The Kittalog

Moo

2012-01-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's Stock Show time again, which means we've survived the holidays and can think about eating again. The Stock Show is mostly about meat, after all. We went to the rodeo on Friday, then wandered around the barns looking at cattle and sheep. That's a Hereford bull above, and a Jacob ram below. They're an heirloom breed (even biblical – hence the name) and can have up to six horns.
The sheep is standing on a grooming table with his head secured on a chin rest. Dog groomers use something similar, and I was tempted to tell the sheep groomers that I'd be back with poodles in tow.
I bathed both dogs and shaved Jackson's face a couple of weeks ago. He's cute with a fuzzy face, but it gets grungy-looking fast. He's much easier to clip than Sophie was and doesn't struggle or stick his tongue out.

Lucy gets a pass on the face-shaving because the dirt doesn't show on her. And she's super-cute with a curly snoot.

Here they are at the dog park yesterday. It was 65 degrees and sunny. The dogs got a good romp in.
When we got home, the Sergeant worked on garage projects and I filled the garden cart twice with detritus from the front garden. In another month the crocuses will be up!

Shredding season

2011-11-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Faced with a mountain of yard waste and an average-sized compost bin, the Sergeant and I looked into renting a chipper-shredder. It's a shame to throw organic stuff in the dumpster, but a lot of it is just too big to compost easily.
Home Depot only had the industrial-sized kind used by tree services, and the cost was more than $100 a day. After I asked for advice on my gardening listserv, a member offered to sell us her 10hp model. She'd hardly used it, and stopped altogether once Boulder started a city composting program.

It started up just fine and the Sergeant got to work feeding in the tree branches, raspberry canes, fennel stalks and tomato vines. Here's what came out:
This stuff will make great mulch and break down nicely. The shredder's chutes come off, so it won't be hard to store.

It's a very satisfying thing to have.

What I'm reading

2011-11-05T19:35:00.004-06:00

I'm getting close to the end of the second book of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" saga, which I started this summer after reading a New Yorker piece about his fans. Many of them were angry over how long it was taking him to write the next installment in the series (the fifth and latest came out this summer; he projects there will be seven total).

This hugely elaborate project is all about the machinations of those who would be king in a made-up country that is a lot like Arthurian England. Each chapter focuses on a particular character (and usually ends with a cliffhanger); you get the overall arc of the story by following each of the characters' threads.

It's quite engaging, and there are some good plot twists. I am going to try to spread out my reading of it a little and hope the author can finish the series!

A little bit of fluff I whipped through in a couple of days was "And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You" by Kathi Kamen Goldmark.
The protagonist is a backup singer in a country band who starts to achieve some fame of her own while also dealing with the vagaries of love and family drama.
If you like country music and entertaining lyrics, this would be a fun book for you to check out.

I also finally tackled "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski. It's set in Northern Wisconsin and has dogs, so I was predisposed to like it. (I grew up in Wisconsin and, well, you know me and dogs.) I don't want to outline the plot, since I think it's better to discover that on your own.

I did like the book, a lot, until halfway through, when there's a moment of deus ex machina that really ticked me off. I found the story really interesting and believable up until that point, but this little twist just threw me right out of the story. I finished it, and I still liked some aspects of it, but I found it fundamentally flawed.

It made me really miss my old Sophie dog, too. She was smart on the level of the dogs in the story. If you love dogs, this book will make you cry.

Lunch at Falafel King

2011-11-04T18:58:00.006-06:00

The Sergeant and I had lunch this afternoon at Falafel King, a small, local chain. They have a bewildering array of options, but it's all good, and fast.

I got the grilled chicken plate, which comes with six falafels, salad and two sides and pita bread. Very yummy. The marinated chicken is grilled as you wait, and served atop the salad. I got tabouli and hummus as my sides. The tabouli is especially good. Nice and lemony.

The note next to the register was amusing. It took me a second to get it.
(Blurry cellphone picture, sorry.)

Falafel King
825 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO
303-322-6077
Mon-Sat: 11:00am-9:00pm
Sun: 11:30am-8:30pm

Snow astronaut

2011-11-03T00:09:00.004-06:00

"Snow astronaut." That's what the Sergeant called this photo when he emailed it to me. I was in the back yard this morning trying to take a picture of stepping into the snow. It didn't turn out.

Yes, we got more snow. Maybe 5 inches or so. C'est la vie. It'll melt quickly.

My month of daily blogging is over. It wasn't that hard to toss something out there every day. If you take a lot of photos, you can usually find one that will help carry a post, even if the writing's not very compelling. If a post is not interesting in some way, why bother?

A little makeup does wonders

2011-10-31T22:47:00.002-06:00

Does this house look familiar? The pictures were taken in 2000 and sometime later.

Even the Sergeant didn't recognize the house he lives in now.
I had to cajole the previous homeowners to get these photos, and I wish I had more. Still, it's neat to see even this much.

The house was built in 1894, and it's been through a lot of changes. When the previous owners bought it in 2000, it was covered with aluminum siding and had cheap aluminum windows. Inside, the ceilings had all been dropped to 8 feet.

I wouldn't have guessed what possibilities lay under that, but these folks did. They started redoing the interiors, then took a deep breath and ripped the siding off.
As noted, the house used to have a porch that encompassed only the front door. But plans were already drawn that called for a bigger porch. I'm glad they did.

The owners also found the brick arch over the front window. They built a new window, with stained glass in the arch.

When I moved in, most of the restoration was done. (And the hideous duplex was already built next door.) I added bookcases, security doors, a swamp cooler, a better arch in the living room, and paneled the guest room. Oh yeah, got a new roof, too. And did a lot of gardening.

Now the Sergeant is adding his own sweat equity, with a major revamping of the garage, and lots of gardening, too. He's got even more of a green thumb than I do.

Desk pumpkin!

2011-10-30T23:53:00.000-06:00

Sunday nights are usually pretty peaceful at work, so when I finished up a few minutes early, I took the opportunity to carve the pumpkin I'd brought in for my desk. It took all of 10 minutes, even though I only had a steak knife and a small spoon to work with. I carved my usual jack-o-lantern face – I like 'em happy.

Tamarind cocktail for an Indian feast

2011-10-29T23:49:00.000-06:00

For the Indian feast of Diwali, Manisha hosted our stitch 'n' bitch group for an awesome dinner. Nichole suggested I bring a tamarind cocktail to go with the Indian food. Good idea!

This cocktail is courtesy of Epicurious. It calls for tamarind concentrate, which you can find in any Asian market. Be sure to check the labels and get the kind that has only tamarind and water in it, not a bunch of salt and preservatives, too.

You start by making a "base" of

8 cups water,
1/2 cup tamarind concentrate,
2 tablespoons lime juice and
3/4 cup sugar.

Mix it all together and refrigerate. This mixture by itself is tasty over ice for a virgin cocktail.
You make two cocktails at a time in a shaker. Over ice, pour half a cup of the cocktail base, add 2 teaspoons tamarind, 1 teaspoon lime juice and 4 tablespoons of vodka. Shake it up vigorously, then strain into martini glasses and use a lime wedge as garnish.

(The Firestarter vodka is Moldovan, in an amusing dispenser, courtesy of the Sergeant's collection.)
These were fun and tasty cocktails, slightly astringent, slightly sweet. The vodka was smooth in them; I could have made them a little stronger.

The tendency of the tamarind to precipitate to the bottom of the glass was a little disappointing; next time I would serve these cocktails over ice with a swizzle stick instead of in a martini glass.

We has beans

2011-10-28T23:54:00.000-06:00

The Sergeant introduced me to scarlet runner beans, which he used to grow to screen his back deck in California. We planted a few here and they took off. I harvested a big grocery bag full.
The beans are quite gorgeous, in a marbled purple hue. I'd never seen such a lovely bean before!

In the U.K. scarlet runner beans are grown primarily for eating, while in the U.S. they are often considered more ornamental than edible.

The Sergeant made some tasty chile with beans he had dried, so I can vouch for their edibility. As for their ornamentality, you be the judge:

The great pumpkin harvest

2011-10-27T23:55:00.002-06:00

We got ourselves some pumpkins! And a whole lot of buttercup squash.

Pumpkins can endure a couple light frosts, but six inches of snow and temperatures well below zero will turn them to mush. So we harvested them and brought them inside.

I let the Sergeant do the honors with the shelf pumpkin. I think it's the most perfectly shaped of our crop, thanks to the support he provided.

Now there's just a few days until Halloween. We've got some carving to do!

As I was saying ...

2011-10-26T23:14:00.003-06:00

Here's the beehive yesterday:

And the hive today:
We got about 6 inches in our back yard, which was on the low end of what was predicted. But it has wreaked havoc with trees across the city, as many had not yet lost their leaves. The extra weight of the snow on all those leaves resulted in lots of downed limbs. And power lines.

I'm very sorry to say that our crabapple lost a big branch and some of its trunk. It broke sometime this afternoon while I was at work.

Snow in October is not unusual, but this much at once is. More unusual has been the very fine, warm weather we've had up to this point. We'll have it back in a day or two.

Last garden bouquet of the year

2011-10-25T23:49:00.003-06:00

We spent the morning rushing around getting the last of the harvest in, putting away garden tools and winterizing the swamp cooler. I gathered a few of our many late bloomers for a posy to take to work.

It was 80 degrees yesterday. Tonight it is snowing, with 8 inches or more on the way.

A bit of a stretch

2011-10-24T10:59:00.004-06:00

Thanks to Groupon and the urging of my old yoga buddy, Jenny, I made my first visit to a yoga studio in a looooong time on Sunday.

For $60 you get a month of unlimited classes at CorePower Yoga, plus a free week for being a new student. CorePower offers Bikram yoga (though they can't call it that for legal reasons) and a variety of vinyasa classes of varying levels of intensity. We started with a beginner vinyasa power class.

