Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
David's lunch in Seattle
David flew into Seattle today for a conference and has already set about enjoying himself. We found a nice coffee shop downtown when we were there this summer that seemed to have nice food. So he went there for lunch today. Looks tasty. You can tell he is in Seattle though – check out the wet rain jacket in the background. J
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Winds update
Apparently there was a microburst very near our house - someone close by lost their roof. So I guess we were lucky to only lose the cover we did. Also, this is how excited the local news networks are about the summer weather here:
Storms in Tucson
I guess I can't call the thunderstorms wimpy in Tucson anymore. This has been a pretty good monsoon season in general, but this afternoon we had a pretty crazy storm that came through. I was working at my desk and happened to look out the window to a piece of wood flying by my window. I walked outside and saw this:
This was our recently redone (by David and I) cover over the hot tub area of our pool. I then noticed that a piece seemed to be missing, and located it across the street from our house:
That should be fun to clean up (in amongst the cacti).
This was our recently redone (by David and I) cover over the hot tub area of our pool. I then noticed that a piece seemed to be missing, and located it across the street from our house:
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Mt. Rainier
When David and I recently visited Mt. Rainier it was completely fogged in. I was reduced to pointing in back of me and saying “That’s where the mountain is supposed to be – it’s usually very pretty.” Given that I thought this video was very cool – too bad we couldn’t make a similar one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/donkjensen/5999259027
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
It's really just a big hole in the ground
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Spring!
Greetings from fair Tucson!
Seems spring us upon us.
The geckos have awoke and visit us on the back porch screen at night to catch moths.
The volunteer Vinka out front weathered the winter freezes quite well and has been one of the first plants to really get going.
The cacti are not to be outdone though, and have started a little colorful noise of their own.
Oh and the lantana is finally stretching out and taking over its little spot in the yard
We've been busy too. Found some awesome lanterns for the back patio.
Oh and the tools laying around in that shot are from other things like rebuilding the hottub patio area. You can see the new lattice in the background.
We also made the back a little noisier.
We can now play music on the patio and around the pool. It gets loud enough to annoy the neighbors, which is super important! (I kid, I kid...)
We also got a new planting system for our herbs. It's from the EarthBox folks.
Thai basil, sweet basil, sweet basil.
Tarrgon seeds, thyme seeds, parsely seeds.
Rosemary start, oregano, sage.
Everything a growing kitchen needs.
I'm forgetting if we ever put up pictures of Erika's glass ball collection since I finally got off my butt and made a hanging frame for them in the skylight. They look really nice when the sun gets hold of them.
The tomato plants and pepper plants are going nuts, but I was too lazy to get any shots of them tonight. I'll try to get some this weekend.
Oh and of course, GO CARDS!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Dive Poets and Beth Bombara "Longtime Gal"
The Dive Poets (Karl's band) and their first video. :)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Garden Kickoff 2011
So it was a totally beautiful weekend in Tucson. That, plus my belief that the last of the freaky freezes has past us meant that it was time to work the plants a bit.
Moved the pepper plants to 4 inch intermediate pots. Lost 3 paprika starts in the process, but everyone else seemed to survive the shock. We're re-seeding the paprika starts that died. Hopefully something will come of it.
We decided to ween the basil and thyme starts off their seedling pots as well. Genovese sweet basil on the left, thai basil in the middle, common thyme on the right.
Since the tomato transplants went berserk and are growing like weeds, it's time to set up the two new EarthBoxes with San Marzano goodness...
With the warmer temps, we're hoping the peppers will be ready for their EB's in about two weeks. That'll give me time to rip out the remnants of the winter crop, amend the soil and get ready for planting.
Moved the pepper plants to 4 inch intermediate pots. Lost 3 paprika starts in the process, but everyone else seemed to survive the shock. We're re-seeding the paprika starts that died. Hopefully something will come of it.
We decided to ween the basil and thyme starts off their seedling pots as well. Genovese sweet basil on the left, thai basil in the middle, common thyme on the right.
Since the tomato transplants went berserk and are growing like weeds, it's time to set up the two new EarthBoxes with San Marzano goodness...
