Day 2

Meh. Not so bad... yet. Though I burned my tongue this morning on some too-hot tea, so that's bumming me out. And I'm getting bored of chewing so much (silly roughage). So far shunning booze and cheese isn't boosting my desire to work, though. Surfing the internet is just so much more fun! And now to read some of The Canon (Natalie Angier), which I have been slowly making my way through

Day 1

Today is the first day (of 10, hopefully) of ye' olde raw fruit & veg cleanse. Since I'm already borderline vegan, this isn't a huge switch, and I'm keeping some minor and not so minor exceptions (can you call it a "cleanse" while still drinking coffee every morning?). But it is still a bit of a challenge. And always impressive to see how much tea I can drink when I'm bored of the food options.


And luckily I live in a state where farmers' markets are still open in November. When I did this last spring, it led to some interesting results, so we'll see what this brings (look, Ma, no more Diet Coke!). So far just a craft project plan and some more tiny, tiny stitches. Perhaps tomorrow I will provide a quilt update (no, it's not finished). Mmmmm, Bedtime Tea...

Compost!

Today we built a compost bin! Hooray, no more storing compost in the metal trash can that got all stinky and full of fruit flies. Despite some disagreement on the design (see creative use of found wood), it turned out okay, I think. I did accidentally disrupt an Argentine ant nest in the process of moving my small pile of yard clippings and leaves into the bin. I feel about 5% bad about that.


Really, I only feel 5% bad about killing a bunch of ants and ant larvae (and disrupting their home) because I read Elizabeth Kolbert's review of Jonathan Safran Foer's new book about vegetarianism. Of course, I don't eat meat (and less and less eggs & cheese, these days) but, well, there is this awkward question about where to draw that line, right? I've seen video of Argentine ants interacting with other insects, waging hostile takeovers, etc, so, how bad to they feel right now? What about when I go to turn the compost?

But, honestly, if they invade my house then it's war.

In other news, lots is going on in the garden. Anything that looks noteworthy on flickr is a start from the nursery, but the seeds are coming along. Who knew that hours of sunlight was such an important factor? Oh, wait. I did. Doh.

Making progress...

Phew! Not only do we have germination (more on that sometime soon), but we have (nearly) a place to put the baby plants. Three 4' x 8' raised beds, plus a 10' x 9' plot for the three sisters (after a cover crop mix from Common Ground). I am anticipating waking up tomorrow barely able to move due to all the digging I did today (thank goodness for the rain!) Now if only I could get the compost situation figured out. And buy some soil. Oh, the list goes on. We have also had our first houseguests (for HSB) and our first dinner party (cooked Moosewood's Bulgarian red pepper stew and baked Hungarian pumpernickel bread. My baking skills continue to produce dense, but tasty bread...more yeast? heat?)

Drum roll, please...

Ladies and gentlemen... We have germination.


Seriously, everything has a few sprouts coming up except for the Tuscan kale, the spinach, and the red onions (who are a day behind). And the marigolds are blooming, which is nice too. But the seedlings are the best. One more:


I'm pretty psyched that this whole farming thing hasn't been derailed on the first step.

Oh, internet....

How I've missed you! Sure, we still had the iPhone, but, honestly, the iPhone is not for hanging out online and randomly searching for stuff. Or blogging. Or really doing anything except proving someone (or myself) wrong about something via wikipedia. But we moved! Or I moved, and this weekend we move N. And now we live in a house. With walls. That aren't touching other houses' walls. And when I jingle my keys two crazy dogs don't go ape s**t. And R can do just about whatever he wants. And as of this afternoon we have internet.

Currently I am full of plans but empty of fundage, so I do things like stake out where raised beds will someday go, and buy seeds. Lots of seeds. And make spreadsheets. I'm thinking I'll do some photo-monitoring (because that's what I do). This is the yard as it stands. There are two apple trees and a fig, and lots of dead lawn. Things may get interesting...


The current veggie seed list includes leeks, spinach, lettuce, two kinds of kale, arugula, scallions, Swiss chard, radishes, beets, carrots, and cauliflower. There were no big onions at the hippie organic store, so we'll see. But if I find some motivation, they may all get sown tonight! Or tomorrow. Oh, temperate climates. How fun are you?