And boy, did it kick my ass. I was chagrined to find that not only did I not recognize half the poses (I'm really only familiar with the 27-pose series of Bikram), but many of them were simply beyond my abilities to do properly. On the other hand, it felt good to be in the heated room, stretching out and doing something about my lazy, fat self.

OK, not fat, but fatter than I used to be, and certainly out of shape. And lazy.

So I'm going to try to do this three or four times a week for the next five weeks and see how I feel at the end of it. By then, I should at least have a better grasp of the poses!

Vittles Vault keeps critters at bay

2011-10-23T00:02:00.001-06:00

I love well-designed products that fill a need perfectly and make life a little easier. The gate we had made for the bottom of the stairs, the cling wrap with a sliding cutter, the tube wringer for the toothpaste. Small things, but they make me happy.

The Vittles Vaults are another such product. They might seem little pricey at $37, but they are super-sturdy, stack tidily and are easy to clean. These large ones hold up to 40 pounds of dog food apiece. They live in the broom closet and are impervious to mice and to marauding poodles ... as long as the lid is on.

(Photos from my crummy cellphone.)

Unquashed squash

2011-10-22T11:03:00.002-06:00

The freeze finally came and killed off all the squash and tomato vines. The fence squash hung in there until the end, marveled over by passers-by and unmolested by vandals or vegetable thieves.

The Sergeant says that would never have happened where he lived before. On his busy, urban street his front garden was regularly trampled, with plants ripped up, sunflowers beheaded and his lemon tree torn asunder. How hateful some people can be!

Not that we are entirely immune to such things here: we've endured some sprinkler vandalism, kids tagging the fence and dumpster, and someone making off with our blooming tulips (also kids, I suspect). But in general this neighborhood is friendly and peaceful.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all this squash. I haven't taken a final tally, but it's probably around 10 buttercup squash and eight pumpkins. Luckily the buttercups will keep for a while in a cool, dry place, and the pumpkins are destined to be jack-o-lanterns. Maybe I'll carve one today!

The Sergeant is looking forward to the roasted seeds, especially with some of the goopy stuff that clings to them when they're scooped out. It becomes crispy and savory in the oven. I like it, too.

I want make squash ravioli, using the ravioli tray I bought months ago and have yet to try. And some squash soup, and squash lasagna. What else should I make?

A better mousetrap

2011-10-21T11:42:00.003-06:00

When I bought my house, I wondered why the cat food bowls were on the second floor. Later, I'd occasionally hear a faint "plink!" from the kitchen that sounded like a piece of kibble shifting in the dog food bowl, but when I went to look, nothing was there.

Finally I discovered a box of oatmeal in the back of a cabinet that had been gnawed open and realized I had a problem. The mouse war was on.

I scrubbed the cabinets with bleach, put all food in rodent-proof containers and blocked every hole I could find with steel wool. I caught a few mice in live traps and released them at the park, but it wasn't until I put poison in the basement that the last of them disappeared. Since then I have not seen evidence of mice in the house. Until this year.

As I've mentioned before, it's been a banner year for the little bastards. A long, wet spring produced lots of food for them, and it has not been uncommon to see them scurrying through the garden, across the patio and around the compost bin. I knew they'd try to come in as soon as it got cold out.

Sure enough, I saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor a couple of weeks ago. Argh. I double-checked the cabinets, put in more steel wool and set out live traps. No luck. Finally I decided what the hell, I'll try a couple new snap-traps I spotted at Home Depot. They looked like they might be more effective and less messy than the traditional wire ones.

It took a few days, but a morsel of parmesan proved too tempting for the little ratonito. If you want to see how effective the trap is, click on the photo above. (Warning: graphic content! It's not gory, but it does feature a dead body.)

I don't feel too ashamed to talk about having mice, as I know it's not a reflection on my housekeeping. If you have an old house with holes in the foundation, you're going to get mice as soon as the weather turns cold.

If you do, go find yourself one of these better mousetraps.

Poodles on parade

2011-10-20T10:22:00.000-06:00

A few years ago, Sophie and I were out walking when a woman stopped her car and told me about her standard poodle group on meetup.com. The group gets together a few times a year for poodle parties and walks, the most recent of which was this last Sunday at Washington Park.
The weather was perfect: sunny and mid-60s. Close to 40 people showed up, with about 25 poodles. It was quite a sight!
We walked briskly around the park; it's about a two-mile loop. Along the way we chatted with other owners about their poodles, training and grooming, while the dogs kept their eyes peeled for squirrels.

Afterward, a bunch of pups were rewarded with a little off-leash romping in a secluded field, including some enthusiastic ball-fetching.
Go, poodles!

Dinner at Euclid Hall

2011-10-19T13:06:00.002-06:00

On a rare Sunday night off work, I took the opportunity to head downtown with the Sergeant to try a newish restaurant, Euclid Hall. Granted, they've been open since August 2010, but parking downtown is such a bitch that the couple of previous times we tried to go, we gave up after circling a few times in search of a spot on the street. No way am I paying $15 or $20 for parking in a lot when there are plenty of awesome eateries where parking is free or cheap. On Sunday, we found a spot easily a block away.

Our first impression on walking in wasn't the greatest. A staffer was on the phone at the entrance and while she saw us, she gave no nod or wave or "just a minute" gesture. So we stood there looking around, wondering if we should seat ourselves. After a few minutes, another staffer finally came and showed us to a table and brought water. Then we sat for nearly 10 minutes waiting for one of the many servers passing through our area to notice us.

When our server finally came over and I mentioned the wait she apologized for having not noticed us. To her credit, she was very attentive after that, so I felt mollified.

We both order the BQE cocktail, essentially a rye manhattan. That was tasty. I ordered the chicken and waffles (Petaluma chicken paillard, sourdough waffles, pure maple syrup, salty walnuts, $12.50) while the Sergeant got the chicken schnitzel sandwich (double decker, double wide, dill rye, aioli, apple cabbage caraway slaw $9.50). I didn't taste the sandwich, but he said it was good.

The chicken and waffles were a good combination, stacked (like Jenga! said our server) and both sweet and salty. I'd heard that chicken and waffles are a "thing," so it was nice to find out why.

The atmosphere was hipster bar, with a steady stream of alternative rock playing and an extensive beer list. The menu is heavy on sausage, poutine and schnitzel.

I'm glad we checked it out, and maybe sometime we'll go back. If you're downtown already or dining on a week night when parking is less of a hassle, you might enjoy going there, too.

Euclid Hall
1317 14th Street (between Market and Larimer)
Denver, Colorado 80202
303-595-4255

Biological pest control, marmalade edition

2011-10-18T10:46:00.004-06:00

As I noted before, the neighborhood cats have figured out where the little rat bastards are congregating. I was out in the yard yesterday with Jackson and spotted this handsome fellow guarding the tomatoes.
Luckily Jackson was oblivious, so I put him inside and grabbed my camera for a portrait. Mr. Marmalade reluctantly turned away from his thoughts of deeelicious rodent snacks.
He was quite friendly, as it happened, leaping over the greenery to get a good skritch. It was hard to get a decent picture of his wiggly self in the overcast light.

He soon went back to hunting mice, and I filled my apron with more green tomatoes in anticipation of another freeze warning. Which was yet again a false alarm, darn it.

Many of the green tomatoes I harvested last week are now ripening on the counter, so I was able to make another pan of roasted tomato sauce to freeze. And there's enough basil to make a nice batch of pesto.

Pizza with words

2011-10-16T11:46:00.002-06:00

Committing to a post a day is problematic when you can't form a coherent sentence. So look at yesterday's post for most of the pictures.

My grad-school housemate came to town this weekend for a history conference. I haven't seen her in 15+ years, and it was great to catch up. I invited some mutual friends and their spouses over for dinner last night. We made pizzas, using pans I bought at a restaurant sale in Madison when I was in grad school. It seemed appropriate.

I'm kicking my grad-school self now: Why didn't I buy more than six pans? Should've bought 12! But we made do with some larger baking sheets for the rest of the pizzas.

Toppings included:

Roasted red tomato sauce
pesto
sliced longaniza
chicken-apple sausage
shredded chicken
Canadian bacon
prosciutto
fresh mozzarella
shredded mozzarella
pecorino romano

goat cheese
spinach
bell peppers
jalapenos
green anchovy-stuffed olives
black olives
capers
pineapple
onions
mushrooms
frizzled leeks
sun-dried tomatoes

They turned out great!

Dessert and the after-dinner entertainment were awesome, too. That's a whole other post. Stay tuned.

Pizza with old friends

2011-10-15T23:53:00.001-06:00

Sooo tired! Details later.

Puppy love

2011-10-14T22:19:00.009-06:00

We love it when Jackson the Big White Poodle finds friends who like to play as roughly as he does. He's muscular and rambunctious, and he tends to intimidate small or meek dogs.
Argus the labradoodle is about a year and a half old. He is not intimidated by Jackson and has boundless energy. He plays like a poodle, with lots of bowing and spinning and body-slamming.

He and Jackson worked off a little energy in the back yard yesterday before we took them to the dog park. It helps to get the howdys out of the way before they're confined together in the back of the Subaru.
At the park, they all ran around like crazy. Even Lucy did a little romping, though she is usually less interested in such shenanigans. She used to beat up on Jackson when he was a puppy, but now that he outweighs her by 20 pounds, she thinks it's not fair that he pushes her around.
While we were there, we checked out the beaver tree, whose downed limbs have been removed. A bit of wire fencing protects what's left.
We do like having some shade by the water, so I'm glad the powers that be opted to protect the remaining trunk.

After a couple hours of rigorous play, the dogs piled back into the car wet, dirty, tired and happy. We hope Argus can come play again soon!

Clothing swap

2011-10-13T00:06:00.002-06:00

I find it very difficult to let go of clothes, even if I never wear them. As I flip through my closet, I'm flipping through memories and good intentions, and it's hard to send those out the door.

