Raised Beds!

So it all started with a hole dug with no real plan....

 Then my dad visited and soon after, I got this in my inbox. It came after a lengthy trip to Lowe's to show me what bags of manure, peat, etc. to buy, and where the wood is, what wood to buy, etc. The Lowe's trip came with a $100 Lowe's Gift Card, which we just used up yesterday.

I also got a box of screws and brackets from the diagram. Awesome!

M and I got to work in the evening building the frame. (Actually, M did the work. I just held stuff together and listened to him cuss when he bloodied his hands. Whoever says gardening isn't hard hasn't tried to build a raised bed....) We got the frame laid out as the sun went down.

It seems that we were overzealous in our digging and only really needed half of the plot we dug up. Que sera, sera...

Luckily, we were working in the yard that day and noticed a pool of water in the corner by a faucet. A pool in the desert is always cause for concern so M went under the house to check for leaks. Yes, UNDER the HOUSE!

There was no leak in the house and we discovered it was a hole in the pipe beneath the ground. So good news is we got it fixed. Bad news is there's a freaky crawl space beneath my house! This has the making of a great scary movie. (no worries though, my boobs aren't big enough to star in a scary movie so we're gonna be ok)

Last Tuesday morning I woke up to very cold weather, which in my mind was perfect for filling the bed in with all the displaced earth.

Bring it on, Cold Weather!

Raised bed with a dad-approved ratio of soil-to-manure-to-peat moss mixture

Oh! and the container herbs are doing good too!

From bottom to Top - Scallions, Garlic, Spinach, and Spinach... there's also a tiny
wild cilantro in there somewhere

Moving Furniture.... To Make Room for MORE Furniture

So this whole moving in thing is ramping up to full gear... or for my more geeky awesome friends... Warp Speed Ahead! M and I have officially started moving furniture around.

We have decided to move the office furniture into the dining area, splitting the dining area into a dining/office space, and leaving a room free for an awesome movie space! I guess if we were really rich we'd call it our "Media Room".

Somewhere between this....

And this...

I'm also getting my Christmas present from my grandma and Pawpaw delivered tomorrow.... my own swivel chair where I can curl up, blog, internet, and crochet!

The movers will be arriving at my apartment in 2 weeks. I leave my job in one week. That gives me several days to frantically dump everything into boxes, cursing the fact that I own tons of books, and run to the liquor store, AGAIN, for more boxes. The bad news is this move will cost me almost $1000. The good news is I won't have to move any large furniture! That is for the movers to do :-)

So, in two weeks, I'll officially be living in Carlsbad!

Ground Has Been Broken....

So an update on moving in with M....

I've given my apartment complex notice and will officially be a non-El Paso resident as of the end of March! Yay!

Also - I've broken ground on our new in-the-ground garden. We will still use containers in winter and for big stuff like potatoes and tomatoes. But! The in-the-ground garden signifies me being in Carlsbad permanently as I've promised M he won't have to do any weeding.

Now - in my mind, I'd like my garden to be something similar to the White House Kitchen Garden and reading "American Grown" isn't helping.

Caution! Contents cause serious garden envy

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. :-)

Will They Survive the Heat? no! the Cold!

My newest package of seeds came in the mail yesterday!

I want to get a jump start on my spring planting so I went ahead and ordered now. Basil, roma-esque tomatoes, mark twain heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos for M, and we will again attempt green beans.  This year I'll start the seeds in January/February. Stay tuned for more adventurous gardening attempts.

But have no fear, I am also attempting winter gardening. Carlsbad is in the southern half of the US, but gets some good snow and cold, so I'll try some quick growing stuff, and some plants that like to overwinter. Scallions, spinach, and broccoli. Yes, I'm attempting broccoli again but this time I'll cover the plants with pantyhose in an attempt to thwart the evil white moth that lays worm eggs all over my crops.

Keep you posted!

Labor Day Weekend - Fort Davis, Davis Mountains, Alpine, and live music!

M and I headed down to Fort Davis and Alpine for a quick overnighter on our 3-day weekend. We had planned to camp out in the aspens near Ruidoso but then we found out that Labor Day weekend was a favorite of the 3-wheeling ATV crowd. yuck! Soooo we headed south instead.

