August 19, 2006 ... D-Day for perennial grassy weeds in our yard. they didn't even see it coming. bombing for Operation Enduring GreenLawn commenced at 1430 hours with a sneak attack on a large stand of bentgrass (i think it was bentgrass. who knows? as they say, kick ... err ... butt ... and take names later) on the east-central sector near the house, moving next to bermudagrass, goosegrass and an assortment of other nasty characters infiltrating the southwest flank of the property. after a refueling run, bombing raids continued throughout the property. this wasn't a "warning shot". no "economic sanctions". no "UN peacekeeping force". no, this was shock and awe baby. none of that wussy 2, 4-D or dicamba crap either. no, no, i broke out the nukes (maybe in this case, VX or sarin would be the more appropriate analogy) ... glyphosate (or "the stuff that's in Roundup" for you civies). yeah, we'll lose a few good guys that way ... but it's the price you pay for freedom, i mean, greenlawn. you say, "but Chris, that's genocide." yeah? big whoop, wanna fight about it? (sorry, Family Guy reference).
subsequent recon runs have shown a few insurgent strongholds remaining. don't tell ... but i may be calling in another airstrike for tomorrow night. hopefully i'll post some pictures of the carnage in a couple days.
in the aftermath, i'm going to be doing some serious reconstruction. this will take the form of aeration and a really good dethatching/tear stuff up so hopefully more stuff dies ... followed by a heavy overseeding (3# / 1000 SF) with a high quality kentucky bluegrass blend. still looking for good sources of seed. i've located one good source, but would need to buy more than i need. after the appropriate watering and fertilizing rounds to get the new turf started, the broadleaf weeds will get their day in the sun also. they may think they are safe ... it's just not their time yet.
in less insane news ... we've found a new use for those old concrete blocks i've been lugging around all these years: compost bin. we started constructing tonight ... will hopefully finish loading in the clippings and topsoil we've collected thus far tomorrow night. it's kind of a dual use project. the compost will be nice ... but it also cleans up the shed area. makes the dirt/compost pile look organized and gets the blocks put to use, not sitting around like an old rusted out car. pictures to come. maybe some of the neighbors will take the hint.
I can take credit for finding this ... but this is great. And i'm not really much of a Star Wars fan. apparently episode 3 comes out soon ... keep watching youtube.
hello?? hello? is this thing on? (tap tap) ok, my apologies for dropping off the face of the earth for a month there. i have a habit of doing that from time to time don't i? promise it won't happen again, until the next time. i'll make this a big one full of pictures to make up for it.
so what have we been doing? well. since the last post ... we started with a our annual July weekend visit from my old friend Ben (see Detroit Rock City for the return annual trip to see him). GM has "forced vacations" for summer shutdown so it usually works out well for Ben to come say hi. we had a lot of fun as usual. among other things we visited the Indy Zoo & White River Gardens. it was pretty packed, but still enjoyable. maybe someday we'll con Ben into moving here.
the next week was packed with a very busy times at work, Chrissy throwing a wedding shower, and getting ready for what was to come ... VACATION!! July 18 we flew out to the Pacific Northwest (Portland specifically) to hang with my bro Nate & his wife Deb for a while. it worked out that we were able to coordinate our trip with friends Sarah & Jeremiah (& their 5 mo. old Nathaniel). you may know of them from our Grand Canyon hike last summer. only that time Nathaniel was unknowningly residing inside Sarah. we had an amazingly awesome time! where to begin? well ...
we started with a couple daysat the coast. let me tell you, the Pacific coast is gorgeous. we spent 2 nights in Oceanside, OR at a house on a hill overlooking the ocean. we did a little hike out at Cape Lookout, roamed the beaches, eating good local grub, and ... one of my highlights of the trip ... crab fishing! while the girls went shopping or somesuch nonsense, us manly men went to catch dinner. crabbing was really a ton of fun. we managed to get 5 good sized dungeness crabs (and one crab caught me back pretty good) which was more than enough for the crabcakes we made later. man, those were some good crabcakes. we also picked up some fresh scallops and clams (for chowder) ... and had the ultimate fresh seafood feast that night.
when we got back to Portland ... it was super hot ... so we went east this time to explore and hike in the Columbia River gorge and take a trip up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. the scenery at both of these places was just fantastic. moss hanging over all the trees, ferns growing everywhere, giant waterfalls ... very nice. very nice indeed.
back in Portland, Nate & Deb showed us some of their favorite spots. places like Powells, Vindaloo, the rose garden (during the day and at night), shopping along Hawthorne and several other neighborhoods, lots of good coffee drinking, running the dogs at Powell Butte, Sauvie Island, Rejuvenation, the Joinery, Eric Butler's studio, etc. generally eating lots and lots of good food & drink, seeing a lot of really neat things, and having a great time. it is such a unique city. so many unique shops and restaurants. if you're familiar with Broadripple in Indianapolis, there are like 10 of those areas (with less bars) in Portland. it's obviously scenic, with daily views of Mt. Hood and often Mt. St. Helens. lots of trees and landscaping really bring the downtown down to a human scale. a great great vacation, thanks N&D!
alas, good things must come to an end. we came back to insanity at work and lots of catching up to do. followed by a weekend up north at Chrissy's parents with them heading this way for Chrissy's best friend Kristi's wedding this past weekend. big congrats to Kristi & Cary! the wedding was beautiful. their reception was held at a Conner Prairie which was very neat. we had a lot of fun catching up with some college friends we don't see often. again, we need to somehow persuade some folks to move this way.
somewhere in that same time period, some work was done around here. mostly just mowing and pulling weeds, but i did manage to put edger blocks along the grass bed and the new bed around the a/c condenser. i've also been battling the japanese beetles that have been feasting on our rose of sharon bush. the garden is in a new phase of activity. we trimmed the lettuce heavily before vacation and it hasn't come back well. we picked and froze some green beans. we've started getting cucumbers, although some of the plants have died ... i think the walnut tree above them is killing them. we pulled carrots ... didn't get a lot of them but they were good. and, tomatoes have started. lots and lots of tomatoes. i've had to stake and tie up the plants as they've considerably outgrown their cages. Chrissy has probably picked almost 2 dozen already with a ton still growing and ripening.
coming up on the schedule, we head north to see my brother Jim and his family as they move to Arizona to do mission work on an Indian reservation. that will be a sad event. the following weekend, our last wedding of the year. after that ... nothing! woohoo! we might finally have a weekend free! upcoming on the home fix-up schedule include some lawn improvement projects (for next year's lawn) and beginning to fix up the downstairs bath.
ok, well ... that's what's been happening here ... seeya in a month :-)
