Grandparents Visit

Finally, my parents found time in their busy schedules to visit. Yeah, I'm complaining! Mostly because they promised to be here for 4 days, but then changed everything to just 2 and a half days. So I feel that I'm totally within my rights here to kvetch loudly.

I dunno about your folks, but when my 'rents are in town, they tend to be very busy along the gender lines. My mom takes over the kitchen and the garden. My dad takes over the yard and the couch. This, by the way, is not a complaint, but a sincere appreciation.

I mean, c'mon, here are two senior citizens (at least by Kohl's standards) who first barrel down I-95 (Dad's always behind the wheel and he tends to interpret "95" as the speed limit), then unload a ton of goodies (mostly food stuff, but this time also a mattress and a couple of very heavy IKEA bookcases). Then they spend 1-2-3 days working before climbing back into the car for a return trip. But not until they write us a check (I s'pose for time well-spent).

Anyway, this time around Mom brought lotsa plants for the garden, mostly herbs. So we planted those. And Dad spent the morning hours (when it wasn't too hot) cutting down the bushes 'cause that's where we want to put our expanded veggie garden and a fruit "orchard" next year.

We also made shashliki, a summer-time Russian tradition. As most other Russian dishes, it's extremely labor-intensive. This is no burger-flipping! This takes time, skill and patience - from marinating the meat (no store-bought marinade either) to building a fire, to actual roasting.

Consequently, no drinking happens while the process is, well, in process. Here you see my hubby is taking a beer break while chatting with his favorite mother-in-law. And his favorite father-in-law is patiently explaining the finer points of the roasting process to M. M loves this and is all ears. Cooking on the open fire is quite possibly his biggest love (after Star Wars that is).

While M is too little to rotate the skewers, he's contributing to the work process by using some fresh herbs to sprinkl the meat with some white wine (yeah, I know, this sounds weird - white wine with lamb, but it does work).

Another thing we did was picking blueberries with Grandma. We went to Smith's Nursery on a very hot day (after helping Grandpa with cutting down the bushes). Luckily, they loaned us a little wagon for M (it's a bit of a hike to the blueberry field although of course if you want to, you can drive there as well, but where's the fun in that?!)

Archemedes said "Give me a lever long enough and I'll move the world". To which I say "Let my parents visit long enough and I'll finish all my unfinished projects" (which, if you were to take a peek at my to-do list, is way more impressive of a feat than moving the world. For real.)

Last Weekend - Chicken Tour and More

It's almost time for the long weekend and I'm finally catching up with work stuff. So I realized that I didn't post anything about last weekend.

Well, the big news, of course, is that the world didn't end. I wanted to be the first one to know so I stayed up 'til midnight Eastern Time. But then I thought well, what if the Rapture was scheduled for Central Time? So I stayed up 'til 1am. Nothing... So then I thought what if it's on California time, but at this point I felt too sleepy and didn't care much.

We had a long day on Saturday. First, we went on a much-awaited (by me) chicken tour called Henside the Beltline Tour D'Coop which I think is a pretty clever name. I think this is our fourth year going to this tour. It's not just the chickens that you get to see, but other people's yards.

And since most people who keep chickens here also happen to have some kind of veggie gardens, it's of particular interest to me. Also, most families on the tour have young children so their yards are very kid-friendly.

This year M was very interested in petting a chicken. In many of the houses we went to chickens are truly free-range, roaming around the yard. But catching a chicken is not very easy, as M found out. Fortunately, one of the houses we went to had a pet dwarf potbellied pig who just loved being petted.

The next day after the tour we went to pick cherries. I did mention some time ago that I am now on a Craigslist scavenger hunt. I search their free ads almost every day looking for things. One time I picked up about 50 or so magazines, mostly with recipes and gardening tips. Another time I picked up pine logs to edge the paths in the garden.

Then one day I saw an ad that said "come and pick cherries - free". Well, so we did. The place is kind of a drive from us, but we didn't have much else going on. So we went and picked about 8 pounds of delicious sour cherries. Now even taking into account gas money, this is a good deal. Besides, it seems impossible to buy sour cherries around here, even at the Farmers' Market.

