Starlight Run

Moving

We are moving blogs. Due to a quirk in blogger, we are moving this blog to here:

http://8004theorangedoor.blogspot.com/

Matt will be reinviting you, as we will be making this one private. You can always go back and see the entries on this one.

So sorry.

Gardening, gardening, gardening, gardening

I’ve been gardening. Or at least doing all the things people do when they want to start gardening. Many of these things require money and muscle, so it isn’t surprising that home food production has fallen to such a small percentage, nationally. Still, there is a sense of accomplishment.
#
I’ve just completed four main projects: digging out my first (of four) garden beds, planting two columnar apple trees, planting my huckleberry bush and setting up the lettuce raised beds.
#
Before I did any of those things, though, I bought some gardening clogs. I felt a bit silly and bourgeois doing this, but it turns out that I really like them. They sit outside on the patio and I slip them on to work in the yard, and off when I have to run inside.

Double Digging is double fun!
One book that is influencing my garden is How to Grow More Vegetables (than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine.) The book’s premise is that you can plant stuff in beds rather than rows and the closer spacing of the plants creates a micro climate that will benefit the plants. Doing this wears out the soil faster so it is important to grow compost crops which can then be converted into compost.
#
The first step to growing more vegetables is to double dig. There is a very nice explanation of this process here (scroll down to Double Digging.) How to Grow More Vegetables says that the double digging process only takes about an hour for an experienced person to dig 100 square feet. I had 45 square feet and was a beginner.
#
First, you prep the soil by watering it for 2 hours and then letting it sit for 1-2 days. That was easy enough. Then you take a digging fork and loosen the soil. I did this without wearing gloves and got my very first gardening blister.

Then it sits for a few more days. When it came time to do the actual double digging, it was fairly easy. I was worried that my soil was so clay-y that I wouldn’t be able to get the digging shovel in, but all that watering and sitting helped.

Here you can sort of see the layers. At the top is the soil that has been dug. The middle is soil that has been “forked” and the bottom is the undug soil with some phosphorous and lime on top of it.
#

All in all, the whole digging part took me about an hour. I was pleasantly sore the next day. The double digging really breaks up the soil and makes it more airy, but I have a long road ahead of me to break up all of that clay.
#
Remember about gardening taking money and muscle? Here is a picture of all the stuff I bought in one day to get these projects going. Eeek! Matt reminded me that we would be getting vegetables out of the process, but I remain a little worried that nothing will grow and this will end up being an expensive experiment.

Both the raised beds and the columnar apples required me to make some form of “dirt.” I used Mel’s Mix as outlined in Square Foot Gardening. (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/)
#
Mel wanted me to make a mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. I figured out how much of everything I needed to fill two raised beds and 2 wine barrels and then set off to buy.
#
Mel lives in a world where price is no object.
#
I was supposed to get 16 cubic feet of vermiculite. Vermiculite costs about $30.00 for 4 cubic feet. I went with one bag. I couldn’t find peat moss at the first garden center I went to, and I ended up buying coconut fiber at the second, thinking they would have peat moss either. Except they did. The coconut fiber is a renewable resource, though so, a bit better. It was also a bit more expensive than I imagined so I got two bricks which were supposed to equal 8 square feet when opened and fluffed. I was going to get the compost from the City of Portland,
where you can get a cubic yard for $16.00, but forgot this fact in the overwhelming world of the gardening center and ended up buying 15 cubic feet of it in handy bags. It cost more than it would have been from Metro, but oh well. I’m learning.
###
You are supposed to dump out all three of the items on a tarp and then move the pile around the tarp until it is mixed.
#
The coconut fiber was a bit of a problem. The directions said open the package, break up the brick, water lightly and fluff to remove any clumps. Hah! I opened the package and started to break up the brick. It was mostly a solid mass. Not exactly break up able. Plus, it was a bit windy and the fibers I did remove from the mass blew away. After about 30 minutes of effort, I said “screw this,” pulled the tarp over the coconut fiber, put the bags of compost on top and left the whole thing there for two weeks while I lived my life.
#
I came back on Saturday and started again. I figured out that mixing 15 cubic feet of compost, 8 cubic feet of coconut fiber and 4 cubic feet of vermiculite would be easier if I did it a quarter at a time.
#
I think the coconut fiber sitting in the tarp for two weeks caused it to mellow a bit because it wasn’t quite so stubborn this time. I figured out that I could stand a chuck upright, and put weight on it. This would cause the chunk to come apart.

Then I added the compost and the vermiculite.

