Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Saturday, January 30, 2010
detailed half marathon report!
This report is also posted at my running blog: http://kirstenrunninaround.blogspot.com/
Last Friday I flew to Austin Texas to run a half marathon with my sister Cate! The half-marathon was on Sunday, January 24.
I said this would be detailed, right? I arrived at the Austin airport and took the great $1 bus into town, near the UT campus. Cate was finishing up class, so I had an espresso at a coffee shop while waiting for her. She picked me up at the coffee shop and we stopped off at a great little taco place and had a couple tacos and a lime/watermelon agua fresca. That agua fresca was good.
After that, we headed home and got ready to do a 3 mile run around Town Lake, which seems more to me like a river. This place is great. It runs right through town and has a gravel path all along it. You can make your route many different lengths by crossing bridges and looping back around. At the main bridge area, there is a constant supply of water coolers with water and cups for runners. There's also an outdoor shower (it gets mighty hot in the summer) which I saw being used when I visited in June. Very cool. We ran our 3 miles at a faster pace than I usually run and it felt good. The rest of the evening we spent at home making dinner and playing with the sweet and silly kitty Luney.
Cate and I stayed busy on Saturday - we went to pick up our race packets (the race was sponsored by 3M so there was lots of tape and post-it notes as swag). We also drove the course, which was a good idea. Cate had some work to do at school, so I got to see her school and classroom. Somewhere in there we stopped at a thrift shop and Starbucks.
The plan for dinner had been to carbo-load at a pizzeria with a gluten-free menu (for me, though that experiment is over) but it was too far away. Instead we went to a great sushi place, then had ice cream for dessert. We all went to bed early that night.
The half-marathon was set to start at 6:45am. On Sunday morning, we awoke at 5am so we could eat breakfast and get ready with some leisure. At about 5:45, Adam drove us to the starting point, despite being sick. (He also stopped along the course in various spots to take pictures of us. Nice guy.)
When we arrived, it was dark, gusty and fairly cold. We dropped off our dry clothes for after the race and wandered around. Eventually we had the idea to wait in one of the portapotty lines, of which there were many, and tangled and confusing. But we managed to take care of business and make it back to the start in plenty of time. (Plenty of time.)
There was quite a crowd. The starting location was in the midst of a large shopping center where parking was relatively abundant. The start line was on a road running through the shopping center. By the time we were ready to "line up" there was no semblance of a line - it was people everywhere in a big crowd, waiting for the gun. The pacing group people were nowhere to be seen. It was fun.
As I said, it was gusty, and apparently the barricades along the course had blown down, allowing cars to go where they shouldn't. This delayed the race by an hour. (Though we didn't know by how long at the time). Bummer. We stood in the cold crowd while the guy at the mike (who we couldn't see) suggested we visit the bathroom again if we needed to. In that interim, Cate and I visited the hotel that was right there (where it was suggested anyone could use the bathroom). The lobby of the hotel was full of runners, warming up, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the run might be starting any minute. Did everyone have their own personal alert system, or were they relying on herd mentality? Cate and I wandered around in the hotel until we decided we were warm enough and headed back out. Shortly thereafter we heard an announcement to LINE UP! Runners literally came running out of that hotel!
We got lined up too and finally that gun did go off! Of course, we did not start running right away. In fact, our clock time and chip time were about 3 minutes apart, so you can tell it was quite a crowd. Our waiting location, though, allowed us to see the wheelchair racers head off first, followed shortly thereafter by the elite runners (don't know if there were any famous people there) and then of course the general crowd, including us!
About a mile after we started running we spied Adam who was waiting at an intersection with his camera. We lifted our fleece jackets to show our numbers (why?) and he got some nice shots of us. At about 1.5 miles we reached our first water station. I stopped for water, Cate did not and she headed off into the half marathon with her speedy legs leading the way.
We'd agreed that she'd go ahead when she felt like it. We also decided to wear some of her giveaway fleece tops to keep us warm, and would just throw them aside when we got too hot. That's the thing to do, apparently. And that's what we did.
