Brontitall

1. A single yellow-pear tomato plant is plenty. Four Brandywine tomato plants are fine, but also plant Early Girl to lengthen the season. Also, tomato plants need way more than three feet between them. In fact, tomato CAGES should be three feet apart (at least) as well as three feet across and five feet tall. We have space in the front garden for about five tomato plants--no more. Other tomatos may thrive on the south side of the house/back-garden fence.

2. Nine bush-bean plants produced enough.

3. Nine collard plants are plenty and produce enough to freeze. Start harvesting to freeze once a month starting July.

4. Swiss chard is a wonderful thing, but we aren't big fans. 2-3 plants are enough. MUST be in full sun or won't do anything.

5. Do plant pumpkin, but give it gobs of space and scaffolding. Consider planting pumpkin between peas and lawn, then replace pea trellis with something solidly heftier.

6. Need cherry pollinator and apple pollinator. Need more berry brambles.

7. ONIONS. We use these constantly.

8. Harvest the garlic as soon as it dies back to preserve bulb integrity

9. 16 cabbage plants did well, with varying growth. Do fertilize.

10. Do start marigolds, black-eyed susans (perennial) and purple coneflowers from seed.

11. A single marigold in full sun will occupy an area 4' square by summer's end.

12. Do not grow peppers from seed. Buy plants for a decent harvest. Make sure peppers are more than 3' away from tomatoes and will not be shaded by tomatoes when they've exploded through their cages.

13. Give zucchini and yellow squash more than a couple feet around; they need full sun away from other shady plants like pumpkin and tomato.

14. Do cucumbers, but trellis.

Supplies:
Gallon+ size plastic Ziploc freezer bags
canner or stewpot 1/2 filled with boiling water
immersible colander
plate (for setting colander between boiling)
cutting board
sharp medium-sized knife
basin filled with ice-water
basin for washing off collard leaves
Plastic mixing spoon to push leaves into boiling/ice water
tongs
Sharpie pen

Per package of frozen collards:
1. Pick 15 collard leaves and wash off
2. Fold each leaf along the spine. Use knife to remove spine/stalk
3. Stack 4-6 leaves together and roll tightly. Slice like sushi.
4. Continue until all leaves have been de-spined and sliced.
5. Dump into immersible colander and submerge in boiling water. Blanch for 3-4 minutes. (just 2 min. for chard)
6. Remove colander and drain collards. Dump collards into ice-water bath for 5 minutes.
7. Use Sharpie pen to label Ziploc bag with "Collards" and date.
8. Move collards to Ziploc bag. Roll up tightly to remove air and zip shut. Freeze immediately.

Since I went to work yesterday, I've crammed my whole weekend into today.

First thing this morning I noticed five people were crawling around the yard at my neighbor's house, which has been up for sale for over a year thanks to Thomasine's foreclosure drama. Identifying them as potential buyers, I quickly cutified myself up and ran out to the garden with a basket--feigning disinterest--so as to improve the neighborhood friendliness factor. The brother of the interested party did come chat with me about what's on the other side of the commercial fence, and then we talked a bit about my garden and what his sister is looking for, yada yada. Mission accomplished.

After they left, Thomasine stayed to chat for a good long time. A few weeks back she had offered me the birdbath in her back yard, but I'd wanted to give her a chance to try to sell it. It didn't go in her garage sale so I offered to buy it from her. She would NOT hear any of that and insisted I take it, so I did. It's now set up in the back yard garden just pretty as a picture. Yay!

She also asked me if I wanted this little juniper shrub she'd been nurturing over the last two years. At first I said no, but then I realized it was juniper, which I'd been planning to buy for the back yard anyway! Well, alrighty then! I took that too--offered payment, which was soundly refused, and now it's living in the back garden as well. Starting to shape up a bit out there now!

I still haven't harvested the collards and swiss chard I'd planned to pick. Guess I'll do that through the week. I've been getting cucumbers pretty regularly. The raspberries are pretty much done now. My first zucchini are growing, as is a pumpkin (finally, so I was able to cut back the unnecessary vines at last). The cabbage is looking healthy and I haven't seen nearly as much flea beetle action of late. There are two green knobular tomatoes finally. Can't help but wonder when those will start really taking off. The plants are getting just enormous! I've finally gotten around to getting some cilantro seeds sprouted. I also have two sets of cucumber sprouts to transplant once I figure out where they'll go, for a fall crop.

I've lost my camera. Seriously, everything needs its own cell phone number and ringer.

