i have no excuses for not posting
... but i'll give it a shot: cat ate keyboard. busy training to be Peyton Manning's backup. abducted by aliens. been holding breath waiting for a verdict in the Landis hearings. recruited to star in new sitcom staring Chuck Norris and the caveman guy from the TV commercials. walking across America. ok, so maybe you don't buy into any of those. i'll mainly claim "too busy" followed by "too tired to catch up on the blog". it's that old catch 22 ... the longer you wait to update, the longer it takes. but, let's give it a shot. it's gonna be a big one -- so hold on to your mouse. since the last post we:
- getting home just in time (3am-ish) to fly out for our vacation in Florida over our anniversary (Fort Myers),
& strange mysterious creatures (this is a tribute to a similar photo Jim's kids took a while back ... i am playing the part of Seth--different photo, but similar hilarity to the one in question, just imagine Seth in the same pose as me)
- participated in the Indy area "Canstruction" competition - folks in the construction/design industry design & build large "things" out of cans to benefit local food charities and raise hunger awareness (it's a shopping cart containing a milk carton, bananas, asparagus, an apple, and a blue thing we decided to call blueberry yogurt)
- went to my first (and probably last considering the contract w/ IMS wasn't renewed) US Grand Prix with Ben (and Ben, Dan, & Debbie from Detroit)
- Andy got some new diggs (he's in the upper left, chillin' on one of the food dishes)
- Hazel has remained lazy (surprise)
- put a ceiling fan in the living room (bloody knuckles? why yes. when we re-did the electric we screwed the ceiling box for the light into the joists. that box wasn't made for a fan. thus, bloody knuckles getting that sucker out)
- installed a new outlet in the basement for the small freezer we got from my mom (new 20A circuit so i can use it for amp-sucking tools also). methinks me's an electrician.
- along the side, salvaged dusty millers from last years front beds, replacement cherry parfait rose (last years died this spring) and another one that i can't remember the name of (has a deep red--almost brownish or orangish. i think the name has to do with chocolate or mocha). gallardia from last year (very tiny last year, no blooms). and a black eyed susan that didn't do anything last year (i think it was from seed from mom's plantings)
- in addition to the 3 tomatoes we planted, we had about a dozen-ish volunteer tomatoes that grew out of the compost heap (from last years scraps apparently). i left most of them that weren't in they way of the wildflower plantings ... and they are just now ripening. who wants tomatoes?!!
- some things with no pictures include the 17th annual Shakespeare in the park (that being Seminary Park about 5 blocks south of the house). this year was "The Tempest". it wasn't bad ... a few good players, a few not so good. one guy looked like "the king" from the Burger King commercials. mainly it's just pretty cool that they even do this ... and for 17 years, wow. Chrissy also went to the "art fair on the square" showcasing local artists with a friend of hers. we've enjoyed several other evenings downtown eating good food (e.g. beer and ice cream), hanging out with friends, looking at the old cars at the weekly Saturday evening cruise-ins, etc. and we found out we have a decent walk score of 77 ... how about you?
- went to Abid' & Daniah's valima (groom's wedding reception) in Cleveland
- getting home just in time (3am-ish) to fly out for our vacation in Florida over our anniversary (Fort Myers),
& spent some time with Chrissy's grandparents who live near Ocala (who also came up north in June to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the family--see picture 2 --- Michael and I do our best Uncle Rico)
& saw manatees
& squirrels
& strange mysterious creatures (this is a tribute to a similar photo Jim's kids took a while back ... i am playing the part of Seth--different photo, but similar hilarity to the one in question, just imagine Seth in the same pose as me)
- participated in the Indy area "Canstruction" competition - folks in the construction/design industry design & build large "things" out of cans to benefit local food charities and raise hunger awareness (it's a shopping cart containing a milk carton, bananas, asparagus, an apple, and a blue thing we decided to call blueberry yogurt)
- went to my first (and probably last considering the contract w/ IMS wasn't renewed) US Grand Prix with Ben (and Ben, Dan, & Debbie from Detroit)
- Andy got some new diggs (he's in the upper left, chillin' on one of the food dishes)
- Hazel has remained lazy (surprise)
- Chrissy finished the "Family" wall with marvelous results
- put a ceiling fan in the living room (bloody knuckles? why yes. when we re-did the electric we screwed the ceiling box for the light into the joists. that box wasn't made for a fan. thus, bloody knuckles getting that sucker out)
- installed a new outlet in the basement for the small freezer we got from my mom (new 20A circuit so i can use it for amp-sucking tools also). methinks me's an electrician.
- put in the new countertop in the kitchen (plus sink and new faucet). thanks for the help Dave!