Cate and I had driven the course the day before and that was a good idea. When we drove the route it seemed that there was a good bit of highwayish or big wide 5-lane roads. I admit now that I wasn't so sure about that. It didn't look all that fun to run on. When we got to the part of the route that was cute neighborhoody and UT-ish I felt better. Oddly though, during the race I preferred that highwayish part of the run more! Perhaps it was because it was the first half of the run when I felt better anyway, or maybe because it's because, when do I ever get to run on highways? But I enjoyed that part of the race more than the cute little neighborhoods.
The race was 13 miles long, but I was never far from other runners. People just didn't spread out much. That made it more tolerable for me, more interesting, to be constantly running near or past or by someone.
There were occasional musical interludes - my favorite may have been the bagpipe player early on. There was a guy playing solo electric guitar out of the back of his truck. Cate or Adam mentioned seeing a mariachi band, though I don't remember that. The cowbell ringers were annoying.
The race had water stops every 2 miles or so (on the even numbers) and I stopped at each one. I took one gu chomp before the race, at the 2 mile mark, 6 mile mark and one other, later mark that don't remember.
I felt quite good running until about mile 9. I saw Adam at around mile 6 or 7 and remember feeling great. I stayed ahead of the 2:10 pacing group (10 minute mile) until mile 9. Around then, they passed me and then I stopped for water around mile 10 and I never saw them again.
By mile 9 or 10 things started to get rough for me. I began to get quite sore. My hips and arches ached, and I felt as though my left leg might just cramp up entirely. My "speedy" pace was perhaps catching up with me. I hit mile 11 an thought "I've never run this far before." But, I kept at it. Around mile 10 or so I noticed a LOT of people passing me. Oh well.
By mile 12 or so I was doing all I could to not walk. I just kept plugging along. We were in UT territory and I knew the finish was soon. One thing I liked about this race is that you didn't have to do some foolish loop around nothing to complete the distance. You simply crested a little hill (or did you turn a little corner?) and there it was, the finish. You could see it, and that was it, the end. Yes. I plugged away at that minor distance and was finally there.
Two guys on big ladders stood right past the finish line to take pictures. I can order one for about $49.95! Good grief!
Cate was waiting in the big crowd at the finish and congratulated me and handed me a banana. Walking was hard for me at that moment. I remained pretty sore for the rest of the day, but strangely, never really felt sore after that.
We wandered the grounds at the end, eating bananas and clementines. We also got a nice photo taken of the two of us at the end, in front of the finisher's backdrop. Adam was waiting nearby with the car, so we found him and headed off to lunch.
Perhaps that's enough of a race story. I will say that we all took naps that afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely and eclectic and delicious diner chez Tisdale. I had an uneventful flight back home. Immediately after the race I was sore and exhausted, and nauseous, and said, no more half marathons. Now, 6 days later, I'm not so sure.
My time was about 2:11.
Cate's was about 1:57. Go Schwester!
Last Friday I flew to Austin Texas to run a half marathon with my sister Cate! The half-marathon was on Sunday, January 24.
I said this would be detailed, right? I arrived at the Austin airport and took the great $1 bus into town, near the UT campus. Cate was finishing up class, so I had an espresso at a coffee shop while waiting for her. She picked me up at the coffee shop and we stopped off at a great little taco place and had a couple tacos and a lime/watermelon agua fresca. That agua fresca was good.
After that, we headed home and got ready to do a 3 mile run around Town Lake, which seems more to me like a river. This place is great. It runs right through town and has a gravel path all along it. You can make your route many different lengths by crossing bridges and looping back around. At the main bridge area, there is a constant supply of water coolers with water and cups for runners. There's also an outdoor shower (it gets mighty hot in the summer) which I saw being used when I visited in June. Very cool. We ran our 3 miles at a faster pace than I usually run and it felt good. The rest of the evening we spent at home making dinner and playing with the sweet and silly kitty Luney.
Cate and I stayed busy on Saturday - we went to pick up our race packets (the race was sponsored by 3M so there was lots of tape and post-it notes as swag). We also drove the course, which was a good idea. Cate had some work to do at school, so I got to see her school and classroom. Somewhere in there we stopped at a thrift shop and Starbucks.