Then I mixed by dragging the tarp this way and that. This was kind of fun, because all the materials are light and you get to kick them around a little. And there you have "Patricia’s real world, price is an object," version of Mel’s Mix.

Apple Trees
I have a great book called McGee’s & Stucky’s the Bountiful Container which I bought with the gift card the Extension Service gave me when I quit. It’s all about container gardening and has a great section on fruit. I read about columnar apples and decided they would be perfect for the back yard. I bought two trees from Raintree Nursery. One is a Golden Sentinel and one is a North Pole variety. They came last week and I was too intimidated to plant them, so I plunged them in a bucket of water.

#
I planted them in these lovely whisky barrels my mother bought me which my brother transported.

The Bountiful container has a bunch of container layouts in the book and I followed the one for the columnar apple tree, planting Malabar spinach around the base—it’s supposed to grow up the tree and then chives and normal spinach alternating in a circle. The trees look a little stick-like, but will hopefully be happy in their new home.

Evergreen Huckleberry
We need something bushy out front. We have this amazing front porch, but right now it is a little too close to the sidewalk. I wanted some bush thing that would grow up a bit and provide a little bit of separation from the street. I also wanted something that would produce something to eat, as you might as well get some food out of your plants. I initially thought blueberry, but there is a large tree in the yard next door and a small tree, which will get bigger, out front. Blueberries need sun, so I needed something that would thrive in the shade.
#
I found the Evergreen Huckleberry. It doesn’t do well in sun, but in shade supposedly grows from 6-8 feet. It’s also supposed to be pretty. And it produces Huckleberries. It’s a little small now, and it is a bit slow growing, but someday, I think it will block our front porch a bit from the rest of the world. It’s that little tiny green thing in the middle.

Raised Beds
Chris and I had previously built raised beds. They were originally going to go in the back yard, four beds of 2X8 feet, but I decided I wanted the back yard garden bigger and instead decided to stack the four beds into two and put them on the North side of the house in hopes that lettuce will grow there as it doesn’t have a lot of sun.
#
To prepare the beds, I watered and then forked the soil. So much clay, I’m thinking they should have built our house out of adobe.

Then I put in all the remaining mix. I ran out, of course. So one bed is full and the other is a bit full. Guess I will get to buy some compost from the city anyway.

Now I am left to plant in the beds. I'll let you know how that goes.

Finished projects

Towel Racks
Our bathroom has one very lovely towel rack. Since we moved in, I’ve been putting my towel over the door to dry. This is not dissimilar to our situation in the fortress of solitude where we only had one towel rack. For almost a year one of us would dry our towel over the door of the shower. I finally got sick of that and installed three towel racks. It was a sweaty, most-of-the-day job involving a level, many toggle bolts, much too much marking on the walls, followed by a lot of erasing, a lot of drilling and eventually, success.
#
I’m happy to report I learned from that experience and installing two towel racks was much easier this time.

Behind the door is where we are putting the towels. At that point, the ingredients for the towel racks had been sitting there three weeks, attracting all that gunk that floats around in corners if you don’t clean your floors fairly often.
#
First I got out the level and marked a horizontal line for the first towel rack. I only marked the far left and right side instead of drawing a line all the way across which I would have to erase. Then, I assembled the towel rack and marked the vertical lines. Then, I had an amazing realization.

When I first installed the towel racks, I didn’t have any instructions and I had to figure out how that rectangular piece of metal works. After installing it upside down the first time I called in technical support and Matt pointed out that the lip had to face up because that was what the tiny screw on the bottom of the rack holder grabbed a hold of.
#
So I conquered that learning curve. This time, I realized that I didn’t have to put a toggle bolt in both the top and the bottom holes on the bracket. They had included a handy middle hole. So, instead of drilling eight holes, I only had to drill four. Incidentally, the 12 large holes in the Fortress of Solitude’s bathroom was one of the only things the landlord complained about after we moved out. I think that that is what he gets for not giving us any towel racks. Really! How does it work that two people have one towel rack between them?
#
Things went up quickly. I drilled, I toggled, I screwed, I repeated for the other side and then again for the next rack. Voila! Towels on racks!

