As this past weekend was the weekend before Elektra's baptism, it was effectively my last weekend to get big projects done. I had all sorts of delusions of gradeur in terms of the types of projects I'd get accomplished and how beautiful and clean looking the outside of the house would be.
Delusions of Grandeur. Yep. Key words right there.
We took the kids to the Science Center on Saturday morning with Damian, Jenn, and Leo, and while they were napping, I had these grand plans of getting the garage clean and other housework. But you know, when the going gets tough, the tough take a nap. And nap I did... for 3 hours! Hmmm. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something. Needless to say, nothing got done on Saturday.
Sunday, however, was a different story. I organized the kids rooms a little more, cleaned the kitchen some, went grocery shopping and just as I got home, my parents called. They wanted to come over to see the grandkids, but also help with any remaining yard work. Heck, no yard work help needed - just enjoy the grandkids! Their timing, however, was perfect in terms of nap time, so they really could help me with yard work.
Steve was in the garage, organizing it and changing the oil in the STi (again). My parents and I were trimming bushes and killing weeds in the front beds. I spent a few minutes with my trusty shovel digging up a fern at its roots and go figure, I actually managed to break the shovel. So there I was, standing there, scratching my head, totally lost on how to get this stupid fern out of the ground with a busted shovel.... it was amusing, to say the least!
I also borrowed Mary's long extension cord, and retested my hedge trimmer. It worked. I must've either blown a fuse in the outlet I was using the week before or the hedge trimmer reset itself. Either way, that made my life a whole lot easier in trimming the big hedge bushes. They at least look a little neater, even if still huge. Their saving grace right now is that they are absolutely gorgeous azaleas that bloom beautifully in the Spring. There are other bushes in those beds, on the other hand, that won't be spared when I can get a hold of a truck with a trailer hitch and a big old chain ... (e.g. the holly ow ow ow! you're so GONE!). Reseeding grass and making rock beds is a small price to pay for a neater, less maintenance bed that is configured to help keep termites and other bugs away from the house!
Meanwhile, my parents helped shape bushes, trim the ridiculous hosta (I'm so going to dig up most of them next year - they are out of control!!!), and make the beds look a little neater overall. I couldn't have done it all without them! Thanks M&P! And the kids loved seeing you!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The dogs' latest adventure
On Saturday, I had the kids on my own while Steve was down at FedEx design our course for Sunday's autocross. I had them both in their highchairs eating lunch when out of the corner of my eye, I saw IO walk across the lawn with something in his mouth.
Oh.
No.
I go outside, he sees me, and starts to trot away from me with his "prize".
"Drop it."
Of course he doesn't drop it, and scoots further from me.
"DROP IT."
He drops it.
Upon inspection, it's a half-eaten baby rabbit. OH HOW FOUL. I immediately call the dogs inside and crate them, and figure I'll deal with the carcass after the kids go for their naps.
Once the kids were safely in their cribs for naps, I went back outside, armed with latex gloves and plastic bags. This time, I shut my eyes, picked up the carcass - and that of a drawn and quartered bird that I also found nearby - and tossed the whole thing in the trash.
No one has claimed that the dogs actually killed the rabbit. I actually have no proof of that. In fact, the bird parts is making me think that maybe the neighbor's outdoor cat got both, but didn't take either prize to its owners. Maybe my dogs interrupted that process....? Again, all speculation.
However, I know for a FACT that IO ate part of that baby rabbit, and he vomited it later on the living room carpet. That was even MORE foul than the original carcass.
Thanks Dog.
Love country living!!!
Oh.
No.
I go outside, he sees me, and starts to trot away from me with his "prize".
"Drop it."
Of course he doesn't drop it, and scoots further from me.
"DROP IT."
He drops it.
Upon inspection, it's a half-eaten baby rabbit. OH HOW FOUL. I immediately call the dogs inside and crate them, and figure I'll deal with the carcass after the kids go for their naps.
Once the kids were safely in their cribs for naps, I went back outside, armed with latex gloves and plastic bags. This time, I shut my eyes, picked up the carcass - and that of a drawn and quartered bird that I also found nearby - and tossed the whole thing in the trash.
