This is so not a vampire blog!

Boston Latin School is officially denying the presence of vampires!

The actual story is a very sad commentary on how our kids treat each other in any school, even an elite school like this. The fictional possibilities are superb! Wiki: "The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts, making it the oldest existing school in the United States. The Public Latin School was a bastion for educating the sons of the Boston elite, resulting in the school claiming many prominent Bostonians as alumni. Its curriculum follows that of the 18th century Latin-school movement, which holds the classics to be the basis of an educated mind." Fabulous vampire historical fiction. I'd read it.

Dark Shadows

A channel I didn't know we got, Chiller, had a marathon of all of the 1991 Ben Cross version of Dark Shadows yesterday. I watched the whole thing.

What it means to be a snow pea

Snow peas, broccoli seedlings, potato seedlings and newly munched strawberry plants all met about 2 1/2" of wet snow this morning. It was all off of the beds by noon, and it is just a memory now. My Oregon Scientific weather station reports a toasty 50.9 degrees outside.

Repurposing

I've found a good use for this wine glass holder that has been relegated to the basement since we moved into this house. It just didn't work with our new cabinets.

It only required a little modification.



Now it is a right functional CD storage rack.

Speaking of rabbits

Darn. Stinking. Rabbits!

Last night they ate my strawberry plants down to the ground.



Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, since it is supposed to snow tomorrow night.

Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated.

Man, the Ramones sooo understood me :-D

I'm going on 48 hours without the 24 hour allergy medicine. I felt better last night. I went to bed early and slept well.

I feel like a crackhead today. My heartrate is really not up that high, but it feels like it is going crazy. I've got a headache poking me right in the middle of my forehead. Luckily, I'm down to mostly physical symptoms. I do not think the world is going to end anymore.

I'm pissed that the oak trees are getting ready to coat the earth with a thin green film. The oak pollen feels like bunnies on uppers wearing spiked-armor jumping around in my nasal cavity. I can't wait!

Because it makes me feel better

I had a panic attack in the shower yesterday morning. Feeling like you're going to hyperventilate and fall down when you're home alone and then the dogs are going to eat your eyeballs while your down is not exactly calming.

Anxiety is not normally a problem of mine. I do worry, but not usually to such an extent that I feel physically ill. It dawned on me yesterday that it could be my allergy medicine that I just started taking Saturday. So I've stopped taking it today. We'll see how things go. I still feel miserably wound up right now, but I am also hopeful that it will be fading as the medicine works its way out of my system.

Or maybe I'm just bat shit crazy. We shall see!

Because it makes me feel calmer to look at him, here is a small study of my pet duck.



Woosah.



Woosah.



Woosah.



Woosah.



Woosah.



Woosah.

White House Vegetable Garden

They're tearing up some of the White House lawn for a vegetable garden.

Cool!

White House Garden Layout

Hawks

I had a good dog walk this morning. I saw a small hawk on a neighbor's roof, watched it fly into a tree in their back yard, and I think it may actually be nesting there. From what I can tell, it is a Cooper's Hawk. It was a small hawk with definite banding on the tail, but I don't think it had the hooded head that a Peregrine Falcon would have.

I noticed these birds in the neighborhood last summer, but they were always flying pretty high, so I never got a good look at them before. I'm going to keep an eye out on that area now, and I'm going to try to get a picture if it really is hanging out in their backyard oak tree.

About half a block later, I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk swooping along the treeline. This made for great size comparison.

We also have owls on down the street. I haven't seen them yet this year, but we heard them often last summer.

It is amazing, with all of these birds of prey in the immediate area, that the squirrels still managed to destroy my corn plot last year.

Rain barrel project

Dennis has been working on this barrel for the last two weekends.











Now I've got a place to hold 55 gallons of rain water.

Oh she's planting broccoli

My leggy broccoli is out in the garden now.



I wish I would have planted it sooner or had it more under control so that it spent its seedling time growing leaves instead of height. It looks a little puny. If all else fails, broccoli plants are available in garden centers now.

What I'm reading

Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry.



