Happy Memorial Day from WA!

Well... We wished for a hot, sunny, traditional Memorial Day weekend... but we got a cool, cloudy, WA Memorial Day weekend. Oh well. We are still very grateful for our right to exercise fun, family, and freedom... Too bad we didn't squeeze some firearms in!

Eno learned to climb the fruit trees behind our house. (Don't be fooled by the blue sky... this pic was taken a few weeks ago.)

Lefty worked on his snake catching skills.

Connor got into the spirit with some freshly painted birdhouses... Look for red, white, and blue beauties to be arriving at your house soon.

Marie spent some time making the most glorious hula hoops yet.  The old saying is true: practice makes perfect... Not sure how many hoops I have made, but they keep getting better and harder to part with!

We had a lovely brunch at Fish Brew Pub in Olympia.

Connor bottled his Mother-Hefe-Weizer (brewed on Mother's Day) - it is really pretty! You can also see his latest cutting board creation in the foreground. 
That's your quick update from the WA Tuckers. 
More on all the gardening and cooking another time.
Gotta watch the Bachelorette now.... 
WE CAN'T WAIT FOR MARK AND AMBER'S WEDDING!!! Just 2.5 weeks away... Here we come Ohio.

More Projects

Anyone need a gourd birdhouse?  You probably already have one.....if not just ask.  I grew these gourds last year....they dried half way on the vine and the remainder of the time in our garage.  They took all winter to dry because it is so damp here.  I remember growing these as a kid (in Texas) and they only took about a month on the vine to fully dry out.  I used a hole saw drill bit and drilled out the "front door."  I plan to slightly sand with steel wool and paint.  I purchased red, white, and blue spray paint just today.  I hope to tackle this project next weekend.  If you respond soon I can paint to your likings. 

If you have been to our home,  then you know that Marie and I compost everything possible.  We have never had a bin and I can't tell you why?  So to empty our inside ceramic crock you have to walk down to the woods and pitch the scraps onto the forest floor.  Not anymore.......Here is how it was done.

Daryl has a rental house that the fence was missing a section and was rotting.  He was having it replaced this week.  I know not all the boards were unuseable so I took about 18 boards home.  I cut both ends of the boards that had rot.  (Left pile is uncut).

After I cut off the end rot.....I ran the boards through my planer.  I love this machine...it just takes off a little material at a time.  The boards are smooth now.  I didn't want them to look like they came out of the lumber yard....so I left a little stain for a weathered look.  I also found some treated 4"x4" posts that were in great shape.  Oh, the boards are cedar.

With the left over cedar fencing and posts I made another raised garden bed.  Basically is 10 feet by 3 feet.  I got another cubic yard of top soil from our local landscape company. All sorts of goodies  make up this mixture.  I think this bed will be all tomatoes.  I was planning on only have 1 slicing tomato and 1 cherry tomato....but my mind has changed!

Here is an update on our indoor greenhouse.  If you can't read my chicken scratch I will type it out for you. Starting left, 3 rows of carrot, 1 row of beet, 1 row of snap pea, 3 rows of onion, and the last 2 rows are chili pepper (they were a mix so I don't know whats going to sprout?).  I had to remove the cover because the snap peas were shooting so fast.  Hopefully I can get them in the ground this weekend.  Since the last post I planted yellow corn, slicing cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes.  Lets hope they sprout soon.  The lettuces are sprouting outside and 1 sunflower just poked though today.

The hops are looking great today!  The Chinooks are on the right side.  Cascades are the other variety...if you forgot.


Stay tuned for next weekend!!!

Finally, It's Garden Thyme!!!

Well, I do believe spring has arrived here in WA.  We had three days that were in the 70's, sunny and baby blue sky.  I, Connor aka Willie decided that it was time to get the garden in shape, I want to grow all of our vegetables.  I started trimming some perrinials back to allow the new growth to soak up some rays.  It wasn't long until Lefty found his favorite pot, the catnip pot.  I trimmed back some dead stalks and he jumped right up and sniffed, rolled and licked his favorite herb.  He was in feline heaven.

After Lefty got stoned and left, Eno jumped up and got his fix too. These cats are hilarious! 

If you remember from some past garden posts, our raised garden is consturcted from used rail road cross ties.  It was an 8'x8' bed double stacked with ties.  This year I want more space for more veggies.  I stretched the garden with the ties making a single stack 8'x16' bed.  We had plenty of soil from a recent purchase, I bought a cubic yard of topsoil about 3 weeks ago.  The top soil consists of manure, mushroom compost and sand.  I borrowed a tiller to turn over the new addition and mix all the soil together.  I was super excited because I love machinery and this would only take a few minutes to run.  I picked up the tiller, changed the oil (it was from the 60's) and put in a new spark plug.  I fiddled with it for about an hour, I just couldn't get the ancient piece of (*^)*&%&^$%$ to turn over.  I came to the conclusion that the motor was locked up. It would just barley turn over and you could feel that there was a grind in the engine stroke.  Well to say the least, I got a damn good work out clearing the sod and turning over the earth. 

