My Email to Dan on a rainy Friday morning

Hi Honey, I am back home. Dismal walk to the train. Grab a kleenex for this very sad tale.

It was pouring buckets of rain, and the wind was blowing. I was crossing Addison at the light at whatever side street that is (Byron?). As usual, I pressed the button and waited for the walk signal. There was a car waiting to turn left and head east on Addison, and I could tell that he was in a hurry because he was sticking way out. I got the walk sign and started to cross, and he came out like he wanted to go first, but I can be stubborn so I kept walking. He kept coming fast, and missed me by about 2 inches. He came behind me, I'm surprised that he didn't get the back of my shoe with his rear tires, he came that close. He actually swerved to come closer to me to scare me, and he did scare me. Scared the ___ out of me. There was a van stopped there at the light heading west, and I could see the driver shake his head like he couldn't believe what he saw. I was so upset that I started crying (big baby). I swear, things like this make me lose faith in the whole human race.

I kept walking (tearfully) down Addison, and I was getting absolutely soaked because the wind was blowing the rain right at me. You are so lucky you had your rain pants and poncho on for your walk, my legs and feet were as wet as if I had been wading in a river up to my thighs. I turned on Kilbourn, and I knew that I didn't want to sit on the train all soaked (and weepy), and then face that 20-minute walk to the office on the other end. So I turned around and came back home, thoroughly wetting the back of me in the process.

I thought I would change clothes, grab the car and drive to the station and catch the next train, but I just could not stand the thought of going back out there into a world where very mean people try to run very nice people down, just so they can go first, or just for the fun of it. Plus, I have a headache, which I think is sinus related because I am all stuffed up. So I called in.

And that's my sad story.

A Camping We Will Go

Dan and I enjoyed a short camping trip to Ergang Lake, our woodsy oasis near Whitehall, Michigan. A good time was had. The weather was mild, but it did get a little chilly overnight in the tent. I don't like a sleeping bag, I don't like to be "enclosed", I like to have at least one foot sticking out. When we went to bed, I started out with the bag mostly unzipped, but at around 2 a.m. I woke up freezing. A quick zip of the bag and I was toasty.

Dan and I squeezed a lot of camping fun into our short day and a half trip. We did a bit of fishing, a bit of biking, a bit of campfire burning, a bit of Smore making (my favorite!). We took some walks and relaxed in lawn chairs with campstove coffee. Because we live and work in Chicago, the peace and quiet of the woods soothes our souls like nothing else can.

We were all by ourselves on this trip, and even though I have been camping in these private woods for 30 years now, I still get creeped out at night. I can't forget that 20 or so years ago we had a few bits of trouble with drunk locals, who liked to amuse themselves by riding through our campsites in the middle of the night on their motorcycles and in their pick-up trucks, terrorizing us city folk. They never did anything to us, they just drove through. But I remember being so afraid of them! Fast forward to 2009, and as I lay in my tent in the middle of the dark woods, I remind myself that these drunk locals are now in their 50's, and are probably home snoozing on their sofas, bathed in the light of the t.v. The new generation of drunk locals is hanging out in the local bar, drinking cosmos and appletinis and texting their buddies. No interest in a terrorizing jaunt through the chilly woods!

My friends and I have owned this little bit of paradise since 1984. It's just woods and a small lake, very primitive and private. No running water, no bathrooms, no problem. I love it, it's one of my favorite places on Earth. Only a handful of the 25 owners camp there at all these days. Dan and I usually go camping there once a year, at the beginning of fall. Maybe next year I'll be brave and camp in the middle of summer, and be happy while the deer flies circle my head. I used to be so carefree about swimming through the weeds to get out to the middle of the lake -- now the thought of it freaks me out. When did I get so old and timid?

I used to camp with my Norwegian Elkhound, her name was Lucy. She was the best dog I've ever had, beautiful and smart as a whip. Her mouth was shaped so that she always looked like she was smiling when she was panting. Lucy loved the freedom of Ergang Lake, and would often disappear for hours, sometimes overnight. The first time she stayed away overnight I cried in my tent until morning. I thought I had lost her forever. But she came back -- draped in deer shit and looking very, very proud of herself. This is my favorite memory of camping with Lucy -- I walked into the woods to relieve myself. Lucy, followed me, as she always did. I squatted to pee, and Lucy squatted a few feet away from me. I looked over at her, and she was smiling at me. She was probably thinking "Here we are, my human and me, peeing in the woods together!"
Here is a shot of Dan, standing on the beach fishing with crickets and grasshoppers that he caught himself. We don't need to buy no stinkin' bait!


