How many *bucks do you have?

It has finally happened, a *bucks is moving into my n'hood. It is "coming soon" right near the metro. I think my neighbors are about to get some serious caffination. A Mayorga Coffee (which apparently roasts locally) opened a few weeks ago, too. I haven't been yet...mostly cause I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I might need to go in and show some support. The *bucks will do just fine without me.

In my investigation of when my *bucks would be open, I discovered the Delocator. It finds independent coffee shops, bookstores and movie theaters near whatever zip code you type in. For my zip code, it found 76 independent places within 5 miles. (Might be good for finding a new knitting home for you Sunday-goers). Some of these seem to be restaurants that serve coffee more than regular old coffee shops, though. It also gives you a comparable list of the starbucks within 5 miles....56. But the *bucks site says I've got 86 starbucks within 5 miles of me, so I think the delocator probably missed some. Oddly enough, I only have 84 within 5 miles of my downtown work location. Maybe the Potomac cuts out some valuable real estate.

Did I just say/write "only 84?" So, a five mile radius covers an area of about 78.5 square miles. Area=pi times r-squared, right? So, there are 86 starbucks in the 78.5 square miles surrouding my house. So, just over 1 starbucks per square mile. Not quite one on every street corner, but still....if they were perfectly spaced, you've never have to go more than 1/2 mile to get your triple grande skinny extra hot latte. Yikes!

How about you? I tried a manhattan zip code for fun and got 199. How many *bucks are you surrounded by?

In bloom

I haven't made it to the garden yet this week to check on my veggies and herbs, but despite the 90-something degree weather, the front yard is holding up pretty well....except the grass.

Right now, I've got coreopsis, lilies, and an old favorite of my childhood - snapdragons. Fess up - how many of you would make then 'talk' for you? Some of the hostas are flowering, and there are marigolds, salvia and celosia, too. Plus, I love the lamb's ear...so soft!

I even put dear old Smidgen out in the garden with me last night. She ate grass and pounced on ants. So cute.

T-ball, sugared dough, and showering with strangers

My little sis is getting married - Aaawwww. Okay, she's only younger by 17 months, and she's always been just about my height, but still... I went home this weekend to do my sisterly duties at my younger sis's bridal shower. I was in charge of running the games! Man, can we ladies be competitive when mysterious 3 dollar gifts wrapped in tissue paper are involved! And wow - can those old ladies talk and talk and talk and not shut up when you're obviously trying to tell people something and then they all say - what??!! - and you kinda wanna kill them. I mean - it was lovely.

It was a busy weekend. It started off with delivery by the mailman to my nephews' house. They like cats (and chinchillas for what it's worth) but they have a rather rambunctious dog, so owning a kitty is out of the question. So, I knit them cats based roughly on the Kate pattern from Knitty. But their cats had to have tails because - well, if I'd made them cats with pants and no tails, they'd tell me I was silly cause cats don't wear pants. Duh. Luckily, there was no fighting about who got which one, and they pet them, and slept with them that night. Ah, now that's what appreciation means for a knitter!


Following the mailman, there was a good ol' fashioned game of t-ball for my nephew. I forgot how amusing t-ball is. 2 innings, everyone bats, no one gets out, and neither team wins. Ahh...to be 5 again. My younger nephew is too young to play, so to amuse him, I let him walk around with my camera and take pictures. My nephews are actually very adept at handling cell phones (they know they can press just about everything except the green button) and cameras. Plus, my younger nephew had a death grip on the camera that probably made it safer with him than with klutzy old and busted, here. Anyway, he took some seriously artistic shots. See?



The rest of the weekend was spent making centerpieces and shower favors, assembling cookie trays, and eating church picnic food. Tasty tasty pizza frita (kinda like a big round poof of churro) and potato pancakes. I think they only do this is PA. I've never seen it anywhere else. Fried food is my weakness....along with ice cream...and cheese...and.....pizza and....well, you get the idea. I like eating.


