The Can Crusher

1 cull green scrap 2x6x44 board from the Home Depot reject bin: 55 cents

1 door hinge left behind by contractors: free

2 jar lids saved from trash: free

6 wire nails found in garage: free

helping 1 thrilled 8 year old make a can crusher: priceless

Here We Go Again...

Thanks to my neighbor Melissa for pointing this lady out to me. She is living under the eave of the garage, in the back--so, right above my swiss chard. I've never looked up and found one of these before. Pete smooshed the egg sac, but she ran away. Which is OK, I just don't want 500 of these running around in the garden, composter, and earthquake bin (yes, I have one!). Last year they got into the garage, which was no fun at all. This was only the second I've seen this year. By far the biggest, but I do know where we have 4 different webs. So there are at least 4 more in the yard. *sigh*. She is really quite lovely, though probably angry at us now. Do spiders get angry?

"The Best Peaches EVER!"

Says E-man. And I have to agree. We are getting peaches from our peach tree, and they are so good. Sweet and tart at the same time.

I spent a bunch of time 2 years ago researching peach trees in the Armstrong catalog. Trying to find one that would make good eaters (as opposed to bakers), not be too sweet, and that would actually make peaches most years here! It looks like we have a winner. I wish I could remember what variety I had settled on. White Queen? Santa Barbara? Snow Peach? It ruled my life for so long I thought I'd never forget. Haha. But wait, there's more:
Unfortunately, some critter has found them too, and is hiding them, behind the rosemary, half eaten. Squirrel? Raccoon? Boy? I know not. And for some comic relief, here is the actual tree.
Yeah, it's maybe 4 feet tall. Little tree with yummy peaches. But a year and a half ago it was a bare root stick about 3 feet tall.

And for something completely different, after all the database stuff and computer work for the silent auction, and all the crocheting on the doll I donated and making baby stuff for Kari, I rewarded myself with a little quilting. I started a Halloween quilt that I bought fabric for probably 2 years ago. Some new techniques for me, but it's been fun in spite of the frustrations of corners not matching and sewing the wrong edges together and so forth. I should finish the quilt top this week. It's small :)

Spring Break, week 1

The boys have a 2-week spring break, so here is the summary of week 1! Pete, unfortunately, has the week after their 2 weeks. Figures.

So, spring break started off with a visit from the Easter bunny! We skipped the crazy ruckus and shoving parents at the Westchester egg hunt, and let the bunny bring the goods to the house.

We made a dinner of ham, carrots, glazed radishes (from the garden), and foccacia. Yummy!

T-bone in particular was thrilled to see the garbage trucks on Monday--though one was so late we finally just had to go run some errands. When T-bone misplaced his green Bruder can, he decided to make a new one (disaster averted!), and trimmed down his first try to create a working can. Of course, as soon as he sat down to use it, he found the missing can under the couch....


On Tuesday we went to the Scout Shop to pick up a pinewood derby kit for E-man, and a larger shirt for T-bone. Then we went to the Cabrillo Aquarium since we were right there. E-man, of course, loved the sharks. T-bone liked the huge lobsters best. And the yellow recycling cans.

At home, E-man made a special seaweed collecting boat. The scoop (on the left) collects seaweed (kelp, really) from the ocean,  dumping it onto the small shelf. That then dumps it onto the main part of the boat (the dumptruck piece). As you may have guessed, they have some kelp at the aquarium!

Wednesday we went to play at Acacia Park in El Segundo, which has a super tall spiral slide, a wave slide, swings, and a tire swing. I didn't take the camera, so no pics of super dizzy T-bone or E-man bouncing down the wave slide.

Thurdsay we had a playdate with a friend of E-man's at Lindbergh Park in Culver City. Again, no camera, but the boys all loved a quick trip to Target for pizza after the playdate. What is it about kids that makes eating at target soooooo exciting?

Friday Pete and the boys finished up their pinewood derby cars. More on that tomorrow--hopefully blogger will be more cooperative in letting me upload pics! I spent the day at the Family History Center in West LA doing research on my Martins in Cambridgeshire (they actually have, there, a bunch of the films I need!).  Three hours, and I only got through one film. But I think I am now back two more generations! We'll see if the other films confirm or refute what I think I know!