No one has claimed that the dogs actually killed the rabbit. I actually have no proof of that. In fact, the bird parts is making me think that maybe the neighbor's outdoor cat got both, but didn't take either prize to its owners. Maybe my dogs interrupted that process....? Again, all speculation.
However, I know for a FACT that IO ate part of that baby rabbit, and he vomited it later on the living room carpet. That was even MORE foul than the original carcass.
Thanks Dog.
Love country living!!!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Yard Maintenance Part 2
I took this past Thursday and Friday off to work on the yard in preparation for Elektra's baptism. This included a trip to the dump and the Gnome Despot. "Welcome to suburban life!" one of my Twitter friends tweeted to me in response to my own tweet about my trip to Gnome Despot. How true, how true.
The major project I had in mind was to eliminate the bed behind DJ's room, next to the deck.
Step 1: Clean the original bed. In a previous post, I had weeded it already saving me tons of time.
Step 3: Apply grass seed. I had to even out the bed, so I spent time moving dirt around to fill holes. Then I applied 7 bags of topsoil to give the grass seed something in which to grow! I topped it off with this layer of green mat to protect the seed. I actually didn't buy enough, and thought I'd just not bother covering the whole area. However, Napoleon decided that the top soil smelled very tasty, took a mouthful with him to a shady area, and tried to eat it. Naturally, I stopped him before he actually ate any, but that convinced me that I would need to cover the whole area. Off to the Gnome Despot, again, picked up more of the mat to cover the grass seed, and finished the job.
Step 4: Add water. I've been watering it once or twice a day since.
Step 5: Hope it grows....
With that project done, I then tackled Operation Eliminate Hosta Flowers that line the front walk. Sonny let me borrow his weed wacker, and I learned after the first buzz that I would need safety glasses. No taking any chances there!! By the time I had cut down all of the hosta flowers and the weeds living in the horrifically neglected front beds, I was absolutely covered in plant debris. I couldn't wait to get in the shower! But at least the front beds started to look a little better.....
Friday was spent hand trimming (read: hacking at) the rhododendren. Unfortunately, the buds are already there, so I lost some of next year's flowers, but that's ok. This plant is enornormous and needs to be hacked to the ground. I restrained myself from doing that, I promise...
Then I started trimming bushes on the side of the house with the hedge trimmer. I borrowed an extension cable from my neighbor to reach ANY electrical outlet and also attached my own extension cable to that. As I was hacking off foliage from the bush closest to the fence, I must have managed to hack my extension cord, too. It was a clean cut all the way through. ::roll eyes:: It figures. Well, that's ok... needed to buy a longer one anyway. So I plug my neighbor's extension cord directly into the trimmer, which we know works because it was giving power to my extension cord which I hacked in half, but now the hedge trimmer doesn't turn on.
FAIL.
Frustrated, I cleaned up the mess I'd made, returned my neighbor's extension cord to her, and went inside to shower. I'll buy a new hedge trimmer and extension cord this coming weekend, I guess.
All in all, I got a lot done, so I am happy with that!
The major project I had in mind was to eliminate the bed behind DJ's room, next to the deck.
Step 1: Clean the original bed. In a previous post, I had weeded it already saving me tons of time.
Step 3: Apply grass seed. I had to even out the bed, so I spent time moving dirt around to fill holes. Then I applied 7 bags of topsoil to give the grass seed something in which to grow! I topped it off with this layer of green mat to protect the seed. I actually didn't buy enough, and thought I'd just not bother covering the whole area. However, Napoleon decided that the top soil smelled very tasty, took a mouthful with him to a shady area, and tried to eat it. Naturally, I stopped him before he actually ate any, but that convinced me that I would need to cover the whole area. Off to the Gnome Despot, again, picked up more of the mat to cover the grass seed, and finished the job.
Step 4: Add water. I've been watering it once or twice a day since.
Step 5: Hope it grows....
With that project done, I then tackled Operation Eliminate Hosta Flowers that line the front walk. Sonny let me borrow his weed wacker, and I learned after the first buzz that I would need safety glasses. No taking any chances there!! By the time I had cut down all of the hosta flowers and the weeds living in the horrifically neglected front beds, I was absolutely covered in plant debris. I couldn't wait to get in the shower! But at least the front beds started to look a little better.....
