Earth Day Surprise!

When I came home from work this afternoon, look what was waiting for me on the front porch!

It's a box of asparagus roots I ordered over the winter. I'm so happy they have finally arrived and we should have wonderful weather this weekend. What a way to celebrate Earth Day!

Here's what they look like:

There are 25 plants in the box, which will fill out my new bed nicely. In about two years I'll hopefully have plenty to share.

Dad's truck...

This past Tuesday Dad hit a patch of ice on Rt. 30, and probably would have driven away with some mud splattered on the truck, but unfortunately another car decided to follow him into the median, obviously at a high rate of speed.

We are so grateful that Dad is home today after several intense days at the hospital. The folks in the Emergency Room and the ICU department at Affinity Massillon Hospital are top notch. Also, we're so grateful for the Perry Township Fire Department and their fantastic EMTs. We hear that they thoroughly enjoy using the jaws of life. So, Dad's truck quickly turned into a convertible. Or does his truck now have a sun roof? Either way, they were able to get my Dad out of the truck and to the hospital and we're so thankful that this is a crash that ultimately he was able to walk away from (after 4 days and with the assistance of a walker, but who's judging?)

This was at one time a very nice 2003 Ford Ranger. We'll miss it very much...

Dad ended up trapped in the truck, laying on the passenger side door after the truck flipped onto its side. His feet were up toward the driver's side door when they got to him. (Fortunately he doesn't remember the impact). The EMTs cut open the roof and peeled it back to get him out.


We can't really figure out what happened during the accident... The damage really doesn't add up with just one other car, but there was a guardrail involved, too, so maybe that caused some of the damage.


Jen and I went to the tow company lot to get Dad's belongings out of the truck. Since both doors were not operable, my only option was going through the bed and then through the back window.

The air bags didn't deploy until the other car hit the truck. Looks like they worked as they should, but there's lots of extra bruises.

Lots of glass everywhere... and I mean everywhere! We were able to find almost all of Dad's personal belongings, but I wish we could have found his glasses. For now he's stuck wearing his safety glasses from work. Not very stylish, but they work in a pinch.


So can anyone blame me for breaking into hysterical laughter when I think about the insurance company asking me about which parts of the truck could be salvaged? Eventually all parties involved agreed that the truck was a total loss.

And of course the best news of all, Dad's expected to be fine after some time. Thanks to everyone who wished him well and prayed for him this week. It will be a while before Dad's back to his normal self, so we appreciate everyone's support through this stressful week.

Oh, and did I mention that it appears the other driver was uninsured? (More hysterical laughter is ensuing... Yes, we're all a little punchy.) "1-800.... Safe auto... Pick up the phone... The call is free..." Come on, everyone! Sing along....

Working on the Gardens

This weekend we purchased a small cultivator to get to work on the new portions of the gardens. We thought that we would probably need to rent a tiller a couple times a year, so it made more sense to get a small one, and we were able to find a little electric model that won't take up too much precious space in the garage.

Last fall I covered the area between the existing garden and the shrubs along the side of the garage with newspapers (about three big stacks of Buchtelite newspapers from the college) and soil from my container gardens, adding about another 100 square feet. We also created a new patch up the hill for the asparagus patch. Then all was covered with chopped up leaves. (We had plenty of leaves for the project!)

Below is the start of the asparagus patch before Richard tilled it today.

Here's what the extended garden looks like from the top of the hill behind our house:

Richard used the cultivator to turn the new section over. The newspaper really did the trick to kill the grass so we didn't need to pull up the sod this year.

Here's Richard totally over-acting. He wanted the world to know that he worked very hard today!

But really, it was quite a job. We now have lots of buckets of rocks. As we found out last year, our soil is primarily clay and rocks. Really big rocks.

Our next project is to spread the cow manure on the new portions of the gardens, but we'll spare you all the pictures of that!

Kitty Pics

Here's some new pictures of the cats, for anyone who is interested. Richard has been trying to get pictures of each cat that captures their individual personalities so he can turn them into portraits like he did for Q last year.

Here's Scout. She doesn't sit still for very long, so we got lots of action shots of her. Here she's showing off how tall she is and she's showing her white spots which are usually hidden:

Here's a more serene picture of Scout. She's in the $40 bed we bought months ago that the cats avoided like the plague. How did we get the cats to sleep in the bed? We took out the cushion. Who knew a bed could be too plush?


Below is the picture of Monkey. She's posing in front of the portrait Richard made of Q. Isn't she a pretty cat? It's a shame that such a plush kitty doesn't let us hold her! In front of her you will notice her favorite toy. She loves these little soft rubber balls we got at Target. They bounce really well...

