Gardening Update

The garden appears to be ramping up into high gear-- just in time for when we are going to be gone on vacation.  Tomatoes are turning red, summer squash and zucchini are taking over, and the peppers are ripening.  Over the past week we have been trying to keep up with eating all the produce.  I have only picked 1 zucchini and 1 squash but they made multiple meals.  I made lemon basil pasta primavera with basil, squash, and zucchini.  My next dish was a pesto cavatappi with fresh basil.  We then had Arthur's famous sauteed squash and zucchini (one of the first dishes he ever made for me).  Our Friday night pizza was even topped with mushrooms, squash, zucchini, and pepperoni.  That was a huge step for me.  If asked what kind of pizza I would like my response is anything without vegetables. I am willing to embrace any pizza as long as it is meat and cheese-- veggies go in a salad and not on my pizza.  Arthur finally wore me down by requesting mushrooms on pizza.  I figured if I caved in to mushrooms I ought to go all out and dump a boat load of veggies on.  I would say that one of the major transformational life changes that have occurred this past year is the amount of strange veggies (this includes anything outside of potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, and lettuce) I am cooking with and eating.  What is happening to me?

Our other exciting news in the gardening realm is that we had our first compost harvest. We took our worm bin out to the backyard and dumped it onto a shower curtain to short out the worms from the compost.  It was probably a good thing our neighbors weren't around to see what curious activities we were up to.  It took some time to sort the worms our but it was also good for us to get more one on one interaction with Dennis.  I was very pleased with the amount of compost we have to mix in with our soil for next year.  The other plus of our compost party was that while we were in the backyard a Jehovah's Witness must of stopped by but since we didn't answer the door they just left a pamphlet.  Worm ownership has so many benefits of which we were unaware.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Adventures in the Area with Arthur and Alex

One of our goals this summer was to get out and about to explore the area where we are living.  This has included biking to a few different towns, seeing attractions in other towns such as a drive-in movie, and some hiking.  The past few weekends have taken us on two different hikes.  The first weekend we went to a state fishing lake on a double date. We had a little trouble finding anything that looked like a trail but thanks to Alex's need to always have a map to look at we were able to get rerouted to the trail head.  The trail wasn't highly maintained but that added more to the adventure of bushwhacking where we wanted to go (the lack of mowing and maintenance was probably also why Arthur's ankles got eaten alive by chiggers that resulted in him almost taking baths in hydrocortisone cream).  The best part of this hike was a complete surprise-- we came across the top of a rock outcropping which dropped off to one side in a waterfall from water seeping out of the layers of limestone rock.  This lead to further exploration.  A few college students were actually at the outcropping doing field work for their senior projects in geology so they were able to give us some insight into what we were seeing.  The waterfall was definitely something we had no idea was in our area.

On another weekend we headed to a state park to check out the trails.  While we both like to hike, Alex is probably more of the instigator of hiking while Arthur generally is happy to comply with the hike.  The trail skirted around several hay fields and meadows of prairie grasses.  There were also some traverses through stands of cedar trees.  We also ventured down to the waterfront on the lake and found a beach with really flat rocks that we could both actually skip.  Neither of us have stellar rock skipping skills so this was a treat.  Of course Alex selected a day for this hike when the temperature was nearing triple digits.  Add that with the fact that at the sign that offered a short cut we ignored and hiked on by-- short cuts are for sissies-- give us the full 6 miles on a July afternoon.  We survived with only mild dehydration and about a pound of dust and grime that washed off in the shower.  (Alex: May I state here as person in charge of planning and preparation we were each carrying 2 liters of water.  However Arthur decided he was going to conserve his water and only take a few sips when his tongue got dry enough to stick to the rough of his mouth-- you can give a husband water but you can't make him drink) (Arthur's rebuttal: we were both wearing Camelbak packs and could not tell how much water we had remaining.  It seemed quite reasonable to be conservative with my water consumption, especially considering I had no idea how far Alex would go and I drink water like a camel.)  Afterwards we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants for burritos and ice cold water which really hit the spot.  Adventures are so much fun.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Summer Time

