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The last week-week and a half has been mid to upper 80s without a cloud in the sky followed by torrential rain & wind and (normal) rainy drizzle in the 60s. From that basking in 10 hours of sun per day to 48 hours of rain, the garden has exploded. Seriously, I haven’t been out there for 2 days and I thought I walked into someone else’s patch of earth. The tomatoes got blown over by the high winds, but luckily they just bent (no breaking). I hurried down to the local hardware store this morning to purchase cages and got them mostly straightened out. (Note to self: Cage early! Putting tomato cages on when they’re bigger is 20 minutes of bending and weaving and hoping to god that you don’t lop the top half of the plant off by bending too far.)

The peas have baby peas. The peppers have baby peppers. The onions and scallion are looking good. The tomatoes have lots of flowers. The rain barrel is full-to-bursting again! The strawberries are spreading and have lots of white starter-strawberries. Life is abundant!

PS – The yellow roses bloomed as a group this year and look absolutely fabulous! The reds, pinks, and whites are not far behind. Hopefully the transplanted ones have a good growing year so that next year I might enjoy their blooms again.

About 100 things are happening simultaneously in my life right now…

The “premium bedding mix” and stepping stones have been delivered (in the rain) and are eagerly awaiting placement in the garden. Currently they are occupying the driveway into our back cement slab (in the rain).

This last weekend we went camping (in the rain). It was great as usual…we went to our “normal” place because we had a larger group of people and we all arrived at different times (in the rain). We had lots of good food and celebrated my roommate’s 29th birthday around the campfire (in the rain).

I’m supposed to be buying off of craigslist NCIS: Season One for a coworker, but I keep not being able to make it to the guy’s house in south Salem. I was supposed to get it last week, but then my headlight went out and I went to Toyota instead. I was supposed to drop by Sunday, but with the returning from camping and the volunteering at the Humane Society, I totally forgot. I asked to come by Wednesday, and I’m dearly hoping my brain remembers on my way home from work. This would be great to write on my hand.

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and the pot luck at work. I agreed to make Mexican Wedding Cakes, which aren’t cakes at all but rather delicious cookie balls made of powdered sugar, flour, butter, vanilla, and finely chopped walnut goodness. I made a double-batch for Eric and the roommates lest they complain that I never make them anything.

I think there are other things too, but my brain is tired (and sick of rain). It’s time for bed. Goodnight!

Happy Birthday, Handsome! He is 28 today.

This last weekend was nonstop…Saturday Handsome and I worked a tiny bit in the garden and then went food shopping. When we got home we did a bunch of house preparation (read cleaning) for Handsome’s birthday party that night.

The party started around 5pm when the first attendees arrived. We made a big pot of homemade chili while things were kicking off – it was delicious. I can’t wait until the scallion and peppers are fresh grown from our garden! All told, 8 people and 1 dog (plus the roommates and our dog) came and enjoyed the fun, of which there was a lot. We also had brownies with candles in them and sung “Happy Birthday” and also crumb cake. Both were devoured eagerly.

Yesterday, then, ChickenSox and I worked in the garden for 4-5 hours. We planted the rest of the lettuce (in a shadier area) and started to hand till the garden area. We quickly realized we weren’t denting the clay much, so we rented a mid-size tiller from Home Depot. Even it had a hard time cutting through the compacted clay! I ran the tiller while ChickenSox removed rocks from the tilled earth. I went over the area multiple times. We found a tree buried near one edge of the garden. We also found a sprinkler head that wasn’t attached to the system. And a Spiderman cup. And rope. Luckily, however, we had no incidents. It was a lot of work, though, to wrangle the tiller, and my shoulders and arms are quite sore today.

Today: Handsome’s birthday. We are going to spend the day together doing whatever it is we feel like. Yay!

We planted our very first plants in the garden last weekend! (beans and peas) I also moved the remaining two rose bushes (and have the scrapes to prove it); they were looking rather unhappy this afternoon but I watered them well and I do hope they make it. We bought starter plants for two types of lettuce, peppers, chard, and tomatoes and potted them in the soil they will be grown in. AND! AND! AND! I got to use my rain barrel. I need to get a hose for it, but right now I’m watering all the plants with stored Oregon rain water (rather than pay the city for water) out of a watering can.

Up next: buy a hose, finish the tiny bit of pulling sod up out of the garden, rent a tiller…till!, buy soil, rework layout of garden area, buy stepping stones, and grow organic veggies!!!

Jen and I worked on the garden this weekend. We dug up over 2/3 of the garden area until 1) we filled up all of our available grass holding apparati and 2) it started raining more than we were interested in weathering. In other garden news, the utilities run in direct parallel to where we wanted to put the retaining wall, so no wall. However, we altered our plans (again!) to allow for a garden without a retaining wall. This means a LOT less engineering and therefore a lot less work. This means plans are on the fast track: once I/we finish getting the grass dug up, the new organic happy garden soil can go in. Hopefully this weekend the soil is laid and we can let it prepare itself for veggies! I also need to determine what kind of short fence to use to deter uninvited guests.