But an invitation to a clothing swap party is a good impetus to purge. There's a set date and you have to bring something. And the thought that someone I know might be able to enjoy my stuff makes it easier to get rid of it.

I took a big pile of stuff, recognizing that 1) I will never be a size 6 again, and 2) things that require ironing do not belong in my daily wardrobe.

I also took some curtains, several old purses, and shoes that I liked but never wore because they pinched.

Close to 20 women showed up. There was good food, and wine, and lots of happy rummaging. I was pretty careful not to look too hard for stuff to bring home. In the end, I grabbed some t-shirts and a hoodie. I saw some of my old things head out the door with others. Everything that wasn't taken got donated to charity.

And there's finally some breathing room in my closet again.

Pickled green tomatoes

2011-10-12T00:06:00.003-06:00

After I picked all those green tomatoes on Saturday, I had to do something with them. Pickling seemed the easiest option. First, I scrubbed them all with a soft brush and dunked them in light bleach solution to remove any possible mouse residue.

In two 1-quart jars, I placed dill seeds, peppers, garlic, bay leaves, celery seed, salt, sugar, black peppercorns and sichuan peppercorns. I was riffing off of Homesick Texan's recipe, sort of.
Then I chopped up the tomatoes and packed the jars, filling them to the top with brine.
I dunno. They look pretty, anyway! I hope they taste OK.

I took the opportunity to fry up one of the larger tomatoes for dinner. You dredge thick, seasoned tomato slices in flour, eggs and bread crumbs (I used Italian-style panko). Just about anything tastes good fried, and green tomatoes are no exception.

I've still got a passel of them, though. I'm thinking I might try a green tomato relish recipe next. It involves salting the pickles overnight, then cooking them down.

Unless you have any better ideas?

Hot hot hot

2011-10-11T00:07:00.000-06:00

The first batch of hot spicy pickles I made were great, but not hot enough, the Sergeant said. The next batch even less so (I used cayennes instead of jalapeños).

So this time I packed six sliced peppers (cayenne, Thai and cherry peppers) in the bottom of a two-quart jar, topped with twelve sliced cukes and three whole Anaheims.

The jar is now ensconced in the back of the fridge with a note saying, "Do not open until Nov. 10."

They should be pretty darn hot by then.

On the go

2011-10-10T00:08:00.001-06:00

Nothing to make you feel lazy like cheering on marathon runners at Mile 22. The athletes ran the gamut (so to speak): Young, old, some chugging along at a good clip, others walking. In this group, a blind, diabetic runner surround by guides, tethered to the gal in front of him.

The Denver Rock 'n' Roll marathon wended its way through our neighborhood Sunday morning, cheered on by small groups and individuals who set up chairs in front of their houses, ringing bells, clapping and shouting. An assortment of bands also played at different locations, including Smash Mouth at the finish.

I walked the poodles along part of the route. Jackson would have loved to give someone a tow. Lucy was happy just to spectate. As was I.

Late harvest

2011-10-09T00:03:00.001-06:00

Saturday stayed cold and rainy most of the day, and early reports called for a freeze at night. I decided to bite the bullet and harvest the rest of the green tomatoes, the cucumbers, the peppers.

I got thoroughly soaked despite wearing rainpants and a raincoat, but I was well bundled up underneath, so it wasn't too bad. Every time I thought I'd gotten the last of the tomatoes, I'd look again and find one or two more.

I made fried green tomatoes for dinner and made two big jars of green tomato pickles. I still have a ton to process. There's basil outside and I need to make pesto, but my get-up-and-go has gone for the day.

I'm going to bed with crossed fingers.

A good day for the kitchen

2011-10-08T11:16:00.002-06:00

After a week of warmth and sun, I woke up to winter today. A cold rain is falling and there are reports of snow around town, including several inches in the foothills. Classic Halloween weather.

The Sergeant brought some goodies home from work to serve as ghoulish decor. The label says "Keep out of reach of children," which strikes me as silly. "Keep out of reach of zombies and dogs" would be more apt.

What is it? No. 35

2011-10-07T00:07:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting item whose use you may find hard to guess. To find out what it is, click on the photo and you'll see the answer.

No spoilers in the comments, please!

Something to chew on

2011-10-06T06:01:00.003-06:00

When you've spent as much time at the dog park as I have, you notice when things have changed. Just like the bee tree that fell, another broken limb caught my eye yesterday.
This tree is next to a popular "swimming beach" close to one of the parking lots, so it sees a lot of traffic. At first I thought some dumb-ass of a dog owner had broken the limb trying to get sticks to throw. (I've seen that happen.)

But then we took a closer look:
Hey, someone tried to cut it down! Wait, no, someone tried to chew it down!

Yes, there's an industrious beaver living at the dog park. Which is a section of a quite large state park, so I shouldn't be that surprised. But I have never seen beaver sign in the park before. I didn't know we had them there.

I had to read up, of course, to find out that beavers do most of their gnawing at night, and they will fell trees for food, not just for building. They eat the tender underbark.
That must be the case here, since there's no running water nearby to dam, unless you count the South Platte River. Which would would make it a very delusional beaver indeed. But I guess it probably lives in the pond and got hungry for bark. Next time I'm there I'll go look for its lodge.

(P.S. I found an article about a very interesting woman who crusades to save beavers in Colorado. To read it, click here.)

New fashioned

2011-10-05T01:32:00.008-06:00

It's good to have a decent bar within stumbling distance of home that stays open late. The Sergeant and I occasionally meander over on a Thursday night (my Friday) for a drink. The staff from the nearby fancy restaurants hang out there, too.

When we come in, they don't yell "Kitt!" or "Sarge!" but they know our drinks. Mine used to be an old fashioned with extra cherries. Now it's a "Wisconsin old fashioned." With extra cherries.

This was how I saw the bartender make it in the Green Bay airport: whiskey, dash of cherry juice, dash of bitters, then fill the glass with 7-Up. No futzing with sugar from packets, which muddles poorly anyway.

Yeah, it looks kind of lurid under the neon, but it's tasty.

Lunch at Thai Pot Cafe

2011-10-04T01:17:00.003-06:00

The Sergeant and I needed to run some errands on Colorado Boulevard, so we popped into Thai Pot Cafe for lunch (it's on the east side, between Iowa and Florida). We've been there once before. There's another Asian place in the same strip mall (Saigon Terrace?) that we accidentally ordered takeout from once. Don't go there. Thai Pot's the place you want.

We got the soup with our lunch specials. Kao tom, or rice soup. A clear but flavorful broth, rice and chicken. Surprisingly delicious, because it I thought it was going to be watery and bland.

The Sergeant ordered masaman curry. The restaurant has a formula for spiciness, from 1 to 5, with 5 being "Thai spicy." That strikes me as a sensible way of dealing with people's nebulous descriptions of how hot they want their food.

He said his tofu curry was tasty, but could have been still hotter than the level 4 he ordered. Next time, "Thai spicy" it is.

I ordered the chicken pad see-ewe, which is stir-fried wide noodles with chicken, eggs and broccoli. I ordered it spice level 2, because I'm a wimp. It was pretty mild but I really liked it. I wished I'd ordered a dinner-sized portion so I could have some later.Thai Pot is not a cheap lunch ($8 for the lunch specials we ordered) but worth it. Nice friendly service, too.

Thai Pot Cafe
1550 S. Colorado Blvd. #113
Denver, CO 80222
303-639-6200

A new tree

2011-10-03T05:34:00.002-06:00

So here's why I was under the gun to get that stump ground out.
Denver has an awesome program that sells street trees and yard trees for $25 a couple times a year. You have to apply for the program and it's first come, first served on your choice of tree. I asked for a linden on the very first day they were taking applications, and Saturday was the pickup day. I just adore lindens. I would have preferred the little-leaf variety, but this will be nice, too.

I'm glad that they're careful to match people up with the trees ordered so I didn't have to be there at the crack of dawn. Any trees left unclaimed after 10:30 a.m. are sold off. I got there at 10:15 and there weren't many trees left at all. I didn't get more pictures because they were trying to hustle people through pretty quickly. It was a small parking lot.

My tree is about 7 feet tall, with a 1-inch-diameter trunk. I had to go to work after I picked it up, and I worked Sunday, so I'll try to get it planted this morning. It came with a big bag of mulch, too. It looks a little wretched right now because it's going into dormancy for the winter, but it should perk right up in the spring.

I'm very excited to have a lovely tree that the bees will enjoy, too.

Stumped

2011-10-02T11:30:00.002-06:00

It's such a bummer to lose a mature tree. First the silver maple in the front, now the birch in the back. It was already dying when I moved in, dropping branches each year, and last winter it finally gave up the ghost.

Finding someone to take it down wasn't hard; I've used Rushton Tree Service before. They're quite affordable. (If I were trying to save a tree, I might shop around more for an arborist, but cutting one down is not rocket surgery.)

Getting rid of the stump was another story. (Yes, it's the one where I photographed the giant wasp.) Rushton's grinder is the size of a golf cart, on treads. It would destroy all the ground cover I'd recently planted along the path, and is too heavy for the patio flagstones. I needed a smaller grinder.

The first guy said he'd do it when he had a bunch of orders together. Well, more than a month later, I finally got ahold of him again. "Oh, I forgot. But I can come today!" Then he didn't show up. (That was Tom at All Area Tree Care, if you're shopping around. Don't call him.)

The next company, ArborScape, had an estimator out, scheduled for a week later, and when the guys showed up, they said, "Uh, our small grinder broke, so we have to use the big one." Oh no you don't.
The third place had a picture of a small grinder on their website, but didn't actually own one. They referred me at last to Stump Removal & Daughter, who came out and did the job the day after I called.

It seems kind of crazy in this economy that it's so hard to find someone to take your money for a job that took less than an hour. In the end, the stump removal cost us less than any of the previous estimates, and the service was spot-on.
So if you're looking for stump removal in the Denver area, we heartily recommend:

Stump Removal & Daughter
Michael Rios
720-495-1124

Tomorrow: A new tree

Forgot to mention ...