We are in the middle of the dog days of summer (although we are having cooler weather so it almost feels like April or May instead).  Here is a list of some of our favorite things about summer:

Half price shakes after 8pm at Sonic
Fireflies
More daylight
Fireworks
Getting a tan (this doesn't apply so much since we work indoors now)
Popsicles
Homemade ice cream
S'mores
Brats or burgers
Corn on the cob
Fresh strawberries or peaches
(Summer food is so wonderful)
Wearing shorts
Gardening
Going on walks at twilight
Sleeping with the windows open
Swimming
Biking
Hiking
Running
Canoeing
Reading the same books I read over and over each summer
Lots of people out and about around the park or town
The roar of a crowd at a baseball game
Watching the Spurs win the NBA finals
Driving to work with the sun already up

And not to be complainers but here are a few inconvenient items that come with summer as well:
Hot cars
Bugs
Sunburns
Having real jobs (no more summers off like when we were students)
Needing to take multiple showers a day since you are sweating so much
Difference of opinions about AC settings in our household

All in all we have had a wonderful time so far this summer and are looking forward to another month of this wonderful season. Omni Vincit Amor.
 

Training for a Tri

Our latest endeavor at our house is training for a triathlon in August.  We have bikes scattered about the house, running shoes tossed willy-nilly, and there's always a swimming suit hanging up to dry.  It has been good motivation for both of us to get out and be active this summer.  The triathlon will consist of a 400 yard swim, 10.5 mile bike ride, and a 5K run to finish it off.  Arthur is not an enthused runner and wishes he could bike 100 miles and just skip the run altogether.  I always knew that Arthur wasn't a big fan of running but I didn't realized how much he disliked it until recently.  When we were dating he went on several long runs with me just to spend time with me, even if that meant he had to run at the same time.  We have enjoyed biking together to train for this race.  Arthur is getting up early to swim at the pool before work and I am always hoping I can get away from the office in time to make it back to town for lap swimming.  The nice thing about training for three sports at once is there is always a back up option-- if it is too hot then jump in the pool, if it is windy then go running, if you have a good chunk of time then a long bike ride is always great.  I have always been a runner so it has been fun getting back in racing shape.  I have dabbled in biking and swimming since college but only for fun so now I am trying to learn correct technique.  Arthur swam quite a bit in college and was a lifeguard so that is his stronger suit.  He has taken up biking just this year and has fallen in love with it.  And he just hates to run.  Besides learning new techniques there also seems to be quite a bit of equipment that is needed as well: swim goggles and swim cap, a pass to the pool, new running shoes, bike shorts and gloves-- we are starting to look like a sporting goods store around here.  However it is worth it for something that we are both interested in and can do together.  After all the couple that plays together, stays together.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Advertising

Something today struck me (Arthur) as so incredibly hilarious today that I just cannot wait to share it with our loyal readers: today on Pandora, an advertisement for a YouTube channel called "Epic Rap Battles of History" was played during a break in the music.

Epic Rap Battles of History might well posit such an absurd picture in our reader's mind that its mere existence would justify this post.  I want to go in another direction and reflect on the fact that an advertisement for a YouTube channel exists at all.

First off, advertisements are great.  So many of the websites I enjoy, including YouTube, Pandora, and to a certain extent, Blogspot, offer their services at no charge because companies who do charge for their services will pay the website money to advertise on their site.  This creates incentive for these websites to get as many people to use their service as possible so these companies will pay them more money, meaning these websites are constantly working to maximize my user experience so they might retain my patronage.  During this entire chain of events, the only cost I am accruing is the cost of my internet access, and theoretically, with libraries and other public institutions, access to all of the Tim Duncan highlights I could ever want could be subsidized completely by Joe Taxpayer (if that wounds the sensibilities of any of our readers, rest assured that Alex and I are paying into the pot as well).

Bear in mind that the entire scenario I just described is driven by some company's desire to hold my attention for 15 seconds so they can pitch me their product.  They do this in the knowledge that only a very small fraction of the people they reach using this method will be persuaded to use their product because of the advertisement; indeed, even with targeted ads, so many of the advertisements I am shown are of no relevance to me.  Furthermore, my dear Alex does the lion's share of household purchasing for our abode; trying to sell me a Swiffer mop is completely pointless.

