How I Spent My Unplanned Furlough (or What I Did While the Government Sucked) - Week 2

So there was a week 2.... That pretty much sucks (almost as much as Capitol Hill right now)

Day 7 - After the boys went to school, M and I decided to tidy up the house some. I installed a new rack for pans in the cabinet. We needed something to hold pans upright, as M has tall narrow cabinets in the kitchen. It was a birthday gift from my parents.
We also took several walks in the nice autumn weather - one with the dogs, and one with the boys and the dogs.

Day 8 - Today was the day we tidied up the house. Lots of recycling was done, some sorting, and then on to American Horror Story! It had just come in that morning, so we gorged on all 3 episodes on the first disc.
Also, after trying for over a week, and waiting on hold for many minutes, I was able to file for unemployment... yuck.

Day 9 - We drove BACK to El Paso because I have a cat to feed. We spent most of Wednesday evening watching Parks and Recreation or playing Champions of Norrath while I baked multiple loaves of banana bread. I had 11 or so bananas in the freezer and we are trying to eat what we have and not hit the grocery store.

Day 10 - So yeah - today was mostly Champions of Norrath day. We ran a few errands and in the evening we went to A's house to hang with her and the kids for dinner and a movie.

Day 11 - While my car was in the shop with routine maintenance, we went to see Gravity on the big screen. Go See This Movie! It was awesome and if there is one movie to waste money on while not receiving a paycheck, this is it!

Day 12 - Drove BACK to Carlsbad because M has kids to feed :-)    Continued our spooky movie nights with 3 episodes of Ghost Hunters International.  Did you know they have that one on Netflix Instant?! It definitely freaked me and the boys out. M was unimpressed.

Day 13 - It rained most of the day so we all stayed indoors... Magic was played, Ghostbusters was watched, dance music was played over and over again... and M and I are starting to get sick. Fun...

This furlough-with-unscheduled-return-time thing sucks for one big reason.... we can't go anywhere! We have this time off and I'd love to do some traveling with it, but each day we have to check the news, Facebook, and the DOI website to see if the government has decided to reopen us. If they do, we report back to work the very next day. That blows!

Oh and now we are heading into Week 3!

Our Fall Garden

I've learned a few lessons from gardening this summer... Apparently, summers in southern New Mexico are just too damned hot and sunny for most of the plants.

1. Potatoes won't grow if its above 85 degrees.... shocking for a crop that notoriously grows in Ireland (and of course, down here it doesn't go below 85 until mid-September) 
2. Tomatoes also don't like the heat and won't flower - now that the temps have dropped, they're flowering like crazy and hopefully we'll get some tomatoes before the first frost
3. My shade structure is NO MATCH for the monsoon winds that whip across the Guadalupes
4. All of our herbs prefer the shady area beneath the overhanging vines on the fence... Less sun means cooler, happier herbs
5. Apparently, starting seeds in the spring around here means January/February...
6. People who plant their gardens in the front yard are just showing off
7. Mint spreads and can eventually take over the earth....
8. Cilantro loves to be neglected and left alone... possibly an introvert plant?
9. If you plant a container garden, you MUST make sure there are holes for drainage. Things die and get stinky quick!

So far this fall I've planted scallions, which are coming up quickly, and broccoli, which will need some sort of cover to protect it from the evil white cutworm moth.

I've also been testing a few different gardening apps -

web-based Sprout It wins... It keeps track of my garden, when I plant things, when they pass a growing phase, when to harvest, and the daily weather. It only gives you garden options that "should" grow in your climate so if you're growing something else, it won't show up.

iphone-based Garden Tracker is ok - you make your own plots, plant whatever you want, and keep track of when you water, feed, etc. Its cool for help when something is sick or dying, but that's about it. If it would send you reminders of what to do and when, like Sprout It, it would rule!

How I Spent My Unplanned Furlough (or What I Did While the Government Sucked) - Week 1

Week 1 (let's hope there's no Week 2...)

Day 1 - spent most of the morning kinda freaking out with M, thought a lot about money and missing paychecks, etc. I then made mental lists of all the places we should go since we now 'have the time'. Thank you Congress :-(
Oh, then crossed off half the places in my mental list because they've got the word "National" in their name and that means they're CLOSED! Then made mental list of all the things that needed to be done at home (cheap and/or free).

Day 2 - Marathoned Parks and Recreation, Season 5 - Thank you Netflix for releasing this on October 1st. I totally feel that it was done to help all of us in the NPS... I might be overthinking that but whatever. Oh! I also spent some time cleaning the house... Maybe if I had a furlough once a year, the house would be cleaned once a year? M came in late in the evening and was wrecked from a long day. To end our first official "furlough day" (yesterday was technically our day off), we watched some stand-up comedy and fell into blissful, allergy-pill enhanced sleep.

Day 3 - M worked on his book, so I Facebooked. Reading all the NPS friends and family posts about whats happening to them kinda got me down, and pissed. So M and I went for a nice long walk by the Rio Grande with Lennox. The sounds of the riparian area, mixed with the crisp fall breeze really helped. Later, after a lot of Champions of Norrath, we cooked a nice fall dinner of lemon risotto and champagne, and settled into a romantic evening with 28 Days Later. (Fall is the perfect time for scary movies!)

Day 4 - Went hiking in a STATE PARK! Franklin Mountains State Park encompasses the whole mountain that splits El Paso into East and West sides.

Thank you state parks for not shutting down at the same time as our federal parks did... that would incite a riot among hikers. Afterwards, we decided to hit a cheap date spot and went mini-golfing :-)

Day 5 - Woke up early (8am, but for the first time in 7 days) to hit the Saturday Arts & Farmers Market in downtown El Paso. I ALWAYS miss this market. Every Saturday there are posts all over Facebook taunting me about the fun being had at the market while I'm at work. Later that afternoon, M and I caravaned out to Carlsbad to spend the weekend. Driving through Guadalupe Mountains NP during the shut-down is bittersweet. I know the natural forces aren't shut-down, the indigenous animals don't listen well to our federal government. I'm sure they're enjoying the quiet, peaceful void of humans. I want to be out there with them.

We went to a going away party for a co-worker... of course, she can't move to her new job until the govt reopens...
We closed the day with The Omen. (we're doing all scary movies for October)

Day 6 - Woke up realizing that the boys don't have winter jeans that fit them... Hit Walmart before the church crowd showed up. (i seriously had to remember what day it was. this no-work thing messes up your internal calendar) Played Words with Friends for the first time in several days. I now realize that I mostly play this at work... sorry WWF friends. We went for a family+dogs walk to enjoy the early fall afternoon and play at the playground.
The scary October movie of the evening was Insidious, which scared the crap outta me. I may have hidden my face in a pillow for over half the movie, but that just tells you how scary it was. Fantastic evening flick! (Can't wait for the second one!) We also watched a family-friendly Percy Jackson and the Olympians with the boys. It was pretty good too. :-)