Nice Doing Business With You

I must begin this entry with a shout out to Akin's Building Center of Clarinda, Iowa.

Halla!

(I'd put up link to them, but they don't see the need for a website. It probably wouldn't bring them any more business than they already have.)

As you may have read in this space, we've been building a barn on our land. We got the roof on a couple of weeks ago and it was time to order the walls. We shopped around and found that our local (Clarinda) hardware store had the best deal, so we ordered from them, by phone, one day last week.

They said they could deliver the panels of metal and skylight plastic panels (they even had them cut to our specs for no extra charge). I told them we'd be at the farm on Saturday and could they deliver it all then? (They were very upfront with us that the delivery charge would be $12.50. I thought we could stomach that and gave them the green light.) 'Round about 11am on Saturday morning, there was a knock on our cabin door. It was the guys from Akin's with our walls.

They brought the panels, corners, and screws (which we hadn't ordered, but which they knew we would need). Andre helped them unload the materials and we contemplated the next phase of building the barn. (The goal is to make it more or less waterproof so that we can install a bed so that Andre can finally get a decent nap!)


I don't usually share personal, financial information, but, in this case, I must tell you that the total for the wall panels, et al, came to over $1,500. The reason this is significant is because all of the preceding happened without any money changing hands. We hadn't been in to Akin's to pay for anything that we had ordered and yet, somehow, it all came! I guess they knew we were good for it.

We went in later that day to settle up.

It was in no way out of the ordinary for the folks at Akin's.

God bless 'em!

Yep...Green is My Favorite Color

I have tried for many years to live by the following quotation: "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." (George Santayana) Sounds good, doesn't it? We love that fall foliage in New England, don't we? It gives us a reason to tolerate winters in Nebraska, right? But, as I get older, I am more interested in what is true than what should be true. I check my feelings and...

I confess this day -- I am hopelessly in love with SPRING!

Witness the dependable emergence of grass in mid-April (which has already been mown once! Ah, the wonderful smell of it!).


Witness the sprouting of lettuce, spinach, peas, turnips, and mustard greens in the garden.

Witness the blooming of flowers after a long, winter's sleep. (They're hard to see, but trust me, they're there!)

There are good reasons why we love spring so much -- the re-birth, without fail, of the world every year; the warm rains that bring life to the ground; the literal birth of the farm animals as if on a schedule; the voluptuousness of warmth, seedlings, and life all around us. No wonder there is a quotation that reprimands us for being so in love with spring! The other seasons probably got together and worked on it since they were so far behind in the race for human predilection.

I swear to keep working on discovering the beauty in each season, but I refuse to try to temper the fact that spring has it goin' on, by far, over all the other seasons!

Happy SPRING, everyone!

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Yet another update on Musical Cars.

Dear Reader, you are simply not going to believe what I have to report this time about our car situation. But it is all too true.

At precisely 12:06am (that's just after midnight for you am/pm challenged folk) a couple of weeks ago, there was a knock at our door. Now, one teenager is in France so I didn't think it could have to do with her. The other teenager was safely tucked into her computer in her room. The younger children were long gone to slumberland. So, who could it possibly be? Should we even answer the door? Is one of our neighbors in trouble? Should we get the bat? Well, no, if it were a robber or intruder of some sort, why the knock? A polite thug? These thoughts are not coherent because they occurred in a flash, and they occurred, as I mentioned, at 12:06am.

Omaha's Finest*, it turns out, work the night shift, and the fact that the rest of us may be sleeping does not deter them from carrying out their duties.

And what was the infraction that brought this particular officer to our door, you may ask? Well, the fact that one of the cars in our driveway had Iowa license plates on it. I couldn't believe my ears. I even asked quietly if it was a joke. I was assured by the officer that it was not a joke. Uh-oh. We were busted.

A little background...we have the six cars. Three of them are licensed here in Omaha, Nebraska, and the other three, two trucks and a car, are registered in Iowa since we use the trucks on the farm (which is located in Iowa and on which we pay taxes) and the car to go back and forth delivering produce during the growing season. Right now is not the growing season and the car has been on vacation here in Nebraska. Logical, no? Well, no, as it turns out. You see, the rule is, any car that is located in the state of Nebraska for 30 days or more must be licensed in Nebraska. (Oh, did you figure out that it's a little bit cheaper to register a car in Iowa than in Nebraska? Yes, we have deep, dark motives for our anti-social behaviour!)

Our visitor was understanding and gave us some ideas about how to redeem ourselves. I spent the next half a day getting bumped back and forth among various municipal departments that handle such matters and finally was told the following: one of our neighbors must not have a life and called in the fact that a car with an Iowa plate was sitting in our driveway for more than the 30 days maximum. We were instructed to keep the car parked in a garage when not in use.

Seriously? Seriously.

It seems to me that said neighbor should be given the bill for the taxpayer dollars that were wasted in having that officer come to our house at midnight (he probably gets time and a half for working the night shift) and another bill for wasting my half a day calling around and another bill for all the time city bureaucrats spent on the other end of those calls trying to figure out what to do with us. And for good measure, let's add a penalty on top of it all for just being silly.

Ah, what a perfect world that would be!




*For those of you across the pond, police officers

Water, Water Everywhere and Nary a Drop to Drink.