Friday was spent hand trimming (read: hacking at) the rhododendren. Unfortunately, the buds are already there, so I lost some of next year's flowers, but that's ok. This plant is enornormous and needs to be hacked to the ground. I restrained myself from doing that, I promise...
Then I started trimming bushes on the side of the house with the hedge trimmer. I borrowed an extension cable from my neighbor to reach ANY electrical outlet and also attached my own extension cable to that. As I was hacking off foliage from the bush closest to the fence, I must have managed to hack my extension cord, too. It was a clean cut all the way through. ::roll eyes:: It figures. Well, that's ok... needed to buy a longer one anyway. So I plug my neighbor's extension cord directly into the trimmer, which we know works because it was giving power to my extension cord which I hacked in half, but now the hedge trimmer doesn't turn on.
FAIL.
Frustrated, I cleaned up the mess I'd made, returned my neighbor's extension cord to her, and went inside to shower. I'll buy a new hedge trimmer and extension cord this coming weekend, I guess.
All in all, I got a lot done, so I am happy with that!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Yard Maintenance
Apparently, long weekends for me have gone from lazy to busy.
(Non-Orthodox) Easter weekend was spent cleaning and reducing the size of the bed by the mailbox, and starting to thin out the hosta on the front walk.
Memorial Day weekend was spent installing ceiling fans and kitchen drawers.
Now, 4th of July weekend was spent cleaning out the bed on the back of the house under DJ's window and the lone bed furthest from the house by the fence, changing the furnace filters, and forceably removing the ivy that was taking over the azalea by the street as well as the wild strawberry vine trying to inhabit our fence line.
With Elektra's baptism looming quickly on the horizon and the likely possibility that the person I usually hire to help me care for the beds won't be available, I started to get the yard ready on my own. I actually plan to take a few days off during the week to finish these projects if I don't finish them in the next few weekends.
The first project is converting the bed by the deck and under DJ's window back into grass. This required removing all of the foliage growing in it. It was initially cleaned out last August, but I hadn't gotten to it. I figured it could lay fallow, no big deal. How wrong I was. Mother Nature deposited all sorts of seeds into that bed, and all sorts of things had grown in it. At least two of those "volunteers" were over 6 ft tall. So the trusty shovel and I went to work digging out the roots of these pesky plants. It took me 2 hours to get through that mess, and I wasn't even very diligent in getting everything! Serves me right for being a slacker.
Now that it's been cleaned, I will see if anything crops back up in the next week. If so, RoundUp and I will join forces. Actually, RoundUp and I will be joining forces sooner than that. I have tasked Steve with going to Gnome Despot this week to pick up another sprayer (so that we don't spray down our tires with RoundUp!) and more RoundUp. Then I'm going to liberally spray down the back fence line. I will have no remorse, and I will take no prisoners. It's all going to die....!
Anyway, back to the bed behind the house. I will dig an area half a foot deep, two feet wide, and the length of the house. Then I'll put down lawn fabric or some other kind of weed preventative fabric, and then put rocks down on top of that. I will use the bricks that currently outline the bed to outline that little "walk" to help contain the rocks. I also have to buy a window well cover and find a way to either attach it to the house permanently or weight it so it doesn't fly away and break like our last one did. I'll also clean the window that it'll cover... it's pretty gross right now! The rest of the bed will be seeded with grass. I think this needs to be done before the baptism, hands down. Even if grass hasn't grown by then, just for visual appeal, it needs to look like something useful!
I also cleaned the bed furthest from the house, too. This required eliminating wild strawberry. Man, does that have some nasty thorns! After cutting it with pruning shears, I used RoundUp on the bit of leftover stem/trunk of the plant in hopes of killing it dead. I know RoundUp is supposed to be used on the leaves so that it can get absorbed and then move down into the root system, but the plants were invading the bed and overgrowing into the lawn. They had to be eliminated. I didn't want DJ touching them and getting hurt!
