Compost

I’ve been planning to build a compost heap out of wooden pallets for the last year. I found this wonderful guide for doing it, and of course I love to do things cheaply. Here's another version that looks pretty high class.

The problem is that whenever I saw pallets by the side of the road, I had kids/carseats in the car. And on the few occasions I could go out without them, the pallets had already been snapped up. Same thing happened last night when the 8 that had been outside the appliance store at 5:00 were gone by 10:00 when Dan got home. But since I was out anyway, I swung by the Agway and found 3 there, that's good enough to get started.



Look, it already has yard waste in it. And the neighbors' horses keep dropping presents by the side of the road, so I'll add that once I get the wheelbarrow out. It's secured in place with four wire coathangers. Ideally, it would have another pallet on the ground to improve airflow. Also, a fourth wall to finish the enclosure, but that would have a hinge for opening to turn the pile. For now, I've just set it up so that the open area faces away from the prevailing wind. Although I may turn it 90 degrees so that it faces the garden instead. It's near the garden, kitchen door, and water hose, but put in so that it won't shade the garden plot. Hopefully that's the ideal spot.

Next to it is the beginning of the garden layout. I've turned over two 4 sq foot areas and dug out a couple of rocks. I still have two weeks before I plan to plant any seeds, so there's time to rake and work it some more. We're still debating if we want to do raised beds. It would certainly look neater, and be easier to maintain as the years go by, but I don't feel like spending money on wood for it. I'll also have to look at fencing. I honestly have never seen a rabbit or a deer anywhere in our yard, there are easier pickings for them in the neighboring woods and fields. But I'll bet that as soon as the carrot tops pop up, they'll find us.

In other news, we had a massive windstorm waaaaaaay back. A few days after Christmas. Because there was snow on the roof, we just got the insurance adjusters out here a few weeks ago, but the check for a new roof came yesterday. Yahoo!!! One estimate is in the works, a 2nd is hopefully coming soon too.

Digging in the Dirt

I'm very psyched that the Obama's have decided to put a Fruit and Vegatable garden in at the White House. Dan and I joined the group Eat the View months ago, while the race was still on, to advocate for removing part of the lawn and replacing it with a useful, healthy garden. Here's the list of what they're planting. (With the help of the assistant chef, gardeners, and local schoolchildren)
Lettuce
peas
Spinach
radishes
broccoli
Fennel
Onions
Kale
Collards
Carrots
Rhubarb
Blue, rasp & Blackberries
Herbs
Marigold, Nasturtium & zinnias

A lot of similarity to the seeds I've bought for this year. Except I'm planting beets, something the President hates.

Here's the start of our garden.

I may have planted the lettuce too soon, but they do like cold weather, and I reserved most of the seeds for later, successive planting. I have an ideal planting diary planned out, and am going for a Square foot garden lay-out that will hopefully be easier to maintain than what we tried last year. The peas will have to go in the ground first, around April 4th here. Then Onions and Radish, then Spinach, then beets and carrots at the beginning of May. Anything else we want, like cukes, tomatoes, peppers or eggplant, I'll buy as sets. I've also got seeds for Okra and pumpkin that we'll start inside after the lettuce seedlings get planted.

I'm also thinking of joining a CSA. (Community Supported Agriculture) At the start of the season, you buy a share of a local farm, and then each week you get a portion of the produce. An Amish farmer that I've bought from in the past seems to be offering it this year. Of course there is no website of phone to check on the prices, I'll have to write or stop by.

Now I need a stress test

Heard the phone ringing as I was putting the kids to bed, but decided to ignore it and let the machine pick it up. I hear a mumbley, kind of southern voice and think it's the insurance agent getting back to us. (Still waiting to finish a claim on damaged roof tiles from Christmas, but the roof just saw the light of day after two months under snow.)

Then I had to go downstairs because Claire needed to go potty, so I begin listening to the message and I just can't comprehend any of it. I keep waiting for a reference to snow or roof, but instead the only thing that stands out clearly is "stress test" before the message wraps up. So I hit replay, and this time I realize it's from Dan's doctor and he seems to be implying that he's just gotten test results from another doctor, that things look good, but he wants to do a stress test. WHAT? HUH? WTF?

