2004-10-28 - 6:55 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Don't Let Me Down", Beatles

I think it's about time I wrote a real update, don't you? It'll be very boring, but I keep forgetting that this journal is supposed to be documenting my LIFE, not just my OUTFITS.

Speaking of outfits, librarian photos in the tweed skirtsuit have been taken. One or two of them I'm particularly proud of. But text first! Reading is good for you!

Gardening update:

I got my bulbs in the mail late last week. For the flower freaks, here's what I got:

Replete pink daffodil
Lilac Perfection peony flowering tulip -- I already have a red version of this that was freaking gorgous.
Ballade tulip

I also got a bunch of grape hyacinths plus some more Hair Allium for Poindexter since only one of last year's bulbs flowered. I think I waited too long to plant them and they weren't cold enough in the garage. This winter I'm leaving them all outside in a shaded spot against the wall, with protective chicken wire cages so the sqirrels can't get in there.

Anyway, so I was ripping out the annuals and dumping out the dirt from the pots onto a tarp to mix it up and loosen it. Among the things I ripped out were the Marguerite sweet potato vine, which is called "ornamental". I got a few plants at a florist here in the city and started a bunch of 'em with cuttings from those as well. I thought "ornamental" meant "does not actually grow a potato". Imagine my surprise, after ripping the vine out at the soil surface, to discover lumps as I began digging out the soil. Lumps that looked decidedly like red potatoes or overgrown radishes. POTATOES! In MY BACKYARD! It was just so unexpected, since I am so tuber-ignorant. I IM'd Poindexter:

Evelynne: Well, that was educational.
Evelynne: We've been growing things out there that I had no idea about.
Evelynne: Tubers.
Poindexter: tubers?
Evelynne: little potatoes
Poindexter: TATERS!!!!!!!!!

I hear they taste like crap, though, which is what "ornamental" really means, so I am going to see if overwintering them in dirt in the garage will mean more vines next year.

Last year I collected seeds from the spider flowers my mom gave me. I planted them this year and they grew like gangbusters. I realized that I really like the low-maintenance aspect of seeds and will grow most stuff from seed next year. So this year, I collected seeds from most of the stuff I grew this year. I harvested my own seeds from all of my morning glory plants, from the basil, the various colors of coleus (I had a variety seed pack but I only liked some of the colors, so I only harvested from those plants), and the spider flowers again. I also went up to my mom's house and took seeds from all the colors of snapdragon that she had. It was fun trying to figure out where the seeds were in every plant. The basil and coleus were a pain -- each little tiny bud on the plant produces four seeds that I pried out. The morning glories are easy. With the snaps I could just sort of shake the stalk inside a plastic bag and the seeds would just fall out.

I had two volunteers this year: A white snapdragon, and a white geranium that got to be about six inches high and bushy. Volunteers and surprise potatoes! Woohoohoo!!

Dirt bike update:

We are leave for WV midweek next week and will be there for a week. We will have NO PHONE, which means NO INTERNET. *strangled gasp*. When I am not riding, I expect to be doing a lot of reading and writing. I hope to build up a backlog of journal entries to dribble out when I get back. Justin, who is meeting us there, is fond of thought-provoking conversation so I might even get a few introspective entries in.

We had to skip our trip to Tower City on the 15th because of rain, but we went out again for a day trip on the 22nd. I am KICKING ASS. I'm really happy. Providing that none of the easy trails (there are MILES of them) in WV are too steep, I think I'll do really well there. I am doing well with uphills, downhills, rocks, gravel, narrow trails, starting on an uphill after stalling, puddles, all of it. Poindexter is very proud of me.

Also pleasant is the lack of terror. I am still careful, and still a little nervous, but I have a lot more confidence now and I'm cautious rather than scared. It's a lot more fun that way.

When riding a dirt bike, you're supposed to spend a lot of time standing. It's less jarring when going over rocks and you don't get the "dreaded monkey butt". Unfortunately for me, I was having trouble finding my balance. Part of it is that I was imitating Poindexter's stance, which was really no good for me because of lower handlebars and my differing center of gravity. Fortunately, this problem suddenly disappeared last week, and I was riding standing up for long stretches, perfectly balanced. That was very cool.

And finally, I had insisted that we go riding regularly before our trip to get in shape, so that we're not miserable and sore every day in WV. And after only three separate occasions of riding for about 3-4 hours each, after this past trip I had no soreness when I wake up in the morning. That's pretty amazing!!

And this I wanted to document: When I was reading this entry in Kit's journal, I asked Poindexter what his idea of romantic was. He said, "Riding dirt bikes with my wife." Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Bits and pieces:

- No hockey this year. :( I don't know how Poindexter's going to get through this winter. He speculates that he'll be more motivated to house projects. Motivation is an issue in the winter, though, so I'm thinking more time playing hockey on the computer.

- Now that the Red Sox beat the curse, who's the underdog team for me to root for? I suppose the Phillies haven't had much luck recently, but since they're the home team I was already rooting for them.

- Still getting all excited about tweed and bags. I love looking at what all the girlies are wearing when I take Poindexter to work in the morning. That and cursing at the bikers. I hate the way they blatantly disregard all the traffic laws and dart in front of cars.

- After two or three seasons in which I watched absolutely no TV shows on TV (the internet is my television, and my reference books, and my magazines, and...), I've gone and gotten addicted to three shows: "Lost", "Desperate Housewives", and the fireman show (WTF kind of stupid name is "Rescue Me"? We never call it that. Also, Denis Leary has floppy hair. I'd do him).

- I haven't done any data work on the Neverending Project since late September and there's been a flurry of paper editing, number-checking, and track-changes going on, and I think the paper must be finished by this week, so the Neverending Project maybe drawing to a close. Paper is released in a few weeks, and then hopefully it'll be all over. Of course, as soon as I post this, I'll probably get an e-mail saying we need to do another data round. Ugh.

- Laptop is back and working beautifully. I'm trying to remember to keep drinks off the desk.

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