Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Art Class
Taking a quick break from more packing for the move... One week til moving day - AHHH!
I haven't taken any art classes since high school, and sometimes I really miss 'em... While I had still life illustration at some points, I was never in the class where we illustrated live models. I wonder if I had been, might this have ever occured!?
I haven't taken any art classes since high school, and sometimes I really miss 'em... While I had still life illustration at some points, I was never in the class where we illustrated live models. I wonder if I had been, might this have ever occured!?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Rainstorm
We had some serious rainstorms late last week, including one pelting properties with 2 1/2 inch hail and blowing over buildings and trees (although not right here in this area). I was about to leave work Friday when our tornado alert alarms went off and we all got shuffled down to the basement - yay. Fun. (More like hot, sweaty, humid and crowded)
Came home between storms - just as I pulled in the garage we got hit with another loud one - all the thunder scared the kittens (Tucker was hardly fazed by it).
Got some pictures of "the back forty", showing the HUUUUGE amount of property we're leaving for .318 acres out in Rootstown, Ohio. Don't get excited by the green grassy hill backed with trees. See that rock wall? That pretty much defines "our backyard". And you can see some of my attempts to mask the wall that's been slowly crumbling since we moved in. Oh well - the new owners (three education major, early 20's girls) can deal with it! ;-)
I'll miss the black raspberries you can see on the far left of the back wall... I dug up some starts from them to take with us. Ditto with the Egyptian walking onions you see next to the black raspberries.
As you can see here, I had the umbrella down for fear the table would tip or go flying. Was a good thing I took it down!!! Most of the tomato and pepper plants you see in front of the grill found new homes yesterday - I made a bunch of people at work very happy!
And just as I was done taking pictures Tucker bolted out the door. While he might love getting hosed with water on hot summer days, he didn't much like being out in the rainstorm. Two seconds out, and he bolted back in!
Came home between storms - just as I pulled in the garage we got hit with another loud one - all the thunder scared the kittens (Tucker was hardly fazed by it).
Got some pictures of "the back forty", showing the HUUUUGE amount of property we're leaving for .318 acres out in Rootstown, Ohio. Don't get excited by the green grassy hill backed with trees. See that rock wall? That pretty much defines "our backyard". And you can see some of my attempts to mask the wall that's been slowly crumbling since we moved in. Oh well - the new owners (three education major, early 20's girls) can deal with it! ;-)
I'll miss the black raspberries you can see on the far left of the back wall... I dug up some starts from them to take with us. Ditto with the Egyptian walking onions you see next to the black raspberries.
As you can see here, I had the umbrella down for fear the table would tip or go flying. Was a good thing I took it down!!! Most of the tomato and pepper plants you see in front of the grill found new homes yesterday - I made a bunch of people at work very happy!
And just as I was done taking pictures Tucker bolted out the door. While he might love getting hosed with water on hot summer days, he didn't much like being out in the rainstorm. Two seconds out, and he bolted back in!
My babies!
Look what I found today!!! My zucchini plants really aren't all that big yet - after all, I just planted them in the pots less than two weeks ago! However, they've LOVED the heat we've been having, and I've been really good about watering (so far). So maybe that's what's inspired them to crank out these little tiny baby zukes already!?
Don't get too excited - I don't think either of the two fruit are more than an inch yet...but there's hope! I don't expect the first zucchini that show to fully develop - just seems like that's setting one's self up for disappointment. But hey, this means it might not be TOO much longer before I'm unloading stealth packages of summer squash bounty on unsuspecting victims!!! >;-) (Actually, I don't know that I can count on POTTED summer squash to produce as much as those planted directly in the ground....anyone with experience on this care to share?)
This variety is Aristocrat - about as common a standard green zucchini as you'll find I believe. I have some darker Black ones, plus some yellow zucchini and some yellow crook neck squash also growing - they're just not as far along as the Aristocrats...
