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adventure can be inspiring
Its a hot day outside and enjoying some rare ac at home “relaxing and enjoying the work of justin verlander” to use the commentary without the expressed written consent of major league baseball. Its a slow game though and with only evenings and weekends for entropy control and to advance projects it seemed a good time to blog. as i said a post or two ago i am committed to blogging weekly if for nothing else to give the computer enough time online to do updates. i feel like my last couple read like that too.
Overall, i’ve been a little low energy which is not unexpected but inconvenient as the world expects me to jam, all day almost every day. i’ve been on top of that but not much else, personal life items i’ve left without the attention to detail and positive effort they require. but today i am tired but a good kind of tired. not as tired as verlander, its 98 in KC and he’s over the century mark and a fast hurler. in his defense he’s in much better shape, which sort of relates to what i’m going to be blogging about. adventure can be inspiring.
friday i lit out of work right on time and threw some things together for a float trip with eric and trevor. we were going to go camp somewhere close and then float the grand, conditions permitting. [verlander’s getting some rest after an inge error cost him his shut out, there’s bases loaded with a 1 run lead] i loaded a lot of stuff since i had the space and time and wasn’t exactly sure what the camping would be like. i also gave everything a good solid drink in the garden because it was supposed to be hot and stuff was thirsty. i also found this ginormous tomato horned worm and squished him. he’d done some damage and i feel like there’s at least another one but i can’t find him. maybe tonight when its in the shade.
at close to 6 i decided i would see if i could load the boat. if you’re not a regular reader i have short and stubby plastic canoe that slides nicely into the back of the popster’s f 250, one strap and its secure. its really growing on me. my brother got it for a float with smokey down the big muddy and its both short and has a huge keel which makes it maneuverable for a solo boater. also makes it convenient not to have to strap it on top. plus people are always impressed with all the cup holders. john calls it “the Cadillac of cheap canoes”.
but i never got to see if i could load it myself because mark, who i knew was a possible drove up and helped me load it and ably strapped it down. i have a thing about scraps and am majorly inept for having been dealing with them my whole life. its probably a complex but i’m almost 500 words into this post and haven’t even left yet so i got to pick up the pace. mark followed me over to trevor’s and we had a PBR in the front yard and strategized. the grand was flooded and there was no nearby camping so we decided to do locust creek through pershing state park. [the royals announcer gave a nice run down on victor martinez, he came to the tigers not up to potential, got in ‘short stop shape’ and this year he’s an all star. cabrerra has also dropped some pounds (but he was a monster last year big as a house)]
mark rode up with me and it was nice to reconnect as we both have been through some stuff and could relate and we had a good talk about grief. we stopped in macon for mexican food. i got alleged tamales which were either these little deep fried things which were pretty good or a mass of corn meal with an array of chicken and hamburger. not bad but not tamales. i also realized i forgot fido’s bowl, remembering i had let it be when i thought to pack it in case he wanted to eat before the treat. i walked over to walmart and got some iam’s little dog cereal and a couple of other things.
so with all that we rolled into pershing state park pretty late. it was an rv kind of park but the entrance was empty so we were off by ourselves and they have showers. not bad really for $11 i think for a nonelectric site. i didn’t want to chance setting up the tent not really knowing if its mine. john and i both had Marmots and he had packed up the camping stuff conflating our things and i couldn’t remember what model i have. so i decided to just sleep on the cot which was a bad idea from the start because of the mosquitoes and not packing a sheet. plus the raccoons were persistent and fido was barking and facing off and i didn’t get to sleep until they called it a night at sunrise, except for the four stuck in the dumpster. [valverde holds the lead and the tiges go into the all star break in first beating out the hated cleveland racists] so maybe 2 hours sleep tops.
but i woke up a little groggy but feeling good. eric makes this coffee concentrate and i mixed it strong and everyone enjoyed the can of condensed milk i broke out. a camping trick i learned from the popster who liked to live large. it was also good with the oatmeal mark made with lots of chopped almonds as it sweetened it up a little. i read the paper and drank my coffee and felt human enough to do the dishes. we drove south to find a pull out, checked out a little iron bridge and talked to a local who didn’t know anything about floating conditions. we drove south and found a spot and left the red truck.
we drove up to 36 i think and went west to the first pull off and found a good put in place. this is norther missouri bottom land. flat and rich mostly agricultural. there’s a nicely maintained riparian zone down the creek and it was muddy but of a goodly size. trevor saw a flat turtle and we both encountered a snake at the first log jam. it looks like he was fishing were everything just suddenly comes to a halt. we looked around and he disappeared. we ended up with a fairly lengthy portage which we did with good sport and a lot of gratitude as we ran into some really great wooded wetland with some really big old beach trees that certainly predated settlement. they didn’t look as big as the biggies in the spot of alleged old growth in Houston Woods in Ohio but they were really good sized and it was a mature forest.