The plan for dinner had been to carbo-load at a pizzeria with a gluten-free menu (for me, though that experiment is over) but it was too far away. Instead we went to a great sushi place, then had ice cream for dessert. We all went to bed early that night.
The half-marathon was set to start at 6:45am. On Sunday morning, we awoke at 5am so we could eat breakfast and get ready with some leisure. At about 5:45, Adam drove us to the starting point, despite being sick. (He also stopped along the course in various spots to take pictures of us. Nice guy.)
When we arrived, it was dark, gusty and fairly cold. We dropped off our dry clothes for after the race and wandered around. Eventually we had the idea to wait in one of the portapotty lines, of which there were many, and tangled and confusing. But we managed to take care of business and make it back to the start in plenty of time. (Plenty of time.)
There was quite a crowd. The starting location was in the midst of a large shopping center where parking was relatively abundant. The start line was on a road running through the shopping center. By the time we were ready to "line up" there was no semblance of a line - it was people everywhere in a big crowd, waiting for the gun. The pacing group people were nowhere to be seen. It was fun.
As I said, it was gusty, and apparently the barricades along the course had blown down, allowing cars to go where they shouldn't. This delayed the race by an hour. (Though we didn't know by how long at the time). Bummer. We stood in the cold crowd while the guy at the mike (who we couldn't see) suggested we visit the bathroom again if we needed to. In that interim, Cate and I visited the hotel that was right there (where it was suggested anyone could use the bathroom). The lobby of the hotel was full of runners, warming up, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the run might be starting any minute. Did everyone have their own personal alert system, or were they relying on herd mentality? Cate and I wandered around in the hotel until we decided we were warm enough and headed back out. Shortly thereafter we heard an announcement to LINE UP! Runners literally came running out of that hotel!
We got lined up too and finally that gun did go off! Of course, we did not start running right away. In fact, our clock time and chip time were about 3 minutes apart, so you can tell it was quite a crowd. Our waiting location, though, allowed us to see the wheelchair racers head off first, followed shortly thereafter by the elite runners (don't know if there were any famous people there) and then of course the general crowd, including us!
About a mile after we started running we spied Adam who was waiting at an intersection with his camera. We lifted our fleece jackets to show our numbers (why?) and he got some nice shots of us. At about 1.5 miles we reached our first water station. I stopped for water, Cate did not and she headed off into the half marathon with her speedy legs leading the way.
We'd agreed that she'd go ahead when she felt like it. We also decided to wear some of her giveaway fleece tops to keep us warm, and would just throw them aside when we got too hot. That's the thing to do, apparently. And that's what we did.
Cate and I had driven the course the day before and that was a good idea. When we drove the route it seemed that there was a good bit of highwayish or big wide 5-lane roads. I admit now that I wasn't so sure about that. It didn't look all that fun to run on. When we got to the part of the route that was cute neighborhoody and UT-ish I felt better. Oddly though, during the race I preferred that highwayish part of the run more! Perhaps it was because it was the first half of the run when I felt better anyway, or maybe because it's because, when do I ever get to run on highways? But I enjoyed that part of the race more than the cute little neighborhoods.
The race was 13 miles long, but I was never far from other runners. People just didn't spread out much. That made it more tolerable for me, more interesting, to be constantly running near or past or by someone.
There were occasional musical interludes - my favorite may have been the bagpipe player early on. There was a guy playing solo electric guitar out of the back of his truck. Cate or Adam mentioned seeing a mariachi band, though I don't remember that. The cowbell ringers were annoying.
The race had water stops every 2 miles or so (on the even numbers) and I stopped at each one. I took one gu chomp before the race, at the 2 mile mark, 6 mile mark and one other, later mark that don't remember.
I felt quite good running until about mile 9. I saw Adam at around mile 6 or 7 and remember feeling great. I stayed ahead of the 2:10 pacing group (10 minute mile) until mile 9. Around then, they passed me and then I stopped for water around mile 10 and I never saw them again.
