Fall Garden Update

Let me open by introducing The Fuchsia Dude.

The local deer adore him and keep him all duded up with this awesome do.

Sorry... I do not deny being easily amused.



It's been a crazy wacky summer on the Oregon Coast.
But I thought I'd bust out a garden update for you.



The dill battled the bush beans for supremacy....
And the bush beans were winning for a while...
But let's face it no one can beat out volunteer dill.
And in the end victory was theirs.



The absolute best thing about the cool summer we had was that my sweet peas are still going.
I adore them.
They make me smile.
And smell makes up for stinky shin guards.




Even better than the absolute best thing above ( so would that be the absolute bestester?)...
Was the strawberries.

We pretty much eat strawberries every night and every morning.
How awesome is that?
I will be soooooo sad when they give up for the winter.

I really wanted to update you all on all the new stuff I tried out for funsies this year.


This one I didn't even try for.

We must have eaten a spaghetti squash sometime in the past year....
although I don't remember doing that...
which is not at all unusual...

Luckily it came up in a most convenient place so we let it ramble...
Apparently they are very productive...
Even without a lot of heat.

Sooo remember that whole green plastic angst saga?
Well I can only say that without the green plastic sheet we would never have seen the squash we were able to get this year...

And another of my new crops....Tigger Melons... barely eeked out an existence and would certainly have met an early demise....



But victory is mine!

I got...are you ready?....
Two

Yep count em....two
I stuck a strawberry near this one for scale for ya.

But wait....

Since these pictures were taken we've rain, sun, and fog....
So pretty much the same pattern as the whole summer...
And there is one more out there!

See?? Totally worth it!
I know!

Now I don't wanna go dissin on the new guys so in all fairness they all deserve at least one more shot during a more normal summer.



I mean here it is September and the pole beans are still just blossoms...

It's because of things like this:

Seriously a 2-3 inch rain in September??
They just look so sad...

No wonder the poor things don't know what to do...
I think I might be a little scared that I'm making excuses for my vegetables....
hmmmm...

The Soliel yellow fillet beans were scared too....and still in blossom...

Although I am happy to report that since that photo was taken we have harvested a bunch of them ....
Since we got a sun burst and they figured it was safe...
And boy are they tasty...
They will definitely get a rerun next year.

Another newbie that apparently likes a little sun...
the edamame has given us exactly one edamame and beer feast...

We waited all summer for them...
And I say, reluctantly, that is was kinda worth it...
They were really yummy ...
and I feel they deserve a real summer...

Beets are coming along....

Napa cabbage loves this time of year...
Unfortunately every slug and bug on the face of the earth loves Napa Cabbage...
Hopefully they will leave us enough for our fish tacos.

A good portion of our winter garden is in....
Cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli...
It's amazing how fast they grow...
Check this out one week....

One rain and sun and fog later.....

Cheddar Cauliflower one week....

One rain and sun and fog later....

Mourning what could have been and looking forward to roasted cauliflower leaves,

Cath

The House Painting Project - Part 2

If you missed part one of the ever so simple paint-the-house project, you can find that here.

Soooo....

After a few days of the "plastic is our friend" phase...

We began to find insects the size of an air craft carrier.

We quickly moved on to my least favorite phase...

The "just put siding over the whole durn thing" phase.

I affectionately called our living room the Bat Cave.

Windowless places make me crazy.

So we were crazy but bugless...

Life is all about trade offs.

Thankfully three of the windows and a new door soon arrived.

I am totally lovin the living room windows.

When we first chose the windows for this house we thought that the gridded windows would give a little cottagey charm.

We always regretted that decision...at least for this side of the house.

The grids were constantly in the view.

So here we have the new and improved, slightly larger, gridless windows and the famous Door To Nowhere:

We've had a Deck Fund for a few years.  We keep adding to it in hopes of a future deck.

Every time we have a family party or graduation we wish there was way to connect our house to the backyard without having to go out the front door and go around.

So now that our youngest child will be graduating we are shooting for a deck by graduation.

For now it's the Door To Nowhere...

But we have hope people!

Dylan helped Rich a lot with this phase.

Collin had some lame excuse about a great job four hours away...

What?  Our windows don't trump a career move?



*sigh* We'll just have to make do.

We were still waiting on the boys' bathroom window and of course we decided that since every window on this side of the house was being replaced except one....

Well what was one more??

Are we certifiable yet?

And then....oh happy day!  The last two windows arrived!

We...we in the collective sense...meaning Rich and Dylan.....added the outer siding and some trim for good measure.

Ooooo ahhhh all the windows together at last:

Before:

After:

The gridded living room windows before:

No grids and the Door To Nowhere after:

 

We made some progress today toward getting paint ordered.

The forecast this weekend is for rain.

A prefect reason to put this off one more week dontcha think?

Next weekend is the goal.

