Get Back To The Garden

rain II: a Miracles and Mendel Hybrid

2011-10-17T12:33:00.006-05:00

So, the last post featured pictures of my baked-to-a-crisp black-eyed peas. Prior to getting baked, they had some pods which escaped the gardener's picking hands. These pods went to seed under the circumstances. After about a month of 100+ degree temps in direct sunlight for 8hrs a day, the gardener took these seeds, pushed them about an inch into the soil and gave them a good soaking. Then, the Big Gardener in the sky did His work and added 5 more inches of rain and a touch of one of life's miracles (Mark 4:27). The result is a story of complete transformation. From life to death, and from death to resurrection into a new life.

2nd Gen black eyed pea sprouts.

2 week old 2nd Gen black eyed peas.

It wouldn't be right if I didn't give at least some credit Gregor Mendel for this little experiment. I am taking a genetics course this semester. Get out your Punnett Squares!

While these legumes may not produce much this fall season, they still can serve a purpose:

Legumes make excellent cover crop because:

They germinate easily
Require no application of fertilizer
They form a complimentary relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria which, to make a long story short, take nitrogen from the air and make it into fertilizer that benefit the plants, which in turn let the bacteria benefit from the nutrient supply along their intricate subterranean highway system.
They make exquisite shade for tiny fall spinach seedlings, giving them a chance to get going during these Texas fall days that can go from 45 at night to 90 during the day.

rain

2011-08-22T14:13:00.006-05:00

or, the lack of it.

It seems like an odd thing to complain about. Born and raised in Texas, it seems to me that rain is always something to complain about. Most of the time it's because we have not had enough, but every once in a while we have a couple of houses float away. It makes for good news, good conversation with strangers and acquaintances. As of this post, we are in a drought that has people comparing the weather to that of 50 years ago. The water line out at my in-law's lake house is a good 400 yard walk down into what used to be 30 feet deep in Medina Lake. Walking around out there in the scrappy, dusty lake bottom - it feels like something has ended. Dried up fish bones half-buried in the dry mud. Deer and other animal tracks lead to the ever receding water-line. Trees, boats, and other flotsam drowned from floods in the past are now exposed, tangled in fishing-line and boat anchors. Farmers cautiously sip the remaining water for irrigation. Fishermen gawk at how blue the water is. Boat owners tear their propellers off on boulders that haven't touched the air since the dam went up in 1913.

The first chapter in Arthur C. Clarke's masterpiece is titled: "The Road to Extinction", and begins like this: "The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended." That should get you thinking. Things are slowly changing all the time. Yesterday the Sahara was a vast rainforest, and much of Texas was a shallow sea. The rain will come back, and it will go away again. As for now though, if you live in Texas and want to see rain you need to go on vacation to see it.

Rain, the miracle/phenomenon that it is, happens only on our planet in this solar system (in H2O form that is). Water is the solution in which life's chemical reactions proceed. Let us be reminded that we are a dirty little water droplet floating in an otherwise desiccated universe. A small speck where you can find vast oceans, great forests, big cities, frozen peaks, whales, birds, bugs, and people who like to talk about the weather.

Cassini Mission: a short film

2011-06-16T16:45:00.004-05:00

A short film that sequences photos taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during it's Saturn fly-by.

Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV compliments the spectacle.

Brilliant work by Chris Abbas.

the gardener's gin and tonic

2011-06-13T21:13:00.003-05:00

Hendrick's Gin contains essences of rose pedals and cucumber, and goes well with tonic and a cucumber slice - of which I just so happen to have a fresh backyard-grown supply. Yum!

baby birds

2011-06-05T13:48:00.003-05:00

Our backyard is alive with new families!

Here are some sparrow condos I made out of old fence-board last winter. We watch them come and go all day. When they return you can hear the babies inside.

They are some prime real estate, close to food and water. There is no vacancy.

A baby sparrow sits atop the fence with unsure feet.

Same baby sparrow perched on a pot hanger looking into what all the fuss is about, and discovers peanut butter!

A family of inca dove sticking close in the shade.

Baby grackle getting fed. Me! Me! Me! is the sound they make.

This mockingbird is busy making her next nest in the tangle where our climbing rose meets the crossbeam of the arbor.

She peeks out while arranging sticks.

the lion, the grass, and the gazelle

2011-06-03T17:15:00.005-05:00

In the garden, the gazelle eats at the cost of the grass, and the lion eats at the cost of the gazelle.

And all of them need water.

painting "Lion Attacking Gazelle" by Olaf C. Seltzer

Sun-Baked Tomatoes On The Vine

2011-05-29T14:02:00.003-05:00

To grow sun-baked tomatoes you need to have all the following:

Tomato fruits growing in direct sunlight
A particularly sunny day
A sudden heat-wave of windy weather in the upper 90's

This combo is critical for achieving a "boiled from within" effect in your tomatoes:

They make perfect candidates for the compost-pile!

A Hot Harvest May 18, 2011

2011-05-18T15:32:00.003-05:00

The hedge to the right is, in fact, my cherry tomatoes! - All organic folks!

Black Beauty eggplant

My Celebrity Tomatoes wear panty hose to make them look less appetizing to mockingbirds - who are easily turned off by this early 90's women's underwear-accessory fashion.

Eggplant, banana peppers, TAM-1 Jalapenos, Cucumbers, and Large Red Cherry Tomatoes.

Radiohead former-fan support group

2011-03-13T12:42:00.004-05:00

Hilarious spoof video on the new fan-dividing album "The King Of Limbs" by Radiohead. Courtesy of the BBC.

O Ye Devastator

2011-03-13T12:18:00.003-05:00

found the album and artist from yesterday's "The Unidentified Song" post after some careful deciphering:

O Ye Devastator - Doug Burr

he is a Texas artist and tours here frequently.

the unidentified song

2011-03-11T23:35:00.006-06:00

Heard this today on the radio while driving. Shazam and other music ID software have no clue what it is. I have heard this elusive song before, and now I have the end of it recorded as a voice memo. If you know, please tell me. If you think you can string some of the lyrics together, please share in the comment section below.

the pallet compost bin

2011-03-10T18:30:00.003-06:00

I made this new compost bin in about an hour using four pallets and four 4X4's cemented in at the corners. I left the pallet facing the camera connected only with twisted wire through eye-hooks for easy bi-annual removal. and yes, those are cutoffs.

I, Coconut

2011-02-25T17:52:00.004-06:00

I was comfortable there, where I listened to the sea breeze high up in the palm trees. I would watch the surf come in. I would contemplate the mother turtles who came in from the ocean to lay their eggs in the sand. I studied the gulls as they would dive down into schools of fish.

I weathered many storms there and grew round and fat. Happily I hung in the sun, all the the flowers of paradise blooming below as the bees buzzed about, tending them without rest. I knew all the birds, each with different colors and calls. Never once did I consider my purpose, I thought life would always be this way.

Then one particularly breezy morning I was suddenly released from my perch without warning. And now all I know is falling for what seems like forever. Down, down, down.

I strike the trunk from another palm, and am sent rolling across the sand. It is very coarse despite what it looks like from above. I stop near the water line and consider my current situation as the sun gets nearer and nearer to the horizon. Every new wave seems to be coming further up the beach until a large one laps up around me, lifting me out of the sand. I am then pulled out into the gently rolling surf, adjusting to this new cold and salty environment. I dance and bob in the invisible current, and it takes me further and further from where I began. Further from everything I ever knew.

My island now out of sight, I begin to doubt that I will ever go back. Thinking about this I float across on an open ocean, rising and falling with each passing wave. Content with the cool ocean, with the deep darkness beneath, happily gazing up at the stars in the deep darkness above.

Days pass, weeks pass, months pass. Nothing. Just me, the sky, the sea, and nothing but time. Land will surely come some day, and I will become a beautiful palm. I will drop my own seeds in the ocean to be planted on other distant lands. I bob up and down, completely happy.

But everyday it does not come. Land begins to become a hope rather than what would seem an inevitability. Maybe there is no land where I am going. Soon I stop looking to the horizon, knowing that it does no good.

I wait for an unimaginable time, and am bored for I have memorized the stars, and can count the minutes from sunrise to sunset as they increase and decrease through the seasons. I can map the moon to every detail. I can name all the fishes of the ocean, I can tell you what the whales have been saying to one another. I have counted the days.

I have not seen land for seven years and five months.

Still I cling to life, though it is of no worth. Still I withhold myself from the very God who has created me. In all this nothingness I remain hard and to myself. My husk still tightly wound around my rich center.

Then the clouds came, but not like before.

The waves rose up and became mountains before me. Pulling me into themselves before throwing me out into the wind. I would then hover over immense valleys before splashing back down deep into the blue depths. I float up to the surface slowly, all the while witnessing the silent flashing spectacle above. Gasping for air I resurface again only to be pulled by another mountain. This happens time and again. I am thrown into the flashing sky, the rain pelting my husk. My inner sea having it's own storms.

I finally surrender.

Complete abandonment of self. A coconut in a typhoon, completely given up to you, drifting along the currents of the ocean of your will.

a celestial conversation between angels adverse

2011-02-22T19:58:00.003-06:00

an excerpt from Mr. John Milton's Paradise Lost:

Book IV 1006-1015

Gabriel to Satan (after catching him trying to sneak into The Garden):

"Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know'st mine,

neither our own but giv'n; what folly then

to boast what arms can do, since thine no more

than Heav'n permits, nor mine, though doubled now

to trample thee as mire: for proof look up,

and read thy lot in yon celestial sign

where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,

if thou resist. The Fiend looked up and knew

his mounted scale aloft: no more; but fled

murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night."

no promises

2011-02-21T17:59:00.002-06:00

never were any anyway

well, I couldn't wait the full year.

will post more with little or no commitment

face lift too (maybe) :)

that's better

Sigur Rós - Popplagið (live, ending)

2010-04-27T11:39:00.001-05:00

If you have ten minutes today, spend it experiencing this. The live closing track from Sigur Ros' () album.

fall leftovers

2010-03-03T18:32:00.003-06:00

Here is what's left in the garden from last fall. I must say I am proud of the spinach, which wouldn't even sprout for me last year. Abbey and I have been picking and eating it for the past few months now, and it just keeps on growing. The trick with planting spinach seeds is weather-related. Last fall I planted it the first rainy cold-front and thats what did it. Also, we have snap peas which have sprouted and are sending out their little tendrils looking for something to grab onto. The broccoli is all gone, as I harvested what was left after taking these photos.