I managed not to panic immediately, and instead begin a threatening dialogue in my head to yell at Dan for not telling me that he had some kind of medical emergency. (Chest pains? Stroke from Claire stressing him out?) I decide that waiting an hour for him to come home may kill me before I have a chance to kill him, so I called him at work even though it the dinner hour on a Friday night....and learn that he's just as confused as I am, he hasn't been to the doctor in months. But neither of us are as confused as the Doctor who dialed the wrong number on a Friday night.

Our Garden, version 2.0

Our garden was pretty much a failure last year. We were overly ambitious, and poor planners. A bad combo. And then the weeds took over. We did get some good squashes for Dan to turn in soup, and one pumpkin that survived a late frost to fulfill it's purpose as a jack o'lantern. The other successes were the tomato plants that my mother-in-law gave us, although we practically had to use a machete to get through the weeds to get to it.

But, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. So I'm looking at a planting calendar to see what seeds need to get started this month. Lettuce, collard greens, cabbage. Brussel sprouts and Broccoli. We have limited space to grow seeds, so I'll have to be picky about what we plant.

I'd also like to spruce up a flower bed I started. The bulbs I planted two falls ago came up in a small, sporadic display in the spring. We need to add more perennials and some other plants that will bloom later in the summer.

Older kids are mean

Nathan's on vacation from Kindergarten this week. Yesterday he got a good break from daycare when a friend's mom picked him up for a few hours. But today, he fell under the thrall of one of the older kids who he only sees on vacation weeks. This child not only forced him to be in some kind of "stupid" club, but also talked so much about monster, vampires and ghosts that Nathan is now afraid of having nightmares tonight. Grrrrrrr.

My good deed for the day

Zeppo & Sprite's first home, the Potsdam Humane Society, is trying to win a contest to get a makeover. If you have pets and want to join ZooToo, please vote for them this month. It's much easier then sitting on a roof to raise money for them.

Tentative Summer Vacation Plans

I officially have 10 days off from work, starting July 11 through July 20, to go to my High School Reunion. The question now becomes, how to divvy this time up between family, friends and fun and not be totally wiped out by the end.

Question 1 - Should I press for a family reunion the same weekend as the High School Reunion, even if that means everyone gets a bit short-changed on the visit? Or do I suggest a family get-together the first weekend, and spend the intervening week camping or in Vermont?

Question 2 - Who can watch the kids while I'm at the reunion?

Question 3 - Will Dan's friend's all find out he's a bachelor for the week and take him out drinking every night.

Question 4 - Are other friends going to be in town for the same week, or will we only see eachother at the reunion?

Question 5 - Do I finally meet Dave and Mark and Hadley and Aidric?

Thoughts. Comments. Advice.........

President Obama

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Pulling teeth

I've often said that getting Dan to communicate things is like pulling teeth. Today Nathan gave me a demonstration of the ways he might take after his Dad. It's amazing that he can talk non-stop, and then be so uncommunicative when I actually have questions for him.

Me: Hey, you lost a tooth. Did you lose it at Kindergarten or the Daycare.
Him: Kindergarten
Me: Where?
Him: The nurses office.
Me: The nurses office? Was it bleeding so they sent you there?
Him: No.
Me: Was it so wiggly that they sent you there for the nurse to pull it.
Him: No, I was already there.
Me: Huh?
Him: I was wiggling it while waiting in line.
Me: Waiting in line for what?
Him: To get my head checked.

So, to go along with the tooth I thought he pulled but that actually fell out on his pillow, and the tooth that Claire knocked out, we now have the tooth that he pulled out while waiting to get his head checked for Lice. Fun times.

Christmas Cards

Just so you know, I'm slashing my Christmas card list this year. I just don't have the time/money for my usual 40-50 cards to everyone. If you're tech savvy enough to be reading this, it means you probably aren't getting a card. But on the flip side, you know A LOT more about my life and have seen many, many more photos of the kids, so hopefully that's an even trade. I'll try to get a better e-mail card out in a few days. Sorry.

Holiday Concert

Nathan had his Christmas concert yesterday. Here's one song, the rest are up on Youtube.



I really must remember to get there early and bring the tripod next time.

Hockey Mania

Nathan started hockey a few weeks ago. It's been a learning experience for both of us. On the first day, I forgot his stick, so he starting crying when everyone else started practicing with the puck and we left instead. I also flubbed the uniform assembly, by putting his kneepads on outside of pants with nothing over them. But I'm learning. I even found a youtube video that showed how to wrap his stick in tape so that it'd be easy to pick up with gloves on. I had one awful moment when I had to be a mean, threatening mommy to get him on the ice because he was feeling shy. But I knew that once he got out there, he'd have fun.

