Backyard Forsythia

Tea Party!

So, an interesting thing happened. On another blogging forum I'm on, someone I know mentioned that there should be a counterprotest to the upcoming Tea Party rally with Sarah Palin on Boston Common on April 14th. He asked for ideas, and I tossed out the idea that we should all get together in frilly dresses and nice linens and have a real tea party on the common.

Now, I try not to get too political (especially on this blog that my family reads), but sometimes that fails. I respect people whose political opinions differ from mine - I have some friends with very well-researched and well-thought out views on the Conservative side of things. But this tea party movement is not based on anything but anger, fear, and thinly veiled racism. Where were these people when Bush turned the biggest surplus in history into the biggest deficit in history? Where were they when the USA PATRIOT act was passed? That's what irritates me the most. We've had a democrat in office for a year and they think America is sliding into armageddon because of that? Please.

But my silly idea? Caught on. I sort of inadvertently started a counterprotest. A few people I know took the ball and ran with it, put together some wonderful and hilarious ground rules and even made a facebook event for it. It's hit Universal Hub. It's hit Bostonist. I have a feeling it will hit other media outlets as well. It's got almost twice as many confirmed guests as the official facebook event for the actual Tea Party rally. Someone's bringing a violin. People are bringing their children. There won't be any nasty signs, just a nice, civilized cup of tea on the common. People who have never protested a thing in their life will be coming out of the woodwork to get together and have a fun time, and that's the best part. '

Lately I've been momming it up and been stuck at home so much. Without working it's tough to keep up your self-worth, but this is a great shot in the arm for that. Sure, the idea wasn't anything amazingly original, but I'm getting a huge kick out of the fact that people really like it.

So needless to say, I'll be showing up for this in a nice dress, and Baby Gloucesterite in his argyle sweater vest and corduroy slacks.

Murphy's Law of Poo

Just a few minutes ago, a thing happened. A thing you should all know about before deciding whether or not children are right for you.

It started off innocently enough. Brought the Baby Gloucesterite upstairs for a diaper change. I had some diapers I needed to clean off in the toilet (I cloth diaper), so I figured while I went and did that, he could run around in his room with a diaper off. He doesn't pee very often now, and there's no precious oriental rugs or anything, so no big deal, right?

So I'm cleaning off the diapers when I hear THUMP and WAAAH, so I run in to pick him up. I realize that his shirt is soaked, and when he stops crying, I notice a puddle on the floor. So I reconstruct the incident and realize that he peed on his hardwood floor, and then slipped in it and fell down. As I'm cleaning it up with a towel he starts splashing in it merrily. I'm an awesome mom.

AND THEN. All is well again so I bring the last diaper in to dump it, only I'm holding it kinda funny to avoid touching poo because I'm a coward and THE ENTIRE POO FALLS OUT OF THE DIAPER AND ONTO THE FLOOR. And it's not solid. It's like cow plop consistency. And before my body can react, MY FOOT SQUISHES THE POO INTO THE BATHROOM FLOOR. It was like a slow motion train wreck I couldn't stop, I was all "NOOOOOO" and the poo was all "NOOOOO."

YES I WAS WEARING SHOES THANK GOD. And I was wearing old running shoes I garden with. But now there's poo stuck in every crevice of the sole. And in the grout of the bathroom tile, because I haven't the courage to go clean it out with bleach right now.

Au Gratin Potatoes!

I grew up loving those nasty boxes of Au Gratin potatoes with the dried potato slices and the powdered cheese mix. In all honesty, I *still* love them.

But I knew in order to be considered an Actual Grown Up, I should learn how to make them myself. So I did. And they are GOOD! And so blissfully easy. I used a recipe that takes 90 minutes, but you can parboil the potatoes whole and then slice them up if you want to save time.

Homemade Au Gratin Potatoes:

4-5 Yukon Gold potatoes (I peel mine, but the original recipe said it didn't matter)
1 medium sized sweet yellow onion
3 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
2 cups milk
1.5-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Slice the potatoes into thin chips, and slice up the onion. Layer the potatoes and onion in an oven-safe pyrex/casserole dish. On medium-low heat, melt the butter, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the milk while stirring. Add the garlic powder and some salt and pepper, then start adding in the shredded cheese. After all the cheese is melted, pour it into the casserole dish.

This should result:



It looks tasty already! And I haven't even cooked it!

Then I cover the top with foil and bake for 90 minutes. Usually with 20 minutes left I'll stir it all up and uncover so it gets a nice brown crusty top.



I made this with the chicken tenders I wrote about a bit ago. And steamed asparagus, as well. You will notice the green vegetables to fat/carbs ratio is set on "morbidly obese", but that's how I roll.

Dear Rototiller: Ow. Signed, me.

