It's That Time Again

Time to start seeds, woo hoo!

Last year you may recall I exercised amazing restraint in ordering seeds for our place, and for the front of the subdivision (for a review, see this).

Well, this year, I was even more restrained!

Isn't Salpiglossis a great word?

That cherry punch is a 48 day tomato, friends and neighbors!

I decided against these carrots - they take too long.

Yes, no garden-envy issues here, folks.

I was also unceremoniously moved from one bay of the garage to  another,

nor will I be booby-trapping the mechanical room.  I'll hang my grow lights from the shelves (above) and go from there.

Things I've learned from last time:  Give it time;  seedlings that looked like crap when I put them out, grew into spectacular flowers last year  (like this).    Don't listen when someone says a plant won't grow here - try it out for myself, because you know who knows everything about gardening?  No one.

Things I've learned already this time:  Don't start snapdragons from seed, because those seeds are too damned tiny!  Smaller than lettuce seeds!  No kidding!

Things I've learned in general recently:  I only have to recertify as a master gardener in Oregon if I want to work in the plant clinic or teach.  Otherwise, I can call myself a master gardener forever, even if I never learn another thing.  Unless they change this, I suppose.  Weird, huh?

One more thing.  Even when a kid only weighs a minute, hauling her piggyback a few miles down the Monkey Face trail at Smith Rock will give you a sore back the next day.

I love this kid.

March Catch-Up

Things are just staying busy, busy, busy here on the property, despite the fact that it (finally) snowed several times, keeping us indoors. I've been doing a lot with the Master Gardeners here, preparing for spring, and of course, just keeping up with the everyday stuff!

We've taken a few trips to Portland, though, and I thought I'd share some pictures of the lovely hotel we stayed in on the river.

Living room fireplace

View from the living room picture window

Balcony view

As you can see, we were right on the River Walk, and the weather was remarkably beautiful for our entire stay.  It's not a bad drive up there at all, as long as one takes care going over Mt. Hood - which can be treacherous even when it's not snowing.

Otherwise, we haven't been getting out all that much - mainly because I've been dieting hard.  In November, I lost 15 lbs on the HCG Diet, and now I'm working the Medifast Plan (Ted was supposed to start with me, but has put it off until he heals up from a recent minor surgery).  All told, I'm down nearly 35 pounds since January of 2011.  I wasn't going to put up any before and during pictures, but my niece Jessica inspired me (again - she also inspired me to create this blog) so here goes:

This is me eclipsing my granddaughter Megan in the Summer of 2010, at about 220 lbs:

Here I am at 203:

And today at 192:

Go Ducks!

One fifty, here I come!

Earlier this week, Ted and I attended the Living on a Few Acres Conference, put on by the OSU Extension Service/4H.  Ted attended classes on pond management and water rights, and I went to the sessions on Honeybees 101 and Fruit Orchards in Central Oregon.

Tara and Shannon's Bantam Lane Farms booth - a great business with wonderful products, now specializing in beer soap!

I've determined that honeybees are a bit more than I care to tackle right now - mainly because our speaker told us to get used to being stung!  Not me, ha ha!  I also learned that for fruit trees, I'm pretty  much stuck with apple and cherry.  I love apples and cherries, but I miss my little orchard at the Vegas house, which had peach, nectarine, almond, fig and pomegranate.  Oh well.

Last but certainly not least, yesterday was my 29th wedding anniversary.  Here's a pic of the lovely Red Intuition roses my sweetheart bought for me:

I love the variegation - even better than the Fire and Ice roses he would  buy me in Vegas.  I love you sweetheart <3

Finally, I have bought all the seeds I wanted for the front of the subdivision this year, and for our own place - I'm just a little slow getting the seedling pots made.  Since I can't put them out until late June, I'm not in that great a rush....