2011-10-01T17:00:00.003-06:00

It's National Blog Writing Month (NaBloWriMo). Not to be confused with NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month.

NaBloWriMo (at least the incarnation I participate in) was started by the multi-talented (and possibly insane) Amy a.k.a. GroovyGrrl a.k.a. Soap Crone.

The idea is that you blog every day in October. Which can be a challenge. I used to blog every day (see: 757 posts in 2008), but then Facebook came along and sucked up a lot of my online posting energy.

I've been trying to post more frequently, and NaBloWriMo has prizes. Prizes! So.

You can do it, too, if you want. Click here.

Can you hear me now?

2011-10-01T12:02:00.000-06:00

Whoa. It's October! Not sure how that happened.

The problem with getting older is not just that you lose the energy, strength and flexibility of youth but that you gain the knowledge of and worries about all the different ways your body can betray you. Headaches, coughs, memory lapses, leg pain could all be harbingers of much worse things, which I won't detail lest I jinx myself. But you know what I'm talking about.

That said, I've been pretty damn lucky, a point that reasserted itself yesterday as I filled out my health form for the audiologist. No history of anything serious, no symptoms of concern.

So why go to the audiologist at all? Mostly because of hearing loss on my mom's side of the family, particularly due to Menier's Disease, which can be genetic. When I had a regular checkup and asked about whether I should have my hearing checked, the doc said, "If you're asking about it, then yes. And if your hearing is fine, then you'll have a baseline."

So yesterday I sat in a soundproof booth with headphones on, pressing a button when I heard the beeps. Some of them were so faint, I couldn't tell if I was imagining them. Another test conducted the sound through the bones behind my ears, testing the nerves. Finally they put air pressure in ear canal and watched my eardrums to check for holes (!).

As it turns out, my hearing is just fine. And the doctor said, "If you get Menier's, you'll know it; you'll be dizzy and miserable. But there's nothing that says you will, even with your family history."

So that's some good news to hear.

A few bricks shy

2011-09-30T15:30:00.002-06:00

At 117 years old, this house has seen a lot of modifications and upgrades, some of them welcome, some dubious. I really should see what permits were pulled over the years. I'd like to know when the aluminum siding was added, for example.

The previous owners removed that siding and painted the bricks, but left some remnants, such as around the downstairs bathroom window. Problem is, they also left some pretty large gaps where the wind can get into the walls. That would explain the frozen pipe issues I've had.

The neighbors hired a mason to do some tuckpointing, so I commandeered him to patch up the most glaring gap – this missing lintel brick –and a couple of other spots. We'll just paint over it and no one will be the wiser.

He also pointed out several places where foaming insulation would go a long way toward reducing the wind in the walls.

Winter's just around the corner, after all.

Biological pest control

2011-09-28T23:34:00.000-06:00

There aren't a lot of loose cats around the neighborhood, but we do see a few. They come into the yard for the big pot of catnip the Sergeant cultivates for our two felines. I suspect they stay for the mice.

While I was photographing the little rat bastard the other day, in fact, the dogs found this pretty creature up in a tree that overhangs the yard. We've had one previous encounter; he or she is very skittish and might be a genuine stray.

Next year, maybe we'll put pots of catnip in the vegetable garden. I know people try very hard to keep cats out, but we'd rather have cats than mice.

Just hanging out

2011-09-27T10:24:00.001-06:00

The fence pumpkin is about as big as it's going to get and is coloring up nicely. We're glad it's somewhat shielded from view from the sidewalk; the Sergeant is sure someone would take it otherwise.

But. No one has made off with our fence squash yet. It's a buttercup variety, hanging right next to the sidewalk. When I'm working in the garden, I often hear passers-by stop and talk about it:
"Is it a watermelon?"
"No, I think it's some kind of squash."

It may be safe from predation because people aren't sure what it is. We'll see!

A cruel blow

2011-09-25T17:44:00.003-06:00

The dog park bee tree is not faring well.

The photo on the left is from June 2, the one on the right from Sept. 23. I noticed a couple of weeks earlier that yet another trunk had blown down, but I kept forgetting to take my camera and veil with me so I could get some closeups.

I had my camera on Friday, but no veil, and the light was not great, but so it goes.

The hive is still quite active, despite being miserably exposed. Lots of traffic meant I couldn't get very close.

I feel very sorry for these bees, who probably won't survive the winter. I think about how I could help them. A piece of waterproof canvas? A three-sided box? It's probably not feasible to try to remove them – the queen would just hide in a crevice, and bees without a queen have no hope at all.
I will keep checking on them as the year advances and the temperatures drop.

Meanwhile, my own bees are working from sunrise until after sunset to prepare for winter in their cozy box.
The Sergeant planted marigolds underneath it and added a mini-sprinkler. The marigolds flourished, as well as a couple of squash vines that meandered over from the vegetable garden.
There's one good-sized pumpkin under there, and a buttercup squash. We've started seeing some powdery mildew on the squash leaves, but there's not much to be done about that this late in the year.
You can see that the bees have nearly filled the box with comb. It looks to me like they're putting their honey closer to the entrance, where it will be added insulation.

Street-spam signs also make for good insulating material on the window covering.

I suppose I am a bad beekeeper for not inspecting the hive more thoroughly by opening the box and lifting out the frames. But since I have no intention of harvesting anything until their second year, there doesn't seem to be much of a point. I will cross that bridge next spring.

Little rat bastard

2011-09-23T18:09:00.004-06:00

This is how bad they are. I saw a mouse scampering under the squash vines. I went inside to get my camera. I stood next to the tomato vines, aiming toward the squash. Well, you can see where that mouse was headed, bold as you please.

Savor the sunbeams

2011-09-23T13:46:00.001-06:00

Autumn is upon us. As the sun sinks lower and the days grow cooler, take the time to appreciate those precious rays.

Silver lace vine goes to town

2011-09-22T01:27:00.007-06:00

In October of 2009, someone on my gardening listserv was giving away a silver lace vine (polygonum aubertii), that was too vigorous for her small yard. I'd admired this pretty vine on fences around the neighborhood, so I was happy to go dig hers up.

I planted it on the other side of the fence, and this is how big it got in only its second summer. Wow! It's quite the grower. And the bees love the flowers. They have a pretty, delicate scent.

Here's a picture from another angle:
Turns out silver lace vine is also called Mile-a-Minute, growing up to 40 feet in a season. In some parts of the country, its relatives in the Polygonum family, also known as Mile-a-Minute vine, are considered noxious invasives (though not this particular ornamental).

The winters here are a deterrent, I think. But I'll be pruning the heck out of it next spring to keep it in check.

Damn mice

2011-09-20T00:14:00.000-06:00

My tomato harvest this year is not going to be as great as in years past, in part because I let the vines get too crowded and didn't prune the heck out of them. Next year I'm going to try a different trellising setup.

And then there are the mice.
This has been a crazy year for mice. We're seeing tons of them outside, all over. Because it was so wet earlier in the summer, there's lots of food for them and their population has exploded.

The little bastards have been getting to the ripe tomatoes before we can. They eat half the larger ones and suck the smaller ones dry.
When the weather starts getting colder, we're going to have a real problem with them trying to come into the house. Ugh.

Dinner at ChoLon Bistro

2011-09-17T10:07:00.005-06:00

I've been hearing about ChoLon for a while. It opened maybe a year ago downtown. On a rare recent weeknight off, the Sergeant I headed down to try it. (I hate trying to find parking downtown on weekends, so there's probably a lot of good places I'm missing out on. Euclid Hall, for example, is another place on my list.)

ChoLon has a week night prix fixe dinner for two that is a good deal – $55 for six dishes. We ordered soup dumplings, pot stickers, lemongrass-beet salad, vegetable fried rice and kung pao chicken. (Oh, I just noticed they misspelled "prix fixe" on their menu. Whoops!)

We got seats at the kitchen bar because I like to see the cooks at work. We could also watch the final touches of the plating.

The first order of business was the drinks. The Sergeant ordered an Old Saigon, which is simply an Old Fashioned with basil added. And a nice Luxardo cherry.

I ordered a peach cocktail whose name escapes me and which is not listed on the website (Note to self: Always photograph all menus). It had rum and coconut milk, a touch of chili, and boba pearls in the bottom. Tasty! And entertaining. But too easy to slurp down quickly, so I had an Old Saigon after that.

Then came an amuse bouche: a giant puffed rice cake, propped up on a stand and served with a flavorful and spicy tomato jam.
The first course was soup dumplings. I thought they were going to be dumplings in soup, but no, they were dumplings filled with soup!
More specifically, French onion soup with gruyère. Oh my goodness, these dumplings are good! Apparently soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao, are a Shanghai specialty. The onion soup is a ChoLon twist.

(In case you're wondering, the chef's name is Lon Symensma – he's using a classical Western culinary background to translate Asian dishes. The restaurant name is a play on his name and the name of Saigon's Chinatown, Cholon.)

Then there were pork belly pot stickers with a ginger mustard sauce, and the lemongrass-beet salad. Both were lovely. I'm usually not fond of frisée, but this was tender and not too bitter, with a very light dressing.

A bonus course also arrived, compliments of the chef: rib-eye satay. Rare and very tender and flavorful

As we nibbled and chatted we also enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. Many of the reviews I've seen complain about the noisiness of the restaurant, but we had no trouble hearing each other because most of the noise was behind us. The very friendly staff checked in with us regularly and answered our questions in detail. As a bonus, the lighting at the kitchen bar is much brighter, so I could get some decent food photos.
Doesn't this fried rice look delicious? That's a poached egg on top. I was very happy that the dish was not oversalted, as fried rice often is.