And then there's Buttercup... She's the princess and doesn't ever let us forget it! Definite kitty royalty going on here...

Finally, here's one more of Scout. It's our "shout out" to Sharon, who also has a kitty (Charlie Brown) that has also taken a liking to sitting in the sink.

I guess a $40 pet bed can't compete with a shell-shaped sink. Priceless!

Red Carpet, Crystal Ball...

Tomorrow night, you all know where I'll be: Sitting on my couch watching the red carpet with a kitty on my lap.

Here's my list of who I would like to win and who I think will win:

Actor, Supporting:
I would like to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” win ;
I think Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” will win (well, duh!)

Actress, Supporting:
I would like to see Amy Adams in “Doubt” win ;
I think Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” will win.

Actor, Leading:
I would like to see Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” win. (Come on, maybe he has some other pets at home he would like to thank!) ;
I think Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” will win.

Actress, Leading:
I would like to see Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” win ;
I think Kate Winslet in “The Reader” will win. (They've gotta give it to her. She took her clothes off, I hear she looked like a real woman. She had two strong performances this year so they've gotta give it to her)

Best Picture / Best Director:
“Slumdog Millionaire” will win. It better win. And hopefully the entire crowd will break out into a Bollywood-inspired dance number.

Oh, and I hope "The Class" wins for best foreign film so it has a chance of showing somewhere withing a 100 mile radius of Massillon, Ohio.

I really should boycott the whole thing. Where's Clint? How could the academy snub one of the best movies this year?

Okay, I can't boycott the Oscars. Hollywood needs my support in this brittle economy :-)

New CSA this year

Last year we signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) with Katona Gardens in Marshalville. It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys cooking with seasonal produce locally grown.

We were also frequent shoppers at the Massillon Farmers Market where we met the Sandbrinks, who always seemed to have the kinds of veggies I love. They had heirloom tomatoes, pretty stiped squash, several varieties of basil, etc.

On a whim I emailed the Sandbrinks earlier this year in case they were considering offering CSA subscriptions this summer since I really liked their produce and they are really close to my house. The good news is that they are starting a CSA, so I signed up right away.

The program is affordable, considering how much we tend to spend at the grocery store. I like my veggies a little less-traveled anyway!

For information on the program, go to:
http://web.mac.com/weedybrinker/Working_Garden/Produce_C.S.A..html

Valentine's Day: The Good, The Odd, and The Yummy

Oh, the best laid plans...

About a week ago I confessed to a colleague at the College that I was feeling a touch of the winter blues with all of this oppressive winter weather. She became very excited and said, "Have you ever gone to the IX Center Home and Garden Show?" I never have, and the way she described it, yes, this was the answer to my winter blahs. Beautiful gardens, flowers everywhere, a certain taste of Spring that would tide me over until I could get out into my garden and start my seeds!

Richard and I decided to make the show a part of our Valentine's Day plans. We would spend the afternoon at the show, then head to our late evening reservations at my new favorite restaurant, VegiTerranean. I'm sure Richard would have rather spent the day hanging out at the comic book store then dinner at Outback, but he loves me and was up for it.

We started our trip early in the afternoon and stopped at Pad Thai for lunch (a very yummy start to the day) then headed up to the IX Center. After shelling out $8 for parking and $26 dollars for our two tickets, we walked through the arches into the show.

Hmmm... The flowers, well, they looked a little worse for ware. Yes, the entrance was surrounded with flowers, but to be honest, it wasn't anything that I haven't seen surrounding hundreds of businesses in the summer. But I had hope that it would get better, and it was the second-to-the-last day of the show. Of course the flowers would be a little sad. I heard that there was a section of the show dedicated to green living and I was hoping to see some rain barrels, composters, and other such things I'm curious to add to my garden.

So we turned the corner and this is what we saw:

Holy crud. Table after table of info-mercial wares, wireless phone vendors, and jewelry crafters. What? Is this the home and garden show??? Where are the gardening tools? The compost bins? Okay, there was one rain barrel displayed in the Petitti garden pavillion. There was also one vendor selling seed packets, but to be honest, it was too chaotic to browse.

Richard and I made our way through the crowded vendors, surrounded by Shammy WoW knock-offs. There were some highlights that I just can't explain. There was the Greyhound Rescue with some very sweet dogs begging for money. And then there was this...

There was a skunk rescue group sharing the Oreck vacuum exhibit. Weird, right?

Richard enjoyed petting the skunk. But I'm not sure the skunk enjoyed being pet.

One last odd highlight from the show. There was a vendor (Potpourri Patch) selling potpourri. They had these little pillows filled with catnip called "Kitty Kickers." We purchased one to bring home to the kids. This is now the cat's favorite toy. I wish we would have purchased three, since the cats really haven't figured out how to take turns or share.

