Aftermaths

I think we're on week five or six of the Great Thorne House Re-Landscaping Project 2008. You can't see very well in this photo, but the hostas have moved from along the front walk to up next to the house, and around the two trees on the boulevard. Yet more hostas have moved from the front walk to in front of the garage. I think I have four more hostas left to move, and then the Great Hosta Diaspora will be over. Oh, except for that big one on the corner, maybe.

We had a very strong straight-line wind the other day, which resulted in a lot of smaller branches down in our yard, and some larger ones down in our immediate neighbor's yard.
And then there was the next block up, which was still not open to traffic this morning. Thankfully, this tree didn't fall on any cars or houses, so it's just a nuisance.

It's not easy to see in this picture, but there is a huge twist in the branch that fell.

More Spring Pix

This is the giant hole that Rex has dug underneath the tree in the front yard. The scrawny little plants next to it are tiger lilies that the dogs have trampled almost to death. I don't know if I'll be saving those--I may just give up on them. It's not as if we don't have a zillion more tiger lilies around.

This used to be an ugly little scrubby bush, which Adam dug up a couple of weeks ago. These are Sweet Black Eyed Susans.

These are Smooth Blue Asters, which will hopefully be lovely and attract butterflies.
This is the south side of the house. I dug up the rose bushes (that you can barely see here) last night. So now there are Meadow Blazing Stars planted underneath the furnace exhaust pipes, instead of ugly dying rose bushes.
This is a not-so-great picture of my super great new fences on the east side of the hosue. Next to the stairs, I planted Elegant Camas (also known as Mountain Death Camas, since the roots are poisonous). Around the corner, I have tiger lilies, some of which started there and some of which I moved there over the past month. I was going to continue the fence around the south side of the house, but the dogs have been leaving the new plantings alone, so I might not put more fences around.

And this is a picture of the kind of things you see on my bus ride.

Spring Rebirth

Yet another resurrection of the house blog! Hooray!

My goal this year is to rehabilitate the flower beds on the east, south and west sides of the house, including large portions of the front yard. Two dogs does not a pretty yard make, but we're going to do our best to grow some grass back. I volunteered at the Friends' Plant Sale this year, mostly so I could go to their pre-sale last Thursday. I came home with several types of native wildflowers, and I'm hoping that they'll be able to exist happily with little to no input from me.

Here are some pix of the sale. I'll try to post pix of the yard, too.

This girl brought her hamster.

Reset

I read this article in the Downtown Journal today which interested me on two levels. It's about a public art installation which will take place in the skyways in downtown Minneapolis. I walk the skyways a lot--getting lunch, running errands, going from job to job--so I'm excited on an artistic level to be able to see these photographs.

On a personal level, one of the people photographed gave this quote:

Chen moved to the Twin Cities to study at the University of Minnesota, and he currently works as a multimedia consultant at the university.
Chen thinks of “home” in terms of his technical training. You hit the “home” key when you get lost and need to find your bearings, he explained.
“When you realize [your] origin, you can start from there again,” he said.

It makes me think about the times that I have traveled and then come home. It makes me think about how many times I have moved, and how many places I have called home. It makes me think about my friends who have moved lately, either away from Minneapolis or back to Minneapolis. It makes me think about how resistant I have been to traveling now, and how my life orbits tighter and tighter around my own house. It makes me wonder when and where we will travel or move in the future, and where else I might call home.

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

Yes! I want to know what's going on!
No! It's more fun making shit up!
I don't actually care about you, so whatever, man.

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

They love each other
They ignore each other
They fight to the death

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

48
50
55
58

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:


Whining about carpal tunnel syndrome
Bribing with cookies or Gasthof's
Withholding sex
Threats of posting embarrassing pictures

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

Get out of bed at 10am
Watch the dog sleep on the couch
Wonder what I'm going to eat for lunch
Bother the dog some more
Take a nap

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

Curtains
Artwork
My new coat
My "freelance SM" hat
Wet laundry


(PS: Your answers are awesome!)

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

Curtains
A gray v-neck sweater
A black wool coat
A trackball mouse
Retail jewelry display stands
A coat rack

$64,000 Blog-amid

Name this category:

Arrow is an only dog.
Adam is still working on his second set of speakers.
We are not pregnant.
I still own a Chevy Blazer.
It's -15* F with the wind chill.

No more whining

This is for Adam, who pawned me off on icanhascheezburger.com this afternoon.

PS: Annie, my podiatrist said that my metatarsals are all healed up, so now I can start working up to my normal exercise. I didn't tell him that my normal exercise is walking to the kitchen to make popcorn before I watch a movie. Ha ha ha. YARR!