What a gorgeous bluegill -- call the taxidermist!

Our little Kia Sportage looks right at home in the woods.


Ah. Crunchy campstove coffee. One of life's little pleasures!



It was a great trip, although too short. See you next year, Ergang Lake!

Summer is Over

I get melancholy this time of year. Fall is beautiful, and I do appreciate that, but it means one thing to me -- winter is coming. I dislike winter. I live in Chicago where winters can be ug-ly. Dan and I walk in our commutes and we face a lot of unshoveled sidewalks on our way. The city plows pile the snow and sleet on the street corners so that we have to climb a few hills to get to the train. Once we get downtown it's pretty easy to get to our offices, as most of the buildings in the Chicago loop are well maintained. There are no snowy sidewalks, but there are lakes of sleet to be jumped over at most of the street corners. Ugh.

One morning last winter I made it a point to thank every maintenance worker I saw shoveling and clearing snow in front of the skyscrapers I pass on my way to the office. They all seemed to appreciate it (who wouldn't!) so I'm going to do it again this year. Everybody likes to be thanked for what they do.

And now, I better keep a stiff upper lip and enjoy the beautiful sunsets and blue asters and crisp sweater weather and orange pumpkins and golden trees blazing. I'll try.

I Heart Weight Watchers

Today marks 4 months on Weight Watchers! I started one gorgeous spring day, May 2, 2009. I remember walking home from my first meeting, thinking "this will be a new healthy beginning for me." And it really has been. I've lost 31 lbs and I feel soooo much better.
I like counting points; it makes a lot of sense to me. I can eat whatever I want, nothing is off limits. I have really not denied myself anything these last 4 months -- I have just adjusted how much of or how often I have a particular goody, like a gin martini, for instance! I could never follow a "diet" that restricted something like carbs. I have always eaten healthy food, and I have always liked to cook, so it may be easier for me to do this point thing than it may be for others. My problem is portions! If one big bowl of Greek salad is good, why not 3 big bowls? Everything I ate had to be in huge, lumberjack portions. I always wanted more. WW has taught me what a proper portion looks like, and if I want to be slender I will have to keep track of my food intake every day for the rest of my life. It's worth it!! I can actually tie my shoes without asphyxiating myself. That's a good, good thing.

Pretty Peppers

Hoppin' jalapenos!!

My pepper plants have done ok this summer. I've been rewarded with a few nice sweet peppers and some very pretty (but wimpy) jalapenos.

These pepper plants are very obliging -- because they sure haven't had any help from the weather. It has been a carpy summer for heat-loving vegetables.

I made a delicious chicken dish with the pictured peppers -- oven-roasted chicken legs with lime juice, onions, garlic, sliced plum tomatoes and jalapenos. The jalapenos added nice flavor to the dish, but there was no heat. :(

Here is the first harvest of compost from my worm bin! I really need to get a life because it's ridiculous how excited I got to finally use this crumbly rich goodness in my garden. I added some of it to the planting holes for 3 'Husker Red' penstemon, and then added the rest as a top-dress for my viburnum sargenti 'Oonondaga'. It's been so much fun having the worm bin. So far I have been composing about half of my kitchen waste. Once the bin gets cranking and the worms start reproducing, I'll have several drawers going at a time. My bin has 3 drawers. According to the Urban Worm Girl, the worms do their lovemaking in the roof of the bin. Sure enough, when I take the roof off and look inside, there are teeny baby worms running around in there. There's a little orgy going on in the corner of my kitchen!

In other garden news, here is an amaranthus 'Love Lies Bleeding". It's about 5 feet tall, but is bent over so that it resembles some kind of strange fluffy red animal -- like a red wooly mammoth or a big, fancy rooster. It had been laying prostrate all over its neighbor, that nice sedum 'Autumn Joy'. You couldn't even see the poor sedum. Dan brought me a handy-dandy bungee cord from the garage and I tied the amaranthus up to the fence. It's very important to have at least 3,476 bungee cords laying around, because you never know when you will need one to restrain a red wooly mammoth or a big fancy rooster.

Dog Day Evenings

Now that mid-August is here and it's a bit shady in my yard by 7:00 p.m, I can manage to get some weeding done after work. When I get home from work in early summer, it's way too sunny and hot in my yard to do anything resembling labor. I'm a wimp in the heat. I guess I could garden in a skimpy bathing suit, being refreshed by the sprinkler, but if anyone saw me my property values would plummet.

Anyway, I have been pulling weeds these past three nights, and I can actually glance at certain portions of my garden without screaming. Progress!