Then I swept the bathroom floor. I’m on a mission to get everything off the floor. Which brings me to:

#

Hooks
I don’t know if there has been any study, but I am willing to bet that people who primarily use public transportation have more bags than the average car driver. Why? Because when you have a car, you can shove the various things you are carrying with you in a dozen nooks and crannies, but when you are navigating the world via public transportation everything comes with you on your shoulders, back, hips, arms or head. Sometimes you need the big backpack, sometimes the middle one. Sometimes the small purse, sometimes the hearty purse. This is my excuse for having a lot of bags. But believe me, I use them.
#
I also love hooks. Hooks are easy to install, you just need an anchor and a hook, hammer and drill. Sometimes, you don’t even need a drill or an anchor. They are also cheap and portable. I’ve got some hooks that I’ve had since I lived in South Boston. They were originally attached to my loft bed and moved with me to my yellow, orange and green room in Somerville, my studio in Portland and then the Fortress of Solitude.
#
Hooks were what I installed in the office and all those bags sitting on the floor are now neatly contained on a wall. Then, I happily swept of the detritus from that corner.

Knife Holder
#
I love my knife holder. It was cheap, it came from Fred Meyer, but I think it is one of the most useful kitchen items ever. Your knives are RIGHT THERE! On the WALL! Not in a drawer, not in a butcher block which takes up too much room on the counter and you have to move to wipe the counter under it. You can wash the knives, dry them on a dish towel and BAM! Back onto the holder. And it is magnetic. Who doesn’t love magnets?

After I installed the miraculous object, I put up the knives and then wiped down the counter.
#
Bliss.

Monopoly

We played Monopoly on Saturday night, a game I love. It wasn’t the greatest game. Matt got a dreaded yellow monopoly early on in the game and also blocked me from getting any monopolies myself. Then it was a long, slow decline for me. I would pass go, collect $200.00 and then pay it in rents to Matt so he could buy another house to charge me higher rent. “This is what it is like to be the working poor.” I complained at one point.

Matt with his winnings. Notice my stack of one dollar bills and mortgaged properties.

Project Priorities

I made a list of projects that need to be done for the house. It has 37 items on it. (and I just thought of two more) Then, I ran the list through CNN’s Prioritizer. It’s this very cool thing on their personal finance page. You pick up to 15 things (they made it for financial goals, but you can use it for anything) and put them in a list. Then you work your way thorough a series of choices picking which of two you find more important. At the end, your items are ranked with a score. I love it!
#
In the time it took me to put 37 choices through the Prioritizer, I have already finished the following projects:
Knife holder, install (87.5%)
Plant evergreen huckleberry (78.6%)
Plant apple trees (64.3%)
Install towel racks (finished before I prioritized)
Put up hooks for bags in office (finished before I prioritized)
#
The list of projects and their scores:
Kitchen
60% Shelving above refrigerator
15.5% Paint, Kitchen
Great Room
50% mail and key area
42.9% shelves, GR dining
35.7% guitar hanger
22.6% shelves, great room (stairwell)
20.2% white dresser, get rid of
13.1% paint great room
0% curtains, great room
Garden/Yard
92.9% dig bed 1
87.5% set up lettuce bed
57.1% dig bed 2
36.9% clothesline
21.4% hammock
8.3% buy Meyer Lemon tree
Bathroom
79.8% shower curtain
72.6% corner shelving
70.2% newspaper holder
34.5% above toilet shelving
Pantry
100% black shelf
92.9% shelving on long wall
77.4% paint pantry
57.1% shelving above freezer
50% clothesline
Office
40% small rug for floor
20% paint office
0% curtain, office
Bedroom
28.6% bedroom curtain
14.3% paint bedroom
6% new comforter
Storage
100% storage shelves
80% hooks for bags
#
And here, just for fun, they are in number order:
100% storage shelves
100% black shelf
92.9% shelving on long wall
92.9% dig bed 1
87.5% set up lettuce bed
80% hooks for bags
79.8% shower curtain
77.4% paint pantry
72.6% corner shelving
70.2% newspaper holder
60% shelving above refrigerator
57.1% shelving above freezer
57.1% dig bed 2
50% mail and key area
50% clothesline
42.9% shelves, GR dining
40% small rug for floor
36.9% clothesline
35.7% guitar hanger
34.5% above toilet shelving
28.6% bedroom curtain
22.6% shelves, great room (stairwell)
21.4% hammock
20.2% white dresser, get rid of
20% paint office
15.5% paint, Kitchen
14.3% paint bedroom
13.1% paint great room
8.3% buy Meyer Lemon tree
6% new comforter
0% curtains, great room
0% curtain, office

