advaya

I went to the lake today and did a bit of trail running. It felt really nice, and my lungs feel excellent. I haven't smoked for three days.

I've decided to take next semester off from school. I definitely need the break, but I really want to volunteer at least part of the time I *should* be in school. I'd rather spend my time volunteering anyway, truthfully. Hanna recommends that I go to California and work at the horse rescue she spent some time at. It's a very remote area and I'd be working alone caring for wild horses and burros. I think I'd love it, but I'm looking for a bit more human contact *this* time. I wish I had my passport.

My garden is out of control. I mean out of control in a good way, though. I really need to take pictures ASAP. Its shocking to think that some of these plants came from such small transplants, and even others came from seed. I forget that, because it's hard to reconcile these huge plants with those small beginnings.

I was parking at work today and there was a green SUV type automobile at the stoplight. I pull into the parking spot, am about to get out and notice this car is backing up towards me. He then motions for me to look, and gives me the middle finger for literally 30 seconds. I crack up, because it was so absurd. Then he rolls down the window and yells at me for "stealing" his parking spot, although I really had no idea he was about to park there. Maybe if he didn't drive a car so big he had to pull up to the stoplight in order to back it up? Either way, he was an older man in his 50's or so, and wearing a business suit, which made the entire situation even more absurd.

1995 - 2009

Bye Lil' Bits.

Tomorrow my mom is putting her 15 year old dog to sleep.

I remember when she was a puppy, on her way home: spotted round belly, a small ball of fluff sleeping between the gear shift and the seat.

Now she coughs, and is often in pain. She can't see at all, and is afraid when she hears noises she can't identify. She is only comfortable when she is sleeping, with a good day here and there.

It still makes me blue, even if she is old. I just keep remembering how small she was sleeping there, and how she smelled of cedar.

I planted cherry tomatoes in several pots. One pot was huge and took up all my compost :(

However, the pot is large enough to grow basil and marigolds in it as well. I already bought organic, heirloom seeds for that!

I have one basil plant already in a planter with cherry tomatoes, but I think the pot might be too small. I'll see, I guess.

Tomorrow Ed and I are going to my professors house to visit. He has a collection of John Cage items, and Ed is interested in seeing them.

I bought vermiculite and peat moss today. I combined it with vermicompost I harvested last week and made a soilfree potting mix. I got the recipe from folks who use Square Foot Gardening technique. I emptied several old pots from last year, and totally realize why I had so little luck with container gardening. I used cheap potting soil, a lot of which seemed to be just topsoil, and then I used some "soil" my landlord told me I could have which was primarily clay. NOTHING GREW and the soil just looked dead when I emptied it. Flakey or not, I did not sense any energy from the soil I emptied. I was also late starting my garden last year... like... months late. Well, this year I actually have a clue what I'm doing :D

So, I put my soilless mix into two long planters, and one round planter. In the first long planter I am growing lettuce mixes. In the second I'm going to be growing cherry tomatos, marigolds and a Basil plant (which is already in there; locally grown and organic). In the round pot I'm growing spring mix for salads.

I got my houseplants back from my mom, who had been keeping them warm over winter. My lemon verbena and geranium did not make it, which is quite depressing. I can't be too surprised though, given the growing medium. My spider plant is doing mediocre, my lily is holding on and my aloe is doing wonderful as always. However, my mother aloe plant finally passed on. I'd had her since I was 13 or so, and she produced babies what seemed like every day. Hopefully her offspring will be so prolific, because I certainly find it useful to give aloe plants as presents. People seem to appreciate them and all I have to do is find a pretty pot or cup to give them and it makes a nice gift.

I fertilized the spider plants and the lily. I found what appeared to be insect eggs on dead folliage from the spider plant, so perhaps they were contributers to the demise of my other plants.

My next goals are to get two strawberries plants into the ground and two into jars. One I will let the runners grow out of all areas of the planter and the other I'm going to grow borage and thyme in it as well. Also I plan to grow more peas except this time in containers, just to experiment with how they grow in the ground verses my potting mix. I will be using a different strain though in pots, going instead with purple heirloom peas if they are available from Ed's work which carries Seeds of Change products.

In ground:
Beets (sprouting!)
Peas (sprouting!)
Carrots (sprouting!)
Onions

Planted a cheap ass rose. I hope for the best, but I know nothing about roses. I threw it in an old wood ash / compost heap. Probably could be considered rose abuse, but whatever.

In Trays:
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Cucumbers

In Pots:
(outside)
Strawberries (Four are new this year and won't fruit. Mother and runners from last year are small but one is blooming.)

(Inside)
Mystery plants from compost bin (one appears to be a tomato, the others maybe squash of some sort.)

My professor of humanities and Western World Religions asked me if my real name is Amanda. I answered that it was not. I do not know what inspired my parents to give me a nickname as my given name, but they did. He told me I should go by Amanda regardless; it is more fitting of someone with my brain.

It was a nice, though odd, compliment.

My garden is coming along nicely. I finally cleared the plot of grass and rocks, then hand-tilled the ground and set up four wide rows. I've planted peas, carrots, beets and onions (which I am late to start, but we'll see what becomes of them). The iris' are coming up more and more each day, and soon I am sure they will be filling the air with their intoxicating fragrance.

I have strawberry plants which I need to get into the ground. My strawberry from last year is still alive, though it has not expanded greatly. I am hoping it will produce fruit this year as the four new plants likely won't. My thyme plant growing with the strawberries is doing beyond excellent and is pretty much taken over the container.

My plans include growing at least zucchini, summer squash, tomatos, green beans, cucumbers, various lettuces and salad mixes. I will be growing herbs as well. Flowers I tend to keep functional by growing edible or medicinal ones. The seeds I've planted as of now are not organic and are hybrid, but any seeds I have yet to purchase will be heirloom or organic.

We ran out of money. So we are without internet for the next ... whenever.

So, I'll post here and there from school. I didn't die.

I want a burial like Nate has in Six Feet Under.

I don't want to be embalmed, and I don't want to be kept from returning to the earth by unnecessary things like concrete tombs. I am not opposed to cremation; but I prefer a physical place that I rot, and become dirt.

Everything is covered in ice. The trumpet vine, though dead and brown, looks alive with glitter. I wish I were deep in the forest listening to the tree branches swing against each other. I love icy forests.

I go to Rainbow Gatherings. 'nuf said.