By mile 9 or 10 things started to get rough for me. I began to get quite sore. My hips and arches ached, and I felt as though my left leg might just cramp up entirely. My "speedy" pace was perhaps catching up with me. I hit mile 11 an thought "I've never run this far before." But, I kept at it. Around mile 10 or so I noticed a LOT of people passing me. Oh well.
By mile 12 or so I was doing all I could to not walk. I just kept plugging along. We were in UT territory and I knew the finish was soon. One thing I liked about this race is that you didn't have to do some foolish loop around nothing to complete the distance. You simply crested a little hill (or did you turn a little corner?) and there it was, the finish. You could see it, and that was it, the end. Yes. I plugged away at that minor distance and was finally there.
Two guys on big ladders stood right past the finish line to take pictures. I can order one for about $49.95! Good grief!
Cate was waiting in the big crowd at the finish and congratulated me and handed me a banana. Walking was hard for me at that moment. I remained pretty sore for the rest of the day, but strangely, never really felt sore after that.
We wandered the grounds at the end, eating bananas and clementines. We also got a nice photo taken of the two of us at the end, in front of the finisher's backdrop. Adam was waiting nearby with the car, so we found him and headed off to lunch.
Perhaps that's enough of a race story. I will say that we all took naps that afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely and eclectic and delicious diner chez Tisdale. I had an uneventful flight back home. Immediately after the race I was sore and exhausted, and nauseous, and said, no more half marathons. Now, 6 days later, I'm not so sure.
My time was about 2:11.
Cate's was about 1:57. Go Schwester!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Summer vacation
The month of July took us on vacations to Michigan and Carolina Beach, and both were a great success. We flew to Michigan for the first time since Ruby was a baby. After her first year we just didn't think she would fare too well on an airplane but this year she was rip rarin to go! For two months leading up to departure she would ask about every picture of an airplane she saw, "Is that the airplane we're going on to Gramma Pat's?" The correct answer is always yes, to which Ruby would always reply, "Whaoow." On to the photos (click to enlarge).
Ready for take off!
Waiting to lick the beater
This is at an indoor water park in Boyne Falls, MI - it was in the 50's outside
Visiting my paternal grandfather
Heading to the Boyne City 4th of July parade
Grandpa Jerry, Ruby, Oscar and Grandma Pat waiting for the fireworks to start
Gardening with Grandma Pat
Enjoying some Michigan cherries
Relaxing on the deck of our beach condo
Waiting to get on the ferris wheel (stuffed animal ever-present)
In the surf
water retreats
and returns
A church was setting up a puppet show and there was music playing. Ruby stepped into her stage persona and started to dance, emphatically.
As she would say, "Thank yooou, thank you very much!"
Saturday, June 27, 2009
My little running blog
I've got this side-blog, see, and I feel a little funny hiding it. So here it is:
http://kirstenrunninaround.blogspot.com/
It's nothing exciting, believe me, but I've found it's the best way for me to keep track of my running. I joined a running team for the summer and we're expected to keep up with our miles. I sit down at the computer several times a day so I know I can easily update things there. So, if reading dull running blogs is your thing, go for it!
http://kirstenrunninaround.blogspot.com/
It's nothing exciting, believe me, but I've found it's the best way for me to keep track of my running. I joined a running team for the summer and we're expected to keep up with our miles. I sit down at the computer several times a day so I know I can easily update things there. So, if reading dull running blogs is your thing, go for it!
In the garden 2009, volume I
I had planned a long, overall catch-up post, but just wasn't feeling it. So, onto the garden.
This spring I finally put up some deer fencing. It's not gorgeous, but it's not bad looking either. I used green stakes along with mom's bamboo to extend the length. Then I attached pieces of deer fencing (sheer, thin, black plastic stuff). It wasn't too hard and I got a lot of the garden surrounded. The deer of course have nibbled on some things (maybe only beans?) in the non-fenced part of the garden. I hope to put up some semi-fencing around that section of the garden later.