The Fortress of Solitude

#
We used to live behind a brown door. When Matt and I moved in together, we chose this apartment, another unique living situation. I still have the original Craigslist posting:
#
"1 Bedroom Apartment with free parking near Metro Y, PSU, and OHSU; on Barbur Boulevard, with good bus service. Approx 750 to 800 square feet. Includes access to free washer/dryer. $575 per month, including water and garbage. Address: 3700 Barbur Building, 3718 SW Condor, Portland, ORMove in costs: $575.00 first month rent, $200 refundable security deposit, $75.00 nonrefundable cleaning fee, total $850.00. No application fee."
#
It was cheap (very,) it was huge, it was close-in, I called. It turned out to be in this building:

which I was very familiar with. It's easy to recognize if you spend any time at all on Barbur Boulivard. I had no idea that there was an apartment in the building, though. It turned out that there were two, built to meet some mixed-use code. Marv and Dave Nepom, the father and son who owned the building, weren't all that into getting an optimal price for their apartments. They just wanted nice people looking for a unique place to live. I swear he said that to me.
#
We lived there almost a year and a half, enjoying the views of Mt Hood and Downtown. When they built the tram, it was right down the street from our house. There were only two windows to the apartment and the dryer didn't really like to dry the clothes that well, but there was covered parking, a whole parking lot for when we had a parties, and since no one knew people lived there, it felt very secure. There was traffic noise from Barbur, but I had been living downtown at the top of a small hill that busses and motorcycles loved to race up, so Barbur was much quieter. Sometimes, it felt like we would be there forever, due to the crazy housing market. I will miss the Fortress of Solitude, and I am glad we had such a nice place, for so cheap, with such nice landlords, for so long.

5 Years

We celebrated five years of togetherness this Saturday. We celebrated in the normal manner of five year anniversaries. We went to see Spider-Man III. Not only that, but we got to start the line for the 4:50 show of Spider-Man III. From 4:00 onward we stood and looked out over, much as the first pioneers to Oregon must have, Pioneer Square Mall and the Moonstruck chocolate kiosk. I was fairly entertained because an escalator was not working and I got to watch people lurch down the slightly-larger-than usual escalator steps.And there we are five years in. See if you can guess the theme in this picture and the next two.

After Spider-Man III was over, we caught the Max back to our neighborhood (Kenton) and had some celebratory Thai Food at E San. We stopped for a picture of Paul Bunyan, who looks out over the Kenton Neighborhood. Actually, he is more looking toward Washington, and has his back to the neighborhood, but we are happy to have him just the same.

And then Matt got in on the picture too.

Have you guessed the theme yet?

Next was a short walk home to grab the car and a quick journey to Pix Patisserie for our celebratory dessert. We both got a Royale with Cheese. Yummy.

Did you guess the theme yet? It was nostrils. :-)

Cleaning

After we moved, we cleaned out the old place. I love doing the final cleaning before turning in the keys. First of all, it's usually pretty easy, because all the stuff is at the new place. Secondly, I always like to imagine the landlord coming in to the apartment I've scrubbed so well, and saying to himself, "This is amazingly clean! I won't even have to hire a cleaning service." The fact that I have no idea what happens to the apartment after I leave helps to perpetuate this fantasy.

So Matt and I scrubbed and scrubbed and vacuumed, etc. and we took one final picture before we left the fortress of solitude.

Moving

Patricia here:

Now is the time for all the posts that didn't get posted while we were without DSL. I've got pictures, oh yes!

Moving. After the hell of packing, the moving went rather smoothly. It helped that there were many people: Mom, Aunt Carol, Kelly, Tim, Jan, Chris, Matt and me. There is a special place in my heart for people who help with moving. We got the truck loaded up in no time at all--though moving is a time when you question why you wanted the 1950's metal and wooden desks. It also unloaded fairly rapidly. Though the passive voice of that sentence doesn't quite do the calorie expenditure of the movers justice. Some images:
Our old apartment, with almost everything packed.
Chris unloading his truck. See those things he is carrying. Those are our shelves. They will show up again under the category of "project"Mom prepping our post-move burrito feed.Tim and Jan Unloading the truck

After unloading stuff, we ate and everyone left. Matt had to study for a final and I started placing things. Here's what it looked like when I started:

That would be our great room taken from extreme angles. One from the door (the left picture) and one from the dining room corner (right picture)
And here is what it looked like 5 hours later.

Then I went to bed and slept the sleep of the dead and woke up and cooked the very first thing on the new stove:

And I got the kitchen in order. That was a little overwhelming. We had a big pantry in the old place which will be shelving in the new place (another project,) but the shelving isn't up yet, so where to put the stuff. It worked out, but for awhile it looked like this:It turned out to be a bad idea to pile all my kitchen items on the counters to try and find a place for everything.

