gardening

one of the reasons we bought a house with a decent yard is gardening.

my inner hippie wants to grow his own food and lower the carbon footprint of our household.

so this year i built three 4x12 raised beds on the south end of our yard.  here's what they looked like this morning:

the bottom one has tomatoes and broccolli that are doing really well.  peppers and eggplant that haven't loved the wet weather. 

the middle has chard, cauliflower (which has been fantastic!  almost a peppery taste) carrots, beans and peas that have overwhelmed the trellis at the end.

the top one has been success and failure.  tried watermelon, cantaloupe and squashes that all died in the cold wet june we had.  the brussell sprouts and zucchini have thrived though.  the pumpkin is starting to take off.  the cucumbers on the left side have been uber slow to grow anything.  so i filled in the empty spaces with lettuce, spinach, beets and radishes.

the tomatoes are ridiculuously huge with tons of flowers on them:

this isn't the only food we are trying to grow in our yard, either.  we planted 2 apple trees and 2 plum trees.  a strawberry patch that is doing quite well.  carla was mad i wouldn't let any strawberries grow this year, but we want the plants to grow strong the first season so next year it's berries galore!  trying blueberries, but i don't think i have the right soil for them.  raspberries and blackberries along the fence line as well.

next wife convincing project:  our own bee hive. 

i'm petitioning mother nature to never make it above 90 in portland again

Image via Wikipedia

we are in the first hot stretch of the year.  which means my first miserable stretch of the day.  98* yesterday and i'm not talking the nick lachay band!  who were awesome by the way.  and today looks to be just a little cooler.

here's the breakdown for how miserable it is:  i sweat standing still in the shade!

i sweat easily as it is.  i prefer it to be colder.  i wear shorts to work year round.  even in the snow.  i don't need anything to make my sweat arrive more quickly.  and yet when the mercury gets over 90 i can't even go outside without hating myself and cursing all of existence.

the plus side of oregon heat?  no humidity.  it's not like massachusetts or minnesota where you stick to everything and taking a shower is pointless because there is so much moisture in the air you can't even get dry.  when i was there, i couldn't even tell if i was sweating or if it was just the humidity.  the suck.  total suck.

Image via Wikipedia

if this is the consequence of climate change, i vow to the world to take up al gore's tarnished megaphone and give that powerpoint presentation until my voice gives out. 

i proclaim to the world that if that's what it takes to get everyone to pay attention to their carbon footprint, i will make millions off a book and dvd and nobel prize. i will. so help me God.

coasting it up

my wife posted about this daytrip before i could, curse her desk job with plenty of down time!
wait, i'm on my weekend.  curse my sleeping in and desire to do nothing!

tillamook ice cream was the purpose, goal, unified theory of everything of this trip.

and we succeeded!  cake batter for me and peaches 'n' cream for the lady.

the frozen dairy seemed to be everyone's reason for being at the factory.

you had to stand in a line just to order your cream and then a separate line for actually getting your ice cream.

but it was freakin delicious.

we also bought some pepper jack, garlic cheddar, cheese curds, summer sausage and fudge.

we ventured another 6 miles west and hit up the ocean.  it was extremely windy.  and not just windy but windy as in having to brace yourself against gusts so you didn't fall over.  i used the bloggie a bit chasing a seagull around.  we took a lot of belly shots of the lady, so hannah will see what her first trip to the ocean was like.  it was also like 80 and clear skies, so the wind made it actually really nice.  we walked on the beach for awhile taking pictures and listening to the waves.  you decide the cuter couple:

next blog>>

since i haven't been much a part of the blogging community in a while, i thought i would just click the "next blog>>" button on the top of the page and see where it takes me.


just going by the 100 or so blogs i've seen over the last couple days there are a few "genres" of blogs on blogger:

• mommy
• bicycling
• christian
• AA
• artists
• and combinations of the above

i have come across very few blogs that are what i think my blog is and what i remember blogs being 8 years ago:  random posts about random topics sprinkled with metacognitive musings and existential angst.

does everything have to have a theme now?

what if i don't want a theme?  i never had one before and i was a semi popular blogger (couple hundred hits a day in my prime).  and it's not that i am looking to become popular and be linked on fark.com or anything.  i really just want an outlet for my thoughts.  something to release the built up mental pressure.  good drugs are just too hard to find, so i'm stuck here.

would i like people to read this and find it enjoyable and just spend all their time gushing about how brilliant i am and telling everyone they know about how i changed their life?  well, yes, of course.  but that's not realistic.  i'm not willing to put in the effort to make that happen.

i'm a "don't try too hard to succeed, just wait for your name to move to the top of the list by attrition and/or by another's success" kind of person.

it's been keeping me at a nice level of mediocrity for a good decade and a half now.

don't know what i'm doing

so yesterday we got a bloggie in the mail.  it is a little handheld camcorder.  it does full hd, has a swiveling lens, and is pretty sweet.  i spent quite of bit of time playing with it yesterday.

with a kid on the way and youtube videos bringing in $150,000 i thought i should jump on the vlogging bandwagon.

we will see how well i do keeping this regularly updated before i jump into putting videos on the web on a semi regular basis.

of course, this will probably go like all my other hobbies (including this blog at one time) and i will get sick of it after i dumped a few hundred dollars and six months into it.  things that have gone this way that last 15 years or so: woodburning, card games, computer programming, painting, guitar, photography, botany, videogaming, online gaming, writing, going to college, exercising.  and then there is the list of hobbies that i thought were interesting but i was too lazy to even start doing at all!

