Home many times can you go to the hardware store in one day...

So I spent a lot of time driving back and forth from the hardware store today, I had planned to get a "lot of stuff done" in the yard, and I did, but I also spent a lot of time being stupid.

My day started with a "quick" trip, which took longer, and resulted in a very large piece of lumber sticking out the back of the car.  I only had wanted to do that one more time... but managed to buy the wrong thing... A 2"x8"x12' instead of a 2"x6"x12, yes I know 2 inches whats the big deal (other then I'm speaking in imperial instead of metric.)  The issue is that I need two equally sized pieces of lumber to act as the joist for my shelf, and I already had one 2x6 left from the first phase.

I did get the lumber for my potato box, but more on that later.

Okay I guess it is later, when I got home, Bryan and I started assembling the potato box, Cedar on the outside for weather resistance (plan to use that again next year) and pine stakes on the inside because 1. you can't buy 2x2 in cedar, and 2) they were 97 cents and sharpened.)  At some point I had realized my lumber bumble and decided I needed to go back to the store.  Erin talked up Mr B to the point he was excited to go, wanted to go, needed to go.  So who am I to say no to a kid who wants to go to the hardware store (train handiness in early.)

So back we go to the store, with a honey-do list of this's and thats to get.  I manage to return the wood, get a new piece, a weed whacker, a gas can, some screws, some clamps, a new tape measure, some brain damage, some brain damaged staff, a pricing issue, an ulsar, some rain, and some *sounds of exhausted exasperation*.

Returning home, Erin and I collude on the phone to get a snack ready for B, so we can go do the one thing that was planned for the day, which was go get our raspberries plants from the garden store.  So B, snack, Evie, and all hop into the car.  At this point it is 1:00 pm, also known as... Bryan's normal nap time....

So off we go, at the garden centre E was touch and go, it became obvious in the later half of the day she was having an upset tummy, (only after we were far away from the gripe water, which really works?!)

So we toddled about, and had a hard time finding everything.  Then we found a tree we really wanted (need to figure out about where best to plant it.)  It is a corkscrew hazel standard, first picture time.  We've always loved the one in Erin's parents yard, (which sadly died suddenly.)  This one was a standard, and already pretty corkscrewy.  The hard part, was that all other ornamental standards, except it were 30% off, and so I started a chain reaction by asking if it was miss labeled, it took an age and a day to discover it wasn't on sale, but because it was by criteria in the sale of the week category they would give us the sale price.

At this point, we wanted it, and the shenanigan to find out the price had gone on long enough that we felt obliged to get it.  It also meant that B was getting fussy and so was E.

Then we bumped into Huma, which was fun, and B had a great time showing her all the water features.  At some point it all fell apart and fun turned to toddler mania.

We bailed with tree and got home, the dieters (aka Erin and I) were starved and grumpy.  We fed B, got him to nap, Erin drugged Evie with milk, us fed, we tackled the gardening.

So we got our raspberries in the grounds, and added some lilly of the valley for extra smell.  So we have two invasive indigenous species who can duke it out.

Next up I got my potato box started, I have to blame/thank brad for this, I hope to swap potato stories with him this year.  I had so many extra Yukon Gold's left I gave them to my neighbours, we agreed between the potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and misc berries we are going to start a little garden fresh store at the end of the driveway.

This is the potato box, basically as they grow you add more dirt, and then add more boards.  At the end you have a lot of potatoes, in a box.  Let the frost kill the plant, the skins harden, then just get a tarp, take of the side, and presto potatoes.  It is supposed to be cool enough to cold store in the garage, so I should have potatoes all winter (I hope.)


The rest of the garden is starting to come back to life, first, of course, is the daffodils.  They are blooming, and the tulips and day lilies are starting to sprout.

My apple's are also starting to bud, and their leaves are ever so tiny where they are out.  I don't think I ever showed the "finished" garden planter, and in truth it needs a little finishing, but I'm going to photo bomb for a moment, and then get back to silly stories.

Daffies

Blue Berries, in pink and blue (yes pink.)

Almost finished raised bed, you can see the start of the top plate

Apple starting to bud, I sure hope it has enough bandwidth to get the nutrients it needs from the app store.

So back to hardware store anxiety.  SO the lumber that I took back and then got again with Bryan... Apparently distracted by everything... bought the wrong one again.  The first time was an honest mistake of ignorance, the second time was just incompetence.  Also the tap measure I bought was missing, and my mental recording of the incident left it clearly on the self checkout machine at the store.  I hate those things, really honestly and truely.  They put people out of a job, piss me off, they don't work and they are slow.

I digress...

So back we go, third times the charm, this time with Evie.  I actually didn't take the wood back, I just couldn't face it, but I wanted to get my tape measure before I missed my window (I figure the same people on duty is usually helpful.)

Third time was barely better then the second, store was FULL, and lines long and filled with cranky people, and there were a lot fewer cashiers then before (and of course only those automated crapinals (t crap + terminals.)

I got out of their, mostly unscathed, but I feel like I've been pithed some days.  The rest of the day went well, lovely family dinner, Charlie and Alex kept B bouncing off the walls, and he pooped in the potty (yes these are the victories of my days :) )

Now is now, and I've typed much more, and for longer then I thought, bed time.

G out

Raising the Garden

Been working on some garden beds for our veggies this year, wanted to try something a little different, a little more instant construction.  So I'm going with the Lee Valley Raised Bed kit which uses pre-cast concrete instead of wood to form the bed sides.  What I didn't realize is pre cast concrete slabs weight 90 pounds a pop. So I'm exhausted from just hauling them into the yard.

Here are half the stones, and the limestone I need for the base

The first of the frames assembled with the
brackets installed.