It's been a wet spring and while I've been able to keep the deer away, the slugs have been at it! I don't want to resort to nasty chemicals, but they've done a number on a lot of things. I could never get any cuke seedlings to get past one inch, and I lost many (though not all) zuke/squash seedlings. Most sadly, though, was the damage they did to the peppers. I can never have enough peppers (great for freezing - goulash, etc.) and probably bought about 20 plants. I may have 8 left? Sigh. They're not such an issue now that it's consistently hot and dry but I'll have to plan better for this next year.
What have we been eating? Early on - spinach, lettuce and peas. And last year's collards. Lots of herbs - I'm especially using a lot of parsley, chives and basil. And oregano. I've picked about 3 sungolds and a handful of raspberries. Just yesterday picked the first small handful of green beans. I may be most excited about my leeks! I have been hearing about schwester's great Texas leek patch but the first time I grew them they just got huge, made flowers and died. These ones, though are doing what I expected - making little side-babies that look like they'll just become part of a self-perpetuating leek patch. I threw a few into a potato and green pepper medley I made last night (cooked in foil on the grill). My only regret is not growing them much, much earlier. They were so good.
Other things in the garden: those 8 or so pepper plants (yellow and red bell and banana), about 4 varieties of tomato (nothing exciting - Early Girl, Better Boy, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Sungold), some okra, a few hills of squash/zuke, onions (that didn't get very big - I'm going to let them be and see what they do), New Kuroda carrots.
Oh, and I did plant 5 blueberry bushes this spring. Three were very cheap from some booster club, and two were pricier ones from Southern States. One of the SS ones is dying so I plan to return it. (Second fruit I've bought from SS that has died - I had a asian pear tree that actually did a similar thing - leaves that blacken and fall off, etc, til the whole thing is dead).
We leave for Michigan on Monday, so it'll be fun to see what's going on when we get back! Ripe tomatoes perhaps?
This spring I finally put up some deer fencing. It's not gorgeous, but it's not bad looking either. I used green stakes along with mom's bamboo to extend the length. Then I attached pieces of deer fencing (sheer, thin, black plastic stuff). It wasn't too hard and I got a lot of the garden surrounded. The deer of course have nibbled on some things (maybe only beans?) in the non-fenced part of the garden. I hope to put up some semi-fencing around that section of the garden later.
It's been a wet spring and while I've been able to keep the deer away, the slugs have been at it! I don't want to resort to nasty chemicals, but they've done a number on a lot of things. I could never get any cuke seedlings to get past one inch, and I lost many (though not all) zuke/squash seedlings. Most sadly, though, was the damage they did to the peppers. I can never have enough peppers (great for freezing - goulash, etc.) and probably bought about 20 plants. I may have 8 left? Sigh. They're not such an issue now that it's consistently hot and dry but I'll have to plan better for this next year.
What have we been eating? Early on - spinach, lettuce and peas. And last year's collards. Lots of herbs - I'm especially using a lot of parsley, chives and basil. And oregano. I've picked about 3 sungolds and a handful of raspberries. Just yesterday picked the first small handful of green beans. I may be most excited about my leeks! I have been hearing about schwester's great Texas leek patch but the first time I grew them they just got huge, made flowers and died. These ones, though are doing what I expected - making little side-babies that look like they'll just become part of a self-perpetuating leek patch. I threw a few into a potato and green pepper medley I made last night (cooked in foil on the grill). My only regret is not growing them much, much earlier. They were so good.
Other things in the garden: those 8 or so pepper plants (yellow and red bell and banana), about 4 varieties of tomato (nothing exciting - Early Girl, Better Boy, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Sungold), some okra, a few hills of squash/zuke, onions (that didn't get very big - I'm going to let them be and see what they do), New Kuroda carrots.
Oh, and I did plant 5 blueberry bushes this spring. Three were very cheap from some booster club, and two were pricier ones from Southern States. One of the SS ones is dying so I plan to return it. (Second fruit I've bought from SS that has died - I had a asian pear tree that actually did a similar thing - leaves that blacken and fall off, etc, til the whole thing is dead).
We leave for Michigan on Monday, so it'll be fun to see what's going on when we get back! Ripe tomatoes perhaps?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
What a little nap will do
Dialogue between Ruby and myself, shortly after she woke up from a nap.