Sorry the posts have been both brief and rare, It's just that season.

Spinach

Last of the broccoli

Snap pea sprouts

Cilantro

Texas

2010-01-25T18:30:00.003-06:00

Proud to be Texas born 'n raised.

Bailey and Gunner

2010-01-21T11:38:00.004-06:00

It's been a while, months in fact. Sometimes we need to be reminded of genuine curiosity.

Photolog 10/15/2009

2009-10-15T17:28:00.005-05:00

With this post I come armed with a new camera, a Nikon D-40. The pictures are coming out much better than my hundred-dollar point-and-shoot Olympus POS, and I hope to get back to blogging more often now that the weather is cooperating with my gardening efforts. Look forward to next week's post, as we going climbing this weekend with the new camera (and the dog).

Last week I planted some pretty stressed out broccoli transplants (they were the only ones left at the garden center). I also, in anticipation of rain, planted spinach seeds last Friday. Amazingly, it rained that night and off and on for the next two days! Now I've got little spinach sprouts :).

The fall tomatoes are a disappointment once again, partly because I did not prune them. They are nine feet tall and have basically no fruit. Note to self: next fall do black-eyed peas instead of tomatoes.

The basil is out of this world though, and is enough to supply four families with year-round pesto. (Anyone interested?) I bought it in a container with four separate sprouts and just planted them as they were without spacing - a technique I will have to try again next spring. The bees love it, and I have to keep pulling off the flowers to prevent a permanent basil infestation. I'd bet the honey made from basil flowers is delicious!

Spinach sprouts! Barely bigger than an acorn.

Elephant Garlic

Broccoli transplant.

Fall tomatoes

Bailey by the Basil.

Murder in the City by The Avett Brothers

2009-10-07T22:31:00.002-05:00

I had the pleasure of seeing these guys at Austin City Limits.

Travels with Bailey

2009-08-21T17:11:00.003-05:00

On August 14th Bailey and I left for Hollywood Florida to pick up a Casita travel trailer for Jamye. Here are some pictures of the trailer and my trusty companion. We went to the beach early on a Sunday morning and were the only ones for miles! It was her first beach trip, and she loved it! We spent the remainder of the week making our way home with the trailer. I had fun meeting up with my aunt and cousins in Destin FL, and stayed with my grandparents in Houston for a night before finally coming home on Thursday.

Franz Ferdinand - Take me Out

2009-08-10T22:09:00.002-05:00

A fun band I discovered on Pandora... these guys have been around for a while. The song really gets going about a minute in. I'll post an even stranger video of theirs later this week. Think Interpol and Modest Mouse with the goal to get people dancing. I especially like the music sync with the shifting boxes and the little professor guy with the pencil... Enjoy! (and expect to see more posts that have nothing to do with gardening... because it's too damn hot!)

In the heat of summer

2009-07-24T15:38:00.004-05:00

I haven't been able to do much blogging lately, so here's an update. The only thing that's growing in our time of 100+ temps and drought is Basil and Okra. I can't wait for a rainy season! Abbey got some Okra seeds from a plant-exchange deal and I planted them in the right side of the garden about three weeks after the other Okra, that's why they are a little smaller. It will be time to plant fall tomatoes soon, but I think I am going to save the space for leafy-greens. I am also definitely going to plant Broccoli again, and I think I want to try soybeans... see y'all in a bit.

Harvest: 6/3/09

2009-06-03T10:01:00.003-05:00

Well, I pulled up the onions and carrots because the soil temp is preventing them from getting any bigger. The onions were a bust (the largest bulb being only 2 inches across), I think I will try planting them again in the fall. The carrots turned out better than I thought though - pretty good for a spring garden in south Texas. I also picked some tomatoes and my first squash. De-lish!

Nothing is wasted! The tops of the carrots and onions are now the top layer in the compost bin :)

Elephant Garlic

2009-05-25T10:56:00.002-05:00

Photolog 5/7/09: The birds and the bees of corn and ladybugs

2009-05-07T11:12:00.009-05:00

After a few days of rainy weather the sweet corn has sent out it's male and female flowers (tassels and silk, respectively). The tassels drop pollen down onto the silk, each string of silk fertilizing a single corn kernel. To maximize fertilization one should always plant "blocks" of corn (as opposed to a long, singular row) because one corn plant can fertilize another. This way you will get nicely filled ears.

Bailey by the garden

First red tomato!

This corn stalk will make two ears! Probably a result of high fertility and proper spacing. Look how the peas wrap their way up the stalk. Down below their roots are all entangled and the nitrogen-fixing bacteria grown by the peas are fertilizing the corn.

And the third sister: squash. They are leaning out of the shade in an attempt to get at the light.

Aphids love to gather around corn tassels and suck at the sugary sap (they look like little green fleas that all pile on top of one another). Left unchecked, they can really do some damage because they reproduce exponentially (I'm talking billions of descendants). Good thing for me, ladybugs eat aphids (plus they are a sign of good luck!). At first we only had a few ladybugs, but now there's probably thirty or so red-bodied aphid-eating machines out there. They mate and lay their eggs near their prey so their babies have something to eat when they hatch. Oh mother nature, I guess there's always a bigger bug...

Now try to imagine if I had sprayed nasty chemicals at the first sight of those aphids. The few lady bugs would have been killed too and the aphids (which reproduce way faster) would have come back with no natural predators to keep them in check.

Aphids vs Ladybugs on a corn tassel.

POOL!

2009-05-05T10:40:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we got to play in my parent's pool, and learned to swim for the first time. For a Lab, this is a very special occasion. We had so much fun we had to get a little pool of our own! At first she would only put her paws in, but before long she was jumping in and out growling at the water. Hilarious!

Photolog 4/28/2009: 3 Sisters Update

2009-04-28T11:27:00.003-05:00

The last post was quite lengthy, and I imagine that most people (myself included) simply scrolled down the blog while looking at the pictures. If you read the whole thing (God bless you) then you have too much free time. So here is what we all want to see, mostly pictures! Abbey and I have been doing lot's of landscaping in the backyard, so things may look a little different...

With all the rain everything is very green and growing like crazy! My Three Sisters garden is booming. This companion-planting technique was used by the Native Americans to grow all kinds of plants (mostly corn, beans, and squash). To plant a Three Sisters garden you need to plant a "square" of corn. When the corn is about 8 inches tall, plant pole-beans between each corn stalk. When the first of the pole-beans sprout plant squash around the outside or wherever there's a sunny spot. The corn will continue to grow and will support the pole-beans, the pole beans will grow nitrogen-trapping bacteria along their roots, which is like a living fertilizer, and the squash will creep around low looking for light and will crowd out any weeds. It works! You can also bury some fish real deep in the garden before planting if you want to really feel like a Native American (this acts as a source of fertilizer).

The Three Sisters Corn, Beans (the triangular-flat leaves) and Squash (lower middle-right)

Carrots (left) and Onions (right)

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Cucumbers with a squash in between

Garlic sacpes. These will taste great when I sauté them in butter!

Bailey by the Three Sisters garden. She has also been growing exponentially! Can you tell which end of the garden I buried the fish at? I didn't think it would make that big a difference...

Sugarloaf

2009-04-20T11:07:00.008-05:00

Preface:

After 2 years of climbing the long slabs up the backside of Enchanted Rock Shaun and I were looking for a new challenge. We had sampled some limestone climbs at Reimer's Ranch near Austin and found them crowded with stinky climbers and infested with poison oak. To expand our options Shaun began to put together a traditional climbing rack, one made up of removable rock protection devices so that we were no longer limited to the crowded sport climbing bolt routes. "Trad-climbing" fueled a new search for routes. With Shaun's last spring break approaching we looked for something worthy of a multiple-day trip. We wanted a big climb, something we could really look down from, something that would dwarf the 1-2 pitch slab at Enchanted Rock we had grown accustomed to...

Sugarloaf rises from the deep center of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruses New Mexico. The North Face Route consists of 13 pitches (1 pitch = a 60m length of rope) of sloped white granite to a peak of 8,150 ft. The difficulty rating is 5'6+, which is well below what we were capable of. The most difficult part of this climb would be it's length, and the danger would be the 60 ft "runout" sections of remarkably flat slab that offered no holes or cracks for the placement of our removable protection...

3-18-2009, Day 1

Shaun, his wife Ashley, and his cousin Jeremy met at my house Tuesday evening to pack the Jeep and spend the night so we could get an early start in the morning. After waking, we were off in a hurry - stopping once for gas and some breakfast tacos at the Taco Cabana in Boerne, and were back on the road before the sun came up. Driving in shifts of 2 1/2 hours each really made the trip go by fast. The rolling hill country changed into the sweeping scrub plains of west Texas. The hills rising from the desert plain became taller and taller, and before long we had passed into New Mexico. Shortly after crossing the state border the Organ Mountains appeared on the right, with Sugarloaf hidden from view on their east side. Our first view of Sugarloaf was from hwy 70 before we turned off for the campground. I remember thinking "is that it?" before I realized how far away it was still, and how many hills separated the base from the campsites. We pulled in and picked a site (#21), pitched the tents, and prepared for the evening which was still a few hours away. Shaun, Jeremy, and I talked about the climb in detail. We went over our equipment again and again. We packed it in our bags while Ashley made us peanut-butter sandwiches for tomorrow's climb. Shaun and I took some pics of the jagged Organ peaks and some long-exposure pics of the north star so we could see how the other stars swept around it. Realizing that it was already 11:00 we decided it would be best to go to bed. Unconcerned about the amount, I filled my 3L Camelbak to the brim with water, placed it securely in my pack, and crawled into my down sleeping bag. Alarms set for 4:30am.