we pushed through both poison ivy and stinging nettles to get back to the creek and were glad to get in the water and ended with no ill effects of either except from some nettle-itch at the time which is invigorating if you can look at it right. we ended up having 2 more portages and saving a third one by lifting the canoe over a fallen log at the third obstruction. nonetheless we all had fun and the portages made it more of an adventure, our own voyage of discovery and a good time was had by all.
especially fido who enjoyed his first float. he enjoyed being off leash as we scouted pull outs and put ins and had been on a swim and was reluctant for me to grab him up and throw him on the canoe. He jumped out once preferring to swim or run along side but he got used to it. we stopped to pick a couple of ripe blackberries (in a week or 2 it will be an excellent float with a lot of berries pickable by boat. I had fido on a leash when we picked berries or he would have abandoned the expedition.
I bet he’s glad he stayed though cuz we hiked in out of the way places, swam when we got hot. one nice place had a shady log and there was one of the few bluffs and the creek had carved out a nice deep swimming hole. fido swam across even though it was wide and deep with a strong current. he is a doughty sailor dog just like bichon frise’ are supposed to be. we had lunch really great cheese and avocado on black bear bakery bread which were very yummy. i wish i would have brought my first tomato though, although we may have that for dinner tonight. kevin made hummus and tabbouleh.
at our lunch stop i really struggled. i sank into the mud up to my knees and lost a shoe and was really stuck for a minute. had to have help to scramble up the muddy bank to the luncheon log. it really struck home my desire to get into better shape and the need to be way more on it now that i am getting older. i’ve been cutting myself to much slack for having a hard life and still need exercise more and eat better. i was more convinced when i was the only one that was completely done in (except for fido) at the end of the day. eric was kind enough to drag my boat out and carry it up to the truck.
but the adventure was fun. it could have been an ordeal which that uncertainty is a prerequisite of adventure. we were all resourceful, flexible and laid back so we would have rolled with whatever and made it work but it was big enough to be a challenge but doable enough to be pure fun. we all enjoyed some country cooking and had the buffet and i ate good. but not so good as has been my habit of late.
been pretty on it today too. slept hard and good and woke up refreshed and feeling like i’d done something. drank coffee and read the paper. roasted my first batch of beans, an ultra-light Guatemalan that looks awesome and i’m eager to try. i’ll let you know in a day or two how it is. then i mowed the back yard before it got to hot, got some laundry hung and made it to the wabash farmers/art market. got some sweet corn, cucumber for the humus, and some peaches (pricy but good). decided to skip malick’s new one but saw it was playing through thursday so i might still catch it. been thinking about asking someone out. haven’t done that in many years.
everything bread
got a slow move on sunday which was nice but didn’t get my lawn mowed. slept in read the ever diminishing newspaper [sighs] and drank john’s excellent light roast guatemalan. i’m a big believer in easing into the day. if everything goes higgily piggilly at least i got this time in to relax. then made breakfast with this honey cured bacon out of Hermann that was pretty tasty, thick & meaty with a couple of the stanton boy’s eggs (the yolks were a particularly violent orange) & toast. i also sliced my heirloom tomato which was as good as it looked. next year i’m doing more heirloom tomatoes i’m heavy in red hybrids this year with 3 kinds and only one black plum (which is looking good). it was looking like rain so i put things away and took the lids off the compost containers.
then the tiger game came on, playing the giants who’ve been tough. great pitching early on but the tiges prevailed. john has been watching the games caught up in nostalgia no doubt. its a slow game though and by the ending innings i was outside weeding the roses between innings. allowed me to catch the storm blowing in. got very windy and the trees were bent over. i’ve been trying to be more aware of spiritual things for a group. it was very easy standing in the wind feeling a part of everything.
stuck unstuck
Its hot outside. July for me means among other things the official end of the summer planting season. I never really could get in a rhythm to get much in this summer. I did put in a small patch of okra which i thinned out yesterday and the seedlings are looking pretty good for being planted in the dark. It was a bit of a whim one evening back and it had been hot but managed to get it double dug and the requisite 4″ of compost worked in. I put it all in the bottom layer to keep the Smokey dog from eating out of it. I also put the fence around it and the garlic. The garlic looks done. When time and shade comes together I will harvest it and let it dry hanging on the dining room wall. I’ll probably set some back to plant this fall. I had about three varieties. Only two of them put out scapes so i expect them to be small.
time to put on the kettle. i am trying to fix my slow bathroom drain with baking soda and vinegar (3/4 and 1/2 cup respectively poured down the drain and then closed) followed by a kettle of boiling water. Its my first try this way, i’ll let you know how it goes.