Don't get too excited - I don't think either of the two fruit are more than an inch yet...but there's hope! I don't expect the first zucchini that show to fully develop - just seems like that's setting one's self up for disappointment. But hey, this means it might not be TOO much longer before I'm unloading stealth packages of summer squash bounty on unsuspecting victims!!! >;-) (Actually, I don't know that I can count on POTTED summer squash to produce as much as those planted directly in the ground....anyone with experience on this care to share?)
This variety is Aristocrat - about as common a standard green zucchini as you'll find I believe. I have some darker Black ones, plus some yellow zucchini and some yellow crook neck squash also growing - they're just not as far along as the Aristocrats...
Kitty Cat Fortress
Excuse our mess - moving is seriously NO FUN!
...unless you're a cat - then it's FULL of opportunities to find new places to lounge, to hide, etc. Here's Tucker lounging on top of the wall-o-boxes today... There's more boxes in both upstairs bedrooms, at the top of the stairs, etc...
I hope to get some of Moxie hiding in a box at some point. All you see is her eyes!
...unless you're a cat - then it's FULL of opportunities to find new places to lounge, to hide, etc. Here's Tucker lounging on top of the wall-o-boxes today... There's more boxes in both upstairs bedrooms, at the top of the stairs, etc...
I hope to get some of Moxie hiding in a box at some point. All you see is her eyes!
Soft underbelly
Sorry, but when there's a pose like this, it's HARD not to take a ton of pics!
Don't you just wanna give him razzberries in his tummy!??! (Minus the fur!)
"I think he's dead!"
"MMmmm sunshine!"
"Does this make my butt look fat?"
Don't you just wanna give him razzberries in his tummy!??! (Minus the fur!)
"I think he's dead!"
"MMmmm sunshine!"
"Does this make my butt look fat?"
Monday, June 11, 2007
Growies
This year's growies include some new varities of tomatoes...and it seems I have a mix of "standard leafed tomatoes" (on the right) and what I THINK I've read is called "potato leafed tomatoes" (left) - at least this is my guess as to why some of the varities I'm growing in pots have some HUGE leaves...
And if this is any sign - tomatoes may not be TOO far off!!! (Ok, it really seems to take FOREVER between the first bloom sightings and the first ripe tomatoes - so I'm not holding my breath) (well, maybe I am JUST a little!)
One of the squash plants. Once they were transplanted to pots, they started taking off like crazy! Let's hope they don't get TOO big before next Friday's moving day!
The tomato plants are also really taking off!!! I think all these squash and tomato pics were taken, hm, two weeks after putting them in pots!??!
And if this is any sign - tomatoes may not be TOO far off!!! (Ok, it really seems to take FOREVER between the first bloom sightings and the first ripe tomatoes - so I'm not holding my breath) (well, maybe I am JUST a little!)
One of the squash plants. Once they were transplanted to pots, they started taking off like crazy! Let's hope they don't get TOO big before next Friday's moving day!
The tomato plants are also really taking off!!! I think all these squash and tomato pics were taken, hm, two weeks after putting them in pots!??!
Oh, and PS - here you can see one of the many visitors to our backyard... This cat lives a couple doors down, and they just let it out to roam periodically. I don't think it goes much farther than our yard. Chubbo, eh?
Recent Cooking
Peter's been nagging me lately (ok, not very subtley hinting) - and he's right... I haven't been posting much. Just been juggling along with packing, prepping other stuff for the move to the new house, socializing, watching movies with our new cheap Netflix account, etc...