Scout loves the kitty kicker.

So does Monkey (Really, she does love it!)

Buttercup loves it, too, but she was sleeping off her catnip high at the time of picture-taking.

My verdict on the Home and Garden Show? I would have rather spent two hours shopping at Donzell's.

We left the show a little earlier than anticipated, and headed to Borders to kill some time before our dinner reservations.

When we arrived at the restaurant we got our seats at a small table that was really close to a bunch of other tables. Not the most romantic of settings, but at least this time we didn't have one of those tall tables with our feet dangling off the bar stools.

Our meal was fantastic and just what I hoped it would be. By the time we ordered they really didn't have any specials left (a drawback of eating at 8 p.m.) and I was beginning to wonder if they would have any tiramisu left when it came time to order dessert. And thankfully, they did!

So, our date ended on a happy note.

A conversation with Monkey

Snowday pictures

Weather outside my windows...


Just seconds before I snapped the picture below I saw a little bird go in and out of our birdhouse. It makes me so happy to know we have residents!

Watch out for those icicles!

Think SPRING!!! Below is a picture of my future asparagus patch. My crowns will be delivered in March. I might have to wait until next year to enjoy them, but below all that snow will be home to one of my favorite veggies!

Snow day kitchen experiment

Since I had an unexpected day off, I thought I would try a recipe I've been wanting to make out of my Veganomicon cookbook. (Moskowitz, Isa Chandra. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. c2007)

Last week I made a Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower recipe out of my Real Simple magazine for Richard. So today I made a vegan mac and cheese recipe, "Mac Daddy" from my new cookbook.

It's a two-part recipe. The first step is to make the "cheese" sauce which is a broth-based sauce with nutritional yeast. I've just started using recipes with nutritional yeast now that I know that they sell it at Raisin Rack in the vitamin area. Last week I made a vegan lasagna from Vegetarian Times, which used the yeast. It was really good, but too rich for my taste. (And kindof a lot of work!) I didn't take a picture of the dish when I made it, so here's a pic from my magazine. Believe it or not, mine looked just as good!

The "cheesy" sauce is really not that cheesy, it's more like a butter sauce or thick savory gravy. It looks a little cheesy, though, so it gets points for that! It tastes really good, but I don't think I would substitute the sauce in recipes like nachos, like recommended in the cookbook.

Here's a picture of the "cheesy" sauce:

Then I crumble tofu into a casserole dish with some olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, then combined the macaroni (I substituted rotini since I used up my macaroni last week on the real stuff!), and the cheesy sauce. Here's how it looked before it baked:

Then it bakes for 30 minutes, and sits for 20 more minutes. It gets nice and bubbly. I'm thinking I should put some breadcrumbs on the top since that might make it look a little prettier.
Mmmm...Comfort food on a snowy day!

Snowed in on a Sunday

Here's our latest video production, starring Monkey and Scout. It hasn't really stopped snowing here, and the kitties are loving the snow-covered deck and local wildlife.

The video is a little long, but we think it's fun!

Monkey's New Year's Resolution...

Wear more outfits!

Kitty Carolers

Who loves Christmas? Kitties love Christmas!!!

It took a little while to get Buttercup warmed up, but she can't resist a little "12 Days of Christmas."



Monkey wasn't about to pass up her 15 minutes of fame... We find her soprano tones to be especially nice this time of year. Enjoy!



Merry Christmas from Richard, Reenie, Buttercup, Monkey, and Scout (who prefers not to sing)!

Kitty Christmas Costumes

Okay, I can't pass up a cute kitty costume, especially when they come with two pieces! Target had a couple cute Christmas options, a reindeer and an elf. The elf costume was a little too hard to keep on the kitties, so we took turns with the reindeer hat.

Buttercup was very cooperative with the hat. Isn't she cute?

Scout is not thrilled with the costume. Doesn't she look like Robin Hood?

Monkey observes the shenanigans from the safety of the tree.

Richard demonstrates the hat for Monkey. She remains unconvinced.

Decorating for Christmas

Last year we got a new pre-lit Christmas tree, which was soooooo much easier than having to string all of those lights! Since this tree was a couple feet taller than our other trees, the snowman decorations didn't seem to fill it up. So this year we decided to combine two trees into one. We now have a snowman / bird tree. I think it looks pretty!

We decided to keep the more delicate ornaments up towards the top, and the softer ornaments on the bottom. Well, it's a good thing we did....

(Scout is in the background, and her "new toys" in the front...)

(Scout wonders, "Why would they put my new toys all the way up here?")