2nd half of Strawberry Boxes

After you've built a box, attach two boxes together with metal tie plates. We bought the medium sized ones with five holes, then four holes, then five holes, etc.... Use two tie plates for each side to keep the box from twisting when it's finished.

Hammer in four nails for each tie plate-one in each corner of the plate.

When done securing all the tie plates, bend and pound in the protruding ends of the nails so if someone has to reach in the box for weeding they won't snag their glove (or hand!) on the nails from the tie plates.


And here's two beautiful finished boxes! Let the planting begin! After they're filled with soil! And after I've determined where they will go in the yard!

Strawberry Boxes

The incentive for this project was free wood, screws and nails. It starts with my dad building various garden boxes through-out my growing up years. Recently he saved the redwood planking from a deck he took down and kindly sawed the pieces into approximately 3' x 4 ' lengths for me. I helped by carrying the cut pieces to lean against the outside wall-yeah, I know, really a tough job-especially since I didn't have gloves. :)
Here's the beginning of building a strawberry box on the top picture. We alternated the ends of the old redwood boards. So on the picture, the bottom board (just above the date stamp) is aligned with the outside of the board on the right (just above the date stamp and the bottom board) and then alternately it is aligned with the inside of the board on the left. Just alternate the ends so one end is on the inside and the other end on the outside. Next picture is the drilling.
Then Dave drilled three holes (after marking with chalk) into what would be the outside of each board end. Next picture is the fastening.
Then we recycled old 2 1/2" to 3 " screws to fasten the boards together. (Total of 12 screws per simple box.) Next picture is the finished product.
And here we have the finished box. Next post I'll show how we put two boxes together.

Happy Anniversary Darling, Part 3 (the end)!

Dave standing in front of the torch by the heavy wooden door with stained glass leading into the formal dining area.

Jean standing in front of one of the many murals adorning the walls all around the restaurant-this one invites us to the feast.
Dave’s Death by Chocolate dessert-a flour-less chocolate cake adorned with fresh raspberries and a touch of raspberry sauce to the side
Jean’s Crème Brulee with a chocolate dipped strawberry and the red rose they gave us for our anniversary. And that’s all folks!

Happy Anniversary Darling, Part 2!

“Halt! Who goes there?!? “ That is the question posed by the animatronics Sherwood type sentry that guards the inner door to the restaurant. It’s a bit unusual to step into a outer courtyard that’s only the size of a small room with a sentry, lions, a flower garden, vines and a “flaming torch”. Reminded me of some of the maze like queuing lines at Disneyland.

So this really nice restaurant with costumed staff is in a strip mall type atmosphere. It’s still a nice place although we almost did not find it for looking for a medieval type restaurant building.

Here we are, all smiles with our yummy food. Noticed our coordinated blue plaid shirts-completely unintentional but still fun that we think along similar lines sometimes. We had a long-haired robin hood type maiden in a boat for our picture above our table-but the flash is greatly obscuring it.

I had the red snapper amandine with rice pilaf and the fresh vegetable (yummy asparagus!). It was tender and flaky and the rice pilaf almost feels like it’s melting in your mouth.

Dave chose the King Richard’s cut of prime rib along with a baked potato and the asparagus (which I enjoyed since Dave’s not an asparagus fan.) He says his prime rib was excellent-the small bite I had was so tender. Look for the desserts in the next entry!

Happy Anniversary Darling!

How wonderful it is to be married to a wonderful man who displays so many wonderful traits. We were able to celebrate our anniversary today. Considering that our celebrations have rarely fallen on the actual anniversary and have varied from the actual date by as much as a month then I’m grateful for when we can celebrate. Dave took me to the elegant restaurant, Ye Lions Den, in Ogden. Dave shows off his enthusiasm for the raw onion in the veggie tray served with a delicious spinach dip.

Next is the lone scone left from the batch that I hurried and snagged to take a picture before it was eaten with a dab of the raspberry honey butter and whipped butter. On the bottom is my scrumptious French onion soup (Dave had the salad which was organic baby greens with a homemade Thousand Island dressing.) Hungry? There’ll be more from the meal in a later post.

But I want to be bored....

Aahhh….. a double rainbow. Things have been really hectic right now so here’s a list of boring things I wish I had some time to do:

-defrost the downstairs freezer

-pull up the downstairs carpet and scrap the pad up

-roto-till the dog run

-sit in a chair watching the mountains until I fall sleep

-get out an old college term paper and try to read it

Alas, I can do none of those things. I’m moderating a yahoo group with over 800 members, hosting the caucus next Tuesday, taking the family in for hair cuts, planning for Easter, making stuffing (and trying to figure out how to make a separate gluten-free batch), trying to catch up on my journal, wanting to write letters, plus all the day to day like meals, paying bills, doctor visits, dental visits, family visits, etc…

Next post I hope to move on to more creative entries like how we are building our strawberry boxes!