currently hobbies that i do on a semi regular basis:

• home brew

hobbies that i have the equipment for wish to do regularly:

• bonsai trees (bought 2 from trader joe's.  starting 3 from seeds.  bought 3 books)
• blogging and vlogging.  (so far so good)
• making my own wine (need to convince the wife it is worth the start up cost)

so the world is filled with possibilities and i am overflowing with potential.

author's note:  i need to work on finding my voice again here.  this posts are too short and too boring.  need to focus.  need to reread old posts.   need to read blogs i used to like.  need to reread stephen king's "on writing" again.  need to not suck.

clearing out the nextflix queue

while i enjoy not being productive, watching tv and movies requires a large amount of my mental attention.

i've rocked out 3 documentaries and one movie this morning.  before we get to may marathon, i have to say i love the netflix streaming combined with the wii.

i never tried out the streaming before because i don't really like watching movies/tv on computers, but with the wii disk i can do the instant streaming on my tv!  the little screen of a computer (i know, they make massive widescreen monitors, but f that.) just does not cut it for me.

don't judge me:

the auteur is a movie about a porn director.  it was filmed here in portland.  one of my coworkers also has a bit part in the movie.  only one line, but closest i come to knowing a moving pictures actor.
i gave it a 4/5 on my netflix.

i.o.u.s.a. is a documentary about the federal debt and how screwed we are.  it's kind of a lovefest about fudiciary responsibility.  also, george w bush ruined everything good and holy that bill clinton managed to create during the 8 years of americas golden age.

food, inc. is basically a book report on fast food nation and the omnivore's dilemma.  while i enjoyed both books and the movie of fast food nation was pretty good, i didn't really learn anything new.  or have my viewpoint changed:  we, as a society, are fucked.

nerdcore rising is a docu about the nerdcore subgenre of hiphop.  it follows the "king" of nerdcore, mc frontalot.  it seems that nerdcore is filled with white geeks that have an ability to rhyme.  and to rhyme about geek and nerd topics:  computers, internet porn, magic: the gathering.  basically the things that would make a top 10 list of my interests.  i did not even know this genre existed, but it is now my favorite genre right behind acoustic surfer indie and just above indie bands with hot female singers.

POW! 3 updates in a week.

so yesterday was the organic brewers festival in portland.  6th annual.  meet up with shakes and sarah and proceed to drink lots of organic beers.  some good.  some not so good.

my favorite was the oakshire chocolate porter.  nice creamy body, not a lot of chocolate, the roasted malt was almost burnt.  it was excellent.

a few of the runner ups:  ambacht's golden rye,  fort george's spruce ale (made with REAL pine tree!), laht neppur's peach hefeweizen, roots' gruit kolsch.

here's this year's program so you can see what you missed.

the weather was near perfect.  70s, sunny, slight breeze.  got a nice tan action.  carla got a nice sunglasses burn.

we had gyros and elephant toes (like elephant ears, just little pieces) and mint lemonade.  it was quality everywhere.

there was a large field with a stage at the end.  the bands were pretty decent.  especially the one that came on 5pm.  target for tomorrow.  or it may have been i was totally drunk by that time, but the music moved me to dance.  carla, of course, mocked my total lack of rhythm.  but it don't stop me.

what? friends can listen to "endless love" in the dark.

so the ultimate goal if we ever win the lottery is this:

we buy 10+ acres and build a super-efficient-as-off-the-grid-as-you-can-get house.

i'm talking geothermal/solar/wind energy. rainwater collection for gray water uses. crazy composite materials for insulation and building materials. next generation glass that hasn't even been invented yet.

just crazy off the grid.

except for cable. probably satellite. there's no way to not have internet/200 channels.

a couple of the acres will be dedicated to grapes. we will have our own vineyard. i have to support my habit somehow.

we will also have goats. carla likes goats. and i like goat cheese.

it will be modern day house on the little prarie. with a 60" tv in the living room.

until i have millions or a sizable down payment on this rural utopia, i'm stuck living a suburban "lite" version:

we have raised beds that providing vegetables (though, we need to work on our raise from seeds program, failure this year. had to buy already grown)

planted 2 apple trees (braeburn and granny smith), 2 plum trees (stanley and italian).

strawberry patch, blueberries, raspberry and blackberry canes round out the fruit selection.

and we have chickens! we have 4 chickens. 2 rhode island reds and 2 orpingtons. they are not old enough for egg laying yet, but they will get there. and then i will be eating the freshest eggs possible!

just living the pseudo-hippie dream...

rantsandraves 4.0

well, it has been a little over 3 years since i dropped an update on this bad boy.

there was a time when this was an important part of my identity and life.

roughly may 02 to july 03. then another string of updates nov 03 to jan 04 then a sputtering of posts and vows of perserverance of returning to blogging greatness. ok, mediocrity. but i have ambition!

so, that ambition is back. i will have a less rigorous standard to hold myself against this time around (read: lowering the bar again!).

3 updates a week.

and by a week, i mean monday through sunday

they could be mon, tue, wed or fri, sat, sun. or some crazy combination of any of the 3 days of the week.

(35 crazy combinations possible. n!/(r!(n-r)!) where n is number of days in a week and r is number of posts per week.)

so now that's out of the way, here's what's happened since we last spoke (importance, not chronological):

• we're having a baby!
• i got married to carla
• we bought a house in beaverton, oregon
• both sisters got married
• youngest sis had a baby and made me the Godfather
• promoted to merchant at trader joe's--one step from management and no more shitty hours
• added a second dog: maltese/poodle mix
• backyard chickens!