Ash, Brooke, and I got back from Wilmington last night and it was, to say the least, an incredible time.  Matt lives a few houses from the ocean on Wrightsville Beach.  We cruised into town on Saturday afternoon around 4 and kicked around the area for a couple of days, the weather was absolutely flawless.  I fear this could be the last of the beach weather for the year, nonetheless, lucky for us we were able to experience it.

In fact, it was so great that the local gang of ducks was out on our walk to the bar prior to the Skins triumphant victory on Sunday.  They weren't too friendly, and if you look close enough you'll see one of them has a red bandanna on.  He was the pack leader.  Apparently he takes them all through town, creating issues with the locals, stealing bread from the bakery, and crossing the roads at will.  

So, after yelling at the top of our lungs and drinking 7 pitchers of beer during the Skins game, we left "Jerry Allens" for "Buddy's," an intimate little bar a few paces from the beach.  After that, we headed to downtown Wilmington to the Brewing Station, which I really don't remember.  I wish I could tell you more ;)

Posted by Pear at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1725) | TrackBacks (0)

If you ever knew my family growing up, you certainly heard of Eddie and Daisy, our loyal companions. We lost Eddie just about 4 years ago, and earlier this week we lost Daisy. Life will never be the same without these two, and I don't think it was ever quite the same for Daisy once Edward had moved on.

Edward and Daisy could not have been luckier. We moved into Mantua in 1996, which is set on 3/4 of an acre, and all that land backed up to acres upon acres of parkland littered with deer, foxes, owls, bobcats(anyone!?!?), etc. In the prime of their lives, they were walked leash free through the woods in the morning and at night, daily. I think we once calculated that in a 5 year span, they visited those woods behind our house over 2500 times, that's how dedicated my father was to getting them on a good walk and allowing them to be dogs.

As they would cross the path onto the side where the "knobbly tree" sat, Daisy would catch the scent of deer, leading Edward in the right direction of their whereabouts. He would shoot off like a rocket while Daisy kept to her instincts and sniffed her way 'round where the deer would be going to once Eddie had unsettled them. This was a scenario repeated during their life. Snow, rain, thunder, wind, lightening, ice, you name it. They always had that walk and always had that adventure, just the two of them.

I try and take that same approach to this very day with my dogs. Regardless of the weather, my mood or pain, I want my dogs to be as lucky as Eddie and Daisy were, for they set the bar for the life a dog should lead.

The memories of these two amazing companions of ours will always live on. Every day I walk Sam & Lola down to the creek for their daily run I am able to take solace in the fact that I am giving back to them what they give to me. Happiness. That is the most important lesson that was passed along from Ed and Daisy, and one I will always cherish.
Feel free to visit HERE to download the entire files as they are compressed for bandwidth/viewing reasons.

Posted by Pear at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1985) | TrackBacks (0)

Our Tomatoes look great!  Also, our CSA the past few weeks has been awesome, highlighted by string beans, japanese plums, squash, zucchini, peaches, apricots, beets, swiss chard, and lettuce!  Anyway, here's a couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

I picked about 30 Tomatoes early this morning, and all together we've yielded around 70 so far.  These are supposed to be "cherry" Tomatoes, but a few of them are really plump, like mini heirloom plump.

Next up?  Lazy River tubing on the Shenandoah! 

Posted by Pear at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1222) | TrackBacks (0)

Here are a few photos from our CSA, one week ago!  I'm way behind here.

The squash(doesn't it look like Zucchini?), as they refer to it, were awesome.  Snow peas, Broccoli, oregano, and freckled lettuce rounded it up. 

The Apricots were definitely a change of pace.  I would consider myself a standard banana, orange, strawberry, raspberry, etc. kind of guy.  Apricots never really appealed to me.  They're really good though!  I've been swayed!

I have one Tomato ripe and ready from my stuff out back.

Posted by Pear at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (989) | TrackBacks (0)

The Green theme with our CSA continues!  This week we received Broccoli, Collard Greens, Spring Onions, Snow Peas, and Freckled Lettuce.  The herb of choice was Thyme.  I'll plant that out back.  The only flipping herb we don't have this year is rosemary, one of our favorites.  The bush we had died 2 years ago.  Anyway, here's some photos!

 
  
   

The Broccoli was delicious.

And the last photo was taken by Ashley of Sweetpea and Lola catching a nap together.  Too funny.   

Posted by Pear at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1946) | TrackBacks (0)

Has anyone seen my wife?  I don't think she's posted on here in nearly a month.  I also ask because soon we'll be eating her special Basil & Tomato salad!  I counted the other day and we have 11 plants which are all starting to flower which means cherry Tomatoes will follow shortly. 

I'm going to try and keep a running log of how many Tomatoes each plant produces.  I'm going to name each plant.  My names for now are Lucy, Rosa, Parnell, Rebecca, Sally, Tabitha, and Sara.  If you have any suggestions, let me know.

It's become quite the contraption back there as fitting all those plants in our tiny space requires lots of yarn, stakes, and knots.  We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 basil plans as well, 2 Cilantro(2 strains), Dill, and Parsley.  The Dill started to flower prematurely and I think since they started growing way to early from seedlings left from last year, they just matured to quickly.  Oh well.  Photos from this morning.