Saturday we had to turn in the cars for  weighing and impounding, and we had a brief but nice visit with Scott and Elizabeth. Pete had some extra hops corms (?), and has now talked Scott into growing hops too. Lucky Elizabeth :)

Rat-a-Cake-y & Building Bird Feeders

Last night we went to T-bone's cub scout pack Blue & Gold Banquet. Which meant that Friday night dad and T-bone baked a cake and then Saturday day they decorated it (which involved waaaay too much red food coloring). This year's theme was Chinese New Year, so T-bone drew a great rat for the year of the rat--the cake design was all him, as was much of the decorating. E-man found much of the evening exhausting (other than when the magician turned 4 birds into 1 rabbit, and the noodles and pot stickers got a thumbs up too!), and still hasn't recovered from not getting the giant Hot Wheels basket in the silent auction. Especially since T-bone won a Climb Mt Everest game as a door prize. No, we haven't tried playing yet!

E-man had a better Saturday last weekend. Both boys went with dad to the Lowe's Build N Grow to make bird/squirrel feeders. T-bone did his all by himself--all reading, finding pieces, hammering, everything. E-man happily hammered away with daddy. We gave these feeders over to the squirrels, who will be chubbier than ever now. This guy approves.

Where was I? Manning Miss Julie's 2nd grade class during another OCS open house. Which means I spent two hours talking (which my sore throat did NOT appreciate!) while simultaneously keeping toddlers brought to the no kids event from feeding the class's forced bulbs to the bunny. And I crocheted 4 afghan units!

Sidewalk Paint!

This is probably no surprise to anyone that knows him, but T-bone went nuts when I showed him the homemade sidewalk paint in the last issue of Family Fun magazine. (Who would have thought a Disney mag would be my favorite???) So, while E-man took a snooze on the couch this afternoon, T-bone and I made sidewalk paint. White, green, and yellow. And he proceeded to paint an entire road system on the patio and driveway. What you see above isn't even half.

Note to self: start buying cornstarch at Costco.

Cooper the Hawk

Here he is, Cooper, our resident neighborhood hawk. He's a Cooper's Hawk, to be precise, but we are just so clever around here he is named Cooper.

Pete got this photo and several others the other morning--yesterday?--after we left for school. Cooper was looking and looking, this way and that, and there were no birds or squirrels in sight, and the outdoor cats (several frequent our yard since our kitty stays in!) were slinking for cover.

E-man and I recently saw Cooper sitting on our power pole, calling. We both thought it was pretty cool, though it made me glad I'm not a rat!

What's up in the yard?

gWell, it has finally stopped raining and there is no more standing water in the yard. Finally. We have radishes and carrots up and still alive. They were underwater for about 2 days, but seem to be fine, even if they haven't grown in a week.

The peach tree and lavender are both blooming. I need to cut the lavender back again, it takes just forever and I put it off, making it all worse. Of course. We haven't seen a hummer today, but they love the lavender too. If I can just get it cut back it will bloom even more.

And of course, the lesser goldfinches are everywhere. They eat the niger, they eat the sunflower chips, they eat dandelion seeds, they are hungry, beautiful, singing little guys. I'm hoping to get some good pics of our other birds, but they are so much more skittish.

We need to do some more planting, but the ground is so saturated that we can't plant anything right now. And the ground is so saturated that with the last storm one of our downspouts sent water into the garage instead of the lawn. We'll see how long it takes to dry out!

Eagle Rock

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and we managed to get out. After a bit of a detour to Solstice Canyon (closed til May), we ended up at Topanga State Park. Where we should have gone first, since it is so much closer and really nice. We took sandwiches, saw some deer hopping fences, visited the nature center, and then took off on the nature hike. And then to Eagle Rock. Yes, both boys walked all the way to and from Eagle Rock. With a bit of whining, but they thought the shale outcroppings were way cool.

It was such a nice day we weren't the only ones to have this idea, but we did get a spot in the lot. And of course, this is one of the parks good old Arnold wants to close. It already doesn't accept the state parks pass (what exactly is the purpose of a pass when it's not accepted by the same dept selling it?). What is this guy angling for? Other than slashing public school funding, again, I mean.

On a completely different note: the radishes T-bone and I planted last weekend are up!

Finches and more finches

Oooh...my first entry. And how exciting it is.

Anyway, T-bone and I chose this bird feeder when we were up in San Jose for the holidays. It took me a month to get it up, but they like it. It is usually covered in Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches, except when the Coopers Hawk is around. The Mourning Doves and White-Crowned Sparrows enjoy everything that falls. 

Our chubby squirrel (wonder why?) likes it too, but he is so funny to watch it's OK.

The boys counted seven birds on it at once. Or one chubby squirrel.