The shower was fun (even though I had to endure Steve-o repeatedly asking me why I was showering with strangers - engineers [think they] are so funny), but I had to leave straight from there and do the 4 hour drive back home. Then, I got to be the first knitter guest to a friend's new house. Now I'm recovering from the past few days. I missed spending time in my garden, so I have to get back to that. I have green tomatoes and little baby beans waiting for me.

In my spare time, I'll be finishing my list of house duties, dyeing some yarn, planning a vacation, and finding a new job (fingers crossed). Busy, busy. busy.

Summertime....

Whatever happened to spring?! Summer is here. I switched out my clothes, put away the down comforter, and put on the air conditioning. And I am constantly brushing the cat and lint-roller-ing every piece of furniture in the house, as Smidgen loses her winter coat....all over the place.

The house is really starting to shape up, and with the sewing of a few pillows, and a few more visits to the thrift store, I should be ready to host knitting, conduct dyeing lessons and throw a party. Hooray! I'm aiming for July. Sure, I won't have a new kitchen, and the couch is too big for the living room, but all you need for a good party is crack dip and a few cocktails!

I've got one mini-trip planned for this summer, and hoping to line up a few more. Plus, I have my younger sister's wedding shower later this month. And vegetables to look forward to. I have a few strawberries right now, and most of the garden seems to be bouncing back from the deer episode. The beans are having a rough time, but I think they'll be okay.

This handy link from my fellow gardener has some great tomato info. Unfortunately, my plants were growing so fast, I think I missed my opportunity to prune my tomato plants. Can you prune the suckers if they're really big? If the deer ate the main stem with the flowers on it, will the plant make more? I think I need to do some more research.

Dirt under my fingernails

Well, I had made a plan that was to keep me busy every weekend from early April to about July with house stuff. Painting, nailing, picking out cabinets, etc. Well, I'm only through about 2.5 of the 8 jobs I had planned. Oh well, life happens, right? Life....and gardening.

I forgot to take pictures of my garden plot in the before phase, but here's another plot that looks like mine did several weeks ago.

I shoveled, poked, pulled, cursed and yanked at a variety of weeds. The worst of which is that damn wire grass. These weeds need to die! In the community garden setting, it's basically impossible to get rid of all this stuff. It wanders in from the plot next to you, especially when the plot next to you looks like this. BloggingBeta did a admirable job, though. She sifted through her plot, picking out even those tiny stringy root remnants that I like to bury and ignore. That's more dedication to weed management than I can muster. But in August, when I'm pulling weeds, she'll be eating tomatoes in the shade.

But I think I've got things in shape. Steve-o and I put down weed barrier, built a wooden raised bed, and a brick raised bed with bricks the previous owner had left in my plot.

The reason for the raised beds? Well, I got the book, square foot gardening, from the library and I was hooked. See - last year my plot went kaput. The tomatoes and cucumbers got some kind of disease and the beans and peppers didn't fare much better. So....my hunch was that it was the soil. I requested a new plot, and this raised bed idea uses all new soil. The downside is that I had to go out and buy compost, peat moss, and vermiculite, and that costs money....plus building the raised beds, which also costs money.....but I will be so happy if things go well this year.


I put the herbs in the part of the plot where I left the soil au natural (with the exception of a bit of peat moss and compost). Thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil....and some strawberries, too. I'm hoping they're not subject to the same troubles as tomatoes are.

Now, you may have noticed something weird about the above photos. Dents in my dirt. at first glance, i thought they were those holes squirrels love to dig because their poor brains are so tiny they forgot where they put their nuts. But no! Bambi got into my plot! And Bambi was hungry. Tomatoes should look like this:

Not this:

And my beans - oh, my poor beans

and my peppers.

The front lawn is under attack, too. Some squirrels (maybe?) ate the tops off of every one of my salvia plants. And my marigolds are off to a bumpy start...which is weird cause I think of them as being really hardy. But the coreopsis I planted last year as a perrenial is taking off, and so is the clematis I got three years ago at the national arboretum sale. I'm training it along the fence. I'm waiting for the blooms to figure out which kind it is, though, because the tag has long been lost.

Oh well - if this gardening stuff doesn't work out, there's always a ceiling to be spackled, a bathroom to be regrounted and plenty of other indoor fun tasks!