3-19-2009, Day 2

We woke up fast as our alarms went off, and began putting together breakfast. Shaun and Jeremy wanted bacon and began to fry some up as I prepped the oatmeal and carnation instant breakfasts. Needless to say, it's hard to clean up a bacon mess with no running water and we didn't leave for another hour. Even though we were an hour behind, when we left it was still dark. We began hiking down the Pine Tree Trail. The moon hung eerily over Sugarloaf's Peak, and the moonlight was so bright we didn't need to use our headlamps to see the trail. We were at the walk-in camping area in time to watch the sunrise. From the walk-in camping area (according to the guide book) the trail forks and we were looking for the "obscure left fork" of the trail. We followed this "obscure" trail for about fifteen minutes before we had realized we were probably on a game trail. This is when we should have turned back (at this point we didn't know there were two trails, and the Pine Tree Trail was the wrong one to begin with --- we had been applying what the book said to the wrong trail!) Mad at the book for being so "obscure" about the trail, and the fact that because of it we could miss out on the climb, we stopped and caught our breath in the cool morning mist. We stood in the prickly brush for a minute staring at what we could see of Sugarloaf before deciding to bushwhack our way straight to it - a little bushwhacking never hurt anyone right? Well, every time we would crest a hill, we would gain sight of another that lay in our path. For every hill we crested there was a small valley with a stream to cross. For four hours - FOUR HOURS - we did this huffing and puffing before we finally burst from the bushes onto an obvious trail - the correct trail. We followed it to Sugarloaf's base and began the steep scramble up to where a tree was covered in climbing slings and runners - the obvious starting place for our epic climb. The long route stretching a mighty 13 pitches up from our position seemed unattainable at this point. Though no one admitted it, we were already spent from our bushwhacking adventure.

We took a break (our legs were already wobbly at this point) before eating some peanut-butter sandwiches. Now high above the sweeping desert plains, the view was already rewarding us for the hike. We donned our gear and Shaun led the first pitch easily. Jeremy and I followed, cleaning out his trad-placements as we went.. Knowing the climbing would become progressively more difficult a few pitches up above, I tied in to climb the second and third pitches so Shaun could save his strength for leading. This is when Shaun accidentally dropped his walkie-talkie. It skipped briefly on the rock before getting caught in a grassy spot about 20m down from us. Already tied in, I went to get it - and almost made it all the way back up before dropping it again. This time it skipped quite a few times before landing in the east gulch about 40m down from us. After a choice expletive I picked up my walkie and pressed the call button on it, and sure enough Shaun's answered from the gulch with a ring. Shaun justified getting it, and tied into the rope. Fifteen minutes later we were all back at the tree tying those bastards to our shoulder straps (which was a good thing because I proceeded to drop mine all day).

I led the next two pitches. The climbing was as easy as ever, and then I began to experience the serious "runout" problem the book was talking about. I would climb 50-60m and only be able place 2-3 pieces of protection along the way (mostly camalots and tri-cams). Here's a quick climbing lesson: if you climb 30 feet higher than the last place you put protection and fall, you fall 30 feet back to your protection and then keep falling another 30 feet until the slack in the rope catches at the protection (for a total of 60 feet). A 50 ft runout could mean a 100 ft fall. So as the runout length increased, we turned the leading over to Shaun as he is the more experienced climber.

Shaun began leading full-time at the 4th pitch. Somewhere during that pitch he made the decision to skip the belay station and head to the right instead, his aim were a pair of old bolts. By doing this he avoided an unprotected lateral traverse (climbing up is a lot easier than climbing sideways). Since he was to the right of our route, he climbed through some much more difficult moves nearly 100 feet above his last protection placement. As he made it to the bolts I radioed to him that he was, without contest, the official "Runout King" of the day. At the bolts we found a brand-new 8.2mm rope rigged for a single-rope rappel where some other climbers must have bailed and left the climb. There must have been a good reason (this was a $150 rope), and the thought of other climbers bailing was not comforting. At this point we were hot and exposed in full sun, less than halfway up, and were already getting tired.

After the 5th pitch we no longer had bolts to use as belay anchors, and were forced to use our camalots and tricams as "protection anchors". This, along with the four hours of bushwhacking we had done, made the climbing slow. It was frustrating to climb so slow up such an easily rated climb, and it wore on all of us. Shaun had to climb slow because he had insane distances of runout and we didn't need someone going head-over-heels for 120 feet down a 5.6 rated climb. Jeremy and I tried to make up for the caution Shaun climbed with by tying in about 10 feet apart and climbing quick as Shaun pulled in the rope from above. We kept pace well (as slow as it was) for the next few pitches. The fear of the sun setting drove us harder and harder for the summit. The fast pace drained my camelbak, and I was out of water by pitch nine - I recall joking about it.

Somewhere up on the 11th pitch or so the sun became obscured by the Organ mountain peaks to the west. Desperation for the summit grew and grew. I was able to get a text message sent to Ashley, who was back at camp, it reads: "2 rope lengths from the top, we will be back late, 10ish" - the time stamp was 7:28 pm. At this point Shaun was just climbing straight for the summit, and in his fast ascent accidentally loosened a flake about the size of a dinner-plate. It tumbled and skipped down the steep slope heading straight at Jeremy and I. I positioned my body, trying to hide under my helmet. Luckily, the the flake hit the slope about 8 ft above and it skipped harmlessly over our heads, flying down ten pitches and finally crashing into the trees below. There's nothing like a thirty-pound rock flying straight at your head. Needless to say, Jeremy and I shouted in a "My-God, I'm still alive... and that was awesome!" sort of way. Shaun kept climbing.

We climbed in the shadow of the Organ mountains before the sun went down completely during the final pitch. Let me say here that the book describes this climb as 8-10 hours "car to car". I am sure it is, given that the climbers start on the correct trail, hike and climb fast, and know how to get down the backside and back to the trail. For us it had been 17 hours since we left our tents, and we made the summit with our headlamps on. The only things we could see from the summit were each other and the brilliant lights from the White Sands Missile Range. The celebrations were minimal due to the fear that crept in when we realized we were surrounded on all sides by very steep slopes which led into very black nothingness. Shaun took 3 pics as I tried to organize the giant rope knot that was created by our fast climbing in the dark. With the freezing wind tearing at us we began the search for the 2 rappel anchors that are off of the south edge of the peak. Making our way south as a group all tied together we came to the edge of the ridge. I had been carrying the rest of the rope as a giant knot so I could keep up.

White Sands from the top of Sugarloaf. In the distance you can see headlights on highway 70 driving south-west from the distant Alamogordo (60 miles away). The red light is from our headlamps.

Shaun (self portrait) and Jeremy's freezing face in the background.

Me on the summit and in the dark. Nowhere left to go but down...

Too dangerous to descend it all tied together (as if one person fell - we all would have dragged down our deaths) I forced the other two to stop while I organized the 130 meters of knot in the freezing wind. After coiling the ropes neatly I set up an anchor near some large boulders and steadily fed Shaun rope as he descended. Ten minutes later he radioed that he had found the bolts and that he had us on belay. Shaun pulled in the rope as Jeremy and I down-climbed to his position. Once at the bolts we had a small area where we could sit. I fell in and out of sleep while Shaun rigged the double-rope rappel. Jeremy checked his knots because at this point we were so tired and cold it was hard to form complete sentences, let alone tie the familiar knots needed for climbing. Shaun threw the loose ends of the ropes out against the wind and the blackness. We looked for their ends with our high-beams, but could only see 20ft or so before the darkness swallowed them. Shaun clipped in with his rappel device and slowly made his descent, disappearing from sight. Jeremy and I huddled near our anchors struggling to stay awake in the howling gusts of freezing wind.

Shaun called through the radio that the ropes reached all the way to the ground, and shortly after that Jeremy was on his way down. I sat alone in the dark marveling at the White Sands Missile Range far below. Shaun then radioed that Jeremy had made it down, so I prepared my rappel. After double checking my rap system, because I had no one else to check my work, I slowly and safely made my way down the 200 ft of rope, finally resting on a large flat boulder. I took my climbing shoes off after wearing them for nearly twelve hours and massaged the life back into my cramped feet. My toes welcomed the socks and spacious hiking boots. We sat there eating what was left of the peanut-butter sandwiches while contemplating the new challenge: hiking back to the campground. The book reads: "from the backside follow the obscure trail back around to the base of the slabs" we talked about it, and decided by doing this we could re-unite with the proper trail and hike out relatively easily. I was able to get off a text message to Ashley. Looking back at the message now, it reads " Safe, down the backside finally. 3 hr hike ahead :( we're tired" - the time stamp was 2:50 am.

We pulled the rope down, packed it up, and began our hike out down a steep slope towards the west. We soon came to a steep drop-off where there were another set of rappel bolts, so out came the rope and rappel gear all over again. Thirty minutes later we were all safely down the steep point and on our way back to the trail. Doing our best to hug the mountain on our right we scampered down some steep sections of slab, eventually making our way into some woods. At this point I noticed that Jeremy had gotten pretty far behind Shaun and I, so we sat down to wait for him - immediately falling asleep. Jeremy woke us up and we were on our feet and moving again. The forest gave way to more slab and a stream, which we followed for some time before Jeremy suggested that we take a nap for an hour. So we laid down and were fast asleep. I woke up after probably fifteen minutes due to uncontrollable shivering. I had to get up and keep moving. After waking the others we were all back on our way down the slopes. We came upon a huge boulder with obvious stacked rocks on two ends of it. In our exhaustion we were both united in celebration, and torn in debate. Shaun saw the stacked rocks as a symbol that we were heading in the right direction and should keep following the stream. I saw the twin stacks as a sort of "arrow" to head to the right - following the curve of Sugarloaf, as they were perpendicular to the stream. We re-read the instructions to "follow the obscure trail" and debated a few minutes more before moving on. Whichever way I thought they were "pointing" I will have to find out another day, as the grade was much too steep to return and we continued following the stream... never seeing any stacked rocks after that.

