Holiday weekend

Memorial Day is almost here! Can you guess where we are going for the weekend? I was able to get Friday through Tuesday off from work, and D recently finished a year-long construction job so we will have a leisurely and LONG time off for Memorial Day in....Homer! Yay for halibut fishing, trolling for king salmon and party time on the Spit. Although I am sort of over the party atmosphere now - we thought about staying in a secluded campground above town but the downside is no electricity. In order to legally keep more than the 4 halibut possession limit we need to process our catch. And that means bringing a vacuum-sealer and loading a small chest freezer into the back of the truck. I know that sounds awfully weird but we will be down in Homer for 5 days and it's important to get the fish packed and frozen. There is a company in town that will do all that for sport fisherman but I'm cheap and don't want to spend the money!


In exactly one month from today D and I will celebrate our 1-year anniversary. 2010 and now 2011 have both sped by so fast. I'm a bit bummed that I have to work an event on June 25th, so that means no leaving town on our anniversary weekend. Well, D will probably go fishing without me but I am stuck in Anchorage! I need to check the freezer and figure out where our wedding cheesecake is hiding.


This past Monday after work I spent about 4 hours digging and potting flowers. The back deck and front porch look much more inviting now and I can't wait to see how everything looks in mid-summer after the flowers have bloomed.

Sounds like D's brother may come up for a visit this summer so that should be fun. Was hoping my sister could come sometime too but her job and school schedule are pretty packed.


Happy Memorial Day everyone! Will have recaps and photos next week after Wednesday.

Oh grow up

May 31st is the official start of the outdoor garden season in Alaska.  It's industry standard to wait until the holiday weekend to put out plants and flowers, but most of us get impatient and try to push it a week or two earlier. We're supposed to get indoor starts going in mid-March but I haven't invested in a grow light and we really don't have a good area for a mini greenhouse. So, all of my random seeds were started last week: cosmos, peony (not sure if these will grow well here), some other wildflowers and a really cool plant from Tennessee that my mom gave me last November. These all go outside during the day and come in at night.

A friend had given me these 12 petite planters with a different set of seeds for each month and I never got around to doing anything with them. Better late than never, right? I love the colors and how small they are - each can fit in the palm of a hand. Once the seedlings emerge and I plant them in a bigger container, I'll use these ceramic pots around the house.

I tested my flower knowledge by trying to match up the seed packet with the photo of the flower on the front of each pot. I only had to look up 3 out of 12.

 I took inventory of my growing collection of outdoor planters, pulled out the dirt we saved from last year's container gardens and made a shopping list for my 2011 flowers! Most came from Walmart, including two cute little perennial shrubs, because the cost and quality were pretty good. My geraniums are from Home Depot since Walmart's selection was pitiful. It was really windy yesterday when I went plant shopping and the wind was whipping up dust in the outdoor pavilion and knocking plants over, so I was in and out in a flash. 

The back of my car, all loaded up with fun plants! Can't wait to get my hands dirty this week.