Welcome to skid row

Well, Shawn has discovered the joys of crafting things.  I know what you're thinking, he's starting to Bedazzle his jeans but alas, it's woodworking.  On the upside it's a fairly cheap hobby as he's picking up skids from local businesses.  Pardon me, according to Wikipedia I shouldn't be saying skid as "a skid has no bottom deck boards."  at any rate he's made some pretty nice furniture, here's the very first piece he crafted-

Hey, get back to work!

Snazzy paint job

A friend of mine needed some furniture to officially claim the back porch space at her apartment so a few pallets, old shutters, nails and screws later she had a bench and end table.  We painted it brown and added some fancy stencils in white.

How cozy!

I'm not sure what's next on the build plan, must be something cool because there's a small mountain of pallets beside the shed.  If you're interested in your very own furniture, drop Shawn a line!

Greetings and salutations!

   Ahh, finally, nice weather!  With that comes the joy of playing in the dirt.  PA weather has been a bit gloomy lately and a bit brisk - so the garden planting in our space of the world was delayed until this past weekend.  I did my usual seedlings in the bathtub, not until early March when we came back from our cruise. 

   On the 2013 garden agenda - a multitude of peppers as usual and some new things...
     * Celery (from seed as well as celery scrap)
     * Romanesco
     * Big Mama tomato
     * Cucumbers
     * Eggplant
     * Peppers!  (pepperonici, cherry stuffer, jalapeno, bull nosed bell, big daddy, long mix)
     * Onions, purple/yellow/green beans, watermelon, pumpkin
     * Luffa, birdhouse gourds
     * Corn!

   I'm pleased to say that the luffa, pepperoncini, and most of the pumpkins are seeds I've saved from plants I grew.  The pepperoncini is actually second generation my seeds!  My goal is to eventually become self sufficient in the seed department and no longer need to buy any.  At any rate, we've gone from bathtub to outdoors.  All the plants have spent the past three weeks outside marinating in the various weather and Saturday they got tossed into the garden.

My, what a fine patch of dirt & rocks.

It doesn't look like much of anything right now, particularly from far away.  But, thanks to the rain we got right after planting, things are going pretty well.

Yes, yes, rocky as all hell.  Feel free to visit and pick rocks!

Mmmm, veggies

Vegetables grow at an alarming rate - slightly over a week has passed since the previous vegetable related post and it really is a jungle out there now.  It's really amazing what a handful of seeds will turn into.

WOAH

These pictures were taken yesterday...
I'm pretty sure the pumpkins are even bigger today.

Peppers & tomato

Onions, lima beans, green beans, purple beans

Black beans, yellow beans, lettuce, more onions

  

Welcome to the Jungle

Until now the only pictures of the 2012 veggie garden have been really lacking.  Mostly because it was so damn weedy it was hard to see where the real plants were.  Shawn and I were fortunate to have an assistant weeder/rock picker yesterday (who will be rewarded with lots of veggies come harvest time) and things are looking quite marvelous - see for yourself.

Hooray for veggies!

Sweet cherry peppers

Itty bitty sweet cherry peppers

Big guy jalapeno
Supposed to get up to 5"

Peperonici
*These are grown from seeds that I saved from last year's crop!

The seeds I saved for the sweet peppers did not germinate.
So, I bought some seeds and these guys are a bit behind.

Big Mama tomato!

Lima beans

Green beans

Purple beans
*Also grown from seeds saved from last year's crop

Black beans

Yellow beans

Mmm, lettuce

Onions
These are planted around the perimeter of the garden:
Rumor has it bunnies don't like them.

The 2 remaining eggplants

The rogue tomatoes!  I think/hope they are summer salsa - nice, meaty tomato.
If not, they are the supersteak hybrid.  Magic tomatoes that were growing amongst the onions.  Must have been from a tomato that fell on the ground last year & rotted.

Horseradish

Bucket-o-taters

TRIPLE rainbows you say?

Yesterday the weather beat the bejesus out of all the plants, luckily nothing is mortally wounded, just standing a bit crooked now.  Nothing a few supports can't fix.  I try not to whine too much about the rain anyway because the veggies sure do need the water and of course with rain showers there's always the hope of a rainbow.  Shawn pointed out a very faint but very wide rainbow, so of course I grabbed my camera.

Oh look, a rainbow nuglet!

A bit before 8:00 I looked out one of the living room windows to see what Forrest was staring at & saw another rainbow.  This one was much brighter and far more complete so I went outside to see.  Upon further investigation, I saw something I'd never seen before: a DOUBLE RAINBOW!

WHAT DOES IT MEAN???

Oh yes, full on!  Across the sky!  So intense!  It was so bright & vivid!  I almost cried like this guy but then I remembered it's science and not a unicorn peeing across the sky. 

