What... is your Quest?

This will be a long post of woe and joy and more woe and more joy and... Well, you get the picture.

For quite awhile now, we've wanted a 2nd computer in the house. When Dawn and I were the only computer users, it wasn't too big of a deal to share the single PC. When Lando started using the computer (to play online Flash games), getting computer time became a bit too difficult. Pretty much anytime one of us would get on the PC, Lando would very quickly run over and declare that he needed to "do some work" (as he put it) on the PC.

So recently we ordered a laptop from Dell. Nothing too fancy, since all it would really need to do is access the Internet.( Read more... )

No, I'm not dead. I'm just posting over at SpringfieldLocavore.com. FYI.

We're finally moved into our new house! Well, more or less. We've still got plenty of boxes to unpack, but we can at least find the kitchen, the dining room table, and the beds. However, rather than write about that right now, I'm going to write about something else.

Lando told his first real joke yesterday! He's told many "jokes" in the past, but they tended to be something like this:


Okay, he understood the basic structure -- "I say something, Daddy says something, I say something, we laugh" -- but the actual content still left quite a bit to be desired.

Yesterday was different. True, it took him 3 attempts to get the joke right, but he did eventually get it right! Here was his first attempt:


Like a true professional, he didn't let his past failures slow him down! He immediately launched into attempt number 3:
Okay, I added that last bit.

Even if you aren't reading my other blog, you might be interested in reading about Our Volunteer Pumpkin Plant. FYI.
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I always thought I was unique. Now it's pretty much official:

Follow the link, enter your first and last names, then find out how many people there probably are in the U.S. with that combination of names.

Oh, by the way, my son is unique, too. My wife isn't entirely unique (there are probably 4 Dawn Hartshorns in the U.S.), but she became far more unique when she married me -- there used to be 132 of her.

If you haven't already been doing so, you might want to hop over to my Springfield Locavore blog and read what I've been posting. I promise it's not all lettuce pictures. I've got pictures of eggs, cheese, and even chicken!

Actually, I've posted 12 times in the last 4 days over there. Shocking, I know!

You won't be seeing any more pictures of lettuce or other fresh produce here. I've created a new blog at www.SpringfieldLocavore.com, where I'll be posting all of my locavore-related stuff. I've already copied over the locavore-related posts from this blog, so that there's a bit of content there.

And, if you've been dieing to know what was in the CSA week 5 share, I've already posted an entry about that as well! I've also got several other locavore-related posts already written in mind head, so as soon as I get them transcribed, you'll be able to see them there.

I'll continue to post non-locavore stuff here, of course, so keep checking this site as well!

If you are foolish enough to check on my writings both here and at the new blog, but don't relish the idea of having to remember to check both web sites, you might consider using a feed reader. Two that I've used in the past are Google Reader and Bloglines. If you already are using Google's email, calendar, etc. (as I am), then Google Reader might be the better choice. If not, toss a coin. I've used both, and both are quite good. I'm currently using Google Reader, simply because we can no longer access Bloglines from work. :-( Unfortunately, as I'm writing this, Google seems to be having some major problems, which means Google Reader is unavailable. Presumably it will be back soon.

Anyway, go to one of those services and register, then start adding "feeds". Look on web sites for links that say things like "Subscribe in a reader","Subscribe to my feed" or more cryptically "RSS feed" or "Atom feed". Once you've added feeds to your reader, then you no longer have to visit the various web sites to check for updates. Just go to your reader and it will display for you any new posts.

Be forewarned -- subscribing to feeds is addictive! In addition to feeds for the blogs that I read, I also have feeds for Dawn's Amazon wish list (whenever she adds something, it shows up in my reader), some favorite photographers on Flickr (whenever they post a new photo, it shows up), and similar things. It's quite convenient!

The Jubilee Olde English Faire is being held next weekend. Here is a photo from last year's event. If you want to see many, many more of them, view the Jubilee Olde English Faire 2007 photos on my Flickr pages.

We've got a picnic to go to on that Saturday (we atheists are using the summer solstice as an excuse to eat food), so we'll be going to Jubilee on Sunday this year. Is anyone else going? We're going to try to be there when things open (10 AM, if I remember right).

Currently, weather.com predicts that Peoria, IL will have scattered thunderstorms on both days, with a high of 82 on Saturday, 79 on Sunday. Of course, that's more than a week away, so who knows what the actual weather will wind up being!

We went to the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire last weekend. I'm hoping to get pictures from that posted this weekend. We'll see. Hold all my calls.

Here's what was in the fourth week's bag from our Hill Street Farm CSA membership.

The letter said that this week's share included broccoli (yea!), 1 pound of spinach, 1½ pounds of European Mesclun Mix or Rocky Top Lettuce Blend, and garlic scapes.

