34 days left (and counting)

I'm getting laid off July 2nd. So to turn that lemon into lemonade, I've been busy planning "activities"for myself after that day.

First, I have a 2.5 week photography road trip planned for the Great Lakes/Great Plains states (which I've coined the "Great" Road Trip -- so clever, I know). Then in October, I'm off to the Washington/Notre Dame football game in South Bend. Since we're flying into Chicago, we decided to get tix to a Cubs' game too. And to top it off, my crowning jewel will be heading south in December to Antarctica with a short stop in Buenos Aires.

I know what you're thinking (or at least what my parents are thinking)-- "What about getting a new job?" The short answer is that I'll start looking for a job in August. The honest answer is that I think I need some time off before I jump back into the grind. Besides, who wouldn't want to travel rather than attend meetings?

So as you can see, I've got plenty of reasons to be looking forward to my upcoming "sabbatical". The excitement grows more and more each day. And the countdown clock is continues to tick away.

Homemade & Home Grown

It's been a slow evolution. It first started with trips to the Ballard Farmers' Market. We'd see stacks of produce, cheeses, and meats. All supplied by local farmers. Then came the homegrown eggs. (Well, homegrown by one of my coworkers who sells them to me. ) These eggs, most brown, but a couple green, some freckled, some not, have the richest golden yolks... When placed side by side with store bought, there's no comparison. And now I've created a vegetable garden. What's next I wonder?

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For a while now, one of my "popcorn" ideas was to have a garden where B & I could enjoy some fresh cherry tomatoes and maybe even save some money by having home grown veggies. So about a month ago, I decided to act upon that idea, and build a garden box. I scoped out the location, took some measurements, and went to my nearby home store for some lumber. Quickly I realized that any notion of saving cash in this venture was quickly dashed -- untreated Cedar is EXPENSIVE. But nonetheless, I bought the wood, and hauled it home. Too bad the buck didn't stop there.

Another thing I realized was I didn't have enough dirt around my house to fill the boxes. So I decided to load one box half full of garden soil (I'm fortunate enough that the dirt I do have has is pretty rich), and combined it with store-bought top soil. In the other box, I filled it with only purchased potting soil. I figured I could compare the two throughout the summer, and whichever box produced more, I would do the same with both boxes next year.

So after dropping around $250 on wood and dirt (Two things I never thought I'd have to pay for), I have myself two nice garden boxes. But no veggies. So, it was time to go shopping again.

Long story short, after purchasing vegetables from the Seattle Master Gardeners' sale, Home Depot, and three school fundraisers (Olympic View Elementary, Nathan Hale HS, and B's own Franklin HS), we have following: multiple tomato plants, spearmint (2 types- one regular, one chocolate), basil starts and seeds, various lettuces, snap peas, broccoli, fennel, cucumbers, strawberries, cilantro, chives, and carrots. We planted some of the lettuce and seeds right after the garden box was installed, but most of them we "hardened" (keep indoors until it warms up more outside) until last weekend. And the lettuce we planted first? We were able to enjoy our first "harvest" on Sunday. The romaine was the perfect wrap to go with our homemade grilled chicken skewers. Just thinking of it now makes me hungry again.

So in what started as a simple home project for me has morphed into something bigger. After hundreds of dollars, and tens of hours, I have my own garden. My hope now is that my plants will grow as large as my expectations. If so, B & I will literally be eating the fruits of our labor all summer long!

(Hopefully, the first of many harvests to come!)

A Desert Oasis

Wow. It's been three weeks since my last post so if by chance you were following my blog, I apologize. But most likely nobody out there is reading this anyway since I haven't done any major PR whatsoever. So it's a mute point anyway. :-)

One of the reasons that I haven't written for a while is because a couple weeks ago, B and I fled the rain-ridden Pacific Northwest to the oasis of Palm Springs. Well, technically Palm Desert. We traded the dreariness of mid-40's temperatures for the inviting heat of 100+ degrees. Three of the five days were spent by the various pools around the Marriott resort, drinking Pina Coladas floating in the water, or playing Scrabble. Sunday was used to explore the desert landscape and round boulder formations at Joshua Tree National Park, and the last day was spent at the airport for 7 hours, only to have our flight get cancelled, and to redo the entire fiasco the following morning. But even then, we were chillaxin' (that's a term B uses) at what could be quite possibly the most laid back airport I have ever been too. And I've been to quite a few.

Since most of you are probably familiar with swimming pools, I'll skip ahead and share a bit about Joshua Tree. The park is about 800K square miles, spread over three ecosystems. It's name sake was named after Mormon visitors saw the tree, and associated with Joshua (in the Bible) for having outreached arms, as if it was praising God.

There are also numerous rock formations around the park, making for some interesting landscapes, hiking, and bouldering. Additionally, rock climbing is very popular in JT.

I could be assuming too much here, but I think the general concencus is that deserts are usually devoid of life... Although this may be true in others locations, Joshua Tree is brimming with vegetation and animal life. In the short day that we were visiting, we saw, cactuses (cacti?), lizards, cottontail rabbits, snakes, and birds. (One of which I accidently transformed to roadkill. Sorry.)

All in all, the weekend was exactly what we needed. B & I were able to recuperate and rejuvenate (as well as reheat). We were able to get tans (and burns), catch up on reading, and enjoying each other's company. And we were able to view a national park that was beautiful in its own right, and enjoy the natural spendor of another little corner of this planet. All in a long weekend!