What a day

Man, today was a day to end all days.

I was up late last night because we rented American Pie: Band Camp. Pretty funny flick. It certainly lived up to the previous 3 editions, although the main character (little Stifler) was annoyingly Stifler like and I didn't think his act was funny this time around. I was fine with the original Stifler. Something about this guy bugged me. I spent the whole movie thinking the main female person was Mandy Moore but it was someone I hadn't heard of. I enjoyed the movie. Well worth my $2.59.

So even though I stayed up late I was up early with two little boys. And I had stuff to do. I jumped right into it feeding the boys and such and then got to work on my garden. I decided to start a little vegetable garden this year. But like most things, I don't do things like most people. I came across a book called "Square Foot Gardening", and I read it and thought it made a ton of sense. And that made me realize that growing your own vegetables doesn't have to be as much work as most people think it is. I've been planning this garden for a while but this week is finally when it all came together. On Thursday I built my little 4X4 garden box, per the instructions in the book. And I went to the store and bought the vermiculite, peat moss and 5 different kinds of compost, just like the book instucted. So today was the day to lay out the weed cloth, mix the soil, fill the box and get some things planted. Here is a pic of the finished product. Yeah, I know it's not pretty, but before I spent some money on boxes that looked really nice I wanted to try this gardening thing out on the cheap. So, I slapped together this box out of OSB I had laying around, and the grid for the top is made of weed eater twine that I have plenty of. I'm thrifty! (I'll be trimming that weed cloth better too)

I already have two kinds of peas planted, some arugula, some lettuce and some onions. I'll be placing some spinach in there this week (most likely kid #1 will as he requested it. Yeah, I know, he's strange, he likes veggies). In about two-four weeks another set of peas will move in along with Broccoli and Carrots and another set of onions. And I still have 4 more "squares" to fill, with what I'm not sure. Then I wait for warmer weather and get another box prepared. I'm going to make another box for nothing but Herbs. I've got some Basil, Oregano, Cilantro and Parsley ready to fill that one. And after these colder weather plants are finished I'll be replacing them with some green beans, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, probably more onions and canteloup (muskmelon for some people) and I'm not sure what else yet. The beauty of this system is that with proper planting you can use the same squares three times per summer. So you don't need as much space to grow a ton of food.

So I got the garden stuff all cleaned up and then I took to the bike to swap out the road slicks for mountain bike tires. I haven't done this for about 15 years, but it was easier than I expected. (I think being older with more muscle helped) Not to mention that I actually bought tire levers instead of using a screwdriver like I use to. That really helped speed things up. Having the right tools is important.

Then it was lunch time. Definately had some lunch to fuel up because I was going to hit the trails in the afternoon. Headed out to Pleasant Creek State Park. Problem was, after driving 2o miles to get there the trails were closed because it was too wet. Man, that sucks. I have a feeling that will be the situation around here for a while. Seems like we get rain for two days and then two or three days of sun. Not enough to dry it out. Tomorrow I'm planning to head to another trail that is open no matter what, so we'll see what that is like. It's mostly motorized play things so it will probably be pretty torn up. I was able to ride my bike over to my apartment today because I was showing it to a prospective tenant. (I was over there in the morning to meet someone about some work to be done so this was my second trip today) I could really tell I hadn't been on a bike in a while, not to mention changing the tires. I was huffing and puffing up the hill by my house that is usually not much of a problem.

After dinner we went to a Cedar Rapids Rough Riders hockey game. We were able to get some free tickets, (3rd row) and man, it was a blast. I can easily say that this game was the best sporting event I've ever been to in person. I've seen plenty of baseball games, football games, an NBA game and none of them compared to the excitement of this thing. I've always been a hockey hater. Hockey sucks, blah, blah, blah. The problem is that hockey doesn't translate to TV. In person, it was crazy exciting. It felt like a kickoff return in football when the returner just breaks past the last guy, for the whole game. It was crazy. My ears and throat hurt when we left. The icing on the cake is that the mascot for the team is a Donkey. Yes, a Donkey. So, the crowd is full of cowbells that they ring the whole game to generate excitement, pump up the players, etc. The coolest part is when they want to rev up the crowd, they play a quick little sound bit "I need more cowbell" (you know what show this is from) followed by a little drumstick knocking from "don't fear the reaper". Crazy. The crowd gets fired up. (the entire music package was incredibly top notch) I'm not sure if the pro game would be as exciting because you would lose a lot of the intimacy of our small arena and team, but I definately will be checking out more hockey games.

Then we came home, but the boys to bed, I'm typing this and I'll hit the sack. It's been a full day. I hope I can get out to that trail tomorrow.

FGLB

PS. If you don't know the show I'm talking about check here.