Haven’t been blogging much. my computer bogged down so i just abandoned it for a couple of weeks. turns out it was just trying to deal with automatic updates and all i need to do to keep it going is stay on the computer longer. i tend to take a quick look at email and facebook and move on closing up the laptop before all that stuff can happen. i’m going to use that as impetus to blog more.
John heard the kettle and asked about coffee and my near boiling water was repurposed. John has been home roasting for us. This pots a light roast Guatemalan. good day for a nap and i got a short one in. got woke up with john calling up Fido and Shadow that there was a dear in the yard. They tore off after it and the deer took right off. All it managed to do was take a dump so i am pleased it didn’t mow down my garden and flowering shrubs. Usually once a year it happens since dad put the fence up but i was hoping with the extra 2 dogs it would increase my deer suppression. this is the first year my hosta blossoms have done their thing without the deer eating them all. my neighbor henry reports the deer ate them to the roots before we moved in.
Well update on the drain. didn’t get in the first try. i just poured the kettle in and let it sit because it was clogged up. had to break out the plunger. tried less baking soda and swept what i couldn’t get down the drain away and poured in the vinegar. this time the vinegar flowed down the drain and i got the drain closed. don’t think i got the volcano action going at the site of the problem. time to get in the shower. michael and amy are having john and i and fido for cocktails and grilled fish this evening.
what else did i do. i weed whipped the weed patch. john was dubious about my pokeweed but its both native and pretty so i let one be and have let a few grow up. i also left a mimosa tree. i never thought too with the neighbors beautiful one but after they cut most of it down i decided i would let one come up by the stump of the old bush honey locust. i’ve still got some lawn prettying up to do early and late tomorrow. might even mow, the backyard could certainly use it. besides some poop scooping and picking up leaf debris it was about all i could manage before john and i went to Twin Lakes dog park. It was my first trip out there, very pretty and fido got some good running in.
the market also took a chunk of my morning. got some lettuce (probably only a week or two til its gone until fall), red potatoes, tomatoes (should have my own if not next week then the week after), ground beef and pork, brats, and hotdogs, got a Patric chocolate bar for my market treat, dozen corn for the fourth, eggs, etc.
ok, went to brush my teeth to go out and the drain worked. glory glory halleluiah. our plumbing, i’m afraid is my favorite thing about america.
the good life
I haven’t blogged for a while and felt like I should put something up. I have been a little emotionally drained for the last couple-few weeks and motivation has been a little harder to come by. I am certainly meeting expectations and even advancing some projects but sometimes come short up against what I would like to do. Two months since The Popster passed so I guess I’m right where I should be. I had a week or two with just the dogs when coincidentally john and kevin both went back to california to get there stuff. John’s things are here now and tonight’s after work project is to help kevin move his things. They have cleaned the garage which is looking better then it has for a long time. I opted out of that process to spend the time in the garden. John moved up some book shelves into the living room and am looking forward to seeing his library join mine for a time. He also has two paintings by Gonzalez Gonzalez a London painter Dr. Tod was into in the 80s. Having not even finished painting I have not got onto getting things for the walls. He paints faces that look like abstract water colors at first glance. There’s one with a little yellow that we’re hanging in the living room as that really pulls the face out, and there’s a blue and violet one, that I’m not sure I see the face in yet, that we’re putting up in john’s room.
We’ve had our first string of hot, unrelentingly hot for better than a week. Its slowed me down a bit as I get used to it. Mowed the lawn, back on saturday and front on sunday. Had to find the sweet spot between the evaporation of the dew and before it became to damn hot. My neighbor John broke out an old push reel mower yesterday. We both agreed it was quite a work out. I hope he sticks with it. Its a chore but so is going to the gym and that costs money. It makes me think how much all these time saving devices really cost us more. With the introduction of vacuum cleaners and dish washers and the like they’ve just increased the standard of what a clean house is, not to mention the rise of square footage of the average home, and how much time do we save if labor saving devices take out the physical effort so we have another chore of having to go to they gym. simpler is better and the old ways have their wisdom. I could have a bigger garden if i used a rotor tiller but you can’t dig down 2 feet any way but a shovel. My 2 feet of top soil tells me its been worth the effort.
Yesterday I mostly rehabbed the big garden bed. I weeded, harvested a nice little jar of radishes and planted my black plum tomato. The compost is coming along and I have a lot to use. i also jazzed up some of the extra soil from the tree planting and added some more soil around the peach tree. John looked up Belle of Georgia and its a red skinned white stoneless peach that comes due in August. I’ll let you know how they turn out. I also swapped the hose onto the rain barrels and watered that way rather then by 2 1/2 gallon can. That was so much easier and I am going to use so much more rain water which takes more out of the fall on the roof and run madly into bear creek process. i can see adding multiple barrels if I keep using goodly amounts of water. last year was wet, but still I only got to the bottom of the barrel once.
