Just a kid from Moody

Back Pages books is struggling http://www.dailynewstribune.com/homepage/x589064953 . I'll admit I don't spend much money there, but that's not due to them being local or due to their selection but more due to the fact that I'm not buying a lot of books nowadays. I did pay their (overpriced aka cover price) fee for the last Harry Potter book when it came out, wanting to help them out. After our trip I'd like to go in and join their club, just to help them out. Maybe I'll even go to one of their readings or something.

I'd love to see some more shops on Moody. I miss the old gift/candle store that was in Cronin's Landing. The Construction Site store and its adjoining ones for housewares and trains closed on Saturday. I like all of these nifty restaurants, but it would be cool to have some more variety (really, how many dollar stores and Indian groceries can you have?). Mind you, I'm not complaining. I'll take 80% restaurants to the empty fronts that used to grace the city's streets in the late 80s/early 90s. You've come a long way, baby!

Its funny, we're just going away for a long weekend in NYC, but it feels like something much bigger. Perhaps we've been waiting and waiting for this trip for so long. There are so many things that have taken on the "after Comicon" role. I'm excited about the trip, but I'll also be excited to get to a normal spring and summer too! :)

Green

Our Smart Strip came in the mail yesterday. I'm excited to see if it has any kind of impact.

As a Waltham resident, we can buy one of these for $30 http://www.earthmachine.com/how_to_compost.html (though, we have to go to Lexington to get it). It sounds fairly simple and not too invasive. I know it would take a bit of time to get some compost out of it, but perhaps we could get some going for fall? I'd feel better at least to not be throwing things down in the disposal.

I bought us a rain barrel through a similar city arrangement last year, and we used it for most of our watering (plants and washing the car). I do need a larger watering can to make this easier, because I kept using the only one I had - one meant to be more decorative and not too large (I kept using the hose for the front because multiple trips with the tiny can weren't so easy). There's not enough pressure in it to use with a hose/pressure nozzle unfortunately.

Plans for this year's gardening include:
Removing mulch from the front and trying to get some wildflowers to grow there
In the front of our side yard, planting edible things that need sun (we have two large trees in our small yard, so we don't get a lot of full sun)
Tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets in the back of the patio area
Herbs (as usual) in the side of the garage

The clothes drying rack arrived - its quite light (aluminum)! The next time we're home on a weekend and will get some sun for an extended period I'll put it out and hang on it and see how that goes.

We've been on a waiting list for the CSA at http://www.chestnutfarms.org/ and should be able to join in May - yay! The farmer's market in our city http://www.waltham-community.org/2008FarmersMarket.html starts up on 6/14, and it will be neat to try and walk down there each weekend for locally grown goodies.

METAL!

DETHKLOK: THE DETHTOUR SUMMER 2008
THATS RIGHT FUCKERS-
DETHKLOK IS GOING ON TOUR
COME AND SEE US
with CHIMAIRA and SOILENT GREEN

http://www.ticketmaster.com/dethklok
password: duncanhills

6/24/08 The Palladium Worcester, MA

Buy your tickets, see the show and then go and die.

(I just ordered two for Brian and I - its general admission)

Yard Privacy

OK, the spring bug has definitely bit. I think its mostly because its sunny outside, and that in a little over an hour I'm leaving work and won't be back here for a week!

I'd like for us to have some more privacy in our yard this year. Here's our back patio area (with the yellow house behind us right on top):
http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=13

We have a good deal of pressure treated wood in the garage leftover from when we repaired our back porch. Should we try and build some kind of privacy panel/fencing behind our table area? We're creative and have the tools. Maybe something with trellis? Buy a chunk of fencing? This area along the fence is incidentally where the tomato buckets will go (and you can see the herb bed next to the garage).

Privacy behind our 'Dagoba' tree would be problematic http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=5 . Its kind of fused with the chain link in back there! We're in bad need of my cousin the landscaper or a tree doctor to check both of these out, but I digress. I'm not sure what the deal with the tall wood section to the right of the tree is (iirc, its because for some reason there isn't any chain link behind there in that one tiny section). The former homeowners were so odd, and this fence was definitely a special of theirs. Brian's old boss (and our around the corner neighbor) told us that the fence was installed by the previous homeowners not too long before we moved in.

I'm trying to balance being comfy, being private, being pretty but not sterile, not being too wasteful and being cost effective. I know that this is all a tall order, but with planning and creativity I think we can do it. I love tweaking things around our house and since the indoors is mostly resolved I'm looking forward to poking outside. :)