Really important question

Due to a sad, overplayed "workout mix" in my ipod, I have developed the following question: Which is the better rhyme? Nelly's intrepid use of "...bottles, ...models, ...throttle, ...goggles," or Sir Mix-a-Lot's "...Honda, ...Fonda, ...anaconda." I ponder this question on a regular basis.

In other news, the quilt progresses but I've started a new set of projects that are top secret for the time being. And the house situation will hopefully be made official on Sunday, then there will be much rejoicing. And trips to Ikea and the plant nursery.

House!

It looks like we're moving (at some point...)! I just spent all this time trying make a sketch of it on my lame tablet pc, but the sketch program will only export in LAME formats. WTF? So you'll just have to imagine it for now. BUT, it's got space, a yard, and a garage (and allows Mr. R) so what else could I possibly need. Maybe I'll give this exportation thing another go. Stand by...


Hah! Oh, Microsoft Paint, when will I shell out the cash for a real program so that I don't need you anymore? But this is what the front of the house will look like once I get my hands on some cheap giant pots (it's all concrete). The back will be a project of epic proportions, but there are two apple trees, a fig tree, and a whole bunch of dead lawn that really wants to be converted to a mini-farm. I may have to subscribe to Sunset Magazine. Does that mean I'm old?

Progress!

OK, back from ABQ where we discovered an unreasonable amount of broken glass on the roads and bike paths. But we also discovered thorn-resistant tubes. Apparently the locals roll them WITH SEALANT and that's how they avoid flats. I actually carried Clyde through a bike path underpass to avoid what must have been several fifths of who knows what.

But now I'm home and after sending N off at 4:30 a.m. I've had an alarmingly productive Sunday. Finished and combined the quilt squares yesterday:


N was a bit startled by the lack of pattern/symmetry, but I think he's getting over it. Then I added top and bottom borders, made a backing, and then a "quilt sandwich" and THEN started on what is now my least favorite part of quilting: hand basting it all together.


On the up side, it does show how cool the back may eventually look...


Now it's just a couple of bajillion tiny stitches between me and finished! This has all been additionally challenging as I've been keeping all fingers and toes crossed about a potential rental house that would be AWESOME. Like a hundred billion hot dogs, sir.

Potential Epic

Task of the morning? Getting this bike:


into it's FAA regulation size suitcase so that I can take it with me to a conference in Albuquerque.

Fortunately I have step-by-step instructions from N... First we carefully pad it and take it apart.


Then fit it into it's box Tetris-style.


Then stuffing clothes in as extra padding, and I'm ready to go! Hopefully the re-assembly goes as smoothly, and hopefully I can carve out some time in the very full schedule to get some rides in.

Le Tired

Two days of running the dog in the morning, then pedaling to work, then hiking around all day, then pedaling home & entertaining the dog some more is maybe too much. BUT I only have two quilting squares left, then it's on to... what comes after making the squares? Hopefully something less painstakingly detailed.

What I should be doing right now is adjusting Clyde-the-Ritchey-Breakaway's front derailleur so that I can use the big chain ring tomorrow (and fixing the handlebars, and swapping the saddles). But I'm tired and want to watch the Daily Show and go to bed. And make breakfast and walk R somewhere in there.

I'm starting to collect pictures of poison oak (the plant, not the rash on my arm) on flickr. They really are quite pretty, despite their bad rap.

And that concludes my random listing of thoughts.

Attempting a Resurrection

Okay, so I know we thought I'd let this thing die, but all of a sudden it seems like a good idea again. I just bought a new camera (after leaving the old one at a plot...) and so am feeling inspired to take pictures and post them somewhere. I'm also in the midst of making a quilt - my first attempt at such a thing. It's turning out to be a lot more precision cutting and ironing than actual sewing, and unlike knitting, you definitely can't do it while watching TV (at least the beginning, square-sewing part). But it does feed my need to be obsessive. And since I'm sortof tired of the Big Bad Baby Blanket (Stitch & Bitch), but everyone I know keeps having babies, I figure I need a new gig. Also working on a knitting project, but that doesn't look like much yet.

