along these great shoes which are apparently now not available. It makes me happy that Jenni will get such joy out of them too.

And holy shit, did you know we're going to Europe?! Gah, I have so much to tell you :)

But let's focus on the purpose of tonight's post: Friday Farming. Because man, this yard/ garden is doing really well right now! Who in their right mind scheduled a major vacation in early September, just as all of the peppers and tomatoes were coming in? Oh... me.

First, Hydrangea. Specifically: twist and shout hydrangea. Makes me smile every time!

Know what else makes me smile? Sunflowers, which FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY bloomed!

I mean seriously, I've only been waiting for this since, oh, March.

Um guys, I may have overplanted the garden. There are areas I can't really access because vines are going every which way and there is nowhere to step. Oops!

My gladiolus are blooming!

And the early girl tomatoes are ripening.

We've been consistiently picking early girl tomatoes off the vines for a few weeks now. They're delicious!

I think this pumpkin has evil plans. Plans to grow over the house and strangle us in our sleep. Seriously. This thing grows like 18" a day.

There is supposed to be a walkway in there, somewhere.

Winter squash!

Pumpkin! Question: I think I once read that after getting a pumpkin vine to set fruit, I should snap all of the other flowers off of the vine in order to direct all of the nutrients to the existing fruit and make it big? True? Not?

Zucchini! I see zuch bread, muffins, stir fry, etc. in our future. :)

Roma tomatoes! Wayyyyy bigger than last year's Roma's. I'm pretty certain they'll all ripen while we're in... Roma. Thankfully we have someone house/ dog sitting who can pick my tomatoes and save them for me to process.

Summer squash, some of it destined for our Saturday night pasta.

Glads!

Pepper!

More pepper!

Eggplant!

Spaghetti squash!

Sunflowers!

Gladiolus (apparently I'm really proud of these...)

Clematis on the top, sweet peas trellising up the bottom.

Front yard.

So I seriously thought these sweet peas weren't going to do much this year. They start so damn slow!

But clearly they come on late.

And man they smell good.

My Autumn Joy sedum is starting to turn pink. I think that means fall is around the corner...

Bell peppers!

Cherry Bomb bell peppers. So funny story. Wednesday night I was making salsa for an event on Thursday night, and I had a ripe Cherry bomb. I chopped it up, tossed it in the bowl. Then I chopped up a tomato and tossed it in the bowl, but a little into my mouth. HOT!!! Hot! WTF why is that tomato HOT! Ohh... these little suckers pack a punch!

Hungarian wax pepper.

Black-eyed Susans.

The herbs.

The mint (currently in my mojito).

My bee balm, which is getting powdery mildew from being directly sprayed by the water.

Bed along the driveway.

Snapdragon! Starting to bloom. Guys I grew this from seed!

Fern gully.

What's not shown: that I've harvested all of the garlic and it's in the coat closet drying. That we've got a pile of juliet tomatoes on our kitchen counter. That I'm seriously sad to be missing the best part of summer gardening while we're in Europe; everything is just about to start being prolific. That by the time we get back, it'll be well into fall. That I'm a bit scared/ intimidated by winter this year. That I want to plant evergreens by our front steps. That I can't wait to spend 17 days trapsing about with my husband.

Life, my friends, is good right now. Busy, incredibly busy, but good.

August 12 Friday Farming (on Saturday)

2011-08-13T07:49:00.000-06:00

Yep, a Friday Farming... on Saturday. Sorry, yesterday got away from me; it's been rush rush rush every which way right now!

The daisies in the front yard are still blooming, all though they look to be at the end of their run. I hope the larkspur in the bottom left corner of this photo, comes on soon. There is also a daylilly in there, which seems reticent to bloom for the second year in a row.

The front-yard peppers are doing okay. I must have aphids this year; many of my plants have Swiss cheese leaves.

This pepper is really slow to set fruit. Then again, weather.com told me it was 39 degrees at 6:30am on Friday morning. Yep, you read that right... only 7 degrees above freezing. DJ calls BS, but... ?

This little bed looks lush if you're sitting on our porch.

The sweet peas are finally coming on.

The daylilly is starting to open up.

And the bee balm is approaching the end of its blooms.

Ahhh... sweet peas make me smile.

Unfortunately, the bed looks a little under developed from this angle, especially if you consider that the goal was to camouflage those utility boxes. Growth of the Russian Sage planted between the boxes will help, and I think I might relocate the bee balm (again) to the street side of this bed.

To the right of the driveway.

More daylilly.

Cherry Bomb peppers! Okay, the one turning orange down there can't seriously be a ripe pepper, can it?

The Hungarian Wax pepper hasn't set fruit yet.

The herb garden is looking rather sad, now that I've pulled out the cilantro and the garlic. I think next year I'll plant an annual flower in between the garlic, so that the bed retains some interest as the garlic comes out.

Basil!

My second kind of bee balm is doing the weirdest thing; it's falling over as it's about to bloom. I see this plant all around town and it doesn't appear to require staking or support. What gives?

Maybe the plant is mildwey from getting directly sprayed by the sprinkler?

Again, I need the larkspur to come on for some color.

More daisies. I think the ecchinacea I started from seed is definitely destined for over here.

I'm still finding raspberries as I walk by.

Fern gully. I like the addition of lobelia to the kitchen beds, and might sneak some of it in amongst the ferns next summer.

I still haven't cut back most of the iris stalks. As long as they stay green, I think they add a little vertical interest to the garden bed.

Sweet peas in amongst a mystery plant from Jane.

Annabelle Hydrangea!

More daylilly.These plants are so hardy, it can't be a surprise that I have so many of them.

Mmmm raspberries!

Back deck pots.

Oh, a doggie.

The clematis is blooming nicely. I hope it fills out sideways next year.

Ahhh, the farm!

With all that remains of my sweet pea fence.

Are carrots supposed to bloom? I pulled one of these out the other day, assuming it was a weed, and it was definitely a carrot!

Ripening Juliet tomatoes.

Early Girl tomatoes, which look like they're about to ripen up.

These things are like the size of my fist.

Roma tomatoes.

While none of my Roma tomatoes are ripe yet, I'm excited that a number of them are pretty big. It seemed like most of my Roma's last year were pretty puny.

Jalapenos! How long should I let the jalepeno grow? I'm guessing the bigger it gets, the less spicy it gets?

Crookneck summer squash!

Squash blossoms.

Zucchini blossoms.

Zukes!

Potato patch.

I'm not sure that my pumpkin plant is doing well. It will produce little furit-lets, but they'll fail to thrive and die off instead. What gives?

My guess? The plant is shoe-horned into an over filled bed and either not getting enough nutrients or enough light. Or too much water.

The Spaghetti squash seems to be doing well though!

MMMMM.... I wonder how far these are from being ripe?

Happy weekend!

Hiking Blackmore

2011-08-07T22:10:00.000-06:00

Dusty and Harlow and I hiked Mount Blackmore today, from the Hylite Lake parking lot. It's an elevation gain of about 4,000 feet; from 6,000 feet above sea level at the parking lot to the peak at 10,100 feet.

