A slight departure from plans...

To be honest, I didn't do the Read and Run today like I was planning. As a matter of fact, the last time I hit the treadmill was last Sunday. I'm not a fan of excuses, so instead, I will provide a brief list of events that changed my course (in chronological order):

- Saturday: While at the Springs Preserve, I discovered that the author of one of my favorite books I'm reading right now was going to speak on Wednesday. (This author I speak of is Richard Louv and he wrote Last Child in the Woods)

- Sunday: I discovered that not only was Richard Louv speaking on Wednesday, but it was the keynote address to a 4 day long conference on environmental education in the state of Nevada. Be still my heart!

- Monday: As I was signing up for the all day Saturday Teacher Symposium, a nagging thought in the back of my head said I was supposed to do something on Saturday. Later that evening, I remembered.

There I stood at a fork in the road. I lamented the fact that life sometimes simultaneously gives you two opportunities that you want just as bad as the other and there is only one of you. I made the choice to attend the symposium for a few reasons. Please see the list below (can you tell that I love lists?):

1. Attending this conference (plus completing 15 hours of extra work) will increase my salary next year

2. This is it! This is my path!

On my way to the conference bright and early, I waved to the runners along Water Street wishing them luck in the early morning drizzle. Perhaps next year...

6 days to go

I spent 7 hours on the computer today accomplishing put-off projects for work and school. So, I admit, I didn't want to do anything but veg because my brain waves were kaput. I went to the store to deposit some money and instead walked out with a frozen focaccia (crazy how that happens) and a mango smoothie. Yum. Once I got home, I put the focaccia in the oven and hit the treadmill because I knew I just couldn't get on the blog tonight and say I bitched out on day 2. So, I ran another mile (woo hoo!). I feel sooooo good right now. This feeling comes from the post work out rush of endorphins or the extreme pleasure of not being on the treadmill any more. The mango smoothie left a sharp metallic taste in the back of my throat after the run. Not so yummy anymore. Damn you sneaky high fructose corn syrup.

7 days and counting

Since this is the year of getting shit done, I will be participating in the Read&Run in downtown Henderson to support the libraries. I have wanted to do it for the past two years and now I'm going to. I admit, I began planning for this back in October. I even set up a calendar using the training schedule the library offered. I was supposed to start training back in December. Well...here it is exactly 1 week before the 5K run/1 mile walk and I've been on the treadmill twice since December. I'm always wistfully wishing I did more yoga, rode my bike daily to work, and walked the dog for an hour or more a day. I realized yesterday that I never make that a priority when running down the lists of things to do (see the January 20 post for reference to the many lists). Yes, I'd like to incorporate more yoga, dog walking, and bike riding (as well as swimming, kayaking, hiking, and dancing) into my daily life, but I need to take baby steps, so I'm starting with this. I will run a mile every day in the week I have left before the Read&Run. In order to make myself accountable, because I'm a slacker at heart and have a thousand great excuses, I will write about it every day. While brainstorming about this, I could see the roots of this idea coming from recently watching "Yes Man" (ah, the power of positive thinking) and reading "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson. I like the idea of taking on a personal challenge and simultaneously sharing it with other people. In the middle of the brainstorm, the thought crossed my mind, "I'm going to die doing this". Ha!

Day 1:

I put off the treadmill until after the errands today. I am pleasantly surprised at how healthy I felt! I ran the whole damn mile. A year ago, the idea of running an entire mile without stopping was inconceivable. Let's see how I feel tomorrow.

The exclamation point is put to work

Here's an update on the past month at the Hendohomestead.

I like that, Hendohomestead.

I have successfully marked off a few items on the oh-10 to do list. I freecycled the chitalpa trees and planted three dwarf fruit trees on the side yard. I found multi-grafted dwarf fruit trees at the Lowes next to my house for $40 each. I thought, okay, it'll be an investment to buy 3 trees for $120. After I dug up the chitalpa and passed them on to a better life via freecycle Henderson (yea for sharing the excess with your neighbors!), I went to the Lowes near my mom's house and there were my fruit trees marked down to $4 each. Yes...no typo there folks, $4 each. Amazing! So I purchased a 4-way apple tree, a 4-way pear tree, and a snow queen nectarine...all for $12! I hate sounding like an advertisement for a good deal, but I was overjoyed! I spent the extra money I set aside on some much needed tools and supplies for the yard. Hoo-ray for corporate inconsistencies! Along with the fruit trees, I acquired another strawberry plant, an artichoke, a set of beautiful desert-friendly aloe with red flowers (the name escapes me) to attract hummingbirds , and two blueberry bushes. Hooray for homegrown blueberries! I plan on putting them in pots so I can move them around and better address their needy soil requirements.