Ruby: "I think it's beautiful."
Me: "What."
Ruby: "The whole world."
Ruby: "I think it's beautiful."
Me: "What."
Ruby: "The whole world."
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sport Ruby
A couple of weeks ago Ruby and I went to Tar Heel Town, which is a play area set up for kids during home football games. This day was UNC's spring football game and I think all of the spring sports had home games too, so the university was trying to get a big festive weekend together. Tar Heel Town was not well attended even though it was a much bigger version than usual with even more bouncy play stations, so we pretty much had the run of the place. She got to experience a multitude of sports, often with extensive one-on-one instruction from the attendant. To boot, they had free biscuits, cotton candy, snow cones, and swag - it was like being Michael Jackson in Neverland, but no monkey. Here's some photos.
One of many trips down the slide.
Learning the finer points of lacrosse.
Then on to the field and firing into the net - GOAL!
Break for some face painting...
and some cotton candy!
Shooting some hoops (this comes naturally to her of course).
A couple whacks at a ball suspended by blowing air.
The wind up...
and she brings the heat!
Wrapping it up with her friend Sophia.
One of many trips down the slide.
Learning the finer points of lacrosse.
Then on to the field and firing into the net - GOAL!
Break for some face painting...
and some cotton candy!
Shooting some hoops (this comes naturally to her of course).
A couple whacks at a ball suspended by blowing air.
The wind up...
and she brings the heat!
Wrapping it up with her friend Sophia.Monday, March 02, 2009
In Like a Lion!
Another blast of winter snow this morning kept me and Ruby home while Kirsten had an abbreviated work day.
Morning
Looking down Bradley
Williams Circle
Backyard
Blooms from the yard (and stir-crazy child)
Morning
Looking down Bradley
Williams Circle
Backyard
Blooms from the yard (and stir-crazy child)Sunday, March 01, 2009
A lovely day
Daran may have mentioned this already, but January 20, 2009 was a great day. Besides the obvious (new president) we also received our first snow of the season. This kept all 3 of us home to relax and enjoy the snow, while also staying glued to the TV as much as we could. Ruby was more interested in counting her books than she was in Doris Kearns Goodwin's commentary, but hey, she's only 4.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
2 garden posts to behold!
Oh no! Blogger remembers when you started a post, and hence my last year's "dark side" garden post is stuck down there below Daran's "Ruby snow" post. Check it out if you wish.
In the meantime, some gardening has been happening. I planted lettuce, spinach and pea seeds this past weekend, which was beautiful.
Also, my coveted neomerica plant bloomed. I should include a picture but that will have to wait.
In the meantime, some gardening has been happening. I planted lettuce, spinach and pea seeds this past weekend, which was beautiful.
Also, my coveted neomerica plant bloomed. I should include a picture but that will have to wait.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Facebook killed the Blogger Star
El blogo here has been hibernating all winter long and I think the culprit is Facebook. Our chief writer has taken up the the Facebook thing and she's not been heard from since. Seems every woman in her thirties started a Facebook page last year. Here are a few photos to get us back in the blogging game!Winter certainly has made its mark this year! After what seems like the gradual disappearance of serious cold or snow the last few years, this year has been one of the coldest on record (in most of the US). While it's been kind of annoying to deal with we did have the good fortune of having a little snow storm on January 20th, which shut down public works and schools. It was the first significant snowfall for Ruby and we enjoyed sledding, snowman building, snow angels, and lots of fun with neighborhood kids. But best of all, we were home to watch Barack Obama Day! It was great.
Snow angel on the deck
Clearing snow
Mom and Ruby in the falling snow
Ruby's first Santa meetingMonday, October 27, 2008
In the garden: the dark side
The Blogger Star is BACK!!!
I wrote the following post many months ago, soonafter my previous post about the garden. I guess I never finished it, or wasn't sure I liked it. Anyway, Daran found it and said I should post it. So, here it is:
_____
There's two sides to every story, right?