I don't know if it was because I worked out pretty hard on Friday and Saturday, but this hike was a serious grunt. It was WAAAY harder for me than either hiking the ridge with Alli, or the Beartooths hike we did last summer. More difficult physically and really tough mentally. I also have some wicked blisters to show for it, including the bottoms of my heels. OUCH.

The scenery was pretty difficult to look at though.

Harlow is becoming a good trail dog. She's figured out, for the most part, how far up ahead of us she can go, where to drink water from and also not to... do business... on the trail. She's also an expert map reader.

Remember when we had a puppy? This photo is about a year old, of Harlow and DJ reading the map during our Beartooths hike.

A few snowfields are still up there. We found one fun way to keep the pupperoni hydrated while not diminishing our water supply. Fetch, with snowballs.

Such a lady, with her paws crossed.

At our last stop before the summit push.

We finally made the summit, and were rewarded with some pretty amazing views. From Blackmore, looking down onto Bozeman in the Gallatin Valley, with the Bridger Range in the background.

And looking south, towards Yellowstone National Park. See those clouds forming? Yeah, I'm terrified of being on a peak or a ridge during a thunder and lightning storm. We took one more photo and booked it out of there. We got back down to the truck after only ab it of rain, but some big booming thunder.

Us, on top of Blackmore!

It was a haul of a climb, and coming down wasn't a cakewalk either. I'm always amazed at how well DJ and I manage during times of uncomfortableness. We kind of give each other our space, but keep an eye on the other person's safety and mental state. I feel like the physical pain of hiking, of doing something really, really HARD together somehow makes our marriage stronger.

August 8 Friday Farming

2011-08-05T13:51:00.000-06:00

With the arrival of August, it's been interesting to evaluate my plans vs. how that panned out. I'll do a post later this weekend about what's not working, but today's entry is all about the good stuff growing!

First, a recap of the "harvests" I've had in the past week or so. I thought this carrot was a weed, for some reason. Teeny tiny, but smells like a carrot!

I've been checking the raspberries every day for edibles. The stems are not producing enough fruit for, say, homemade raspberry sorbet, but they're fun to pop in your mouth as you walk by! Maybe next year.

I've been curious about our potatoes, so I decided last Sunday to dig one up. This is a "Yukon Gold", and hot damn, there are actually little taters in there!

I've also begun pulling garlic and letting it age in our coat closet- one of the only cool dark rooms in our house. I'll be vampire-free this winter whenever wearing a coat. The far right is one of the red onions which are HUGE as stalks, but disappointingly small in terms of edible portion.

A kind of fun section of how a potato grows.

I also harvested the first ripe "Juliet" tomato on August 2. I sliced it up and ate it before photographing it; delicious!

With the harvest report done, check out the rest of the yard:

The ornamental grasses, daylilly, bee balm and daisies are putting on a show right now.

Bee balm is the coolest plant. The bloom looks like a firework burst.

The sweet peas seem to be kind of struggling in the front yard. They took a while to get growing, though they're making big strides this week. I've already snipped a few of them for inside flower arrangements.

The daisies to the left of the steps are thriving.

Lots going on in this bed.

Including peppers!

See the ecchinacea in that blue pot there? It was started from seed, and I need to figure out where I'll transplant it to this fall. Maybe... Uh. I've got no idea.

The daylilly to the right of the steps is in bloom.

The burning bush is changing color, from the lime green of spring to the more mellow of high summer. Hopefully it'll actually "burn" this fall. Together with the chrysanthemum behind it and the rudebeckia even further back we'd have a very welcoming fall show!

The front yard peppers are doing well too.

I pulled all the garlic out of the herb bed earlier this week. I like this location for growing garlic and will plant more of it here in the fall.

I think that ecchinacea is headed into the right side of the driveway bed. We need some mid summer color in here.

Raspberries!

The flower bed along here is kind of past it's prime. The larkspur at the bottom of the photo will come on soon, as will the Autumn Joy sedum, but right now it's very... blah.

The driveway is very lush!

Can I tell you how much I adore hydrangeas. I'm totally putting another one on the other side of the driveway next spring. I love how HUGE the blooms are.

DJ's "fern gully" is loving the cooler temperatures.

The back deck flowers are doing okay. When will the gladiolus bloom?

Clematis!

With the few sweet peas who survived being chomped by gophers at the bottom of the trellis.

This bed is missing some mid-summer context too. Not sure what the answer is. I'd hoped that the hollyhock would be 4 feet tall by now, but that's clearly not the case.

And now on to the farm! Seriously, this is amazing.

I planted sweet peas along the gopher fence earlier this spring. In my mind, it'd be pretty to have a fence of sweet peas. In reality, they were easily-accessible gopher food. A few survived though.

Carrots!

Juliet tomatoes.

Do you see that green tape-y stuff? The juliet tomato plant has gotten so big that I had to tie the support cage back to the chicken wire fence because the plant was pulling the support cage out. Holy big tomato plant.

Early girl tomatoes, which also had to be taped because the stems had outgrown the cage (thus the weird green shadow).

Red onions. So here's the weird thing; the red onions have those huge stems and white tops... but relatively small onions.

I was unimpressed with the Walla Walla sweet onions; the stems are so small, right? But the other day I made salsa and needed more onion, so I went out to the garden and yanked on a Walla Walla... and it was the size of a baseball! So deceiving!

Roma tomatoes.

Zucchini squash!

Summer crookneck squash!

The squash row, with the potatoes and sunflowers in the background.

I've been concerned about why this pepper plant is black at the intersection of the stems. I examined the plant this morning and realized that the plant must be fine, because it'd produced a jalepeno pepper!

The spaghetti squash is trying to stage a break out.

Hey little buddy! Hurry up and ripen so I can combine peppers and tomatoes and summer squashes and oregano and have you all for dinner!

Pumpkin blossom.

Sunflowers.

So that's what's growing on around my house (pun!)!

Earlier this week I cleaned out our freezer in preparation for... freezing stuff. I've been reading up on how to freeze vegetables, as I'm still intimidated by canning. You know, botulism being what it is...

I'm hoping to have a chance to try to make fried zucchini blossoms this weekend. I also need to figure out when I'll plant my fall crops of lettuces, spinach and broccoli. spoiler alert: somewhere the gophers can't get to it.

Overall though, things are looking good. I can't wait for squashes to come in!

Riding the Route of the Hiawatha

2011-08-02T08:08:00.000-06:00

Dusty and I are huge history nerds. Seriously. We spend weekends traipsing around Montana hunting down historic sites. We're those people who buy the "Roadside History of Montana" books and then read them aloud on a drive. Dusty has kind of a big thing for the Milwaukee Road (railroad), more specifically. I'm a fan too.

Big, huge nerds.

So it should be no surprise to you that we used a day of our vacation to ride the "Route of the Hiawatha" last week. And while I wouldn't call it a workout, I would still call it an awesome adventure.

Here's how it works. You drive to Lookout Pass ski area on the border and buy your $9 ticket. It's another $9 if you're taking the shuttle bus back from the bottom to the parking area. Since we were headed back to Harrison after the bike ride, and you can drive from the end of the trail along the old railroad bed to St. Maries and on to Harrison, we only paid for DJ to take the shuttle bus.

Tickets in hand, you drive into Montana and get off at the Taft exit. Then you drive up about 2 miles to the "East Portal" of the St. Paul Tunnel and park in the parking lot.

