I'm working late tonight, watching the software support line until 8 so one of my coworkers could go relax. He's stressed. I do not like being in this office alone. Things creak, people outside at the gas station next door suddenly laugh, breaking the otherwise creaking silence. The only noises other than that are my fingers on these keys. I'm cold and lonely. But I didn't fire anyone today, so that's a step in the right direction.
I feel like I've been MIA from my blog lately. Work has taken over every minute while I'm here, and since so much of my work is done in front of this computer screen, I can't stand to look at it at night when I get home.
Someone just clicked our live support button, but by the time they got connected to me they had, happily, answered their own question. Those are my favorite.
So anyway, "home" has been nothing but laying on the couch or finding some friends to share a drink lately. Not that I'm complaining. Last night we had dinner (bbq chicken, hashbrown casserole, creamed corn, salad, and king cake) with friends while watching Brett Favre lose. I don't care about football in the least, but Go Saints.
We did actually get off the couch yesterday before the game for just long enough to spend way too much money at Home Depot. Our plan is to build two eight by four foot raised vegetable gardens in our yard. See my plan below:
A little rough but you get the point. So in order to accomplish this, we needed to build the walls. Bricks or stones are too heavy, especially when you take a look at the half-acre hill in the backyard you'd have to get them down. You can't use treated lumber, like those rail road tie things or any kind of landscaping timbers, because those are treated with chemicals that leach into the soil and thus into your food and thus into you. Your options are 1) buy treated lumber and seal it, which means handling all kinds of chemicals and waiting for wood to dry, never really knowing if it actually worked, or 2) buy untreated lumber that will resist rot-- namely, cedar.
With big plans, we headed to the cedar plank department (yes, there is one, and it smells good) at our local Home Depot. The 8 foot x 6 inch boards were $10 apiece, so we figured the 8 foot by 12 inch boards were probably around $15. No other board in the whole store seemed to be any more expensive than that, but because the price tag was missing from that particular area, we didn't find out until we got to the register, after we had had a couple sawed in half to make the end boards, that these particular beautiful cedar planks were $28.90 a piece. Times six. So with the brackets we picked out to connect the boards at the corners, our total was a whopping $215. Luckily we had $75 in gift cards, but these are turning out to be expensive vegetables.
Husband put one of the boxes together after we got home, and we'll fix the other one up and place them in the yard next weekend after digging up the grass underneath. We may wait a bit to buy the dirt though. The pocketbook needs to recover. I wonder how much dirt that will actually require.
Crap, someone with an actual problem this time. Maybe it will take up most of the time I have left. I'm ready to go home.
I love the plan and admire the ambition. I keep saying that I want to grow vegetables, but life keeps getting in the way. Plus I've had quite a bit of trouble with the deer eating my roses; I'm not quite ready to tackle them on another front. Don't you love how the items that don't have a price tag are always the ones that get you screwed?
ReplyDeleteI understand the feeling of being MIA. I have been dealing with the same thing and there were days when I didn't even open my computer. When I did turn it on I didn't have the energy to compose a post; all I did was read what others had to say. It's nice to read you again, though:)
Good luck with the veg patch. That's a pretty big project. I feel that I need to sit down and have a cup of tea just having read about it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to often be in the office alone, I'd listen to the radio throug the computer - it drowns out all those squeaky building noises.
My dad has raised beds - he really likes them.
ReplyDeleteI have a theory about cold toes (she says while her toes are cold inside her socks & slippers). I think that they can't generate heat on their own. If they're cold it doesn't matter what you put on them - they'll stay cold. Hold them up to a heat source & THEN put your socks on. Not that I do that :)
We're looking at getting some raised beds in too. There's nothing quite as satisfying as eating a meal you've grown entirely from scratch, is there?
ReplyDeleteI think skinny people are cold. I know I am. Not much fat to hold and generate heat. Used to have a plump girl friend. Sleeping with her was like sleeping with a heater.
ReplyDeleteTried vegetables a couple of times. Gave it up. Too expensive and too much work. Now I grow herbs to add to the vegies I get at the market. I do like a tomato plant or two however.
Had a friend once who always had the most beautiful and productive gardens. It was his hobby. He used to string chicken wire over his squash and melon beds. The plants would grow through the wire and the fruit would grow on top of the wire, off the ground and away from worms, etc. Just a thought. Good luck.