Sure, I mentioned a few garden failures in the previous post - nasty fuzzy cucumbers, non-blooming hydrangea paniculata. Life is rough. But here's what you really need to know about gardening here at my 'stead:
1. Mosquitoes prevent any fun from happening at all. Most of my gardening experiences involve mosquitoes assaulting me (and whomever dares join me) at just about any time of day, but mostly of course in the evening when the sun's gone down and you're most eager to get out and see what's what out there.
2. I grossly understated the deer problem. Especially after last year's drought, the deer have gotten smarter and cattier. Several crops of things (beans, peppers, 'maters) were severely delayed and some things (squash and zucchini) never made any headway at all due to the deer. Constant frustration. And they're now - in late OCTOBER for cryin' out loud - chomping up my non-blooming hydrangea. Talk about adding insult to injury.
3. Rabbits.
4. Peppers which I raised from seed and allowed to have 24/7 lamplight as seedlings, in accordance with the advice I read from some bozo I read on GardenWeb. Plants aren't mean to have 24/7 light, but I was feeling lazy and experimental. Those pepper plants (I think) were the ones that grew a bunch of quarter sized peppers. Really useful.
5. Raspberry bushes which, bless their hearts, produced about 14 raspberries per square hectare of bush. I know, it sounded all good in previous posts, and they were good - as in, tasty - but I neglected to mention the fact that they gobbled up tons of good garden space in order to produce no more than a cup total of fruit.
6. Things that flopped over way too much and either broke off or totally blocked the paths: Sungold cherry tomatoes.
7. Fennel that was supposed to be dill, according to Ace Hardware where I bought the plants. Sorry Italian cuisine lovers, but I don't know what to do with fennel.
8. Too many small carrots which I left in the ground all season then insisted to myself on harvesting, peeling, chopping and freezing, despite the fact that for about $0.78 worth of carrots which will only be frozen and then later added to soup, I spent about 3 hours of my time on, meaning those carrots per pound cost, labor-wise, about $500 dollars. Whoever comes over for soup, well, I'm gonna expect some appreciation.
I wrote the following post many months ago, soonafter my previous post about the garden. I guess I never finished it, or wasn't sure I liked it. Anyway, Daran found it and said I should post it. So, here it is:
_____
There's two sides to every story, right?
Sure, I mentioned a few garden failures in the previous post - nasty fuzzy cucumbers, non-blooming hydrangea paniculata. Life is rough. But here's what you really need to know about gardening here at my 'stead:
1. Mosquitoes prevent any fun from happening at all. Most of my gardening experiences involve mosquitoes assaulting me (and whomever dares join me) at just about any time of day, but mostly of course in the evening when the sun's gone down and you're most eager to get out and see what's what out there.
2. I grossly understated the deer problem. Especially after last year's drought, the deer have gotten smarter and cattier. Several crops of things (beans, peppers, 'maters) were severely delayed and some things (squash and zucchini) never made any headway at all due to the deer. Constant frustration. And they're now - in late OCTOBER for cryin' out loud - chomping up my non-blooming hydrangea. Talk about adding insult to injury.
3. Rabbits.
4. Peppers which I raised from seed and allowed to have 24/7 lamplight as seedlings, in accordance with the advice I read from some bozo I read on GardenWeb. Plants aren't mean to have 24/7 light, but I was feeling lazy and experimental. Those pepper plants (I think) were the ones that grew a bunch of quarter sized peppers. Really useful.
5. Raspberry bushes which, bless their hearts, produced about 14 raspberries per square hectare of bush. I know, it sounded all good in previous posts, and they were good - as in, tasty - but I neglected to mention the fact that they gobbled up tons of good garden space in order to produce no more than a cup total of fruit.
6. Things that flopped over way too much and either broke off or totally blocked the paths: Sungold cherry tomatoes.
7. Fennel that was supposed to be dill, according to Ace Hardware where I bought the plants. Sorry Italian cuisine lovers, but I don't know what to do with fennel.