Pro tip: the earlier you can get there the better. We arrived at about 11 am and the parking lot was nearly overflowing.

The East Portal area has some really nice interpretative plaques about the Milwaukee Road through this area and the "Big Burn" of 1910.

Once you've gotten acquainted with the signage, you head to the tent where they check your ticket and give you the FAQ's.

You'll need to bring your own bike, headlamp (for the tunnels) and helmet. I'd also recommend taking water/ liquid and snacks.

'Cause I'm all about the snacks!

And from there, you're off! First through the mile and a half long Saint Paul Tunnel. In the depths, it's 45 degrees year round. Your headlamp will definitely not seem bright enough at first, and the sides are full of water, but it's really, really a cool deal!

The interperative signs at the railroad sidings are really well done.

The route winds in a loop around a long drainage in the upper St. Joe River, so you're able to look down on the trestles you'll ride across below.

The Milwaukee Road was completed about 1910, and went to an all electric railroad between Harlowton, MT and Avery, ID. They were able to draw hydropwer off of Montana Power's new dams on the Missouri River; which of course was another subsidiary company of Standard Oil, along with the Anaconda Company and the Milwaukee Road. Sounds like familiar politics, no?

The ride is pretty much all downhill, though at a gentle 3-5% grade. I could have ridden back up it, but it would have been a grinder under the hot sun.

It's fun to look back up and see where you've been.

The inside of the tunnels are pretty muddy, so a little splatter is to be expected (note: Dusty's rear end).

The tricky part about tunnels is coordinating turning ON the headlamp and taking OFF the sunglasses.

Overall, the route is a really neat way to bring people into contact with their national forests and history. It sounds like the trail will be extended 30 miles from Taft to St. Regis sometime in the nearish future. Since it's all downhill and they run a shuttle back to the parking lot, one doesn't have to be athletic to use the trail. I'd recommend riding the Route of the Hiawatha for any reasonably fit person who can balance on a bike and operate the brake levers. It's really a fun way to get back into some of the most extraordinarily beautiful, and remote, parts of the US!

Why you should visit Harrison, Idaho

2011-07-31T09:15:00.000-06:00

I'm about to let you in on a secret.

Well... maybe not. It's not news to you that I love Lake Coeur d'Alene, in northern Idaho. There are currently 14 posts with the tag "Cd'A", the abbreviation for Coeur d'Alene? I'm not exactly exclusive about my love for the giant lake.

But let me tell you about my love for the little town of Harrison, Idaho. You might remember it from my posts about getting married there last summer. I'll recap our wedding, someday, but this post is devoted to a little town.

I'll only give you ten reasons, though I could go on and on.

It's the ugly stepsister to the city of Couer d'Alene, which is located at the north end of the lake along I-90. Harrison's location 45 minutes south of the interstate, and on the less-accessible east side of the lake makes the town more remote. More remote means Harrison remains an actual town; a geographical location where miners and loggers from across the area gather to purchase groceries and ice cream and drink at One Shot Charlie's Bar. It's an authentic place where the people are friendly.

Main Street, Harrison, ID.

Gretchen, Dusty and I eating ice cream.

Its beautiful. Want to disagree with me? Yeah...imagine yourself here and tell me that's hard to look at. .

The water-sports options are pretty sweet. Wanna go ski-boating? Head out onto the lake to go intertubing, wakeboarding and waterskiing. Take a jet-ski up the winding Coeur d'Alene River to see wildlife or fish. Or go up the St. Joe River, through Lake Chatcolet to the town of St. Maries, for dinner.Boats are available for rent here: Just wanna hang out on a beach? Try the city beach next to the boat launch.

Multiple options to answer the where-to-stay question. Feel fancy? Stay at the Lakeview Lodge, where the manager Claire will bend over backwards to make you feel at home. Many rooms and suites have small kitchenettes, if you feel like cooking your own meal. Try the Osprey Inn or Wild Boar Bed and Breakfast. Or camp, at the City Campground right on the bike trail, or the State campground a mile or two north of town. Or, if you're planning on staying a while, try one of the many vacation rental houses around town. (Insider tip: my parents rent both their main house and "The Shack" out).

Hungry? Check out One Shot Charlie's Bar for food ("Best Dive bar on Lake Coeur d'Alene), or the Marina for fancier stuff. The Landing Restaurant is good too, and the The Creamery next door even has huckleberry ice cream. The Harrison Traders store has a deli for sandwiches, and basic foodstuffs in the aisles. (Insider tip: Harrison Traders also has doughnuts. AND a State of Idaho liquor license) (Insider tip #2: pair the huckleberry vodka with lemonade. Be careful, it's delicious and refreshing and deadly when you realize you've split an entire bottle with your friend Ali).

Like to bike ride? Let me introduce you to the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes; a rails-to-trails program which stretches 85 miles from Mullan, Idaho (on I-90), down the CdA river, past it's mouth into Lake Coeur d'Alene in Harrison, then along the east side of the lake, across a former railroad bridge and up the hill to Plummer, Idaho. Harrison is about mile marker 15, and riding the trail is freaking AWESOME. I sprint out 25 mile bike rides every morning when we're there, in an effort to burn the drinking and food calories.

Oh, you want to do more bike riding? How about riding another rails-to-trails program out of Kellog (1 hour from Harrison), The Route of the Hiawatha. Follow the old Milwaukee Road path on a 15 mile ride from Lookout Pass ski area (on the Montana/ Idaho border) through the headwaters of the St. Joe river. Let me tell you, this is some of the most rugged, remote, spectacular landscape in the United States.

Going to be in Harrison for a while? Check out the public library to restock your pile o'books. Check out one of the summer concerts in the park, or a movie in the park, or one of the festivals like the Old Time Picnic or Car Show and Chili cookoff.

Nightlife? At the lake? I'll admit, nowadays I mostly want to finish dinner and enjoy a glass of wine on the deck while I read a book. But not so long ago, and occasionally still, I'll head down to One Shot Charlies or the Marina for cocktails and live music. One Shots is a family tradition, I even dragged D in there the day of our wedding (okay, for water, not a drink. It was too hot). The Marina has great live music on Saturday nights, and if the boats are lined up on the docks, you know it'll be a good night!

A little cultural tourism. There is a museum, City jail and walking tour brochure for the little town.

All in all, Harrison is probably the best place in the world.

July 22 Friday Farming

2011-07-29T09:41:00.001-06:00

This post is a week late. I went to check last week's progress, and realized I'd never hit "publish"; whoops! I'll catch up on last week today, and get to this week by Sunday.

The homestead, from the street.

The Russian sage between the power boxes is filling in.

The sweet pea is having a hard time getting going. I think this location is too hot in the afternoon for it.

Daylilly is about to bloom.

As is the bee balm.

And my daises are starting to open up.

Hopefully all of those bees and wasps and other flying creatures are doing a good job pollinating my peppers.

I planted Icelandic poppies along the steps last year. They didn't really thrive, but in moving things around the seeds seem to have been redeposited in random spots. Like in the middle of the chrysanthemum. And the sedum.

Oh well. Cherry bomb pepper!

The basil I transplanted seems to be doing well. Is basil a perennial?