Why: I read this every time I'm very upset about anything
Thoughts: I'm pretty sure this is my favorite novel of all time.

Friday Shuffle

I never got to do a Friday Shuffle back when they were all the rage, since I didn't have an iPod. This is probably the first, last and only one I'll ever do :)

City of Blinding Lights U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Icky Thump The White Stripes Icky Thump
Wait Until Tomorrow Jimi Hendrix The Ultimate Experience
Downer Nirvana Incesticide
Territorial Pissings Nirvana Nevermind
Midnight to Midnight Chevelle Vena Sera
Fade Into You Mazzy Star So Tonight I Might See
Happy Phanton Tori Amos Little Earthquakes
Silvergun Superman Stone Temple Pilots Purple
Waking Up in Vegas Katy Perry One of the Boys

I'm still putting my CDs on the computer, then I'd love to replace the tapes, then there's so much more new music... All I need now is time to listen to music again!

Happy Birthday Dennis! My husband is "older than me" for three months and seven days of every year. I love it!

What I'm reading

Ed McGivern's Book of Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting Ed McGivern



Why: Everyone wants to be fast and fancy!
Thoughts: That is one wordy man. I feel I've been on page three for a week.

Something green happened

Two peas sprouted outside!



These are two of twenty-four seeds put out on March 7th.

Corned beef and, well, you know

100% cliche and delicious.

Enjoyed with a Schlafly Irish-Style Extra Stout. There is an insidious aroma in this beer. It reminds me of a barroom floor, but in the most beguiling way possible. It's evilly delicious.

Landscape plans

The front yard is bare. There is grass. Nothing else. This has intimidated me since we moved in, so I have been stuck and haven't done anything about it.

I now have landscape plans!



The dot in the middle of the EEEEE FFFFFF is a small River Birch cultivar, hopefully something like this. The empty area on the far right will have some taller evergreen, either a holly or a yew, I have not decided and I may change my mind when I go out looking at plants.

I hope it winds up looking something like this, only more colorful.


I wanted to go native, but I found it to be a huge stumbling block. I live in an older neighborhood, so the "traditional" plants are not out of place here. This is just a start along the foundation. I can always add more beds as time goes on. I know I want to take out the old gas light in front of the porch someday. I am going to try planting summer squash there this year.

The potatoes keep staring at me

I'm trying potatoes in a container this year.

I got to ride this barrel while Dennis was cutting it. Wheeee!


A little landscape fabric and sand to cover the holes, but still allow drainage.


Last potato in, about to be covered by about 3" of leftover Mel's mix.




55 gallon barrell - free (from Dennis's work)
sand - free (was in the basement when we bought the house)
landscape fabric - free (from the industrial sized roll we got at Sam's club last year)
Mel's mix - free (leftover from installing the four raised beds)
seed potatoes - less than $2 (from IGA)

Freezing; seedlings

I think the first peas planted might not make it. The soil was frozen soild a few days this week. I checked on the seeds today. They did split, but nothing really had a chance to grow out of them. I'm going to leave them alone. Who knows if they'll decide to grow when they get warm again or not?

The next batch of snow pea seeds were planted today. I feel better about these.


The two best broccoli seedlings were transplanted. I buried them deep, hoping to overcome their extreme legginess. They're scheduled to go into the beds next Saturday.


My marigolds look just like real plants!


Outside, strawberries are starting to emerge.

Monkey bread

I ran into this browsing Southern Plate the other day, and I knew I had to make it.

Mmmm!
Monkey Bread
2 large cans layer biscuits (or 3 small cans)
1 c sugar
1 1/2 T cinnamon
1 stick butter, melted

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl. Cut biscuits into quarters. Roll each piece into a ball. Put each ball into cinnamon sugar mixture and toss until well coated. Place coated dough into bundt pan. Pour butter over the dough after it is all in the bundt pan. Bake at 350 for thirty minutes, let cool and turn over onto serving dish.

This is probably the "healthy" version, but something important from my Girl Scout days was missing. Mom says to add 1 cup of packed brown sugar as you are melting butter to pour over the top and let it boil for a minute. This makes the gooey yummy great sticky topping I was missing.