When I took a Cyrstal Light break my sweet Lady took some time from her Sunbathe to help spread the new soil.

Just about finished.  We have to put up a net fence because of the deer.  They love to eat our vegetables.  They ate our tomato plants on our back patio 3 different times last year.  We are really prepared this year. Also, Lefty thinks this is a big litter box.  He thinks he is helping fertilize.

The Hops are back and reaching for the sun!  They are Cascade and Chinook varieties.

It is still a little cool here most nights to plant some things in the ground.  I have never started seeds indoors so I thought I would start this season.  I planted some outdoors in pots and in the new garden and some in this new indoor green house.  Here is the planting;
yellow onion
beets
carrots
snap pea
jalapeno
Hungarian wax pepper
cayenne pepper
ancho pepper
Anaheim pepper
cilantro
dill
rattlesnake bean
pickling cucumber
sunflower
yellow squash
carving pumpkin
canteloupe
romaine
mesclun mix
lunaria
cynoglossum blue


You know us, we are super excited about progress! Stay tuned for growth updates.

Wowzers...

That's all I am going to say...About our hot Friday night date.  We spent a lovely evening together - cleaning house! I do not like it when things are even a little bit out of order around the house... and after several weeks of living in chaos, I am itching to do a good thorough cleaning. Usually I save the fun for Saturday morning... but my sweet husband was ready and willing to help me get it done on Friday night so that I could have my Saturday for other things.

It has been a fun few weeks.  Marie had to travel to Austin, TX for work...stayed in a hotel right next to the capital and the University of Texas... also walked the streets downtown one evening.

Connor was also in Texas.  He was already going for a wedding (congratulations Susan and Brad!), but he also managed to squeeze in some time at Papa's house with our sweet little nephews.  I joined him for Saturday/Sunday...

Connor loved getting to see all of his hometown buddies...

The wedding was gorgeous... they even had the most elegant port-a-potties I have ever seen!

We even made time for 1am bike ride and a dip in Dad and Neana's pool after the wedding...

So it all worked out that we got to spend a little time in Longview. Thanks to Dad/Neana for being great hosts and helping us run around all over the place!  There is never enough time... but it was a nice visit.  We got home early this week and have been back to the grind ever since.  Connor was a great lawnboy one evening...

And he made the most delicious bangers and mash another evening. Seriously, you will never get a meal this delicious in a restaurant.

We feel like we are constantly in "go" mode... so we are sorry that we haven't gotten to talk with all our loved ones as often as we would like.  Hope you are all doing great!
xoxox

Redneck Benedict

Our first somewhat lazy Sunday in a LOOOONG time... so we did it redneck style.
Connor started us up with Redneck Eggs Benedict (sausage gravy, eggs, homemade biscuits), served piping hot as Marie walked through the door from Palm Sunday church.

The day was lazy for Marie... she even took a nap!  Both Marie and Connor worked on some of their volunteer endeavors for a few hours during the afternoon.  We did get to go for a lovely walk together...
For dinner we had stuffed pork chops, arugula, roasted beets... and bright-orange-redneck-box-mac-n-cheese.

It has been a while since we posted... Life has been busy, and not necessarily fun.
Connor has been up to his usual productive antics during his limited free time.

Marie had a great visit with MarSue and PC Milliren... and got to spend some time with Mark and Amber and Max too. Her dear friend Karen even came to visit and help with some house projects! (Sadly, Marie didn't take enough pictures!) We are sending them all our love everyday...

Had a yummy St. Patty's meal - delicious corned beef and Irish Soda Bread.

Connor listed his bars for sale last week... Click here to see Franks, or here to see Pastime Saloon. 
We are looking forward to all that life has to offer in the coming months. xoxox

Woodworks 101

Well here at the Tucker house we don't just brew or cook fine foods, there is a wood shop.  Connor has a love for woodworking and creating things from reclaimed wood.  He has made the flower, tomato, herb and hop boxes along with a few cutting boards for family.  We are frugal here, not because we are poor but because we like a good deal!  Connor has purchased his three biggest power tools on the famous craigslist.  He finds all his reclaimed wood from the basement of the Pastime Saloon, Daryl's folks shop, and a few customers from the bar's donate some hard woods.  He's running out though. 

The beginning picture are of two beam pieces that came from the Pastime's basement.  After cutting in half and running through the planner (right above).  The planner is made by Grizzly.  Probably the favorite tool in the shop!

After the pieces are planed and evenly smooth, they are ripped on the table saw.

These lengths and sizes are for cutting boards.

Titebond II wood glue is FDA approved for cutting boards.  Below are a few cutting boards and projects that have been done in the past year.

Made for Margaret

Hop boxes

Brewther Mark chose this one.

Brewther Matt chose this one.

 Before planed and re-ripped.

Made for our Dad (Big Daddy) for his birthday (this is before it has been oiled).

We use mineral oil now. The wood used is white oak and American cherry.

Made from a broken table from Frank's.  Planed, ripped, glued and sanded.  A gift for Bob and Fran Love.

The old herb box. 

An overview of the boxed garden. 

Hope you enjoyed!!! Stay tuned for more projects to follow.