The month of September was absolutely awful at work. I worked a ridiculous amount of hours for about five-six weeks. I hope we never have to repeat that process again. Anyway, things have quieted down and I am grateful.
I got a load of plants from my mom a couple of weeks ago. Come spring, I should have lots more color in the flower beds, including the one out front that was essentially all green. I keep telling myself I need to think about the planters that are still out on the deck, but still haven't taken care of them. It looks like fall is here to stay, although our maple tree didn't get the memo. The leaves are still green while the ash trees turned bright yellow about three weeks ago or so and have dropped all their leaves. Interesting.
Banjo's doing well (he's currently sleeping under a blanket, otherwise he'd say 'hi'). He's enjoying sleeping on the bed from time to time as the weather's been getting cooler. I've been enjoying pulling out my fingerless mittens again and bundling up. Call me crazy (yeah, I heard the chorus of you doing just that). Don't know that I'm ready for winter yet though. Because of work, I feel like I lost a significant chunk of summer. My body hasn't caught up to reality.
18 October 2011
05 September 2011
Exciting conclusion of the potato experiment
This past weekend, I finally harvested the potatoes. I know how much the anticipation was building since May :)
I let the vines dry out:
I attempted to tip over the very heavy garbage can without destroying my back, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. As you can see, there were some potatoes peeking out right away:
I dug through the dirt and kept finding more and more. The final harvest wasn't very many of large size, but there were plenty of potatoes there. I'm looking forward to tasting these little morsels and I'm looking forward to trying it out again next year! Here's Banjo inspecting the feast to come:
I let the vines dry out:
I attempted to tip over the very heavy garbage can without destroying my back, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. As you can see, there were some potatoes peeking out right away:
I dug through the dirt and kept finding more and more. The final harvest wasn't very many of large size, but there were plenty of potatoes there. I'm looking forward to tasting these little morsels and I'm looking forward to trying it out again next year! Here's Banjo inspecting the feast to come:
20 August 2011
Nearing the end of summer
I'm guessing I'm not the only one that's thinking how quickly the summer has flown by. Normally I'm super excited about these next few weeks (cooler temps), but this year, the budget work schedule got pushed back a month. We were supposed to be done August 15, but now it's September 12. That wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that Chris has a work trip planned immediately after we head out to Portland/Seattle for a friends' wedding and visiting other friends (which I'm really excited about, but can't believe it has come up so fast!). During the crunch time, we tend to work a lot of overtime. It's usually fine because Chris can usually take care of Banjo. It's going to be extra difficult this year. I'm hoping I can ask one of my neighbors to be on standby to take care of Banjo in the evenings. Everything will work out, but it would have been so nice to be done with the crunch time by the time we headed out to Portland.
The potatoes are nearly ready. The stalks are drying out, which means I'll be able to see if there's a harvest soon. I am thinking I'll dump the garbage can over next weekend (I'll let you know how the experiment went). The cilantro my mom gave me went to seed and dried out. I didn't realize it, but it's an annual. I've collected the seeds and hope I can get some cilantro plants growing again next year. I have more Egyptian Walking Onions started from the small bulbs it shot out. For now, they will continue to be housed in containers, but I hope to plant them in the raised beds we'll make.
My columbine went to seed a long time ago and about a week ago, I started seeing small, green plants growing all around them. I was worried it was clover, but when I looked closer, I saw that it was probably a hundred baby columbines! I'm still surprised at how well those plants do in their current location against the garage. I'll have to expand that bed out to accommodate all the growth!
Two of my other butterfly weed plants are blooming (the first one fell victim to a critter - a few days after they started blooming, something ate the flowers!). I'm excited to see if the plants continue to spread in that bed. I have to add compost this fall to see if I can get the coneflowers and bee balm (if it comes back) to bloom the appropriate colors. I realized something in the soil was missing when the coneflower, which should be purplish-pink, bloomed a faint pink. Hopefully the compost will straighten that out. The butterfly weed is a brilliant orange, so it must like really poor soil.
The potatoes are nearly ready. The stalks are drying out, which means I'll be able to see if there's a harvest soon. I am thinking I'll dump the garbage can over next weekend (I'll let you know how the experiment went). The cilantro my mom gave me went to seed and dried out. I didn't realize it, but it's an annual. I've collected the seeds and hope I can get some cilantro plants growing again next year. I have more Egyptian Walking Onions started from the small bulbs it shot out. For now, they will continue to be housed in containers, but I hope to plant them in the raised beds we'll make.
