Boo wasn't too sure about the trailer, but it seemed to grow on him.
I think he'll enjoy it more next time.
------------------------------------
Take Two
Later in the afternoon, we let Izzy join in. When we got home from a quick ride around the block, neither of them wanted to get out.
]]>
Our spring started off wet and cool, but turned abruptly to hot and dry in the last week or so. Our cold-weather plants had been loving it. Our spinach and broccoli kept growing and growing.
Then it turned warm, and it all went to seed. Two lovely heads of broccoli suddenly sprouted little yellow flowers and the lettuce started too bolt.
Luckily, we have loads of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and melons that are all too ready to soak up this heat.
Over the last few months, Olive and Sweet Pea have been slowly adjusting to life outside of a puppy mill. One of the things that they love most is the feeling of sun in the morning. They jockey for the best position and hope that we won't walk by and make them move.
Olive and Sweet Pea are still up for adoption. If you are interested, you can check out their pages on PetFinder:
Boo never liked to get up in the morning, but he gets more and more pathetic about it as he gets older.
]]>We flew into Beijing and spent our first few days there. We stayed at the Red Lantern House hostel in Beijing. It's in the Xicheng district, which is very central. We ended up with a private double room with a bathroom for 240 RMB/night. That's about $34. They also have delicious coffee, which can be hard to find.
To help us acclimate, we booked a couple of tours through Cycle China. They cater to English speakers who like to be on their own or in smaller groups. It's more expensive than your typical bus tour, but so worth it. Our tour guide Nemo was excellent. On our first day, he took us around to the Beijing sites. Unfortunately for us, the sky opened up and flooded the city. Nemo bought us all ponchos, and then took us to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.
We had hoped the rain would keep away the tourists. It's possible that some stayed away, but the city was still packed with Chinese tour groups. Because early May is a holiday for the Chinese, a lot of them get out and see the sites. They seem to always travel in large groups. The leader carries a flag and the rest of the group wears matching hats. Here's a photo of one group crossing the street:
In the afternoon, it cleared up and we headed to the Summer Palace. From the temple there, you can look back and see amazing views of Beijing.
The next day we headed to the Great Wall at Jintang. It's a more remote part of the wall. Much of it has been restored, although we did get to walk on a short segment that hadn't been restored. It was a very steep hike up, but the views were amazing. We also stopped by the Ming tombs on our way back to town, but those paled in comparison to the wall.
After Nemo had shown us the sites, we headed to see our friend Erika in Xian. Xian is a twelve hour train ride to the west of Beijing, and on the way there, we took a soft sleeper which is basically a private room with four bunks. It was very nice and spacious. On the way back, we took a hard sleeper which is an open car with rows bunks three high. It makes for much more interesting people watching and isn't nearly as cramped as it sounds. My only real complaint was the restrooms, which were definitely overused in the hard sleeper cars. Otherwise, the ride was fine and we ended up sitting next to a fluent English speaker on the way back.
Xian is a big tourist site for a few reasons. It was once the beginning of the Silk Road, a major trading route between the East and West. It was where Buddhism was first brought to China. More recently, tourists have come to see the terracotta warriors found buried in the ground by a farmer 30 years ago.
Our major reason for visiting Xian was that we had a friend there teaching English. We got to stay on campus with her and learn a bit about what it's like to live in China. Erika also showed us the best places to buy pirated DVDs, told us which street food was vegetarian, and was just a great guide. Xian is a mid-sized city for China, but it has a population of 8 million. Trying to navigate it on our own would have been a challenge.
After a few days in Xian, we headed back to Beijing. We spent our last few days in Beijing visiting the city's many parks. Beijing's parks seem to be most used by the city's older, middle-class population. They come early to practice their tai chi, calligraphy, traditional dance, and hacky sack. They often have grandchildren in tow and seem to have a very pleasant life. Of course, you see older people who don't seem to be in nearly as good of shape, but the emphasis on physical activity later in life seems to improve the overall quality of life. Interestingly, you rarely see kids out playing games.
Considering how far the dollar goes in China, I would consider retiring in China if it weren't for the poor air quality and the fact that I still have another 40 years of working to do.
]]>Boo, Izzy, and Amos are enjoying all the excitement. Amos is especially excited about it because they're just his size and... we'll leave it at that.
They're very sweet little pups. They're going to take a while to warm up, but it will be so worth it. Anyone interested?
]]>
We also got the beds that we made last year weeded and planted with some early spring veggies. The garlic that I planted last November is doing really well. Every single bulb that I planted is coming up (lower left in the pic). I'm always dubious when I plant a seed. It just doesn't seem like it's going to work, but it definitely does. We've got a couple of flats of seedlings coming up, and I can wait to get them all planted.
]]>
The results were good, but I had no idea what on earth we would end up doing with several tons of dead grass. But that's the great thing about a compost heap. I didn't do a thing, and the whole pile magically transformed itself into really rich soil over the winter.
Thus began phase II. I picked up Square Foot Gardening earlier this summer, and Brian and I decided that veggies were the way to take our soil. So every weekend for the last few months we've been building planters boxes, moving soil, and planting things. The first round of boxes didn't get done until mid-July when average highs were hovering above 100 and there wasn't a drop of rain in sight. I couldn't imagine any plant being able to fight through that and survive, but they did. We managed to get a full crop of beans in about a month's time:
Beans may not seem like something to get excited about, but they taste delicious right off the vine and they're great for the soil. All the nitrogen they're fixing will make next year's crop even better.
We also planted the side of our driveway with tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries in mid-June. Peppers are a great plant that I had never thought to try and grow. It's a nice change from the ubiquitous tomato, and it's similar in the care and conditions that it needs. The crazy thing is how the plant manages to stay upright with big peppers sprouting out left and right:
With all these veggies, it feels like I'm hemorrhaging water, but my bills have been a third of what they were when I was trying to keep the lawn watered. According to Tree Hugger, lawns are actually the most irrigated crop in America. Funny... I don't see anyone eating it. Maybe someday we'll figure out a way to power our cars with all the lawn clippings we toss in trash, but I doubt. In the meantime, I'm a convert to the Food Not Lawns movement, and I'm not the only one. Read more about it here and here.
Great produce, a low water bill, being green... those might seem like enough reasons for taking on a project like this, but we got more. The crowning glory of this whole process has to be this:
The compost pile is now gone, and we've gained back a whole huge chunk of space in the backyard. We also were lucky enough to come into a hammock that a friend had laying around, and the two work exceptionally well together. All those weekends of moving dirt were totally worth it.
Tags: lawn garden squarefootgardening xeriscape gardening jenmilner booizzy
]]>