The other dirty news is that softball season is starting! We had practice ummm, heh, last week sometime? We were rained out tonight, but hopefully Wednesday will be our first games. This year I’m a substitute for Monday night co-ed and am playing Wednesday night Women’s league. We have a great group of women again this year and I’m excited. I’ll most likely be in the outfield this year; I’m guessing either center or right center.

PS – Did everyone have a good Easter?

The rain post worked! I now have a (very) full rain barrel. Perhaps I should have gotten two and linked them. *grin*

All the company has come and gone; it’s just us now. It was fun while it lasted, but I have white dog hair everywhere. (I love my cockapoo – no shedding! Just incontinence and a wheelchair and deafness and daily medication and…)

The composter is eating my grass clippings, newspaper, and (meager) kitchen scraps. It highlights just how few “greens” we eat when I’ve pondered taking a compost bucket to work (where I eat one to two fruits per day, plus tea bags. And so do a lot of coworkers in “my area.” Hey, they fill the can recycling and I profit. *shrug* Why not something else?) But I digress…our kitchen scraps are usually eggshells and their carton, a fruit rind or two, sunflower or pumpkin seed shells, and occasionally a partial onion or pepper. We are mostly *gasp* lean red meat  or chicken carnivores with the occasional pork or turkey substitution. Dairy (in the form of milk, yogurt, and real cheese – not that processed cheese food shit) and carbohydrates (cereals and sourdough bread) are big in our house, too. And beans (baked beans, refried beans, pork ‘n beans). We like our bean sides.

Now that you’re either totally grossed out and/or totally amazed that we’re still alive and in moderate health, I’ll tell you I fell in love with Diesel, a white pit mix at the shelter. He’s a little underfed – his ribs and backbone stick out painfully – but he is a smart fellow with a fair amount of training. Good on a leash. Knows “sit,” “lie down,” and “shake.” Doesn’t respond all that well to his name but sometimes we rename them if we don’t know their names. I can’t take him home, but one lucky family is going to just love him to pieces. Hopefully he’s already gone!

Ahhh, smell the accomplishment!

So my rain post didn’t accumulate any rain, but it did allow me to work outside for the rest of the afternoon.

I got one of the rose bushes relocated (keep your fingers crossed it survives!) to not only a better location for me but also a nicer, sunnier location for it. Then I filled the hole and put the composter in its old location on the side of the house and filled started it with the compost material I had been acquiring in preparation. Hopefully by the end of the summer I have both a happy rose bush and new dirt!

I also weeded in my flower bed, which REALLY needed it. I had have an infestation of some as of yet undetermined weed that is fairly small and easy to pull yet populates faster and more efficiently than a bunny/guppy cross. I cleared about 1/2 of the bed this afternoon, and with my previous effort only have about 1/4 left. But then I also have another area to weed as well.

I didn’t make any progress on the actual lawn clearing, but I did set up an appointment for a free (yay!) onsite consultation from a professional retaining wall builder for Tuesday afternoon. I’m very excited, except to see the price tag. I have a lot of ideas and a very complex sloping lawn, and I need both expertise and advice. Hopefully he provides both. For cheap.

I can’t believe after 6 months of gloom and rain I’m now hoping for more, even as every other bone in my body is screaming for nice spring weather, but I have an empty fully-functional rain barrel, so rain already!

See the pics!

Big steps in the garden process: secured 55 gallon rain barrel and related pieces; started tearing up sod in the general garden area; and started a compost pile. I must go buy a composter very soon!

I feel really good about today! I have been resting my leg after the break scare, and it’s finally feeling good enough to be active again. It’s a good thing, too, because I need it.

After 3 long months of sparse activity, I got up around 9:30 this morning and went to the local elementary school track to run for 30 minutes. Since I have an anti-runner’s body (big bones, thick legs – especially in the thighs, awkward limbs), I’m pretty pleased to have made it that long. My goal is to be able to run for an hour and make at least 4 miles. I know this sounds ridiculous – four miles in an hour could be done crawling backwards – but I have neither speed nor endurance and have been likened to a camel when I run. I’m the one in the back looking like I’m exerting the most effort and getting nowhere. My fastest mile ever was 9:15 and I felt like the wind that day.

I also weeded my flower beds, winterized my rose bushes, and planted some Crocus and Tulip bulbs in preparation for spring 2009. Oregon hasn’t been nearly as cold as it was this time last year, so the time is still ripe for planting. I also intend to get my lily bulbs in the ground soon too. INFO WANTED: If anyone has any ideas as to a pretty shade plant that vines or grows tall and skinny, I would love to hear it. I have a very small rectangle of dirt between my sidewalk and my fence on the north side of our house that needs something other than weeds. Ooooh, perhaps something that could vine up and over utilizing trellises to make a partially covered walkway. Flowers or colored leaves would be nice but aren’t necessary. Oh, and non-poisonous to pets (and humans).

Awesome, one more thing down. Plus, I got some gaming in, too. Played some Madden ‘09 and Rock Band 2. I’m now almost exclusively playing Expert on lead guitar. I’m usually in the 4-star range on middle difficulty songs, but I’m working my way toward 5-star. We are going to have it at our company Christmas party, so I have to make sure I look good!