We scrambled down the slopes and trickling streams for another half hour before we came to an impasse. The slope became a sudden vertical drop for 30 meters, with the stream becoming something of a waterfall. With no rappel anchors to be seen, and surrounded on all sides by extremely steep terrain we scrambled back up to a flat spot in a crevice between 2 boulders. I began to notice my headlamp was fading, even on the lowest setting. Jeremy, thoroughly dehydrated at this point, began to fill his Camelbak with the stream water - "sanitizing" it with iodine he had in a first aid kit. The label on the iodine says it expired in 1981 - 2 years before any of us had even been born! I figured I would rather get sick from drinking the water than become dehydrated, so I drank some too. At this point it was 4:30 am. We mulled over our options while shivering and drifting in and out of sleep, finally all agreeing that we should start a fire and get some real sleep. We gathered plenty of dead wood, sticks, and grass. The fire was started easily with the help of a lighter, and we picked our spots around the fire and fell asleep. Down in the crevice I was out of the wind, and slept well with my back up against a boulder and my pack as my pillow.

3-20-2009, Day 3

I awoke in the morning light to find Shaun adding wood to the fire, making it nice and warm. After we all woke up and drank some more stream water along with what little trail mix we could split, we began to asses the situation. We looked out across the valley and were surprised to see just how high we still were, how far the campground looked on the GPS, and how many hills lay between us and safety. Shaun was able to call Ashley on my phone and she was brought up to speed, and told we would be back in an estimated six hours given our condition. That phone call probably saved us from a very embarrassing and expensive helicopter ride - as Ashley was probably ready to call for help after spending all night at base camp alone. We buried the fire and made our way down to the impasse we discovered in the dark a few hours before. There was no way down it. After some searching, I found an alternative that was not as vertical, although still very steep around to the left. After some sketchy down climbing and sliding on my butt I made it down safely with little more than scraped wrists. Shaun followed and seemed to avoid the wrist-scraping. Jeremy began to follow when his pack caught and loosened an 80lb rock. Rather than have the rock come loose behind him and crash down on us all, he climbed up and around it, paralleling our route further down to the left. Safely down, we easily followed the stream-bed, our eyes peeled for any marker signifying where the "obscure" trail crossed the stream. We easily followed the stream, walking in the shade for a few hours before we came upon something that made us excited. There in the dry mud was an obvious boot-print, left God knows how long ago by another person. The prints followed the stream, and we followed the prints. We did this for another hour, making our way down and into the valley. I can't remember when the boot-prints went away, but I do remember when the stream suddenly disappeared into the ground. The stream was clouded by mud and stinking with moss, and we opted not to get a last drink - which turned out to be a bad idea. At this point we had been heading pretty much due north all morning, and needed to head west to get back to the campground. Shaun voted for the route with the least amount of elevation change and we hiked toward and around a large hill.

By now the day had grown hot, and we were all made very aware of our lack of water. To make matters worse we had been hiking in direct sunlight since we left the stream. The bushwhacking was slow, hot, and very thorny. I would pull ahead of the group and try to find shade to sit and wait for them to catch up. We did this slowly for about two hours before we found ourselves facing what we knew was the last hill. We aimed for the lowest point and began to hike up and out of the valley. This is where things begin to get hazy for me. Every ten steps up I would have to stop and catch my breath, my heart struggling to pump my viscous blood through my lungs. My oxygen-deprived brain wasn't thinking, but my legs somehow kept moving one after another up and up. A renewed energy hit us all when we came across a boulder with a stacked-rock marker next to what looked like an "obscure" trail. We followed the trail up for a way, burning up this new-found energy as we followed the rock-markers. We came upon a couple of oak trees, where we stopped for a break.

We sat there in the shade for a good ten minutes before anyone spoke. I was trying to push the other two, telling them that we were not far from the Pine Tree trail. Once on the trail I knew it would be fast and easy hiking until we got back to water. Shaun said that he was having trouble feeling his arms, saying that he couldn't go ten feet before he felt nauseated. Jeremy said he felt the same, and they both decided to cut up and eat a cactus that was there growing out of the rock. Not wanting to eat some damn cactus, I told them I was going to go a few markers ahead - as the trail was difficult to see and I wanted to make sure we didn't loose it in the underbrush. I made it another 30 yards before I lost the trail completely and was up to my hips in thorny plants. I cursed and stood there in the sun, not even sweating anymore, looking at the hilltop that was so close. My heart was pounding in my ears, but my resolve was still strong. I turned back in the direction of the trees and shouted with my dry throat cracking "Im going on ahead to make sure the trail is up there". I didn't hear a reply but continued on anyway, aiming straight for a large tree on the crest of the hill.

The last valley we hiked out of. We came from that small bump off the hill to the right and went right through where the camera is. This was taken right where they ate the cactus.

I tore through the brush and cactus, falling over dead wood, scratching at the crushed granite slopes with my fingers while my feet sank. I was gasping for air through my mouth, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. The tree got closer and closer, and I made one final rest before the last push. About ten yards before the tree I stepped out from the brush onto the wide and well-travelled Pine Tree Trail. In my excitement I shouted down to Shaun and Jeremy: "I've found the trail! Head straight for the tree, it's up here!" A few seconds later I heard Jeremy shout back: "We're coming!"

A few minutes passed before I began to hear the metallic sound of their gear "clinking" as they scrambled up the slope, but could not see them due to the thick brush. I waited patiently for them, before the sound of them hiking dwindled and disappeared. Assuming they had stopped for a break, I laid quietly in the shade of a boulder, and promptly fell asleep in my exhaustion.

Awoken by a buzzing fly, I sat up and wondered how long I had been asleep. Was it one minute or fifteen? I called down the slope to them, and received no reply. I waited a minute before shouting down again - and again all was quiet. I tried my radio, which was now dead and useless. Were they taking a nap? I shouted some more with my dehydrated voice, and heard no response. Confused about the situation I walked back and forth along the hot and exposed trail to try and see through the thick brush before sitting back down in the shade and contemplated what to do.

If they had somehow passed me up, connecting to the trail further down from me, they may have assumed I left them and went for water. They could be hiking back to the camp by now, thinking I was in front of them, and all I am doing is sitting here shouting to nobody while becoming even more dehydrated. They could have also passed out in the shade back at the tree (something not too difficult given our predicament) and are now unable to be aroused by such a distant and weak voice. Even if I went back down the hillside and found them asleep, would I have enough energy to climb back out of this situation? Thinking about how foolish it was to split up I looked down the trail which curved out of sight and into the brush. After thinking it over, I decided to head back to camp. If they were ahead of me, I would catch up to them. If I made it to the tent and they were not there, I would leave all my gear and return with Ashley and all the water we could carry. The decision to go was made, so I stood up and my feet began to move.

Hiking along the trail was easy enough, it was down hill the whole way and wide and flat. Given my condition though, it was quite the cardiovascular challenge. My heart was pounding in desperation to meet my body's demands, churning through my thick blood, and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. My arms began to tingle before turning entirely numb (something I would look up later to indicate the onset of severe dehydration) and my mouth dried out as now I was heaving for air. I couldn't think of anything other than water, and prayed for a stream crossing. I tried stuffing my hands into my pockets, pumping my fists, and even slowing my pace, but I could not bring feeling back into them. I kept my pace though, knowing how important it was to get to some water. It's strange to feel so hot and have no sweat at all. I was thinking about what would happen if I suddenly fainted, and even contemplated sitting down and waiting for a passer-by hiker for help. Little did I know how close help really was.

I followed a curve in the trail and came upon a resting family. The dad saw me, and I must have looked horrible because he asked me if I needed help. Without hesitation I asked them If they have any water, which they gladly gave me. I explained my plight as he opened my camelbak, pouring in a liter of fresh, cool water. I began to drink it before they were even done pouring. I told them that I was with two other climbers, and we had climbed Sugarloaf the day before. They said that two guys had passed them ten minutes earlier. After confirming their description I finished the water and thanked and blessed the family before moving on. I now knew for certain that Shaun and Jeremy had inadvertently passed me up. With the new strength from the water, I pushed on easily back to the campground.

When the camp came into sight, I was relieved to see Jeremy and Shaun. They saw me, and Ashley came running with an ice-cold Gatorade which I promptly drank. I found out that in their desperation Shaun and Jeremy hid their packs under a large boulder back by he oak trees where we had separated. They then hiked out without the added weight and connected with the trail, passing me by accident. We decided to return for the packs in the morning and we broke camp fast to leave for Jeremy's parents' house in El Paso, just a 30 minute drive away. They opened up their house to us, and we decided to stay there the remainder of the trip. I took a long shower and washed off all the dirt - one of the best showers of my life. I had to scrub my feet for five minutes each to exfoliate the skin enough to remove all the dirt! It felt so good to be clean finally. After that we had a delicious steak and chile dinner followed by ice cream with toppings. We all ate till we were too sleepy to eat anymore. Then I was off to bed.

3-21-2009 Day 4

We all got up, ate breakfast, and returned to get the packs. After some bushwhacking we found them safe and sound and hiked back to the car.

As we left the Organs for the last time.

We then drove to White Sands because it was so close, and had fun taking it easy sinking our sore feet into the cool white sand. Shaun took lots of pictures to make up for the surprisingly few he was able to take of our whole ordeal the day before. We lounged in the sun eating peanut-butter and apple-slice sandwiches. After that we returned to El Paso to stay the last night, organizing our gear in the living room while recounting the trip. After another amazing dinner with home-made refried beans (I always thought they came in a can) we went to bed.

3-22-2009 Day 5

The sun rose and we packed the jeep full with all the gear that had been laid out in the living room the night before. We left for home, switching drivers often enough to make the trip go quick. Home safe and sound, we vowed to do it again under more prepared circumstances - with more water, and on the proper trails.

To be continued, some day...

Photolog: 3/24/2009

2009-03-24T18:29:00.003-05:00

Think of this post as a "Photolog" of sorts...

Tomatoes are in the side garden this time, and are already off to a great start. I planted 2 heat-tolerant varieties - Valley Girl and Surefire. I wonder which will set fruit the longest? There are also 2 cherry tomatoes (Abbey's favorite!)

Here we have onions and carrots... I put them in this garden because they are both root veggies and this plot has the softest soil.

And, the big guys - Corn. I will plant beans all over this plot as soon as the corn is 6 or 7 inches tall.

26

2009-03-15T17:04:00.002-05:00

Happy or not, they come and go. (birthdays that is)

U2's new album, and why I haven't heard it

2009-03-13T17:16:00.003-05:00

U2 have released a new album recently, and I have yet to listen to anything more than the twenty seconds or so of each song you can hear from it off of iTunes. I am a big U2 fan, I have all their albums and own at least two (for sure) live performance DVD's. I am a fan of Bono, the saint that he is, and I hope to one day see him perform live.