I'll keep ya posted.

Cath

Happy 18th Birthday Dylan!

On September 8, 1992,

in a little house in Oceanside, CA....

literally...

he was born at home.... 

we welcomed Dylan into our world.

Arik and Collin checkin out the new guy...

He was a whopper.

Ten pounds, eight ounces.

The size of a toddler really.

I was terrified that I would never be able to handle adding another little body to the blur that was my life.

But hey... it all worked out.

He was a very shy baby and young child.

My first child who wanted to pretend.

He noticed things that no one else did.

And he made us all laugh.

He was quiet...except for when he was REALLY loud.

He had two volumes....
"Huh? Speak up!"  and "Jeez don't yell!"

He had no intention of being left behind.

He was absolutely certain he could do anything his three older brothers did.

And he was usually right.

I think this was the year we had to haul him off third base where he had taken up the base runner's stance during one of Sean and Arik's T-ball games.  Wow was he mad!  It was his team.  They needed him!

See the skates in the background?  Those are his too.  I know.... they don't match.

He didn't care.  He was one and a half....

skating, rollerblading, playing t-ball and catching frogs with the best of them.

Our kids didn't have a lot of toys...unless you count the 94 billion Legos I stepped on every night...

We were a video game free zone...

But they did have a lot of tools, art supplies and science kits.

We had kid sized tools of all kinds and for the most part they jumped right into the mix of whatever we were doing.

When we cleared our home site for our new house they 'helped' til they dropped.
The guy who collects the most dirt wins.

Cooking?

They dragged over a chair.

One of the rules of fishing was that you had to help clean the boat....

However high you could reach...

And boy did he want to go fishing.

It beat the heck out of being stuck with Mom while everyone else was out.
.

Did I mention he made us laugh?

See Sean there trying to keep him in line?
Sean had a lot of patience. 
He taught Dylan a lot of things ...
And made sure he didn't kill himself.
Dylan could give us all a good case of the giggles.
Collin, especially, found him amusing.

Dylan and Collin have a special friendship.

We used to refer to them as Frick and Frack.
They spent a lot of time together and between the two of them they had a lot of fun.



Helping on the volunteer crew for the Naish Wave Bash in Pistol River. Our job was to time the windsurfing  heats from the top of the big rock.

He was already a windsurfing fan as well.  He began windsurfing at the ripe old age of six.



The year he was seven going on eight, he and Collin played on the same Little League baseball team and he had his first pitching experience....

He was rockin' the futbol pitch in a pretty serious way....

And he and his buddy Ben ran in the Oregon State Cross Country meet in the Pre Bantam division in Sandy, Oregon where it was a mighty chilly November day.... 
he came in 5th...

Summer after summer we return to Floras lake to meet old friends, make and bring new friends, and do our best to wear out kids on the water.

Remember that tools thing?

Beware... it leads to scenes like this...

Middle School brought a few new sports onto the scene.

Track and Field...his main motivation being to be faster for soccer...
and to win medals.

And basketball...
Good indoor fun in the winter and chance to hang out with your buddies on the team.

One of Dylan's favorite memories is our unforgettable trip to Maui when he was in 8th grade.

He snorkeled and swam with the turtles...

Mountain biked the back side of Haleakala...

Not the Skyline road thing that everyone else does....

It's a dirt trail much less traveled and quite an adventure....

The kids loved this sign at the beginning of the trail.

He ocean windsurfed off the beach in Kehei....

He can't wait to get back one day.




Every now and then he takes a little break from all the action.

But not for long....

There are things to do....

Pigs to feed...

The first day of High School looking forward to new adventures....

Hunting with Arik in Eastern Oregon.
Arik is always one of Dylan's biggest encouragers and probably taught Dylan more about sports and the outdoors than anyone else....
He's always ready and willing to cheer Dylan on...

Another of our "happy places"....
San Elijo State Beach in San Diego County...
Worth every minute of the long drive...

You blink twice and the DMV sees fit to hand your baby a driver's license...
Lord help me...

The bodies keep getting bigger and the games go on....

But I don't want you to think Dylan is only about sports.
True enough it's a big part of his life.

He inspires me in so many ways.

He takes classes I never even qualified for.

And maintains a pretty impressive GPA.

He is incredibly conscientious and his work ethic is amazing.

He inspires me to challenge myself and do things when I don't want to.

Isn't that one supposed to be the other way around?

He is thoughtful and remembers special days for family members and friends.

On occasion, he volunteers when he sees a need.

He finds a space for God in his life.

He shows leadership on his teams and among his friends.

I even got a phone call from a teacher last year who took time out to tell me what a great kid he is.

He never gives up.

And won't let his friends down.

And so it goes...

Amazing really....

I am so thankful for the ride...

I can't imagine it any other way...

Happy Birthday buddy!

Thanks for lighting up my life.

I love ya!

Mom