Our new Worm Box

Remember that time I tried to keep worms?  Remember, it was going to be a really enlightened way to deal with kitchen scraps, except I had no idea what I was doing, and the worms had to live in the basement which was too hot, then too cold, then too wet and somewhere in the middle we unleashed a torrent of fruit flies on out little duplex the horrors of which cannot be imagined. Matt (rightfully) banished the worms outside, where they eventually froze, long before turning any quantity of household waste into dirt.  (So yes, there was a bucket for of frozen, rotting food with worm carcasses on our back porch for much too long.)

Anyway, forget all that.  I've gotten from training in worm handing from an experienced vermiculturist- my mother-in-law. She promised us works and send us hardware, and we just recently put together the box.  Just as I was on the verge of caving and buying new wood, Matt decided we could put a box together out of old pallets, and found a bunch being given away. I was all enthusiasm until I realized how hard it is to break apart pallets. Matt soldiered on an knocked together a mighty nice looking box, complete with a fairly solid looking recycled lid (and hinges!).  This weekend, as part of our Mother's Day exchange, we took home a box of worms and some starter stuff for worms.  They got settled in their in the box yesterday (Fig 1).

Fig 1. The new Worm box, made of re-purposed pallets.

So let's discuss some of the design improvements of the current box.
1) It has no bottom.  It will drain directly into the soil, the only barrier is a wire hardware cloth, which keeps out mice.
2) Wood is more breathable than plastic. The moisture thing was a serious issue for the last worms, because they were sealed in a sweaty plastic coffin. We should have worked around that this time.
3) I know what worms eat.  Betty informs me that these red worms don't do much to orange peels or onion skins. Those were the main components of the first box- which, since no one was eating them, drove up the moisture and smell. We won't be sending the worms food the don't like, especially while they are getting settled.
4) The box is outside. The requirements for compost that lives beside the garage are much more forgiving that the compost in your laundry room. This is perhaps the biggest key to success.

And, since I've figure out how to add picture from my phone to the blog, may I present, a rhododendron bush that is ready to explode with color despite a steady diet of clouds (Figure 2), and my first ever rose that I grew in my own garden and it is so big and so red you may think you've never truly seen color before (Figure 3).

Fig 2. Our Rhododendron begins to bloom. It's magenta!

Figure 3. My rose. The image doesn't quite capture a hue of red so deep your eyes ache.

Perhaps more garden pictures can be shared once the rest of the things get settled. I like how lively they look in their little pots on the porch so far, but I'm trying not to get too attached in case I've misjudged what can be grown here.

First 5K of the Year

Matt and I ran (or "ran") a 5K this weekend.  This was Betty's idea, she was going to walk a 5K in Concrete to support the local Lion's Club Booster, and since I'm trying to find ways to support family and friend's communities efforts, we decided to go.  I thought I might walk, but the weather was wet, which made me think I should "run," you know, to finish "faster."

Let's discuss my running quickly. (Or maybe just briefly, since my running quickly doesn't come up much.)  At various times in the past, I've thought, "I should run," and this idea is almost immediately rejected by by lungs and legs. A coworker has been running, and since we have this fitness challenge, at work, I thought I should go with her.  She runs really slow.  And you know what, if I go really slow, I can run.  Or jog.  Or possibly wog.  You know those skinny late-middle aged women who get all decked out in high visibility fluorescent spandex and then go for runs so slow, you wonder why they are even wearing work out clothes?  I'm a little slower than that.  And I'm totally ok with it.

Let's just compare that to Matt's running.  Matt, my dearly beloved, wear a heart rate monitor when he runs.  He will occasionally let his bestie talk him into going into a 5, no oops, 8 mile trail run up a mountain. When Matt saw last year's times for this 5K, he simply said, "I'm pretty sure I could beat that." 

Needless to say, Matt and I never run together.  Matt thinks running together would be nice, but I am much happier running and suffering on my own then listening to his chipper banter about how he is almost warmed-up while I'm already too out of breathe to tell him I don't want to talk about how wind sprints might help me.  It's one of those secrets to our happy marriage: we don't run together.

