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}

Guest Room/Man Cave

This weekend is Bayou Country Superfest!!! Two days, 10 country artists, 80,000 people, 1 stadium.... Let's hope we make it out alive. Since Nick and Abby are coming to stay with us for the concert I decided to do a little work on the Guest Room/ Man Cave. The two don't normally go together, but we're working on that. The back room almost instantly became the Man Cave because of the walls. Most of the house is covered with cypress paneling, but the back room has Pecky Cypress paneling. To me it was just more wood, and when I mentioned painting it in front of the house inspector he nearly killed me. Apparently it's very special wood, and has sort of become the theme of this blog. According to Dogtrot General Store:
       "Pecky Cypress refers to cypress lumber, whether tidewater or sinker, that has holes throughout it. It is rare, since it only occurs in occasional logs, and cannot be discovered until the log is cut. It only forms from the inside out in a circular pattern following the tree's rings. When milled, the pattern of pecky holes is random, and only lumber cut from the inside of the log will contain the pecky. Like all cypress, pecky is beautiful and durable. It has all the properties of regular cypress, including rot resistance and insect resistance."
 This also makes it very expensive... hence the no painting.

 {pecky cypress}

So, Man Cave it is. And a perfect location for the Moore family fish pictures that we have inherited. Fish. Wood. Powertools. Argh, argh, argh. I think Tim Allen would be proud.
Now getting the pictures actually hung, straight, aligned and perfectly evenly spaced, let's just say, it took a little longer than expected and the T-squares and levels were brought out because someone didn't trust my eye...

 {fishies}

They made it up and look perfect. I hope Nick and Abby enjoy their weekend in the Man Cave. We are off to test out Travis' new crawfish boiler than two awesome girls bought him for his birthday, and to get this Memorial Weekend started. Hopefully I will have a picture of me and Keith Urban to post next time :)

The Weekend

This past weekend we spent in Alexandria to celebrate Rachel and Michel's engagement. Congrats guys!! It was a good little trip, but by Saturday night we were both saying we were anxious to get home so we could fiddle and tinker with our projects. We loaded up on some plants from Forest Hill (squash, cucumber, lavender and cilantro!) and some supplies at Home Depot, including this can of wonder:

{can-o-wonder}

This fancy little can turned our almost-gone BBQ into something that looks like it didn't sit outside for a few too many hurricanes. We tested it out that night and deemed it a success.

{No rust here!}

{Isn't she pretty?}

At the same time I picked out a color for the chalk board and we rummaged around to find a good piece of wood to be the back board. It will be complete before you come Julie!

{getting closer...}

Tonight as we were walking home from the running club the evening storm was rolling in and the wind picked up. It was just starting to rain as we got home, so we nabbed a few blackberries from the neighbor's yard for dessert and watched the rain fall into our buckets for tomorrow afternoon's watering. Free dinner, free beer, AND free water. What a night.

Plenty of Projects

Today was my idea of a typical southern afternoon in the spring: As I was outside taking some pictures for the blog I heard the thunder rolling in. Just as I finished up and got inside the downpour came and the air instantly turned from muggy hot to perfectly chilled. I opened every window and door in the house, then sat on the porch and watched the lighting from my dry nook. It was perfect. All I needed was a glass of sweet tea.

{downpour}

Last week I picked up the window frame at Habitat ReStore - I can't seem to decide on what color I want to spray paint it, so it remains bare and sitting in the spare bedroom.

{future chalkboard - green or blue?}

We got a huge score when Travis picked up an old cabinet/dresser piece sitting on the side of the road in Spanish Town. FREE! It is in need of some serious work, being that half the doors are broken off, but the old fashioned key-hole and knobs had me sold. A cabinet and TV stand maybe? That's if we ever break down and buy a TV and cable....

{keyhole & knobs}

{Potential}

And just a little update, we have an eggplant!!! I go outside and check this guy every day, and I'm already trying to figure out exactly how I will cook it.

{baby eggplant}