7 years

We've been married 7 years today. 7 years of wedded bliss. Ok, so a lot of it hasn't been blissful. We've had two wonderful children, both of whom have special needs and challenges, and that takes its toll on a couple, no matter how much we love them (and we do!) We haven't ever gone away by ourselves because Mr. Geek doesn't want to, though once in a while I would like it. We've gone through my severe depression, job terminations, career changes, and we've lived in 7 homes in 7 years. That's a LOT for a couple. But here we are, still together. Neither of us is the happy type (we tend to be moody and broody) but we are happier with each other than we'd be with anyone else, I think. Here's to many more years. :)

Just another (fun!) day at the Martinez Marina

I forgot to journal about a recent trip to Martinez (weekend before last). It was a gorgeous (albeit windy) spring-like day and everything was crystal clear. We saw the usual gulls (western), avocets, western grebes, etc. But this time we also saw a sea lion off the side of the jetty. It was pretty cool! Usually there are a bunch of people fishing out there. A fisherman came along and told us that the sea lion likes to hang around when they are fishing and steal the fish right off the line! What a clever bugger! It was fun to watch and the boys were enthralled. Andy was making roaring and growling sounds at it after hearing it was a sea LION. Silly boy!

We love going out there, there's always so much to see and you can see the train tracks, small craft in the marina, large ships, and TWO bridges: Carquinez and Benicia. It's also a nice spot to go in the summer because it's windy and cooler than the surrounding areas. It's one of our favorite local landmarks.

Spring has sprung!

I've been so busy and infected with spring FEVER! It's been so great here. I've been outside creating and amending 4 planting beds (building them up from a gravel pit, it's been a lot of work!) Mr. Geek has helped a lot on weekends at well. I think I may finally have them ready for planting in a few weeks.

So, along with garden fever I have somehow ALSO contracted chicken fever. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our dear little chicks. We've finally found a feed store that will order the kinds we want (bantams that will lay a reasonable number of eggs) plus a few silkie chickens for fun and because they are supposed to make great pets. I have learned more than I ever would have thought I would know about chickens. I can't wait to raise some baby chicks as well. It may be another month before we get them, but I can be patient, I think. We are hoping to get one or more of the following: Ameraucana (they lay blue and green eggs!!), Barred Plymouth rocks, Buff Orpingtons, and the aforementioned silkies. All of these are supposed to be gentle, sweet natured hens, and we look forward to adding them to the family. The coop is almost done, and it looks pretty good.

So, with all of this garden and chicken fever I haven't done much scrapbooking. It's bound to happen in the springtime for me though. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons and I like to be outside working in the yard. I get a lot more scrapping done in the summer and winter when it's either raining or too hot to be outside.

I made an interesting discovery while clearing a planting bed in front of weeds today. I found 4 perfectly intact squirrel skulls. I think they must fall or get knocked out of the palm trees out front (which are right next to this planting bed).

I've been busy at Rob's school helping in the classroom and helping at Andy's school as well. Andy is going on his first field trip this Friday. They are going to a farm. I am driving him to the farm. We also have Pinewood Derby this week and a few other things, and next week looks hectic as well. Then we get a week off to just chill. That will also be when I start planting parts of my garden. Can't wait! My radishes are getting close to harvest time...I can't believe how slow they have been to "round out" but they are doing pretty well now. Not a single one has been attacked by a predator (leaves anyway). I guess containers are the way to go for radishes. I started some baby leaf lettuces from seed too, but I won't see them pop up for another week. Soon it will be carrot planting time too! Well, as soon as those radishes come out.

Theft and inclement weather

Somebody came by during the night or very early Saturday morning and very neatly cut my daffodils. I have more bulbs that are still coming up, thank goodness. What kind of person comes along and steals flowers from someone's front yard? I can't figure out WHO would do something like that. It REALLY, REALLY made me mad. It was obviously someone who planned it, because the cuts were made with scissors, which kinda rules out punk kids wandering along. Housewife stealing a bouquet while out for an early morning walk with the dog? Old lady and her walker? Good grief. I know there are worse crimes, but geez, this is pretty crappy and low.

It has been rainy and windy pretty much all weekend. We went out for a drive in it for the heck of it on Sunday afternoon. I made some beer cheese bread and Mr. Geek bottled his bitter stout ale he's been working on. We've had at least 2 inches of rain and there are a lot of branches and pieces of our palm trees out in our yard and on the street. Dratted palms, HATE THEM! I think I may have a lost a lot of my radish seedlings as well, despite my precautions. They may surprise me yet. Atleast it's supposed to be dry the rest of the week.

In other news, despite all odds, one of my little muscari is blooming! Woo hoo! I didn't think I'd get any this year!

Fave Feb Pics

Just had to share a few of my feb faves...

President's Day check in

I'd better quick post so I get another Feb post in!!

We had a pretty good Prez weekend. On Saturday we went to Hayward marsh and got to watch a seagull attempt to eat a shark. It was pretty comical. Poor guy just couldn't open the tough carcass and struggled to carry it. Other gulls arrived so he had to start posturing and look big and tough so no one else could take his shark. No swallows at Hayward yet, we'll have to go back in a month or so. The wintering ducks have mostly left for the season so there wasn't too much to see, just a lot of Least Sandpipers, some willets, and a few curlew and herons.

The boys have been holding hands lately when we walk places. It's pretty cute! I will be making a scrapbook page about it, I think.

We ripped out the crappy Aralia trees that were blocking the light to my scraproom. It's a whole new world!! Those trees were really bugging me. First, they blocked my wonderful morning light. Second, they had these hideous black berries that the robins ate and pooped all over our cars and sidewalk. And they are covered with ants. Goodbye and good riddance!! We bought a nice shrubby ceanothus to replace it. I'm liking this idea because it is low growing (under the window) and a native plant so it should thrive. Of course, right now it looks puny, but it should grow pretty quickly.

We also worked on raking and cleaning things up. We did a lot of pruning, adding to our compost bin, and more soil prep for our garden. Mr. Geek painted his chicken coop colonial red. It looks like a little barn. It will be fun to have some chicks next month. I definitely got a good yard work workout this weekend.

I am a little bummed that I didn't get any scrapping done, but the weather was so wonderful and I like working outdoors. Organic gardening is rapidly turning into my next big hobby. There's so much to learn. I wish I still could ask Grandpa questions, he was such an expert on garden matters. I feel closer to him when I work on it. It also makes me miss him more.

Back to school and craziness tomorrow!

February's here!

Yikes, it's been a few weeks. Last weekend we ventured out between the storms on Super Bowl Sunday (like we watch...ha!) to go for a walk in Tilden. We stopped by the little farm and then walked out to Jewel Lake. There was SO much water there, the amount of water going over the dam was pretty cool. I personally liked seeing the pigs at the farm, oink, oink. The boys as always loved seeing the chickens. They can't wait until we get a few chicks in the spring. Mr. Geek is working on the coop right now as I type.

We had a couple of days without illness around here, now Rob is back to having a fever. Great. 'tis the season, I guess.

We planted our radish seeds in the old water table today and in a pot. I'm hoping these work out better than the ones we planted in Marysville. I guess we will know in a month. Rob was a great help planting.