8. Too many small carrots which I left in the ground all season then insisted to myself on harvesting, peeling, chopping and freezing, despite the fact that for about $0.78 worth of carrots which will only be frozen and then later added to soup, I spent about 3 hours of my time on, meaning those carrots per pound cost, labor-wise, about $500 dollars. Whoever comes over for soup, well, I'm gonna expect some appreciation.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
In the garden
It's been a great year for the garden. We've had reasonable temperatures, regular rain and I finally invested in a bottle of "I Must Garden" (repels deer). We even did buy a chest freezer for all the surplus, and it's mighty stocked now. Still, there are areas of the garden that need attention and I'm sure I'll never be totally satisfied with it.The tomatoes were incredible, and I loved growing yellow ones for a change (Lemon Boy and Golden Girl). I sure like hybrids. Someone will need to convince my to devote more than a tiny percentage of my garden to heirlooms - I just haven't had much luck or production from them.
The green beans (Blue Lake) were also outrageous. The same dang plants produced all summer long. Usually, I (at least intend to) stagger plantings throughout the summer (perhaps 3 different plantings?) so as to keep the production up.
But this year my most productive plants were the very first ones that I planted. Every time we'd get a needed rain, the plants would burst forth again with new beans and I picked them up until a few weeks ago.Cucumbers, not so hot. I planted a bum variety from some hippie outfit - some were good, some were awful - fuzzy, full of huge slimy seeds. I need some good cuke recs.
Other winners - green/sweet peppers, basil, jerusalem artichokes, okra, peaches and even a few raspberries (currently making a fall resurgence)!
Some nice flowers made an entry to the garden this year - pineapple sage, various purple salvias, a very happy light pink mum from Ruth (currently blooming) and of course the swamp sunflowers from mom, also blooming profusely right now. The little orange Mexican cosmos looked great, and my obedience plant bloomed for the first time. My hydrangea paniculata 'tardiva' did not bloom and I discovered that it blooms on new wood and so needs to be pruned. Noted.
So, at this late date, I'm not picking much from the garden. Lots of parsely is left, and so is basil but that won't last long (frost soon). A few hangers-on peppers and the enormous jerusalem artichoke stand needs to be chopped down and dug up (can't wait). It's time to hunker down, spread some compost (and chicken manure!!!) and start planning for next year...
Monday, October 20, 2008
R-U-B-Y
Ruby loves drawing on Daran's little coaching whiteboard but until now it's just been scribbles and drawings. Last week, though, I noticed her working hard on something, crouching over the board on the floor. Minutes later, she came running down the hall, proudly. And proud she should be. Proud, I was.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Milwaukee
Just a short post to say we made the scene at Milwaukee and I'm here to report Milwaukee is a fine town. It's much nicer than I imagined while growing up thinking about the Milwaukee Bucks, the Milwaukee Brewers and the "Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee Wisconsin." We ate lunch first then flitted around some of the downtown neighborhoods before heading over to Miller Vally, where all the company's buildings are. We were too late for a tour but they showed us the ten minute movie and gave a pass to the Miller Inn where they give you a couple beers on the house. We came home and had a quiet night in preparation for probably a wild weekend in Chicago. Mark, Matt and another guy rejoin us this weekend. Pictures!
On a bridge downtown.
Every team in the NBA will make at least one appearance in the Bradley Center (background) each year. This is right downtown where someone (hypothetically like me) could live a couple hundred feet away - pretty cool.
Chris and I collecting our free beers at the Miller Inn. A hostess reports each Miller employee receives 3 free cases per month, sometimes more. I'd like to know the percentage of alcoholics in the monthly application pool.
Finally, we toured some replica caves where they demonstrate the manufacturing process pre electricity. I'm helping with the ice making.
On a bridge downtown.
Every team in the NBA will make at least one appearance in the Bradley Center (background) each year. This is right downtown where someone (hypothetically like me) could live a couple hundred feet away - pretty cool.
Chris and I collecting our free beers at the Miller Inn. A hostess reports each Miller employee receives 3 free cases per month, sometimes more. I'd like to know the percentage of alcoholics in the monthly application pool.
Finally, we toured some replica caves where they demonstrate the manufacturing process pre electricity. I'm helping with the ice making.
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