Purple basil.

The herb bed.

I'm close to having raspberries!

From back to front, lupine (purple), delphinium (white), larkspur (in the front).

Fern gully and the kitchen bed.

I popped a few seeds into the kitchen bed, near the irises this spring, and then promptly forgot about them. These sweet peas are doing way better than those in the front.

Hydrangeas.

Clematis.

I think these day lilies get too hot in the west-facing garage bed.

I love the pink lupine!

The farm is doing really well.

I've got tomato blossoms everywhere!

The carrots are growing well, I think.

As is the garlic. I'm planting a ton more garlic this fall for 2012. I love running out to the garden to grab some.

Juliet tomatoes!

My onions are blooming.

Early Girl tomatoes.

Eggplant.

Pepper blossom.

Roma tomatoes.

Squash!

Potatoes.

Sunflower.

Spaghetti squash.

Overall things are going really, really well. I'll revise where the sweet peas are planted next year, and plant more garlic. I'm also hoping to squeeze in a mophead hydrangea next spring too. But I'm really happy with the way things are going this year!

Clothes for Europe, II

2011-07-28T22:23:00.000-06:00

I believe that I've finalized my Europe packing list. Seriously, this has been on my mind since we decided to go to Europe in, oh, November. I haven't finished my guildebooks, but I've got my gear.

We're only taking carry-on rolling bags. I bought a Samsonite "spinner" roll-aboard after Christmas with the last of my wedding gift cards. Thanks friends and family! I'm pretty certain that all of my clothing and shoes will fit into the bag. I'll get into a post about what toiletries (or as DJ calls them "toilet trees") I'll take later.

My focus on the clothing choice was items which would wear well, not show wrinkles too badly, wash out in a sink okay and coordinate with at least three other items. I've covered the great shoe debate here.

Also: does anyone else find it impossible to not smile in photographs? I can't do "serious face" (I just look angry).

Alright, here's what I'm packing, and how I'm planning to put it all together.

1. Black Underarmour capris, white Nike technical shirt, grey cardigan from Target and Privo sandals.

Wearing it to: days of long walking, with museums (where it's always cold) on the itinerary.

2. Second: khaki Mountain Hardwear skirt, white Nike technical shirt, grey cardigan from Target and Merrel sandals.

Wearing it to: days with a little less walking (to cut down on the thigh chafe- hey it happens!), museums, evenings sightseeing where I want to be a little more attractive.

3. Khaki Mountain Hardwear skirt, white Nike technical shirt, plum Banana Republic cardigan and Merrel sandals. I can't decide if I should pack the plum or the hot pink cardigan.

Wearing it to: days with a little less walking (to cut down on the thigh chafe- hey it happens!), museums, evenings sightseeing where I want to be a little more attractive.

4. Khaki Mountain Hardwear capris, white Nike technical shirt, plum Banana Republic cardigan and Dansko "Kate" shoes.

Wearing it to: high walking days where I'll want layers. Probably sighsteeing in Normandy, where I can walk around on the beaches and climb around without worrying about stubbing my toe. I can layer on a jacket easily without getting too hot.

5. Khaki Mountain Hardwear capris, black with tan stripes Royal Robbins tank top and Privo sandals.

Wearing it to: days where we'll walk a lot, like in Rome. It's a really comfortable outfit that (hopefully) doesn't show to much boob.

6. Khaki Mountain Hardwear skirt, black with tan stripes Royal Robbins tank top and Merell sandals.

Wearing it to: Dinner in the evenings, light walking around.

7. Khaki Mountain Hardwear skirt, black Royal Robbins button up and Merell sandals. I'm undecided about the shirt.

Wearing it to: It's a nicer dressed-up outfit, but since the sleeves are short I couldn't wear it visit churches. It is really light and cool, but it's black... which would only make it hotter, right?

8. Khaki Mountain Hardwear capris, black Royal Robbins button up and Danskos.

Wearing it to: Normandy beaches? More touring where we'll be doing a lot of walking.

9. Khaki Mountain Hardwear capris, teal North Face double layer camisole, white Columbia button up and Danskos. I'm calling the shirt my "expedition shirt".

Wearing it to: walking around in Rome, Palatine Hill, Colusseum, specifically. It'd work for visiting the Vatican too, but I feel like I should be a bit more dressed up for that?

Finally, the white Columbia shirt and a black Patagonia dress. I love this dress, and have it in citrus orange too. It's been my summertime equivalent of sweats. I'll wear it for touring nicer places, although the cleavage could be an issue. Dinners out, etc.

Under the post of "Gear", I'll post about the headlamp, hat, rain jacket and ancillary other items I'm planning on taking. I'm planning on doing a post-trip review too.

I'm pretty certain I've put more effort into thinking about what I'll wear for this trip than into thinking about what I'd wear to get married. =)

Hypothyroidism

2011-07-20T06:11:00.000-06:00

I've struggled with insomnia for the last year or so. I usually lie down to bed, read until my eyes are tired, switch off the light and let my mind wander its way to sleep. Most nights, I fall asleep pretty quickly.

Other nights, instead of turning the corner to la-la-land, I head straight into start-the-brain-spinning-again-land. And suddenly it's three hours after I laid down to sleep and I'm wide awake thinking about work, finances, life-planning and a whole host of other issues; none of which are usually worthy of losing sleep over.

I believe it's primarily stress-related. I already do many of the things recommended to alleviate stress. I exercise regularly (5-6 days a week, for an hour), eat pretty well (if not too much), interact with a pet and have a husband I adore. I garden.

I even fiddled around with yoga, to no avail. I felt like I was wasting calorie-burning time.

Yet here I am, a year later, still having trouble sleeping. My doctor asked about my sleeping habits during my annual physical in May. "Just fine," I chirped. Then I got home and was like, wait, why didn't I tell her I've been having a sucky spring sleeping? I've been blaming it on stress and a mattress that desperately needs to be replaced, but...?

Let me give a bit of family medical history background for you too. Most of the women in my family have a form of hypothyroidism. Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland at the base of the Adam's apple, which releases all kind of hormones which interact with your pituitary gland and other hormones. In the case of hypo, the thyroid doesn't release enough hormones, and symptoms include lethargy, weight gain, difficulty keeping weight off and sometimes high blood pressure.

Why yes, I have all of those.

I've taken a synthetic thyroid supplement since I was 19. It's supposed to balance things out, and my TSH and T4 levels are checked every year as blood work during my annual physical.

You should have figured out by now that my levels were out of whack at my last physical. My primary care physician, an internist, upped the dosage, and asked me to come back for a blood panel again in the middle of July. I'll do that Wednesday morning.

I'm reticent to start popping Tylenol PM pills more than once a week. They give me a nasty hangover-like effect the next day. And really, I don't want to treat the symptom (that I can't sleep), I want to address the cause. I need to find a non-eating way to handle my stress. I need to evaluate all of the medical reasons I can't sleep.

Because damn, I need more sleep!

Doooooog

2011-07-19T02:08:00.000-06:00

Harlow has been in our house for nearly a year and a half now. She's awesome. I could dither on about how she makes us laugh, injects a certain level of silliness into our household, loves to snuggle, etc., but it really just comes back to her being awesome.