  

 

I am eagerly awaiting the first taste test!

Our CSA delivery this week is supposed to have Broccoli, Collard Greens, Spring Onions, Freckled Lettuce, and Oregano.  As you can tell, it's all green, which is cool with me!

Posted by Pear at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (540) | TrackBacks (0)

It's all done.  Sampson behaved very well during this fiasco, and even let the guy that worked inside the house pet him a few times.  Anyway, here's a few final photos.  The first one is the yard before the work began, the second one the yard after, the third is the front from a different angle. 

Here's the hole they drilled into the house from the outside. They ran the new COPPER line inside via that hole, then sealed in and out with hydraulic cement.  A bumble bee and a rainbow follows.  All can't be that bad, can it! 

  

  

Posted by Pear at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1364) | TrackBacks (0)

The plumbing for the bathroom is finished.  Here's a couple of photos.

 

So the drainage pipe has been rerouted to the other wall so we don't have to drill a hole in the side of our new vanity. 

And the photos a couple of months ago:

 

Posted by Pear at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1650) | TrackBacks (0)

As quickly as possible.  We receive water bill that had doubled in 6 months.  Plumber came by to assess the work in our upstairs bathroom to reroute drainage pipe.  We ask plumber about water bill.  Plumber says we have leak from water main into the house.  We cut off water from house.  Read meter outside.  We have a leak.  We call water company, they check their end of things and yes, it's us, the water main leading into the house.  A simple plumbing job becomes massive.  Photos.

  

These were taken at 11:00.  Updates as the day progresses. 

Posted by Pear at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1465) | TrackBacks (0)

Now the weeks are beginning to fly by.  Just as I finished cooking up the last of our Asparagus and Kale, we get another batch of veggies on the doorstep!  The only thing I can't keep up with is Spring Onions.  I'm just not so sure what to do with them.  Luckily, they last a couple weeks.

  

 

We received our usual portions of Kale, Spring Onions, and Strawberries but the new addition this week was Snow Peas.  It's a small portion, but a portion nonetheless.  Freckled Lettuce was in this batch as well.  Also, a second installment of Cilantro that wasn't tipped over on it's head arrived!  I'll plant that this weekend. 

Posted by Pear at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2119) | TrackBacks (0)

Well so much for blogging the entire month of June away!  I should have posted my Shrek story in segments, but couldn't bring myself to do it.  And it didn't help that we forgot the camera on Friday night when we went to Old Town and then that we were both walking zombies on Saturday at a BBQ. 

The most simple yet powerful marinade I've ever used on chicken was tested on Tofu this weekend.  It turned out surprisingly good.  Combine lots of Soy Sauce(1/2 - 3/4 Cup, maybe more), press lots of garlic(3 bulbs?), and the juice from 1 lime.  Let sit overnight(the key) and make sure to disturb it once or twice and then grill your meat/tofu.  For better recipes, head over to Chantal's page!

 

Here are a couple of photos I took of the Tomatoes this morning.  In the photo on the left you can see the first baby Tomato forming!  The second photo is the very hairy, dewy, flowers from another plant as they prepare to give birth to a baby Tomato.

Also, here's something that may be appealing to some people.  If you're interested in Tivo, but not the price, try Myth TV.  It's also known as Free-vo.  Yes, it's UNIX based, but you will save yourself plenty of money, time, and it's much more powerful than Tivo.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me an email!  I'm pretty much a Unix geek.

Posted by Pear at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1390) | TrackBacks (0)

On Tuesday evening we had a few nasty storms roll through our area, so as the batch of Lightening passed over the front of our house, I figured it to be an opportune time to try and get a bolt.  With Sam drooling everywhere and trembling at my side, I stepped out front and managed this photo - out of about 65 shots - which caught the lightening. 

Wicked!  After 60+ shots, your patience wanes a bit, but I finally managed.

And Tomatoes.  Where would I be without the Tomatoes?  As you can see, they exploded with joy since my last post about them on the 3rd of June! 

The plant on the left is the picture taken on the 3rd of June.

The one on the right was taken on the 12th of June of the same plant.

It exploded with all the heat and what not we've had around here, and the soil has definitely warmed.  A few of them are starting to flower.  I have no clue if we're going in the right direction here as this is my first time starting them from seed, but I'm hoping all is well! 

It's totally out of control.  When I started the seeds I planted 15 thinking I may have a few that don't grow for whatever reason.  Turns out 13 out of 15 grew, and I didn't have anymore room in the garden so I planted the rest in pots.  A few of them are leggy because I didn't know what to do with them, but I eventually gave in last week and planted them instead of letting them die.  Plants are everywhere.   

And if you're sitting at work right now and would like some free radio, check out Pandora.com.  It's pretty neat, you enter an artist or song you like and it will build you a station which associates that artist/song with a genre and compiles a bunch of stuff.  It works really well.

Posted by Pear at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1297) | TrackBacks (0)

CSA week 2!!  This weeks delivery consisted of Asparagus, Freckled Lettuce, Strawberries, Cilantro, and spring onions.  We were also supposed to receive some strain of Snow Peas, but they weren't included.  I suspect they went to harvest and decided next week was probably the best time to pick them.  Anyway, the size of the Asparagus was noticeably smaller, as were the spring onions.  To make up for the size differential, we received more of everything. 