This post is boring.

I have a cold. Adam is still building speakers. I've just been reading up on the mailing rules for APO mail, since Alex is now in Baghdad. Arrow has a sore on his foot that we've been treating with topical applications of a black tea bag. I got rear ended last week and I'm waiting for the insurance adjuster to call me back and tell me where to take my car for repair estimates. I'm not excited for that process, since I'm pretty sure they're going to total out my car.

I lied. This post isn't boring. This post is whiney, and I'm okay with that.

Adam's Birthday Masquerade

Party pictures!! Grenz and Liz:

Andy and Christina:
Tobin:
Old Man Matt:
Zombie Smith and Adia:

Death on the prowl:
Kiesung and Adam:
Renate, Nicole, and Nicole's SO (to whom I say, the fact that I can't remember your name right now does not mean that I don't think you're a lovely guy!):
Adam and Joe:
Jess and Laney:

Renee:
Me, chillin' with the Beckhams:
Zombie Larry:
Sarah!

Rachel and Sarah:
Old Man Thorne and Old Man Murphy:

And finally, Rachel. "Hey, get a shot of this Army guy between my legs!"

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Today, my lovely husband turns 33 years old. Yay! According to Wikipedia, in October of 1974, the Grateful Dead stopped touring and Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman to regain the Heavyweight Boxing title. Obviously, I didn't know those facts before because next to Adam's birthday, they are completely unimportant.

In the past year, since turning 32, Adam has: built one and half pairs of speakers; almost completely finished redecorating the dining room; helped me build shelves for the computer room; prepared for zombie attack by reading both World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide; and started a new job at Welsh Companies. (AND, he's taken care of me through two foot surgeries for the last two months. If you want to know how awesome your husband really is, have two foot surgeries in two months. My husband is awesome!)

Happy birthday, sweetheart. You're my favorite!

Catching Up

Chapter Two: Happy Birthday, Arrow!

Arrow turned two years old on the 20th. He got a couple of new chewy bones, and a new ball to play with outside, but the big present will come today when we build him a dog house for out in the yard. After a month of rain every day it seems like a pretty good idea! Here's his two year old portrait. What a cutie!

Catching Up

Chapter One: The House of Foot Pain

The bunion surgery on my left foot was scheduled for Thursday, October 11. In honor of my right foot gaining strength and flexibility, Adam dropped a sheet of plywood on the big toe of his right foot. Do we know how to have a good time, or what? So, here is Adam's toe, in the process of turning a lovely dark purple. Thankfully, it's just the nail itself that's still painful. The toe seems to have escaped major injury.

Here is the x-ray of my left foot surgery, and then some pictures of the foot itself, and a lovely comparison shot of the right and left feet together. I'm so artistic. Here in the x-ray, you can see the two screws in the first metatarsal. In my right foot, they also had to cut part of the toe bone, but my left big toe straightened out easier, so they didn't have to mess with the toe. Raise your hand if you're like me and think that means less pain.... Yeah, no dice on that one. Just as painful as the right foot, sadly, with the added bonus of less stamina, too. Although I think it would probably help a lot if I were better at keeping track of when I can take more ibuprofin. At least I hope it'll help, because I go back to work tomorrow.

Oh, and the usual warning: These pics are pretty icky. Don't look too closely if you're squeamish.

Puppy Play Date

We got together with some theatre friends and their dogs on Saturday to have fun puppy play time. We were at the St Anthony Dog Park. From the left: Debbie, me, Amelia, John, Katie, Natalie with Layla, and Ben. (Photos by Adam.)


Katie and Natalie with Layla the Pug:
Sydney:
Ellie, who whined to go home the whole time:
Falstaff:
Arrow and Ellie:
Debbie and Sydney:
Arrow:
Ben, Me and Falstaff:
Seamus, King of the Water Bowl:

We Rule

TODAY it has been 3 years of kickass marriage. My wife is totally cool, and married life has been awsomely radical.

Also, Mel has been getting out of the aircast and into the sneaker. She can wear a sneaker all day long now, though it seems to make her sorry she did.

New Mel maintanance objective: More Sleep.

Gingerly, in the non-Rogers way

The walking-without-the-aircast update:





Ow.

Is this "in sickness" or "for worse"?

I know you've all been dying for more foot pictures! Now you, too, can see what Adam gets to look at first thing in the morning. You can see in these pictures that the stitches have been removed, but there's still some swelling and scabbing. The latest instructions were to start wearing a regular shoe on that foot for a couple of hours every day. This is the start of getting my range of motion back, as well as getting rid of the last of the swelling. I should be out of the aircast entirely about the week before my next surgery. Just in time to put it on the other foot!