I think the letter wasn't exactly right. :-) We got the broccoli (yea!), the spinach, and the mesclun mix, but no sign of the garlic scapes. Instead we got a stir fry mix featuring chard and mustard leaves!

If you're like me, "garlic scapes" is a new term. I looked it up and found that it refers to the green tops of young garlic. Later it becomes tougher and lighter in color, but when the garlic is young, the tops are apparently good for making pesto, mixing into scrambled eggs, etc.

But we didn't get any, so never mind.

While we were trying to figure out what everything was, we each took a bite from one of the mustard leaves, not knowing what they were. My first thought was, "well, it's a little bit bitter, but that's about it." Then after a few seconds, "Oh! Okay, wow!" :-)

We still had some lettuce from last week's CSA, as well as the chard stir fry mix, so we've got some catching up to do. Fewer pizzas and more veggies!

As usual, the CSA pickup was at the weekend Old Capitol Farmer's Market. We were out of town, so our good friend (and cat sitter) Jean picked up our CSA share for us.

As a bonus, she also got us a quart of strawberries! (The strawberries are already gone, of course.)

We got our the third week's bag from our Hill Street Farm CSA membership. Rather than show you yet another photo of fresh produce, I decided to show you one of the people who is responsible for growing it.

This is Andy Heck of Hill Street Farm. He's at the Old Capitol Farmers' Market every Saturday, distributing CSA shares. So, if you go to the farmers' market and you see him, say "Hi!" He'll be a bit confused, because he won't know who you are, but he's friendly, so I'm sure he'll say "Hi" back. And then try to sell you something good to eat.

As for what was in this week's share, it included Sylvesta lettuce and/or Blushed Butter Cos lettuce (I think we got the latter), one of 3 varieties of radishes (French Breakfast, Cherry Bell, or Easter Egg), Walla Walla Spring onions, and a stir fry mix (featuring chard).

We chose Cherry Belle radishes last week, so this week we chose French Breakfast.

If you want to see pictures, hop on over to the 100-Mile Diet / Locavore set on my Flickr account and take a look.

We'd used up most of the lettuce from last week's CSA, but we hadn't used the chard stir fry mix yet, so we had that for lunch today. Actually, rather than having it as a stir fry, Dawn decided to experiment, boiling it and one of the onions in a vegetable broth, then serving it over shell pasta. It was pretty good! I'm not sure how to describe the taste, other than to say that it reminded me of spinach.

As usual, the CSA pickup was at the weekend Old Capitol Farmer's Market. The only other thing we bought this time was some rhubarb. The rhubarb apple crisp that Dawn made last week was very good, so we're going to have some more!

Oh, and I stopped by the booth that said "Strawberries Soon" last weekend and asked whether they had an update. They did: Strawberries on Wednesday! I can't wait!

After the storm had passed, I noticed that the sky outside had a weird, orangish cast. I stepped outside to take a look and saw that the odd color was caused by the sunset fighting its way through the remnants of the storm clouds.

I grabbed my camera and took several shots. Although none of them really got the color right, this one is my favorite.

You can see more weather photos on my Flickr pages.

A bunch of big thunderstorms are moving through the area at the moment. There was a report of a tornado in Springfield, but it was south of us. It looks like things are mostly over with, so we've dodged another one!

Note to self: You know all of those photos that you still haven't posted online? Off-site backup of the computer! Soon!

Dain, the son of our friends Bill and Mary, graduated from the 8th grade, so they had a graduation dinner for him at The Pizza Machine (in Vinegar Hills Mall at 1st and Cook).

The Pizza Machine's claim to fame is that they have very large pizzas. How large? How about 40 inches in diameter and weighing in at 25 pounds? How about large enough that they're delivered to your table by a crane that lowers them from the second floor?

And if 40 inches isn't large enough, they also have a 60 inch pizza.

This photo shows the pizza being lowered to our table. Go to my Flickr account to see more photos from Dain's Graduation Dinner.

In addition to the pizza, The Pizza Machine also features a spiral slide, a bunch of video games, a big screen TV, and a somewhat psychedelic industrial design scheme.

Lando loved it, particularly the slide. He and Sarah spent quite a lot of time running up the stairs to the second floor, then sliding down the slide to the first floor, then running up the stairs again.

Lando was also quite impressed by the pizza crane. While I was talking to Bill, Lando broke into our conversation several times to point out that "the grabber" (as he called it) was still visible, hanging from the ceiling. I'm not sure if he was concerned that it was going to grab something, or if he just felt that it should retreat out of sight after its job was done.

In any case, we all had a good time.

(In case you were wondering about the actual taste of the pizza, I think I would describe it as nothing special. It was okay, but nothing special. But then maybe I'm a bit of a pizza snob.)

Here's what was in the second week's bag from my CSA membership. Significantly more than last week, although still early in the season.

According to the letter included with it, this week's share included any of 3 varieties of lettuce (Tom Thumb Butterhead, Bronze Mignonette, and Flashy Green Butter Oak), one of 3 varieties of radish (French Breakfast, Cherry Belle, or Easter Egg); a spring mix; and a stir fry mix.

In addition to the Tom Thumb Butterhead, I think that this time we got Flashy Green Butter Oak (the variety that we didn't get last time). Although it doesn't look green, so what do I know. Actually, based on the photos I've found, I've got about 0% confidence in my identification of that lettuce.

Actually, we still have plenty of Bronze Mignonette from last week, because everyone in our household has been sick. As much as we like salad, it isn't what springs to mind when we think "comfort food"!

This week the CSA pickup was at the weekend Old Capitol Farmer's Market. We wandered around looking at stuff, as we always do. (Well, as much as we can with a 3-year-old in tow.) This time, however, there wasn't much need for us to buy anything else. We did pick up a couple of hydroponic tomatoes, but we know they're just not the same. Also, we saw one person with a sign that said "Strawberries Soon", so we're eagerly looking forward to that!

One update on last week's CSA share. While Dawn was preparing the rhubarb apple crisp using the rhubarb in last week's share, I tried raw rhubarb for the very first time. I'd no idea what to expect. I definitely didn't expect it to taste somewhat like a lime! I didn't get to sample much of it though, because the rest of it went into the rhubarb apple crisp, which was very good!

Here's what was in the first week's bag from my CSA subscription. As I expected, the first week was a bit sparse. This was both because it's still early in the season and because the wet weather meant that some stuff didn't get planted as early as they would have liked.

According to the letter included with it, this week's share includes rhubarb and 3 varieties of lettuce (Tom Thumb Butterhead, Bronze Mignonette, and Flashy Green Butter Oak).

Actually, I don't think that we got any of the Flashy Green Butter Oak. Instead, it looks like we got 2 heads each of the other 2 varieties.

No problem. How much salad can 2 people eat in one week? Anyway, I've no doubt that we'll be getting plenty more in future weeks!

Dawn was quite happy to see the rhubarb. She loves strawberry-rhubarb pie and often ate fresh raw rhubarb when she was growing up in Montana. She's found a recipe for rhubarb apple crisp, so I'll let you know how that tastes!

Yes, it's time for the results of another pointless and somewhat puzzling quiz!

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Look what decided to take up residence in one of our electrical outlets. Nice, huh? I'm reminded of some 1950s horror movie or something. Or maybe just "Arachnophobia".

Every year, when the weather warms up, our house gets invaded by tiny ants. Why? Well, probably the fact that our house has more holes than a cheese grater might have something to do with it. It has mine subsidence damage, so nothing is square and in numerous places little gaps have opened up.

If I were more conscientious, I'd go around with a caulking gun and fill in those gaps, but I don't have time to do that because I'm too busy complaining about them and posting pictures of ants.

Last weekend was Funshop's spring field trip to Cozy Creek Farm. Last fall, it was a bit cool and a bit rainy. This spring, it was a bit cool a bit rainy -- and extremely windy! The event normally lasts about 2 hours, ending with a picnic lunch. This year we beat a hasty retreat after just one hour, skipping the picnic lunch.

Here are a few photos from the trip. You can see the rest in my Cozy Creek Farm, Spring 2008 Flickr set. (You'll need to be logged into Flickr as one of my friends or family to see all of the photos. If you don't know how to do this, just ask!) Nothing special in this set of photos; the weather was just too uncooperative to spend much time fiddling with taking lots of pictures!

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Well, Saturday had a bit more excitement than we had expected -- or wanted.

Dawn's parents, Noel & Lois, drove in from New Mexico for a visit. (No, that wasn't the unwanted excitement.) We met them at Panera Bread for lunch, then went back to our house for more visiting and playing with Lando. We spent most of the afternoon outside in the yard, watching Lando play with the neighbor kids (Brooke, Brock, and Nick). Actually, we spent a bit *too* much time outside, because we all got a little sunburned.

The unwanted excitement came when something happened and Lando got hurt. As in "drive to the Emergency Room" hurt. I was in the garage, making a futile attempt at cleaning it up, and Dawn was inside talking with her parents. Then I heard Brooke asking Lando what was wrong and was he alright. Lando was crying and holding his right arm.

Three posts in one day! What a startling turn of events!

On Sunday, April 6, Lando and I went to the model railroad show at the Crowne Plaza. (Dawn stayed home and enjoyed some alone time! Actually, I think she did housework. Well, she was alone.)

When we walked through the doors, I hadn't even paid yet before Lando was sprinting toward the tables, pointing with eyes wide at the model trains running around the tracks. Surprisingly, when I barked at him to wait, he actually stopped, continuing to point at the trains and eagerly calling to me to come look at them.

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