If I were to go by just my own intuition, I would say the only things worth advertising this way would be movies and insurance companies.  Movies make sense because, unlike household products, people do not form a habit of going to or buying the same movie.  I imagine most people don't switch insurance that often, but over years and years of paying into a policy, a person could easily pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to an insurance company.  With a hundred thousand dollar payback, insurance companies can afford to strike out the vast majority of the time and still profit by their ads.

My intuition must be awful.  Think of the implication that the administrators of a YouTube channel, which again, is putting out videos at no cost to you, decided that it was profitable for them to take out an ad on another website that generates profits by their ad space.  Artistic pride aside, they probably don't really care how much of their actual product you view, so long as you see the ad beforehand.  There's now two degrees of separation between the viewer and someone who wants to sell them something, and I find it astounding that that is a profitable way to do business.

If you will allow some editorializing, this means that views on a website quite literally function as currency.  Just as you would with money, I would encourage you, dear reader, to be quite frugal with your new found wealth, not just because you should value your time, but because by viewing certain sites you are quite literally supporting them financially.  Support that which is good, so that in our world it may be said, Omnia Vincit Amore.

The Fourth with some flair!

Arthur's parents called him the morning of the 4th of July wondering what he was doing.  Arthur had his hands full so I answered the phone and replied, "Oh, we are just butchering a sheep right now."  I think his dad was taken aback by our activities and I was frankly somewhat surprised that I had also found myself in a shed discussing the innards of a sheep.
We had gone back to my old stomping grounds to celebrate the weekend.  My younger brother was having several friends out and thought it would be fun to roast a lamb.  That morning he and my cousin had killed the lamb and we arrived in time to help skin it and butcher it.  It was an interesting crowd for animal butchering.  My brother and cousin both have ag degrees.  My sister-in-law and I are in the medical field and have quite a bit of cadaver dissection experience between us.  My sister-in-law's sister was also in attendance and she has a biology degree and works with the domestic animals at a zoo.  And Arthur is an engineer.  I wasn't going to participate but I just couldn't stay away from a good dissection.  I think the thing that was most intriguing for Arthur was seeing the lungs and heart and how the lungs could be inflated.
That afternoon we headed out to a friend's cattle pond.  It was originally a sand pit that we call the "Redneck Riviera".  The guys had set up a spit to roast the sheep.  We swam in the water, took the canoe for a swim, and even did a little bit of tubing behind a jet ski.  The lamb turned out to be pretty tasty.  We set off some fireworks and made s'mores (my favorite).
The next morning Arthur and I hit the county roads for a bike ride.  It was windy that morning so we were able to talk my dad into being our SAG wagon and coming to pick us up at the end of the ride.  Where I grew up is pretty flat and without the wind it was a good ride.  Some people were out harvesting and summer was in full swing.  Our final stop was at an overlook at a wildlife refuge which was a great ending to a 30 mile ride.
When we got home my mom had fixed a more traditional 4th of July lunch than lamb with BBQ and homemade ice cream (another favorite for me).  We enjoyed lounging around, napping, a reading for a good portion of the day.  That evening we did some star gazing and saw several shooting stars-- nature's own fireworks.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

The garden is growing

Our garden is now in full swing.  We have picked some swiss chard and a handful of blue berries.  We have some small tomatoes, squash, and peppers growing.  But with all things there have been some disappointments-- the caterpillar invasion of the cilantro and now the parsley (I am getting good at identifying a variety of types of caterpillars), the first few tomatoes had blossom end rot so hopefully that has been corrected, and my cactus up an died since it was too wet (I was always told it was hard to kill cacti but this one lasted less than a week under my care).  Some of the successes have been reviving a dying raspberry bush and transplanting the runners off of the strawberries into a second pot- the more strawberries the better as far as I am concerned.  This week I did whip up some primavera using fresh basil from the garden.  As for Dennis the worms, he/they still appear to be fairly happy-- or at least they haven't said otherwise.  Here are the updated pictures of the garden.