We went bowling again before the grocery shopping, and almost immediately Rick seemed to pull a gluteal muscle. It really bothered him, yet he insisted in continuing with our bowling and wants to return next week. Fortunately I've figured out the stretch that will be most helpful (I think, provided it isn't making things worse for him) but I hope he doesn't push it when he shouldn't.

I've now completed my weekly video chat with Mom and need to get reading so I won't be just making shit up when I facilitate my first retreat on the 21st and 22nd.

Tomorrow is another day.

Poll #1421512 Scotty vs. Geordi
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

Someone turns to you in a crisis. You:

I'm on vacation! Woo hoo!

Because I've been going non-stop for several weeks, I decided that this vacation should be a simple, unplanned, unstructured break from everything. Stick around the house, putter in the garden, read, watch TV.

Well, I realized this morning that my seedlings hadn't even started hardening off yet, so it would be jumping the gun to transplant them already. I've put them out back under the overhang so they can start getting used to direct sun and breezes. I'll start planting them out this weekend. And I've watched the first three episodes of the second BtVS season (have just met Spike, for those in the know). Yay, Hulu.

Next stop: Janet Evanovich books.


Holly is feeling poorly. We took her to the vet this morning and she had blood and urine drawn. The urine test was inconclusive--should get the blood tests back tomorrow. They gave her a shot to stimulate her appetite, so at least she has eaten now. Poor thing is down to 8 lbs!

Geez, it's only 8:30 and already I have a ton of things in mind that I'll "just take care of today." It's to-do list time.

• Tell Marianne that the newsletter is on the web!
  
• Buy mulch
  
• Spread mulch
  
• Watch LOST
  
• Homework / prep notes
  
• Prep Toastmasters Speech
  
• Plant seeds: Cosmos
  
• Plant seeds: Poppies
  
• Plant seeds: Sunflowers
  
• Plant seeds: Four O'Clock
  
• Plant seeds: Carrots
  
• Grocery shopping
  
• Haircut
  
• Spread more mulch
  
• Fire

That's enough for now! It's too cold out to do outdoorsy things yet, so LOST it is! And Marianne...

Best thing about Saturday was that I actually did the things on my to-do list. It has been AGES since that has even been possible.

Some stuff that included:

I had thought I’d go shopping at Lowes while Rick was sleeping in, but I decided to use that time for catching up on e-mail, downloading TweetDeck, unsubscribing from selected feeds, and otherwise catching up on my 'net stuff.  After Rick woke up and we talked awhile, I had some cereal, put on some Pure Funk and danced around a bit to raise the energy and showed Rick my new “brickhouse” dress (it actually looks totally hot on me even though it looks boring on the hanger).

Dancing around in that dress, I suddenly decided that most of my clothes were too big and went through my closet removing everything that was a top larger than size 16 or “large,” including dresses. This left me with practically nothing, so I drove out to Volunteers of America with two full bags and spent the next three hours picking out $68 worth of new clothes. Since some were new I actually paid about $6 per piece instead of the usual $2, and I also found a very nice London Fog jacket for $15.  So, I spent more per item but still totally scored.

After three hours of that I was dog tired. I don’t know how some women shop all day.  It felt so good just to sit down and eat my Subway sub after all of that. And I wasn’t even able to eat the whole sandwich + pretzels before I felt totally stuffed.  That's new.  Next time I may actually order a 6" sub instead of the footlong--though the footlong might make good leftovers.

I chatted with mom online (we're doing a weekly video chat so she can see her little 41-year-old girl), and then Rick and I went to Lowes to buy six bags of mulch and six rolls of landscape fabric. I think I actually have too much landscape fabric, but that’s a good problem to have. I can take it back in exchange for some rocks and sand or something. (SO great to actually have a fund for all of this! - TY tax refund.) We spent just about $150 on the mulch and landscape fabric and landscaping anchors, although I will eventually need a LOT more mulch, whether organic or inorganic. We brought it home, stacked it up outside the garage, and I started in on spreading the fabric over the rest of the garden out front. It’s done! Yay! And now it looks freaking HUGE. I can’t believe I set myself that large of a garden to maintain. MY GOD. But with the fabric down and mulch on the way, it should be possible. *crosses fingers that slugs won't eat everything*

I saved one patch, the one with the most-broken-down compost, for the new pea patch. It’s RIGHT next to the driveway, in a section where people tend to drive right over the flowerbed and lawn, so it is risky. I might wind up losing my peas. But, there it is. I found my bamboo from last year and stuck it in, then planted the peas and covered the entire area with mulch. It looks fantastic, but the mulch is quite thin and may not be enough, though I can place more mulch after the pea shoots come up. I didn’t soak the peas overnight, so it might be several days or weeks before conditions are favorable for germination.