With the warmer temps, we're hoping the peppers will be ready for their EB's in about two weeks. That'll give me time to rip out the remnants of the winter crop, amend the soil and get ready for planting.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
'maters!
The stars of the early growing season so far here in Tucson, our San Marzano tomato plants. These things are growing like weeds. I took this shot on Sunday, and checking them this morning they're already noticably bigger. As soon as temperatures stabilize here in Tucson, four of these will go in the EarthBoxes and 2 will go to a happy home with one of my co-workers.
Project Flowers 2011
The various flower seeds we're starting are showing signs of life. I think everything but the Coreopsis is coming up. And yes, that little toothpick near the left does say Wave Petunia, and yes... we started 6 of them. We needs us some baskets.
Peppers and Herbs
The peppers finally started waking up (their seeds take a bit longer). That's them, various kinds, there on the left in that big block of plants. The herbs on the right are just confusing... the dill has gone all spindly, the parsley and thyme are fine, and the basil is just kind of sitting there.
Snowy
Weather report for this weekend said 1-3 inches of snow, possibly down to as low as 3000 feet, which would've gotten us at the house. It didn't quite dip down that low, but this was what the mountains to the northeast of us looked like Sunday morning.
Stormy Afternoon
A couple of weeks ago we had some pretty solid patch storms roll through Tucson. The rainbow shot I previously posted was from that day when I got home from work. This was another nice view of the mountains that afternoon.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snowpocalypse in MO
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Winter in Arizona
So all the folks back home in Missouri are about to get utterly dumped on today:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/vmix_c8e9b950-2e06-11e0-a28d-0017a4a78c22.html
Shades of the almighty '82 storm (read as: the most fun a 9-year-old ever had).
Anyway, we thought we'd send out a rainbow of solidarity... or something. This was taken last night shortly after I got home from work.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/vmix_c8e9b950-2e06-11e0-a28d-0017a4a78c22.html
Shades of the almighty '82 storm (read as: the most fun a 9-year-old ever had).
Anyway, we thought we'd send out a rainbow of solidarity... or something. This was taken last night shortly after I got home from work.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
It's about Thyme
David read this week that having a grow light helps the seeds get a much faster and better start. We have been putting a flourescent light over the seeds for 2 days now and we have our first sprout!
Full moon!
David borrowed a tripod from a friend at work (Hi Will!) and got this great picture of the moon the other night. The amount of detail is quite impressive.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Veggie Starts
All the seeds waiting to be put into our seedling starter. Two kinds of bell peppers, san marzano tomatoes, indian chile, hungarian paprika chile, french chile, as well as some genovese and thai basil.
Veggie Seeds
So we're going to try once again this year to grow some stuff from seed. Last year we tried some herbs, and honestly didn't put a whole ton of effort into it. Hopefully it works out, and if it does we've enough seed for the next couple of years.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
bird on feeder
David has been using his new camera (and telephoto lens) to catch some birds in the backyard. Thanks to his new bird book we identified this little guy as a Verdin - a common resident of Sonoran desert. And very cute.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Kruegers come to visit - 2010
Judy and Erwin were able to come up to visit for Christmas as well. Karl's friend Evan came over for lunch, which is how everyone is in the picture. ;)
Family Christmas 2010
We visited Jefferson City for Christmas and Karl and Britni (and dogs) came by on Monday afterwards to celebrate. This is the traditional "Mom takes a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree" picture.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Winter 2011 Garden
So as most of you know, we love to grow veggies around the house. Fresh and tasty. Well, here's shots of our second attempt at a winter crop (last year's carrots and lettuces... um... we won't talk about). This year we're attempting a few things....
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| Two smaller Broccoli plants (soon to be transplanted to the EarthBoxes): |
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| The winter crop |
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| Baby Cauliflower peeking out from the inner leaves |
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| Baby Broccoli showing off |
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| The Gnome protects all |
Piano!
A bit of a late report on this one, but in August we picked up a piano for the house. Erika has played since she was a kid, and me... I labored over one in college during my music theory days. She's been re-collecting her music she used to play as well as looking into some new stuff, and she's picked me up some technique books as well so I can learn where my fingers are supposed to go.
Piano:
Artsy reflective shot:
Piano:
Artsy reflective shot:
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