He's learning too. From the first day they've been drilling kids on stopping, getting to their knees and back up, and parallel turns. We're a month into things and they're doing work on passing and controlling the puck. The kids are between five & seven, some are in their second year, but most just had basic skating skills. Nathan has been skating well, but he doesn't know how to hold the stick. We think that although he's finally settled into being righty for writing, that he may be a lefty for sports. So Dan keeps showing him how to hold his stick for a lefty, but then the coaches keep switching it around on the ice. The picture below has him holding it completely wrong, but he's about to score a goal, so that's cool.

This weekend, the kids got to do a little show at the period break of the Clarkson U Men's game. We went on Friday with Papa and Clair in tow. Unfortunately, Clarkson's method for revving up the crowd before the game is to blow a giant train-like whistle as they introduce the starting line-up, with a noise assist by the pep band. Claire immediately went into hysterics, and her wail "I want my blankie" could be heard across the stadium in the silence before Au Canada started. I managed to get her into the lobby and calmed down, and cajoled her back into the stadium a few minutes before Nathan's show started, when Clarkson had the temerity to score and that fricken-fracken whistle blew again. She was able to calm down enough to watch Nathan, but as further proof of my bad luck, I discovered the camera had gotten too cold in the car during dinner, and wouldn't work to film the event. Oh well.
We had a second chance on Saturday. This time I left Claire with the grandparents, and we had fun watching the game for awhile too. I could even explain most of the rules to Nathan, and he loved it when the puck skimmed the glass right in front of us. He's decided Clarkson is his favorite team, which could be a problem with Dan who's been a St. Lawrence fan all his life. And here's the video of him skating around the arena and not coming anywhere near the puck for two minutes. He's #14. (There is a second #14 with striped socks who I started to follow, Nathan just has blue pants on)

The Eighties are back

Can't believe that it's almost time for my 20 year high school reunion. The planners have started a facebook page and people have been posting old photos. The girls all have big hair and the boys have mullets and feathered bangs. I know that we're supposed to look worse as we age, but I'd bet that everyone's profile pictures look much better then the yearbook photos.

For now, I'm just struggling to remember anyone beyond the six friends I've kept in contact with over the years. There should be at least 40 people that I had regular contact with in band, class or drama club. And a slightly large group that my friends knew from other classes or teams. But out of a class of 240, that still leaves a lot of unknowns. Help!

Yes we carve

Dan made this from a template at Yes we Carve!!




VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!
VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!
VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!
VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!
VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!

On with the snow

It's October. Not December.


The power was out from 9:30 pm yesterday to 6:00 pm today. And our lilac tree is probably unsalvageable. There's really nothing else to say. Except it's only OCTOBER!

Into the Leaves

Sorry the ending is so abrupt, the steadicam didn't like being thrust into the pile.

Fall day

I let myself get buried too. What a treat for the senses to be surrounded by the feel and smell of dry leaves. Plus, it was in the seventies today, so that's an even better treat.


Got the other tooth out finally. I'm teaching him "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, because he sounds funny with his new lisp. The new teeth have already broken through, so he should be all set soon.

i think the kids were playing a bit of CSI. Claire stuffed her doll in the branches, then covered it with leaves. Nathan had stolen my camera away, and he took the crime scene photos as they recovered the body. This is why we needed to add parental controls to the Tivo.

Claire's got a mean left hook

Nathan was energetically showing us his stop, drop and roll skills when he rolled right into Claire. Somehow in the tangle of limbs, she hit him in the face and knocked out his loose tooth. What a fun story to share.

 

Dora the Explorer

After this haircut, it seemed obvious that Claire should be Dora for Halloween. Would you believe I was able to find Orange shorts at this time of year. All praise Wal-Mart!!! And they were only a buck. Somewhere in the house is a bracelet we made to complete the outfit. And I love that almost everything will be used again, except for the orange shorts. They're a bit much.

 

Photo dump

September is about new schedules and new schools and no time for blogging. So here's some pics instead.

Family hike on Labor Day weekend to a waterfall in the 'Daks.

Waiting for the bus the first day of Kindergarten.

On the bus.....

Stuffing scarecrows at the Harvest Festival.

Birthday party for Brittany the pig. (the candles are carrots)