So, the garden looks fabulous for once. I need to still cover the back-yard garden with the landscape fabric—which will be interesting, since it’s more compacted and just as uneven, plus there are a couple of annuals out there (astilbe and hydrangea).  And I need to make pathways in both front and back with something firm that can take a lot of wear and won’t biodegrade. The gardening fund will make it possible for me to finally make a dent in all of that—whether or not I can actually finish it. And, I need to finish it off with some kind of border. I think a low wooden border would probably be best with a natural but treated wood—something that won’t be destroyed if someone happens to drive on it, but tall enough that a driver will notice when they hit it.

The gardening really wore me out well, and when I came in to the house after cleaning up I spent some time stretching, especially for my back, and that was well worth it. If nothing else, I’m glad Coach Nicole (at SparkPeople.com) taught me how to stretch! Rick had made a fantastic dinner [chicken and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar, potatoes and mixed veg] and we watched Burn Notice before coming upstairs. In the evening I did watch a couple episodes of “What Not To Wear” just because I had put that on my list of things I wanted to do, although it was supposed to be inspiration and information for shopping. Now I can take a couple more things off the DVR.

Today I buy fruit trees and groceries, plant the trees, and we're going to a beer tasting and screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at Studo 35!  WHEW!

I attended my first Toastmaster's club tonight and joined. I actually showed up with my application filled out--I guess with the assumption that I'd have to turn that over on my way in. Turns out it would have been acceptable for me to sit in a couple of weeks if not more just to observe before joining, but I didn't wait--just joined.

It was interesting. Structured, very positive and affirming, yet focused on improvement and offering valuable feedback. I can certainly see an opportunity for me to get a lot out of participating in the club. And it was nicely diverse. A group of about 30 or fewer attended. One of the speakers was Latino, and he brought his mother and uncle to see what he was up to. One of the "evaluators"--people assigned to formally evaluate one speaker each and offer that evaluation as its own speech--was Chinese, and the remaining folks I think were about 50/50 black and white, with a wide range of ages. Some were proficient with speaking and others have some issues that they're working through. I certainly felt like this was a group that can teach me and that I can be of help to, as well.

I'm glad I plunged right in with my application even though this was totally my first experience of Toastmaster's. I'm looking forward to going back and getting my feet wet officially. (Plus, it's about 2 minutes from my house. Bonus.)

I understand that this week's New Yorker contains part of an unpublished novel manuscript found after David Foster Wallace's death. tx_cronopio posted a link to a Washington Post article here, though it requires [free] registration.

I imagine others will bring it to your attention and that, of course, you will have already seen it.


BTW, I am slowly making my way through A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Very slowly. Trying to talk myself into finishing the extremely long essay about how much TV sucks that was written in 1990. Well, yeah. TV did suck in 1990.

HELLO, my name is BLOG!: 43 Unusual, Unorthodox and Unexpected Ways to Skyrocket Your Creativity

I'm just sharing this with everyone I possibly can, because it's blowing my mind over and over and over again. It's like a list of everything I've worked hard to learn or have yet to work hard to learn, but will.

I've begun reading Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar, the Harvard professor of positive psychology, and am happy to see that it is neither over-your-head academic in tone nor five-easy-steps pop. ( Read more... )

Here's my confession: I have become extremely wooby about Ohio State's traditions. I love them. And this made me frickin' cheer.

I left work at 7 tonight, still not having caught up on what I had hoped to finish before leaving, much less after catching up. Well, that's fine. I'll catch up eventually.

I let the car warm up for a minute before getting started, but I noticed that it was sluggish. Even just getting out of the parking garage, I noticed the car just didn't seem to want to go very fast. I got out on the road and really had to push it to get to 20, and it was fishtailing. I figured it was sluggish because of the cold, and probably the tires had some snow packed on them that would knock off eventually.

Another mile later, I was struggling to get it up to 10 mph. And the fishtailing was worse. Really weird. I pulled over to let folks pass me, called Rick, and then tried again. Still couldn't really get above 10, so when I reached a well-lit filling station/convenience store, I pulled in and parked in the brightest spot so I could get out and see just how much ice was caked on my tires.

Heh. There wasn't any ice on my tires. But both of the back tires were totally, completely, utterly flat. And the front left tire, nearly there.( Read more... )

link.

I can just see it, the Lord seated across the negotiation table from a lawyer representing a healthcare conglomerate, in oil on velvet...

