the joys of homeownership

Do-it-yourself-heater-maintenance:

With the precision of a surgeon... and a butter knife

Joy to the Choy

Even though it's been a little frigid (in my opinion) this week, we do still live in California, and thus have still been able to grow edibles outdoors with little to no protection from the elements.

Shawdee is growing assorted lettuces and greens in Wally pockets:

...mounted on the side of our washer/dryer closet:

Our friend Grant made three planter boxes and we only ended up putting two out front, so one ended up in the backyard:

$4 each for a set of six Joi Choy (we'd already harvested four of them) and six Sugar Ann snap pea starters from Kassenhoff Growers at our local Farmers Market

Though the snap peas have yet to produce any pods, the Joi Choy has been very happy, which in turn makes me very happy.  Especially when there is no food in the fridge for dinner.  It's just a quick walk outside to grab one of these:

...a little bit of ginger and garlic, a persimmon, and some slicing and dicing, and voila!

Cheese, please!

As if having a mac'n'cheese (and beer) shop opening up down the street wasn't enough, there's a new cheese shop in town!  Sacred Wheel cheese shop opened yesterday at Shattuck and 51st.  I've been watching their progress building out a beautiful space and stopped by today for lunch.  Turns out that the staff is also beautiful, and friendly.  Jenna, Chris, Annette, and Jenna's mom were hard at work and already greeting folks by name.  They serve a daily grilled cheese (yes, the cheese rotates) and soup (today's white bean and kale in a tomato base had the perfect touch of sweetness). I can already tell it's going to become part of my Sunday morning farmer's market/shopping routine.  Yum.

The Harv List

My dad is retiring in the coming summer (hurray!).  I'm hoping he'll follow in his dad's footsteps and spend some of his new found free time working on his kids' homes.  My grandfather was extremely handy (as is my dad).  He and my dad built bookshelves, installed a wood stove in my mom's studio, and landscaped the yard of my childhood home many times over.  My mom kept a running list of projects for Grandpa.  In the spirit of family traditions, I'm starting the Harv List:

• A shelf above the molding in the bonus room
• A pop up breakfast table on the back porch
• Shelves above my desk
• Refinish my dresser (a project I've been trying to get to for at least a year)
• Transform the garage into a workshop (admittedly, this might take more than one weekend)
• Vegetable planters
• Around-the-building landscaping: french drains and a mini-retaining wall? 

Other ideas?