I also removed the new foliage from the trees in that section, and trimmed the tall bush (name is escaping me right now!!) that 's in the middle of the bed with the pruning shears. I say "trimmed". What I really did is hack. Pretty much all new growth got hacked off. It's not shaped very well, but at least it's not overtaking anything. I also removed any new maple trees whose seeds decided the bed was perfect for germinating.
That bed now looks great, and I'm very happy with it.
Then I went to the front of the house to the azalea closest to the road. There was some kind of vine/ivy thing that was taking over this poor bush. I thought that it wouldn't take me long to cut it out, but it definitely took me longer than I anticipated! By the time I was done, this ivy/vine pile I dragged to where I disposed of it was so big that it was 6 feet long and probably 2 feet tall. It was huge. And now my azalea looks BARE. It doesn't look dead, but it doesn't look happy. I'm going to have to get a ladder and trim this azalea down big time and hope that it comes back fuller next spring! Once again, that's what I get for not dealing with it sooner...
I still have to chop off the flowers on the hosta on the front walk, trim back all of the bushes around the whole house, and clean out the bed by the shed. I also have to cut back the rhododedren big time! It's HUGE!
I'm nowhere near ready to have a big outdoor party yet, but I'm definitely on the right path!
(Non-Orthodox) Easter weekend was spent cleaning and reducing the size of the bed by the mailbox, and starting to thin out the hosta on the front walk.
Memorial Day weekend was spent installing ceiling fans and kitchen drawers.
Now, 4th of July weekend was spent cleaning out the bed on the back of the house under DJ's window and the lone bed furthest from the house by the fence, changing the furnace filters, and forceably removing the ivy that was taking over the azalea by the street as well as the wild strawberry vine trying to inhabit our fence line.
With Elektra's baptism looming quickly on the horizon and the likely possibility that the person I usually hire to help me care for the beds won't be available, I started to get the yard ready on my own. I actually plan to take a few days off during the week to finish these projects if I don't finish them in the next few weekends.
The first project is converting the bed by the deck and under DJ's window back into grass. This required removing all of the foliage growing in it. It was initially cleaned out last August, but I hadn't gotten to it. I figured it could lay fallow, no big deal. How wrong I was. Mother Nature deposited all sorts of seeds into that bed, and all sorts of things had grown in it. At least two of those "volunteers" were over 6 ft tall. So the trusty shovel and I went to work digging out the roots of these pesky plants. It took me 2 hours to get through that mess, and I wasn't even very diligent in getting everything! Serves me right for being a slacker.
Now that it's been cleaned, I will see if anything crops back up in the next week. If so, RoundUp and I will join forces. Actually, RoundUp and I will be joining forces sooner than that. I have tasked Steve with going to Gnome Despot this week to pick up another sprayer (so that we don't spray down our tires with RoundUp!) and more RoundUp. Then I'm going to liberally spray down the back fence line. I will have no remorse, and I will take no prisoners. It's all going to die....!
Anyway, back to the bed behind the house. I will dig an area half a foot deep, two feet wide, and the length of the house. Then I'll put down lawn fabric or some other kind of weed preventative fabric, and then put rocks down on top of that. I will use the bricks that currently outline the bed to outline that little "walk" to help contain the rocks. I also have to buy a window well cover and find a way to either attach it to the house permanently or weight it so it doesn't fly away and break like our last one did. I'll also clean the window that it'll cover... it's pretty gross right now! The rest of the bed will be seeded with grass. I think this needs to be done before the baptism, hands down. Even if grass hasn't grown by then, just for visual appeal, it needs to look like something useful!
I also cleaned the bed furthest from the house, too. This required eliminating wild strawberry. Man, does that have some nasty thorns! After cutting it with pruning shears, I used RoundUp on the bit of leftover stem/trunk of the plant in hopes of killing it dead. I know RoundUp is supposed to be used on the leaves so that it can get absorbed and then move down into the root system, but the plants were invading the bed and overgrowing into the lawn. They had to be eliminated. I didn't want DJ touching them and getting hurt!
