We've started on the rock patio

When digging the foundation walls we came across a great many rocks. For those living in the Adirondacks, this comes as no surprise. For those outside this great area, when I say rocks, I mean ROCKS! We ended up with what I joked was a defensive perimeter around the house. Zombie apocalypse? No problem - we have breastworks from which to shoot.

In addition to the naturally occurring rocks, we also found a barn's stone foundation. These rocks had been either shaped or carefully chosen by the original builders so that they were sort of squarish. And usually had a flat side. Perfect for building walls - or patios!

So we set those aside into a big pile for future use. And the future is now!

We started with some of the larger surface area rocks to place next to the porch. They're very heavy.

He's happy about this. Honest.

It was tricky getting it into place without damaging the porch slab. Fortunately Chris is very, very good with that tractor.

The inaugural rock

Several hours of moving, digging, and scooching later, we had four rocks in place and one ready for placement. Just 2000 square feet to go!

Awesome stepping stones (and look at that new grass!)

The plan is to cover the entire east yard while leaving space for the kitchen garden and the fire ring. I'll plant landscape thyme in between the rocks to soften the look, plus it'll smell wonderful when we walk on it. The cool stuff has started!

More of the garden

More from the garden and flower beds - these photos are from 5/16 or so.

We have pretty wildflowers all over

The only chicken I have right now

Grass is coming up!

Lupin coming up

Mini irises - only 8 inches tall

Hostas, foxglove, and something unidentifiable until it flowers

Red Jonathan apple

Sad Macintosh apple

Sad Red Jonathan 

East end of garden - tomatoes, marigolds, herbs, chicken

Green and jalapeño pepper plants; delicata squash far left

Lettuce right and center, arugula left

Kale; peas at west end

Garlic, struggling

So that's everything from about mid-May. Lots more is showing and growing now. And we even got a bit of rain today!

Garden Journal May 2015

This post will be extremely boring for anyone not intimately involved in my garden. Basically, that means everyone but me. You've been warned.

Garden notes:

• I set up the new garden bed in the southeast corner of the yard. 4 feet wide by about 24 feet long. This is a test bed - does it get enough sun? Is it in an inconvenient spot? Next year I'll make it permanent if it does well.
• It's been very warm and dry this May (almost no rain)
• Started herbs indoors mid-April
• Rosemary
• Basil (compact and sweet)
• Cilantro
• Began hardening herbs on 5/1
• Planted on 5/11:
• Direct sow
• Peas (Burpeeana Early), should emerge 5/18 to 5/25
• Seedlings
• Herbs started inside
• Rosemary is giving me fits. Doesn't want to grow. About half a dozen sprouts that don't seem to be getting any bigger.
• Cilantro isn't anything to write home about either. Good germination but seems to have stagnated. No real growth.
• Planted on 5/15
• Direct sow
• Kale, emerges 5/25 to 6/5 
• Arugula, emerges 5/21 to 5/29
• Spring Crisp Mix Lettuce
• Green Oakleaf Lettuce
• Freckles Lettuce
• Marigolds
• Planted on 5/23
• Seedlings
• Beefsteak tomatoes
• Ace Green peppers
• Craig Giant jalapeno
• Delicata squash
• Planted on 5/24
• Seedlings
• Delta Pansy
• Yellow, purple, mix
• Super Elfin Impatiens, mixed colors
• Observations
• The kale, freckles lettuce, marigolds, and arugula are sprouting
• The peas sprouted on the last day of the estimated emerge time.
• The spring mix and green oak leaf lettuces are finally sprouting too.
• The planted seedlings look healthy.
• The garlic came up early and looked good to start but is now getting yellow on the leaves. I suspect a nitrogen issue and will be adding fertilizer. 

A quick trip to the Vineyard

We took a quick trip down to Martha's Vineyard in mid-April and brought Cooper. She was none too sure about the whole thing. Long car ride, lots of noise and people at the ferry dock, and she had no idea if it would all be worth it.

Looking out from a safe spot

She settled right in on the stern of the ferry though. And wow! were there lots of dogs up there.

Comfy and watching the waves

 It's a very pleasant 45 minute ferry ride with great scenery.

It's just so pretty

Osprey nest (love the new camera's zoom!)

Once there, she ran all over the beaches, smelled weird smells, rejected steamed mussels out of hand (we however ate LOTS!), and enjoyed the early season before it gets crazy for the summer.

Look! There's Daddy!

 A nice trip and I think Cooper decided it was worth the drive after all.

Spring Festival

Our little town does a Maple in April festival each year. There are pancake breakfasts (with real maple syrup, of course), vendors, hay rides, a car show, and thanks to Chris & Cooper, dog agility trials. Given that the festival takes place over two days in late April, you're never quite sure what the weather will bring, but this year Mother Nature was kind to us.