I also picked strawberries and made round two of strawberry pancakes. This time I used Jiffy Mix and I am definitely sticking to scratch from now on. Its hardly any harder and its quite a bit cheaper and way better. I almost stirred in a little extra baking powder after the first cake came off the grill but just stuck with it. They were good nonetheless with the stanton boy’s local eggs over medium and real maple syrup and organic butter.That led to a lively discussion on if that means anything. I bought it because butter was $4 and organic was $5. When i can get regular for 2-3$ then the price differential doesn’t seem worth it. John’s proposition is that corporate cows making corporate butter is so off that organic practice becomes meaningless. My argument is that cows eat a lot of corn, unfortunately and my understanding is that organic animals are fed organic feed and that makes a lot more acreage of organic corn a slight improvement over our normal monoculture nightmare food production system. It also increases the chance that our milk cows are grass fed by changing those relative economies.
Dinner was altogether much better as we were well over 90% local and 20% from the backyard and all agreed that it was good. I roasted my first beer can chicken. I brined it with salt, brown sugar, and some unfiltered apple cider vinegar. then I stuck an open can of budweiser up its yahoo and sat it on the grill. For the grill I had a big fire on one side and added a lot of soaked hickory chips which provided the bulk of the flavor. It was yummy with a crispy brown skin. I also made a packet with the first of the new potatoes (reds and whites) and a couple of baby turnips, with half a garlic snape, some fresh fennel root, & oregano. kevin put together the asparagus packets. sarah brought some trout and a pasta salad (our pasta is where we lowered our local percentage besides incidentals like butter & salt).
Its been really fantastic and again I thought that no one was eating a better meal no matter how much money they had. I like living the ‘good life’ and showing it can be done with just a little bit of labor and gumption. alright well maybe a bit more than a little but we can all take steps down a path of sustainability.
weekend in review
its getting to be where i’m just blogging about my weekends. my weekdays tend to be confidential. we just had a lovely heavy rain, a little hail, no harm done beyond the straight pipe to one of the rain barrels blew down. i had just put the finishing touches on my outside projects and thought the timing good. i was hot and sweaty and thought the rain would be cool when i went downtown. john’s yaris had a flat and it took me some time to figure it all out, the murphey’s rule about finding all the tools you need. i was going to ride my bike and deal with the tire on wednesday but it wasn’t in the garage so i assumed it was stolen as i also hadn’t been able to find the circular saw. when i called john on the yaris missing lug wrench he told me the bike was in the hallway to the crawlspace. i have vague memories of loaning out the circular saw. if i did i need it back, kevin wants to build some shelves in the garage.
downtown was very wet, it rained hard and there was some hail. i am becoming blase’ about hail since moving here. used to be a big deal. it was fun watching the people. extreme weather brings out the best in people and thins out the crowds. there was glee in people’s eyes or a fierce determination; a controlled hurry. i was soaked, my memories of being hot quickly replaced with soaked to the bone chilly. i got my beans, a pound of a single source columbian that’s better then the other which is kaldi’s passport selection and a pound of the papua new guinea i’ve been enjoying. it may be my last. john is bringing his roaster and picking up an order of beans from sweet marias and is going to teach me how to home roast. can’t wait.
when i walked from kaldi’s to el rancho for a steak burrito and horchata (yum) i was soaked enough to draw looks of concern from strangers. it was all good though, just put the heater on for the drive home. still had the energy to pick up the buns i needed for my burger grilling tomorrow.
in spite of the rain it was a pretty nice day. got a lot done. i planted one of the forsythia i got from henry. i split it in two and put the bigger of the two in my back yard hedgrow. i’m going to put one more in which will connect it with my witchhazel. someday i’ll mulch or plan to turn it into one big bed, its getting closer though. i put the other up by the northwest corner of the house by the other ones. involved me cutting out some shit bush growing by the house and just gave a little attention to the whole area. weeded the little lilacs and noted one of them was wilty, i bet the satellite dudes stepped on it when they were messing around the area. i’m hoping with a little tlc it’ll bounce back.
i pulled out the last lily i had there. it looked like it was starting to get a little web going so i was glad to be transplanting it. the lady who gave them to me told me to move them every year that they depleted a certain nutrient and its proven to be true. there were some little ones coming up near there so i let them be because they’re in a different spot. i trimmed up the other forsythia and its looking pretty good over there.