We drove through some fantastic mountains (yes, Texas has multiple mountains....).

highway running through Davis Mountains State Park

Looking down onto Fort Davis National Historic Site

First we hit Fort Davis National Historic Site, which was crowded and boiling hot. I was hoping it'd be a bit cooler but what can you expect in west Texas in August!

M and I poured over all of Fort Davis's newly upgraded exhibits. You can take the park ranger out of the park, but you can't take the park out of the ranger! My favorite part of the visit was the porch swing. Its been a very long time since I've relaxed on a porch swing. I spent my childhood on the porch swing of our beach house. The sound of the chains creaking, along with the seagulls and the drone of I-10, always lulled me into bliss. M could make me ultimately blissful if he could manage a porch swing at the house.

Fort Davis's most awesome porch swing

blissfully enjoying the swing

weird repetitive view of the officers quarters

My OTHER favorite part of Fort Davis was the hospital. Getting to view all the horrid torturous medical equipment that was "state of the art" in the mid-1800s is fascinating to me, and nauseating to most other people.

After Fort Davis and a quick scenic drive up to Davis Mountains State Park, we drove down to Alpine to check into the cheapest motel Alpine has to offer. I've stayed in some amazingly cheap places, so my standards are pretty low. (There was the place that advertised "Meat Burgers", with "meat" meaning whatever they found along the road; the place where we barricaded the door at night to sleep because the locks didn't work well; and then there was the I-10 truck stop that dad insisted we could get a good nights' sleep in the van) This motel wasn't too bad. It had the basics... the 'ice machine' was an igloo in the check in area that the owner filled each morning with ice from the gas station across the street, the pool had been filled in with concrete and fenced off years before, etc...

M and I went looking for a place to have dinner before hitting the bar for some live music. We tried 3 places that said they were open only to find them closed... I Yelped them properly. The 4th place didn't have any vegan options and was too expensive to have a sub-par meal. We even tried a diner that Yelp warned was constantly out of regular menu items. And yes, they were out of the only thing I could eat... salad. So we finally found ourselves, hungry and grumpy, at McDonald's ordering salads behind some fairly vicious people who were lamenting the broken soda machine.

After a fantastic dinner of McD's salad, we headed to the Railroad Blues for some live music. Talk about a small town - the first person we saw when we walked in recognized M as "Copperhead Guy". M studied snakes in grad school, and worked closely with locals. The band, the Lonesome Heros, was fantastic and very friendly. We're now Facebook friends. :-)
We had a great time and I had too many apricot beers (Shout-out to Corree!).

The next morning we tried our hand with eating in Alpine one last time and hit the no-salad diner. Their waffles completely make up for the lack of any type of vegetable.

We took a different scenic route back up to Carlsbad....

Border Patrol Blimp... who knew?! M says they keep it tethered to the ground. It floats a few hundred feet up in the
air, light up at night for all the illegals and smugs to see.... yay for tax dollars!

Of course we had to hit the Marfa Prada! It was actually crowded with
motorcyclists and other on-lookers

All in all, it was a fun quick getaway.... we'll hit the aspen slopes of Ruidoso next time.



ps - Fort Davis's gardener must be amazing...

I have Rosemary envy... look at the size of this monster!!!

Summer Gardening is Ending... But Have No Fear, Fall Gardening is Underway!

The last time we talked it was the end of April (officially the beginning of the summer in the Southwest), and my garden was gearing up to survive the heat... (To Recap).

Sadly, the broccoli didn't survive the cabbage worm infestation and the heat. Next time I'll try a cover - maybe pantyhose cut and stretched out across the top of the contained will stop the evil cabbage moths from propagating all over my broccoli greens.

We harvested both bins of potatoes, and learned a harsh lesson. When page 173 of your Moosewood Gardening bible tells you that potatoes will not grow in temps higher than 85 degrees, it most definitely means they won't grow in 110 degrees!

harvesting potatoes

Look at the mighty growth!

So we did get a few goods sized ones early in the summer

M marveling at our bountiful harvest   j/k

The bell pepper plant finally started to really grow, only to be knocked down by several windstorms. I'll have to work on a windscreen for next year. (The shade structure also didn't do well in the windstorms. shocking, i know, since it was an example of such fine craftsmanship.)

We are managing to get a few bell peppers after I enclosed the thing in a cage. Used a few last night and they were delicious!