She does have one flaw though. Home girl cannot, and I mean absolutely cannot, stop herself from eating shit she shouldn't eat. Sometimes it's literal shit in her mouth. Cat shit seems to be her preference.

Are you grossed out? Yeah, me too.

Harlow got into something out at my grandma's farm the Friday before the 4th of July. It might have been a ~~poisoned~~ sick bird, maybe too much cat shit, maybe not enough water and too much fun. Either way, she proceeded to puke every 2-3 hours Saturday and Sunday. It took her until nearly Tuesday to really recover. At one point she was so reticent to eat we were giving her waffles from the table in an effort to get something, anything into her.

The alarm is going off a half hour early all this week due to workload and being out of town. And wouldn't you know it, riiight as we're about to turn out the light Harlow barfs up dinner. On the carpet. Right next to our bed. DOOOOGGGGG.

Lets just say that DJ and I need to perfect our emergency-vomit-not-in-the-toilet clean up routine. And that once your dog yaaks, you're pretty much not falling back asleep that night. Unless your DJ, in which case you're out like a light 20 minutes later. Unlike your wife, who flops around in bed from 10:30pm until 1:45 am before finally deciding "eff it, I'll get up and do something."

Dog vomit leads to insomnia, I guess.

What can I say, at least she's still cute.

July 15 Friday Farming, part 2

2011-07-16T08:19:00.000-06:00

Alright, now that Blogger is back to letting me upload photos, we'll go ahead and finish off this Friday farming edition.

I have a mystery squash. It's planted near where the hollyhock are at, and the seed must have fallen out of my box o'seeds. I'm not sure which variety it is yet, but I'll let it keep growing.

And now, the farm:

The red onions are throwing up the coolest minaret bulb heads! I think these things look like medusa snakes or something.

Juliet tomatoes!

Carrots, recovering from the last gopher invasion.

As are the lettuce and broccoli. I wonder if the lettuce would have gone to seed by now, if not for the gophers? I highly doubt we'll get either lettuce or broccoli from our spring crop, though I might plant a fall crop.

Squash.

Larkspur and marigolds planted adjacent to the squash.

Blossoms.

Bell pepper blossoms.

We've currently got a bumper crop of peas about to come in. Well, not a bumper crop, given the short stretch we planted. But enough for me to take a handful to work every day as a snack!

More squash blossoms.

The spaghetti squash at the bottom of this photo is just starting to creep out. My hope is that the peas will be done by the time the squash needs the space.

The potatoes are blooming.

And it looks like I might end up with a few giant sunflowers after all!

Overall, I'd say I'm really pleased with this years gardening thus far. I've learned a few more things, like there's no way to keep the gophers out of in-ground planted lettuce. That'll go into containers next year. And that my asparagus is really planted about exactly where my peas were this year. And that I need a grow light. But overall, I'm happy with the results thus far!

July 15 Friday Farming

2011-07-15T09:23:00.002-06:00

I'm having some kind of "server rejected" technical difficulties over here, so while I figure out wtf is going on with the photos of the actual farm, we'll just do flowers for now.

Did I mention they're building a new house two lots over from us? Yes, nail guns at 6:45 am are a lovely way to wake up.

Flower box bed:

I finally built a trellis for the sweet peas; they're beginning to have blossoms!

The "Autumn Joy" sedum is growing a bloom head too.

The Russian sage is taking off.

The daylilly is finally throwing out bloom heads.

The bee balm, between the daylilly and fountain grass, is clearly overcrowded. I'll move it later this fall, after it blooms.

All of my daisies are close to blooming. I wonder when the glads will?

The hanging baskets are definately struggling. I think it's a combination of crummy soil, no mulch and not enough plants.

Cherry bomb peppers!

These plants need to be transplanted this weekend. Marigold on the left, larkspur in the middle, zinnia on the right. There is basil in there too.

The purple basil is doing well.

I can't wait to make bruschetta with this stuff!

Lavender, rosemary, oregano.

Mint!

This daisy is unfurling.

Raspberries!

Millenium delphinium.

Bee balm.

Lupine.

The driveway area.

Twist and shout hydrangea. I'm trying to figure out where I can squeeze a mophead hydrangea into our landscaping.

A lilly!

We've rigged a trellis extension out of baling wire and fishing line. I'll remember the baling wire for building a trellis up the side of the porch for the sweet peas next year...

Clematis is so... weird, in how it vines around it's trellis.

Hopefully more later tonight. I've got sweet peas coming in by the handful, and the tomato plants are exploding!

Food hoarding?

2011-07-12T11:03:00.000-06:00

I ran into the grocery store on Saturday at noon to get supplies for having our friends Corey and Shawna over for dinner. Shawna was an AOII with me, and Corey's the guy who got DJ into brewing beer.

Exciting sidenote: Shawna is 18 weeks pregnant. Which is SUPER exciting for them. They're also selling their house in hopes of building a new one next spring. Which is EVEN MORE EXCITING to me. Seriously. You could give me the option: have a baby, or put our house on the market and build/ remodel a new one? I'd pick the house options. Don't get me wrong, I love our current house. I'm still house-fluffing it even. But... redesign stuff? squeee!

But back to my point, which is: holy shitballs, veggies are so much cheaper in the summer!!! I know, this isn't news to anyone, really. But I've paid $2.50 for a red bell pepper in January. Saturday? They were $.79 apiece! I bought four of them, despite only needing one for the salsa I made. So cheap! So yummy!

That reminds me, I need to go home and slice the remaining three up for take-along-to-work veggies.

And now, with this veritable cornucopia of cheap, delicious fresh veggies around, I'm trying to think of ways I could buy up a bunch of cheap fresh veggies in the summer and... hoard them for the winter. No, we're not of the mindset that we should have a three-year supply on hand for the coming Last Days. We just like good food, and I prefer to not pay out the ear for bell peppers during the winter.

And part of me likes playing old-timey housewife. But I'm not dressing up in a hoop skirt to do it, like those reenactors you see in Virginia City. Those people are just grown ups playing dress up, and when thy subject their kids to playing dress up too, it's wrong. Borderline child-abuse. No kid wants to come back to school and show and tell that they played "ye olde timey shoppe" with their parents all summer. That's a recipie for getting beat up on the payground.

Speaking of recipes, this post does have a point. Hopefully will have hoard-worthy veggies later this summer when all the tomatoes and peppers in my garden come in. But what if I don't? What if I'm in Europe when all the bell peppers ripen?

And how the hell can I hoard them for winter use?

I don't know how to can things, but I'd be willing to learn.

We have a food dehydrator.

I could make a LOT of salsa.

Can I freeze bell peppers? I heard once you can char them on the grill and then freeze them?

I think I'll be spending some time with the googles this weekend. And the MSU extension office!

Wedding photos, really quickly.

2011-07-11T16:51:00.000-06:00

I meant to include these in yesterday's post, but couldn't get blogger to let me upload photos.

My favorite, from El Weddingo:

All photos taken by my dear friend Anne Sherwood.

Gardening grows community

2011-07-11T05:55:00.000-06:00

I love gardening and growing food. Not just for the food production either, as my total haul from farming this year is limited to handfuls of sugar snap peas and a single salad.