So why am I not giving No Line on the Horizon a try just yet? The answer is complicated... I think I am afraid of not liking it. I am also currently going through a folk phase (you can find band names on the right side of this page) and I don't think that acoustic rhythms recorded in a shed go well with the Edge's sweet never-ending guitar delay. This new album is like that Christmas gift you are afraid to open, and I must admit - I have done some peeking, and I am generally unimpressed by what I have sampled off of iTunes. Only 30 seconds of each song, but still... I don't hear any riffs that catch me, I don't feel any emotion, I don't readily recognize any anthems.

I think I am going to ride out this folk wave I'm on, and then stick myself in a dark room one afternoon and give this new album a play through the headphones. The last thing I would want to do is judge a book by it's cover...

If you have heard it and have an honest opinion let me know what you think.

Faces

2009-02-27T17:03:00.004-06:00

The new iPhoto '09 available for mac has an interesting feature called "Faces". After you begin to name a few faces iPhoto will begin to recognize the face in the other photos in your library. The program will group them together and you click on them to confirm that the person is who the computer thinks they are. I just went through and did all the pictures for myself, and the computer was extremely accurate. I was clicking away confirming all the pictures of me in my iPhoto so fast I kind of went into a daze. All the different "Travis" faces flashed before my eyes: different haircuts, different lengths of facial hair, tan, pasty, sunglasses, hats....... I was convinced iPhoto had figured me out, until I stopped over a picture toward the end. My mouse pointer froze over the face.

It was a picture of Abbey and I on our wedding day, surrounded by my extended family. What made me stop was that the program did not put the little "Travis" box around my face... it was centered on someone else in the group on the right side of the picture under the flowers. My late grandfather Joseph Klein. I sat there for a moment looking at his face, remembering him, his hands, the way he would whistle while doing yard-work or cooking on the grill.

I thought about how people live on through their children and grandchildren, passing on genetic information to the next generation. Part of him is part of me, and this computer program recognized it, whatever it was.

I clicked confirm.

Getting Ready for Spring

2009-02-20T10:01:00.004-06:00

Well, I had Monday off and figured I should take advantage of the cool weather and get the garden ready for the spring. Bailey was at the vet getting a dip treatment, so I knew I could actually get some work done without a little shadow following me around the whole backyard. I pulled up everything except the garlic and added the compost I had been cooking since the summer.

Here's a pic of Shady hiding in the broccoli before I pulled them up. Technically they were still making heads, but I have plans for this space in the next few weeks. Into the compost bin they go!

Here is my harvest of mesclun lettuce. De-lish!

Nearly-done compost makes a great topping for the garden. The big stuff stays on top as an organic mulch and the little stuff gets washed down into the soil, adding nutrients and organic material, the plants will love it!.

What could not be eaten from the pulled up garden was the first thing to go in the compost bin. The end is only the beginning. Next spring this will be part of the compost that is spread. The chemicals and molecules that are created by the bacteria will help build the new plants, so nothing is wasted! Did you know that in San Francisco they have green garbage cans where you can put compost-able items? This stuff does not need to go in a bag and put in the land-fill! Monday night Abbey and I drove around the neighborhood picking up bags of raked leaves people had set on the sidewalk. My compost bin is now bulging at the seams!

Here are the freshly composted gardens, fertilized and ready for planting. All I need to do is figure out what to grow and where to grow it!

Bailey

2009-02-10T09:02:00.003-06:00

Meet Bailey, our chocolate gift for Valentines!

Winter, and All We Need

2009-01-28T18:32:00.005-06:00

Here's a little mid-winter update on what has (mostly hasn't) been happening in the garden, what I want to plant for the Spring, and a simple fact of life itself...

I pulled up the cauliflower not because I harvested and ate it all, but because it began to flower and stank my fridge up. A couple of pounds of cauliflower in a big gallon Ziploc went pretty much entirely to waste, and the rest never even made it out of the garden. I will have to remember to grow desirable vegetables from now on. Not all was completely wasted as the plants and un-eaten heads found their way to the bottom of the leaf bin - which brings me to the next topic.

The compost I have been preparing since July is looking really nice, and I stopped adding new things to it (diverting new compost into the leaf bin) on the 1st of the year to allow it to be more thoroughly composted for this spring's garden. I look forward to adding the compost to my gardens here in a few weeks before I plant. I will be sure to post some pictures of that.

As far as what I will be growing... I know I want to grow a lot of corn, squash, peas, and cucumbers this spring, and I think I might plant a few tomatoes, but not as much as I did this past fall. I also want to plant okra because it's easy and it's the only thing that will keep growing after the summer heat sets. I am going to try something called "Three Sisters" which is a method of companion-planting successfully used by the Native Americans. I will post a detailed narrative of the experiment.

Abbey and I went to Ganado to visit her grandparents during the holidays and I saw how her Pa Pa was growing an entire patch of garlic (I planted mine mid-September and nothing had sprouted at that point). He said that every single clove sprouted as I looked down the rows and rows of it. Apparently all I needed to do was water it really good once a week - plants like water - go figure. The cloves I planted in September finally came up around Christmas after laying dormant for three months in the dirt! After all the fertilizer and mulch and waiting, all it wanted was some water. Good thing garlic likes the cool weather, as mine is having quite a delayed growing season. All it needed was water to sprout...

The chemical reactions and miracle for life lay waiting, only needing some H2O.

I guess all we need sometimes is all we need. truly truly...

Travis Forney RN

2009-01-08T17:12:00.004-06:00

Wow, that was the hardest exam of my life! The NCLEX is a "computer adaptive test" which means it figures out your competency level and weaknesses and continuously raises the bar throughout the test based on your performance. I walked into the testing center with an air of confidence, most of which was obliterated by the computer (which decided to take me all the way to question 139 before quitting). I had to remember everything from pre-menopausal teaching to celiac disease dietary restrictions, APGAR scoring, drugs and their antidotes, the list goes on. The worst part is waiting the 48 hours before you find out the results... forget trying to enjoy a meal or a movie or a good night's sleep during this time. At 48 hours to the second (0800 this morning for me) the test-taker can look online for their results. What a relief it truly is too see such a simple word.

pass

Take that computer!

How awesome it was to get this result as I began my second day at University Hospital, where I will work as an RN in the trauma center. Wow, praise the Lord.

Authorized to Test

2008-12-15T19:49:00.005-06:00

Well, It happened today. I received my authorization to take the NCLEX-RN exam and have been scheduled to take it on January the 6th! It's kinda important, so l am going to get back to studying my butt off. Everyone have a happy and restful holiday season!

Pulled up the Tomatoes

2008-12-14T11:37:00.004-06:00

Finally finding enough time to work in the garden this weekend, I decided to pull up the tomatoes. They were really looking bad, and Abbey said the smaller ones were not tasting very good anymore. So now I have a ton of green ones, which will be slowly turning red over the next few weeks (hopefully).

Here is my largest cauliflower,

Broccoli heads are getting bigger!

And, as always Gideon is helping.

Turning the Last Page

2008-11-25T13:01:00.003-06:00

I wrote this while I was thinking about the relationship that is formed between a good book and it's reader. You know that feeling you get when you finally finish a good book?

Turning the Last Page

Your pages turn with anticipation,

your characters are colors in my mind,

you're crafted by soul, and linger in heart.

And with such joy I leap from page to page!

Watching them rise and fall like a slow breath.

Soon discovering what we have become,

as your last page turns and rests silently.

Now closed, you lay in my lap. It's a curse,

to read you for the first time only once.

With innocent ignorance, I wish I

could slowly read through your pages again!

I wish to be taken by you for the

first time once more, along your unknown paths,

without knowing beforehand your beauty.

To read not knowing how much you loved me,

even before you became the slightest

thought in my head, innocent though it was.

It is a worse curse though, to not know you.

And now, looking forward, what a joy it

truly is, for my heart to have a home!

Photolog 11/24/2008

2008-11-24T10:39:00.004-06:00

Gideon helped me make rounds in the garden today!

Well, you can tell the cold nights have been hitting my tomatoes and okra - they look all brown and crunchy. I am waiting for the last of the tomatoes to turn red and I am letting one of the okra pods go to seed for the spring batch. Just from a single pod there will be way more okra seeds than I could plant in one season, so if anyone is interested...

Broccoli is putting out some heads!

Cilantro likes cooler weather, and it's really hard not to pick and eat at it. I'll give it another week!

Healing from Poison Oak and Radiohead

2008-11-18T15:30:00.005-06:00

At least for now I'm not itching anymore!

My dermatologist PA hooked me up some oral and topical steroid meds to help me endure the next week. I am already seeing a difference after only a day, and already plan to go climbing again this weekend (at Enchanted Rock, NOT Reimer's Ranch!)

ALSO:

Radiohead performed a show in Japan where they had 12 cameras recording them at all times. follow the link below to create your own personal video of 15 Step. The view is kinda grainy while you make the vid, but when you play it back it's pretty clear. Awesome! I hope they put up some more songs in the future!

http://www.wowow.co.jp/music/radiohead/special/

The Poison Oak at Reimers Ranch

2008-11-16T21:28:00.003-06:00

DON'T DO IT!

I went climbing last weekend for the first time since May, and I was disappointed with my performance. Back in Colorado Shaun and I were climbing routes that were 5.10-5.11 difficulty every day. Last Saturday I could barely break 5.8, and wore myself out trying to get past the crux move on a 5.9. To add some serious injury to that insult I discovered a rash beginning to form on my left arm Monday morning...

I went rock climbing at Reimers Ranch and all I got was Poison Oak. (For all the climbers who are looking to climb out at Reimers who ended up here because of a search engine: the poison oak I got into is to the right of the bee cave, you can't miss it.)

Of all the plants that I will highlight in this blog, these are the only ones I officially hate with a passion. I know, I know, hating a plant sounds a little ridiculous, so maybe a better way to say it is to say that I would rather they didn't exist at all, or I wouldn't shed a tear at their extinction. The plant belongs to the genus Toxicodendron, and is known to the unfortunate outdoorsman as poison oak. It has an oil (called urushiol) that binds to the surface proteins on your skin cells. Your body then recognizes the cells as foreign invaders and this causes an auto-immune reaction. Over the next two weeks your body goes through a miserable civil war between your epidermis and a T-Cell mediated immune response. The war does not end until your immune response is done completely metabolizing the urushiol along with any cell it ever touched. SUCK.

