Cactus Planter

I'm really into cactus right now and wanted to have some in the yard. However, our soil is clay-like and very damp. Horrible for cactus. So, we attempted to create a little bit of desert in a container.

I picked out the cacti from Home Depot. As I was looking over the selection, I found it suspicious that there were flowers on many different varieties and that the flowers were the same size and shape on all of them. I muttered to Steve, "I think these flowers are fake." Looking closer, I saw that they appeared to be attached with hot glue and there was this message on the carrying strap (circled in red):

It says "Dried flowers may be added as an enhancement."

I didn't think the cactus needed enhancing, but I suppose someone did. We made some selections anyway. We even picked two with "enhancement."


We got the container from our friend's garage purge. It was from Ikea. I don't know its original purpose, but we decided it would be fine for our container desert.

Steve drilled holes in the bottom for drainage.

We mounted a small length of PVC pipe to the fence with conduit straps. The pipe can slip in and out of the straps.

We threaded the pipe through the decorative curled edge of the planter.

We used cactus mix potting soil and are hoping that there will be enough sun on the fence to keep the little plants happy. Since we got a Home Depot gift card from our friendly neighborhood State Farm agent, the whole project including cacti cost less than $5, so we figured it's worth a try.

Indoor/Outdoor Lamp

Back in high school, Steve was given some money to pick out a lamp for his bedroom. I accompanied him to the local Home Depot. And we returned with the most logical selection... a large, metal, heavy, chain-suspended porch lamp. And it was good.

The lamp spent a lot of time in storage, but has finally been restored to its proper place, prominently displayed in our living room.

Garden Update

We were busy this past weekend in the garden (as per our usual). First, a few pictures of how some of our plants are doing.

One of our fully shaded areas against the fence is coming along really nicely:

I especially like this plant with the little blue flowers:

There's an invading plant on the bottom left of this picture that we suspect came across the fence from the community garden. We're leaving it alone until we can tell what it is... perhaps a squash?

The Plumeria cutting Steve's parents brought back from Hawaii for us is starting to come to life:


Our other project for the weekend was to build a raised planter bed. We had wanted to do it for a long time, but balked at the cost of lumber. When our friend J was cleaning out his garage, he gave us a bunch of scrap wood that was perfect for this purpose.

Steve assembling the frame:



Lining the bottom with hardware cloth to keep the gophers out:


Putting in place:


I spread out the soil:

Steve plants the onions we purchased:

Finished product (with our happy chard beside):

We also planted more chard. Looking at our eating habits, onions and chard were the most useful vegetables we could grow. I love onions and we use them in a wide variety of dishes. Chard is great because both the humans and rabbits of the household love it. We'll see how it goes. That corner of our yard tends to be very sunny, so we're hopeful that veggies will grow well there.

One Less Hurdle

Steve found out today that he passed his final attainment exam (biochem) that he took last week. All the attainment exams are now out of the way.

Now, he just has to get through his classes (which, being a part time student, will probably take 1 1/2 to 2 years) and he'll be a Chemistry Master.

Student Loan Follow Up

At my request, Steve procured a statement from American Educational Services showing all of the payments ever made on the four separate loans that made up his student debt. I had not diligently tracked our payments and wanted to know what we paid in total.

And the grand total? $76,347.94.

This number is encouraging in that the original $55,531 loan would have accrued a lot more than the $20,817 interest we paid if we had paid only the minimums over 18 or so years. It also makes me feel good that, with the exception of some parental help along the way, we were able to make this happen largely on our own. It makes me optimistic that we'll be able to manage our money wisely in the future.

Good hair days...

... are meant to be shared. But since I don't live near anyone, I'll have to settle for posting a picture on the blog.


I wish my hair would lay down and behave every day. Oh well, at least I have photographic evidence that it sometimes does.

Thrilling Kitchen Appliance News

Okay, I know a new toaster oven is not really that exciting... but it's so shiny!

And it goes so well with our little red toaster.

Oregon Trail Year Four: 2 Weddings in 2 Days

My friend Abbie and I have known each other since elementary school, when we were both in the same Camp Fire group. We went through the DCA (Day Camp Aide) program together and she organized the party when I earned my WoHeLo (similar to an Eagle Scout). We had a lot of good times together, camping ourselves and then later wrangling unruly younger campers. More recently, she attended my wedding and we’ve been able to hang out a little as she lives nearby in the bay area.

I affectionately called Sarah Steve’s “work girlfriend.” Until graduating with her PhD last year, she worked with Steve in the same lab at UCSC. He would come home and regale me with the latest antics, stories often beginning with “I don’t know how we got on the subject, but…”. Sarah brought a tremendous amount of energy to the Crews lab, and Steve very much enjoyed working with her.

Both Abbie and Sarah had wonderful boyfriends and we were delighted to hear that they were engaged. And when we learned that their weddings were going to be scheduled back-to-back (Abbie on Saturday the 4th and Sarah on Sunday the 5th) we knew we had to go to both, no matter what.

Abbie’s wedding was in Aptos, a city only about 10 minutes south of Santa Cruz. The event was wonderful in its simplicity. The ceremony was short, sweet and heartfelt. It was in a beautiful little park with a delicious picnic-style dinner. It was just lovely in every way.

Abbie and her wonderful man Torrey

Abbie and Me

After Abbie’s wedding, we drove to Redding and stayed the night. The next day we continued on to Myrtle Point, Oregon. On the way we ate at the wonderful Wolf Creek Inn.

We were greeted at our motel with this:

The motel manager in Myrtle Point said that 2/3rds of his business was for the wedding. It was a lovely little motel. It had a quaint retro vibe (since it hadn’t been remodeled since the 50’s or so) and was spotlessly clean. We got changed and headed out to Sarah’s parent’s property for the wedding.

The wedding was held on a bluff and was just gorgeous. The weather was warm, but not too hot, and there was a light breeze. Being wonderfully social and gregarious people, Sarah and Barry had planned for a party atmosphere. We ambled from the dining and dancing area over to the bluff, drinks in hand.

Double-fisting it (Steve’s beer and my soda)

Steve looking sexy in his new suit

Sarah and Barry

Later, all the current and former Crews lab members pose with the happy couple… and the giant bottle of wine sent by Phil (Steve’s boss).

From Myrtle Point, we drove North to Corvallis to have our annual visit with our friend Jack. The only full day we were there, it poured rain, so we scrapped our disc golf plans and just hung out… going out to eat, watching movies and playing some Gears of War. It was shorter than our usual trip, but we still had a great time. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to do it again before next summer.

On the way home, some striking weather: