wiredfool

I like our summer routine. We eat dinner at the picnic table on the porch, then wander up the yard to see what sort of berries can be found for dessert. Last night, we (the adults) picked about a pint of perfectly ripe strawberries, the sort of berry that makes all the growing worthwhile. There were also a bunch of plausibly not totally unripe salmonberries that the kids picked. I’ve had a couple so far, and some of them get ripe and tasty, but often the kids don’t let them get that far. They strip the bushes. Tim has taken to calling them ‘sharp num’. Later in the summer there will be several varieties of blackberry, thimble berries, huckleberries, blueberries, raspberries and others. But for now, it’s the salmonberries.

But last night, the first rain in a month rolled in (6 minutes shy of the record for the longest dry spell this time of year at seatac. ) The outside smelled damp and cool and earthy, as it was getting a much needed drink.

The rain continued today, and for the first time, we had a conflict between the scaffolding in the living room and the need to use the dining room table. Not bad for having it up for a week and a half already.

We’re working on brightening up the living room with the installation of a couple of skylights, and helping the airflow a bit with a ceiling fan. (and while we’re at it, fixing the ventilation in the roof by installing ridge venting. I’m guessing that when the house was built, there were a few parts left over…)

So, Some Pictures:

Ceiling duck:

Installing the Fan:

Read more

An Open Tab Link Dump:

– An easy way to do all the steps required to get a well behaved unix daemon in python.
– Atlas Shrugged, Revisited
– Useful Emacs Commands
– Python mail server. Looks like similar intentions to something I did about 10 years ago and launched my programming career.
– MIT Course Notes on database systems. Something to read in spare time.

I’ve now gotten 10 pepper plants in the ground, along with the tomatillo, the rest of the squashes, and some replacement chard. Today, I picked up some herbs for the herb bed, a couple replacement thymes, a cilantro, 2 basils, and a couple of rosemarys.

I also got a ‘red warty thing’ which is sort of a pumpkin/hubbard cross. I’m hoping that it amuses me.

There’s one other batch of onions to plant out, then we’re pretty much done for now. There’s some spare chard and kale that will probably go out, and the straggler cucumbers.

Next year, all the squash like stuff needs to be started April 1, 2 seeds to a pot, and not right on top of each other. The tomatoes and peppers need to be started March, or maybe even February, inside, and warm, if we’re going to be able to use them.

The sunflowers and beans continue to grow well, though there are some ants that are getting some of the bean leaves. The corn is in, but unfortunately, I planted it right at the end of a heat wave, and not right at the beginning.

It’s really hot here. 80 in the shade hot, And today, every time I went out to move the water, there were more beans up. There were noticable differences from hour to hour. The sunflowers are up too, in quantity.

I got the tomatoes and zucchini in the ground today to take advantage of the expected next week or more of good weather. I’m hoping to get the corn and peppers in soon so they can get a little of it too.

A few days ago, I was looking at the pictures from the 3rd of June last year, and despairing that the potatoes and other bits were way behind. Well, a few hot days have cured that. Everything is loving the heat, so long as there’s water available.