Up close and personal with my favorite plant in the whole world.

Poison Oak and I have a bit of a history together, so I knew it right when I saw it. I recognized it growing out of the route we were climbing and yet I climbed on. I assumed I would stay out of it for some reason... STUPID. Apparently I mashed my left elbow down into it real good at some point. From there I scratched the urushiol underneath the fingernails of my right hand, and from there I spread it to the rest of my body (save only one special place PRAISE THE LORD!). It's just about everywhere by now, both arms, both legs, my torso, my head and neck, my left foot, and inside my belly button (can't really explain that one). The thing about urushiol is that the places that receive the highest dose get a rash first, and the places that got a lesser dose continue to pop up all over during the course of the first week. This leads one to believe that they are still spreading it, when in reality all the spreading was done before you took your first shower.

Sounds terrible huh... it gets worse. This crap gets way worse... I'm talking longevity.

The worst part is that the urushiol will stay on objects it came in contact with, like the climbing rope and all my gear for example. So now I must give everything a good scrubbing with a soapy water/ rubbing alcohol mixture and hope that it's gone (there is only one way to find out). Also, I must make the decision to never, ever, use Shaun's rope again as it was practically dragged through the stuff. A new rope is 200 bucks.

So not only did I not climb well, I am absolutely miserable for the time being. I am going to make an appointment on Monday so I can get some high-strength corticosteroid pills/cream. Till then it's a Benadryl every four hours and an Aveeno bath before bed. The itching is so bad, I have to practically put myself in a Benadryl-induced coma just to sleep more than four hours at night.

Still, it could be a whole lot worse... I could be sitting in some ashes scraping myself with a piece of broken pottery. No matter how bad life gets we can always tell ourselves that Job had it worse. Abbey has been really gracious with me and my uncomfortable impatience this week, and that alone has allowed me to keep my sanity.

"Curse God and die" she tells him.

Photolog 10/31/2008: Halloween

2008-11-01T22:16:00.013-05:00

Well, the weather has been pretty close to perfect for my fall garden. The days have been warm but not too warm, and the nights have been cold but not too cold. In this turbulent political season my veggies are growing great, my garden quietly existing in peace as Joe The Plumber talks about the impending annihilation of Israel. I am sooo happy to not have a TV, but somehow I still hear about this crap!

More importantly, it was Shady's birthday on Friday and we had all kinds of fun carving out a pumpkin and playing with her new toy.

Happy Birthday Shady!

Shady's new toy is a Dora the Explorer fishing pole, and let's just say that Gideon thinks it's his birthday too.

Here's a pic of Gideon chasing a lure in the backyard.

Early Voting

2008-10-29T16:20:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went to Crossroads Mall and voted early. I wore cowboy boots and a blue shirt.

Photolog 10/24/2008: Snakes

2008-10-24T17:00:00.010-05:00

Sorry about the huge pictures this week, blogger is having technical difficulties. You can see them better by clicking on them.

Not much going on in the garden this week, most things are growing and the nights are getting cooler. I am really happy with how big the Broccoli and Cauliflower are getting. The plants are looking really green after the dose of fish emulsion and epsom salt I sprayed this week. My spinach sprouts are just stuck at an inch tall for some reason, and I think what they want is a good rain. I am going to get up early tomorrow and give everything a good soaking.

My secret weapon for the birds has been a bunch of strategically placed rubber snakes. It's kinda like a little haunted house for birds out there, and it seems to be working. I have to go move them around every few days or the birds get smart, and I don't want to risk any of my nice tomatoes being beaked to death. I am thinking about trying to put out a bird feeder on the other side of the yard to give them something else to eat, and I hope that doesn't just make the problem worse by attracting more birds than there were before. We will see what happens...

On a side note...

I took an NCLEX-RN predictor test this week at school to see my probability of passing the real test the first time through. I scored a 95% probability! Besides the boost in confidence this test also tells me what I need to review to do even better next time. This is pretty much what my next 8 weeks will look like... test, review, test again. Gotta love standardized testing!

No nurse left behind...

Little Mesclun Lettuce sprouts

Snake guarding my tomatoes

Photolog 10/17.2008

2008-10-17T15:14:00.003-05:00

Photolog 10/17/2008

The broccoli and cauliflower have really been growing, and I feel like my part time job is to pluck all the tiny caterpillars off of their leaves before they can do much damage. My first snap peas started to set a couple of days ago, and the Juliet tomatoes have been turning red despite the fact they are slowly being de-foliated by the Fusarium wilt. Stay tuned to find out how I am keeping the mocking birds from eating them!

New in the garden this week:

+ Snap peas set

+ Cilantro sprouted

+Topped the tomatoes to encourage bigger fruit

Juliet Tomatoes

I feel like I haven't been able to spend time doing much of anything besides school lately. All my studying has paid off though... I took my Advanced Concepts cumulative final exam this past wednesday and aced it missing only 2 out of 50 questions! This has been the most challenging semester, and it's good to know that I have taken the toughest tests and it's all easy coasting from here. For the next 8 weeks (my last before graduation) my clinicals will be at Baptist Medical Center downtown in the cardiovascular unit, and in class we will mostly be preparing for the NCLEX-RN exam.

You know you have been spending long days at the hospital and long nights at the library when even the cats miss you...

Photolog 10/10/2008, Grand National

2008-10-11T12:19:00.003-05:00

Photolog 10/10

Night-time temps are finally dropping! This means leafy-greens!

Here is what's been happening this week:

+ Planted Mesclun Lettuce

+ Planted Cilantro

+ Planted Spinach (again)

+ Composted Black-eyed peas from the side garden

Broccoli and Cauliflower

Tomatoes!

And a side-note on the Grand National:

I have been listening to Grand National, which is a band I found on Pandora, and they are pretty sweet. You can find a link to them on the right in the Headphones section. They are a British band with a sound reminiscent of Sting and The Police, although much more modern. It deserves a good listen if you are getting bored with whatever you got spinning on your iPod. I think it's shaping up to be my fall soundtrack, and if you know me that says a lot.

What does it all mean? Photolog 10/3/2008

2008-10-03T17:13:00.004-05:00

Photolog 10/3

This past week I have experienced a lot, and my garden has gone through some changes. I experienced some fantastic festival performances while in Austin last weekend, I have been officially offered a job working in the ER, and I have given a certain option a good "look-see" (but more on that later). So while I have been busy fighting the crowds and dust at Zilker park, while I have been diligently learning the pathophysiology and treatment algorithms for Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), I have been utterly out of control of some happenings in the garden.

First of all, my first vine-ripe tomato of the fall season was burgled by some ungrateful mocking bird. The nerve! I pulled the buggered and pecked-to death tomato off the vine and threw it over the fence I was so mad. Obviously the red ornament thing is a myth, and it has been officially busted. What's worse is that my Juliet tomatoes are susceptible to Fusarium wilt, and they both have it. The leaves are turning brown and dying off from the bottom of the plant up, and soon I will just have some dead stringy-looking tomato vines. The only good thing is that my Better Boy's and Cherry tomatoes are resistant, but is seems that they have some kind of wilt too. I don't know whether to pull up the Juliets now or let them live as long as possible.

Soon to be completely leafless and dead Juliet Tomatoes

The peas are just about done, and that is a good thing considering what some of them look like. I did some research and think it's a virus that the peas have had since they were little seeds. It started out as one plant, and then it spread all over the side garden. It's a confounding viral conflagration.

Soon to be dead peas

Some good things have been happening at the same time. The Okra is my big producer right now. From seven plants I harvest about two pods a day, and it's fairly delicious. One weird thing I have discovered in case you are ever on some obscure game-show: fresh picked okra smells kinda like dog (this smell goes away once you wash and cook it).

Okra plate

For those of you who have actually read this far:

Something special has happened in my backyard. In the grass beside the garden grows a single corn stalk. I noticed him the other day, and I am really wondering how he got there. The fact that he is disease and bug free makes no sense. What does he represent in all of this? Is he an outcast or a pioneer? Surely there is some scientific answer to his existence, I just don't know what to think of him. I'd like to think that he is deserving of the most fertile place in the garden, and that he deserves all my attention (though that hasn't appeared to help the rest of the plants). I think for now I will watch and see what happens with this special corn sprout, though I am pretty sure he will end up in the compost bin.

Photolog: September

2008-09-26T15:11:00.002-05:00

Every last Friday of the month will be a retrospective Photolog, this will be a time to lay out the consecutive pictures and compare the growth that has happened all month. It's also an easy blog for me and it satisfies some of my reader's curiosity. Gardening takes an immense amount of patience. This last month the only thing I harvested was the first few okra. Next month, I might find myself giving away tomatoes there are so many. All I know is that this has been one heck of a drawn out and dry summer, and I am ready for the leaves to change. The sun will now be shining more so on the southern hemisphere for the next six months, and I say let them have it. I will celebrate the first cold front by planting leafy greens!

This weekend I will be taking a break from my studies to go and enjoy Austin City Limits. I will tell you all about it on Monday!

9/5/2008

9/12/2008

9/19/2008

9/26/2008

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

2008-09-23T20:41:00.003-05:00

We live in an amazing time, and this video makes me smile. Isn't Stevie the greatest?

Photolog 9/19/2008

2008-09-18T21:19:00.006-05:00

Man I love photolog Fridays! It really helps to see the growth from week to week! Tomorrow morning I am going to attend Bob Webster's fall vegetable gardening seminar at his Shades of Green nursery. I am betting that I will be the youngest person there.

New this week:

+ Composted buggered corn

+ Planted broccoli

+ Planted cauliflower

+ Harvested first okra

Waiting for those black-eyed pea pods to turn brown... maybe this week!

Snap peas are beginning to grab hold of the trellis (as well as each other)

today's harvest: Okra

2008-09-18T21:19:00.004-05:00

This afternoon I picked the first harvest of the fall garden. I sliced them up and sautéed them in vegetable oil and minced garlic. Delicious.