Here is my beautiful little euonymous fortunei, Green and Gold. It's 2 years old, and thriving.

The Earthboxes have been amazing -- lots of vegetative growth, and the tomatoes and peppers are finally coming ripe. They don't taste that good, though, very bland -- like the ones you buy at Dominicks over the winter. This summer of 2009 was just too cool for the 'maters. We hardly had any hot, sunny days. This summer has been very comfy for humans -- we have used air conditioning twice in 3 months -- but the vegetables aren't happy unless they are basking in the hot hot sun.

Notice the cayenne pepper thrown about with complete abandon. It seems to be working keeping the squirrels at bay a bit -- I have been able to leave some red tomatoes on the vine to fully ripen! But the squirrels will probably grow immune to the cayenne, once they realize that it will not kill them. And I say "too bad it won't kill them!" Don't tell PETA where I live........

Note to self for next year -- squirrels don't bother pepper plants! No more tomatoes for me, I'm afraid. :( I'll have to look for something else to plant in my Earthboxes. What else do squirrels spurn?

Worm News Update! Time For a New Working Tray

It's been a little over two months since I got my worm bin, and the worms have been busy munching away. They have just about finished their labors on the current working tray. There is a little bit of bedding left, but the tray is now mostly castings (worm poop). It's time to make a new working tray for them, and to harvest the rich compost that they will leave behind when they move to their new digs. The worms can't live in their castings, because it is toxic for them. I think I can hear 1,000 little voices cheering.......
I have assembled all the materials that I will use to create the new bedding for the working tray. I have newspapers, corrugated cardboard, twine, an egg carton, and lots of clean paper towels that I have used for things like blotting excess moisture from lettuce. Such an exciting life I lead!


Everything gets cut up in to small pieces. The Urban Worm Girl told me that the worms love to hide in the ridges of corrugated cardboard, so I will throw a bunch of that in, along with the twine which I have cut into little pieces.


Next, the newspaper is cut into strips and added to the tray.

Add some torn paper towels and give everything a good spritz with water. The bedding should be as moist as a wrung-out sponge.

In goes some cut-up egg carton, and everything gets mixed together. The tray should be about 2/3 full of moist bedding.

Now I'll add a few handfuls of topsoil and give it a few squirts of water. Later on when I boil some eggs, I will add crushed, dried eggshells. It's important to give the worms a bit of grit to help their tiny digestive tracts. Keeps 'em regular!

I've saved some vegetable scraps, and I will chop them into smaller pieces to help the worms ingest them. Looks pretty tasty!

Bury the food in one corner, and cover it up with the bedding. This step is important to prevent unpleasant odors or fruit flies. The worm bin should smell fresh and clean, and it will if the food scraps are properly buried under the bedding. Mine has smelled great so far when I take the roof off -- very woodsy.

Now the new tray is ready to go on top of the old tray, and I have placed it on top and put the little roof back on.

In about 2 weeks, most of the worms should have migrated up to the fresh food and bedding in the new tray, and I will be able to collect my reward. At the end of 2 weeks, if there are still a lot of worms down in the old tray, then I will take that tray and move it to the top, take the lid off and shine a light on it. The worms can't live in light, so they will hopefully migrate down into the new tray.
This has been a fun and interesting hobby so far, and I feel like I am doing a little more of my share to help the environment. My garden will thank me, too!

Squirrel Warfare

Warning -- the following post may not be suitable for younger and more sensitive readers -- not to mention the squeamish, the faint of heart, or members of PETA.

We have an over-abundance of squirrels in the vicinity of our house and garden. There is a small office building right across the alley that has a large garbage dumpster. Squirrels hang out there, get plenty to eat, and nest in the 2 trees at the back of my house. There are many, many, many, way too many squirrels living within a few feet of my garden. Dan and I are getting ever more defensive and bloodthirsty on behalf of our slowly-ripening tomatoes. Squirrels, heed my warning and stay away if you know what's good for you.

The tomatoes have not liked our cool summer, and are turning red very, very s-l-o-w-l-y. As we are downtown at work all day, the squirrels have a field day with my Earthboxes. They watch from the trees until they see us leave for the train, and then they scamper down the fence and snatch the only ripening tomatoes off the vine. Then -- and this is the worst part -- they take ONE BITE and leave the tomatoes on the fence. It's heartbreaking! My hate for those little furry bastards burns with the heat of a thousand suns! This is war!!!

