Tuesday's Child

Summer Days

These are the dog days of summer.  It's been so hot for the last two weeks, hovering at or above 100 degrees most days.  Of course, 100 degrees in Albuquerque is still more comfortable than 85 degrees with 100% humidity in Nashville, but even so...

Especially when you have a swamp cooler instead of air conditioning.  For everyone who doesn't live in the desert, a swamp cooler works by blowing in outside air through pads which are kept saturated with water.  It's kind of like hanging a wet sheet up in an open window.  As the water vapor evaporates, it cools the air.  It works somewhat well, as long as its dry.  But as soon as you get any humidity, it's worthless.  Plus you have to leave your windows cracked, or the house just feels damp, hot and clammy. 

So to escape the heat, we've spent a lot of weekends up in the mountains this month. 

 

Fortunately for us, there are any number of mountains within an hour or so from home, so it's easy to find a beautiful alpine area to cool down in.  This is Valles Caldera, in the Jemez Mountains.  It is absolutely incredible.  It reminds Sean and me of Hayden Valley in Yellowstone, except without the buffalo.  This is where the movie The Missing was filmed.

 

 

This is upper Nambe Falls, near Santa Fe.  We hiked up to the lower falls, but to get there you have to wade through the Rio Nambe (which is more like a creek than a river).  The water was cold, but it felt so good on our feet.

 

 

We also went for a ten mile hike up in the Pecos Wilderness.  That one was a workout, I must admit.  The trail was gorgeous, however, studded all over with tons of beautiful wildflowers.  Plus it gave Sean a chance to check out his new water filter.  I'm pleased to report that he did not come down with dysentary.

 

  

 

It's hard to believe that the kids will be back in less than two weeks.  Did I mention that everyone I know can't believe how lucky we are to have sent Declan and Aislin to their grandparents for the whole summer?  It's been nice to be able to do a few things, like that 10 mile hike! that we wouldn't be able to do with them, but I must admit that it will be nice to have them back, as well.  On the other hand, they've had so much fun that I'm not sure they'll want to come home! 

By the way, the last picture of a very pretty plant called Water Hemlock.  It grows all over the mountains in the swampy areas next to a stream.  It also happens to be one of the most deadly plants in the United States.  This stuff can kill a sheep or a cow in 15 minutes, and has been used as a poison for centuries.  So feel free to look, but no nibbling!

Chicken Envy

OK, this might sound weird, but I have a bad case of chicken envy.  In case you didn't know it, having a backyard chicken coop is very hip these days.  Part of it is the eat local and organic food movements, and part of it is probably that those baby chicks are just so darn cute!  Whatever the case, all I know is that I want some. 

 

 

Maybe I've been inspired by Sunset Magazine's One Block Diet, in which the magazine staff uses their garden to grow and produce everything they need to prepare an entire meal.  It appeals to the urban hippie/ Mother Earth News reading/ survivalist in me, I guess.  That's what you get, Mom and Dad, for making us watch Wilderness Family over and over when we were little! 

Unfortunately, or fortunately as it may be, the voice of reason has intervened in the form of Sean, who has firmly told me that there will be no chickens for us.  My brain tells me that he's right - we certainly don't need anymore vet bills, and what would we do when we go away?  And snakes like eggs too, did you know that?

But they have boxes of fluffy little chicks for sale at the Farmer's Market for only three or four dollars each...

Sigh.  Maybe my urban farming ambitions will wait for a while.

In the Garden

The gardening bug seems to have bitten my family this year, what with my dad setting up hydroponic operations in the basement and Andy and Jessica planting their first garden. 

So I guess we jumped on the bandwagon.  Last fall I picked up a copy of All New Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew.  It's a supposedly low maintenance way to grow lots of veggies in a small amount of space.  The key is growing your plants in raised beds and a special mix of compost, peat moss and vermiculite.  Well the idea of plowing up the ground and pulling lots of weeds all summer long didn't really appeal to me, so I thought I would give it a try.  So starting in March, I built four four-foot square raised beds and filled them with dirt.  No weeding or digging was involved - I just put down landscape cloth and covered the paths with mulch. 

The result looks like this so far:

 

The little mushroom looking thingys are two 10 foot PVC pipes which I cover with plastic at night to protect my little plants until our nighttime temperatures warm up a little more.  I can also cover it with shade cloth or netting to keep off bugs or the sun if it gets too intense.  Eventually we'll add narrower beds around the four central beds and build a gated fence around the garden to keep out the dog and any other animals capable of breaching the not-very-good fence around the yard.

One of the beds will be an herb garden, one is devoted to salad, one for summer vegetables, and one is tomatoes and strawberries.  I planted mostly seeds, with the exception of tomatoes, strawberries, and a pepper plant.  Some of the seeds have sprouted and are growing quickly, especially radishes, beets, spinach, peas, and fava beans.  Others haven't done anything yet, probably because it isn't really consistently warm enough yet.

 

I also got a yucca and some stonecrop to plant in containers on the back patio.  They are amazing.  The stonecrop (which is part of the sedum family) is particularly amazing.  A couple of pieces broke off when we brought it home, so I put them in a glass of water, and a couple of days later roots had grown out of the end!  I put them in some used four-packs from the nursery and will plant them outside in a week or two.  Value for money!