1. The Acolyte by David Compton
2-6. The Fifth Elephant, The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, and Mort by Terry Pratchett
7. FLIGHT ed. by Kazu Kibuishi
8. The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
9. The Lady in White by Wilkie Collins
10. The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte
11-12. The Hostile Hospital and The Carnivorous Carnival by "Lemony Snicket"
13. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
14-15. Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
16-17. The Human Operating System and Winning Teams, Winning Cultures by Larry Senn
18-19. Serenity: Better Days and Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon et al
20. The Power of Full Engagement by James E. Loehr, Jim Loehr, & Tony Schwartz
21. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
22. Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni
23. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
24. Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin
25. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (why not?)
26. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne duMaurier
27. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers


Considering that I usually struggle to fit in 10 books a year, that's pretty damned good.

2008 Relief came in the following wonderful forms:

1. We watched Firefly for the first time ever, and fell head over heels in love.
   
2. John Adams on HBO made me proud to be an American
   
3. The Hollywood Writer's Strike greatly improved my book-reading rate.
   
4. The Great April Fool's Post Series of 2008 gave me wonderful wish-fulfillment satisfaction in an otherwise impossible situation.
   
5. Rick and I bought and used our bicycles for increased cardio
   
6. Iron Man (twice!)
   
7. I completed a strengths-discovery exercise with my staff and wrote new job descriptions for all of us.
   
8. We bought both a new bed and a new 'fridge--in one weekend.
   
9. Staff member Alice had all of us from the office up to their lake cottage for an afternoon, which was fantastic.
   
10. Senn-Delaney
    
11. Rick rescued a dog that, without his help and quick thinking almost certainly would have died alone near our yard.
    
12. Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (like, a billion times)
    
13. TQ started contributing more than distracting.
    
14. I quite enjoyed a ferry ride to Put-In-Bay.
    
15. Inspired by The Power of Full Engagement, I created some new healthy habits, including daily exercise and more professional attire for work.
    
16. OMGOBAMA!!! SQUEE!
    
17. We hosted a staff Holiday Potluck at the house, made even better by all the work Rick did cleaning every inch of our home in the days leading up to it!
    

(I am sleepy, which means my internal editor is taking a nap and the personalities at the controls are having a party by posting to LJ.)

This morning I called our old cable company to cancel our service. When I call a cable company, I know what kind of conversation I want to have.

There's the "Lower my bill" conversation, and you have to be savvy. ( Read more... )


Today, though, I didn't want to have this conversation. I'd come to a point where I didn't like the old service. It was expensive, and I ran into roadblocks to what I wanted to do too often. I wanted it gone. It wasn't until Big Hot Company came along and made a great offer, though, that I urged Rick to make the switch.

The new cable system was installed before I made the call to disconnect, which helped. So this time I called them with the "make it stop" call.( Read more... )

Lately I've been a bundle of nerves at work. This is a direct result of having more work than I can do or even delegate. But you've heard enough about my feeling overwhelmed.

But I've noticed myself engaging in an odd bit of behavior. I've been seeking a tipping point. With coffee.

Every day I have at least two cups of coffee. It is far more likely that I'll have four, and many days I could go as high as six or even seven cups. Unless I feel a particular kind of yuk, I don't hold back until late afternoon. I do stop then because caffeine definitely keeps me awake at night.

With my nervousness lately, though, I find myself getting another cup of coffee with a kind of intuitive (and misleading) expectation that somehow my nervousness will eventually become so frenetic that it collapses in on itself and I am left with an inexplicable peace.

The image that comes to mind with this unrealistic expectation is that of Robin Williams in Awakenings, explaining his theory for why the medical treatment for Parkinson's Disease patients might work on his catatonic patients.

The justification that comes to mind with my "tipping point" theory comes from homeopathic medicine, where the treatment actually induces--in certain doses--what you are trying to combat. A less homeopathic example comes from Ritalin: the stimulant used to calm down kids with ADHD.

But mental images, justifications, and examples aside, it doesn't work. I do not become less nervous after consuming caffeine. In fact, I become more nervous.

But I keep doing it.


---

In potentially related news, I've recently come to the conclusion that I do not watch television for entertainment value, but rather for a mental challenge. Therefore, if you ask me if I 'liked' a certain show, I'll probably look confused. On rare occasions I do find my shows entertaining (like this week's South Park, through which I sat with a huge silly grin on my face for the entire half hour), but it isn't usual. Most of the time I devoutly watch every show on my roster despite the fact that I don't care much about it and would sort of rather do something else.

Poll #1290838 Book Boring
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16

If a book is unsatisfying,

And something far more inspirational.

Yes, I'm eager for this all to be over so we can go on with our lives, but I do love to see the creativity coming out through it all. And I adore musical theater. :D