Mumford and Sons

Wednesday was a long day. Sam got tickets for Mumford and Sons at the Record Bar. The show sold out immediately, to scalpers, but she tracked some tickets. The beer was cold and the bands were awesome. Mmmm Schlitz on tap.

Mumford and Sons is out of the same studio as the Arctic Monkeys in London. This little (maybe 500 people) show was the only stop close. Who knows when they will be back and it won't be in that small of a venue. It was hot and the sweat towels were well used.

What's Up

It's hot and we are taking it easy, that's what's up.

After the party Sam headed back to Wisconsin for a pretty hard funeral. While there she took second place in a 5 mile Dairyland days race.

On a more uplifting note. I think we are going to more shows this summer than the last 5 years combined.

Last night we saw the black keys at grinders. Mumford and Sons, Sublime, Ben Folds, and a good dose of BB's blues are on the schedule.

The garden is doing well and getting big. Our lettuce was doing so well and I was getting ready to harvest and this. I came out one morning and everything was gone. Little green inch worms ate all of the lettuce. So the lettuce and spinach has been removed for the hot season and replaced with bush beans.
Home depot on Metcalf, a mother duck with 12 ducklings. They walked right through the parking lot.

It's Tiki Time!

We did it. The housewarming/tiki party/summer kick off party is in the bag. From what Sam tells me, everyone had a pretty good time. Grab a lei and let's get going.

James came over at noon to start cooking food. Huge thanks to him, without James we would just have had chips and cookies. He made all the dough for the pizzas by hand and then stood all night cooking for people. Last winter he was in a car crash and shattered his pelvis. So him standing the entire night in the kitchen was awesome. Sam made tons of potato salad, some really good orange macaroons, and lots and lots of salsa. Chris smoked the pork butts in his green egg. Big thanks to everyone that helped with food.

The calm before the storm. Saturday was in the nineties. I think we ended up going through 500lbs of ice keeping the keg cold.

We ended up having over 50 people swing by. A good time was had by all. Between the patio and the kitchen everybody fit. A front moved through later in the evening and brought cooler temps. The lightning got close, but it didn't rain.

Jenn and Ian made it even though the next day they were moving to Hawaii. Rob made it too before he headed to Germany. We love making friends with the people at school up at Leavenworth, but they all have to leave after a year. Good luck!

Brett brought his guitar and ukulele. The tunes were a blast and much appreciated. Notice the keg floating. Yep, it didn't last past ten o-clock. Good job everybody.

Shelley and Matt enjoying the festivities.

Lisa wondering if this story could get any better. It probably was well-thought out, concise, and totally understandable.

Yep, Mike finished the keg. Who's living the high life now?

Is that cold red wine in a plastic glass. Kelley is a classy girl what can I say?

I guess we started a fire at some point.

The hostess looking very festive.

Luke looking very surprised after seeing what is next. Mark thinks ewe's not fat, ewe's fluffy.

The aftermath. Of course by the time I woke up things were pretty well cleaned up.

Natrons little brother Jimmy Neutron.

Party Prep

We spent Memorial Day weekend running, biking, working in the yard, with lots of grilling out and drinking mixed in. Sam attacked the back patio and won the war over the weeds. We have been having no success getting things to grow in the patio beds. Between wet soil and slugs everything looks pathetic. We made a trip to soil service and Sam replaced everything.

I put in a few beer traps for the slugs. Hopefully they are shallow enough that we don't lose Jerad too.
Respectable once again.

I managed to finish the concrete patio table.

Monday night we had to see if it worked. It did.

Playing Some Catch Up

Our computer computer isn't doing well and seems to be fighting getting better. So updates from the weekend may or may not be coming shortly.

The end of last week I went to Newport for my brothers graduation from Navy official candidate school. He was one of the few that made it through in 12 weeks. Most people end up getting hurt or sick and roll to the next class.

While there I saw the most amazing thing. I had to try the world's best hotdog.
They were pretty good. Although I think the world's best title is more of a "you can't prove it isn't the world's best" title.

It's Alive!

We have been pretty busy lately doing non-photo worthy things. It hasn't helped the computer is sick. We have been running, hanging out, and generally enjoying summer. The concrete patio table is almost finished, stay tuned for pictures of that. Sam ran with her girls on the run team last Saturday while I was in St. Louis at a baseball game. So things that keep changing without much of our assistance is the garden. We have started eating radishes, spinach, and lettuce from the garden.

Even with the week or so of wet weather the tomatoes are getting big. In our current hot humid weather they are going about 6 inches a day. Yesterday I saw that the Romas are blooming so tomatoes aren't far away.

The bush beans have some little ones. The second planting will be all blue beans because I like the color.

The peppers really want some warm weather. I planted marigolds around the garden to help keep the bugs down. I can't say that it is or isn't working though it is nice to have some color.

Peas are climbing. It is pretty cool to see how fast they grow, we are at about 6 inches a day.

The Journey Towards Self Sufficiency

Ok maybe not completely self sufficient, but we are going to be up to our ears in tomatoes and peppers if it warms up. I have been doing urban gardening research and reading a few interesting blogs to inspire me in the midst of the cold rainy weather we are having. Although designed for commercial farmers, the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture has lots of good information. Last year I sat on a community panel for them and met some very interesting, enthusiastic people. The other blog I have been reading lately provides some perspective from London. While our yard/garden is relatively small around here, it is huge compared with true urban gardeners.

Last weekend we transferred a few of the last tomatoes and peppers to pots. The first tomatoes planted in the garden got a little sunburned, but are starting to recover.

The summer squash, cucumbers, and these peas are up and heading towards the trellis. The salad box is looking good. First planting lettuce and spinach are coming along and the second planting is out of the ground. The radishes are getting close and the second planting is in the ground.

The first radishes out of the ground at 41 days. These are still a little small and will be ready in a week or so.

It was a very successful year for starting plants. These are all our extras. If you are looking for plant starts send me an email. We have heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, and hot peppers.