Custom Design + Oklahoma State Wallet

Vibrant red Oklahoma wallet on etsy.com. Click here for the listing!

Christmas Day Swan Treat

 Every single day on our way to work I pester my wife about how much I love the swan and how I want to go meet him/her and how beautiful it is.  I'm sure she is sick of hearing about this stupid swan! But she patiently honored my one Christmas wish: to feed the swan.  It was disgustingly cold out so we only stayed a few minutes.

 Maybe I'm a "little touched" but watching that swan makes me so happy.  He/she really enjoyed the bread but, contrary to internet advice, swans don't like greens.  At least not iceberg lettuce.  Maybe the Nichols Hills swan doesn't want any peasant fodder?

 

I'm so outrageously lucky to have someone who puts up with my childlike idiosyncrasies.

Garden Harvest

Here is just a small example of what we get to enjoy:

 The initial work of building the raised bed, hauling the dirt, researching and planning was an investment that will payout for as long as we bother to spend a few minutes in the backyard every other day.  And even though the garden isn't providing the lion's share of our food: it reminds me every day that food is precious and sacred. 

Garlic Galore!

GARLIC!!!

Finally received my order from Burpee.  First time I've ordered garlic through the mail and this will only be the second time I've planted it.  This online article was what I based my garlic variety choice on: http://www.motherearthnews.com/grow-it/red-heirloom-garlic-zb0z11zsch.aspx.  I wanted to try an heirloom of both softneck and hardneck variety and see which one performed best overwintered in Oklahoma.  Chose organic Inchelium Red and Organic German Red. Overwinter in Oklahoma and planted a month late according to most of the online advise I've read so far. Wish my compost had turned out better.  I basically have two large trashcans full of maggots at the moment.  Absolutely disgusting and something that I have not informed my wife about. Made the mistake of not turning it often and letting it get way too moist over the not-so-brutal summer. But I'll have to add some nitrogen rich fertilizer to the recently planted garlic before I mulch it for winter.

Custom Wallet Project Completion

I recently posted some photos that I was using as reference for a custom wallet project.  Well, it's done and it got a great reception.  In fact I am even getting work from all the good reviews it got! Here are some photos of the beginning wallet and the finished project:

Glad I could overcome my horrible procrastination and performance anxiety to just jump in a get this project completed.  Here are links to purchase the painted cow skull design and the dream catcher design. Want a different style/color wallet/purse or a custom colors?  Contact me and I will be happy to create exactly what you desire!

Container and Raised Bed Garden - Oklahoma City 2012

Bird feeder and bird water fountain hanging from a re-purposed swing set. It is a big hit.  The birds love it and I end up spending about $50 - $75 a month on bird seed, suet and sugar for the hummingbirds.  So worth it though.  Keeps the cats occupied and pleases me to no end when I glance out to see the daily visit from pigeons, cardinals, sparrows, morning doves, black birds, starlings, crows, blue jays and the occasional finch.

Porch potted plants,  Rainbow carrots, oregano and a huge pot of basil.

Garlic chives and a rosemary bush; both of which survived over the mild winter.

A potted tomato plant.  The potted plants seem to do very well with plenty of water and the addition of compost and/or compost tea.

View of the south tomato and pepper raised bed garden.  Just planted some kale in the empty spaces and it seems to be doing well in the 100 - 110 degree heat.  There is a fat dog wallowing in the grass as well!

Big pepper!

Tomato harvest from one day!  The sun and heat may end up killing all our tomato plants but I hope that isn't the case.  Never get sick of toast and tomato sandwiches!

Tomatoes getting ready for sandwiches.

View of the south garden and the bird swing set.

Porch plants.  Tub of Genovese and bush basil, oregano, carrots and freshly spouted Italian zucchini!

The Garden!!!

The garden,  Pretty good for only May.  Though most of it is being ravaged by caterpillars.  I've been making slightly different batches of organic pesticide (garlic, cayenne, jalapenos, habaneros, and onions blended and steeped in hot water and then strained).  It's a lot of work but it seems to be working.  Only our potatoes were completely destroyed. Having fresh salads every night and green onions and rosemary on hand is really awesome. 

Oklahoma City Arts Festival

 Someone had to have some cotton candy!

 Stopped at Architectural Antiques/Dead People's Stuff.

Way way over priced but pretty cool and huge.

Wow!  Whiskey sling with an ancient, and very large bottle of Old Grand-Dad!  May have to buy this with the disposable income I don't have.

 They have a great selection of old stained glass.

Swiss chard tree in the Community garden outside of the Myriad.  Didn't know swiss chard got that big?

Quiet Winter

My awesome wife spent some dough so I could make some! Got a sweet stand mixer for Christmas! So far only focaccia has happened but sour dough and ale poolish bread will be made. I promise!

Winter cats.

Rosemary and parmesan focaccia! So far our rosemary has survived the winter.

A fine assortment of chocolates, hot sauces and energy bars. I'm so spoiled:)

Osteology Museum Oklahoma City

We joined some friends at the Museum of Osteology on the southside. It was really pretty awesome. Looked tiny from the outside but was packed with all kinds of jaw dropping skeletons. It was even featured on Dirty Jobs in 2007.

The darkest restaurant I have ever been in. Old school American Chinese restaurant complete with kitschy plastic lanterns (which I want desperately) and golden dragon wall decor. The food was not that shabby either. Pretty awesome that something like this still exists.