Eh, it's just some cosmetic damage

I am quite impressed with the size of all the plants this year. I'm not attributing this to a magical green thumb, but rather the combination of a mild winter and sunny skies much earlier than anticipated.  It's amazing to see the daisies I started in the tub last year, they are nearly as tall as me.  Same way with the catnip I started last year.  Best of all, the hollyhocks I started mid summer are covered in buds and two of the nine are taller than me.  I have a couple of mini ones, I hit them with the mower a few times this year (oops) but they've recovered nicely and at a foot tall have many buds!  The down side of this is the rust.  Yes, dreaded rust, just like on your precious 87 Toyota.  I can save you a trip to Wikipedia:

Puccinia malvacearum, also known as hollyhock rust, is a species within the Puccinia genus known for attacking members of the Malvaceae family. An autoecious pathogen, it can complete its life cycle using a single host. 
Yuck.  The short end of it is rust is a nasty fungus that attacks only hollyhocks & their BFFs.  They get these gross little spots that aren't bad on the tops (see below) but do look pretty funky on the bottom.  Basically it will munch up the whole damn leaf and it's a dried up skeleton.  Kiss your big leaves goodbye.

Exhibit A, some rusty ass leaves.

I've already attempted to control the problem by cutting off the foliage & treating with fungicide.  Recent rains have not helped my problem and the rust continues to spread.  It's not jut the leaves, either.  I see spots on the stalk & I've even seen a few contaminated buds.  Depending on the location of the different hollyhocks some have it much worse than others.  As I said I've tried containing it and it's just not working well for me.  I don't want to cut them down.  They are very tall and are covered in buds, and I just wanted to see a flower damnit.  Two days ago I saw the first bits of color poking out, and this morning two (same plant) had bloomed.  There are also three more buds ready to burst and I say flower away!  I do have two plants sort of marked for execution as they aren't much more than leaves poking out of the ground, but any of them with buds can hang out - let's see what happens.  I'll look past your leprosy, little hollyhock!

It's so beautious!

Cars at Carlisle

April for anyone living in Carlisle since the mid-70s means one thing: CAR SHOW SEASON.  Great if you like cars, not so great if you like going to the grocery store without people waving you in to their yard to park.  Perhaps I should just write "RESIDENT" across my windshield to prevent this from happening in the future.  Our home is situatted in a rather unfortunate spot come car show season - between the fairgrounds (where the car show is held) & the turnpike interchange.  Hooray, I can't get out of my driveway!  At any rate sometimes all the extra hooplah is worth it because you see really awesome vehicles out & about.  This weekend's show: Import & Kit Nationals, which brings some interesting things to town such as the SWEET CRUISER I saw on Saturday...

Eeeek, a VW dune buggy!

Oooooh, aaaaaah

P.S.  This sucker is SUPER ULTRA MEGA sparkly

If you enjoy vintage cars (or maybe you want to blow in to town just to disobey traffic), visit CarsatCarlisle.com for more information, see below for this year's schedule.

Ford Nationals — Jun 1-3, 2012
GM Nationals — Jun 22-24, 2012
Chrysler Nationals — Jul 6-8, 2012
Bike Fest — Jul 20-22, 2012
Truck Nationals — Aug 3-5, 2012
Corvettes at Carlisle — Aug 24-26, 2012
Fall Carlisle — Oct 3-7, 2012

Spring Carlisle — Apr 24-28, 2013

Bun-Bun VonCutenstein

It's not unusual to see baby bunnies in the yard.  We encountered quite a few last year - Shawn even ripped apart the shed to evict one of the little guys that had zoomed in there.  I had very few surviving sunflowers last year because of them, but oh well.  They are too cute & I'd rather they eat the flowers than go to town in the garden.  Besides, they have to eat something.  Today I tinkered in the yard for a bit and on my quest for water I discovered this guy, who I promptly dubbed Bun-Bun (very original, I know).

Bun-Bun VonCutenstein
aaaw

The bunnies are extremely patient with my paparazzi like maneuvers so I was not surprised at all that he remained still for me as I clicked away.  I was, however,a bit alarmed that on my third trip past he had done nothing more than change directions.  I looked him over and he appeared ok, but a little poke to the back leg with zero response told me there's a problem.  I shaded him from the sun & talked to him while I wondered what to do.  His breathing became more labored and his tiny mouth started moving...  I think that's when I realized Bun-Bun was on his way out.  I stayed with him until the end.  I wish I could have done more for him, but I take a bit of comfort in the happy look he sported when I stroked his teeny head.

Sweet dreams, little dude.
May there be miles of sweet clover for you on the other side.

Life along the path

Let's make that even creepier with this: I discovered the path behind the dumpsters at work.  Yes, at a location where there is a large koi pond complete with a bridge and little waterfalls, I was wandering around behind the dumpsters.  I'm really glad I was because in my wanderings I discovered the path.

This beautious mowed trail leads to the path

I was delighted to find a blacktop trail surrounding a field where I soon encountered Bill.  I asked if the path went the whole way around or if it was a dead end - he assured me there is indeed a circuit & he sure does walk it twice a day with his dog Sandy.  I met some other nice people that told me a bit about how the path used to be & gave me some history on the building I work in.  Since the first day I've met some more dogs, the delightful Miss Helen and said hello to a variety of passersby on the path.  According to Noom's Cardio Trainer app it's nearly a mile (0.8 to be exact) and it's my new favorite place to be for lunch!