This is what a quilt square would look like if you were 1 inch tall:


And this is what a finished square looks like:


The pattern is modified from a Denyse Schmidt quilt.

In other news, I'm hoping this blog will keep me from obsessively searching craigslist for apartments for me, N, and R to share (trumpets blare!) which has been quite a process. And, if you haven't seen it yet, it's absolutely mandatory that you read over Mark Bittman's 101 salads. Awesome.

K. Time to go turn over the laundry and run the dog to Trader Joe's.

Pot Farming

Why, yes, it has been a while. BUT a few months ago I moved to the RWC, and now I find myself with more free time and the urge to cultivate. And like a good 20-something, I've chosen to blog about it (mostly for nerdy record keeping purposes). So, here's the thing. My tiny apartment walkway ("balcony" is a bit highfalutin) gets no direct winter sunlight, and it's fairly chilly (and January). So we're starting with lettuce, chard, and some herbs (lemon thyme and spicy oregano). The chard looks a bit sad right now, but I have high hopes.

IKEA also makes these sweet-as mini green houses, so we're experimenting with one lettuce and one chard in, one and one out (at least until they get too big). The soil mix is mostly sterile mulch, supplemented with about 1 T/pot of Dr. Earth's organic 5. I realize they are all too crowded (I think the recommended situation for pot gardens is 5 gallons of soil per plant...) but I have limited space, and, heck, it's lettuce. I could eat it right now if I wanted. I haven't re-potted or fertilized the herbs yet. One more picture for the purposes of documentation:


Updates hopefully to follow. Otherwise life is good. Being only a 6.5 mile bike from campus is awesome (as opposed to the 1.5 hr each way bike-train-bike system), Nathan and Rudy are stupendous, school continues, and I'm looking forward to a great spring (though it would be nice if we got a bit of winter one of these days...) I hope all is well with you, internet.

where, now?

It’s Saturday night, and I’m home drinking beer, eating chocolate, reading friends’ blogs, and thinking it’s about time I did a bit of blogging myself. My wonderful and amazing boyfriend is back in his 'home'-town of Reno, NV, my bike is as improved as it’s going to get tonight, and it’s highly unlikely that I’m going to rally to go out to the bar. So, what’s up? I broke my camera about a month ago, and so I’ve been reticent to post, as so many of the things that have been going on seem to be more visual than verbal.

BUT… I quit my job, had a great “transition party,” went to my cousin’s wedding, backpacked solo in the Hoover/Yosemite Wilderness for a week, drove north for a while (Reno, NV; Oakridge, OR; Portland, OR; Naches, WA; back to Oakridge; back to Reno), came back to SF, hung out for a bit, spent a week on Santa Cruz Island, came home, went to another wedding, and have been chillin’ ever since.

Highlights have been: the giant sequoia cone I got as a going away present and the matching NPS belt, the abundance of postcards from N. as he travels the western hemisphere, compliments on my dress-for-weddings, seeing old friends, making new friends, the beauty of combining red wine, espresso, and chocolate cake, knitting like a banshee, riding and fussing with bikes, climbing some stuff, the crazy but loveable dogs, and deciding to not go to Burning Man.

Classes at Stanfurd start in a month, and then who knows how life will change, but I’m guessing it will be good. At least going in to it my computer is going to have 2 GB of RAM and my commuter bike will have bullhorns, so how worried can I be?

Just kidding, I'm going to the bar.

not quite green thumb

I have successfully grown a very, very sad wavy-leaved soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). She came from a project I worked on last fall that involved lots of ground disturbance, which then turned up lots of soap plant bulbs, which were mostly eaten by hungry animals. But not this one, who I saved and quasi planted, mostly just to see what would happen. She sat in her pot looking like a very dry, very hairy coconut for about five months, then finally sprouted these four very sad leaves. But, in the way of plants, nonetheless managed to bloom. I'm very proud of her, and will transplant somewhere with more soil depth soon. Also of note is that I was told that these guys only flower at night, but clearly this is not the case.

