Poor Blog

I know, I know. It's been way too long since the last post, but I promise we didn't forget about the blog. In the past few weeks we have been VERY busy, and the list just keeps on growing. Let's see if I can remember everything we've done:

• Planted a mini-garden with some of our vegetables.
• Got the front doorbell working.
• Backyard security light sensor is up and running. 
• Cleaned out the gutters only to find the concrete elbow completely packed with debris. Fixed just in time for a downpour.
• Finally received our very own recycling bin!!
• Raided the back shed with a bug bomb while we left for the weekend. We came home to a cemetery of roaches. (For someone that grew up where roaches were a sign of a restaurant that didn't pass its health inspection rather than just the southern humidity, the roaches HAD to go.) The mosquitoes somehow figured out how to survive :(
• Bought a rain tank! 
• Picked some tomatoes, blueberries, and peppers from our yard. Watched our oranges get a little bigger.
• Discovered it's about time to begin projects inside, as it's certainly not cooling down anytime soon.
• And.... we got CHICKENS!!!

Yes chickens. Little tweeting baby puff-balls that are beginning to look like real chickens now.  Two brown ladies and one black chick (named Cosmo, in honor of Kwaaammmiieee). They hang out in their coop while we are at work, then come flapping out to peck around in the yard until it gets dark, where they like to roost on the handrail to the backdoor. Pretty darn cute. Countdown begins until the Fall when we will hopefully have a daily dose of fresh eggs!!

{baby cheep}

{getting bigger}

{cheeeeepieeess}

The 200 gallon rain tank will hopefully be installed this weekend, raised and with a drain so we can get some pressure to water our plants and keep excess water from piling up under the foundation. Plus it couldn't hurt our water bill. 

{200 gallons of awesome-ness}

{veggie garden beginnings & the rest to come after the shed destruction}

All of our tomatoes seemed to ripen at the same time, so I ended up making a pizza with our garden prizes. And I have to say, the crust rivaled Trader Joe's herb crust pizza dough, it was THAT good.

{mmmmmmmmmm}

It is finally raining again downtown. I say that because it can easily be a torrential downpour at work 15 minutes away, and not a drop will fall at home, and because I have somehow gotten used to a daily afternoon rain, instead of SLO's 3 days/year. Time to watch the lightning over the river.

Memorial Weekend

We started Memorial Day weekend out with a crawfish boil on Travis' brand new boiler. Minus the mosquitoes eating us alive, it was a great night.

{mud bugs}

Saturday began the Bayou Country Superfest. Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler, Gloriana, Jason Aldean, Justin Moore, Jake Owen, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney.... whew. Two days and nearly 7 hours each, but it was AMAZING. And Keith Urban definitely got me a little weak in the knees when he was singing nearly an arms reach away. Saturday it rained for the first part but the fact that you could drink beer on the field in Death Valley made up for it, even if they were $7 a pop. No doubt we will be in attendance at the 2nd Annual Bayou Country Superfest.... Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw anyone??

{Brooks & Dunn - you don't get much closer than that!}

{Brooks & Dunn in the background... sort of}

After three wild days we spent Monday recovering and getting ready for our arrival: Chickens! Hopefully next week sometime, so we (Travis and Nick, to jump start their new 300 workout for May 13, 2011) prepped by building a coop. I counteracted their workout by making them crawfish scrambled eggs and bacon. Whoops. 

{300}

{ready and waiting}

We finished off the weekend with a bowl of salsa straight from our garden: tomatoes, jalapeno pepper and cilantro. Can't beat that. Now if only I could get the birds to stop pulling my sunflower sprouts out of the ground and nipping off my blueberries before I get to them.

{salsa}