   

Tonight, as Ash & I attempted to devour the last of the neverending Kale, I cooked half a Sweet Onion until they were translucent and then dumped in some garlic with chopped chives and a bunch of Kale cut into bit sized pieces with the stems removed.  Let it cook for about 1 minute and the dump in about 1/2 a cup of water, stir, and cook for an additional 5 minutes on medium.  Finish it off with a bit of salt and the juice from a lemon.  Be careful with the lemon juice though.

Kale is just full of goodness.  I can nearly feel the vitamins being injected into my bloodstream when biting into the stuff.  Yeah, that's a bit heavy, but I swear! 

Exciting stuff.  I cut it a bit close with my update for today and my pictures were terrible.  Exhausted is my only excuse. 

And Sampson is not for sale!  After re-reading my post about him(and Lola, for that matter), and well as receiving a few comments, I realized that it did sort of sound like a craigslist posting or like some singles site!  Ha!  No sum of money could force us to give up either of our monsters! 

Posted by Pear at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1250) | TrackBacks (0)

On Saturday we went to Charles Town Races & Slots for Carolyn's birthday.  A fantastic time was had by all, thought no one really hit it big.  Ash hit a nice win/place/show bet on the horses and I was hitting the occasional slot for $40 but then dumping it right back in the machine!

Photos before the festivities began. Dinner.

Carolyn & Ash at the slots, a 5 cent slot machine, and Carolyn and Dan assessing the machine. 

 

This was our 2nd time at Charles Town in the past month, and I definitely recommend going if you're sitting around on a Saturday and have nothing to do.  It's about an hour and 10 minutes from Fairfax County, so plan accordingly, but nothing can beat sitting around trying your luck out on the slots and throwing a few bets on the races! 

We were celebrating Carolyn's b-day a couple days early for this occasion, her b-day falls on the 9th, which is today!  Happy Birthday Carolyn!

And yesterday Ash & I headed down to the creek to grab a couple of ferns.  This was right as the temperature was reaching it's peak, but it wasn't too bad under the cover of trees.  I forgot to upload the photos of the ferns I actually dug up, but they weren't exactly what we were looking for. I still potted them and left them out in the back, but they looked a bit "wild."  Haha.  The dogs were a mess afterwards, so it was bath time. 

And that's it!  I think we're caught up now!

Posted by Pear at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1439) | TrackBacks (0)

Who doesn't like a good fair?  Ash and I have attended the Fairfax Fair at the Government Center for 3 years running now, and it's always an enjoyable affair.  A fair?  Ha.  Live Music, crazy rides, and beer are always a fantastic combination for the young and old alike.  Ok-Go! was the main attraction on Friday with Joan Jett on Saturday.  As always here's some photos, I'm absolutely drained and can barely muster up any more sentences as I fear they won't make much sense past this.

   

(edit: Monday Morning) - I have slept.  But, in case you're wondering, the thing on a stick is a deep fried Twinkie.  Absolutely awesome.  Next to that is Deep fried Oreoes.  Next to that, is a deep fried Marc.  With powdered sugar on his face.

Posted by Pear at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2189) | TrackBacks (0)

We received the first batch from our CSA yesterday in a little Rubbermaid tub.  It arrived in the morning around 10 or so, and if it continues on that schedule that should be perfect because I can bring it inside at lunch so it doesn't cook in the sweltering heat.  The front of our house is shaded, but the humidity around here is disgusting.  Anyway, here's the photos:

From left to right; The Spring Onions and Basil photo shoot, Basil solo photoshoot, Kale in a tub photoshoot, Spring Onions - Strawberries - Asparagus - Basil - and Kale photoshoot, spring onion, asparagus, and basil photo shoot. 

Right after I took the last picture I grabbed the Asparagus and knocked the Basil off the table.  As you can tell it was already hanging off the edge.  It landed on it's head and isn't happy with me.  I'm not sure what my problem is lately, I've been a bit of a klutz.

I'm quite impressed with our first batch.  The amount of Kale was ridiculous and the asparagus were nice and plump.  There could have been more strawberries, but all in all, it was a nice shipment.  We can go out to the farm and pick strawberries this weekend - which we might do on Sunday. 

Here's my cupcake adventure.  "Boy cupcakes."  They turned out delicious and I've been eating them whenver I'm around them.  In the middle photo you can see the cupcake in the back that had too much batter in it.  Instead of filling the baslet 2/3 of the way, I filled them 3/4.  Me and fractions never got along.  And I don't think the batter was thinned out enough as some of the cupcakes had pocket in them.  Next time.

 

Notice the sport influenced liners!  "Boy Cupcakes" can't just be plain or I'd be a silly tart!  This recipe was given to me by Chantal which she got from Vegan Cupcakes take over the world.  They are unbelievably moist, delicious, and awesome. 

Posted by Pear at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1497) | TrackBacks (0)

So yesterday we had quite a few storms.  At about 2:45 the rain just began pouring down while I was at work.  As usual, I discovered my drivers side window agape after the worst of it had passed.  Stupid rain.