And they are just perfect for pies!!! So Chris and M were busy making a delicious cherry pie from scratch!

Our Garden Update

All this rain has been wonderful for our garden. I don't think we had to water it once in the last two weeks and yet everything is growing nicely.

The other day a woman stopped by our yard, got out of the car and knocked on the door. I thought she wanted to sell us something. Turns out, she wanted to ask some questions about the garden 'cause she said her own doesn't look anything this nice. I'm not trying to brag here, just saying...

So far we've had radishes and mustard greens, 2 kinds of lettuces, and some sorrel (it finally recovered from whatever's been bugging it). The blueberries are slowly ripening and I have to cover them with a net to protect from the birds.

The dwarf peach tree is doing great too, even though I broke the top of it while transporting it in our tiny car. I pulled all but one peaches off the branches. Want to give it a chance to properly root so hopefully we have more peaches next year.

The tomatoes and squashes and cucumbers are growing very fast. Actually, they are starting to bloom already. So hopefully we will start seeing more from our garden in just a few weeks. It's pretty hot, so swiss chard and kale aren't doing all that great. But they are growing nevertheless.

Since Chris can't help me much this year I didn't plant as much as I did last year. Still, all 4 beds are filled with no room to spare. And my small collection of herbs is doing fine in their containers. Now if I can only find a grape vine!

Yard Work Never Ends

And that's just the front yard. Last year we made a bold move - put 3 raised beds in the middle of the lawn and set up a few veggie beds along the walkways.

This year we took it a step further. Or rather I did since Chris is on crunches and can only help with a few key tasks like pulling a few weeds and digging.So I've been busy with the front yard garden since we got back from NY.

I wish I could say I'm done, but that's simply not the case. Part of it has to do with budget limitations. Another reason is our car. You see, it's not so big. Its load capacity is 10 bags of mini bark nuggets. So it takes me a lot of trips to Lowe's to get everything we need. On the plus side, I get to make friends with cashiers there and they know us quite well.

The third reason is our yard. Our yard is pure clay. Which really wouldn't be all that bad. Except that it's pure clay mixed with A LOT of rocks of all sizes, from dime-sized to brick-sized. It's extremely depressing trying to dig holes for trees and bushes in this kind of soil. Fortunately, I have Chris who, even on crutches, can dig better holes in no time and stay perfectly calm (I

curse like a sailor after the first 100 rocks).

So here's what we've done so far:

• Planted a row of blueberry bushes along the driveway (and a few lingonberries in between)
• Lined up 3 existing beds in a nice grid and added the 4th bed (Chris built it last fall and all I had to do was to move it from the backyard and filling it with soil)
• Put yardscape fabric and mulch on the paths between and around the garden beds
• Put stepping stones between the blueberries and the garden beds
• Enlisted a neighbor who happened to have a rotary cultivator to till soil along the woodline
• Planted a strip of shade-loving perennials in the tilled soil (Chris dug up all the holes)
• Moved goji berry to the backyard and replaced it with a dwarf peach tree (again, Chris did the impossible and dug up a huge hole for it through all the clay and rocks)
• Created a new pathway

Of course, now we have just a few more things to do

• Finish putting mulch in the paths around the beds
• Line up the outside edges of the mulched paths with logs (the cheapest, free really, option we can think of; plus it's very easy to install and remove)
• Plant herbs in the pots and set them in a nice sunny location (it's a challenge to find one in our front yard)
• Bribe the neighbor to come over again and till the rest of what needs to be tilled
• Plant the rest of the veggies (peppers, eggplants and tomatoes)

And a few odds and ends here and there. So tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to a) pick up a few logs at the neighbors who recently cut down a tree and b) to pick up 6 bags of compost and some tomato cages at Lowe's.

What Happened to This Spring Thing?

