introducing raedar

our houseguest for 1.5 weeks.

this is what she says to me all day long: i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy regan!i never run out of energy!

jamesday!

happy 90th!

bretday!

happy birthday bret!

reality

tuesday.
50's.
overcast.
you know what that means...
back to work.

why did the weather have to change???

spring weekend

is there a way to resist the warm weather, the sunshine, the birds chirping, the smell of spring, the fact that it's a weekend, and stay on task, with all of the seemingly endless work there is to be done?

well, if there is a way, i do not know about it. and for now, i'm happy to remain ignorant of it.

so, the first springtime pictures of the garden... the first weekend that we really got out and began to prepare it for all of its wonderfulness-to-be...

what has this turned into you ask? what were those leaves for after all? and is our fence ever going to be a fence again???

to answer, this is our new potato field. it's a technique greg read about, where you let some leaves sit around all winter and then plunk down your potato spuds on top... as we did here...

then, it is topped off with about a foot of straw... as we did here...

the fence... i think there will be a new fence this year at the front of our plot.

the north end of our garden... we turned over the soil and put down straw. the squared off section is garlic and onions, as seen below.

the garlics, planted in the fall, are growing so tall!

we replanted these onions yesterday... they were left over from our harvest last summer and started sprouting without any help from us...

we also planted lettuce yesterday and are willing the weather not to frost.

sunday:

i went out into the garden... i didn't know what to do... there really aren't many weeds to pull yet... no more new plants to plant yet... so i uncovered the beatrices a bit, walked around, made discoveries...

under the first beatrice... sproutlings! what of? we will have to find out because i have no clue...

beans! pole beans i think. from last year... we will plant them and see what happens...

at first i assumed this little green guy was just some winter rye that we planted in the fall, that hadn't been turned over yesterday... but then i looked closer and realized it must be a garlic that survived from last year because it is in the spot where we planted our somewhat ill-fated garlic last spring...

in the...
i discovered this...

a little cabbage???

in the Hmong garden, the new rises from the old...

an onion, growing in the mud, trying to get its roots into the ground...

i decided to rescue him... i wonder if i made the right choice... he may not survive the transplant, but he's destined to be tilled over before the garden officially opens... now he can hang around with other onions and sort of learn from them, get motivated to keep growing, get some attention... all that stuff.

at the farm... the bee boxes are stacked, awaiting bees...

a garbage pile...

beans...

straw...

the prairie... looking ever so prairie-like...

and finally... the monstresses...

two different stores, two different plants, one day

first it was frog (see below post)... now this...

i bought an orchid.
my friend met me at the coffee shop and we left to see about a book sale going on at the library, which... of course, by the time we got there, only had books written in Swahili. so we went to trader joe's instead... and there were the orchids in all their splendor.
and i have good reasons for buying this one:
a) it's spring, so i'm apparently going plant crazy (search bromeliads, venus fly trap, fern)... i can't help myself.
b) it was only $10! other places won't go below $25. i would be remiss were i to pass up this deal.

and unfortunately, because i have plant-loving cats, i had to find a spot where they wouldn't tear it to shreds...

i don't think it looks its best up there, but cat-free zones are hard to find in this house... ah well.

a froggy day...

we were up early today and at the garden store down the street. our newest addition to the plant clan is Fern (nicknamed London Frog, in honor of the day we brought her home. Frog for short)...

of course i do not know what kind of fern she is (story of my life when it comes to plants), but the woman at the store said she was hardy... stuck back in a corner with little light she is now yelling for a bigger pot, to which i will happily oblige.

we also bought 10 lbs. worth of potato sprouts. this, red norland, is the early variety. we also got kennebec (i think that's the name... see the above parentheses), which is a late variety... so, expect potatees in abundance this year...

in other news, twice a day for nearly 20 days, greg has been dutifully giving dracula her antibiotics and water...

and currently, he is helping friends put together a nursery for a new addition in their own household. meanwhile, i am spending time on one of my favorite hobbies... (well, blogging sure) but really... homework...

at my favorite coffee and muffin shop...

40 free minutes before school part 2! woot!

so last week i taught some kindergartners about rainforest plants. to prepare... what did i do? i went out and bought a venus fly trap... thinking... venus fly trap... that's exotic. it must be from the rainforest.... just look at it...

i could have done my research first and learned that venus fly traps are in fact not from the rainforest... they are north american... and not in those temperate rainforests we've got out west... no. apparently they are from north carolina.
but had i done my research first, i wouldn't now have this cute little guy sitting in the kitchen, so sometimes... good things happen when you put off doing your homework. good lesson huh?

while we're on the topic of plants... our amaryllis is coming back to life! just look at the root base on this monster! her name is louise part 2...

these are the special sproutlings that get to sit under the natural light, as opposed to the less fortunate ones under the artificial light in the basement (greg's choice)...

they are painted tongue. remember painted tongue?

and this is... well, i think it's a primrose. because, they look like little roses... but they're very prim. i could be wrong though. anyhow, we got it... hmm... last spring? from my friend julie, and i can't believe we kept it alive.

last but not least... a rabbit in the sun.

hey!

it's spring tonight!

birthday time

happy birthday steph.

it makes me happy that i've known you for so long and that you're always just a little bit older than me.

garden update

our garden is working without us!
garlics are sprouting...

as are the sprouts of some type of flower we had in the first beatrice last season...

and a new addition: chives...

a future rain garden... one of many in madison.

happy st. patrick's day

the high school state basketball tournament made me late for class

but first, bromeliad...
... so i was running a bit late as it was... but only a bit... 5 minutes... that was it... and then i discovered (as did so many others) that my (okay, not my) that the parking garage was full... so i (like many, many, many others) waited for many, many, many minutes as cars slowly, slowly, slowly trickled out now and again... and so i was not 5, but 35 minutes late for class... because apparently lots of people come to the state basketball tournament... and apparently all of them like to park in my (not my) the parking garage, that i like to park in... grumble. ah well.

more bromeliads... (the one in back is just a loaner... shucks!)

work

rainforest fun

update

computer mostly fixed! back to work!

true love?

1 a.m. at the physics building... that is how coveted my laptop is... and because the manufacturer failed to solder one tiny little piece, i (and consequently greg) am forced to prove my dedication to the piece of machinery that i politely asked to work properly for 3 years... why manufacturer? why, for the fifth time must we (i.e. greg, and i, as an onlooker) fix what you failed to make right to begin with?

ah... well...

for tonight anyway, the computer remains in disrepair. =/

is this what they mean when they talk about sleeping fishes?

on a bike ride today...

we discover lots and lots of... duck food...

hmm...

maybe it got too warm too soon? i don't know much of anything about fish biology.