But, we can run at the same event.  This was an out and back kind of race- run away from the school 2.5K, then come back 2.5K. IT was paired with a 10K, where lean people would run out 5K, and back 5K. Now, I'm a "running my own race" type, but I was hoping to see racers returning, since this would indicate that at least someone made it near the halfway point.  I finally saw some kids running back (yes, actual children), eventually followed by Matt. As he passed, he rolled his eyes and said, "I forgot to turn around." When I got back, 45 min from the start time (a personal best, thank you), Matt was there to greet me.  I got a participation ribbon (Woo!), and we went to get some water before watching to see Betty come in.

We compared notes: I was not passed by the 83 year old trail walker, but I'd been dropped by most everyone else who ran.  After he forgot to turn around (because he was keeping up with people running the 10K), he had to run pretty hard to make up the time.  He had to pass several children, and a guy with one leg.  He has been hoping to post a personal best (since he is in great shape from Mt Bike Racing this winter), but that was not to be.  I finally asked him what he did with his ribbon, and he sheepishly pulled out his SECOND PLACE MEDAL from his pocket.  Yup, second place, behind a 15 year old, and in front of 12 year old and a man running with a blade in place of his foot.

Much to be Thankful for

This week we host the much anticipated visit of the Texas family, AND a return of the parents to our new abode.  Those of us who regularly hang around in WA were pretty pumped about these events, if you can image.  Nana and I would just site round ringing our hands in anticipation of those cute baby cheeks to pinch and the mountains of food that we would be eating.  And this visit did not disappoint.

Noel's family got in on Saturday night.  So I got to host a newly arrived Mom and Nana for dinner before the airport run that delivered the Texans to my house.  Tyler valiantly tolerated us hauling him all around Pike Place Market, and Seattle was in full spectrum grey on Sunday.  At least it was an honest representation of the city.  We also somehow talked Mom into hosting all the cousins for a potluck dinner in Sunday, which was a great excuse to get a ton of adults together to just watch a baby.  It's pretty funny how one little kid can completely steal the show at a dinner party. 

Even though I had to WORK at my awesome JOB, I think Noel and Jessie managed to enjoy themselves while they were here.  I know Tyler got to spend some super bonus Nana time with his Nana and Great-Nana, which would be the Nana Highlight of the whole holiday season if they weren't going to see him in Texas in a couple weeks.  And this was just the build up to the main event- TURKEY DAY. 

Even my mother-in-law came down to dive into the family food frenzy of Thanksgiving.  When you've got that many balls in the air, it seems safe to assume at list one thing is going to come out charred and inedible, but we managed to time every single thing perfectly- steaming hot dishes stuffing, green beans, Brussels sprouts (lovingly friend with bacon), stood next to a tower of mashed potatoes, creamy pools of gravy and the glow of a sweet potatoe pie (a pre-dessert tradition from Jessie's family).  I suppose if you were going to be nit-picky (and I'm not), the one casualty of the kitchen was the bird.  Don't get me wrong, after a day in the roaster, this bird was as tender and juicy as any bird you could dream of.  But to get that 18 pound monster of fall-off the bone good-ness onto the platter, well, it lost just a little in the presentation.  As they inevitably moved/dropped/exploded the bird onto the target platter, Jessie and Noel stood giggling over the "Norman Rockewell Perfect Turkey" in a way that reminded me of the Disaster of The Wedding Cake.  They are so cute.

My mother-in-law lead the charge to bake 3 universally awesome pies on Wednesday night.  I always assume that part of the motivation for cooking so many is that at least one should be ok.  Well, we felt like we won the pie lottery, because all of them were fantastic: sweet-meat squash/pumpkin, brown bag apple and West Virginia Pecan alike.  As Noel said, "I believe this pie is a triumph of human ingenuity and civilization." Wash it all down with a couple gallons of Martinelli's and it was a Thanksgiving for the record books.

Betty revived the old family tradition of going around the table to share something we can be thankful for- and man, I felt like we could go around the table a few times.  Great family, near and far, good health (especially those who just got out of their back braces), meaningful work that PAID us to spend the day cooking and eating, the means to live a comfortable life and share it with those precious people around the table... and this was before we tried the pie. 

Everyone is back on the road again, which leaves Matt and I to conquer the lion's share of the leftovers.  It's just one more thing to be grateful for.