Anyway, since the little monsters hate thunderstorms, they were worked up quite a bit when I got home.  But the sun was starting to shine, so I decided a quick investigation of the creek was the best way to let them forget about that.  We don't usually go down after heavy storms, but yesterday was an exception as I wanted to check out the damage.  Here's a few of the pics.

The creek was more like a river.  We'd never been down there when it was that high, and I was a bit worried I'd see Lola scooped up and swept away(she's the only one crazy enough to try and swim in it).

I dumped four photos into one frame of the damage around our area.  There wasn't anything crazy, just limbs broken from trees here and there.  The one entire tree on the top right of that photo must have come down stream 'cause it wasn't there yesterday.  Pretty powerful stuff when water gets moving.

Also, on a fairly entertaining side note, I made cup cakes from scratch!  Pretty interesting.  As I said to Ash, "they definitely look like boy cup cakes," as the icing was a bit rough around the edges.  Chantal is the expert cup cake maker, and if you haven't seen her post about the ones she made for Mothers Day, check it out.  They were out of this world.  Overall, for my first try, they were an oustanding success. 

I'll have photos tomorrow from the Gnats game.  I'm in section 119 with Fitzy.  So, if you happen to see us on the TV, we'll likely be the ones passed out and drooling all over ourselves.  Unfortunately, the game coincides with the first day of our CSA!  Arghh!  Pictures and all will be posted tomorrow.  Very exciting, everywhere, all over the world.

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

-Sir Winston Churchill

Posted by Pear at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1562) | TrackBacks (0)

Day 4!  I still haven't managed to upload all of our England/The Netherlands photos to the slideshow, but I wanted to share with everyone a couple that I set aside last night.  The entire trip was such an amazing experience, and Ash & I are both chomping at the bit to get back.  Funny, I go from a mini rant about gas to discussing flying across the Atlantic to England.  Sigh.

Look, there's Easy Jet!  They were quite an enjoyable airline.  I guess everything becomes a bit more enjoyable with the consumption of 3 Heinekens and a mini bottle of wine.  The flight was about 50 minutes from Gatwick.  The only problem with this photo is that I just realized that's not The Netherlands.  That's England.

So much for staying on course.

Weeeeeee....and here's a Mural in The Hague.  Scott and I were waiting for the ladies to finish their shopping and Scott took me to this. Basically it's awesome.  Look at the bike without the front tire.  Scott and I stole it for a minute just to give the photo "that" effect. 

Then, what would The Netherlands be without bikes?  Our fantastic hosts had two spare bikes which were super handy for cruising around the town.  Picture if you can, me riding around The Hague on a bike with one hand free and taking photos while riding around.  The locals must have thought I was intoxicated, which was completely inaccurate.

And for those of you that know Ashley, imagine the look on her face when she entered this store filled with Olive Oil.  Oh my goodness, if this wasn't a site to see.  Flavors upon flavors, it was such a neat shop.  If only we could have wrapped that shop up and sent it home.

A wise man(Matt Ayres) once said, "Make sure thou get Falafel in Amsterdam."  We did.  It might be the greatest thing on earth.  Of course we couldn't find one Falafel shop anywhere for the first hour.  Then we asked some lady, she pointed to the corner(I don't think she really understood anything but the Falafel part), and that's where we ate lunch.  We walked out of the shop, turned right onto another street and ended up on Falafel Avenue.  There were stands, shops, people, and even Helicopters(hmm, maybe not this part) flying above dropping Falafel off.  Just our luck.  Regardless, our Falafel was the greatest.

And that's about it for this post.  I will leave you with this picture of Ashley and Jessica riding off into the sunset on their bikes.  So romantic.  What a great trip.  Obviously there was a slew of other things we did while in The Netherlands, and each and every one made us want to revisit. Thank you Scott and Jessica so much for being such great hosts.  Our front door is always open!

Posted by Pear at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1748) | TrackBacks (0)

Somehow we've managed to blog on consecutive days - the first two days of June, no less - so I figured we'd have a blog-a-thon and blog all of June away.  We're going to blog like it's 1999.  I know, this is way too exciting, but stay calm.  Not sure how this is going to work, but we'll do our best(Ashley doesn't know she's part of this yet, so shhhh).

So what would a post be without the progress of our beloved Tomatoes?  They are adapting nicely after their shocking transplant to the outside world and as the soil warms we should hopefully be in business very soon.  This is my first attempt at growing Tomatoes from seed, so hopefully they don't sprout dirty socks or something.

And while we're at it, here's our basil pot equipped with dill sprouting out of the top thus far. It's not the most exciting thing yet, but once again, with the humidity and heat just around the corner, I expect these guys to explode with happiness in no time at all.

dictionary.com says:

Gouge [gouj] noun, verb

example: 9.to extort from, swindle, or overcharge.

Check out the receipt to the right.  I hadn't filled up my Jeep in ages.  So, when I purchased 16.527 Gallons of Regular unleaded gas at $3.99, it left me at $66 and change.  How can this continue?  10 years ago, it was 99 cents at Shell on 236.  That would have been $16 to fill up my tank.  As recently as a couple of years ago, I think it was around $2.25, and that was reasonable enough at $35 or somehing.  But $4?  This is outrageous. 