 

 

In other landscaping improvements, I am particularly pleased with the front yard.  Last year I bought a pre-planned garden from High Country Gardens, my favorite nursery.  I planted it, but neglected to do much of anything in the way of watering.  Then over the winter tons of leaves piled up on top of the baby plants, burying them under a dense layer.  When I unearthed everything this spring, I thought for sure most of them were goners.  To my amazement, almost everything has grown back in and is turning into a healthy little landscaped border.  I have sedum "Autumn Joy", English lavender, ornamental grasses, wooly thyme, russian sage, pampas grass, hot pokers, and iris.  It should be really pretty by mid-summer.

On the other side of the house I have a border that had two really overgrown rose bushes when we moved in, and nothing else.  I added three more roses, five English lavenders.  Last fall I also planted a bunch of allium bulbs.  It was my first time growing these, and I think they are my new favorite bulb!  The foliage is a little ratty looking, so they're best mixed with something else, but the flowers are these huge purple and green globes which are just amazing.

 

 

And just for fun, here is a picture of Aislin I doctored up with some Photoshop actions I found for free from Pioneer Woman.  Check these out - you can get some really neat effects for your photos.

Gathering of Nations

Last weekend we decided to go to the Gathering of Nations, the largest powwow in North America.  Of course, on reflection it was probably a mistake to go on Saturday night.  It took us forever just to find parking - always a bad sign.  The arena itself was packed, and in the end we couldn't find any seating at all, so we ended up staking out a spot at the top of the arena. 

Despite the less than ideal conditions, it was a fascinating experience.  Indian tribes from all over the United States and Canada were gathered together - it was amazing to walk around and see people in the traditional dress of hundreds of tribes.  We were there for the Grand Entry, in which all of the dancers come down in the center stage.  First the eagle staff is brought in and everyone stands and removes their hats as a sign of respect.  Then all the dancers came down - soon the floor was filled with hundreds of dancers. 

 

We didn't stay much longer - it was hot, and the kids were getting tired.  Since it was so expensive I doubt we'll be going again any time soon, but I'm glad I got to go at least once!

The Narnia Code

I found a link to this excellent documentary through Facebook - it is well worth watching.  (It's broken into six parts on You Tube, so make sure you watch all six in order).

Craigslist Find

Four super-cool Thonet chairs with red upholstery - all for only $200!  I would buy these in a heartbeat, if I had a place for them.  I must have a chair fixation.

 

50's 60's Set of 4 MOD RETRO Wood THONET Dining Chairs - $200 (Albuquerque)

Coyote Hunts

Across the street from our house, there is a vacant one acre lot, owned by a man in Georgia who intends to retire here some day.  For now, though, it is essentially a meadow.  One of our neighbors has a flock of guinea fowl, don't ask me why, and she usually turns them into the field, which is fenced, in the morning.

 

This is what a guinea fowl looks like - looks tasty, yes?  Well apparently the local coyotes think so, too.  As the kids and I were getting into the car to go to church this weekend, we heard an unholy commotion from across the street.  A large coyote was doing his best to catch some breakfast.  It was amazing to watch - he would separate one of the birds from the flock and lunge for it before it flew into a tree.  Several times he came within a breath of catching one - one time he leaped a good five feet in the air to chase a fleeing bird, missing by only a whisker.  The hunt went on for a good five minutes before we had to go; the coyote never did catch anything, as far as I could tell.  When we got home, though, there was a black and white spotted feather on the path in front of the front door, so who knows?

Should I Buy This Sofa?

 

I found this awesome sofa listed on Craigslist for the bargain price of only $100.  Sure, it needs to be either slipcovered or reupholstered, but I love the lines, and I even love the funky green velvet, if if were only all in good shape.  I'm thinking this would look good with a (washable) white slipcover.

If I buy it, though, would it overwhelm the living room?  Would it look ok next to the existing sofa?  What would you do to turn this into a piece of art?

(The current sofa)

Her Morning Elegance

I love this new video, by Oren Lavie (also featured in an ad for the Chevy Malibu, but it's a good song anyway).

Have a Seat

 

I think it might be time for a new chair for our living room, no?

I bought this chair on eBay six or seven years ago - it was in fairly bad shape, so I stripped and refinished it, and also reupholstered it myself.  It's a pretty neat old chair; the label on it dates it to the early 1900's.  Unfortunately, the caning got damaged when we moved, and the other night Sean was just sitting there, watching a movie, when there was a horrible ripping noise.  You can see the result!

I suppose I could get it recaned, but my tastes are a little more modern now.  The quest for a new chair is going to be interesting, though.  It has to be dog and kid proof, and also comfortable.  Myself, I would go for an Eames Lounger in a heartbeat, but since I don't have $4,000 or so to toss around right now, we'll have to find something a little more economical.  So does anyone have any recommendations?  Leather or fabric?  The sofa isn't in the hottest of shape either, anymore, and what I'm really tempted to do is get rid of them both and get a nifty looking leather sectional, kind of like this one, from Overstock:

   

Or this one, from Ikea:

 

Or maybe I should go for a sofa and loveseat?  Or maybe I should just get our current sofa reupholstered?  I don't know.  And I may just be dreaming for now, anyway, since our money has other priorities for the time being, like boring but necessary stuff like getting the roof fixed so we don't have to get out the buckets when it rains.  Oh well, one of these days!