adventures for leftovers

The beautiful Couer d'alene lake

“Ohhh, no way! You’re not going to do that!” Jeremy loaded a larger spoonful of horseradish on a bite of steak than I did. I prodded him on. As the tears streamed down his face and he coughed we got a good laugh. The Wolf Lodge has always brought good memories. Sitting alone off the freeway in the mountains up in the northern panhandle sits one of the most unique and most delicious steak houses I know about. You would never know by looking at it. It always works that way.

We dropped into a coffee shop. The guys were able to talk them into staying open for us while we enjoyed coffee. Jeremy enjoying two shots of espresso.
Spokane river.

My knees kept hitting my forearms. As I pedaled I realized this might not be a great idea. 12-14 miles is typically an easy ride. In the normal sitting postion on a bike your head shouldn’t be over the front tire. Mine was. Jason laughed as he sat comfortably on his new 2010 carbon fiber Felt road bike. My “I’m just borrowing this bike cause I don’t live here” bike acted like it was excited to be out on the asphalt but was just as out of shape as I was. The wind was blowing, my hands were becoming numb but I had a smile on my face and when I tried to wipe it off to see if I could I couldn’t. Being on a bike with your friends in beautiful country is one of the greatest feelings.

So far....

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the lady next to me with her open hands turned up. A prayer for a safe landing I assume. I turned toward the window and anticipated the smoke from the wheel when we first made contact with the ground. These smaller planes always make for a more interesting flight. But with the turbulence comes a lower flying altitude; that with the Cascade mountain range makes for a beautiful flight from Seattle to Spokane.

The phone rang but no answer. I looked up to see the other end of my phone call standing there. Jake looked the same as I had last seen him. Big smile as if the world was perfect. A good embrace and a lighter load as he took one of my two bags. The walk to the car brought cooler but cleaner air. Spokane has no distinct smell. Not until summer when the pine trees start to heat up do you notice any memorable sense.

A local burrito shop was our destination as the hunger of 6 hours of flying was taking a toll on my stomach. The "Hungry Man's" burrito was my choice. Filled with steak, potatoes, corn salsa, cheese and something special was probably the last thing I needed but what the heck, lets eat!

A simple walk took me to familiar places. I went alone. I found myself calling a couple people but no answers. This was good though. Spring has started here and barely.

I learned much on my walk. I will share later as my friends are arriving here. Time is limited.

Scott

Winter's over for sure.

Another quarter in the books. I find myself falling asleep for a couple hours in the middle of the day but that wasn't the intention. This reveals to me how taxing school really is. Spring break should bring lots of rest and refreshing activities to remind me of life outside the books.

Thursday night we attended a wedding for a classmate of mine. Katie works with her mother at our church so it made for a fun evening for both of us. Friday Katie got home early and after a nap we made a short trip east into the desert for some tennis. It was more or less a trial year for us. We knew it would be fun but had no idea who played who or what an event like this would be like. We ate outside the grounds only to find lots of fun foods we could have enjoyed inside.

We went up to our seats (below) just to see the view. We were really high up. We wondered back down and checked out the festivities.
The grounds were gorgeous. The air was filled with the smell of near by orange trees that make their presence known with their fragrant white blossoms.

As we were walking toward our seats a lady ran up behind us and asked if we had tickets. We said yes and she asked if we wanted better tickets. (Her confidence in "better" tickets made me think these were some pretty nice seats.) We found ourselves a couple rows from the court and could hear the players talking. Here's a picture of our $20 seats and our "better" $$$ seats.

We watched the women's semifinals and the men's double finals.




After sleeping in Saturday morning we tackled Katie's squash garden.
We dug down far enough to lay chicken wire to keep the gophers out.
Couldn't resist the cheap deal on some mums, morning glory's and white flowers.

The finished product. Well, the beginning of the finished product.
Katie utilized the potting table I built last year. It made me proud that she used it even though I had to remind her we had it all the time.
Great start to spring! Now it's off to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and maybe a campfire. Monday and Tuesday will be work days for me and then the rest of the week vacation.

Organic gardening... an attempt

So, I, Katie, am conducting an experiment... testing my green thumb and taking advantage of the Southern California weather. A garden... and I'm starting some of it from seeds...

I'm trying out different ways of starting seeds: plastic left-over pots from previously purchased plants, organic fiber pots that can go right into the garden when ready to plant, and eco-friendly seed starter kits (complete with soil pellets that expand with water and plant food for the seedlings ... yum).
Seeds growing right now: Italian Parsley, Parsley, Lavender, Zucchini, Beets, Pumpkin, Carrots, Chives, Cucumber, Delicata Squash, Sweet Peas and Cosmos. (The red/green leafy plants in the first two fiber pots are cut off from a friend's Coleus plant that i transplanted here.)


By the way, any suggestions or advice gladly welcomed... (Dan!)

Still on my list to grow (probably will go with seedlings if and when i can find them): pole/lattice varieties of green beans and peas, peppers (not sure which variety), tomatoes, basil and mint... maybe some more herbs, we'll see.

Speaking of herbs, below is rosemary and oregano left from the previous family that lived here. The rosemary is in much need of some trimming...
This is the raised bed where most of these seedlings will grow and produce beautiful vegetables. It's 6x6' and I plan to divide it into 9 2x2' squares. My peppers, tomatoes and herbs will for sure go into pots. Pumpkins might go somewhere else as well... i still have some mapping out to do.

The next step is cleaning out the freshly laid mulch (from Christmas break) of the raised bed and filling it with good organic soil, but first re-laying the chicken wire a few feet down to keep out the gofers that reside in our backyard. Yikes!


more pics to come...