The main course was the kung pao chicken.
The chicken is brined and deboned, then folded into a tight bundle and cooked sous vide – sealed in a plastic pouch and immersed in hot water at a consistent temperature for many hours. The process results in very tender, succulent meat, which is then served with a kung pao sauce with vegetables. Ordinarily I would like some plain white rice with such a dish, but with so many earlier courses, I was happy to have just a couple of pieces. The rest of my share I took home for a delicious lunch over rice the next day.

I needed to save room for dessert!
Molten chocolate cake with salted peanut ice cream and toasted marshmallows. Quite a decadent treat and more than enough for two of us to share.

If you have a week night free or can plan ahead and make a weekend reservation, ChoLon is definitely a place to try. They do lunch, too! More soup dumplings are in my future. Maybe in yours, too.

ChoLon Bistro
1555 Blake Street #101
Denver, CO 80202
303-353-5223

Humming right along

2011-09-12T09:56:00.001-06:00

Here are some little friends we spotted at Perennial Favorites on Friday:
Who doesn't like hummingbirds? They're just so darn cute.
I wish we had more hummers in Denver proper. How are they where you live?

Royal Gorgeous

2011-09-10T22:25:00.001-06:00

The Sergeant and I went for a little jaunt down to the foothills west and south of Pueblo this last week. This wood-planked bridge was our chief destination.

Pretty, isn't it? It's even more impressive when you look through a knothole in the wood.
The ground seems pretty far away.
Yes, that's the Arkansas River, 955 feet down, with train tracks running alongside.
The Royal Gorge suspension bridge was built in 1929 as a tourist attraction. It's been restrung with fresh cables since then, happily.

(If you have a pair of red-blue 3D glasses, click on this 3D photo of the cables that the Sergeant took with his homemade 3D camera. It's pretty cool!)

There's an incline railway (built in 1931) that you can take to the bottom of the gorge to see the bridge from below. Not that you can really see much, that far away!
The Sergeant and I are not fond of crowds, so late in the day on a September weekday was a good time to go. We got on the incline railway without much of a wait, for example.

I think it's unfortunate that they do allow cars to cross the bridge. What can you see from the car? Not much. But on foot, you can examine the bridge up close ... once the friggin' cars have passed. (That's the Sergeant's picture of me, shooting through the knothole.)

Visiting the Royal Gorge bridge is not cheap, at $25 a person, but there's a bunch of rides included, like the incline railway and the aerial tram. If you stop at the visitor center in Cañon City first, they have discount coupons. I was lucky and bought a 2-for-1 Groupon back in May.
If you happen to be passing through Colorado on U.S. 50 (or visiting kin at the nearby Supermax federal prison – the Unabomber's there, for example), be sure to swing by!

What is it? No. 34

2011-09-07T00:12:00.004-06:00

I haven't done one of these in a while (almost a year, in fact). Can you guess what this is? Click on the photo to see the answer!

Gardening is uplifting

2011-09-06T00:46:00.002-06:00

Well, the squarsh has gotten a little out of hand. We planted too many for the space, so the vines are crawling and climbing everywhere.
I walked past the fence outside the garden last week and saw this joker hanging there. It's a pumpkin, and not a dwarf variety, either.

I thought I could accommodate it with the help of some pantyhose, but they wouldn't stay put, despite the "control top" label.

The Sergeant came to the rescue, with a little monopod platform he whipped up in about five minutes. A couple of zipties ensure that it will stay put. Handy husband!

The pumpkin has gone from softball-sized to this in two weeks. The fence is probably thanking us, and the pumpkin, too.
We'll be sure to carve a smile on it when the time comes.

Time to make the sauce

2011-09-04T00:31:00.000-06:00

This is round two of tomatoes from the garden. Round one became a slow-simmered sauce with onions and mushrooms, for putting over pasta. We'll get many dinners out of that.

This batch I roasted with garlic and herbs, then pureed. It made a really good pizza sauce, which I also froze in small batches.

I had never made pizza crust before; I was surprised at how easy it is. I topped the pizza with mushrooms and thin-sliced spicy sopressata. And mozarella, of course.

The cucumbers became pickles. The squash is going to become ravioli. Probably next weekend.

Refrigerator pickles: piquant and perfect

2011-09-01T00:01:00.003-06:00

I planted a couple of cucumber seedlings in a newer flower bed where they would get some water from the lawn sprinklers. They are not as aggressive or as large as pumpkins, but provide some nice greenery and, yes, cucumbers. Time for refrigerator pickles!

These are really awesome. Really truly. And easy.

Peel and slice four cukes. Add two sliced red hot peppers (seeded and deveined – wear gloves!). Put them in a large glass jar or bowl.

In a pot, bring to a boil the following:

1 1/4 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 minced shallot
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons salt

Reduce the heat and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then pour it over the cukes and peppers.

Let it all cool on the counter, then refrigerate.

If you don't like spicy, reduce or omit the peppers. I'm planning to remove the peppers from the brine after two days of pickling, since the heat is right where I like it.

I don't think this batch is going to last more than a few days, though – we're eating them so fast. I'll just make some more!

Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for the basic brine recipe (originally from Gourmet).

Kung pao tacos

2011-08-31T00:49:00.000-06:00

I've heard of kimchi tacos and spaghetti tacos, so why not kung pao tacos? But no, I'm really talking about two different meals I had recently.

At East Asia Garden the other day, the Sergeant and I enjoyed some pork and cabbage jiaozi (boiled dumplings), kung pao chicken and sesame balls. We are big fans of the sesame balls.
East Asia Garden's owners are from Northeast China, so it is fun to practice my rusty Mandarin with them (my first year in China was spent in the northeast's Jilin Province, so the accent is easier for me to understand). Their food is good and reasonably priced. The service is friendly. Not always speedy but we don't like to eat in a hurry. I like the way they mold the rice, too. It's original.

If you want to try some Chinese dishes from a less-known region, stop in East Asia Garden or order takeout sometime.

East Asia Garden
1156 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80210-1502
(303) 722-9968

On Saturday night, we headed up to Westminster with friends to try a Mexican place mentioned in Denver on a Spit.
Toluca is short on atmosphere but long on friendly service and yes, awesome tacos al pastor. I had straight-up tacos (with extra pineapple) while the Sergeant had the combo plate with beans and rice, which he said were quite tasty. The margaritas were passable, and we all enjoyed the sopapillas.

If you're up on the north side of town, go get you some tacos there!

Toluca Mexican Restaurant
9165 Lowell Boulevard
Westminster, CO
720-540-5649

Prayer service

2011-08-28T22:53:00.002-06:00

I confess I let the vegetable garden get away from me. Not hard to do when you take vacation in August. I went out in my pajamas the other day to grab some tomatoes, and three hours later I was still weeding and trying to restore order. Still in my pajamas.

At one point I pulled a bunch of weeds and found a green bean in my hand. At least that was my initial thought, until it pinched me and I went "ack!" and flung it down.

She seemed none the worse for that, happily.

The freakiest thing about praying mantises is the human-like articulation of their heads. They turn their heads and look at you, and you just know they're wishing they were a little bit bigger or you a little bit smaller.

Vacation rocks

2011-08-25T00:04:00.003-06:00

I love marshmallows

2011-08-18T13:23:00.002-06:00

And this is how I love them.

Going to seed

2011-08-10T13:12:00.006-06:00

One great thing about having a thriving garden is that it creates the seeds of its own expansion, or the expansion of others' gardens. I collected these columbine seeds for Pamela J. (send me your address, Pam!), while a bucket of white irises went to Amy and another batch was eagerly snapped up by officemates.

I've collected seeds from bachelor buttons, arugula and onions. The Sergeant is an ardent collector of poppy and marigold seeds. My friend Ana took some fennel volunteers. A co-worker got lamb's ears, another, chives.

I'll have to find out what seeds Deb would like to have, as all my tomatoes and some other garden goodies came from her.

The only sad part of all this going to seed? Knowing that fall is just around the corner.

Nice salad

2011-08-09T01:12:00.002-06:00

I love salade Niçoise, but it's hard to find a good one, at least in my recent experience. I've had salads where all the vegetables were completely raw (including the potatoes!) and ones where the "seared tuna" came out well-done.

I made my own Niçoise last week for the stitch 'n' bitch girls. It's not that hard, but yes, there many elements, so it takes time. Cook the beans, cook the potatoes, cook the eggs, peel and cut the eggs and potatoes, make the vinaigrette, wash the lettuce, add the tomatoes, the capers and the olives. And that's before we even get to the tuna.

The vinaigrette is worth making for any salad. It's from Epicurious. For the tuna, I followed Jaden's recipe, smearing the tuna with wasabi and sesame seeds. Manisha pitched in on prep and Jen helped me with the searing, since I didn't want to ruin the pricey tuna I'd gotten from Whole Foods. (You can use canned tuna, too, but I decided to splurge.)

It came out quite tasty, and looked pretty to boot.

Giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus)

2011-08-07T00:15:00.003-06:00

I was digging up the irises around the birch stump today. We're going to have it ground down so we can plant another tree there. A long insect came zooming by and landed on the stump. I thought it was a dragonfly until I saw its tail.
My goodness! Is that a stinger? I grabbed my camera to take some photos. When the creature start to lift and flare its abdomen, I backed off, thinking that was some kind of threat display.

Then I went inside to look up what it was. What she was – a female Megarhyssa macrurus, or giant ichneumon wasp. What I thought was a stinger is really a 6-inch-long ovipositor. She was looking for holes bored by her rival, a pigeon horntail wasp.
When she finds one, she lifts her abdomen high in the air and draws that long ovipositor forward until she can push it straight down into the hole, guiding it with her hind legs. In the hole is the larva of her rival, which she stings and paralyzes. Then she lays an egg, which will hatch and eat the paralyzed larva, then pupate and become an adult wasp the next spring.
Ew, right? But very interesting. It's so specifically evolved. (If you're not too squicked out, click to see the photos larger; they're pretty cool.)

