April 13 Friday Farming

Happy Friday the 13th!

DJ and I sprung for a new camera last weekend. Nikon D3100, plus a telephoto lens. We're excited, though obviously still have a lot to learn. Thus far we have 87 photographs of the dog.

I took the new camera out for a spin around the house this morning. I'm still getting used to things, and will surely improve, but daaaang,  this camera takes nice photographs!

We had a really mild winter this year. In fact, I'm not certain that the ground really ever froze solid. I know I turned the compost pile a few times over the winter. I don't think it helped much, but it indicates temperatures generally above a hard freeze. The spring has been similarly mild and sunny.

The front porch beds are coming in nicely.

It bums me out that the blooms on the hyacinth get smaller every year. Any idea how I could help them be their fluffy selves? Or should I be re-planting these every year?

 The sedum is coming in.

As is the Salvia. 

This is a fun picture. It shows you how much I love bulbs and perennials. In the front are daffodils, which might bloom as soon as next week. Next back is the daylilly, which I expect to bloom in late July- August. Behind that are irises, which have just exploded this year. They should bloom mid-June to mid-July. Behind that are allium, which should bloom in May or so. Nice little succession of having color by the front steps!

The driveway bed is one of the places I'm hoping to see vast improvement this year. You'll notice that I've stacked rocks against the ugly black tar area along the foundation. Muuuch better. A LOT of work, but much better. 

 The garlic is up. By comparing to last year, it appears the garlic is almost a month ahead of it's 2011 growing season!

The oregano came back.

As is the mint.

The chives, of course, are out of control. We're having baked potatoes this weekend, and then I need to find other chives recipes! I'm going to transplant a chunk of the chives and mint to the lake, so that we can have mojitos and fresh chives for baked potatoes through the summer.

Further back, the perennial flowers are coming through.

Lupine.

Dianthus.

Autumn Joy Sedum. I'm hoping this will take off this year. Last year, I planted cosmos in front of it, and the lack of sunlight really hurt the plant.

Across the driveway the raspberries are leafing out. Building a sort of support system with stakes and chicken wire is on the to-do list this weekend.

Over in the power box bed, things are coming up. Well, a lot of grass is coming up; weeding is on the to-do list this weekend too!

Crocus are blooming. 

 You'll note that I cut all the perennial grasses back a few weeks ago. I got a little overzealous with the clippers and lopped off the Russian Sage too. Right after the snip, I realized the mistake I'd made. I'd cut back most of the blooms! Dang it; I probably set the plant back years! I am still learning.

More Autumn Joy Sedum. 

 In the back, along the kitchen beds, things are moving more slowly. First, you can see we haven't gotten the rain barrel out yet. You can also see that I haven't completed the rock-stacking project to camouflage the black tar on the foundation. And, since this area doesn't get a ton of sun in the day, things are sprouting at a slower pace.

I will always worry about the hydrangeas. I unwrapped them a few weeks ago, and though it hasn't been terribly cold while they've been exposed, they're also not showing any signs of life. I'm sure they'll be fine, once exposed to sufficient sunlight.

Across the driveway my tulips and alium are sprouted beneath the aspens.

Same with the crocus.

This garage bed is kind of rag-tag. A lot of bulbs, perennials, a clematis, none of it doing much yet. The lupine is up, as well as the tulips, but past that... not much.

And now for the real farming area; the garden. We talked about roto-tilling this weekend, but given the rain this week it's still too wet. We're also discussing reworking the terraces, dealing with the barbed-wire fence and figuring out how to delineate the garden area from the lawn.

We do have mystery plants out there though. Is this perhaps an onion that failed last year?

Inside, I'm enjoying the results of a grow lamp!

DJ wanted cucumbers; I've never grown them but have visions of trellising them over the back fence this summer.

Jalapenos have sprouted.

The beefsteak tomatoes are doing well.

As are the marigolds. Just to the bottom of the picture you can see the failed attempt to start cosmos inside. I'm not sure what happened, but that flat will probably be given over to growing more marigolds for companion planting.

I tried to start lobelia inside, with mixed results.

We have a couple varieties of tomatoes, including Cherry, Black Krim, Brandywine and Romas. I really liked the Juliet tomatoes last summer, and might pick up a flat of them at some point too. One thing is for certain; we need to figure out a better system to stake the tomatoes on. The little tomato cages from last summer were just insufficient!

So, lots growing on (did ya catch that?). This weekend I need to weed beds and figure out where things will be planted in the garden. I'm having a hard time visualizing how to move things around to avoid planting tomatoes where the potatoes grew last year, or where the tomatoes grew last year. It's a complex dance, isn't it. I do know that we won't plant croockneck or spaghetti squash this year. We just don't eat it.

All kinds of fun things to think about!

I'm alive. So is DJ.

Man, what a busy spring we're having. Work is... work. Personal lives are humming along, sometimes over full. The class I'm teaching is going along swimmingly; I've enjoyed it so very much and I hope they offer me the opportunity to teach again. Fingers crossed!

In the mean time, we seem to be in the throes of an earlyish spring.

March 26

I've even started plants indoors, like a big kid. Five varieties of tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, marigolds and lobeilia and cosmos. Next weekend I think we'll rototill.

Sorry, terrible Blackberry photos.

Do you see what I see?

I think its a tulip? Or maybe a hyacinth? Time will tell!

We've had a really mild winter here this year. I don't think we've had a true blizzard; never socked in, only used the snow blower once. I'm not sure what gives... which Nina is it?

Either way, it's March 8, and things are starting to move around here. It's supposed to hit 50 degrees today, and 59 by Sunday. Too bad I won't be around to enjoy it... I'll be in FLORIDA with my mom, before we meet my sister for a CARIBBEAN CRUISE! Yeah... I'm excited. Also: self conscious about how pasty pale I am.

Everything I wanted

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

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

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?

1. Car fob
2. Car key
3. Gym fob
4. Key fob for AOII
5. Key to office at MSU
6. Key to classroom at MSU
7. Key to office for the City
8. Key to room where my Board meets
9. Key to our house
10. Key to the lake house
11. Mailbox key for our house
12. Mailbox key for my parents house
13. Key for my parent's house in Bozeman (which they sold last month) (I think that's it)
14. Key to  my bike lock
15. 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...

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?