Scones, gardening, and the lash

Sarah B made some awesome blueberry scones last weekend.  From scratch, with fresh blueberries!  Ate the heck outta those!

 I experimented with a hobo stove... and some cheap beer left over from our PA vacation.  Thanks again for the Gerber, James!

 Got some logs from one of my jobs and some tomato plants from Erik.  New section of the garden officially planted.

 I learned a new trick for lashing logs at 90 degree angles and had a lot of fun until...

 I inflicted another scar on one of the pricier spots on my skin.

 Just like Lincoln Logs!

 With a mallet!  (called a baton)

 Indy inspects my work.

 She can't really see this piece, which is for the best.

But the lower pieces look good!

Memorial Day weekend with good friends, and a great TED Talk suggested by one of my students

 We met Boo and Miranda at Locust Lake State Park in PA last weekend.  The only criteria were pet friendly campsites and equidistant, and that's what we got!  It was a nice little park with some good hiking trails.  Our neighbors provided a great lesson for me about why some of my students are the way they are.  But still, we had some nice fires and a few great "seltzers".

 The moon on the lake
Mother Nature's own candle
Flickering brightly

 One morning, as I got up, Eva burst out of Sarah's sleeping bag!  She's always ready to go!

 I enjoyed making coffee for the crew each morning and they enjoyed sitting around chatting.  We were all feeling very fortunate for each others company.

 We were also glad that we did not have to go underground with whale oil lamps strapped to our heads.

All aboard the mine car!

 It was incredible to go underground in a coal mine for the first time.  I can't believe I've been teaching about this for a decade, but have never before seen it first hand.

 Sarah and Miranda were impressed by the iron ore stalactites and amused by our guide, Larry.

 Larry was a real ham!

 Being in the mine was really impressive.  It seems much worse than I had imagined.  I can't believe boys and men spent their lives in such miserable and horrifying conditions.

 This is a photo of a photo of the company homes the mena and their families were allowed to rent as long as they didn't cause trouble or try to organize.  Sarah told me she read a form that showed a breakdown of the men's wages and costs.  Their wages were $36/month, their costs were $35.75.  They paid for their rent, their food, their tools, protective gear (if available), and their clothes... unbelievable.

Outside of the mine, there was a car show.  We looked all over for a Firebird, but to no avail.  So Sarah bought raffle tickets for the next best thing, a 1967 Ford Mustang.  The drawing isn't until September, but Sarah says that'll be fine since she's going to drive west and the country will be beautiful in the fall!

Eva and Jonas went with us and really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Even if it was a little chilly.

In the evenings we drank some seltzer to keep warm.

Can you see yourself in this presentation?

Mothers Day Weekend

These photos are from this weekend and the days leading up to it.

Dingy helped me fix the riding mower.  The nice thing about having dogs is that one is never without a helper.

 This is from Matt's last day.  My first student teacher experience was... ok.  The kids really liked him and even wrote a song and a story for him.

 Matt adopted some of my less effective practices.  Here, two students are sitting in my chair.  Instead of asking them to move out of a chair they shouldn't be in in the first place, Matt is contorted around them to work on the computer, setting up the next lesson.  Hilarious.

 Eva helped me "prune" the smallest of the apple trees.  Veneta had lots of helpful advice, too, but didn't stick around for the picture.

 We went to the Plantations and Sarah took us on a wildflower walk.

 Mom and I competed for most pictures taken.  Here a vortex opens as I take a picture of Mom taking a picture of a flower.

 Wildflowers are much too small for me, so I wondered around IDing trees.  Ash.

 Beech

 Basswood

 White Poplar

 This is the larger of the two apple trees that I pruned.

 Had to have a beer before I cut all the branches off.

 Sarah mowed the lawn while I pruned trees and weed whacked.

Jonas helped with the pruning.  Veneta gave me lots of great advice.  We had a great weekend.  I didn't take any pictures of the Migration Celebration at the Ornithology Lab and all the awesome raptors we saw, including the merlin, eagle owl, kestral, golden eagle, barred owl, great horned owl, and some crazy peregrine falcon hybrid.  We went to the Farmers Market and Hopshire Farm Brewery, too.  Had another great weekend with the moms.

Turkey season

Listened to gobbles and watched the sun rise this morning!

Sharin' cashews with my buddy...

after an evening of workin' outside. Life is good.

hand forged in sweden

A few pictures to share

So we're having the normal Ithaca spring weather.  Growing up in Northeastern Ohio prepared us for this, hardening our souls to the prospects of sun and predictability.  We started gardening a couple weeks ago in spite of cold temps, grey skies, and snowflakes.  I was not thrilled to begin with.  Dressed as Nanook of the North it was hard to get into the spirit.

But Sarah "dug right in" and her enthusiasm and smile warmed my heart, and soon the day itself began to warm, if ever so slightly.

In addition to our almost 200 garlic plants that are already coming up from last fall, we planted two rows of beans, a row of spinach, two rows of lettuce, some carrots, some onions, and some green onions.  For better or worse, our available space is full, so I grabbed one of my favorite tools, the mattock, and went to work pulling up sod on another 12x12' section of lawn.

Sarah mentioned, as I stretched my back and then collapsed onto the ground, that "this is why people have bigger plots and then use horses to plow".  That is my new goal in life.

Cold grey mornings make the coffee taste better.  I love standing in my backyard and looking out at the trees, and am looking forward to this scene with buds, and then leaves.

Saturday morning I got up early and went to cut some more trees.  These are the four pines that were in the middle of the lawn.  They shaded the whole lawn and one side of the house and were where Rob wants to put his garden.

I cut a couple trees in the morning, then Sarah picked me up and we took our first trip to the Farmers Market for this season.  It was surprisingly crowded with both people and produce.  In addition to veggie dumplings and breakfast burritos, we picked up some carrots and some fresh beef for a minestrone soup that Sarah mad for dinner.

Then it was back to work, and down they came.  I'm really proud of this one.  It's overall lean was toward the house, and had a really large branch coming off the trunk that pulled it awkwardly 90 degrees to the direction of lean, but still away from where I wanted it to fall.  With some careful planning, wedging, and a good cut, I dropped it 3' left of the marker I'd put down, 180 degrees of the lean.

The yard as it stands now.

This is another awesome scalloped potato dish that Sarah made.  It has eggs and broccoli and tomatoes and bacon on top.  It's a great take on the traditional eggs and hash browns breakfast.

We went for an incredible ride Sunday morning.  Sarah rode Rambo who hasn't been out in awhile and they did great!  Rambo was so happy and alert; he nearly ran half the ride and Sarah had to try to slow him down!  I rode Bodie in a new snaffle bit bridle.  I've wanted to get him out of the mechanical hackamore for awhile and this was the opportunity.  He did great and had no major freak outs.  We've been working on his gate more, too and trying to keep him in his gated walk for longer periods of time (partly his laziness and partly my lack of ability to communicate clearly).  He did much better on Sunday.  As you can see, the sun was out for a bit, too.

Just some of the ingredients that go into my trademark macaroni salad.  Maybe I'll make up a big batch for the wedding this summer.

On my quest to expand my wilderiness, I cut down a tree with my knife.

I was successful in both cutting down the tree and in learning to bring an axe whenever possible,

After school Tuesday I cut trees until 8pm...

Then I rocked out in the truck on the way home, which makes me happy, healthy, and free.