Okra is actually one of the easiest vegetables in the world to grow. It's drought and heat tolerant, it grows in sandy or clay soil, and it is self-pollinating despite the beautiful flowers. It continuously produces, so you will want at least five plants, and as long as you keep picking the young pods, it keeps on making more. It's originally from Ethiopia, so it laughs in the face of what we consider to be "hot" weather here in south Texas.

I am going to plant more of it with the spring garden in April, and it will likely be the only plant I can harvest before, during, and after the July-August heat.

For now I am enjoying the flowers and looking forward to seeing how many pods they will make before it gets too cold. Gumbo anyone?

Buggered Corn

2008-09-15T19:17:00.006-05:00

The corn has literally been buggered to death

Okra flower

For the past three weeks, my corn has been steadily consumed by tiny caterpillars, and I have been too busy with school to do anything about it. The little buggers were deep down in the stalk eating the new leaves before they even unravelled! There were certain measures I was prepared to go to in order to protect the delicate stalks. I suppose I could have sprayed them with any combination of my organic pesticides, but most of the corn just wasn't doing well enough to warrant such extremes. This afternoon I pulled it all up and buried it in the compost. The corn roast party has officially been delayed until the spring harvest. Bugger!

I am also worried about the okra. It's doing great for the moment, blooming and making pods, but it will probably be the first to go when the really cool weather comes. It will be interesting to see how much longer I have until I have to pull that up too. I think I will wait until it either completely stops growing or I find something better suited to cold temperatures.

I am not all that disappointed since the garden space where the corn was has now been filled with a more suiting (and more healthy) fall-weather crop. Broccoli and cauliflower have joined the lineup, and in a couple weeks so will mesclun lettuce.

Newly transplanted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Photolog 9/12/2008

2008-09-12T17:01:00.003-05:00

Wow look at all the growth! Let's hope we get a nice soaking from Ike!

New this week:

+Black eyed peas have flowered and are making pods

+All the snap peas have sprouted

+First okra fruit has set!

Snap Pea sprouts

Black-eyed pea pods

Okra pod

Photolog: 9/5/08

2008-09-05T17:16:00.005-05:00

Photolog, it's a post you will probably see every week that has up to date pics of what's going on in the garden. These blogs are mostly for myself so I can prove that things are indeed growing. I figure I should post them because there might be someone else out there who might be excited by the fact that my tomato plants are growing 4 inches in a week...

New this week:

+Everything is now mulched with Hardwood Mulch (except the tomatoes, which still have plenty of straw)

+Planted Garlic

+Planted Spinach (might be a little early)

+Planted Snow Peas

+Planted Snap Peas

+Hung red Christmas ornaments on the tomatoes to fool the birds

Snap Pea sprout

Juliet grape tomatoes!

one man's trash is another man's treasure

2008-09-02T13:19:00.004-05:00

This past Labor Day weekend the sound of ten thousand lawnmowers echoed across the neighborhoods of San Antonio. Recent rains had caused our grass to grow so unruly that only a three day weekend of yard work could counter such an insult. Grown men of all trades put on their grass-stained tennies and went about walking every square foot of their yards. Ahead of them and into the tall grass they would thrust a noisy contraption as they had toxic fumes blown into their faces. The smart men would leave the grass clippings where they fell to help return the nutrients to their lawn, but the foolish ones would rather bag their victory and put it on the curb.

Unbeknownst to them, they would be visited that evening by the neighborhood's organic gardener and his wife...

"BRING IT ON"

2008-08-28T17:38:00.005-05:00

It's been my motto for this week.

I started my last semester of nursing school on Monday, and even though I know this is going to be a difficult semester, I'm ready for it. Word around campus has it that a majority of the senior class always fails their first exam (which for me is on Sep 8th). I plan to be ready for it, as well as the other five exams I will be taking over the next eight weeks during my critical care course. So if you don't see or hear from me for the next two months, just know that I am tucked away somewhere reading everything there is to know about how to fix really sick people.

This motto of mine is also has something to do with the recent rain we have been getting, especially since I now have a way to capture it and put it to use whenever it's convenient. I put some gutters up last Saturday with some much appreciated help from Archie, and on Tuesday went out and bought a rain harvesting barrel. That 2" of rain we got in the medical center yesterday filled it up till it was overflowing (past 55 gallons!)

The cooler cloudy days and rain has also given the garden a nice chance to really grow, and everything has nearly doubled in size since the last pics I posted. The corn has sprouted, the tomatoes are looking greener and have been sending out new shoots, the okra is growing like crazy and is starting to put out tiny buds, and the peas are starting to take over my little side garden. The cucumbers I planted never sprouted, so I am guessing it's due to old seed. I think I will plant some snap peas there in the next couple of weeks. I am also going to try spinach and some of Pa Pa's elephant garlic.

I took these pics with my phone so sorry if they came out a little hazy...

Rain harvest barrel in place (still needs to be painted to match the house)

Peas are busy growing after the recent rains

Sweet corn is sprouting all over the place!

Tomatoes are looking greener than ever

Okra is on it's way

a random bushel of hay

2008-08-17T17:25:00.004-05:00

I stopped at the local feed and lawn store on the way home from Costco today and randomly bought a bushel of hay. I have been wanting to lay down some mulch around the tomatoes and figured hay would be a cheap way to do it. Mulch helps by preventing weeds, helping the soil retain moisture, and by keeping the soil temp out of the extreme - not to mention it looks good too. So now I have some mulch around my tomatoes, 99% of a hay bushel left on my porch, and a car that now needs to be vacuumed. I think it's safe to say that I won't be needing to buy any more mulch for quite a while!

fall garden is underway

2008-08-16T14:48:00.008-05:00

Fall tomatoes! Now which is which?

Side garden

This pic is an update on the poor guy in the last post... looking better!

The 4X12 raised beds

Corn hasn't sprouted yet

The okra is loving the heat

Gideon helped with the Saturday morning honey-do's

I decided to give the blog a face-lift to celebrate my newly planted fall garden. I am growing three different kinds of Tomatoes: Better Boy, Cherry, and a grape-tomato variety called Juliet. I planted two of each, and then forgot which was which so we won't know until they start to set fruit (how fun!). I have a variety of Okra called Cajun Delight which is busily sending out new leaves every couple of days. It looks like they have been planted too close (okra gets really tall and wide) but Abbey's grandpa (from henceforth known as Pa Pa) showed me a way to do this by cutting off a stem every time you harvest an okra (you know when to stop when you can't reach the tops of the plants anymore). I also devoted half of the other raised bed to a super-sweet corn variety called Gotta Have It, and after tasting some of what Pa Pa grew I must agree. I think I will have around 50 or so ears of corn in about seventy days, so we will have to have a corn-roast party at our house and celebrate before the raccoons do. Party details will be closer to harvest-time. In my side-garden I have a black-eyed pea variety called Early Contender which has done well despite the abuse I have put them though last week (see the previous post). Also in the side garden I have planted some Cucumbers called Sweetest Yet, and they should be hanging all over my energy meters and time warner cable boxes soon.

In a month or so I have been thinking about planting Snow Peas and Spinach in the second half of the raised bed with the corn. I have also been thinking to interplant some elephant garlic cloves that Pa Pa gave me. Garlic is a pest and disease-free plant, and it can help keep bugs out of the garden if you juice it up and spray it (I hear it also keeps away vampires). Garlic is different from most veggies in that it grows during the winter. You plant it in the fall, and harvest in the spring.

I also must recommend a blog that I ran across by accident. Skippy's Vegetable Garden can be found in the continuously updating column on the right. She puts up new posts almost daily and takes really great pictures. I tried copying her picture-posting style for this post, we will see if it works.

Stay tuned!

Warm Sunny Days in Moderation, Please

2008-08-13T16:01:00.005-05:00

This past week I burned my fledgling plants by accident with an organic fertilizer that I did not dilute properly. Seedlings that were already struggling to survive daily through the drought and heat were now subject to the near-toxic solution in my sprayer. It did not take long to realize what I had done, but it was too late to prevent any further damage. Healthy green leaves turned a crispy brown color before falling off. Entire seedlings fell over and have since turned into tiny shriveled-up twigs. Some leaves turned black around the edges, clearly signifying my caustic mistake. All was not well in the garden.

In an attempt to enrich and vitalize my plants in this time of stress I instead made life that much more difficult for them. Too much of a good thing had become deadly.

You can take anything that was meant for good: fertilizer, TV, rain, wine; and in excess it is a poison, it is a flood, it is an addiction.

The balance of moderation is the story of life. The warm sunny days are only good because of the cold rainy ones, and vice versa. Thus everyday is good.

Life goes on, and often times is stronger due to hardship. If a plant is not killed by the drought, it will survive afterward having deeper roots. If it's first three leaves are not completely scorched away because of the bumbling gardener, then it will send up three new ones (praise the Lord).

Dr./ Nurse (Extern)

2008-08-06T08:32:00.011-05:00

The patients arrive via ambulance and by the time they get settled in their room they have had a small army of people pushing and prodding them, removing their clothes, and quizzing them about their allergies and emergency contact information. Most of the time I am one of these people, busily striping them of their dignity and sticking monitor leads to their chest while they try to explain to every new person who walks in the door exactly what happened.

Then the army efficiently communicates with each other using a blend of english and latin, along with some code words thrown in to completely confuse the patient. Sometimes I come back for one last question, and sometimes I don't come back at all. Sometimes I come in for the first time after everyone has gone, and this is when it usually happens: a case of mistaken identity. It happens to me a few times a day, when I walk into the room and am mistaken to be either the doctor or an RN. For a split second I appear to be one of the smartest guys in the building, and I have come to save the day.

Only three more shifts in the ER until I begin my final semester, and 128 days until graduation.

New Garden

2008-07-29T21:20:00.003-05:00

There was a tree in my backyard on Saturday morning. It was a silver maple tree that had been brought thousands of miles from its natural habitat to be cultivated and planted in developing neighborhoods. The reason being because it grows fast and helps sell houses on tree-less lots. So far removed from where it belongs, on a riverbank in Vermont, this tree got sick in our hostile Texas environment. Random dead limbs would fall in the yard after a rain storm, and dry rotten roots could be pulled up with ease. This tree had to come down.