2011 Missions: Accomplished

Built raised beds and grew a bunch of good stuff,

got the chicken coop to end all chicken coops (thanks, honey),

changed out the lights over the breakfast bar,

and kitchen table (thanks, Bill),

ripped out the lousy living room carpet that came with the house and installed travertine,

baked a pile of Christmas cookies with Stevie and Andi (whose move up here with Bill wasn't a goal of  mine, but is a bonus),

certified as a master gardener in Oregon,

and lost weight.  Twenty-two pounds to be exact.

We had some fabulous visits with good friends, we've seen some wonderful concerts, and I've discovered that the longer I live here, the happier I am.  A belated happy new year to everyone!

Christmas in the Place Where Wishes Come True (unless what you're wishing for is affordable prices)

As promised, here are some pics from our recent Disney World expenditure -- er, adventure.  We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we were able to see all kinds of wild animals from the safety of our balcony.

I have to admit, the lobby of the hotel was spectacular, all done up for Christmas.

Of course, there were gigantic Christmas trees at each of the theme parks as well.

The weather was gorgeous for our stay, and our favorite part of the trip was seeing the Wild Animal park.  We could actually SEE some of the animals!  Imagine!  When I think of the countless times I tried to see gorillas at the San Diego zoo, and they were always hiding....



Very cool fake tree.





I was looking through the window in this enclosure and announced "Nope, nothing in here."  I turned my head to the right and there they were.  "Except these tigers," I added.


Of course, there was the usual Disney-esque stuff as well, including this little beauty parlor which churned out princesses by the dozens,

and this new rollercoaster I was unable to ride because it seems everyone in Florida wanted to ride it that day.

Oh, well.

While not my favorite vacation of all time, it was nice to get away with the old man.  It was a little loud at times, especially during meals, but room service was okay.  Of course there were thousands of small children, but the place caters to them and that's to be expected.  I wasn't expecting to find them bellied up to the bar, but ....

It's a kid-friendly place, isn't it?

What Ted and I couldn't figure out is why the Disney stock we bought for our smallest grandchildren a few years ago hasn't budged - yet this place was raking in the dough.
Hmm.

Fun was had.  That's what counts.

Ted and I in our flying car.



A fool and his money, Mickey.

 Next time - Amsterdam!

Glitter in My Lint Filter

Okay - I've spent the past five loooooooooooong days at Disney World (pictures to come, and I'm here to say, size isn't everything.  Disneyland is so much nicer).  I'm just looking at one of our presents to Stevie, thinking about how Bill and Andi are gearing up to move into their own place and how, all too soon, I will no longer have glitter in my lint filter.  :-( 

I remember my own mother's technique with me (my sisters may have different memories), and I have tried, with Stevie (my granddaughter but still), to do the exact opposite.  The first time I pulled glitter-encrusted lint out of the dryer filter, I thought, like my mother,  "Gaa!  What kind of damage did this do to my dryer!  And what a drain on the power bill!  The fire potential!  That eight year old has GOT to keep this out of the regular laundry!"  What I SAID was "Cool!  Glitter in the lint filter!  This must be my lucky day!"

I'm not always successful;  in part, I think, because I was never a mom.  I recently said something which, in retrospect, I realize was pretty mean to Stevie about her reading level - and it broke my heart when I stopped (and Ted made me stop) to think about it.  She is who she is, and who she is is someone I love with all my heart.  I'm not going to try to "help" her by hurting her feelings and making her feel bad in any way about herself.

So, Stevie -- before you and your mom and dad find your own place, you and I (and your momma) will be making a huge mess of the kitchen with Christmas cookies -- some for Mrs. Cochoran and Mrs. Rasmussen, too.  And maybe we'll mess up the bathroom with bubble bath and funky-colored soap and candles.  And just for good measure, let's wrap up some presents and leave bits of tape and paper on the dining room floor.  But most of all, let's leave a big pile of glitter in the lint filter.

I'll keep that last blob of glitter/lint for the rest of my life.