And in the meantime, I've also been trying to find creative ways to use up some of the stuff from the fridge, freezer, pantry, and garden pots... Tonite's dinner was great! I started thawing one of my remaining pizza crust dough blobs the other day, started marinating a couple chicken breasts in BBQ sauce yesterday, came home today and put the dough in a well-oiled bowl, covered, out in the sun to hopefully warm and rise (which it didn't do very well), and then ran errands. Came back to find Brett home, and it was a rush to start dinner. Fired up the grill, threw on the breasts, cut the kernels from an ear of corn and plopped them into a small pot with a bit of boiling water, flattened out the dough, tossed it on the grill, prepped a bowl of shredded cheeses, turned the chicken and dough, checked the corn, plucked cilantro, pulled the dough off, tossed on some cheese and bbq sauce, put it back on the grill briefly, pulled it back off, mixed the cooked corn with more cheese and the cilantro and some black pepper, pulled off the chicken, cubed the chicken, layered it and the corn/cilantro/cheese mix on the dough, put it back on the grill, pulled it off, sliced and YUUUUM!
Brett fessed up, saying he didn't think he liked bbq chicken pizza, and really raved about this - yay!! GOOD STUFF! (Ok, not the most photogenic, and it looks a little corn-heavy, but we loved it!)
Saturday I used the last of a batch of pesto from the basil tip-pickings (they need to get bushier), to which I'd added a bit of lemon juice (seems to have kept it green longer! Vitamin C is supposed to do that I believe?), some leftover pasta (quickly reboiled) and three slices of bacon (nuked). We were in a hurry, and had dinner plans not too far off, so this was pesto pasta pronto with bacon - good stuff (altho a tad too garlicky!?)
And last Thursday for lunch I used up leftover burrito fixings - where the cheap tortillas fell apart when wrapped around the food, so the next day I sliced them, lightly oiled and baked (the first attempt was a burn out, but the second was good). Throw into a bowl the leftover black beans (seasoned with broth and jalapeno), the leftover white rice (cooked with chili powder and corn kernels), the leftover grilled chicken (marinated in tequila, lemon juice, garlic, soy and olive oil), and the tortilla strips, plus some cheese and freshly picked cilantro - goodie goodie!!
And in the meantime, I've also been trying to find creative ways to use up some of the stuff from the fridge, freezer, pantry, and garden pots... Tonite's dinner was great! I started thawing one of my remaining pizza crust dough blobs the other day, started marinating a couple chicken breasts in BBQ sauce yesterday, came home today and put the dough in a well-oiled bowl, covered, out in the sun to hopefully warm and rise (which it didn't do very well), and then ran errands. Came back to find Brett home, and it was a rush to start dinner. Fired up the grill, threw on the breasts, cut the kernels from an ear of corn and plopped them into a small pot with a bit of boiling water, flattened out the dough, tossed it on the grill, prepped a bowl of shredded cheeses, turned the chicken and dough, checked the corn, plucked cilantro, pulled the dough off, tossed on some cheese and bbq sauce, put it back on the grill briefly, pulled it back off, mixed the cooked corn with more cheese and the cilantro and some black pepper, pulled off the chicken, cubed the chicken, layered it and the corn/cilantro/cheese mix on the dough, put it back on the grill, pulled it off, sliced and YUUUUM!
Brett fessed up, saying he didn't think he liked bbq chicken pizza, and really raved about this - yay!! GOOD STUFF! (Ok, not the most photogenic, and it looks a little corn-heavy, but we loved it!)
Saturday I used the last of a batch of pesto from the basil tip-pickings (they need to get bushier), to which I'd added a bit of lemon juice (seems to have kept it green longer! Vitamin C is supposed to do that I believe?), some leftover pasta (quickly reboiled) and three slices of bacon (nuked). We were in a hurry, and had dinner plans not too far off, so this was pesto pasta pronto with bacon - good stuff (altho a tad too garlicky!?)
And last Thursday for lunch I used up leftover burrito fixings - where the cheap tortillas fell apart when wrapped around the food, so the next day I sliced them, lightly oiled and baked (the first attempt was a burn out, but the second was good). Throw into a bowl the leftover black beans (seasoned with broth and jalapeno), the leftover white rice (cooked with chili powder and corn kernels), the leftover grilled chicken (marinated in tequila, lemon juice, garlic, soy and olive oil), and the tortilla strips, plus some cheese and freshly picked cilantro - goodie goodie!!
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