at that point i hit a wall, and dozed through the tiger game. the kid pitched 8 shut out innings and the tiges are back at .500. when i got up i planted the lily right in the dog run that goes through the strawberries. when i harvested them i had to work to not begrudge the losses to dog trampling. i had to remember i like Fido and i’m glad he has a friend and remember from the first strawberry of the season that every strawberry is a treasure. next year i’m doing fencing. the lily should help and i will put up the fence there if i leave him unsupervised with Olive. nonetheless i got probably a good pint and a half and have enough to make strawberry shortcake for Nance and Peg tomorrow.
i also put in two thai chile peppers i got from the thai lady at the market and i put in another herb whose name is escaping me, hmmm. its a relative of oregano, ah yeah marjoram. i put it in between the oregano and tarragon. i have some dill going there and i thought the established plants would help minimize dog trampling for the baby dills. they are looking good and if half make it i should have plenty for my uses and enough to let some go to seed. that whole plot is coming in nicely and i have been mixing in other stuff in the edges to bring out the bed into a straighter line.
all of the planting was aided by the fresh compost that i’m pulling out of the big wooden bin. its nice stuff, very earthy smelling, could be more finished though because smokey likes to try and eat it still. but there’s a ton of it and it made me nostalgic for dad, it was his last construction project. harry came over yesterday and i got an audible wow when he saw the backyard. its looking good, the tomatoes are coming along and the cabbages are really big. the broccoli has gone to flower which i think is bad but its awfully cool looking.
i made strawberry pancakes for harry yesterday, best i ever made. i couldn’t find the bisquik so i riffed off of an internet recipe from scratch. i whisked 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown rice flower, 3 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tbsp sugar, pinch of xantham gum. made a pool in the center and added 3/4 cup i think of milk, a local egg and 3 tbsp melted butter. i melted it in the cast iron skillet and kept it hot for the cakes. i whisked that together and then added as many strawberry pieces as it could hold. fried those puppies up with served with real maple syrup, honey butter & a couple of eggs over easy. a of course a press pot of kaldi’s brazillian. most excellent.
it must have been a day for cooking because i also grilled out a stuffed pork loin and candied root vegetables. the pork loin i sliced open like a swiss cake roll, not bad for my first attempt. i had made the stuffing early and let the flavors merged. i put in a red apple, celery, fresh sage and fennel, sweet onion, couple cloves of garlic in a plain yogurt. after i cut up the loin i seared the outside after patting it with flour in olive oil and more garlic. then i stuffed it and wrapped it with cotton string and wrapped with foil. the vegies were these little white heirloom turnips and baby carrots i did with lots of fresh grated ginger, some sesame oil and local honey. i put a lot of soaked hickory chips on the fire and slow roasted them about 50 minutes, an hour would have been better. kick ass if i do say so myself. also did an all local salad with mixed greens, spinach, radish, thin sliced zucchini, and greenhouse tomato. i made the dressing too which also rocked: tahini, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, agave nectar, an inch of fresh grated horseradish, and a splash of braggs.
all in all a good weekend. i could’ve mowed the lawn before it rained, walked the dogs a second time and perhaps cleaned the bathrooms but there will always some things i didn’t get too. i am learning to be ok with that. i am learning to be ok with just about anything.
3rd best drinking water in the world
its been a really beautiful saturday. started it with a really good papua new guinea light roast from Kaldis. very yummy and read the paper, such as it is in this brave new world. kevin and i went to the market and got lots of great stuff: spinach, mixed salad greens [has little baby bok choy], asparagus, arugula (a smaller package a little goes a long way), and some other salad stuff. also got a pack of orange marigolds for the tomato patch and a Patric chocolate bar. hit them up for info on slave labor in the harvest of cocoa and they said only on the Ivory Coast and they don’t buy from there. i got a frequent buyers card in case they’re good. also got some apple butter.
stopped by nancy’s garage sale fundraiser and it was nice seeing everyone gathered for a good cause, got some books (mostly for work), some lavender dryer sachets, and wrapping paper. made steal cut oats in the rice cooker with some raisins. john was unimpressed so i’ll probably work them out of the rotation for the foreseeable future as kevin’s not much of a breakfast guy. though he is into the local bacon i also got at the market this morning and am going to make up tomorrow with some grits and eggs over medium.
it was beautiful weather wise and got two loads of laundry done on the line and managed to finish digging out the bed by east side of the house. i’m out of finished compost so i just added coffee grounds. the dirt there was pretty decent so they’ve had some stuff there before but its been a minimum of 6 years since it was worked. there was a lot of maple tree roots i had to dig out. i dug up the lilies i move every year out of the front yard and planted them around the perimeter and then put in 8 brusel sprouts [thanks erica who sprouted them from seed and even delivered] . i think they should look cool together and i am hoping to use the lilies to keep the dogs out. i’ve got a couple more brussel sprouts i am going to weave into where the strawberries fade out buttressed by more lillies. gonna put in the rest of the lillies inaround the most dog trampled strawberries. speaking of one of them is pretty red so i should have my first one in a few days or so. can’t wait. i almost bought a $6 pint of them at the market but decided to wait for my own. got many gallons last year and there are more so i am optimistic.
my neighbor henry flagged me down while digging up lillies and gave me a couple of forsythia bushes and lopped for me. after seeing the ungainly clump that i put in the ground a few years ago from him he must’ve figured he’d better just do it for me. his yard is looking amazing, really coming along. i’ve got a fair chunk of stuff to get in the ground, wouldn’t mind mowing my lawn but will probably wait on that.
john has all three rain barrels operational now, hopefully. he added a washer and it seems like we’ve got it now. we walked through the garage and talked about an organizational plan. john has been knocking out the projects. he got a dog waste compost set up in the back corner of the yard that is really great. buried a garbage can surrounded by rocks with holes in the bottom. add poo until there’s enough and then added 1/3 of a package of septic tank conditioner. “i’ve never bought a bottle of bacteria before”, john said. has a lid. might move the hydrangia out into the new dirt pile by the composter to make room for the second of mom’s rose bushes. it will be nice to get them in the ground on mother’s day.
be kind to our one big mother, you know the one with oceans and stuff.
then i cooked dinner. parboiled crocker apple brats also from the market in Flat Branch brown ale, made red potato packets with red onion, and asparagus packet with baby garlic, green onion, a little tomato, lemon juice and a little olive oil. also did a nice salad and kevin got brat buns which were very festive. i served it with my first batch of sun tea with green tea and a bag of ginger.
i got a little too much sun but it was probably good to try to adjust to the coming heat. spring has been wonderful but summer temps are rolling in.
maydayeve
what a beautiful day and oh how i love spring. it was just gorgeous today, mostly sunny and low 70s with some rain in the future so i was pushing to get stuff in the ground. i have been doing a bit of gardening most days and had finally gotten all my memorial plants in the ground. as the tulips go post-peak i have been pleased with some other stuff stepping up its game. the gerber daisies are going to dominate the grave area with a lot of lower stuff when i cut back the tulips. in the shade bed all kinds of things are going on in violet; spiderwort, wild sweet william, violets, jacob’s ladder, and another one, plus columbine, some lilies are still going, ragwort’s coming on, and the irises are getting ready, plus the annuals i put in.
this morning i worked in the bulbs left over from a tulip, dafodil, fresia arrangement into the herb garden so i gave a good cultivate and feed to the tarragon, oregano, and connected some sage that had spread out into the lawn into a new larger bed. i put them in close to the herbs figuring that in early spring they’ll all still be little and i can get the flowers without using any space. i wanted to have the fresia by front window so the scent could waft in the front window but i had tulips in the mix and i wanted them on this side of the fence so the dogs could defend them from the squirrels. although stubby, the bob-tailed squirrel and notorious eater of tulips got hit last year so maybe i’ll try front lawn tulips some day. while i was messing in the herb garden i found more parsley and i planted dill and cosmos up there as well.
in the afternoon i pulled off the plastic from the tomatoes and basil and planted a six pack of cabbages i got at the market this morning. nice market by the way, my first this year, with leaf lettuce, kale, green onions, radishes, green house tomato, cucumber (one of those long asian ones but young and tender, yumm) [my salad tonight with goddess dressing] and little tender asparagus [cooked in a packet with the baby garlic i also got, thinly sliced red peppers, and redwine vinegar; nailed the sweet and tangy thing i was going for] and grass fed ground round [added chopped oregano, basil, and garlic and grilled over hickory chips].
the cabbages i mostly ran in a row in my second bed east of the tomatoes. i planted one up close to the lettuce, figuring it’ll finish and allow the cabbage to extend into its space. this part of the bed was still pretty clayey below 14″ so i added three inches of compost to the bottom layer and and two inches to the top which wiped me out on the home made stuff. the big compost is 2-4 weeks away from being done so i’ll have to either go without and just fertilize (i got some fish stuff on clearance last year and stepping up my nitrogen game. the garlic i blasted doubled in size in 4 days and is twice as big as the control group which i blasted today) but compost also changes the character of the soil which my clay yard needs.
i planted rows of radishes on each side of the cabbage because double digging all that space is hard work and the cabbage will grow into the space when the radishes are done, goddess willing. i planted the other two around the lettuce, which at least one more head will be done this week. i left last year’s okra stalks up as a dog deterrent. i also cultivated the basil (thanks jane), broccoli, tomatoes (thanks eric), and lettuce. i put up the little fence and hit everything but the new stuff (it got plenty of compost)and the lettuce (hope to eat soon) in that bed with fish juice. the dogs were definitely intrigued pushing the fence in a bit (descented my ass).