But this isn't half as bad the rest of the world, literally.  The Netherlands currently sits atop this list at nearly $10 a gallon.  The Uk isn't far behind at $9 a gallon.  Truckers - aka, Lorry drivers -  recently threatened to block off all routes into London in protest to the prices that apparently have no ceiling.

I'll be at the Gnats(I'm an O's fan) game on Thursday, and as regular readers know - all 3 of you - our CSA begins on Thursday.  Our box is going to include Asparagus, Strawberries, Kale, Spring Onions, Genovese Basil.  Super!

Posted by Pear at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1702) | TrackBacks (0)

This past weekend we scored a great desk, hutch and shelf combo from Craigslist (i have a small problem according to Marc) It looks great, and will be so nice to help Marc get organized, and continue his web design. Did I mention Marc has a lot of books??? I was so happy to breakdown the makeshift card table he had been using.

Posted by Ash at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1620) | TrackBacks (0)

So last weekend we celebrated Lola's 4th birthday on Memorial day.  Hard to believe it, but we've had her for four years now.  We picked her up some gourmet treats in Middleburg at some really cool dog bakery.  The treats were iced with a yogurt of some type, so she didn't have any issues with her tummy afterwards.  Here's a few of the photos:

 

And here's breakfast this morning.  We still had a few Polyface eggs left that Chantal was kind enough to bring to us a couple of weeks ago, so I cooked them over easy, and dumped them on an english muffin with veggie sausages.  The color of these eggs - and taste - is way awesome. 

 

Our CSA starts this week and we're both very excited for the first delivery.  I will make sure to post all about it on Thursday evening.  And my Tomatoes are doing pretty good so far.  I transplanted them out back, and the only mistake a made when growing them was transplanting them to a pot that was a little too big, which meant they got a bit "leggy."  That means that their root system can't hold their weight just yet.  In a couple of weeks, they'll be set. 

And how's this for starting a day?  Friday morning for me:

7:20 - Go downstairs to find a pile of poop from Lola.  She'd stolen sweetpeas food twice on Thursday night, causing her tummy to erupt in the middle of the night.

7:21 - Walk into kitchen, realize coffee wasn't set up the night before.  Begin making coffee.

7:21:10 - Realize sink is full of dishes, make room to discard coffee from yesterday.  Turn around, sweetpea wants to be fed.  "Meow" 

7:21:30 - Shit.  Forgot to defrost dog food.  Run downstairs, pull food from freezer and begin defrosting.  Run past sweetpea again.  "Meow"

7:22 - Clean up poop.

7:27 - Take dogs out. 

7:30 - Pick up Sam's crap with a bag, the bag has a hole in it.  My finger grabs poop.  

7:35 - Come inside.  Wash hand.  Feed dogs.  "Meow." 

Posted by Pear at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1787) | TrackBacks (0)

Ash and I had a rather eventful weekend and enjoyed the lovely weather.  On Friday night we met Chantal, Chris, and Mom at "Sunflower" in Vienna for dinner.  If you haven't been there, I highly suggest you try it out.  Personally, I advise that you get General Tso's Tofu your first time there.  I forgot what I ordered, but it was delicious.  I think it was the "Sunflower Surprise."  And if you love Mushrooms, they have a fantastic "Mushroom Palate" dish which is unbelivable.  Sometimes I think I'm going to turn into a mushroom, that's how often I eat them.

So since Chris and Chantal were up in Maryland for a wedding the entire weekend, they were kind enough to let me borrow their Wii Fit and a couple of other games.  First off, the Wii fit is hilarious.  I was pretty sore on Saturday after doing a few of the workouts.  It's funny as hell.  What a great concept that system is as a whole.  First you weigh in, then it calculates your BMI and assigns you a category.  I was assigned overweight, which I guess isn't much of a surprise.  Then you workout doing a variety of exercises.  Aerobic, Strength, Yoga, and Athletics are your choices. 

Saturday morning I took a few pics of the dogs and planted my Tomatoes.

 

Fortunately, the keg was empty.  Here's Sam being photogenic and Lo's on the lookout post:

On Sunday we had a wedding and helped out our family friend Karly take some photos before the reception.  I'm not going to post any of those though because we took like 300 photos and still need to go through them all.  The light was awesome, and here's an awesome one with my Ash at Green Springs Garden and then the both of us at the reception.

And finally, before the wedding I began what I'm calling "Creek Cleanup."  Since the dogs and I are down there every day that the weather permits, I decided it was time to start picking up trash.  What really made me notice the amount of it down there was when we had 6 inches of rain a couple of weeks ago.  The amount of glass(broken shards) it pushed up to the path was unbelievable, and obviously we can't have Sam & Lola splitting open their paws on that stuff.  Anyway, I collected a black bag full of glass, plastic, and.......well, trash.  All in all, there were 39 bottles and cans, a flower pot, the blade of a plastic hockey stick, and all sorts of other junk.  They've been placed in recycling. 

The coolest find was this Lipton can!  I have no clue how old it was, but it was one of the peel back tops. 