In the front yard, I replanted the century agave pup, grasses, and other cactuses (according to the Springs Preserve teacher trainer this word is grammatically correct; it still feels weird) in the rock along the sidewalk. Louie made a flower bed around one of the mulberry trees using the pavers from the back patio. I can't wait to finish the other one and get some dirt. The mulberry trees provide some sweet shade during the painfully hot summer that will provide refuge for the veggies and flowers. In the established flower bed, I have purple kale, strawberries, collard greens, two grape vines, and a huge stash of onion sets I acquired from Delores, the lady I bought my hens from. This bed has never looked better. Some sweet little daffodils are peeking out right now. They love the 70 degree weather as much as I do. My front yard is definitely the nicest on the block. I'm not boasting, well, maybe a little. It's not hard to be the nicest when your neighbors park multiple cars on the lawn and collect trash in neat little piles. Ahh, Henderson's other side, the tweekers.

At last, with help from my motivatin' momma, the shed has been cleaned out. I swear I will never find a feeling that compares to the satisfication I get from an organized shed.

Here's to the year of getting shit done!

That to-do list I was talking about...

It's January, so I have a lot of different to-do lists floating around on scrap pieces of paper. There's the "Grad School Application" list, the "Teaching Kindergarten" list, the "Re-arranging the Clams" list, the "Organize and Clean House" list, and so on...

This list is titled "The Yard"

- dig up, repair, and update almost all of the irrigation

- lasagna mulch where possible

a set up cold frame outside

a start seeds now (indoors and outdoors)

a prune fruitless mulberry trees and pine tree

a dig up and freecycle chitalpa trees

a plant fruit/nut trees in chicken run

- attempt to grow clover in chicken run

a plant sunflowers in as many places as possible

- finish turtle pond

- build an herb spiral

a build a pole bean tepee

- plant a three sister garden

a build raised beds around fruitless mulberry trees

areplant all desert plants into rock yard

a espalier grapes

- build a shade like structure over back porch for gourds to grow on

- repair shade structures for raised beds

aorganize shed so I can find my tools!

a get rid of oleanders and replace with something edible/useful

That's the beginning of it. :)

A rainy day in Henderson...

I couldn't decide where to start today, so I decided to make cupcakes instead. I am so glad I did. I used the Peanut Butter cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Moskowitz. I have to preface that I am throwing a Mustache Bash for my husband's birthday this weekend. So, the peanut butter cupcakes are decorated with chocolate mustaches. You never knew a cupcake could look so manly. I would most definitely have a picture if my camera didn't decide today was the day to croak.

The weather was extraordinarily dramatic today for southern Nevada. The sky is almost always clear, dry, and painfully sunny. Last week, conveniently coinciding with a cloud lesson I taught fifth graders, heavy cumulus clouds crowded over Mt. Charleston. It rained so much yesterday that my carport flooded. I spent at least 40 minutes squeegee-ing (new word!) the water over the concrete into the front yard. It makes me want to jackhammer all that concrete more than ever. As part of this urban homestead project, I want to try to harvest what little rainwater we get here. Currently, I have trash cans, coolers, buckets, plastic bottles, and watering cans set up around the perimeter of the roof overflowing with water. Normally this impromptu and primitive rainwater harvesting system I have suffices because the water comes in little spurts. I am glad that Lou and I picked up all of the concrete pavers on the back porch before all of this rain. The dirt back there is eagerly soaking it all in. I fantasize that one day I can get rid of the concrete in the carport and replace it with gravel and brick tire paths.

Back to the weather... Lou and I were standing out back around our newly built fire pit with some friends this afternoon admiring the filtered sunlight and drizzly air. (Anyone reading this from the Northwest United States is shaking their head right now. ) The chickens were contentedly preening themselves in the drizzle while clucking happily to each other about all of the fat worms they gorged on. Rain makes Henderson kids happy.

2009 in pictures

Building the raised beds and laying down the irrigation.

My sister calls this the cemetery.

First little seedlings poking through.

Mexican sunflower wearing a seed hat.

Seedlings in my cold frame.

Sunflowers, pumpkins, snap peas, and pole beans.

Gorgeous squash plant.

The third attempt: eggplant, cherry tomatoes, carrots, kale, spinach...

...pumpkins, sunflowers, watermelon, and artichoke.

The ladies taking a dust bath on their first day home.