Feb
9
Dear Internet
Filed Under astruc | 13 Comments
How are you? I am fine. It smells like Spring might be coming to Seattle, reports of snow this week notwithstanding. I am looking forward to this year’s attempt at my garden.
I will be back soon. I just wanted to see if this thing still works.
Love,
Sara
Jul
1
Test
Filed Under astruc | 8 Comments
I tried to upgrade my version of WP and failed. So I had to re-up from a backup since none of the fixes in that thread worked for me. So if stuff is broken around here it’s because I need to mess with permissions. Again.
Jun
15
Hoe hoe
Filed Under astruc | 10 Comments
My tiny townhouse backs up on a wooded area, a mini-forest too rocky for development. I live in a city, yet my place is totally silent at night and when I look out the windows I see nothing but lush green. It makes this home enormously appealing after years of apartment living.
In terms of available outdoor space, tucked behind the house hides a postage stamp deck. Off to one side there’s a sad, dark bed. It doesn’t see much light through the trees. The area became an inadvertent compost heap as leaves piled up down there and me not raking it out. For once, laziness wins!
Beyond the deck there’s a rocktop soil-covered expanse covered in ivy that stretches almost clear back to the fence. The ivy made me nervous. It hid things, small animals, bugs, a ‘64 Ford, a dead body. Who knows. I wanted it gone. I wanted to see if I could coax anything to grow on top of those rocks.
I’d been thinking for a long time about what I wanted to do in the yard, but I had some trouble getting started. I learned a lot in Florida watching my stepdad gardening the courtyard. He’d come home with a flat of one thing or another every time he’d go to Home Depot, and the next morning there’d be new flowers planted.
Or he’d decide that he didn’t appreciate the placement of one sort of flower and the next morning they’d all be moved to the other side of the pool, like they’d marched there themselves. He didn’t seem to mind too much when something died, it was more of an opportunity to him. I asked him once how he chose the flowers and he looked at me like I was sort of slow. “I point and say, that’s pretty! And I take it home and try it.”
And I thought, I could probably do that. But first, I had to clear out the ivy. Which I’m still doing. And which is giving me spaghetti arms. But, hey, it’s nature. I’m outside. Go me. I spent hours today clearing the ivy, but the ground is so root-bound I am unsure how well things will take hold. I’m also not sure how deep the soil is. I’m feeling slightly dubious about basically planting things on top of rocks.
But it’s almost gone now, and I hosed out the rocks so now they’re all pretty and clean again. I wonder too if anything would grow out of those spaces.I’m tilling as much as I can, but I’m not sure how far the soil goes down, and it’s really root bound. So I’m digging and pulling, but I’m thinking I also should probably get some more matter on the ground before I plant.
I picked out some ground cover steppable sort of plants to plant down in the sad bed. The others will be divided between pots, the window box, and the berocked garden. As opposed to a rock garden. Which this is not.There’s some pictures up at Flickr, linked to the right.
Finally, as for the trip, I think I’m a little traumatized or something. Granted, this was a rough one, but I am really tired.
Jun
1
I am a lucky, lucky girl
Filed Under astruc | 12 Comments
Lucky that my tire blew out 30 miles from Bozeman, rather than on a mountain pass in Idaho. Lucky that Wal-Mart of all places had the freaky-sized tires that fit on my Jaguar. Say what you will about Wal-Mart, they were totally awesome to me today. And I took the opportunity to buy a Verizon throwaway phone that might actually WORK in the wilds rather than the Virgin Mobile I have already.
I started to change the tire myself, but was really freaked out by the giant semis passing by at 90 miles per hour, and decided to wait on help instead. Then I drove at geriatric speeds to buy some new tires. The blowout was impressive, the tire just… exploded. Melted.
I am back camped out in a motel for the night. I’m feeling kind of shaky. I might just drive through to Seattle tomorrow rather than make my scheduled stop in Spokane. I think I’ve had enough.
I did visit Mount Rushmore, there are some videos if you click through to my YouTube profile from the link at right. I found it very moving, sentimental fool that I am. Also, I have a giant soft spot for Teddy Roosevelt. I spent a lot of time at Sagamore Hill as a kid.
(Special thanks to koroshiya, whose Perfect Way mix collection got me through a very bad five hours.)
May
23
In which my brother pimps his ride
Filed Under astruc | 2 Comments
My brother Tim’s new startup, Infectious, is on the cover of today’s TechCrunch. Infectious makes artist-designed stickers for your car. Stickers I keep referring to as “flickles,” much to his chagrin, I am sure. They’re amazingly cool– they last through pretty much any environmental disaster you can toss in the way of your vehicle in the form of carwashes, snow, sleet, and the licks of small farm animals. They can be removed easily by heating them up with a blowdryer.
Tim, remember that broken heart you drew for me when I was in the hospital? That’s what I want for my Jag!