Happy Fourth of July!

We are having a great week in Juneau.  The Fourth of July is always a great holiday here- there are fireworks and parades and often a break in the crappiest of weather.  And now that we are older, we notice it's a holiday other people come home for- Kelsey was here (awesome), and a bunch of Matt's friends are in town for this wedding.  We took in the fireworks with the bride's family (and Betty!), and spent the actual fourth of July hiking the West Glacier trail with Kelsey's friends.  It was a great day for it.  And then Mom made us some AMAZING BBQ Salmon and a huge spread of BBQ feasting things.  We ate until we were paralyzed and felt very patriotic about it.

Today is the much anticipated wedding.  Matt got up early this morning to unload wood for a bonfire and help with last minute set-up details.  I'm slightly regretting my choice to wear the same dress I got for an outdoor wedding in Virginia in two weeks to an outdoor wedding in Juneau, so I am raiding the house for warm under- and over-things as my form of preparation.  It promises to be a fun filled day of friends and family!

Stuff we've been up to lately

I totally neglected to mention how awesome our Memorial Day weekend was.  Matt and I both had Monday off, so we decided to spring for one of those "We should do that sometime" activities that sounds like fun, isn't that hard to pull off and we normally never get around to.  But first, we were compelled to do something fun and relaxing because we wanted to celebrate having been together for TEN YEARS. Traditionally, I think we usually manage to pull off a picnic in a park to catch up and enjoy eachother's company a bit.

This year, to get things started, I finally gave Matt the PhT gift I've been working on.  What I gave him was the balance on an account he didn't notice I'd opened.  I've been putting all my money form contracts in there since December, and I finally got paid from a couple contracts that pushed the balance up over the mark for a new bike part.  Not just any bike part, so I wanted to make the presentation special- I used two springs (Dual suspension) to FRAME the balance. ... Oh yes, I am this cheesy in my real life.  Matt is going to pick out the frame of his dreams and bike happily ever after.  Hooray.

Our weekend was also super fun.  We picked up Nana and took a different way up to Concrete, this time through Darrington.  It's more of that rural, farm-land-by-the-river-framed-with-abrupt-mountains type scenery that does good for the soul.  We hung out with Betty, taking in the FOUR hummingbirds feeders (seating for 23!) host a deafening parade of hummers.  When you see that many birds all at once, and as close as we can get to them, there is such a moment of humbling awe, just like when you see whales breaching or first catch the glimpse of an entire mountain pass.  I had that feeling a lot this weekend.

The main event, however, was to drive over the Hwy 20 pass to Winthrop.  I didn't know what to expect, but I was told there would be ice cream on the other side.  The views on Hwy 20 were spectacular.  And it's quite obvious why this pass closes from October to April every year- there was still FEET of snow packed high along the sides of the road.  At appropriate distances, there were hiking trails and camp sites that made we wish we had different gear with us.  We did get out to look at the view at lots of places, and otherwise Matt just guided us over the winding and wild road to the East side of the state.  We got out to see Mazama and Winthrop, both of which were overrun with people enjoying the sunny weather and the start of summer.  The four of us just jumped into the fray, doing a little shopping, and eating and loving the scenery and the weather.

Happy Mother's Day!

Traditionally, we here at the blog mark every Mother's Day by having a blog.  Really, our primary audience is our Moms and Grandmothers.  So, for you dear ladies and all you do- Happy Mother's Day.

This year, Matt and I got to celebrate Mother's Day hole hog.  But before we get there- it's been kind another crazy week.  Matt's CDL class takes up so much of his time that we try to plan for fun things when he isn't working/driving.  Friday night he went for a ride and had a bonfire with his bestie Jeffrey, but we didn't stay too late because of the CDL class, which was EXTRA early on Saturday.  Like 6am leaving from Renton early.  Sometime later, when I woke up to go to the bank, I had a confused memory of Matt asking me for my pillow- the fluffy pink one, not the understated green one Matt sleeps on.  I asked him later if that really happened and why, he said "It was kinda a tough morning.  I was confused, and your pillow looked like the best." (It is.)  He said that morning all the guys looked like the were going to a slumber party.  (They can sleep in the sleeper part of the truck while they take turns driving)