Our two tomato plants are either getting too much water, not enough water, or both and don't like the wild watering swings... But, we are getting a few tomatoes! Some of them had blossom-end rot. I found a DIY recipe that calls for salt... Salt! (*Epsom salt to be exact - see note at bottom...) So now our tomatoes are getting salted each week and the rot is happening less frequently.

 We moved the herbs to a more sheltered location, underneath a heavily shaded shrub area. They are doing fantastic!

Thai basil that looks and smells fantastic

Rosemary and mint are doing great - the green bucket has cilantro...

seriously, i just threw cilantro seeds into the potato bin and moved it
out of the way

We cannot stop growing sage! Every other week I harvest half and
take it home, and when I come back... more sage!

In other parts of the backyard, the wild things are going crazy in this mild temperature monsoon season.

lantana comes back year after year and looks great!

This thing, which i honestly thought might be weed
and began googling pictures of weed leaves (shout-out to
NSA!), turns out to be NOT WEED. I can't remember
what it is, M can, but its NOT WEED.

wild and crazy yard

what the hell is this? internet! i need your help.

close-up of the i-have-no-idea plant..
perennial, full sun

Winnie scouts for pecans

She's so freaking cute!

So fall planting is coming up in a month or so... Broccoli (with pantyhose covering), garlic, sweet onions, spinach, and green beans.... The garlic grows best over winter and we can harvest in spring. The spinach loves cool weather. The green beans I'm not sure about but I have seeds!

*Regarding the salting of plants to stop blossom-rot. Turns out I just found out that Epsom salt isn't table salt... So maybe I'm killing my tomatoes with a little NaCl when I should be using MgSO4!

This is Happening.... I'm Moving in with M!

Yes, I'm moving in with my man. Not only does that mean moving to Carlsbad but it means quitting my job. Some people would freak out, but not me. I'm super-psyched! I've always followed my career, moving literally across the country (11 times and counting..) for a job and putting my personal life, friends, and family to the side. Not anymore. My life with M is the most important thing, and I'm ready for that to begin!

Right now we are in the planning stages... this is what happens when 2 detail-oriented people move in. Months of planning. We sit at his house and decide where furniture is going to go, what will be sold or given away. The consolidation of 2 households is daunting. We have conversations about whether we'll keep my dishes, which TVs go in which room (we are going to have a tv room... I think fancy peeps call it a home theater. We just call it the 'back room'), whether to keep the kinda ugly but totally unique woven wall rug thing that lived for years on the wall of my grandparents' beach house. I'm pretty sure that my sarong-turned-wall hanging of the Hindu god, Surya, must come down indefinitely.

So, we are super-excited and in deep planning mode! Internet, I'll keep you updated as things progress.

If only moving Chicory were this easy...

Will They Survive the Heat? A Garden Update

The last week of April gave us triple-digit temperatures in Carlsbad. A great way to begin the summer season... especially for the plants. The herbs are the most expressive, displaying their displeasure with the heat by wilting all the way to the ground. They spring up right after they get some water though! The rest of the garden is a bit quieter, so M and I have been watching for signs of heat stress and general displeasure.

When I got into town on Saturday afternoon, the broccoli was wilting quite a bit. Its had a rough spring fighting off cabbage worms. At this point, I'm not even sure if it'll produce but at least its teaching us about growing broccoli. (the first pancake rule is definitely in effect here).

expressing its hatred of the heat....

much happier... if you don't count the cabbage worm battle scars

We've also seen the arrival of our first few Roma tomatoes!

i can't wait to eat you!

The cilantro that I oh-so frequently kill seems to be doing great in my absence. I'm trying not to take it personally.

The potatoes have grown so much since I last saw them. They're almost 5 feet tall!

potato flowers have no smell....

Our newest addition, the bush beans, seem to be coming up nicely.
I hope they produce! Fresh beans are fantastic!

Oh! and remember the shade cover I was trying to copy? (Gardening: an update)

Well here is my version. A little less pretty but completely useful. Although looking at the early pics of our broccoli is making me sad.... so long sweet broccoli.

The awesome shade cover, that is hopefully wind-resistant and only needs a few
more layers of burlap, should totally help relieve the plants from
the summer afternoon sun.

In other parts of the yard, Mother Nature is doing her own natural thing.

tiger lilies are starting to appear in random areas

another kind of lily... anyone know what it is?

teeny tiny purple and pink flowers

And that's the garden as of Memorial Day... The herbs are chilling in the shade and the veggies are growing! Can't wait to harvest some yumminess.