I love it because folks walking by comment on the garden. They admire plants and express shock at how many things we have growing. It's a fun way to interact with people you usually wouldn't talk to.

Plants are an easy conversation starter, especially when standing outside on your porch with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. Our new neighbors popped over this morning, to discuss watering for each other when one was out of town. Then they showed me how to prune tomatoes, an educational session much more fun than youtube. Li May (sp?) and Chad just built a house two lots down, and said they decided on that lot last fall after walking down the street and seeing that I was growing tomatoes in the front yard.

It makes me smile when my gardening welcomes people to the neighborhood, without saying a word.

One Year

2011-07-10T16:44:00.000-06:00

Well... technically, we were legally married by a small town mayor named Wanda on Wednesday, July 7. We celebrated on the 7th when I made Dusty a surprise dinner of heart-shaped biscuts and gravy. His favorite meal.

Since today is the day we stood in front of 120 of our closest friends and family, we'll usually celebrate it on the 10th. We went for a hike up middle Cottonwood today, and tonight, he's making me rib-eyes, potatoes, broccoli and corn on the cob. MMMM! I like having two anniversaries!

A year. Really? It doesn't seem like it's been that long. But it also seems like we've been together forever. I'm lucky to have married a completely awesome guy. Dusty, thanks for being my equal partner, patient with me, and just a wonderful human being. I am, in fact, a darn lucky girl.

July 8 Friday Farming

2011-07-08T14:06:00.000-06:00

We returned from our 4th of July trip to Coeur d'Alene to a farm/ garden which EXPLODED in the 6 days I was gone. I was shocked! I'm grateful to my cousin, who stayed at our house while in town for a wedding, for keeping everything watered. It would have been wilt-city without the water!

The kitchen porch is looking good. All of the irises are done blooming but I'm still debating as to when to start snipping back the leaves. I kind of like the vertical-spiky visual effect they give off.

I planted pansies in with this trailing lobelia. The pansies can't quite keep up...

Twist and Shout hydrangea blossom!

"Fern Gully" has totally exploded too. DJ did a little happy dance the other night when he realized that every single plant came back this year. I want to plant more ferns; those things are cool.

The driveway bed is doing okay.

I finally transplanted the only start of a snapdragon that I've successfully grown all year. Sigh. Starting plants yourself is so much cheaper than buying them... if only I could actually start them successfully!

These larkspur were also transplanted from seed.

The delphinium looks good, I think.

The bee balm is doing well, with exception of the spots in them. I'm not sure what those are from; aphids, maybe?

The same bug is munching on my oregano too!

Mmmmm oregano. I can't wait to try out our food dehydrator later this summer and have garden-fresh-dried herbs for fall cooking.

The cilantro has totally gone to seed, which makes it coriander. I've got a few recipes which call for coriander, so I'll let this plant keep growing.

Raspberries! MMMM!

Purple basil, transplanted.

This chrysanthemum plant has totally exploded! It's bigger than the burning bush! And in the process, I'm afraid it's shading the peppers planted behind it. I'll observe over the weekend, and either transplant the peppers or, more likely, trim back the chrysanthemum.

MMM peppers!

Check it out! we have a tiny little pepper growing!

Here are my starts. Again. Starts. In July. Yeesh. Zinnias on the bottom left, more larkspur in the middle, and marigolds at the back. Somewhere in there are more basil and snapdragons. I've heard that snaps can reseed themselves, so hopefully this fall planting won't be a wasted effort.

To the left of the porch. Yep, they've started building a new house two lots over from ours. Yay! Less weeds! The area immidiately adjacent to the steps has been kept clear, with the idea that we'll plant some kind of evergreen bush there this fall. Mid summer is less than ideal for transplanting. And I don't really feel like digging a hole in clay soil when it's 90 degrees out.

More peppers.

Powerbox bed. I'm inclined to transplant something, maybe the bee balm or ecchinacea I started from seed, into the front of this bed along the sidewalk. I also need to build a trellis this weekend for the sweet peas.

I might transplant that little bee balm again. It's already been moved from under the hammock to here, and it might move to along the sidewalk next. The grass and daylilly are overpowering the bee balm.

I do like the grass though!

And between the power boxes that Russian Sage is getting going. Next summer it'll be as big as the fountain grass.

Ecchinacea coneflower, from seed. I'll transplant it to either the powerbox bed, or... maybe where the larkspur are along the driveway. Or into the rocks on the right side of the driveway.

Did I tell you we bought a patio set? I love Costco! The only kicker is that our back deck is on the northwest side of our house, and gets full late afternoon sun. Ie, it's HOT in the evening. I vacillate between planting a taller shrub, like a crabapple hedge, and just waiting until they build a house next door to see what happens.

I wonder when gladiolus bloom?

Garage bed. The clematis is out of trellis. I'm tempted to string more... string, or a metal fishing line or something, up to the rafters under the garage so that the plant can keep growing. Maybe this weekend.

Lilly!

The goofy thing about clematis is that until it leafs out, I can't tell if a blossom is more leaves or a blossom. I haven't seen hide nor hair of an actual purple blossom yet... And yes, there is a spider in this picture!

And now, the farm. Sigh. I'm learning a lot this year. I'm a MUCH better farmer than I was last year, but definitely haven't perfected this yet. Of course, it doesn't help when you have to contend with the GD gophers, or when the contractors building a house two lots down SET FIRE to a debris pile last Wednesday. When it was 93 degrees. With buffeting 20-30 mph winds. Which were blowing towards our house. Yeah... the burlap around the bottom of the garden caught on fire, and it scorched a coupe of potato plants and the zucchini. Who the blue fuck SETS FIRE in the city limits on a hot and windy day and then leaves their SET FIRE totally unattended?

Good news: juliet tomatoes beginning to set!

Bad news: the gophers got to the lettuce again. I give up on in-ground lettuce. Henceforth, it shall be a potted plant.

The little bastards also trimmed the carrots.

Which are actually growing back quite quickly.

Good news: the red onions are rocking it!

So-so news: the Walla Walla sweets aren't really thriving...

Good news: the bell peppers back here are doing well.

This one even has bloom buds on it!

Is eggplant supposed to be bigger by this point?

All of these Roma tomatoes are rocking out. Some have blossoms on them. I have a question for you though... talk to me about pruning tomatoes? to increase tomato size? How do I know how much is too much? Which do I trim and which do I keep?

I have memories of my parents growing onions from seed, which were great for throwing in salads and stuff. I can't seem to make mine grow.

The summer squash also has blossoms on it!

Remember earlier when I said the contractor for the house next door STARTED A FIRE? Yeah... it got into the dried grass mulch I use.

It also burned the zucchini plant back. Thankfully, the little bugger is stubborn and growing back.

Marigold, direct seeded into the ground after the last frost.

Pumpkin!

I considered hilling the potatoes before we left for the 4th of July, but got lazy. You're supposed to hill them when they blossom, right? Well, we got back and the things had grown a FOOT in a week. I was busy on Tuesday night hauling dirt and compost by the 5 gallon bucket full. I'll add another few rounds this weekend.

Spaghetti squash.

The peas also exploded last week.

See this little pea pod? I ate him right after I took the photo. Peas for breakfast!