Pony prancing prettily

According to Crayola, their sidewalk chalk is made from Plaster of Paris and color pigments.
Amazing how a couple of simple ingredients result in a drawing medium of fun.
Along with friendly sayings and interesting spatial designs we've been seeing a lot of horse drawings thanks to Sarah.
After she drew this picture I knew I had to take a picture or it would be lost to water and/or wear.
Apparently chalk drawings can live on and still be rewarding even when the original is gone thanks to modern technology.
Although abstract expressionism sums up the majority of the sidewalk art at our home we have found that the art we make with chalk is a gift for young and old alike.
Allow yourself to enjoy some art this week-from the abstract to the detailed whether man-made or natural.

I'm going to read, read, read!

Reading aloud to your child (or children) -no matter the age-will help them to develop vocabulary, gain more of an understanding of their world through the medium of books both by visual language (pictures) and the written word, plus the final benefit: (and this is the best one!) they will want to continue reading!

Sweet Soft Tasha on a Sunday

What a sweetheart! Tasha is our matriarch pet right now. We ‘ve had her for 11 ½ years and she is still a sweet girl. The picture on the left shows Tasha in March 2003 when she was 6 ½ years. The picture down below on the left was taken today at the 11 ½ year mark with our cat, KyKay, who is just slightly younger in years but definitely not aging as fast as Tasha. When we took her in for a check-up when she turned 8 years old, our veterinarian (the wonderful Dr. Eric Foster of the Millcreek Veterinary Clinic) said she was doing really well for her age but she was getting up there and could go basically anytime since she’s a giant breed (half great Pyrenees and half golden retriever). Her fur is now mostly white with some gold and her eyes are cloudy. Her hearing is not the same but her tail still wags as happy as ever and she still has to go up to each and every person to sniff them and say hello. She’s much more content to sleep then play and she doesn’t jump up in excitement anymore. But through all her arthritis and aches and pains she still wants to be around people and still loves when little kids come over and want to play with her. Along with Tasha we have another dog, a cat, a guinea pig and 3 fish. More about them later.

Americanized Chinese cuisine

Rice-a staple food for most of the world

One of our favorite staple dinners is fried rice. For the longest time I thought there was a special, magical recipe only to find out that fried rice is a leftover dish. To add to the commonality, it’s disputed that a famous Chinese chef, Tao Feng, initiated fried rice but rather peasants started the trend, using leftover rice with other leftover ingredients to use up food rather than throw it out. Anyway, it’s an old stand-by at our house and we always make a double batch. Here’s our recipe but feel free to add or subtract from the ingredients.

Fried Rice Wilson Style

8 strips of bacon (or roughly ½ pound)

½ cup chopped green onions and tops

½ cup diced colored pepper (red, yellow, orange-just not green-green is too bitter for the recipe and detracts from the other flavors)

1/3 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1 egg, beaten

about 4 cups cold cooked rice

1 ½ to 2 tbsp soy sauce

Cook bacon until crisp and remove to drain but reserve grease in fry pan. Add green onions and pepper and stir fry for a few minutes in bacon grease. Add peas and stir fry for another minute. Move mixture to one half of the pan and scramble the egg on the empty half-then mix together when egg is barely set. Gently stir in rice, crumbled cook bacon and then soy sauce. Cook and stir gently until mixture is heated thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Chocolate and caramel and aplets, oh my!

Treats for Book Group

Last night I hosted the book group to which I belong. We discussed my book selection, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, among other things. I digressed early and often during our discussion and we covered everything from the clear play dvd player to candy thermometers and pans to candy making in general. We did touch upon our next book, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and a couple of us (we were such a small group-only four others were able to come) admitted to having never read the book previously or viewed the movie. Audible gasps greeted the movie admission. Sigh. So I haven’t seen some of the great movies of all time-life is just too short on time sometimes. We enjoyed my overzealous candy-making endeavor of licorice caramels, orange caramels, plain caramels, chocolate caramels, aplets, mint-flavored dark chocolate dipped oreos, and chocolate dipped homemade marshmallows. This is why I probably don’t get to host book group too often-I just get carried away. Although my excuse was that last time I hosted we had sick kids & so my token offering then consisted of nuts and Sweets’ cinnamon bears.

Triptych at the Zoo!

Picture is "untitled" by Melanie Daubs

Talk about coincidences! We went to the Hogle Zoo this last Friday (Leap Day) and were able to view the art exhibit in the old elephant building. They had an example of a triptych! So here I found that picture from flickr, double checked and triple checked to make sure it was legally okay to post it, gave appropriate credit and then I'm able to get my own picture the very next day. Sigh. I did ask permission if I could take a picture of the one from the zoo also.

Milk in Pretty Colors

Swirled Milk Experiment also known as Marbled Milk. I obtain access to many books in my job and I bring a fair number home. Unfortunately, I have to return the books eventually and too often we never try anything from the books where we could do projects from them for talent building. Examples are cookbooks, crochet books, craft and hobby books, sewing books, hiking books, etc…. But finally we actually did one of the experiments from a cool little book called Lotions, Potions, and Slime Mudpies and More! By Nancy Blakey.

Pour milk (preferably 2%) into saucer, add 5-7 drops food coloring (use full amount or more-doesn't work as well with just a few drops of coloring), then add 1 drop of liquid detergent and watch what happens!