i also got some laundry on the clothesline and cooked out on the grill. perfect spring day. tomorrow house cleaning and i’m gonna re-mow the back yard if it doesn’t rain. please rain, i’ve been a little under the weather but felt good to push myself a bit anyway.
memorial hill
well what used to be called myrtle’s grave is taking on added significance as i prepare to sprinkle a small amount of my father’s cremated ashes there. he loved that little dog and spoke of her fondly with some of his last words. buzzed on the morphine he told me “i want to marry myrtle. so he’ll largely be buried with my mom in the erie cemetery (yes its true) but a little bit will stay here in columbia where he spent some pleasant years. Gabriel Garcia Marquez says a place doesn’t really become home until you bury your dead there. i want columbia to be home at least a little bit.
when myrtle died last year we buried her deep as you should a good and faithful companion, all things being equal. we planted greek myrtle (six of them on the grave) and they had pretty foliage and little white flowers. it died off over the winter and hadn’t really snapped back. last fall i had added 3 new and a bit more existent daylillies at the head and foot. later i put in some tulips and crocuses on the bird feeder side. nothing is blooming and while not bleak its not exactly much of a pick me up.
sarah and i had gone to menards to return tile and so i picked up everything that was flowering. i got a lobelia hanging basket for the front and moved the windchime to the backyard. i bought some larger perenials and a flat of annuals and really made the memorial area look sharp. annual wise i did violas, snap dragons, pansies, verbana, and a couple of others. I also did a good sized gerbera daisy. Perenials i did a lot of creeping phlox, some bellis, and a couple of candytuft (iberis-sempervirens). it looks sharp. i also have some other stuff in pots now, maybe i’ll get it in the ground in time in the beds along the neighbor’s privacy fence which will be the backdrop for the service. I’ve got some daffodils going on one side and some grape hyacinth on the other. the new stuff adds some flowering now to the beds which have at least greenery going.
overall its earlier then i would like, in a lot of ways but i am glad i decided to have a little bit going all the time rather than having stuff that all hits at once so i at least had something to build from. you don’t get to choose your time on these things.
Holiday Letter 2010
Its been another event filled year here on Leslie Lane. Not all pleasant or easy but each day an opportunity to grow, learn, and be more engaged in the world around us.
We rung in the new year quietly at home. Began the trend of 2010 of not going to social events even if I had said I was going. Even planning in advance couldn’t get me out of the house to socialize this year. But when I got out of the house I got out of the house. In March John, Shadow & Smokey came through picked me up and we drove on down to FLA. We went all the way to the bottom camping at Big Cypress National Wildlife Refuge, moving on to the Everglades, and day tripping down into the Florida Keys. We hit some national forest in the north and some beach on the Florida Pan Handle. It was a great trip and made the oil spill more poignant having just seen the area. Again my biggest impression was the incredibly rich biodiverse Everglades with the near desert like monoculture of our present day agriculture. Night and day the incredible shrinking of life. We are all criminals and murderers. I still bought oranges.
I got home from vaca with a bit of a stiff neck which evolved into intense back and neck pain which was ultimately diagnosed as a pinched nerve from some bulging discs (C-4 & C-5 i think). Physical therapy adjustments seemed to do the trick and haven’t had too much problems with it. It was scary at the time, made me thankful to have two arms that work.
Work-wise the beginning of the year was fruitful. I enjoyed my role of trying to foster a Dual Recovery Anonymous meeting. I also continued working with the Missouri Cadre for Co-Occurring Excellence and enjoyed a strategic planning retreat at a really cool resort. Saw a bluebird thanks to the new license plates (they’re our state bird). Ultimately resigned my leadership position with the Cadre, too much happening at the agency.
In May we celebrated the end of Lost. Until then we had a house full every Tuesday to watch, same as last year. We didn’t do costumes, theme food, or Dharma stuff because we did all that for the season premiere party. We just watched TV together. In retrospect I thought Lost ended pretty good, not perfect but good enough.
Myrtle died this year. That was sad as hell. We dug her a deep hole and planted some Greek Myrtle. She was a beautiful dog, quite a character for her only three years. Dad took some solace in Oni, but to be frank she was a piss poor primary dog. slept all day, pissed on the furniture. mostly my bed and the couch. one night she pissed my bed pretty good and i was headed to bed late and suddenly had to go sleep on the futon in the living room where dad was trying to watch a movie. i grumped some and he took her to the humane society. We followed her on the internet she was in foster care with second chance. Just looked for her and couldn’t find her picture, hope she got adopted.
