...further notes from the bookstore

As of this morning we are no longer allowed to have MP3 players on the floor while the store is closed. Apparently listening to music is "multi-tasking" and we are "not very efficient multi-taskers." So no shutting the world out for the first two hours of my day until the store meets shelving productivity standards.
Right.
Somebody get me out of here.

...and today's stupid customer question is: "Where is your non-fiction section?"

DIY gurus? er....perhaps not

Flushed with our past success in building bookshelves, a wine rack and other household items we decided to embark on the first of many woodworking projects we've been wanting to do outside when the weather got nice. So yesterday we took advantage of the sunshine and got out the materials we had purchased back in January or February when we conceived the idea of building a wall wine rack for Joe's dad for his upcoming birthday. It's not meant to hold a lot, but it's based on a design that my Dad did for himself about 15 years ago and that we liked.

I'm not sure we fully understood the amount of work we were taking on, but just figuring out and drawing the measurements took a couple of beers, a calculator and at least an hour. Then we got to the cutting, I took on the chop saw and the dowels (that is, er...also, ear plugs and safety glasses-sexy sexy) and Joe the skill saw and the body of the rack. Joe also used the jigsaw to create some nice curves in the outside corners. So chopping and sawing done we were ready to drill holes. I have to say I am somewhat enamored with the drill bit that lets you bore a 1 1/2 inch hole through a piece of wood. That is, at least I was enamored. It's a tough fucker to operate and I think I might have killed the project with a huge gouge that I took out of the side of the board. But the shavings are cool.

We sanded some of the dowels and the inside of the drill holes (try not to picture it) and then called it a day. We'll see what kind of sanding it'll take to take the gouge down from heinous to noticeable and then decide how to press on from there. But that's next weekend stuff.

I also spent some time on the side of the house digging up our pumpkin mounds and mixing the clay dirt with some topsoil so that there would be better drainage and so seedlings could actually push through the earth instead of flounder. I also planted some poppies to bring in the bees, so we can actually have pumpkins. And...we'll see how it goes, but we put in some sugar snap peas in the front yard near the cast iron decorative supports on the house (and the railing) to see if we can get them to climb and grow there. The plum tree in the front of our house is in full bloom now, but this is what it looked like just a few days ago: It's just gorgeous and I'm excited for the fruit, we were only just able to sample some last year in July before the season ended, so we should be rolling in the plums this year (according to our neighbors who also have a plum tree, they make excellent crisps).
Though the forecast called for rain on Saturday morning, we ventured out with Andy on a short bike ride. Joe switched on the cog set and wheels for my bike, so I got the super racing wheels and an added boost of confidence. We left from our house and did a loop to the northwest, stopping for a train and a bit of de-layering (as the sun was shining). I felt much better on the bike this weekend and even managed to keep up with the boys. We went 15 miles and kept a good speed pretty much the whole time. I also biked to and from yoga this week, a habit that I plan to continue-unless it's raining, wet stuck on clothing yoga seems highly unappealing.

At least biking and this wine rack project will keep us busy while we anxiously await the better part of spring so we can plant more veggies, herbs and flowers.

Ethanol vs. Tortillas

I was listening to NPR this morning and they were interviewing the executive director of Shell Oil company about the use of ethanol and it's possible effects on world food supplies. It was a broad sort of interview and they only touched on this aspect very briefly, but it sparked my interest. We have a rotting surplus of corn in this country. So I don't really see how world food SUPPLY would differ. Shell is arguing that ethanol producers should use non food based agents that contain cellulose so that the supply and demand curves on food products do not shift dramatically.

The executive director also noted that the price of corn has doubled since Bush's announcement concerning ethanol and that it concerns them that basic foods could become unattainable, i.e.: tortillas. What is not being addressed is the problem of allocation and distribution.

As Micheal Pollan discusses in his most recent book, corn is a major part of every human diet, it comes from animal products (cows, chickens, pigs, turkeys and farmed fish (via feed), sweetened products (via corn syrup and it's high fructose version, processed foods (via corn flour and leavening, distribution.lethicin etc.), corn products (i.e.: chips, tortillas), beer (adjunct) and just corn itself. It's also in a ton of nonfood items from disposable diapers to cleansers. The price of corn is now so low that in the US the government gives subsidies to farmers who grow it ($19 billion in US taxpayer dollars each year), and the majority of it sits in grain elevators. So we feed industry and animals corn and we produce more than we can consume in the U.S. There seems to be a problem when we're sitting on all of this corn not to mention feeding it to animals when millions of people are already starving; all of this prior to more corn going to ethanol production.

eh?

...are you there spring?

Garlic! Our winter crop is looking awesome from this side of the soil...we'll see what's beneath soon enough; if things go well we're going to have about 50 heads of garlic. Vampire warding braids shall be given to all :)

We've also noticed a lot of these pretty purple flowers poking up too, whether wild or from previous tenants, they were lovely to see as a first sign of potential spring.

I am anxious to get more seeds in the ground, as this will be our first 'yard garden' instead of container garden. We've got big plans and probably more seeds than the yard can feasibly take. But we'll see how it goes. Our biggest plot of potential planting ground is were our gas pipeline used to be. (You know, the one that was leaking when we first moved in?) So we're hesitant to plant anything we want to eat there- so we're going to try for some jack 'o lanterns and wildflowers and see how it goes. It's too bad too, because not only is it the biggest spot, it's the sunniest. Perhaps next year we can make a giant container and fill it with dirt--sigh, it just seems to defeat the purpose (or my 'yard garden' spirit).

Quasi enjoyed some more time outside as we collected an organized the debris from the apple tree pruning that Joe did last week (while it was hailing). C'mon spring, any time now. We also burnt off the Christmas tree that someone dumped in our yard back in January. Grinch style. If only I had a shot of that, Joe shoving the dead tree foot by foot into our outdoor fireplace... "you're a mean one, Mr. Grinch."

We also got a bike ride in over the weekend and the sexiness of my cold weather biking gear is more than enough to be begging for warmer weather. It was great to get on a lighter, faster bike and although I think 25 miles was a bit much for the inaugural 'back in the saddle again' ride, it was fun (if not entirely grueling and painful). Yoga this week was a good reminder that I haven't entirely recovered, as my quads screamed through the lunges.