My columbine went to seed a long time ago and about a week ago, I started seeing small, green plants growing all around them. I was worried it was clover, but when I looked closer, I saw that it was probably a hundred baby columbines! I'm still surprised at how well those plants do in their current location against the garage. I'll have to expand that bed out to accommodate all the growth!
Two of my other butterfly weed plants are blooming (the first one fell victim to a critter - a few days after they started blooming, something ate the flowers!). I'm excited to see if the plants continue to spread in that bed. I have to add compost this fall to see if I can get the coneflowers and bee balm (if it comes back) to bloom the appropriate colors. I realized something in the soil was missing when the coneflower, which should be purplish-pink, bloomed a faint pink. Hopefully the compost will straighten that out. The butterfly weed is a brilliant orange, so it must like really poor soil.
04 July 2011
North shore trip
While family friends from PA came to visit, we met them up at Grand Marais for an overnight/sightseeing trip. Grand Marais is beautiful and they have amazing donuts (great way to start out the day!).
We started off by heading even further north to High Falls on the Pigeon River, immediately south of the Canadian border. The water at each site we stopped at was high, making each set of falls that much more impressive.
Next it was back to Grand Marais for a bit. I ventured out to Artists Point.
We then started our way back south with several stops along the way. The first was Temperance River. It was dizzying watching the water swirl. The way the water has carved the rock is incredible!
You could have seen where Temperance spilled out into Lake Superior, but Chris got in the way.
Next it was Caribou Falls off the Superior Hiking Trail. The falls are really high up, but I couldn't stop laughing at the stairway down. You will notice how it just stops.
Then onto Palisade Head. Chris showed me some of the routes he's climbed before and it got me itching to climb High Voltage.
The final sightseeing stop was the Split Rock Lighthouse. I clearly haven't been there for a long time because there is now a huge visitors center. I thought I remembered basically walking up to the lighthouse. It's kind of like what happened to Gooseberry Falls.
It was a fun trip, and I went further north and saw many beautiful sights I've never seen before. I would love to go back and do some hiking and climbing up there.
We started off by heading even further north to High Falls on the Pigeon River, immediately south of the Canadian border. The water at each site we stopped at was high, making each set of falls that much more impressive.
Next it was back to Grand Marais for a bit. I ventured out to Artists Point.
We then started our way back south with several stops along the way. The first was Temperance River. It was dizzying watching the water swirl. The way the water has carved the rock is incredible!
You could have seen where Temperance spilled out into Lake Superior, but Chris got in the way.
Next it was Caribou Falls off the Superior Hiking Trail. The falls are really high up, but I couldn't stop laughing at the stairway down. You will notice how it just stops.
Then onto Palisade Head. Chris showed me some of the routes he's climbed before and it got me itching to climb High Voltage.
The final sightseeing stop was the Split Rock Lighthouse. I clearly haven't been there for a long time because there is now a huge visitors center. I thought I remembered basically walking up to the lighthouse. It's kind of like what happened to Gooseberry Falls.
It was a fun trip, and I went further north and saw many beautiful sights I've never seen before. I would love to go back and do some hiking and climbing up there.
03 July 2011
Teddy Roosevelt National Park
We went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a long weekend in the middle of June. This is one of the least visited national parks and looked amazing (plus it has lots of prairie dogs!). We camped in one of the total of 14 sites available - there are more, but they hadn't finished clearing the silt/mud from them yet! It was incredibly beautiful and we've already listed all the hikes we have yet on a future trip.
Here was the entrance to our campsite in the North Unit - the water had been about a quarter way up the sandbags.
After setting up our tent, we headed out.
I of course immediately found the trails where all the prairie dog towns were and we hiked that one first :)
On the way back to the trailhead, we ran into a buffalo. Luckily there was another couple there already watching it. Had they not been there, we would have turned the corner and potentially startled it. That may not have been the best start to the vacation.
That night, it rained about 3/4" in an hour. We had a moat around our tent! That next morning, we put on our gaiters and headed out on the trails. We were warned about the wet clay soil (it expands to about 3 times, and all that additional water makes it extremely slippery). I loved it! I have to admit I was a bit worried when we initially headed out for fear it would rain again while we were on the trail, making conditions even worse, but I'm glad we stuck with it.
