Garden update: The weeds are doing as well as the intentional plants, but we are staying somewhat ahead. From the back of the picture... The corn is standing chest high in the back, then the potatoes, about hip high and flowering. We pulled up one of the potato plants this weekend and there were small golf ball sized tubers. Yeah. Next on the left are the beans, green and white. In the middle is still the chicken poop and harvested weeds and we pulled up the radishes and they are piled up there too, temporarily. Then on the right is the beets, just days away from harvest and canning. In front of all that on the left are flowering and poding peas (Maddie just weeded, Thank you Maddie), then some squash and cucumbers in the middle, and on the right are fingerling carrots, spinach and lettuce. Not seen are the tomatoes that are nicely flowering and onions that are thumb-sized.

OK, so I decided to plant more in some of the bare spots, and again closer to the chicken poop in the middle. Also tilled up the old radish area where I planed corn. I found another spot for more corn too. In front of the tomatoes I could not resist planting romaine lettuce. And I made 6 dirt mounds and planted watermelon, buttercup squash, big pumpkins and more cucumbers.

We are very pleased with the garden, and have found this a great opportunity (Thank you Brian and putting his garden spot on Craigslist) to reconnect with gardening that both Pat and I did throughout our childhood, and to pass on the gardening pleasures, yes, even weeding, onto Maddie and others.

So far, so good.

Happy Father's Day to me..... THANK YOU DOM!

Here's Miesha's temporary address at IIT:

Miesha Ebacher/Corps MemberIIT – Teach For America
201 South State Street
Box Number 2882
Chicago, IL 60616

After WWU graduation on Saturday, June 13th, Miesha and I (Dad) got into her 2008 Cobalt packed to the gills with her stuff, and drove the 2200 miles across the norther tier states to Chicago, Illinois. There she starts immediately with Teach For America. Check out Miesha's blog for all the details. To the right is graduation, with Vanessa (who also graduated) and Jenny (who is a year away). Below is the view of her dorm at the Illinois Institute of Technology (say IT really slowly). Look carefully, she's up there in the window.

Move in day, all the stuff on the bed. Below is after she got all her stuff in the room she realized she put it all on the wrong bed, so naturally , we switched the signs on the door.

The view from her window of South State street in Chicago.

And, her new friend, Nikki, from Connecticut.

Weekend Hiking the Hoh

A weekend hike on the Hoh river in the Olympic National Park. Dad, Maddie, Dom and Kelsie hiked 18.2 miles (no kidding, and feeling each mile today, no doubt!). Dom and Kelsie got to the trailhead Friday night 2 hours earlier than Maddie and I, so hiked in the 2.9 miles to Mt. Tom campsite (entirely primative). When Maddie and I got there, it was already dark. I never hiked intentionally in the dark before, so Maddie and I with our head lamps, arrived around midnight to Mt. Tom. Everyone slept well. The next morning we hiked the remaining 6.2 miles to the Olympus Guard campsite (equiped with privy and ranger guard station). We fairly quickly set up camp and had a great meal of chicken hotdogs, mac and cheese and summer sausage. Such a beautiful site. We awoke to two yearling deer right in our campsite. At 9:00 am we began the hike out, and 6 hours and 9.1 miles later arrived back at the Hoh Visitor Center parking lot. We saw two elk on the way out. Then, the 5 hour drive home.

So, now, Dom, Mara, Maddie and Miesha have all been to the Hoh, along with Luisa and Chris. So, here's a question for everyone.... How do we get Mom there?

Why are outdoor privies so photogenic?

Camping at Olympus Guard station.

The Olympus Guard Station. Usually there is a volunteer Ranger on duty. There was this weekend, and we shared some of our food with him.

This was on the hike out, and the last time she put her back pack on.

Kelse and Dom. We all shared food, and Maddie and I we very grateful for inviting us along on this hike, and for share the summer sausage, bagels, and the occasional termite.

A tale of two gardens

Random pictures of produce is today's theme.

A fledgling garden of peas, corn, beans, potatoes, beets, onions, tomatoes, squash, radishes, lettuce, carrots, spinach and various species of weeds. All organic. From our back yard, Maddie made a rhubarb pie! Yeah, my favorite. And, then there's Mom's new crop of post-chemo hair, which has us all very excited.

The long view of the garden. Peas on the left. Potatoes and corn to the back. The potatoes have hay spread between them to promote the new potatoes under them, and to conserve water and keep weeds down.

The first crop of radishes. Big, fat and wonderful.

Yummmmm!

Mom's hair is growing nearly as fast as our corn! Enjoy the pictures!