(a.k.a.: A second update on Musical Cars)

Those of you who follow this blog may find it hard to believe the following: I was without a car this morning. Yes, we have six cars for three drivers, but, as fate would have it in her twisted sense of humor, the planets aligned this morning to make it impossible for me to drive anywhere. You see, one vehicle is at the farm. One is the one My Honey drives to work and he left early this fine morning. One is the one our teenager drives and there's the rub. She took her car to the shop to try to figure out the cause of its dying now and then. Rather than get my big, fat, you-know-what out of bed at o-dark-hundred this morning to give her a ride, I gave her the keys to the car I usually drive, assuming that, with the plethora of cars around here, that I'd be able to take the little ones to school this morning in some sort of secondary conveyance. Ah, was I mistaken! Of the two cars remaining, one was in the garage and the other was right behind it, jacked up with a missing wheel, rendering both unusuable.

Fortunately, it was an unexpectedly warm and beautiful spring morning here in Omaha (60+ degrees) so the little ones didn't mind walking the few blocks to school. They even called a friend and made an event of it, bless their little hearts. Fortunately, also, I didn't have anything planned that necessitated a car. Fortunately, finally, the teenager felt the need to get her car back from the shop (they couldn't figure out what was wrong, by the way) at lunch time (friends were meeting at a local restaurant, after all) and, therefore, freed up my car for moi! I still didn't need to go anywhere in particular.

But, hey, order was restored in the universe.

No Greenhouse? No Problem!

Here's a little DIY greenhouse for those of you, like myself, who just can't wait to get the vegetable garden going and who don't have the space or money for a fancy greenhouse outside.

Exhibit #1:

White plastic shelves are set up with grow lights and plastic sheeting over the whole thing. The plastic sheeting keeps the inside at a comfy, jungle-like atmosphere. (This creates nice humidity for the seedlings and cuts down on the need to water.) The peppers and eggplant love it! We happen to have two, large, south-facing windows which are perfect for this set-up. Don't be cheap, though...you still need the grow lights! The sun is not around enough hours of the day at this point in the year.

Exhibit #2:
A few trays of seeds planted in tried-and-true mixture of peat moss/vermiculite/Azomite are placed on empty boxes so that the seedlings will be as close as possible to the lights. Once they grow a bit, I remove the boxes.

Exhibit #3:


All shelves are filled with seedling trays. In addition to our regulars of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant (all of which need the early start to do well in the summer here in Nebraska/Iowa), this year we are also doing some fancy cauliflower, trying Brussels sprouts (again), some cabbages, some leeks, and some artichokes.

Exhibit #4:

The beginnings of the artichokes!

So, let's itemize:

One four-tier shelving unit (Lowes) -- $25
Three grow lights ($10 each) (Walmart) -- $30
Plastic sheeting to cover (Lowes) -- $20
Six Seed trays with clear covers ($4 each) -- $24
Peat moss/vermiculite mix (Lowes) -- $10
12 organic seed packets (SeedsofChange.com) -- $40

Total: $149 (the first year...after that, it's just the seeds and dirt...$50/year for hundreds of dollars worth of fresh, organic, tasty food!)

Our set-up is six times the above, but we plant one to two thousand different plants for the gardens at the farm. With the single set-up described above, you can probably get about 240 plants started. That should keep the home gardener busy for the growing season!

Let me know how it goes!

An Update on Musical Cars

As luck (ha!) would have it, all five of the vehicles were lined up just right for a nice snapshot the other day.

(Number six is at the farm.)

I have come to the sad realization that I have been complicit in the stockpiling of vehicles. It seems that there is a good reason to have each and every one. When My Honey suggested selling the Lexus, I balked. ("That's the car I usually drive, it's paid off, it's not worth as much to anyone else.") So, we move on to considering the little Toyota truck. ("Well, it gets the best gas mileage, My Honey drives it to work.") Ok. So, how about the big red truck? ("It's useful for taking loads to the farm, it has the extended cab for the girls.")

Do you see how it happens?

Much to My Mother's bemusement, we have also come to understand how we are the embodiment of a pattern established generations ago of "Guys who Accumulate Vehicles and the Women who Love Them".

So, here's to you, Grandma and Grandpa! May you rest in peace knowing the tradition survives!

Getting Goosed

Way back in 2006, before ground was broken for any cabins or compost bins or barns or woodbins, we toured our newly purchased farm with our children. On that particular day in May, some geese were happily cruising around the pond. At one point, they must have finally gotten tired of our intrusion into their blissful afternoon and took off.


Maya, in the foreground, watches the geese head north from the pond. One can be seen, if you look carefully, in about the center of the photograph, just above the horizon. Andre was off to the right, unhappy that he didn't have his shotgun with him as a goose flew right over his head on its way to Canada.

We jump to 2009.

I was awakened this morning to the sounds of honking. Assuming it was either a dream or birds flying overhead and would pass quickly, I ignored the noise. After all, it was before 7am! But, the honking grew louder and more insistent. I finally got up, looked out the bedroom window, and saw four lovely Canada geese floating on our pond, evidently chatting with each other. It was enchanting to watch their movements for the better part of an hour. Then, as suddenly as they arrived, they flapped their wings and took flight.

It was worth the wait!


(Click on the photo to enlarge it and actually SEE the geese taking off!)