My last week or so in NY I was very antsy and wanted to get back home. My NC friends would tell me of all the amazing 70+ degree days they were having and frankly, I was afraid that I'd miss spring this year. Sure, the first few days were just that - temps in upper 70s and sunny. But then, as soon as hurriedly planted a bed of greens, they dropped to just-above-freezing. So for the last week to ten days the weather has been, how to put it mildly... crappy. All my gardening was put on hold. Instead, I started painting M's room. Well, I'm happy to say that the room is now finished, at least as far as the painting part goes. The glow-in-the-dark stars are up again, glowing. I even moved the huge cardboard rocket from the family room to M's room. BTW, it's no longer a rocket, but a "lunar module Appolo 11-and-4". Chris went back to work on Friday even though his heel is shattered and he's on crutches and the doc said to keep the foot elevated above his heart. Which pretty much means Chris has to stay in bed all the time. Ok, so he's got a desk job, but for this particular injury a desk job is not good enough. Gotta be a recliner-type job. Don't think NC State budget will provide for this, not this fiscal year anyway. It's still too cold outside to plant warm-weather veggies. Which is fine by me 'cause I'm now busy planting blueberries, a persimmon, and a fig. Plus I'm thinking about re-arranging the beds in the veg garden. M really helps me out, mostly by not getting in the way. He also sometimes brings tools, holds landscaping fabric, protects me from bandits, pretends to run a carwash, and says hilarious things.

Back Home

It's been a week since we got back after a long winter up north, in the snowy coldness and desolation of New York (ok, I am exaggerating the desolation part, but just a little bit).


Getting back was pretty amazing. The weather couldn't have been better - 70+ degrees and sunny. The drawback - weeds in the front yard were chest-high (ok, exaggerating again, but not by much). Plus the lawn mower wouldn't start. So I pulled what I could by hand and let the rest grow. By my estimates we've got a couple more weeks before the city fines us.


While in the yard, I was making grand plans (as usual) for growing all sorts of delicious and beautiful things. I planted one bed of spring greens, radishes, swiss chard and some other odds and ends. Then picked up dahlia tubers at Lowe's, totally on a whim and planted them in the second bed. Also planted some peas into the middle of the third bed. And then I started thinking about all the other awesome goodness - a fig tree, a plum tree, a few blueberry bushes in between, a peony to the right of the fig tree, some lingonberries by the window... Plus finally edging the drive-way side of the yard with brick... Thankfully the weather turned cold and rainy so I could catch a breath.


Which turned me onto an indoor project - M's room. Yes, I'm repainting it since M wants it to be all about Cosmos, what else. Which means, of course, that all those crazy shelves we've attached to the walls had to come down. And all the picture frames. Which meant lots and lots of holes to fill. Which meant no going back on the repainting idea. So I've been painting this one room since Friday. Granted it's a huge room and even has knee walls which are a huge pain, especially for someone short like myself.


M helped me quite a bit with one of the walls. He got so into it that he even painted a bit of the window trim. I didn't notice it in time... Oh well... My paint job isn't perfect either. In some places it looks as if I was painting under influence. But the important thing is it's getting done and looking good.


Other than gardening and painting, I also started working out at the gym. The horrible winter of not moving much, not doing much, and eating delicious freshly baked bread left its mark on me - 10 extra pounds. So I'm at the gym 3 days a week now working them off because I don't want to spend money on all new summer clothes (I hate clothes shopping).


Chris is hopping around on his crutches and trying to help me whenever he can. And I try to run interferance so he could just sit down, put his leg up and rest. And he complains that he's bored to death. And then he makes delicious crepes for breakfast and bakes bread in the evenings.


M is doing great. He ends up working on whatever I work, but not really helping. Like today I was fixing dinner so he wanted to do the same. He started making some kind of salad with pieces of cucumber, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Then he said it was going to be "Butter Barrel" candy (something he picked up from a Mercy Watson CD). So he asked me for some butter. I gave him a small piece which he proceeded to cut into tiny pieces one of which he put into the bowl with the other ingredients. The bowl then went into a microwave (don't worry, under my expert supervision). The rest of the butter was left all over the kitchen, including on the floor.


All this keeps me plenty busy so I don't have time to even take pictures - very unusual for me. So this is a post with no pictures in it, sorry... I finish painting the room this week and get my camera out, I promise.

Week 1 Is Over

One week down, only 8 more to go. Chris has made it ok to Alabama and last time I spoke with him, he was about to start his training. (He'll love getting letters, so if you feel like sending him one, please e-mail or call me for address.)