- removed the trim from the kitchen. was gonna strip/repaint. but decided it wasn't worth the effort. it's just plain 1x lumber anyway (no detail) so i don't feel bad not re-using it. replacing it with similar 1x poplar. the new trim is about 1/3 primed/painted. been working on scraping the door off for about 3 weeks now (as we have time). the upper 3+ layers came off with paint stripper ... but it did nothing to the lower 2 for some reason. so, been diligently scraping them all off. what a HUGE pain.
- when we're done scraping (provided i don't slit my wrists with the paint scraper) we'll go ahead and re-do the walls (probably a chocolatey venetian plaster). and add white wainscotting. new crown moulding. and ... the order is officially placed for new cabinet doors and drawer fronts! ordered via Mica Shop and their suppliers. we'll pick them up later this month and get them installed ... well, when we get to that point in the kitchen process. need to do some repair work on some of the drawers and strip/repaint the cabinet frames first too. here's sorta what it will look like (courtesy of Dave):
- and of course, lots of activity outdoors. with the really dry weather, i've spent WAY too much time watering to keep things alive. and lots of weeding. but, for the most part things have done well. here's the front (new additions -- white alyssums along the edge, red/white/green coleus, angelface & white liatris along the walk, multicolored gazania and mexican feather grass in the containers)
- along the side, salvaged dusty millers from last years front beds, replacement cherry parfait rose (last years died this spring) and another one that i can't remember the name of (has a deep red--almost brownish or orangish. i think the name has to do with chocolate or mocha). gallardia from last year (very tiny last year, no blooms). and a black eyed susan that didn't do anything last year (i think it was from seed from mom's plantings)
- we added random flowers/wildflowers beside the garage slab, the compost heap/wood pile, and on the alley side of the big grass bed. these have really surprised us. lots of flowers! the hardest part is knowing which are weeds and which are flowers. still not sure on some of them. but, green amongst flowers usually still looks ok when it's all random anyway. the one's by the grasses were planted probably 2 months later so they just now started blooming (along with 3 or 4 random unknown melon or squash plants we have yet to ID ... left 2 of them growing). on the opposite side of the grasses are mixed dahlias (some doing great, others not ... a few pics at the bottom).
- the veggie garden is doing fairly well (after installing multi level fencing to keep out the 10 rabbits that were born next door). was doing AMAZING until early July. not sure exactly what happened, but our cucumbers that we going gangbusters (4 or 5 ripe ones a day) went droopy. most are still alive, but not doing much (a few fruit a week). the zucchini plants went downhill, then recovered, now are dying again. i think it's poor drainage in their corner of the garden. have to fix that next year. chrissy's fall gourds in the back are on 'roids or something. seriously, those 2 plants would have covered the whole garden if we didn't keep trimming them back. we've planted another round of lettuce. planted another round of green beans too (already froze a dozen or so 2 person servings for later). kohlrabi has been good. 2 types of peppers ... doing so-so. some herbs. 3 types of tomatoes (cherry, lemon boy, roma) ... all of which are producing insanely. we've frozen probably 20 bags for sauce already ... and they're still going. in the front, random dahlias (sorta old picture, more are now in bloom).
- in addition to the 3 tomatoes we planted, we had about a dozen-ish volunteer tomatoes that grew out of the compost heap (from last years scraps apparently). i left most of them that weren't in they way of the wildflower plantings ... and they are just now ripening. who wants tomatoes?!!
- and the butterfly bushes. they were doing great, growing and blooming like crazy. for some reason though, the one in the back recently started going downhill. whole stems just keep dying. i'm wondering if there is a lot of condensation from the condenser keeping it too wet or something (i noticed the soil was really damp recently). hmm. yeah, i think it's a moisture issue somehow.
- some things with no pictures include the 17th annual Shakespeare in the park (that being Seminary Park about 5 blocks south of the house). this year was "The Tempest". it wasn't bad ... a few good players, a few not so good. one guy looked like "the king" from the Burger King commercials. mainly it's just pretty cool that they even do this ... and for 17 years, wow. Chrissy also went to the "art fair on the square" showcasing local artists with a friend of hers. we've enjoyed several other evenings downtown eating good food (e.g. beer and ice cream), hanging out with friends, looking at the old cars at the weekly Saturday evening cruise-ins, etc. and we found out we have a decent walk score of 77 ... how about you?
let's see. that's about it i suppose. sure we forgot something. hopefully i'll be able to keep up better now that i've caught up. upcoming events will be -- continuing the kitchen work, seeing Jim, Roxane and the kids!, going to my family reunion in Ohio ... and football season starting! to close, here are some random floral shots (including one that includes a japanese beetle ... i've picked several thousand off the rose of sharon and butterfly bushes already ... ugh).
posted by Chris and Chrissy Miller @ 11:28 PM
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