Not long after starting the trail, Chris slipped. I wish it had been funny to see, but it just looked painful! It was comically slow though and you'll notice the slip marks all the way down. The amazing part about it (besides Chris not getting hurt) was that the face appeared to be rock, but turned out to essentially be soil. Fascinating stuff!
We also drove up to some of the scenic areas of the park (ones we couldn't hike to).
It was a beautiful park and I highly recommend it! If you're interested in seeing fewer people and more prairie dogs, go to the North Unit. The South Unit is the one right off of I94 and was more touristy. We did get to see the wild horses out there though.
As a final thought, here are the prairie dogs doing their bark. I couldn't help feeling like I was seeing miniature Banjos when I was out there (although these guys were much quieter!):
Here was the entrance to our campsite in the North Unit - the water had been about a quarter way up the sandbags.
After setting up our tent, we headed out.
I of course immediately found the trails where all the prairie dog towns were and we hiked that one first :)
On the way back to the trailhead, we ran into a buffalo. Luckily there was another couple there already watching it. Had they not been there, we would have turned the corner and potentially startled it. That may not have been the best start to the vacation.
That night, it rained about 3/4" in an hour. We had a moat around our tent! That next morning, we put on our gaiters and headed out on the trails. We were warned about the wet clay soil (it expands to about 3 times, and all that additional water makes it extremely slippery). I loved it! I have to admit I was a bit worried when we initially headed out for fear it would rain again while we were on the trail, making conditions even worse, but I'm glad we stuck with it.
Not long after starting the trail, Chris slipped. I wish it had been funny to see, but it just looked painful! It was comically slow though and you'll notice the slip marks all the way down. The amazing part about it (besides Chris not getting hurt) was that the face appeared to be rock, but turned out to essentially be soil. Fascinating stuff!
We also drove up to some of the scenic areas of the park (ones we couldn't hike to).
It was a beautiful park and I highly recommend it! If you're interested in seeing fewer people and more prairie dogs, go to the North Unit. The South Unit is the one right off of I94 and was more touristy. We did get to see the wild horses out there though.
As a final thought, here are the prairie dogs doing their bark. I couldn't help feeling like I was seeing miniature Banjos when I was out there (although these guys were much quieter!):
02 July 2011
Garden pictures
Here are some pictures from the garden - enjoy!
The herb garden is exploding! I've had to cut it back several times already and it's due again:
The coneflowers are starting to open up. They should turn a purple color soon:
The potatoes have also exploded! I'm very encouraged by the experiment so far.
The stellas that replaced the grape vine are now all in bloom and looking beautiful:
The day lilies are close to blooming for that one fleeting day:
The succulents I've replanted are growing lots of new plants too:
28 June 2011
Happy (belated) anniversary
Our one-year anniversary came and went. It's fun to think about how much fun it was to celebrate our Anniversary 0 with many of you last year. One of the fun parts of Anniversary 1 was opening the note cards from the wedding. Thank you for all the wonderful (and sometimes completely silly) notes!
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity - Chris and I went camping and hiking at Teddy Roosevelt National Park over a long weekend (pictures coming soon). This past weekend, we drove up to Grand Marais to meet up with family friends in town from PA. And almost every night in between has been filled with friends and/or family. It has been a lot of fun!
I'm very much looking forward to the three-day weekend. Lots to do around the house (everything that's been piling up over the past few weeks) and lots of relaxing to catch up on. I will post photos of all the plants soonish. My potatoes-in-a-trash-can experiment is going much better than I ever imagined: the plants are about a foot above the top of the can already and growing strong!
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity - Chris and I went camping and hiking at Teddy Roosevelt National Park over a long weekend (pictures coming soon). This past weekend, we drove up to Grand Marais to meet up with family friends in town from PA. And almost every night in between has been filled with friends and/or family. It has been a lot of fun!
I'm very much looking forward to the three-day weekend. Lots to do around the house (everything that's been piling up over the past few weeks) and lots of relaxing to catch up on. I will post photos of all the plants soonish. My potatoes-in-a-trash-can experiment is going much better than I ever imagined: the plants are about a foot above the top of the can already and growing strong!
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