As my first line of defense, I tried cayenne pepper in order to make my tomatoes unpleasant to their little furry noses. Dan's mom, Ann, got us a huge plastic jar of it at her neighborhood fruit market, and I've been liberally sprinkling the cayenne on the black plastic mulch of the Earthboxes and also a little on the tomatoes. It seems to help a bit, and I was able to pick a few puny orange tomatoes before the squirrels got 'em. A paltry victory.

Anyway, like I said, we are growing increasingly bloodthirsty. I know I will probably shock and dismay a few folks, but here goes. We have been using our Have-a-Heart trap (which is quite ironic), and when we trap a squirrel we drown it in a trash can full of water. There, I said it! When I say "we" do this, I am speaking quite loosely. Ok, I'm lying through my teeth. Dan, of course, does all the trapping, drowning and disposing. I hide in the house, with my fingers in my ears, going "la la la la la", pretending that he is not out in the backyard murdering the local fauna right before my neighbors' eyes. We have helped 3 squirrels pass into the great beyond this week, but I don't think it will do anything toward putting a dent in our over-abundant squirrel population. We'd probably have to trap and drown 10 squirrels a day to make a noticeable difference.

However, we are discontinuing our squirrel executions. We just don't have the heart for it any more, not after what happened this morning. It was around 7 a.m., and Dan went to check the trap. There was a squirrel in the trap, and he looked mighty nervous, as well he should. Dan fetched the garbage can from the alley and filled it with water from the hose. I was, of course, hiding in the kitchen, being lots of help. All of a sudden I heard Dan yell, and I looked out the back porch window to see him slamming the plastic garbage can's hinged lid down on the squirrel, who had somehow gotten out of the trap while it was in the water and had climbed up the inside of the garbage can, attempting to make a break for it. It was now half in and half out of the can, squirming mightily. Dan was holding the lid down on the squirrel, and yelling for something to whack it with. I ran to give him the garden spade, purposely looking away from the squirrel. He took the spade and told me to hold the garbage can lid tightly down on the squirrel while he clunked it on the head. I did NOT like this idea one bit, but what could I do. I got behind the garbage can, as far away from the squirrel as I could get. Twisting my head away, and with my eyes tightly shut, I pushed down on the top of the lid while Dan swung the shovel. WHAM! I immediately felt a bit of something hit the side of my head, and I screamed bloody murder as I ran a few quick circles around the yard. As it turns out, it was only dried dirt that had been caked on my garden spade, not flying bits of squirrel. It took about a half hour before my heart rate returned to normal.

In the meantime, Dan was calmly making sure that the squirrel was out of its misery, bagging it up and disposing of it in another of our garbage cans. After this very harrowing experience -- admittedly much more harrowing for the squirrel -- we are putting the trap away and giving up the fight. To any squirrels that may be reading this, go ahead and steal my tomatoes. Mock me from your leafy nests. After all, I can get plenty of nice, ripe tomatoes from the farmer's market, with a lot less violence.

Me and my Worms

Vermicomposting! I love my worm bin. I have had it working in a corner of my kitchen since June 6, and in a couple of weeks I'll be able to harvest my first batch of rich, crumbly compost. I have 1,000 worms, and I have named them, in alphabetical order. Every morning I say hello to them. "Hi Aaron, hi Abel, hi Barry, hi Cindy...etc.

Garlic Extravaganza!

My enclosed porch smells like garlic! Ahhhhh, I love that smell. Yesterday I dug up about 20 heads, and I left about 10 heads in the ground to mature a little more. Some of the heads were nice and big, but most were on the smallish side. That doesn't surprise me, because we have had a really cold and rainy summer. Not much sunshine and heat, so I'm sure my tomatoes will take their sweet time getting ripe, too. It's only the middle of July, and we do have almost 90 days until frost, so we have some time to get some warmth and sunshine in. Mother Nature, do you hear me?

With all the rain, a lot of my perennials have gotten twice as tall as they usually do. So, they are flopping all over their neighbors -- especially the yarrow and butterfly bush. This year would have been a great year to prune a bunch of stuff for height control.

I have been grilling up a storm, I just love it. No pots and pans to clean up! Yesterday I made turkey burgers and skewers of zuchinni and onion. The grilled vegetables are fantastic, they get very sweet -- especially the onions. I love summer!!

Earthbox Heaven

Look at how much my Earthbox vegetables have grown! I'm very happy with the Earthboxes, it's been very easy to just squirt the hose once a day to keep the water reservoir filled. It's amazing how much water the tomatoes go through -- 2 tomato plants use twice as much water as 6 pepper plants.