Hey, I just noticed the blossoms on the spaghetti squash!

Where's the corn, you ask? Well, I'd like to know too! I planted something like 3 rounds of corn, saw a few shoots, and now nothing. I think the gophers are eating it before it can get established. Darn, I was looking forward to sweet corn this summer.

Things are chugging along! Right now it's a contest to keep things well watered during the really hot days, without over watering. While I've learned a lot this year, I'm really pleased with my progress as a farmer!

JULY 1 Friday Farming

2011-07-01T09:16:00.000-06:00

Friday farming, real quick-like.

Starts on the front porch are kicking ass. Note to self: buy a grow lamp for next spring.

Irises have mostly died out.

This is an allium bulb... why is it white?

Bell peppers.

Daisies are about to bloom.

Salvia is blooming.

I really need to get a trellis up for the sweet peas. And yank out what remains of the tulips.

The hanging baskets are having a hard time getting going. I think because it's so hot and the wind dries out the basket pretty quickly.

Fountain grass!

I'm hoping the daylilly gets going soon. The irises and allium are done blooming, so we need color near the front porch.

On the left, garlic. Rosemary, oregano, chives.

Mint on the back side of the chives!

Lupine.

Delphinium, which I need to tie to the stake to support it.

Raspberry blossoms!

The best spot to read a book.

I'm loving how these plants are coming in.

Gladiolus spearing up through the potted plants.

The clematis has reached the top rung of the trellis!

Another lupine.

The back-yard lilacs are finally blooming!

The farm.

Carrots.

More carrots.

Huge spinach leaves!

Tomato blossoms.

Lettuce, recovering from the last gopher invasion.

While the lettuce will recover, I think the broccoli is too far damaged...

Eggplant on the left, jalepeno peppers on the right.

A cluster of Roma tomatoes.

Zucchini squash.

Marigolds, direct-seeded.

Summer squash.

Winter squash.

Pumpkin.

Sugar snap peas.

Sugar snap peas in bloom!

The potato patch.

Twist and shout hydrangea, about to bloom around the edges.

And lastly, Fern Gully. Looking good!

Happy Fourth of July!

Retail trying too hard

2011-06-28T08:59:00.000-06:00

The alarm on my phone wakes me up every morning, usually just after DJ has gotten in the shower. I shut it off, and scroll through email and statewide newspapers while lying in bed. Check facebook, check my google reader, check the weather, etc.

But you know what makes me NUTS? Retail emails inviting me to come shop. I get an email from Pottery Barn every. single. morning. "Come back and see our great products" it begs. Same from Target: "Great sale!" And from ACE Hardwear "Make your to-do list a to-done list!" And from Endless.com "OMG these shoes are great, come shop!" And from Amazon "We really think you'll like this travel book." And Macy's "Storewide sale ends today!"

Every. Single. Morning. I usually don't even read them. I delete them without opening. I silently roll my eyes. And the next time I consider browsing online, I recognize that I'll be getting an email in the morning saying "You were here! come back!".

All of these emails annoy the living crap out of me. A perfect example of retail trying too hard. Like a girl calling the boy she likes every day to say "hiiiiwhatch'ado'in?" All it does is annoy the boy and make him uncomfortable.

So who gets it right? REI, for one. I get about two emails a month from them, usually advertising sales or something. Kate Spade doesn't flood my email, only sending something about once a month. Ummm... well. That might be it.

Seriously retail. It's not me, it's you. Let me come to you when I need something, and leave me the hell alone (unless you have a real sale) otherwise!

A quick trip east

2011-06-27T07:53:00.000-06:00

Friday night we threw things in the truck and headed east for an over nighter.

First, we stopped in Livingston for a drive up burger, fries/ onion ring and huckleberry shakes. Though it totally threw off my diet, it was a fun experience!

After slurping our shakes, we headed further east to Big Timber, then south up the Boulder River valley. We stopped at Natural Arch State Park, where the Boulder River had once carved an arch through the limestone. The arch collapsed in 1988.

The river, like all of them in Montana right now, was running hard. I'm not sure if, or when, we'll see a slow down in rivers this summer.

You could feel the pedestrian bridge trembling as you walked across it.

Water level gets low enough in the late summer that the water "disappears". The river isn't dry; rather, the water is coursing through subterranean channels in the limestone. The channels are caused by both water erosion, and the water creating a chemical reaction with the limestone to dissolve the stone and expand the channels.

The river goes over these falls. The nuttiest thing? People kyack off of this!

Once we finished poking around at the bridge, we continued up the valley into the Gallatin Natural Forest. Most of the campgrounds had room, though the further you got up the gravel road many camping spots were underwater. In some places you had to ford a creek that was over the road. We finally settled on this camping spot.

Where, to Harlow's delight, a creek coursed through the back. A creek with sticks in it.

As the fire pit area had standing water, it was tough to keep Harlow dry. We ended up sleeping in the back of the truck, with Harlow in the "dog taco" (tarp strung into a U shape between the back seat head rests and the front seat head rests) in the back of the cab. We stayed dry!

Saturday morning we stopped off in Big Timber for coffee, then headed up to Harlowton. Yes, the town that our dog is named after, which is, in turned, named for the guy who started the "Jawbone" railroad in Montana. Which was eventually sold out to the Milwaukee Road. We stopped at the depot.

And after poking around a bit, found out what I'm meant to do with my life. Rehab the Graves Hotel in downtown Harlo.

I mean, seriously, with a south-facing porch like this?

The hotel is not currently in operation, and the entire building needs work. It's for sale. Think I could convince DJ that our destiny is to operate the Graves Hotel in Harlowton MT?

From Harlow we headed back west, through Martinsdale and past Bridge Bowl. Harlow (the dog) was pooped!

June 24 Friday Farming

2011-06-24T13:55:00.000-06:00

I think one of my favorite things, thus far, about farming/ growing flowers, is that you're never done. I'm always looking ahead to what will bloom next, or the produce which will be edible next. I like that something changes every day.

I think we've made huge strides in the garden this year. Obviously taking the time to till in 3 yards of compost and 2 of peat moss has set our garden up to be more successful. I'm also really pleased with the lawn-cliping much system. It was in the 80's on Wednesday, and the ground under the mulch, near the tomato plants, was still damp. Tomatoes love heat, but they still need moisture. I think we're doing a good job of not wasing our water resources.

And hey, I finally beat the gophers to the lettuce. First (and maybe only) home-grown salad of the year: a mix of spinach, bibb and buttercrunch lettuce.

My friend Shannon gave me a bunch of iris splits last July. The majority of them are taking the first year to get established before blooming, but some are showing off flowers. Pretty!

The darker purple irises are splits from my mom, from our lake place.

I like having flowers by the front steps. It's cheery and welcoming.

The allium, behind the irises, are dying out. It's the weirdest thing; about half of the allium shot up blooms. The other half (sometimes the same plant) shot up these werid almost-bloom things.

I'm giving it one more shot at seed-starting. It's warm enough now that I don't have to drag them in and out each night. I threw one last round of basil, larkspur, zinnia and snapdragon seeds in there on Wednesday night.

Some are already spouting! Goes to show you, I definitely don't have sufficient sunlight to start seeds indoors in the spring without help of a grow light.