It's funny, the Sergeant and I were discussing the theory of intelligent design and its flaws just last night. Turns out Darwin had something to say about that, involving the ichneumonidae's gruesome habits:

I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice.

Thanks to the fine contributors to Wikipedia for expanding my insect horizons. And thanks to Ms. Wasp for stopping by. I'm sorry that your efforts will be in vain.

Ripening

2011-08-06T00:25:00.005-06:00

The first cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. There are lots of big green tomatoes, too. I should fry some up this week.

It's funny how the garden goes from "not much" to "everything all at once."

Talon show

2011-08-02T01:21:00.000-06:00

I love raptors. We have hawks in the neighborhood, either Cooper's or sharp-shinned (which differ mainly in size, so it's hard to tell) and peregrine falcons, plus owls. I've seen other hawks, kestrels and possibly an eagle at the dog park.

So of course I was pleased to get a gander at these birds from Nature's Educators at the Denver County Fair.
This Harris's hawk named Zeus was given to the center by a falconer. Since he was raised by humans, he wouldn't know how to live in the wild. He was very interested in all the activity around him but was also remarkably relaxed.

The great horned owl, Athena, though, seemed pretty stressed out, panting heavily and getting all flappy.
Her handler said all the hustle and bustle of the fair was a little much for an animal that can hear the blood moving through your veins. See how her ears are turned down? She's trying to cut out some of the noise.

Athena is missing a wingtip and a talon, possibly after being electrocuted. She was found under a power line in Nebraska.

I had to share with her handler something I'd seen recently: Eagle Love Story: Injured Mates Reunited At Rehab Center. You should read it, too.

Fried Froot Loops

2011-07-31T23:33:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the first Denver County Fair. Denver is both a city and a county, but doesn't have much in the way of a rural component. So the fair was pretty much about urban homesteading, with a high hipster quotient.

Sure there were some mini-goats, chickens and rabbits being shown, and judging of pies and preserves. But there was also a holistic pavilion, a concert by Devo (!) and this guy handing out fried cereal.

I thought he was just some random Denver wacko with a lot of enthusiasm for kitsch, but apparently he does this professionally.

Froot Loops fried in butter is one way to get everyone's attention (Day-Glo spray paint aside). I'm guessing a lot of kids are bugging their parents to try it at home now.

Brunch at Wild Eggs in Denver

2011-07-30T22:15:00.008-06:00

We had a hankering for brunch and headed to Lucile's on Logan at Alameda, but the wait was something like 40 minutes, out in the heat. Instead we ambled over for a look at the new place across the street, where Blockbuster used to be.

Turns out this weekend is the soft opening for Wild Eggs, the first Denver branch of a Louisville, Ky.-based chain. It was by invitation only, but we were told we could eat at the bar, if we didn't mind slow service. Oh, and by the way? Breakfast would be on the house.

Sweet! We bellied up to the circular bar. I was trying to figure out why they would have such a fixture. Maybe just a design element to vary the seating options. I overheard one woman complaining vociferously about the uncomfortable bar stools, but I thought they were all right. The rest of the space is tables and booths.
The ceiling is high and the space is nice and airy, with artsy pictures of eggs on the walls and other eggy touches, such as egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers.

The menu is extensive. I was torn between the "ACE" of a "BLT" (Avocado, Cheddar, fried Egg, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato on toasted sourdough with skillet potatoes) and the Jimmy the Greek Frittata (Oven-dried tomato, kalamata olive, fresh spinach, onion, basil pesto, feta cheese and pepperoncini). I opted for the latter.
It was quite tasty! A little on the salty side, but anything with olives and feta will be. I ate it all. I liked the potatoes, too. Three pepperoncini was overkill for me; I think they could probably put one on there and call it good, or ask people if they'd like more than one (I hate to waste good pepperoncini).

The Sergeant had the "Violet You’re Turning Violet" (Three buttermilk cakes, blueberries, whipped cream and maple syrup. The name is a nod to Willy Wonka).
He thought the pancakes were quite good. Not too sweet. He also was impressed with the bacon we'd ordered on the side. "This bacon is perfect!"

We also had an "everything muffin," which is little bit sweet and a little savory. I think I would've like it more with some butter on it. The flavor was interesting but not what I was expecting.

Wild Eggs serves fresh-squeezed juice, and they've invested in a robot squeezer that's amazing. I took a video of it in action:

That's a $5,000 juicer, but considering how much juice they were processing, it will pay for itself in man-hours saved quite quickly.

Wild Eggs opens for real on Tuesday, Aug. 2. You can look at their website for hours and their menu. (I can't get their menu to display in Firefox, only Safari. Might be a problem on my end.)

Wild Eggs
300 East Alameda Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80209
303-744-EGGS (3447)
P.S. They do have a liquor license and what looked like a pretty interesting drink menu. I didn't take a picture since I thought it would be available online. I'll just have to go back!

Here there be dragons

2011-07-24T22:41:00.001-06:00

I was sitting on the front steps this morning, waiting for a mouse to scamper by so I could get a picture, but those little buggers are fast.

Instead my patience was rewarded by a passing dragonfly.
He settled on faded iris stalk and posed with a saucy air.

"I'm ready for my close-up!"
Quite a different fellow from the blue beauty I captured three years ago (if you haven't seen that one, do take a look). As with the others, you can click on the photos to see them larger.

Flutterby

2011-07-23T13:22:00.000-06:00

This Western Tiger Swallowtail came flitting down to the echinacea in my front yard and obligingly posed for several dozen close-ups.
I was on the phone with Mom at the time (with a headset) and didn't notice until too late that the camera was on the wrong setting. So instead of a dozen awesome butterfly close-ups, I only have one OK shot. He or she took off just after.

Identification was easy because I remembered a similar butterfly on the Perennial Favorites website. Yep, it's the same one! You can click my photo to see it larger.

Another visitor to my front yard lately is a little brown mouse who has been busily harvesting the abundant seeds from all the flowers. He's too fast for photos but is surprisingly unconcerned about being seen otherwise. I just hope that he doesn't try to move indoors come fall.

Blue something

2011-07-22T14:17:00.004-06:00

I should know what this is, but I don't. We scattered a packet of mixed flower seeds and don't have the packet anymore.
Do you know what it is?

Tidying up

2011-07-21T00:02:00.001-06:00

It took me a couple of hours to reclaim the curb and walkways from the riot of both good plants and weeds. I feel a twinge of guilt ripping out "perfectly good" flowers, but really, I have no shortage of California poppies, bachelor buttons, yarrow, salvia and lamb's ears. And I like being able to get out of the car and up to the sidewalk without having to wade through a jungle.

Just when I was done, it started to rain. You can barely see a rainbow over the top of the house.

The weeds in front consist mainly of whatever comes through the cracks in the flagstones, some persistent grass, and the bane of my gardening existence: bindweed.
Can you spot it here? It's the pretty white flowers, like morning glory and in the same family. Unlike most weeds, it's not content to just grow wherever it can; it has to wrap around and through and over until it has thoroughly strangled all its neighbors.

It's like the kudzu of Colorado.

Hoe hoe hoe

2011-07-20T00:51:00.001-06:00

It feels a little like Christmas in July, with all this rain we've gotten and consequent garden abundance.
The vegetable garden is perpetually on the verge of being overtaken by weeds. The tomatoes really are taking off. I've been trying to stay on top of keeping them tied up to their towers. I need to stay on top of the weeding, too.

The squash plants are a little frightening in size. And we have a lot of mystery plants, thanks to the Sergeant's liberal sowing of old seeds. "We might as well use them!" he said. The brassica that this bee is enjoying is one of them. It might be yu choi.

The entrance to the hive is a constant traffic jam, with no air traffic controllers in sight.

Chopped

2011-07-19T00:02:00.002-06:00

I chopped the heck out of that fennel today, pulled out all the seedlings and tied the remainder up to the fence. I should've stayed more on top of it. There was one very dead perennial under it (I don't remember what it was), and a seriously struggling campanula and leggy artemesia.

The bees were all hovering around as I chopped, as if to say, "Hey, I'm still working on that!"
Sadly, that now-dead birch tree in the back yard is coming down tomorrow. I will miss its shade and its screening from the neighbors.

I'm thinking of putting a linden in its place.

Fennelzilla

2011-07-17T10:35:00.002-06:00

I know dill can get quite large and weedy. Fennel is in the same family, and given a couple of years can turn into a real monster.
Yes, that's a six-foot fence! I planted this Florence fennel as a seedling and failed to harvest the root bulbs. I didn't imagine it would survive Colorado's chilly winters, but it has survived two and thrived. It has also produced numerous seedlings. I've given away some, and need to pull out others and eat them! I also need to hack back the main plant, as it is smothering others around it.

The coreopsis, or tickseed, being one. Or two, since I planted another right next to it, not realizing coreopsis and tickseed are the same thing. They're two different cultivars, though, and a mass of cheery yellow flowers is never amiss.

A little farther down the row is that monarda I posted about earlier. This is the same bloom I showed, a couple of days later.

It's really starting to take off, so I expect that next year it will be quite shrubby.

Yesterday I spent several hours removing more sod to make another perennial bed. My original plan was to just clear a ring around the peach tree we planted, but then I got ambitious. More on that later.

Back in my day ...

2011-07-17T00:03:00.002-06:00

I took a little trip down memory lane today when Manisha posted a photo on Facebook of a Commodore Pet she encountered. The Super Pet was the first computer I learned how to use regularly. A college boyfriend introduced me to the engineering school's computer lab and showed me how to use a word processor. What? I don't have to retype papers to revise them? Awesome!

That was a very brief period in which you could wave an 8-inch floppy at an English professor and say, "My paper's on here but the printer's broken," and he would be impressed.

I also learned to play Adventure on the DEC-10 mainframe, and took part in the development of one of the very first social networks ... as a socialite, not a programmer.