Posted by Pear at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (976) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is Ash & I's One year anniversary!  It's absolutely crazy that it's been an entire year since getting married in Duck, NC.  So this past weekend, as a little celebration, I put together a sneaky outing.  She had no idea where we were going, but we started off in Middleburg, which she figured out quickly because it's a straight shot on Route 50 West.  Here's a bunch of photos:

At lunch in Middleburg, I think the place was called "Horse Tavern" or something like that.

After Middleburg we set out upon the second leg of our journey.  Ash thought we were staying around Middleburg, so when she inquired a couple of times as to where we were, I said the GPS stuck me on the wrong road and we were winding around a mountain back towards the Loudon County area.  The weather was perfect.

After about 45 minutes, we arrived to Charles Town Parkway (or something like that).  Once we crossed the West Virginia border she knew where we were going.  But I must admit, I was impressed I was able to keep it a secret for so long.  Ash was a great sport though and didn't pester me too much!

What a fun time we had.  We didn't lose too much money on the slots or horses, and actually we were ahead for most of the night. 

The next morning, after having a ridiculously delicious homemade breakfast, we got on our way and stopped in Harpers Ferry.  The weather turned south, but that area was pretty cool.

We were completely wiped out the next day, but it was well worth it!  Thanks to everyone for being with us last year on this day.  1 year down!

Love Mash

Posted by Pear at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1386) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, so Ash & I had managed to lose not one, but both of our digital camera chargers.  We have the ELPH for portability and the Digital SLR for special occasions.  About two years ago we lost the Digital SLR charger.  $40 later we had a new one.  Yes, $40.  You could build the thing for $10, probably cheaper.  As recently as this morning, both chargers were still missing.  Anyway, to the point. 

The charger for the ELPH was found this morning hiding inside a duffel bag!  The last sighting for charger #CB-2LB G was in the living area and there were rumors it was in a backpack.  I had checked both but no luck.  But upon peeking underneath a moutain of clothes I spotted the duffel bag.  Unzipped it and wallah!  The charger tried to get away again but tripped on - get this - an extension cord.

I got to work and charged it up and thought I had some new photos of my Tomatoes and all sorts of other things, but no such luck.  These are all I could find. 

 

I just transplanted a couple of them and they are much bigger than what you see here. 

 

The plants are reaching 12" and look great.  I plan on dumping them in the garden on the 1st of June, weather permitting.  Anyway, my excitement has been contained because the photos on the ELPH are pretty boring.  But, since we haven't been posting for the past week, here's a couple of other ones I pulled from the dogs at the creek and my beard shaving! 

 

And as crazy as this sounds folks, my head did hurt the next morning.

It is Ash and I's anniversary this weekend.  How crazy is that?  We've been married one year on Monday!  We'll post pictures from the weekend.  And now that I'm in charge of the chargers, we're 75% guaranteed to be posting in no time!

Posted by Pear at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1872) | TrackBacks (0)

Ashley, BC, Cindy, Alexe, Lindsay, and I traveled down to Radford this past weekend for Brooke's graduation from RU.  I've been down that way before, but never to Radford itself and it was a beautiful town.  Ash graduated from Radford, which most of you know, so she was able to escort me around and show me some of the choice places she used to frequent as recently as 6 years ago.  Very neat!  Enjoy!

Photos before graduation(who's that silly tart in khaki pants?), at the Cooke building, a box with diplomas, and Brooke walking in and walking out!  Congratulations Brooke!

   

  

After the graduation, Brooke's customized message, and Ash showing me around her dorm. 

   

Back at Brooke's apartment, Ashley and Brooke, chasing a sunset, the fountain from Ash's post prior to this one, party, etc. 

 

And on the way back we decided to hop off onto Route 11.  I saw a sign for the Natural Bridge so we decided to stop off and see it: 

  

  

As you can tell, that's not the Natural Bridge.  It's a mountain.  We ended up at the Visitors center, but the GPS told me to take a right, so I listened.  We ended up on a back road winding through the mountains - wide enough for 1 car - and headed towards the "Natural Bridge Christians Fellowship" or something.  Haha.  While usually I'd be quick to blame the GPS, I typed in "Natural" to the thing and just hit go instead of looking at the destination.  I mean, who the hell would have thought there'd be a fellowship tucked away in this Valley that had anything to do with the Natural Bridge?  Crazy.  Anyway, with no way to turn around, we rode it out for about 40 minutes.  There was definitely some scenery though, which was nice.

Posted by Pear at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1619) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok folks - this is my third shot at growing Tomatos, but this year I'm all about keeping them alive.  Our Tomato garden was fantasitc 3 years ago, Ok 2 years ago, and just non-existant last year.  This year, I planted 18 seeds for cherry Tomato plants in early April, right after we got back from England.  The seeds are from a small shop in Battle, Southern England. 

10 days... 

21 days... 

Just about a month... 

Budding...... 

Thunderstorm... 