Marvelous after working in a windowless office all day!

snowtober 2011

Pennsylvania plays host to some fascinating weather patterns.  It's the sort of place where you can start your day using the heat and end it with the A/C running.  This month has been no different, full of sunny days & mild temperatures.  Next we got some rain, and yesterday forecasters began to tell us we'd see snow today.  I never believe snow predictions when I hear them and this time was certainly no different.  When I was a kid I'd get all revved up hearing snow, snow, snow - getting big dreams of a snow day only to wake up to nary a flake on the ground.  Not the case this morning.  Not only was it snowing like crazy, but it was laying on the ground.  Imagine that, the forecast was accurate.  You can't really blame me for being a non-believer since the last time we had measurable snow in October was 1972, same year Hurricane Agnes dumped large amounts of rain on our state.  Here we are nearly 40 years later - Irene flooded the midstate and we had several inches of snow.  Perhaps I should investigate the winter of  '72 so I know what to expect this winter!

10AM, snowing like mad

A lovely Christmas-y panoramic...
Two days before Halloween.

A lonely lil flake

By 5:00 it was nearly done

The life & times of Jack O. Lantern

Part of my gardening experiment this year was pumpkins.  I love Halloween & with that comes carving pumpkins.  I saved some seeds from the pumpkin I carved last year, determined to grow my own.  My micro pumpkin patch started off with a whopping three plants - two regular pumpkins and one Big Max.  You may recall Audrey III and how impressive she was looking at the beginning of the growing season.  As you may already know things have a tendency to change, and that's how it was with the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  Let's take a peek at the pictures, shall we?

July 11: pumpkin #1 lookin' good!

July 11: pumpkin #2 growing nicely.

July 11: all's well in the pumpkin patch.

All of July the pumpkin patch was cruising right along in the growth department.  Had some new blooms, but I picked them off so the plant would send more nutrients to the existing pumpkins.  Towards the end of the month the vines were not so fantastic looking but I wasn't worried as long as my pumpkins remained healthy.  At some point, Audrey III managed to cough up a pumpkin & I was pretty excited.

July 27: Pumpkin #1 looks excellent

July 27: Audrey III finally growing a pumpkin!
Hey, better late than never.

July 27: Pumpkin #2 looks fantastic!

Let me tell you, by the end of August I was doing a jig every time I went in the back yard.  These things went from seedlings growing in my bath tub to actual pumpkins and it just blows my mind.  It was killing me not to carve them mid-summer.  Another month zipped by - I finally moved the vines to mow underneath them because it was driving me insane.  A few leaves fell victim to the mower (oops) but even though the vines looked scraggly the pumpkins did wonderfully.  Except for Audrey III, who decided to just rot away and die, so I tossed the whole plant.  Seemed late in the season to be trying for a giant pumpkin anyway. I would also like to mention that there is nothing to prevent critters from feasting on these plants aside from a few marigolds.  They did a fine job repelling pests!

August 24: #1, the largest, is on the left. 
#2 waits patiently in the background.

#1

#2

You may recall around the time I was taking those pictures (end of August) there was a storm brewing along the East Coast.  Scratch that, Irene beat the Bejesus out of the East coast.  She gave us days, nay, weeks of rain.  Constant rain.  The ground gave up at some point and water just sat in puddles on every surface imaginable.  The grass grew like mad during all of this, and there was no way I could mow...  we just had to wait it out.  We got a brief pause in the rains - right before Irene hit our part of the coast.  A short calm before the storm.  Bad news on the pumpkin front: my beautiful pumpkins I'd spent all summer admiring had been laying in water & were starting to rot.  #2 was a lost cause, but #1 only had a few spots.  No actual rot of the flesh, just minor discoloration, the threat of something bad.  That one I could save.  #1 got picked & placed on the back porch.  I waited as long as I could but at some point gnats started to feast on the back & there were some tiny craters in the back of my pumpkin.  It was then I decided to carve my pumpkin before it just turned to a pile of mush.

I carved it September 27 & it just got thrown out about a week ago.  Not because I was reluctant to toss it, but because it still  looked good.  Actually, if I had been diligent about spraying it I bet it would still be nice.  The trick to preserving the jack-o-lantern you've put so much time into is soak it in a bleach solution.  Visit this site to see the results of many different preservation techniques, and you will see that bleach is the best method.  Also, the most cost effective.  You only need 1 tsp. bleach per gallon of water.  I soaked my pumpkin over night - and have a spray bottle filled with some of the solution to keep it hydrated once it goes out side.  All you have to do is soak your pumpkin (preferably for 8 hrs but I have gone as low as 3 hrs) and spray it with the solution daily.  It won't wither because you're keeping it hydrated and the bleach keeps the funk out.  If you do allow the solution to pool in the bottom of the pumpkin it will get moldy, trust me!  So regularly dump the stuff out of the bottom or carve a hole in the bottom for drainage.  Alternatively, you could slice the entire bottom off then there's no need to cut out a lid!

..::Happy Halloween::..