The chickens were doing a half decent job of tilling, but unfortunately I realized that I didn't have the time to let them do their thing - peas, radishes, and broccoli can be planted now. I looked into renting a rototiller, and it wasn't too expensive to pick one up at Home Depot for the afternoon. I thought it might be tough to use, but if you've ever ridden a motorcycle it's the same set of steps. engine switch on, fuel tank on, choke on, etc. I even had no issues with the pull start - I have wimpy girl-arms.

So I sent Mike and Nathan out to go shopping (he has a separated shoulder, tilling is out), and got to work.

The tough part was the tilling itself. We had some thick grass and uneven ground, and my arms, shoulders, and back took the brunt of it. It had a habit of getting stuck in the ground requiring a lot of brute strength to lift out, and I stalled it a few times. But, after a few breaks for lunch and cold water, it was mostly done.



There are a few small clumps of grass I need to really dig out, and the compost/peat mixture that was in the raised bed last year needs to be redistributed evenly across the whole garden.

Townie.

The huge change in my life over the past year, besides the addition of Nathan, has been that I no longer drive or take the train to Boston every day. I no longer dress in business clothes and talk to adults about adult logistics and adult solutions and have adult lunch meetings with Freshcity delivering tasty wraps and kettle chips.

I can't decide if I miss that or not. I know I miss the routine and being challenged and being, sometimes, rewarded for a job well done. I miss getting a quarterly bonus. I miss having laid-back, entertaining coworkers and an easygoing boss. I don't miss the long commute, having to smile politely at and work with people you dislike with every fiber of your being, and trying to do my job without the resources I needed because the economy was tanking and our clients were disappearing.

I've become a townie this past year. This is something I'm loathe to admit and not very fond of at all, but that's one of the things that happens that no one warns you about. Before, Gloucester was somewhere I watched TV for a few hours, fell asleep, then went back to Boston in the morning. I just happened to live here. Now I'm here all day, every day.

It has its upsides, I guess. I still live in a city, and everything I need is in walking distance. I now have spoken to most of my neighbors, they like the baby, they like the chickens. I have recognized people in the supermarket. I ran into my dentist at the bank. I have two people my age I'd consider friends here - someone I met online, and someone I carpooled to a Saturday class with.

And so Gloucester has morphed into somewhere we really wanted to move from as soon as we could, to a place where, begrudgingly, we will end up staying for a long time. It's getting easier, at least.

Right Near Da Beach

Mike has every Friday off from his day job so he can DJ Friday nights in Boston. This past Friday, it was so fantastic out that we took a car trip with the dogs around the North Shore through Essex, Wenham, Hamilton, and ended up at the beach off Rt 127 near downtown Beverly.

This was the first time Bea, who is from Tennessee, has ever seen the ocean. She walked right up to it, but was unimpressed.



Mike tried to convince the baby, who all of a sudden HATES SWINGS, that swings are actually pretty cool.



He still wanted none of it, and remained steadfastly holding the steering wheel to the little wooden car.



In summary, living near the ocean is awesome.

It's tiring, being a dog.

All that lying around in the yard and destroying plastic cups with your teeth really wears you down. So you know what, lady? This time, it's your turn to fetch. A beer from the fridge, please.

I almost got one for him before I realized that dogs can't talk and don't like Molson.

Planning the Garden

For awhile I'd planned to garden in our side yard this year. However, it's just too big of a project at this point. There are very large rocks and deep roots and dead stumps that are too big for me to tackle on my own. Not to mention that it doesn't get enough sun.

However, the 8x8 garden I started last year is just too small. Everything got overcrowded.



On the left is the old garden. Underneath the deck is where I'm going to extend it. The deck is so high that it doesn't interfere with sunlight much at all. Instead of a raised bed this year, which costs a ton of cash (to truck in a few yards of dirt, for lumber, etc) I'm just going to do a regular garden and I'll find some way to edge it (maybe with the fencing I already have). I have to get the soil tested, but since I'll be spreading out last year's dirt plus some compost and old potting soil, it should be relatively decent.

But, I thought to myself, tilling this soil might be hard. Then I had an idea. Wherever the chickens are, they strip the ground bare and create holes. Which is exactly what I wanted to happen. So I used some 3 foot poultry fencing and ran it around the deck, stuck the chickens in, et voila! Instant tilling. I let them run around in there while I'm home and around.



So it looks like it will be about 10'x24' altogether. I'll be running a path down the middle to split the garden into two long, thin parcels. The issue I had last year was with rookie planning, I couldn't get into the middle of the garden to pick the green beans.

The tomato, pepper, okra, lettuce, and pumpkin seedlings are in a windowsill already. I want to have so much food I'm ding dong ditching it at the neighbors' houses.

Why Wouldn't I Want One More?

He's so cute, especially when his mouth isn't full of cry and he's not climbing furniture.