After a long day of driving to Yakima, Matt and Nana and I jumped into the car and headed up to visit Betty (meta-Mother's Day!).  It was a beautiful day for a drive, the Cascades and Olympics were out, the Skagit River was high and the roads were clear.  Brilliant.  We went "in to town" to have omg-super-yummy-pizza at the local Pizza joint which was a nice start.  But come Sunday, we got serious about Mother's day.  Betty and I made a pretty wicked breakfast (if I do say so myself)- awesome spring hash with asparagus and salami, a cheesy veggie omelet and a fresh fruit salad.  While Matt and I cleaned up, Nana and Betty started on a garden tour, but quickly got way-laid with gardening projects.  All in all, we planted carrots, weeded many beds, strung up the peas, swept the roof, cleaned the gutters and re-potted some plants (which were for me to take home).  All this with the some hot sun and the constant buzzsaw background noise of hummingbirds at the feeders- Betty must have a cycle of no less than 15 regulars constantly taking turns and waiting in the wings for their turn.  They are amazing, and if I get the pictures of Matt's camera I'll share some here.  Matt topped off the day with a unicycling demonstration that wowed the crowd.  It was a a fantastic day, the kind of day that makes us really glad we get to live in the same state as our family. 

To all the Mom's we didn't get to see today, Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be less stressful, worrisome, tedious and awful than 2011 for all you an yours!

Matt and I left Juneau a couple days before the rest so he could get back to work, and I could go through the motions of job hunting.  Needless to say, I'll be working at that for a while. Does anyone know anyone else I should be meeting with or talking to in the area?  I could use all the help I can get.

We had the pleasure of ringing in the new year with my gracious mother-in-law, who not only hosted us, but Shaoshu too.  The dogs took such a shine to him that she's declared him "one of the herd" and invited him back for the dog birthday party in February (there will be meatloaf).  As for the weekend, we finally made it to the Birdsview Brewery to sample their beers, and upgrade one of our PA growlers for the local version.  This we took home to get settled in with, making and eating food for most of the rest of the weekend.  Then we got to share our Third and final Christmas celebration, exchanging presents and eating.  We brought Betty wooly socks, and she gave us a beautiful watercolor print, books on gardening, fun candies and cool kitchen gadgets.  Did I mention she stuffed us with food all weekend, too?  But we aren't completely ungrateful-We did help with the posters for the Concrete Recycled Art Contest, using old wrapping paper to add color and flair.  And Matt fixed some stuff, as he always dos.  And then we took home the extra food- Betty wouldn't want all that burdening her. 

But back to the narrative, we rang in the new year with semi-legit roman candles from the res, and a bottle of bubbly.  Since we slept so late the next day, Matt barely got in a bike ride while we made "brunch" (which is still a very legitimate description for eggs you eat at 2 in the afternoon), and then we all wanted down to the river to fly Shaoshu's radio controlled helicopter.  Well, actually, Shaoshu was the only one who flew it- the control on it are insanely complicated.  But the weather was spectacular, and clear view of the mountains along the river is a perfect welcome to the new year.  This somehow prompted our band of brave souls to toddle off to Bellingham for some adventure, which brings us up to today.  Great lunch, book browsing in Fairhaven, a quick campus tour and a long stop for ice cream- another perfect day.  All of this fun an adventure is wearing on Matt a bit- he hardly comes through the door before I am pestering him to do something more fun.  Clearly, I need something to occupy my time more efficiently so I don't grate on his nerves too much.  I'm starting to look for more volunteer opportunities out here as well.

Thanksgiving survivors

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

We were very exited to be close enough to drive up to my mother-in-law's for a weekend of fun and eating.  See, moving home is great, because you can get together and plan a big meal to share with you family in person, and then get together AGAIN and share it.  How cool!  Right?  I mean, that was kinda how it turned out.  Thanksgiving Eve, as it were, I started feeling not awesome- achey, sleepy, sore throat.  By the time Matt came home I was reduced to shivers on the couch under a pile of blankets.  In a brief moment of clear-minded-ness brought on by Tylenol, I remember 'Hey sometimes people don't like it when you bring them germs as hostess gifts.'  I tried to explain this to Matt, but I am pretty sure my pathetic muttering came off as much more "Please take me to your mom's, she'll take care of me." 