Alton Brown has a more upscale version if canned biscuits are too much.

Whoa coffeeeeeeeeeee

I got an iced mocha from McDonald's today.

Man! That is some strong stuff. I think the "coffee" I'm drinking at home must be broken. I never get a buzz like this from my 1.5 cups in the morning.



Oh yeah, this is why I don't really do coffee drinks. I have a feeling this is going to hurt later.

Greg Pollard n' stuff

Greg Pollard, I am sorry that I let the air out of your brand new bike's tires when we were in elementary school. I can't even remember why I did it, but for some unknown reason I remembered doing it while I was blow-drying my hair this morning.

Wow, I bet I wasn't obvious in broad daylight in the middle of your front yard, hunched over your new bike like that.

Anthony Bourdain's New Orleans rerun made me cry.

I told Dennis that if I didn't have connections here,(meaning Chris is entrenched in the St. Charles school district and there would be custody issues), I'd love to move down there right now. Dennis said he would too. Whoa. I'd never considered that angle before. I've always figured we were retiring to rural Missouri. This is cool new information!

It looks like Soldier Field 9/12/09 is going to be the closest U2 stop this time around.

The dog is from Remulak

Scarlett found her stitches last night. Now she's a conehead.



She's supposed to get her stitches out on Thursday.

Highway Patrolman

I bought myself something last month.



It's a Smith & Wesson Model 28-2 Highway Patrolman built in 1978.

I never wanted a handgun of my own because between Dad and Dennis I had access to more than I ever wanted to shoot. Dennis saw a very nice Smith & Wesson Model 15 that he picked up for me a few years ago. Then I saw this for sale on the internet and had to have it. I'm really pleased with it!

First outdoor seeds are planted

I soaked the snow peas (Melting Sugar) for about five hours while we were at YHEC.



Since there is nothing else in the bed and I am thinking about possible loss due poor germination and cold weather, I planned 16 plants per this "approximately square foot shaped" planting area.



Then covered it with this handy bird cage to keep the grackles out of my pea seedlings.



I only got 50% germination on the snapdragons (First Ladies mixed colors). So I tried moving seedlings to get one per cell in the tray.



I also started nine Swiss Chard (Neon Lights mix) and nine lettuce (Salad Bowl) seeds today.

Productivity

I am so much more productive when I take a day off. I'm staying home today under the auspices of taking care of Scarlett. She was very mopey and moany yesterday, but she seems pretty normal today. I am worried about her overdoing it, so I have to keep telling her to calm down. Just like normal.

I bought a frame for this "Old Tyme Foto" of my sister and I. It's been sitting in a paper bag since the Illinois State Fair. Last August.



I bought a bag of prepared compost for the garden, because I am afraid I just don't have enough to top off the beds. The corn bed lost a lot of soil when I pulled the old stalk stumps out. (The squirrels shredded them down to stumps, hence no corn harvest at all. Grr.) I want to put tomatoes there this year, so I really want the full 6" of dirt.

I also filled the hole in the front yard. Again. The last attempt didn't seem to do much, as the whole thing is still sinking in from whatever sewer work was done before we bought the house.



I put in some paver base to give it some weight and try to block some erosion.


Followed by three bags of "top soil".


We don't have a tamper, so I did the next best thing and tamped it in with a sledgehammer. Yep, I worked up a sweat before 10:00 AM!


Saving the best for last, now I am going to work on our 2008 Federal Income Tax Return. Yeeah baby!

Scarlett's sex change

Our stray beagle mix Scarlett is getting spayed today. Here's what she has to say about the whole situation:



Chris has been calling it "Scarlett's sex change operation". I don't even know where to start with correcting that one.

Seedling update

Not thrilled w/ 50% germination rate of snapdragons. I think the poor results outside last year may have been due to this seed or variety instead of my lack of skill.



Why did the broccoli get so leggy? It was planted on the same day and treated exactly the same as the perfectly normal looking cauliflower next to it. It looks like I might wind up with three cauliflower plants and maybe one broccoli. Or I could buy broccoli plants from the garden center. They should be setting them out soon.