 

Posted by Pear at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2072) | TrackBacks (0)

Ash and I began work on the upstairs bathroom on Sunday.  As much as I dreaded the thought of the mess that would follow, the feeling of pulling things apart in there was well worth it.  This bathroom/shower has been out of use for the better half of three years.  It's caused us ceiling damage and sorthing things out from the ground up is exciting.  (1) BC and I assessing, (2) Tile removal begins, (3) Sink and camode , (4) tiles gone, (5) Walls removed:

We hope to have running water by the end of May.....2009

And here a couple of fun photos.  On Saturday evening I snapped this of Sam as he heard a firework go off in the distance.  Then Ash tried to coax him through his drool riddled anxiousness.  With thunderstorms taking up the better half of Sunday afternoon/evening, Ash & I also got stuck with the job of keeping him calm(basically, if you don't keep him busy, he crawls on top of you and drools incessantly).  

And finally sweetpea.......we just got back from the vet(her favorite, she puked when we got back after being poked, prodded, and tossed about in the car for two hours).  Good news - she gained 2 lbs, meaning her thyroid and the medicine made a deal, and they're working together.  I wasn't sure, I thought the meds were going to hold out a little longer, but they got a fantastic deal and both sides seem to be happy.

Enough NFL draft talk.  The medicine got the better of the deal, sweetpea's a great cat! 

Caps also just came back from a 3-1 series defecit and beat the Flyers 4-2.  The series is now even 3-3 and back in Washington tomorrow night.  I haven't posted about this in about a week, but it's been an unbelievable series.  Whatever team wins tomorrow night goes on to the next round........to lose because they've beaten the shit out of each other for 7 games.

Updates on our bathroom as they come. 

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Posted by Pear at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1570) | TrackBacks (0)

Ash and I got confirmation that our application for Great Country Farms Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) has been accepted.  We'll begin receiving fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruits from these folks at the beginning of June.  I thought I had signed up too late and would be left to pick up our veggies from Farm Stands, but it looks as though we're in the clear as our application was accepted this morning!  We can expect a variety of things, but here are a couple of photos:

 

It's $550 dollars for 20 weeks(5 months), delivered to your front door.  That seems quite expensive at first, but if you think about it, $27.50 once a week for lots of fresh vegetables is very affordable.  And seeing as I don't eat meat, the more vegetables, the merrier!

There are many other options for CSA in our area, and those had already filled up, so the delivery option was, naturally, more expensive.  You can pay anywhere from $300-$700 for CSA's, and ours falls right in the middle of all that.  The pickup option was $375 for 20 weeks, but there's no way I'm driving out to Bluemont, VA once a week.

Thanks to Chantal for giving us a heads up on the necessity to sign up early!  Her & Chris also made us jealous last year by sending weekly photos from their CSA in Richmond last season.  Here's a photo of what their weekly scoop looked like:

The Cat is not a statue

Here's what the weekly lineup from 2006 looked like, it all depends on what's ready and ripe, so schedules and produce varies: 