Check out these larkspur! I'll transplant them this weekend.

To the right of the steps.

To the left of the steps. I'm going to have a couple of vacant spaces once the irises die back. We're discussing putting evergreens in around the steps.

The front-yard spinach has already gone to seed. I'm not sure how I feel about this experiment. They grew well, but not well enough to provide twice weekly salads. By the time they were big enough to give good leaves, it was too hot in their south-facing, black containers and they bolted. The bell pepper is loving the heat though.

Powerbox bed. Three different groups of irises are getting started in this bed, so in the future there will be great flowers in here.

The ornamental grasses are taking off too. Hopefully next year the Russian sage between the boxes will be huge. How much do you love the autumn joy sedum in the front?!

Check out the blossom on my "cherry bomb" pepper!

Along the driveway, you can see that the cilantro has also gone to seed. I'll let this plant fully seed out, as cilantro produces coriander seeds, which are useful in cooking.

I'm loving the progress my bee balm is making!

This is another flower garden which will be improved next year, when these irises flower. I really want to plant the big orange poppies in here too.

The lupine is blooming!

I'm intrigued by the delphinium.

I can never tell if this bunched up area in the center is a blossom, or another spurt of leaves?

My salvia isn't exactly showing off, but still, blooming.

Speaking of blooming, raspberry blossoms!

The endless summer twist and shout hydrangea has blooms on it. I'd like another hydrangea next to this, but the mophead variety.

Fern gully looks nice right now.

The new plants on the kitchen porch bed are coming in nicely.

The gladiolus I planted in the containers are shooting spikes up. I'm curious to see how these arrangements come together.

In the garage bed, the clematis is growing by leaps and bounds. Look ma! I didn't kill it! I also have a bunch of irises back here, none of which have bloomed this year. Next year!

Now on to the farm. Although things aren't blossoming like this time last year, that's because I didn't start corn, squash or peas inside this year. And overall, I think the garden looks miles ahead of where it did a year ago. Heck, the whole house does!

Oh, did you notice something funny on the burlap? Looks like gopher blood, doesn't it? Well, it's not (sadly). The GD gophers chewed through the burlap to break into the garden yesterday. The got to the lettuce and broccoli, again, just as they were recovering from two weeks ago. FUCKERS. So DJ re-layered the burlap, and dashed a bunch of hot-sauce on it. Apparently the vermin have a keen sense of smell, and they dislike Mexican food?

Time will tell how effective that is.

The in-ground spinach is puttering along. Not really thriving, and close to bolting.

Carrots are doing well.

Check it out! The Juliet tomato has blossoms!

The remains of the bibb lettuce.

And remains of the buttercrunch lettuce.

And remains of the broccoli. This little plant, which I started inside from seed, has been munched back so many times this spring that I don't expect it to produce actual broccoli. All of it's energy has gone into just reproducing it's leaves!

From the above photos, you can infer something I learned this spring. The lettuce above was started indoors and then transplanted. The stuff below was in-ground seeded. Clearly the stuff started inside thrived (despite the GD gophers), while the stuff started outside didn't. I won't bother to seed lettuce into the ground next year.

Zucchini!

Summer squash, crookneck.

Marigolds, started in the ground at the same time that I planted the squash seeds. We'll see if the marigolds mature fast enough to attract bees to pollinate the squash and tomatoes in the garden.

Winter squash!

I'll call this plot Roma tomato, Roma tomato, Roma tomato, Roma tomato, Roma tomato. I love those suckers, and they're the best for making pasta sauce, bruschetta, and salsa. Also in this photo, to the right, are a few jalepeno pepper plants.

Spaghetti squash!

Dudes. I was seriously despairing about the asparagus. I thought maybe we'd killed it somehow? Or by piling more compost and peat moss on top of it last fall, we'd buried it too deep. I hadn't seen a single asparagus spear all spring. I was sure asparagus season was over, and planned on re-planting it this fall. Then yesterday, I found this amongst the peas. Shut the front door!

Yesssss! I've grown a single asparagus stalk. In my sugar snap peas, to boot. The peas are doing well, at least.

I'm curious about the giant sunflowers I've planted along the back of the garden. I hope they do grow giant!

The potatoes are growing really quickly! I originally thought I'd have to hill them after the Fourth of July, but now I think I'll need to as soon as this weekend. I haven't decided if I want to hill them with dirt/ compost, or with straw...

Pumpkin!

And finally, the lilac bush.

Almost there!

This weekend's to-do list? Mow the lawn and mulch accordingly. Pull out bolted spinach and compost. Consider what I'll plant where the spinach and lettuce was in the front of the farming area. Enjoy the scenery!

Happy Friday!

L'il Courtey's Workshop

2011-06-21T07:51:00.000-06:00

I woke up on Sunday with an itch to do a project. Every time I take on a project DJ nicknames it "L'il Courtey's Workshop." Since DJ flinches every time I haul a paintbrush out, I decided to spin through the antique/ used furniture store I love and see what I could find.

For $39/ apiece, I bought two strips of tin ceiling tile. I've been looking for something to go above the buffet/ bookshelves in our kitchen and decided that once stripped and repainted red, one of these would be perfect.

The paint was already flaking off, so I decided to see how much of the paint I could remove with a pressure washer and a hose. See that tarp? Old shower curtain. I never throw those things away, as they make awesome drop cloths.

The cream paint was over some kind of salmon-y wash.

After about 30 minutes of hosing this thing down, I used a bit of sandpaper to loosen the rest up.

Let 'er dry, and applied Krylon spray paint. Don't mind the overspray on the grass... The only paint ACE had was gloss; I would have prefered satin, but I wasn't going all the way in to Home Depot at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. My version of hell, right there.

The panel stayed out in the garage overnight to finish drying and take the awful smell off. No need to kill more brain cells.

And voila!

I still haven't found candlestick lamps to put on the buffet. Well, I haven't found any I'm willing to pay for yet. But I'm kind of leaning towards not buying any; for some reason the image below looks really cluttered to me. I can't deal with too much clutter.

Total cost? $39 for the ceiling tiles, $5 for the Krylon, let's estimate $10 for the hour of water I used to hose the paint off. So... $54. Sweet, I'll take that!

Why red? Well here'e the mixer which inspired it all. Our house is pretty dang bland; accessories in a bold color seem to work for me.

I still think the living room end of the space looks boring, but I'm out of ideas (and money) for adding some color. I'd like to get rid of the entertainment cabinet ASAP, and find something else which I could put a vase of flowers on. Alterniateively, I'd like to totally rip out our mantle, build built-in book shelves and a new mantle.

There. I said it. DJ stop freaking out... building bookshelves couldn't be that hard, could it?

Wicked weather

2011-06-18T08:31:00.000-06:00

June is rain and thunderstorm month in Montana. Due in part to global warming, Montana has begun to see occasional tornadoes where we've usually just had sever thunderstorms.

On Sunday night, this cloud looked suspicious:

It was spinning. Bozeman, of course, doesn't have tornado sirens.

Clearly the cloud would miss our house, but I kept an eye on it:

And like that, the finger part started to dissipate.

And the hail started. Small hail, thankfully.

Followed by a downpour of rain.

I love May and June weather in MT; you really never know what will happen next!