June was interesting because I seized an opportunity when the agency burned through its contract prior to the end of the fiscal year (huge huge budget cuts once the federal support to state stimulus was used up) and i was granted a few weeks off without pay at my request. gardened up a storm and did some ozark adventure. went to johnson’s shut ins, elephant rocks, all that stuff. had some nice camping with Oni.
2010 was also a year for making new friends in far off places. We had some exchange students from Taiwan who were observing the batterer intervention program i worked at my part time job over for a couple of barbecues. Took them to the Devil’s Ice Box (a local cave) and down to the Lake of the Ozarks for outlet mall shopping with John when he was visiting (saw a lot of John in 2010). They’re enthusiasm was infectious. Also spent a lot of time with Amy’s friend Belen who visited for the summer from Spain. Took her to Jefferson City to see the monuments and we broke into a Catholic Church. Very cool seeing the familiar from fresh perspectives and breaking things down to communicate with very smart women but whom English is a second language. Learned a lot about myself and my world.
Speaking of Amy, I was flattered to be asked to officiate she and Michael’s wedding. It went very well and was a charming affair. The only down side was the AC was on the fritz and I sweated like a pig. Drenched my shirt clean through.
Dad had some health issues early in the year. A lot of unexplained weight loss. Turned out to be celiac disease forcing us to go gluten free. We’ve made a lot of adjustment. Bread is probably the thing Dad misses the most. There’s just no adequate substitute. Corn tortillas come the closest. For me its been good. We eat a lot less processed food. Buy stuff a lot more in its natural condition. No more hamburger helper.
In July work picked up when I switched from doing the co-occurring stuff to being the senior counselor. With state cut backs its been a bit of a mad scramble. We’re trying to make some changes and it seems to be getting doable. Very engaging overall, love my education groups, love being a part of people making good changes in their lives. Not a hint of boredom yet.
Myrtle’s death and Oni’s eviction left a dog shaped hole but only for a couple few weeks. Dad saw an add in the free classifieds and picked Fido up at 4 months. He’s half Bichon Frise (the little teddy bear looking poodle dogs) and half Cocker Spaniel or Cockechon, although he was advertised in the paper as a Cockapoo and that is what Dad will tell you the dog is.
Fido’s first road trip was back to the homeland to meet everyone at the family reunion. He got a little car sick but enjoyed meeting all the people and dogs. He’s continued to liven up the house and we like to walk the piece of the Bear Creek Trail by us.
The Big Muddy was high most of the summer so didn’t float a lot. Did float at the flooded out Overton Bottoms and enjoyed the heck out of canoeing through the woods. Whoop, the brownies need checking…… Not too bad for gluten free.
The Fall was pretty uneventful. Brought a bigger and homemade compost bin on line, thanks Dad and ended up with a pretty decent garden harvest. Brenda, Heather, and John made it out for Thanksgiving which we did up right with all local made from scratch dishes including our pasture raised bird. Ended up using a lot of my holiday energy to pull that off so we are taking a minimalist approach to Christmas. It will be our first Christmas at Leslie Lane breaking the last five or six years of spending the holiday camping or in a hotel.
On Christmas Eve we are going to Outback and perhaps go see True Grit. Christmas morning I’m working. I got permission to show A Charlie Brown Christmas for my ed group and I plan talking about cultivating our inner Linus. Dad is making a ham for the big day and I’m having a former homeless guy over for dinner. Its his birthday and he doesn’t have anyone and a guest will make it all the more festive. Boxing Day we plan on spending with Amy and Michael for more ham and such. Bought a Norfolk Pine and decked it out as the holiday tree as part of my adding more houseplants to the mix. Also picked up a nice Christmas cactus.
The new years is then upon us and i am gearing up for a major new resolution. Details TBA. Hope your holidays are filled with peace and joy light and love.
foundational moles
We’re debating moles here on Leslie Lane. My attitude has been live and let live. They aerate the soil which my clay pit desperately needs and don’t do anything but cosmetic damage. I am not going for a vast expanse of monoculture grass so the tracks haven’t really bothered me. Its not really noticeable curbside but its been a growing problem. This fall a bunch of tunnels have appeared near the house, i’m guessing to take advantage of the warmer soil. Dad claims they’ll wreck the foundation. I am dubious but dad is right enough it led me to an internet search. Couldn’t find any indications they do any damage except cosmetic damage to lawns. They’re tunnels appear to collect nuisances as when you eliminate them new critters move in, other moles, mice, wasps & hornets and such. I’m not thrilled with my ever growing system of mole tunnels but killing the little bastards seems extreme and likely to invite new invaders to move into the vacuum. So for now i will share the yard with my myopic friends. If they become problematic or i learn something that changes my mind i’ll invest in a mole trap. With my already extant tunnel system i can expect it to be a reoccurring issue.
Multiconstruct 
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