Question: How many guys does it take to chop a tree down?

Answer: Five, including this sweaty guy.

With the much appreciated help of five friends, the tree fell with much sweat and cursing. We drank beer and celebrated around the stump that we had created. The stump was ground into nothing the next day with the help of a Mexican entrepreneur, and plans for a garden in this newly created sunny spot began to form...

The Stump Grinder

This is the first of the new raised beds that I will be building, much better looking than the cement blocks!

Welcome to my new garden!

To Build a Garden: Step 2

2008-07-23T12:31:00.004-05:00

Step 2: Raised Bed Gardening

Now that we have ruined a portion of our backyards, let's try and at least make it look somewhat decent. You can use long 2X12 boards of wood, you can go buy great looking (though expensive) quarry blocks, or (like me) you can use the concrete blocks your father-in law gave you. You want to be a good 12 inches off the ground when you are done.

Place them around your garden. The hardest part with this is getting them to be as close to level as possible (so use a level!). You will probably have to do some digging to get them to be perfect. If you use bricks I suggest placing them first, then go back and level them one at a time. This way you don't get to the end and realize everything needs to be moved an inch down to make the last brick fit (and yes, that happened to me yesterday). This takes more patience than muscle, and it helps to have a helper.

I'm a gardener, not a bricklayer!

After you get the perimeter built for your raised bed we need to fill it the rest of the way with more dirt and compost. You can go to any place that sells dirt and tell them you need something for a vegetable garden. Make sure the dirt they sell you has good drainage (it looks a little sandy). I suggest Fertile Garden Supply here in S.A. You will need a truck. Spread the dirt in your garden evenly.

Now you will need to add compost, which adds all the nutrients and micro-organisms your veggie garden needs to get started. You can put your own compost in if you have been composting, or you can go buy some to get you started. I suggest bags of composted cow manure, which can be bought at Lowe's for $1.33 for a 40 pound bag. It has already been composted and does not stink at all. You want to get plenty, because this stuff is good for everything. Pour the compost in your garden and work it into the soil lightly with a hoe or a rake. Keep adding compost until the top layer of your garden is a rich, dark color.

Cow Poop: The Secret Ingredient

This final step is optional, but highly recommended. Buy some Medina Soil Activator, which can be found at Lowe's. It contains trace minerals and other things that really help the beneficial micro-organisms in your newly made garden. These little guys do everything from loosening the soil to breaking down nutrients for plants. There can be nearly 3 billion of them in a single gram of soil. Some of them will even form colonies on the roots and start a symbiotic relationship with your plants, adding rich nitrogen and other macro-nutrients to them. Also, the more good micro-organisms you have, the less of a chance the bad ones have to set up shop. You can read more about these fascinating little guys here: Soil Life.

This raised bed is ready for fall!

Allow a couple of days for the dirt to settle some and then you are ready for planting!

To Build a Garden: Step 1

2008-07-20T17:20:00.004-05:00

Step 1: The Dirty Work

Well, before doing any dirty work we must first decide WHERE to do it. Location is everything when it comes to a garden. 95% of vegetable plants enjoy a full sun location. Full sun means at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day. I am planting my new garden along the side of my house, it greets the morning sun and gets direct sunlight till around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. This will be a good garden for plants that need lots of water like cucumbers due to the fact that they will be shaded in the hottest part of the day. If you aren't sure where a good spot might be you can get a hose and lay it out as an outline of where you want your garden in your yard. Check on it from time to time and see if that spot is still getting plenty of sun. You can also use a compass to figure out which way the sun will be coming from in the morning (east) and setting in the evening (west).

After choosing the perfect spot mark the outline by tying string to stakes (or you can just eye-ball it like me). Keep in mind that you want to be able to reach everything in your garden without actually having to step foot in it (this way you don't compact the dirt down with your feet). You can make it as long as you want, but try not to make it any wider than 4 feet or so. See these pics for a good example: Picture 1, Picture 2

The garden fork, grub hoe, shovel, and hand-shovel

Now comes the hard part. You can do one of two things: you can rent a roto-tiller, or you can grab a shovel and get some serious exercise. Starting at one end of the garden dig down about 6 inches and turn the soil over. If you are digging in grass put back the grassy side face-down. The garden fork and grub hoe are two tools that can help you do this. A grub hoe is basically a normal garden hoe that thinks it's a pick-axe (good for getting deep and pulling up roots). As you dig toss out the big rocks and whatever else you find (I found a beer can from the 70's and a glass bottle while digging my first garden). If you hit limestone do not despair, as this is going to be a raised bed. Pull up or chop roots if you have to. While digging my second garden today I had to dig out two bushes and a weird tree.The former owner of my house had also put a rock garden there, so I had the pleasure of hand-removing little purple pumice stones all morning. This by far is the most difficult task, and will probably take you all day, so start early, drink lots of water and take breaks.

I suggest reading a little about raised bed gardening here, that way you can have this picture in your head while you dig.

Here are some pictures of my step 1 progress:

Before

After. The meters in my backyard will make a nifty trellis for my climbing veggies!

Be sure to take before and after pics of your own hard work!

FAQ's

2008-07-15T11:17:00.006-05:00

Let's get Back to the Garden for this post!

There are two questions people usually ask me when they find out I have a garden:

The first question is always: "What do you grow?"

I am always pleased to answer this as it is nearly never the same answer. Currently I still have those tomatoes I planted. They are not setting any new fruit because day-time and night-time temps are too high, so i am keeping them until the last green tomatoes turn red. I also planted Okra last week, which sprung up immediately. Okra is pretty hardy so I decided he would be best to endure the two hardest gardening months here in San Antonio. The other day the wind blew a layer of mulch to cover over two of the Okra seedlings and the doodle bugs had a feast, so I have re-planted them with some success. I also have some strung-out looking bell peppers that stop growing when they get to the size of large strawberries, I guess I must be doing something wrong. Oh, and let's not forget the Basil (i always forget to mention him). The Basil growing in my garden is delicious, I recommend eating it by wrapping a leaf of basil around a cherry tomato - Yum!

All these yellow flowers should be cherry tomatoes soon, but it's just too hot! :(

Strung-out Bell Peppers

Okra Sprout

Basil

The second question is usually something like: "Where (or how) do you build a garden?"

Either way the second question usually hint's at the questioner's own inner desire to garden. Each of us have gardening in our genes (we were gardeners from the beginning), and we all have the desire to put something in the dirt and watch it sprout up and become food. The answer to this question is tricky, and it depends on a lot of things. I am not an expert, but I can tell you what has worked for me.

I will be building a second garden in my backyard this week and I will post a how-to explanation with pictures. I will be using methods I learned about from my father-in-law Bo Cappadonna, and from diagrams that can be found in The Vegetable Gardener's Bible (there is a link to this book on the right column of this page).

Get your shovels ready!

Man-Nursing Tales: Intro

2008-07-09T14:38:00.010-05:00

On December 17th of this year I will join the ranks of 113,000 other male-nurses in the US. Currently, since my classes don't run through the summer, I have taken a Nurse-Extern job in the emergency department at North East Baptist Hospital to keep my mind fresh over the summer months.

What is a Nurse-Extern you ask? Basically it is a nurse that does not give medications or fill out paperwork (for now, this is a good thing). I help the RN's with technical skills. I start IV's, draw blood, do EKG's, insert urinary catheters, provide wound care, and transport soon-to-be moms to Labor and Delivery. There are also the more mundane tasks, such as making beds, transporting patients, stocking linen and supplies, taking vital signs, walking someone to the bathroom, and making sure there are always enough IV pumps to be found. My absolute least favorite thing to do is the dreaded one-to-one observation, which I will tell you about in another post.

In the ER I experience life. I meet people from all walks, from all colors, and from all levels of income. I get to love them all. Sometimes I meet people on their worst day, and sometimes I make it a little better (or worse). I have seen grown men cry like babies when I stick them with a needle, and I have had a nine-year old girl watch me do the whole thing without flinching.

I have seen young women weep when they find out they are having a miscarriage, and I have seen the same weeping on those who have found out they are pregnant. I have seen people come to the hospital due to a culmination of their life-style choices, and I have seen people there due to simple misfortune.

Through school I have witnessed a newborn's first breath, and in the ER I have seen someone's last. I have done chest compressions on failing hearts, and I have pushed air into failing lungs.

Life is very real to me, and I will try to write about my man-nursing experiences here. Stay tuned...

Jamming with Tiff and Taylor

2008-07-04T12:47:00.005-05:00

Last night Tiff and I introduced Taylor to our songs that we have been writing together for over a year. Taylor was amazing, and with the drums our songs are really taking shape! So far we have about five or six songs, and I will keep you posted once we begin recording them for the demo.

My good friend Shaun was there to capture the moment with his new camera...

Click here to view the entire album on photobucket.

Jeep-season (over)

2008-06-30T12:18:00.005-05:00

I have listed my Jeep Wrangler on craigslist. I am not selling it because of the high gas prices or the lack of rain (and mud) to play in. It's not because I am hurting for cash, or even because I want to park the Corolla in the garage. It is simply because the Jeep-season in my life has come to a close. No sadness or regrets, just good memories. One thing is for sure: I will never, ever forget being stuck in the mud! I loved it so much that I haven't been off-roading since.

When it comes down to it the Jeep is just a thing, like everything else, and now it's monetary value is worth more to me than it's intrinsic value. I am turning the Jeep into money, and putting it into my pocket.

Speaking of putting things into pockets... Apple is releasing a new product on July 11th. Is there a correlation here? hmmmm...

Photobucket

2008-06-25T11:30:00.009-05:00

I am experimenting with a new way to post pictures...

You should be able to click the picture (this will take you to it's direct link at photobucket)... The whole point is so that you can see them bigger. If this works, I will post pictures like this from now on. Special thanks to Kyle and his awesome blogger skills!

This is the first tomato. Delicious.

I am glad to be done transcribing my Tetons journal, and hope that it was enjoyed by whoever read it. I tried to keep it as true to the original shorthand as possible, and hope that didn't make it a difficult read.

As for now, I am going to 'get back' to posting about my garden and other musings... stay tuned!