Vacationing in Northern New Mexico... part 3 - Campfires and Pecos history

ok... so we left off with camping and freezing, right?

We drove up into the mountains just outside million dollar homes overlooking Santa Fe, arriving at a gorgeous pine-scented forest service campground with the BEST campsites I've ever seen on public land. At 9,000 feet and with an afternoon storm blowing in (I'm completely convinced that it dumped snow somewhere nearby), it got cold pretty quickly. M went off in search of water (all the spigots were still shut off due to impending May snow), and I quickly put on layers... a long underwear layer, followed by a thermal layer, followed by a fleece skintight layer, followed by a fleece vest layer. To top off my ensemble, I pulled Lennox's Mexican blanket out of the car and wrapped it around me baby-burrito style.

I'm clearly more of a 'sun' person.

When M came back and saw me, he simply laughed and announced that he was heading out into the woods for firewood.... To keep moving, and keep warm, I worked on putting up the tent.

My man and his fire, keeping my feet warm

Reheating his BBQ sandwich from earlier in the day

We spent several hours warming by the fire, reading and talking, while unknown birds made foreign noises above us. M was in charge of keeping the home fires burning while I was in charge of discovering how awesome burning pine cones look. :-) I had leftover cake for dinner - using the theory that Eskimos eat whale blubber and Iditarod dudes eat sticks of butter to keep warm. Denial.... or Genius.....?

Finally the sun went down and I had to add a final layer to my very bulky frame.

Once the fire was out and it was officially too cold, I headed to the bathroom one final time. In this super-awesome campground there was only one issue... the bathroom. Bathroom isn't the term to be used. Latrine is more accurate. A pit-toilet in the freezing cold with spiders and beetles watching can only be described as a latrine. I had girl scout camp flashbacks.... (I should totally tell you guys about my experiences at camp. Another time.) I had taken the flashlight and the lantern with me into the outhouse, but was surprised when I opened the door and a motion-detected light came on. I was more surprised when the fucking light went out 70 seconds later, just as I had pulled my pants (all of my pants) down around my ankles and was hovering (NEVER sit...) over the hole! Before the spiders and beetles could attack, I calmly (re. totally freaked out) ran around, still pants around ankles, trying to find my lantern or flashlight that I had turned off in total confidence of the damn light. I kicked the flashlight into beetle territory and was not going to go fishing for it in the dark. I managed to get the lantern on after what felt like 5 hours. As I stood up, I triggered the motion-light and the room was bright once again.

Note To the Dumb-ass Latrine Designer Guys: Point the fucking motion detector at the toilet, not the corner by the door! OR change the timer for 5 minutes! Who pees, or worse, in 70 seconds from pants down to pants up?!

Anyway, after escaping death in the latrine I headed back to camp to tell M all about my experience. Humility is healthy....


M went right to sleep. I did not. I read until my fingers were frozen then burrowed deep into my 20 degree bag, still in all the layers and the coat, under the Mexican blanket. Throughout the night, as i got warmer and more claustrophobic, I pulled off the layers until I was down to just the one super-sexy electric purple long underwear.

The next morning - I really don't remember the next morning. There was no coffee. I remember that. The plan was to drive back down to spring temperatures and find a breakfast spot with cheap food and tons of coffee.

Once appropriately fueled, we headed to Pecos National Historic Site. M had a friend to see there and I had a passport stamp to acquire.

Ever wonder the difference in quality between a really nice digital camera and an iPhone?  Here....

Top: M's camera with a large battery... mine died. Bottom: my iPhone


Pecos was cool - and by that I mean cold, windy, and truly interesting.

An homage to geology?

I'm totally sure that goofing off for cameras is what the scary evil Conquistadors
had in mind when they built this chapel and killed any natives who wouldn't
submit to the lord.... yep, totally accurate.

heathen!

not to be outdone by the Conquistadors, the natives had their own
ceremonial chambers

heathen squirrel....

totally M's camera, my iPhone wouldn't get this awesome

After hanging with M's friend and touring the grounds, we headed back onto the highway and crossed the most boring section of New Mexico ever created. They really should have tested bombs here, and not in the mountains near the Trinity Site. 5 hours and tons of Todd Snider later, we were back home.

The unpacking took days, but the showering off 5 days of grime took minutes. Nothing feels as good as a shower after a long camping trip!