I also removed the new foliage from the trees in that section, and trimmed the tall bush (name is escaping me right now!!) that 's in the middle of the bed with the pruning shears. I say "trimmed". What I really did is hack. Pretty much all new growth got hacked off. It's not shaped very well, but at least it's not overtaking anything. I also removed any new maple trees whose seeds decided the bed was perfect for germinating.
That bed now looks great, and I'm very happy with it.
Then I went to the front of the house to the azalea closest to the road. There was some kind of vine/ivy thing that was taking over this poor bush. I thought that it wouldn't take me long to cut it out, but it definitely took me longer than I anticipated! By the time I was done, this ivy/vine pile I dragged to where I disposed of it was so big that it was 6 feet long and probably 2 feet tall. It was huge. And now my azalea looks BARE. It doesn't look dead, but it doesn't look happy. I'm going to have to get a ladder and trim this azalea down big time and hope that it comes back fuller next spring! Once again, that's what I get for not dealing with it sooner...
I still have to chop off the flowers on the hosta on the front walk, trim back all of the bushes around the whole house, and clean out the bed by the shed. I also have to cut back the rhododedren big time! It's HUGE!
I'm nowhere near ready to have a big outdoor party yet, but I'm definitely on the right path!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July!
I'm happy to report that I finally took down the dingy little flags I had hanging outside of the house and mounted a real flag over Memorial Day weekend. So I'm proud of my stars and stripes!
We had invited my parents and parents-in-law over for dinner. On Friday, I unfroze the rest of the beef tenderloin we had from DJ's birthday to have as the main course. That was the only firm plan I had for dinner until this morning.
This morning, I was trying to decide what else we would have with said tenderloin, but was striking out on ideas. Because DJ had asked earlier, "TV on?", we had Food Network showing. The Neely's were on, and they showed a recipe for bacon wrapped asparagus. Huh.... Ok, done. Asparagus and bacon were put on the grocery list. In my wanderings on foodnetwork.com, I saw some recipes with cornbread in them. That made me decide to make Northern-style cornbread as I hadn't had it in awhile, and it sounded good to me. I also saw an Ina Garten recipe for a flag cake during my Food Network travels (granted, it was on the home page since it IS 4th of July today)... that gave me another idea for dessert.
My mother-in-law came over to spend the day a few minutes after DJ went to bed for his nap. She helped Steve watch Elektra, who started pulling up (!), so I could start cooking.
First on the agenda, make a box yellow cake (blasphemy!). I tossed that into the oven while I had the cream cheese and unsalted butter softening. Then I prepped the asparagus. I had skewers soaking in water, but the first few skewers proved they were too thick for the delicate asparagus. I had to switch to toothpicks instead. Then I prepped the beef (butter, salt, pepper!), made the icing, and decorated the cake. Finally, I could sit down for a bit before making the cornbread.
Steve grilled the beef to perfection, again. Yummy! Then he grilled the bacon wrapped asparagus... oh my they were AWESOME. Thinking about making that more often, but in a more low fat way (turkey bacon?). And I made the cornbread which came out of the oven just in time for dinner.
We took a short break after dinner, DJ went outside to play and get some energy out with Grandmom, and then came back in and asked for "cake!"
Cake!
We had invited my parents and parents-in-law over for dinner. On Friday, I unfroze the rest of the beef tenderloin we had from DJ's birthday to have as the main course. That was the only firm plan I had for dinner until this morning.
This morning, I was trying to decide what else we would have with said tenderloin, but was striking out on ideas. Because DJ had asked earlier, "TV on?", we had Food Network showing. The Neely's were on, and they showed a recipe for bacon wrapped asparagus. Huh.... Ok, done. Asparagus and bacon were put on the grocery list. In my wanderings on foodnetwork.com, I saw some recipes with cornbread in them. That made me decide to make Northern-style cornbread as I hadn't had it in awhile, and it sounded good to me. I also saw an Ina Garten recipe for a flag cake during my Food Network travels (granted, it was on the home page since it IS 4th of July today)... that gave me another idea for dessert.
My mother-in-law came over to spend the day a few minutes after DJ went to bed for his nap. She helped Steve watch Elektra, who started pulling up (!), so I could start cooking.