Week 1-6/23/06	Week 9-July 20	Week 17-Sept 13
Potted Lettuce Spring Onions Asparagus Dill Strawberries Full U-pick Limit: 4 Pints Strawberries Cut Flowers	Sweet Corn Patty Pan Squash Sweet Bell Peppers Cucumbers Tomatoes Zucchini Cilantro Full U-pick Limit: 3 pints Blackberries 12 ears sweet corn 10 lbs potatoes 2 dz. Okra hot peppers	Harlequin Winter Squash Apples Bell Peppers Summer Squash Tomatoes Full U-pick Limit: 1/2 peck Green Beans 24 Okra 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 8 Tomatillas 10 lbs Potatoes 24 Hot Peppers
Week 2- 5/30/06	Week 10-July 26	Week 18-Sept 20
Kale Asparagus Spring Onions Strawberries Beets with tops Chives Full U-pick Limit: 6 pints Strawberries	Sunburst Squash Sweet Corn Sweet Peppers Eggplant Yellow Tomatoes Chives Full U-pick Limit: 4 pints blackberries 2 pints Cherry tomatoes 24 ears sweet corn 12 okra 10 lbs potatoes hot peppers	Red Delicious Delicata Winter Squash Green Beans Tomatoes Peppers Full U-pick Limit: 1/2 peck Green Beans 24 Okra 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 8 Tomatillas 10 lbs Potatoes 24 Hot Peppers Sunflowers
Week 3-6/6/06	Week 11-August 2	Week 19-Sept 27
Collards Spring Onions Broccoli Greens Summer Savory Full U-pick Limit: 1/2 peck English Peas 6 pints strawberries	Sweet Corn Chocolate Bell Peppers Japanese Eggplant Beef Steak Tomatoes Yellow Zucchini Anise Basil Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints blackberries 24 ears sweet corn 10 lbs potatoes hot peppers yellow squash	Spaghetti Squash Butternut Squash Peppers Eggplant Tomatoes Full U-pick Limit: 1 peck Green Beans 24 Okra 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 10 lbs Potatoes 24 Hot Peppers Fall Season U-pick 4 Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins 2 Pie Pumpkins 6 ears Popping Corn 2 Bundles Corn Stalks
Week 4-6/13/06	Week 12-August 10	Week 20-October 4
Spring Onions Snow Pea Pods Asparagus or Strawberries Collards Lettuce Marjoram Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints strawberries 1 Qt. Snow Peas Fresh dill & parsely	Sweet Corn Tomatoes classic eggplant melon summer squash Sweet banana peppers Italian Basil Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints blackberries Japanese Eggplant 2 pints Cherry tomatoes 10 lbs potatoes 12 okra hot peppers	Greening Apples Buttercup Squash Broccoli Tomatoes Red Potatoes Full U-pick Limit: 1 peck Green Beans 2 Harlequin Squash 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 10 lbs Potatoes Fall Season U-pick 4 Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins 2 Pie Pumpkins 2 Bundles Corn Stalks
Week 5-June 21	Week 13-August 16	Week 21-October 11
Lettuce Broccoli English Peas Summer Savory Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints blueberries 1 bundle Dill cut flowers	White Eggplant Heirloom Tomatoes Yellow Tomatoes Summer squash zucchini sweet bell peppers Italian Ruffles Basil Full U-pick Limit: 24 Okra 10 lb potatoes 8 tomatillas 8 heirloom tomatoes 1 peck yellow tomatoes 1 bag edamame	Fuji Apples Buttercup Squash Broccoli or Cauliflower Spaghetti Squash Full U-pick Limit: Tomatoes Eggplant 10 lb Potatoes Bell Peppers 12 Hot Peppers 12 Okra Fall Season U-pick 4 Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins 2 Pie Pumpkins 2 Bundles Corn Stalks
Week 6-June 29	Week 14-August 23	Week 22-October 18
Green Beans Summer Squash Cucumbers Onions Spicy Globe Basil Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints blueberries 1 quart greenbeans 12 ears sweet corn 1 bundle thyme	Summer Squash Harlequin Winter Squash Potatoes Tomatoes Beets & tops Sweet Banana Peppers Full U-pick Limit: Yellow Wax Beans- 1 small bag 24 Okra 8 Tomatillas 8 Heirloom Tomatoes 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 1 bag Edamame	Apples Winter Squash Greens Potatoes Full U-pick Limit: 1 peck Swiss Chard 1/2 peck Tomatoes 1/2 peck Bell Peppers 24 Hot Peppers 2 Eggplant 1 peck Green Beans 10 lbs Potatoes Fall Season U-pick 4 Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins 2 Pie Pumpkins 2 Bundles Corn Stalks
Week 7-July 5	Week 15-Aug 30	Week 23-October 25
Sweet Corn Sweet Banana Peppers Summer Squash Cucumbers Oregano Full U-pick Limit: 1 peck Green Beans 12 ears sweet corn Okra	Acorn Squash Leeks Sweet Banana Peppers Tomatoes Eggplant Gala Apples Full U-pick Limit: 1 peck Green Beans 24 Okra 8 Tomatillas 10 lbs Potatoes 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes 1 bag Edamame 12 Hot Peppers	Apples Winter Squash Pie Pumpkins Sweet Potatoes Full U-pick Limit: No limits! Come Glean the last week!
Week 8-July 12	Week 16-Sept 6
Break Week No deliveries Full U-pick Limit: 2 pints blackberries 1 peck green beans 12 ears sweet corn Okra	Harlequin Winter Squash Empire Apples Sweet Peppers Beef Steak Tomatoes Beets & tops Pontiac Red Potatoes Full U-pick Limit: Sunflowers 24 Okra 8 Tomatillas 10 lbs Potatoes 12 Hot Pepper

The Farm is located in Bluemont, VA......and the U-pick stuff you see is what we can drive out to the farm and pick ourselves each week.

Also, my cherry tomatoes that I planted have popped through the soil, so hopefully(this is the tricky part!) I can keep them happy enough so that we can plant them outside in about 6 weeks.  I also have 20 seedlings of Basil going, so Winding Hollow Way is turning into a Basil farm.  Pesto anyone?

Posted by Pear at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2430) | TrackBacks (0)

Want to know where we are in the sky? Most of you probably won't care, but my Dad will sure love this: http://www.flightview.com/

Type British Airways (BA) Flight 292, and watch our flight..all night long!! See you in 2 weeks kids!

 

Posted by Ash at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1574) | TrackBacks (0)

The next few months are likely to be trying times in regards to making the dog food.  With smells and such beginning to bother Ashley's little nose, I'm having a bit of a difficult time figuring out when to make Sam & Lola's food.  We've been doing it for about 4 months - thanks to Chantal's recipe recommendation - and the results are fantastic.  Lola is about the most finicky eater I've ever come across and she has only missed one meal since I started making it(and that was due to too much of Sweet Peas food this past weekend). Here's a couple of photos from Sunday's batch:

6 cans of vegetables(no salt), 6 hard boiled eggs, 3lbs of well cooked ground meat(Turkey, Beef, Chicken), a tub of chicken liver, brown rice, salmon, garlic, and a few other secret ingredients.  You then freeze the containers and defrost them when needed. 

It's comforting knowing what exactly is going into your dogs belly and the oils are fantastic for their coat.  Looks yummy, right?

The total cost this past weekend was $19.42.  This cost varies based on ingredients you have on hand, and this past weekend was a little more expensive than usual.  It makes 14 cans of food at 13.2 Ozs......the containers above are 750ml.

Posted by Pear at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1253) | TrackBacks (0)