In the morning Matt confirmed, that yes, his saintly mother would still take us and all the germs we could carry for Thanksgiving AND put our entire, ambitious feast on the table.  Whadda Woman!  Picture this, I moved directly from the couch to the car, took a long nap in the car and arrived in slippers, sweats and a fleece blanket thrown over my head.  I gave a big hug Betty, who made me a cup of tea, which I immediately took to bed.  At some point, Matt poked his head in to ask how you make sausage cornbread stuffing.  I believe my exact recipe was "Sausage, Cornbread and more butter."  I woke up once thinking I might be energetic and asked "Are we having mashed potatoes?" and then went back to bed.  I don't know that I felt so terrible, but being awake and suffering just didn't seem in the cards.  During one of my brief peroids of awakefulness, Matt did say that he was feeling achey, maybe from his workout.  This is a literary device called forshadowing. After a couple more naps and mugs of tea, dinner happened! 

And let me just brag on this spread, because I optimistically committed us to it and then didn't lift a finger to get it on the table.  I thought surely, the two remaining chefs would decide chard AND Brussels sprouts is overkill, or that maybe a waldorf salad was redundant considering we had like 4 other vegetable dishes on the table- but no.  No pan was spared in the making of our Thanksgiving feast, which should come as no surprise given our turn-outs in the past.  The centerpiece was of course a beautiful, herbed and brined turkey.  Together, they made an amazing sausage and cornbread (that Betty baked fresh) stuffing, as well as Brussels sprouts with sopressetta, creamed chard, mashed potatoes and parsnips and a green casserole which I managed to muff up by giving him crunchy onions that expired 2 years ago (uh, yeah, we moved with that....).  There was also a heavenly sweet potatoe dish, an heirloom quality orange-cranberry relish and a divine pumpkin cheesecake.  AND a waldorf salad, which while I supposed Bety didn't grow the nuts, everything else in it was home grown AND my-mother-in-law's-best-recipe Deviled Eggs and a crazy good gravy to drown everything in.  It was amazing.  It took like and hour to move it all on to the table, and then on to each of our plates.  And now is a good time to clarify, that yes, it was just the three of us eating.  We of course ate ourselves silly, and then retired the feast to the fridge until we could consider cheesecake.  I believe I had another nap.  And about the time I got up to eating cheesecake, Matt said that, no, he didn't want any, he would just go to bed.  Which I thought was weird- especially when I tasted how good the cheesecake was!  By my bed time, my throat was just feeling bruised from swelling and I was tired, but Matt had mumbled a goodbye, and then curled up on the bed, fully clothed and passed out.  Uh-oh.

He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning and feeling awful.  He woke up in the morning sort of confused about it, like he often is about when his body does not respond as directed.  After some discussion, we concluded that maybe you don't only need to take medicine when you are SICK, if you use a narrow definition of SICK that requires hospitalization, maybe sometimes you can take some medicine when you don't feel good.  Having some aleve in him made it easier to get him interested in drinking juice, but unfortunately, his interest in food was completely off.  Betty and I went for a brief sprint around town for "black friday" shopping- we went to the gallery, and her friend's gallery and the grocery store for more lemons for my lemon honey tea.  I got some beautiful cards, and then was in sore need of a nap.  I cannot exaggerate the amount I slept this weekend.  Matt and I barely saw each other we were sleeping so much.  This is partly due to illness, but I think also a cry for help in the form of blackout curtains for our bedroom.  By today, we both felt with it enough to pack our own things out to the car and stay awake for the long (2 hours) drive home.  Matt took a shower, put on all his warm clothes and came to sit on the couch with me.  Then the cat yurped, and after he recovered his dignity, he came to be the cherry on top of our sick family sundae. 

As objectively bad as most of that sounds, it was actually a really nice weekend.  I mean, if you have to be sick, it is so much nicer to be around people who want to take care of you and can make tea without batting an eye.  I'm thoroughly convinced our health was buoyed up by a full array of hearty and nourishing foods, prepared lovingly by my (blessedly un-infected) mother-in-law.  And if we left too many germs behind, I will totally rush back to concrete to make the tea and prime the DVDs.