First on the agenda, make a box yellow cake (blasphemy!). I tossed that into the oven while I had the cream cheese and unsalted butter softening. Then I prepped the asparagus. I had skewers soaking in water, but the first few skewers proved they were too thick for the delicate asparagus. I had to switch to toothpicks instead. Then I prepped the beef (butter, salt, pepper!), made the icing, and decorated the cake. Finally, I could sit down for a bit before making the cornbread.
Steve grilled the beef to perfection, again. Yummy! Then he grilled the bacon wrapped asparagus... oh my they were AWESOME. Thinking about making that more often, but in a more low fat way (turkey bacon?). And I made the cornbread which came out of the oven just in time for dinner.
We took a short break after dinner, DJ went outside to play and get some energy out with Grandmom, and then came back in and asked for "cake!"
Cake!
Yeah, I know that my version of the cake doesn't look nearly as good as Ina's, but I don't care. For last minute, it turned out great. DJ ate a good sized piece of cake, and only about 1/3rd of it remained. It's healthy - it has fruit on it! ha ha
My parents and my mother-in-law left before Steve (next door) shot off fireworks, but my father-in-law stuck around and we got to watch some. There's a whole lot of paper debris on our driveway - the wind was blowing towards the house. It was nice to see some fireworks; I haven't seen any in awhile. The kids, thankfully, slept right through them.
Happy 4th of July - the U.S. A. rules!!!
My parents and my mother-in-law left before Steve (next door) shot off fireworks, but my father-in-law stuck around and we got to watch some. There's a whole lot of paper debris on our driveway - the wind was blowing towards the house. It was nice to see some fireworks; I haven't seen any in awhile. The kids, thankfully, slept right through them.
Happy 4th of July - the U.S. A. rules!!!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
BBQ Baby Back Ribs - Round II
So I took a stab at ribs again last night.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find baby back ribs, just regular spare ribs. I'm thinking that's changing the taste a little due to extra fat, but I don't know...
Anyway. This time I tried an Emeril recipe, sort of. Emeril's recipe calls for coating the ribs with his Essence which we love... we make it ourselves and use it on salmon all the time. And then you marinade them in beer. So I did that on Monday night because the last rib batch we made, the ribs themselves didn't have any flavor. Marinaded them overnight.
Then Tuesday night, I continued following Emeril's recipe and roasted them on 325 for 2 hours in a tightly covered pan. When they came out of the oven, they smelled delicious! But since they came out of the oven at about 10pm, I let them cool, wrapped them, and then put them in the fridge.
Last night, Steve grilled them with some Jim Beam BBQ sauce. We basically were warming them since they were cooked, so that only took about 45 minutes.
The results: You could taste the beer, but not the Essence. The ribs were definitely more tender than the last time we made them, but not fall-off-the-bone tender like the Charred Rib's.
Thoughts: This batch proved that a marinade is required. It helps tenderize them as well as add flavor. I'm not sure I liked the beer flavor, so I plan to try a different type of marinade next time, along with a brown sugar-based rub.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find baby back ribs, just regular spare ribs. I'm thinking that's changing the taste a little due to extra fat, but I don't know...
Anyway. This time I tried an Emeril recipe, sort of. Emeril's recipe calls for coating the ribs with his Essence which we love... we make it ourselves and use it on salmon all the time. And then you marinade them in beer. So I did that on Monday night because the last rib batch we made, the ribs themselves didn't have any flavor. Marinaded them overnight.
Then Tuesday night, I continued following Emeril's recipe and roasted them on 325 for 2 hours in a tightly covered pan. When they came out of the oven, they smelled delicious! But since they came out of the oven at about 10pm, I let them cool, wrapped them, and then put them in the fridge.
Last night, Steve grilled them with some Jim Beam BBQ sauce. We basically were warming them since they were cooked, so that only took about 45 minutes.
The results: You could taste the beer, but not the Essence. The ribs were definitely more tender than the last time we made them, but not fall-off-the-bone tender like the Charred Rib's.
Thoughts: This batch proved that a marinade is required. It helps tenderize them as well as add flavor. I'm not sure I liked the beer flavor, so I plan to try a different type of marinade next time, along with a brown sugar-based rub.
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