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.

A snowy drive and time management

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.

The Dark Days

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.
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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.

July 8 Friday Farming

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!