Yeah, my geek roots go way back.

Not a bee

2011-07-16T10:42:00.000-06:00

A while back, I posted about a bee imitator that I thought was a syrphid, or flower fly, but it turned out to be a wool carder. Yesterday I found an actual syrphid on my daisies.
Though it buzzes and hovers like a bee, it does not sting or bite. The bee-like markings also help fool predators. The larvae eat garden pests such as aphids.
This one has a vertical black stripe, which drew my attention, and it has a white face and big fly-eyes. There's a poster of some Syrphidae on Wikipedia that shows some of the many varieties.

My garden sure is pollinator central!

Back to blooms

2011-07-14T12:31:00.002-06:00

Do you recognize this flower?
If you live out East or in other colder, moister climes, you probably don't see these much. It's a cactus flower, on a specimen we just planted a couple of weeks ago.

Our friend Bob gave it to us in trade for a bristlecone pine we ordered by mistake from High Country Gardens. We thought we'd ordered a dwarf tree, but the tag on what we got (Pinus aristata "Blue Bear") said it reaches 30 feet! Happily, Bob said he had a couple dwarf conifers he'd trade for it, and he threw in a couple of agaves and this cactus as well. I didn't dream that it would bloom so soon!

It has some pretty serious spikes, but it's the teeny barbed ones under the larger ones that will really getcha. (We both were "got" a little.)
We planted it in a rocky area near the street, where it gets plenty of sun but is well away from where anyone might step on it. The agaves and conifers are planted in the yard.

Thanks, Bob!

The opposite of flowers

2011-07-14T01:14:00.000-06:00

When your house is more than 100 years old, you end up fixing stuff a lot. Often, you're fixing stuff that has already been fixed before, sometimes in the loosest sense of the word.

This is a long boring story with only two pictures, so move along if you're not into home repair.

We had a sprinkler leak but didn't know about it until I was in the basement one day and heard "drip drip drip." The ground was so saturated outside the window well that water was coming in. A stack of suitcases got wet. An old one on the bottom was moldy. I threw it out.

We got the water line repaired. The Sergeant cleared out the window well and discovered a huge gap under the window where the framing was missing. He fixed that and sealed all around the window.

A few days later, we noticed a little more water on the floor. "What the hell? Where's that coming from?" Hmmm. There were drips on the underside of the sewer pipe. We got a stepladder. The Sergeant climbed up and started laughing.

Yes, someone's long-ago half-assed repair on a large crack in the iron sewer pipe had finally failed. The crack was along the backside and the top of the pipe, high enough that only a little, um, liquid was sloshing out at a time.

Ew.

The Sergeant wrapped plastic and duct tape around the pipe until a plumber could come replace the pipe with PVC.
Thanks goodness for that sprinkler leak!

Monarda "Gardenview Scarlet"

2011-07-07T00:43:00.002-06:00

This bee balm is just about to bloom in a bright red that attracts pollinators. It's also called oswego tea, horsemint and wild bergamot (not to be confused with the tropical citrus plant that flavors Earl Grey). Click on the picture to see it larger.

I picked it up in May when Mom and I visited Perennial Favorites in Rye, Colorado. I plan to write about that soon. I think about it every time I check on the plants I got there. I did buy a few. You know I have no self-control.

(P.S. You can see this bud in bloom in this post.)

This is that mojito

2011-07-05T19:24:00.004-06:00

The one I can't blame for ordering bulbs.
The bouquet is from our garden.
The picture is from my cellphone.

Pomegranate mojito

1.5 oz. rum (I used Pampero Aniversario)
.75 oz pomegranate simple syrup (heat 1 cup pomegranate juice, stir in 1 cup sugar, cool, store in fridge)
Juice of half a lime
7-8 mint leaves
Fizzy water

In a tall glass, muddle the rum, lime and mint, add the simple syrup and fill the glass with ice, then add fizzy water and stir. Enjoy it after a long, hard day. Order some flower bulbs. Then go to bed.

My mouth, my money

2011-07-05T00:27:00.001-06:00

I could blame the mojito, which is made with mint from this buried pot. Or I could blame you enablers out there (you know who you are). But really, it was my own decision.

Yes, I just pulled the trigger on an order of bulbs from Brent & Becky's. Lots and lots of bulbs, including five kinds of alliums.

"Aieeee!" says the Sergeant. "Then we'll have to plant them all!"

Yes, that's the plan.

A wee dram

2011-07-04T00:01:00.004-06:00

We had some friends over to sample the Sergeant's Scotch collection, which is extensive but largely unopened. He gets a lot of liquor gifts through his work. We couldn't possibly drink it all ourselves.

Of the 18 bottles, six were sampled. The goal was not to try everything. We asked our guests to note down their opinions.

The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban seemed to be the favorite: "Warm and mellow" "Yummy."

The oldest, a 25-year-old Gordon & McPhail Reserve, was deemed too strong and peaty, though with a little water it was good.

I liked the 10-year-old Speyburn, which was lighter than the others.

The 14-year-old Oban was also "harsh at first, then nice and sweet."

I made a big pot of green chili and there were plenty of snacks to keep the group from getting too tipsy. The lampshades remained on the lamps.

Sweet surprises

2011-07-03T02:04:00.001-06:00

I wasn't expecting to find any ripe raspberries for a couple more weeks, so it was a pleasant surprise to spot a little flash of red in the back of the patch.
There are a couple of canes that seem to have gotten a head start on setting fruit, thanks to the extra warmth thrown off by the cinderblocks of the raised bed they're behind.

Then there's the scruffy tree that I thought was a volunteer (and maybe it was?) that turned out to be a plum:
It's not terribly prolific, but maybe as it matures it will produce more.

Finally, the shrub that hasn't done much in previous years got an extra dose of watering this year thanks to a sprinkler leak. It has a ton of berries on it and I wondered if they are edible. So I went googling around.
Why yes, they're serviceberries! Otherwise known as juneberries or Saskatoon berries. I don't think I've ever eaten one, but I will as soon as these turn purple.

What does one do with serviceberries? Can you make jam with them?

Funions

2011-06-29T01:08:00.001-06:00

Alliums are such fun flowers. I hereby resolve to plant more of them.

You're familiar with chive flowers, of course:
They make a great garnish.

The larger decorative alliums make lovely fireworks bursts of white or purple in your garden.
And even after they go to seed they have an interesting shape.
A couple of years ago I planted seeds for bunching onions, which I got from Kenny at Veggie Gardening Tips. They didn't sprout until this year! But now that they're established, I expect them to stick around.
I originally thought they were Egyptian walking onions, which grow their bulbs on the top. The weight bends the stems over until the bulbs hit the ground and take root, hence the "walking."

If the bunching onions were just for kitchen use, I would mound the dirt up so the stems are blanched. But I enjoy them as much for their looks as for cooking.

Poppin' fresh

2011-06-26T11:11:00.003-06:00

The Sergeant snapped this photo while I was at work the other day. "The bees are going crazy for this flower!" he told me.
It was just this one poppy bloom and just that day. He couldn't figure out what was different about it; there wasn't water collected in the petals or anything that made it look special, but there were dozens of bees trying to get to it.

Cheery yellow columbine

2011-06-25T23:02:00.003-06:00

The columbine is Colorado's state flower. You usually see the blue and white variety but ours are all yellow, and quite vigorous. They are shaded most of the day, so I guess they like that.
They are also vigorous self-seeders. I usually end up pulling out quite a few seedlings from between the patio flagstones. If anyone wants seeds to sow in the fall, just yell!

Snoozy poodles

2011-06-24T10:42:00.003-06:00

The Sergeant is still working on refining his time-lapse set-up.

Sleepy poodles are a willing subject.

(Warning: The music's a little loud, so you might want to turn your speakers down a notch.)

Clematis and honeysuckle

2011-06-23T05:52:00.001-06:00

I don't know why I think clematis are so special, but I just love them. They're not hard to grow.

The fuchsia one was in the garden already; it likes the bigger structure I've given it to grow on. The purple one is a classic Jackmanii clematis. I consider it Sophie's memorial flower, as I buried a fair amount of her ashes in the planting hole.

On the other side of the trellis is a sweet autumn clematis that will bloom later in the summer. It's much more vigorous.

I use black plastic trellis netting to help the vines climb. It's unobtrusive stuff. Great for stapling to stockade fences, too.
I'm not sure what to do about the honeysuckle in front of the house. It's overwhelming the cheap trellis it was planted with. I'm contemplating training it to climb up the front porch, but I'm wondering if I'll regret that later.

What do you think?

Floral feast

2011-06-22T05:21:00.004-06:00


Some of the most exciting flowers in the garden right now are not the showiest. Back in March we got the peas planted and it seemed like they would never amount to much, but now they are producing an abundant crop of tasty sugar snaps. Most of which, OK, all of which go straight into our mouths as we pick them. The arugula is an umpteenth-generation descendent of seeds I sowed three years ago. It just keeps popping up. I love its peppery bite. And the bees like it, too.

We also have tomatoes flowering (above left) and peppers (above right). Lots of peppers. The Sergeant likes spicy, so we went a little crazy in the vegetable department at Home Depot. And thanks to my friend Deb, the tomatoes will be abundant, too. She gifted us eight varieties. We're just waiting for the hot days to kick in so the plants really take off. We should also start seeing actual raspberries (right) in another few weeks.

That's not all we have for edibles, but that's all I have in bloom right now. More later!

Opportunists

2011-06-21T09:18:00.002-06:00

When plants come up in the garden where we don't expect them, we might call them "weeds," or "volunteers," or "naturalized."
I didn't plant these "volunteer" snapdragons. They just keep reseeding themselves, starting from a lone plant that was there when I moved in. They choose their colors themselves.

The irises in the back have spread over ("naturalized") from a much smaller clump.