I've put together the first frame in the garage, and I will do the second tomorrow, I used cedar instead of pressure treated because I wanted the to not worry about the chemicals leaching into the veggies.  Hopefully I can't get everything put together on Friday as I have a few cubic yards of soil coming to fill the bed.  I just have to remember no planting until May.

Cortland planted

What an amazing day, it started out grey and blah, so we all slept in a bit.  To try and do something today instead of just putter around inside we would head out to Terra and just walk around the garden centre and enjoy all the indoor planters that they have blooming at this time of year.

We decided while we were there that we would, mostly to show bryan growing things, but maybe if we are lucky actually be successful, we would get some seeds and seed trays and grow our veggies from seed.

On a lark we visited the tree's, and I finally found my coveted Cortland apple tree, so one van full of apple tree, soil, seeds, planting tray and misc later we were on our way home (much later then we hoped.)

After feeding and chasing all the kids to bed, I looked out side to start some hole digging for my tree expecting some chilly rain, when I found out that the chill morning had been replaced by the balm practically summer day.  I had my sweater off before I even started digging, and before long I had a big jug of water, and my Tilly to keep me from getting sun stroke.

By the time Bryan was up and ready to help me plant my tree (he was very explicit on the point of tears that he was going to help daddy, (he was also very tired from a late late nap)) I had dug the hole, prepped my tomato bed, prepped my shade bed, erin seeded the grass, got my tree stakes in, reinforced the tree stakes on last years new trees, and generally got my garden in order.

Bryan and I got my cortland planted, with much mud and ado, then set about planting our seeds.  I think I may have accidentally planted lettuce on my cucumbers while I wasn't looking and Bryan's planting style is kind of scatter shot.

This is our first go at plants from seeds, so we will see how it turns out.

Anyways, busy, beautiful sunny day here in Miltonia, parents and kids are now zonked

>blogged from bed :)<

Home Improvements

So these only scratch the surface of the work that has been done around here in the last week or two.  I don't know what came over us, but we really have gotten a bug and got some stuff done.  So a lot of the art is out of the boxes and now on the walls not leaning against it.  The sod is going down, okay that is Mattamy not us, but we are watering, and one day mowing it.  The biggest job was the kitchen we have hung all the vertical door pulls.  I still need to do the horizontal ones, but there are less of those.  In the both cases I had to modify the jig to get the job done, and I just ran out of time.  We also (thanks to erin's mom) have curtains in the kitchen, dinning room, and master bedroom, we also have a rail hung in the living room for a set Erin's mom is working on.  So lots of little changes just making the house look done.  So a lot we I'm not  showing in this handful of pictures, I guess you will just have to visit to see the rest.

You can see where the lawn ends, the rest should come this week, but it looks good.

Not only with door pulls, clean :)

"Garden"

Lacking an actual garden, or grass yet, Erin and I have carved out a niche on our balcony.  I'm actually sitting up here enjoying a fine draft, listening to some D&D podcasts, surfing the web, and relaxing.

It might not be a proper job of landscaping, but it makes it feel like home.  I also have some planter tomatoes, and some herbs up here, so my bruschetta needs will not go untended this season.

Need a few more baskets to fill it out (I have a basket for the far left but the hook broke)

Always cheerful fuscia

The Completion of Fort Tomato

So last few weeks have been really busy, with training and fundraising, and then riding in the H&S Ride for Heart, in the midst of all that I have been trying to get my damn tomato's in the ground before I kill them from neglect. Thus was begun the planter to end all planters, the planter so immense (relative to my back yard) that planter doesn't encompass its true nature. This box of mythic dirt capacity is properly known as F O R T T O M A T O!

Erin and I have been in that garden all day Saturday, and all day Sunday (the weekend of the ride) when I wasn't riding, (40+k on Saturday, and 50k on Sunday.) Two full days of busting sod, and leveling the earth, combined with lumber hauling and cutting amounted to the meager completion shown here:



For the rest of the week, working until the hush of night, and the politeness of hammer would allow layer upon layer was added until completion of the structure on Thursday. Each night as dusk settled in the brood would arise from the tall grasses, the humming wings, the stinging proboscis*, and the itching welts. All the furies of the mosquito plague.



Next began the trial of a billion grains of earth also known as dirt lugging... Over 2000L of soil was poured down the gullet of Fort Tomato, and still it cried out for more. Four additional dirt runs beyond the initial dirt delivery were executed to fill the gaping maw, again night began to settle, but with the noise of hammering gone, planting began. Erin, who had not been idle, far from it, had finished planing the rest of the garden by now, and turned her hand to fortress. With each plant came two mosquito bites. When it was done, it was GLORIOUS!



Thus ends this tale, but not the legend of the fort. Journey back this way come high Summer and we will speak of, the harvest.

*may not be technically accurate for Mosquitos

BYO-Spinning Class

So I did spinning today at the gym, sort of... I showed up at the gym with only my spinning clothes, including my cycling shoes, and hip spinning shorts (yeah bike shorts are just stupid looking.) When I'm told the spinning teacher is sick (this girl seriously needed to take a week off and get better, I just wish I had more notice.) Anyways sans gym teacher, and all gussied up for spinning, I said forget this, and just hopped on the spinning bike by myself. So I did some pretend hill climbing, and some sprinting, and I tried but was too embarrassed to shout encouragement at myself. In any respect I managed a respectable spinning class by myself, and I'm glad too, once again an evening not worthy of biking (grrr) maybe I'm getting fussy.

Instead I reseeded the front lawn, and watered both lawns.

Cheers

Reseeding

Lawn is getting the royal reseeding treatment in the front and back, this week (well the front isn't there yet,) and this weekend I may dig the new beds, we are really expanding the beds in the back with the new fence. We need to move the tomato bed to more sun, so while we are at it we are just going to go bed CrAzY!

Wild Tigers In My Yard