Yes, we've been here, in NY, for exactly one week now. It's been pretty good so far although we spent most of the time inside because of the weather.

Fortunately, also because of the weather, my mom's office had a few late openings and she didn't leave for work 'til 8:30-9am. Which gave me an opportunity to sleep. Well, sort of... 'Cause of course M, while getting used to all the changes, is totally off his regular sleeping schedule and wakes up at ungodly 4:30-5am. Sure, he stays in bed 'til 6 and even 6:30, but he is not asleep.

And when M is not asleep, he likes to talk. And since he sleeps with me (remember, the room we're staying in is just big enough for 1 fold-out loveseat), I am the one he talks to. Mercifully, Grandma wakes up from all the chatter (it's a small house, I'm telling ya) and takes M away to the kitchen to feed him breakfast.

We also make juices now. M is very excited about it and now is getting lots of fruits and even veggies (and veggies, in his mind, are more terrible than hot sauce). Yes, he drinks carrot juice. Although at first he refused to believe that carrots where not fruits, but veggies - they tasted so good juiced!

Another thing we do is gardening. First, we picked up some paperwhites' bulbs and are forcing them now. Then we had a pineapple top left over from all that juicing and decided to plant it. Plus we're taking care of one of the begonias (I think that's what they are anyway) that Grandma has.

This week was the drinking straws week (kinda went along with the whole juicing idea). So we did a ton of fun stuff with drinking straws - math, art, construction. But I don't want to bore you with the details.

And, of course, we're slowly making improvements to our room, but more on that in a future update.

Grandparents

Did I mention that grandparents were visiting from NY at the end of October? And I'm just now getting around to writing about it! Actually, I'm not even going to write about it. Instead, I'll rely on pictures which are supposed to be better than thousands of words (at least when taken by someone who knows more about photography than I do).

The main theme of this visit was "work hard and then work even harder". Here we go...

Grandpa was on a mission to build a ladder to the tree house. But we ran into a problem - the treehouse platform is just too high on the tree for any regular ladder to be used by a preschooler (or anyone who's not exactly a monkey). Grandpa came up with a solution so grand in scale that it included 3 flights of stairs and 2 landings. But darn it, it's safe! (Secretly, I prefer it to any other option 'cause I'm not giving up on an idea of a romantic stargazing evening with wine in real glasses and have you ever tried climbing down a vertical ladder in the dark after a few glasses of wine?!)

M got to participate in much of the action. Here he is helping to drill holes to secure one of the landings. But the rest of the time he ran around the yard, helped Grandma (more on this - later), bugged Xander (keep scrolling), and built various structures out of his newest set of building blocks - off-cuts from construction lumber (the non-treated ones).

At the end of the first day the super-structure looked like this:
And this is what it looked like at the end of the second day of construction work:

Yeah, that's a lot of work! Mind you, no construction plans or blue prints other than what Grandpa came up with on the fly and jotted down on a piece of paper that he kept losing. Add to that communication difficulties (Grandpa - almost no English, my hubby - practically no Russian) and this starts looking as challenging as the International Space Station.
Drinking to the success of the project became paramaunt! Plus it helped to bridge the linguistic divide.

As I mentioned, M got all sorts of awesome homeschool education that weekend and not just in toasting. Here he is with his own tape measure:

Does he know how to use it? You betcha! Here he's measuring the girth of our cat, Xander. The verdict - too fat and too lazy.
In the mean time, in the other corner of the yard, Grandma was also very busy, but with landscaping chores.
Pulling weeds, raking leaves, building compost piles,

replanting some of the herbs (here she is replanting the Bay Laurel seedling that she first grew from seed, gave to me to be neglected throughout the summer, and then rescued just in time; not to say I don't have a green thumb - check out that huge mint mound behind Grandma)

Plus she cooked. One of the evenings we decided to dine al fresco (yeah, fancy like that) and put Grandma in charge of lighting the grill and fixing up something quick and delicious - baked potatoes, grilled hot dogs, baked apples. She's good at making the best out of the most rustic conditions.

As a reward, we took Grandparents to the Fair, fed them s'mores and let them spoil their one and only grandson. Totally fair!