The mullein (Verbascum thapsus) really is a "weed," but look at how awesomely large it is! A biennial, this is its second year, and it will put up a 12-foot flower stalk. It looks positively prehistoric. I leave a couple in place because I like their looks and their spread is fairly easy to control.

Unlike the lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina), which comes up everywhere. I laugh at myself for oh-so-carefully transplanting a clump the first year, and worrying about its survival. Now I rip it out wholesale when it's in the way. I've given away pots of it to friends with kids who adore petting the fuzzy leaves. But I still have a lot of it. The silver foliage is pretty and the bees (both wool carders and honeys) really love it.

Actually, a lot of my gardening seems to follow the natural spreading habit of plants. I'll find a plant coming up in a new spot and think, "OK, I can go with that," and next thing you know, I've got a new flowerbed.

"Poppies will put them to sleeeep"

2011-06-20T09:18:00.002-06:00

I took pictures of everything that was blooming in my yard on Saturday. Thirty-five different kinds of flowers, not including dandelions. I was going to post them all at once, but even my eyes started to glaze over after the 10th photo.
Unlike these poppies, I don't want to put you to sleep, so I'm going to dole them out a few at a time.

Actually, I'm not sure if these are the sleep-inducing kind of poppies. They're pretty eye-popping to me.
Many years ago in China I visited a market near the Burmese border where a little old lady sidled up and offered to sell me a tiny lump of opium. (At least her pantomime of smoking it and the location made me assume it was such.)

I declined.

Borage for forage

2011-06-19T12:41:00.004-06:00

I weeded all around the house yesterday. Weeding is not my favorite task, but I feel a sense of accomplishment when I've tidied up the pathways and gotten the worst of the offenders out of the garden.

Weeds are sometimes "good" plants that show up where you don't want them. Borage being a case in point. There's a volunteer half-blocking one of the paths, but as I scootched closer and closer in my weeding progress, I could see how much the bees were loving it.

I'll wait until it's done flowering before I pull it out and make soup with it.

Then the sun came out.

2011-06-17T14:01:00.003-06:00

It figures.

2011-06-17T12:36:00.004-06:00

As soon as we got to the dog park, it started to rain.

Utility wars

2011-06-17T10:35:00.000-06:00

Denver's commitment to infrastructure improvements is laudable, but not always well-coordinated. The water-main replacement has torn up the street on one side of the house, while the gas-main replacement has bollixed up the street on the other. We wake to a chorus of back-up beeps, jack-hammers and idling trucks.

I half-expect a "West Side Story"-style rumble at the corner any day now.

Can you say Schadenfreude?

2011-06-16T13:16:00.004-06:00

Watch this:

Yes, that really is the Dalai Lama, and yes, the interviewer really did that.

Getting high with my husband

2011-06-15T10:36:00.002-06:00

For our first anniversary, the Sergeant and I took a little road trip. You don't have to go far from Denver to be in a different world. And if you're not ready to climb a fourteener (as Colorado's peaks over 14,000 feet are called), you can drive most of the way up Mount Evans, which is 14,258 feet high and just 45 minutes from home. Granted, the last 500 feet up from the parking lot will still leave you breathless, but the views from the top are worth it.

Busy bees

2011-06-14T22:59:00.002-06:00

As the Sergeant and I were working in the garden the other day, I couldn't resist taking a peek at the bees' progress through the hive window. It had been about 3 1/2 weeks since I'd caught them, and while they seemed to have settled in well, judging from the steady traffic at the entrance, I was curious about how much comb they'd built, and where.

The Sergeant snapped this shot with his phone. The bees have built about 10 bars of comb. Oddly enough, they've started in the middle of the hive and not near the entrance. I should find out whether I need to move them closer to the front. My instinct says yes, but if you know for sure, please leave a comment.

Anyway, it's nice to see they're so industrious!

Getting the hang of it

2011-06-09T00:26:00.003-06:00

After an inauspicious beginning at the dog park today (bitten on the ear by a mean dog), Jackson did some actual swimming – for the very first time. It wasn't graceful, but he was determined to Get. That. Ball.

We were very excited for him, and he seemed quite pleased with himself. Lucy celebrated by going in up to her ankles.

Deb & Erik get their bees

2011-06-04T13:14:00.007-06:00

Deb has been helping me document my experience with bees since nearly the beginning. She came along on my second swarm capture and was wowed by it. She also helped me with hive inspections and honey harvest. Now she's got her urban homestead with greenhouse and chickens. Of course she wanted bees, too!
She and her honey, Erik, had just finished up their beekeeping class with the Backyardhive.com folks when I called them with news of a swarm at the community gardens where a couple of friends have plots. Yay friends! We arranged to meet there at 6 a.m. – Deb and Erik with their brand-new bee jackets and me with my swarm gear.
The bees were clustered on a tree branch about 6 feet off the ground. Because it was early and cool, they were in a nice tight bunch.
The 6-foot ladder we had was a little too tall to hold the box with enough room for branch-shaking, and the 4-footer too short, so Deb opted to hold the box as Erik shook the branch.
And shook it some more.
Things started to go south after Deb set the box down and discovered that some bees had gotten into her sleeves and under her pants cuffs. She started to panic a little (can you blame her?), and got stung a couple of times on her ankle.

She and I walked far enough away that she could get the bees out, while Erik stayed and tried to herd more bees into the box, which he put on the taller ladder. But it wasn't strapped down. You can guess what happened.

When Deb and I got back, there were bees all over the sheets we'd laid out, but still quite a few in the box.
It seemed best to go have breakfast and let the bees sort themselves out. Which they did.

When we returned, the queen was in the box with the bulk of her court.
Erik gently wrapped the box in sheets and carried it to the car.
At home Erik shook the bees into their waiting hive. Now, nearly two weeks later, Deb reports that the bees have a goodly amount of comb built out and are active and happy.

I have video of the whole thing, but it's quite long, so Deb or I will need to edit it down, and I'll let them decide if they want to post it. (To Erik's credit, he did not swear when the box fell. At least not audibly!)

A rocky afternoon

2011-06-03T21:49:00.006-06:00

I've tried to keep the path to the side yard covered with mulch, but the dogs keep turning it into a dirt racetrack.
With a fair amount of effort this afternoon, I got some flagstones and pavers laid down and reasonably level. The addition of mulch and a flat of groundcover – thyme, probably, or maybe ironwort – should make it look a lot nicer.
I did get that last big paver in the back laid, too. I had to take a picture before I finished because it was getting dark.

I encountered the concrete plug for a former fence post and briefly toyed with digging it out. I even tried to break it up a little with a pickax. No such luck. But at least it was off to the side enough that I could still center the big paver.

Boy, I sure am achy now.

Uncool

2011-06-03T12:15:00.002-06:00

When I moved into this house, one of my first improvements was the addition of a swamp cooler on the second floor, tied into the upstairs ductwork.

If you live in a dry climate, a swamp cooler (or evaporative cooler) is a great alternative to air conditioning; it cools the air by blowing it through wet pads, much like hanging a damp towel in front of a fan. It uses much less electricity than AC and you don't have to seal up the house.

It does mean I have to climb into the attic twice a year to turn it on or off and rearrange the ducts, but that's not arduous.

This spring brought a little surprise, though.
Remember those darned pigeons that were nesting under the deck? And then building over the front door? Well, they thought they'd finally found a viable alternative: a fold in the cooler cover. The wind had flipped it over because I didn't tie it securely enough last fall.
When I got up on the ladder and flipped the cover back, Whooosh! a pigeon came shooting out. "Whoa!" I shouted, scaring the Sergeant. I had to reassure him I was OK.

I'm sure the pigeons would've thought it poetic if I'd fallen off the ladder.
I felt sorry, but not enough to leave the nest. Did you know that pigeons produce up to five sets of babies a year? This pair will just have to try again somewhere else.

Dog park bee tree

2011-06-02T00:48:00.000-06:00

Out at the dog park there's a solitary bee tree. I had an idle hope earlier this year that I could get a swarm from it; those would be some great, hardy genetics.
The Sergeant and I were at the park a couple of days ago and I immediately noticed something amiss. The bees' trunk had fallen!
For comparison, here's a photo I took in May last year. You can see that the trunk that was behind Jackson is now on the ground.
Yet the bees' nest must be even lower in the tree, as there was a great cloud of them still hovering around the entrance. I wasn't willing to get closer without a veil; if I were them, I'd be a little freaked out by the recent disturbance. I did see some going in and out through the damaged pith of the tree; I imagine all the recent rains have played havoc with climate control in the hive.
I also wondered where they might be finding any nectar, as little is blooming out there at the park right now. And the wind can blow pretty well, making it hard to fly far.
Later in our walk we did find one flowering shrub – golden currant or Ribes aureum – next to the pond.
And sure enough, some busy bees.

Zoom zoom

2011-05-30T22:27:00.002-06:00

Many months ago I bought a Groupon-type deal for karting at Unser Racing, a new indoor track on the north side of Denver. Neither of us had ever been in a go-kart outside of an amusement park.

The Sergeant has race-car driving experience, as does a friend who joined us, so they left me in the dust. I didn't mind; it was fun to just zip around the tight curves and rev down the (admittedly rather short) straightaways.

It's kind of expensive ($25 for about 8 minutes of racing, plus a $5 "day pass"), so once was enough for me. But the Sergeant thinks he might go again.

I've made my bed

2011-05-29T23:26:00.002-06:00

There's a lot of lawn in our yard that I would like to hold flowers and vegetables instead. But boy, digging up sod is hard work!
Lucy shows how high the grass is in a small area that was full of cosmos last year but this year was reclaimed by the underlying turf.

What makes sod removal so tedious is the need to shake out as much dirt as possible and rescue all the worms tangled up in the roots. Other people may not feel that need, but it would still be a lot of work just digging out all those roots.

It pretty much took me all afternoon to do this one patch.
Now you can see the irises the Sergeant planted last year in that patch. All the plants need barriers around them to protect them from roughhousing dogs.