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!

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

Berries of razz

One of this year's new additions to the landscape is the raspberry patch.  I love raspberries, and the Burpee site had some great deals (5 plants for $20 - yes, please!) so I figured I'd give it a whirl.  I found the plans for the patch in a fantastic book called The Backyard Homestead and Shawn did a wonderful job recreating it in our backyard.  I chose a red, ever-bearing variety by the name of "Caroline" and paired it with a yellow variety by the name of "Anne" - both are disease resistant.  When I opened the package they were not very exciting, literally sticks with bunches of roots.  We planted these on April 1 & I'm please to report that every single cane has new growth!  The yellow, or Anne if you prefer, seem to have taken off much faster than their red counterparts.  I'm not certain why that is, I'm just glad that all 10 raspberries are on the way to providing mounds of fresh berries.

The little cups are keeping the wildlife from gnawing everything to stubs.

Dear Moms of the world,

Thanks for putting up with all the shit us kids put you through - you're the best! 
P.S.  Can I borrow $20.00?

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!

Happy New Year!

That's right, almost May and you totally got Happy New Year'd.

It sure has been a while, wide wide world of web but fear not!  Like bad breath - I am back.

The last time I was here appears to be mid December of last year...  Since then we had a Merry Christmas, on January first I Penguin Plunged for my sixth year, February I turned 28, Spring sprang & sprung all through March, we celebrated Zombie Jesus day earlier this month and here we are today.  Exciting!

..:: 2012 Penguin Plunge ::..
All proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area