Yay for California native plants stolen (salvaged?) from national parks!

Well, shit.

On October 7th, 2006, sitting in a loud, dark bar in the Lower Haight, a good friend asked me if he could give me a piece of advice. I had been whingeing and moaning about life, overwork, applying to PhD programs, etc. “Of course,” I blinked; open to most anything but not expecting much.

“Kyla,” he said, “shit, or get off the pot.”

I was a bit taken aback, given that Tom has been nothing but kind and supportive for the time I’ve known him, and harsh comments are unexpected after the first few pints of Racer 5. I realized quickly, however, that he made an excellent point. I could continue to complain about the things standing in my way, or I could just do what I needed to do and move on.

Taking the advice to heart, I promised Tom that I would indeed “shit,” and I stumbled home to [sleep first then] start really applying myself to this whole grad school issue.

Months later, I am happy to report that I have accepted Stanford’s offer of admission, and I will start there in the fall. Thanks, Tom, and more soon!

Taking a bit of inspiration from Ms Rustygrass' wrist cuffs, the fact that I got an interchangeable watchband watch for Christmas but with ugly leather bands, and the scrap ends of a pair of non-Carhartt work pants, we have a new watch! I'm not sure this satisfies my need for a "professional looking" watch that covers up the tattoo, but I'm fairly happy with it.

The next question is, why do I keep making things out of turquoise, green, and brown? Wierd.

Oh, the conundrums...

So, here's the question of the day: the NY Times says that by wearing cotton clothes that have to be washed more often, I'm actually doing more damage to the environment than if I were to wear only synthetics but just half-assedly wash them. It turns out that the environmental impact (e.g. energy used) of repeated washings is way greater than that of producing a synthetic garment.

But here's the thing - I bike a lot and I wear Tom's Natural deodorant. The deodorant choice is mostly out of a desire to not (maybe) give myself breast cancer or Alzheimers. The biking is part health, part gasoline, part finding-parking-in-my-neighborhood-blows. Valid, no? But my selfish desires to avoid cancer (sometimes) and not troll for parking means most of my clothing needs to be washed fairly frequently. Add to that the need for field clothes, office clothes, and gym clothes, and let's just say I do a good deal of laundry. And frankly, synthetic or natural, it all gets pretty funky pretty quick. It's one thing to think you might smell a bit ripe, it's another repel the general public.

So what do I do? I'd already accepted that by biking I might actually hurt the planet, but maybe if I switch to aluminium-based antiperspirant that'll offset the biking, I can wash my clothes less, die earlier, and thus balance out? Or just wear synthetics and throw them away? Or maybe hemp? Is hemp the answer?

distraction!

now that everyone nearby has received their mini-gifts, I can safely post this...that's right, I've purchased a 1.5-inch button maker. I'm not quite up to making special requests yet, but after the holidays that may be a possibility. I also acquired a sewing machine, and my first knitted glove project. More on those later.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, whatever that may mean.

Peace.

yowza!

Holy crap, it's October. Where have I been? Well, let's see...in no particular order

- some awesome people got married in some beautiful settings
- about 1000 feet of new trail were built in the Marin Headlands
- nearly 400 feet of existing trail have been "rehabilitated" in the same spot (with more to come)
- many, many (bad) plants were poisoned and/or yanked/sawed/cut from the ground
- singing mic-ed was tested (and happily not recorded)
- some folks learned that there's more to environmentalism than recycling (and that the only time to go to Muir Woods is before 9 a.m.)
- it was determined that a furry cat and a furry dog is one too many furry animals in the house
- sleep deprivation was experimented with and rejected as a concept (though not as a lifestyle)

One of these days I'll have an original thought to share, but until then I leave you with this question: Exactly when did the Red Hot Chili Peppers start sucking and is the radio simply playing them out of nostalgia or am I missing some genius in their inane repetitiveness?

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is this weekend. New York may still be better, but SF has many, many more awesome, free, public, drunken festivals. AND fun people are in town. Twang on.