I started these tomatoes from seed under lights. No matter how many years I have gardened, it always amazes me when a teeny seed turns into something like this! Now to keep the squirrels from stealing my harvest. My mother-in-law bought me a huge container of cayenne pepper, and I'm going to sprinkle it liberally all over the tomatoes. I just hope she squirrels aren't Cajun squirrels!

In other gardening news, check out my garlic, keeping company with my Clematis Jackmanii. It's almost ready to harvest, and after I dig it up I will hang the garlic from my bookcase in the dining room to dry. I'll also harvest a bunch of dill and hang it in the hallway, and then my whole house will smell like a Kosher dill pickle.

My Munstead lavender is in full bloom, the smell is wonderful. I felt very sorry for the lavender during our heavy rains, because the poor thing likes it dry and gritty, and it was really looking bedraggled. But once the constant rains stopped and the sun came out for a few days, it bounced back and is blooming like crazy.

Handome and Handy, Part Deux

Here's Handsome and Handy Dan, beginning the process of putting together our new gas grill. Look -- he's reading the instructions! I told you he was smart.

This thing came in a large box with 14,569 little pieces, all neatly shrink-wrapped, along with a 49,046 page book of instructions. Engineering degree not included.

The first thing Dan did was put a tarp down on the deck so that all of the precious little bits of hardware didn't disappear between the deck boards. See, I told you he was smart.

I was standing by, serving as "Lovely Assistant." Our conversation would go something like this:

Dan: Will you hand me that screwdriver with the yellow handle?

Me: What do you say?

Dan: Please, Lovely Assistant, will you hand me that screwdriver with the yellow handle?

Me: No.

But of course, I kid. I am a very good Lovely Assistant. I am especially good at standing by, wringing my hands and looking worried when things aren't going well. But with Handsome, Handy Dan in charge, things usually go very well.

It's starting to look like a grill!

I'm very happy to say that we had delicious grilled chicken breasts on this baby several hours after this picture was taken. Life is grand!

Handsome and Handy

Red Green says "If women don't find you handsome, they can always find you handy." With Dan, I have the best of both worlds! Here he is, using odds and ends found in our basement constructing some nifty supports for my Earthbox tomatoes. If we don't have a tornado or gale-force winds, they should support the thousands of tomatoes the Earthbox folks have promised me! :)

My vegetable seedlings are thriving in the Earthboxes. So far, so good.

In other garden news, my violet clematis is blooming. It is so beautiful it just about brings tears to my eyes! I have had this little clematis for over 15 years. It only gets partial sun, so it never gets very big. Some years it looks pretty pathetic, with only one or two blooms. But with our record-breaking rainy Spring, everything is putting on a show this year.

Earthbox Setup Day

Last Sunday was Earthbox day in my backyard. It was perfect weather for gardening, 60 degrees and sunny. I set up 2 Earthboxes -- 1 box with 2 tomato plants and 1 box with 6 peppers -- 4 sweet peppers, 1 jalapeno and 1 Thai dragon. I like to make dried red pepper flakes out of the Thai dragon peppers. Here's the empty Earthbox. It has a screen in the bottom, and a tube for watering.

It was very easy to set up, but the huge bags of Bacto potting medium were heavy!

First I filled a bucket with the potting medium. Moistening that potting soil took more water than I could ever have imagined! I thought I would be able to moisten it with the green watering can, but I soon resorted to the hose.

I filled up the Earthbox until the soil was level, then added 2 cups of fertilizer in a strip.

Then I mounded soil until it was 2 inches above the level of the box. Then I put on its little "shower cap".

The seedlings are planted by cutting an "X" through the plastic cover and stuffing the plant into the soil. Note to self for next year: use smaller seedlings! The tomato plants that I started from seed in my basement were fine, it was easy to stuff them through the little hole. But the pepper seedlings I bought at the farmer's market had a much larger rootball. It was a violent episode to stuff them through and get them planted! Here are the peppers, awaiting their fate:

Here are the two little tomato seedlings nestled in their Earthbox house.

And here are the 6 pepper plants, all tucked in and enjoying some sunshine. They seemed to have survived their unmerciful lynching! Three days later, they still look fine.

Now, according to the Earthbox folks, all I have to do is keep the water reservoir full by adding water down the tube. Easy peasey!

I'm looking forward to a bountiful harvest of tomatoes and peppers. Now I have to figure out a way to stake the tomatoes without paying a million dollars for Earthbox's fancy-schmancy staking system. I have a few ideas rolling around in my brain, and plenty of junk rolling around my basement that I'm sure I can put to good use.