At this point, we are pretty much unpacked, by which I mean switching into project mode. An example. We can't finish unpacking all the kitchen stuff until we have the pantry set up. Which means that we have to 1) paint and reassemble the metal shelf that I bought and 2) build some shelves on one of the walls. So the stuff that should be in the pantry is boxed somewhat neatly in the niche of the dining area (another area that needs shelves.) At the same time, I am much more interested in setting up the garden and so that is taking my spare time right now. I would love to take a bunch of time off of work to do all this, but the downside of working for a school is that the vacations are ample, but come at specific times. So I try and do a little every day. More on that later.

Also, I haven't quite gotten the hang of placing photos in these posts. I'm also unwilling to fiddle right now, so they look a little funny. So sorry.

We're back.

Hey, we’re hooked up again! Ah, what was life like before the Internet?
It’s been a while since I rapped at ya, but a lot has happened.
We got our DSL from Spirit One. They’re a tad cheaper and they’re very helpful, compared to Qwest. Unfortunately, three of our phone jacks and one of our plugs don’t work. We’re going to have to get those fixed during the 30-day warranty.
I’ve been exploring the neighborhood in training for an upcoming event. I’ve found the North Portland Tool Library, the local police station, a boxing gym (don’t worry, my neck has been feeling too good to subject it to that again), a park, a playground, the nearest library, a day care center (just in case we change what we’ve been saying for the past 5 years about having children), and the general direction of the speedway. Pretty slick.
I love the backyard. It’s very pleasant to sit out in the backyard and read. Well, there are the mosquitoes. But we’re either going to solve that with citronella candles or bats. (Mosquitoes are a superstitious, cowardly lot. So our defense must be able to strike terror into their hearts. We must harbor creatures of the night. Black. Terrible. We shall host BATS!; No one’s going to get that reference…)
I think we’re pretty unpacked. I’m even getting used to the new sounds in the house.

No DSL

Hey, we’re going to be less likely to post for a while. We have no DSL in our area of town. We’re going to talk about other options.
On the plus side, we have a lot more space in our new house.

moved

Hey, we did our move yesterday and the day before. Thanks to all those who helped us move, Jan, Kelly, Carol, Mary, Chris, and Tim, genius of loading a moving van.
We're pretty much unpacked, although it's an ongoing process. Patricia unpacked a bunch, while I studied for finals.
We won't be posting until we're hooked up to the internet.

49 boxes

Most things are packed and I just sealed box 49. That doesn't count all the boxes Matt packed. Very tired.

disagreement

So, we signed a bunch of papers today, although there seems to be some disagreement between what Jennifer at Home Street Bank told us and what the rep at Ticor said about the earnest money and the taxes being included in the mortgage. Patricia will sort that out tomorrow. it sounds like.
It seems like Greg, our new Home Street banker, is not entirely to blame. It's kind of the situation that's causing all these difficulties. The "unique" nature of the house (it's not a condo, it's just got two floors with separate tenants), the sudden switch of bankers without a very good handoff of the baton, and various persons difficulties in dealing with said "unique" nature have been the source of the frustrating delays.
Now that it looks like we are going to get the keys tomorrow, I'm going to have to get crackin' on the packin'. And find time for studying for one final exam (I was lucky to get most of my work done early).
Also, Dr. Gina Bullock of the Broadway Foot Clinic fixed my ills with a shot of alcohol and a syringe. Kinda ironic for a future AOD [alcohol and other drugs] counselor. This is good, because Morton's neuroma makes it very difficult to lift things (as in moving). I came up with the description of the feeling of having a stone in my shoe all the time on my own, but apparently I wasn't the only one.
Matt

We signed today!

Matt and I went to Ticor Title Company to sign our paperwork today. There were a few surprises which I need to call about, but everything looks ready to fund by next Wednesday, at the latest. Which I translate as "maybe Friday". (Unique situation.) Also of note in our signing process was that I had the best pen! It was a papermate, probably cost 40 cents, but was such a smooth writing tool. I contemplated stealing it, but ended up leaving it there. Although they probably won't appreciate it as much as I did.



Matt looks a little glazed (though cute!) in this picture. I feel very glazed. I haven't been sleeping well, and I will be glad when this is over. (I think I am counting "over" as: possessions moved to new place and old place cleaned out.)


One thing I wondered was, how did we end up with Ticor as our title company? Maureen, my coworker is also buying a house and going through the same lender, but she ended up with a different Title Company. I guess I will have to file that wondering in with questions like, "How much did the people around me on the plane pay for their plane fare?" Perhaps someday there will be a huge title company expose and some sort of deregulation and we will have to shop around for our title company after signing 4 "truth in title company" forms. All to save $50.00. And how did title companies come to be? It's all so mysterious. But not mysterious enough for me to find the answers.


Off to change addresses...