We volunteered for the car show and helped direct the cars into the big park. 

What a beauty!

It took a couple hours for everyone to arrive and the sun was just wonderful even if the actual temperature was only about 40 degrees. By 11AM the entire park was full of nifty classic cars.

A daily driver

The weather for the dog trials on Sunday wasn't quite as nice but at least it didn't rain. We helped set up the fence and the obstacles, then it was time to run!

Doing tricks before the trial

Obstacles

Copper, agility and certified companion dog

Just watching today, thanks.

Focused on the course

The trials went well and everyone had a great time. The dogs love being out with the people and getting a chance to run around and over and through stuff. Cooper does this kind of stuff all the time in our woods (logs, branches, culverts - they all count as agility obstacles to her), but there is a different focus when she's performing in the ring. It's more mental and it shows. 

Paying close attention

So another successful festival and we're looking forward to next year. Maybe Chris will have time to work on his '54 Chevy this year and be able to put it in the car show...

Spring is here! Well, kinda...

It's Spring! It's 35 and is supposed to snow today! Wait, what? I'm sure all the fans at the Detroit Tigers game felt the same way last night. Not supposed to snow at a baseball game.

Anyway, we're doing the best we can with the weather we've got and we're working on Spring projects. Here we go:

Cleaning up all the dog mess that accumulates no matter how many poopy bags you carry with you on walks. Note that this also includes chewed boxes, miscellaneous toys that were buried in the snow, and assorted sticks that were dragged out of the woods.

Sprinkling grass seed in a perhaps futile attempt to control the mud pit that is our front yard. Need to bring in some fill to do the finish grading too.

Cleaning out the flower beds, noting that the garlic is starting to peek out of the ground, marveling over the fact that the oregano and sage both made it through the winter, and figuring out where to plant this year's stuff. The herb seeds that I started inside are poking up and I may get my first batch of cilantro quite soon. In fact, I doubt it will make it into a flower bed - it'll go straight into guacamole.

Starting to cut firewood. Yes, already.

Switching out the tractor's winter implements for the summer ones. Off come the chains and snow thrower, on goes the backhoe.

Road work - gotta consider getting a back blade attachment to grade the driveway. Oh, and it should be safe to order stone for the driveway in another month (gotta wait until the weight limits are removed from the roads).

Grading the yard and promising that this is the year we start the stone patio.

Repairing the planer so that we can start working on the interior woodwork again. The thing that broke before has been fixed, now he's working on replacing the blades. Two screws stripped and they are special ones that have to be ordered from the OEM. Soon...

I took advantage of a sunny and warm day to throw open the windows and stain them. So the windows in My Room are now ready for trim (as are all the rest of the windows in the house). I'll pick another sunny and warm day - it's gotta happen eventually, right? - to do the main entry door and the utility room dutch door. Even if it's low VOC, it still stinks in a confined space.

Okay, enough of the list. Here is Cooper proving that it's just not all that cold, no matter what I think.

Look! All the ice melted!

Just a little dip to prove I can do it.

For a mutt, she sure does love to swim. Must be some labrador way back in the genetic makeup. The upside is that all the toweling off she gets results in a super soft coat.

Hope you're enjoying your Spring!

Harvey's in Saratoga

Harvey's is an Irish pub in Saratoga. It's in a great building on Phila Street, occupies two floors, has a big (and noisy) bar area on the first floor, a pleasant (quieter, but sound does carry up from below) dining area on the second floor, and a patio that I can hardly wait to try this summer. They also have a small library with balcony for private functions.

The menu items seemed pretty typical for a pub until we started reading the descriptions. Then things got interesting! We actually ordered an entree as an appetizer just because it sounded so good - The Really Good Grilled Cheese sandwich is, indeed, really good. Cheddar cheese, bacon jam, red onion, mustard sauce on sour dough bread - it might actually be better than really good. I'll have to go back to make sure.

Fish and chips for Chris and the french fries were awesome. The batter was light and the fish was flaky - another winner. And it came with a mustard slaw that was wonderful.

I had their Mac & Cheese which has corned beef in it. It also has a very light spice that makes it sort of hot. Subtle but definitely there; we spent a good bit of time enjoyably trying to figure out what it was. Again, very good.

Our friends had the Rubin and it was huge. Also apparently it was yummy as it disappeared. It came with fries and this nifty kalamata olive salad that I wanted to steal. The goat cheese, arugula, kale, beet, and candied walnut salad also got eaten with gusto.

All in all, a very good meal. Came to about $50 per couple including drinks and tip. And we had enough mac & cheese for lunch the next day.