In other news... how to kill your grass

Time has moved on and while I am still not 100% pain free (knee/foot) I can at least walk now like a somewhat normal person. Walking normally doesn't seem like that much of a big deal until you can't do it anymore.

I've been spending a lot of time and effort latey, researching plants for my yard. I wanted a couple of things:
1) Drought tolerant
2) Looks really great without doing major hours of work every week
3) Supports the ecosystem (birds, bees, hummingbirds, etc.)

As I started looking at drought tolerant plants, I found out about Mediterranean climates (of which California is one of only a few in the world). Essentially, this is a climate that has hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. There are approximately 6,000 plants that are native to California. However, you can only find approximately 3 of them at your local. nursery. So, most of the plants that are available to the casual gardener are plants that have to be watered in the summer, fertilized (most of California has very poor soil compared to say, the east coast) and otherwise require a lot of work. If you do a California native plant garden, you have to do more work up front (finding the plants) and less afterwards. The idea is, the right plant in the right place. Also, you have to decide where you want plants that are ok with being watered and plants that are not. It seems obvious when I think about it. If you can kill a plant that needs water by not watering it, you can also kill a plant that is drought tolerant by watering it.

I also decided NO lawn in the front of my house, which meant I had to somehow kill off the pathetic grass that was already there. I researched on the web and found out about Sheet Mulching. I was trying to figure out where to get enough cardboard, when my brain belatedly kicked in and reminded me I had approximately 1000 boxes left over from moving. Basically, get whatever you want gone nice and wet (green if possible) this helps the composting process. Next, lay down cardboard. Finally, cover in at least 6" deep of mulch. Here's some pics of the process.

Here's the load of free mulch I got from a tree service I found on Craigslist. For scale, the retaining wall on the left is about 4 foot high. Yes. This pile of mulch is bigger than my car. (I started doing this a year ago, I have 1/2 of the pile left... mulch for a lifetime.)

Front Yard- Before with sad looking grass.

Front Yard- Some cardboard

Front Yard - All Mulched!

Getting Old Sucks

So, I went to the doctor today and found out that the pain I've been having in my RIGHT knee is actually arthritis. Good - no surgery. Bad - Can't fix it. As well, my LEFT foot is suffering from plantar fascitis (which I think that I got because I was overcompensating for the knee.) I need to take care of the foot, stretch, heat, ice and also ice the knee.

This means that right now since mucho pain when I put weight on my left foot, I'm feeling like a pathetic cripple and my current walking pace is somewhat slower than a snail.

At least the doc said that swimming is really good for it, so I can at least do some sort of exercise. I have been getting back into swimming recently (GOOD!), but... since my knee was hurting so bad I haven't been exercising for about 4 months (Yeah, BAD.) Since I apparently MUST exercise in order not to resemble giant balloon woman, I gained a lot of weight (even though I was being careful with my diet) which of course does not help with the knee/foot/walking pain. Le Sigh.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

I was planning on hiking around Angel Island, but I got going late and did you know that the ferry stops running at 4:00 pm?  I didn't want to be thinking about not making the ferry back, since then I wouldn't be enjoying the experience, I'd just be thinking about missing the ferry. Yes, I am a basket case.

As usual, when it's hot weather in the East Bay, it's cold, windy and overcast on the coast. 

So, I ended up exploring the Marin Headlands and eventually made it over to Rodeo Beach. What I don't know is why I haven't been over to this area before because it was very scenic. I'll definitely be back.

I parked at the visitor's center and in the interests of getting at least a short hike took the trail from there down to Rodeo beach.

Along the way I saw some wild roses. They were growing in big bushes at various places along the trail. I love the smell of roses and these smelled amazing. The thorns were wicked though, I guess the pain of sticking myself was worth it.

The trail dipped down through a shaded glade and there were some of these tall purple flowers. I think they might be a variety of penstemon but I'm not sure.

Made it down to the beach and just sat for a while watching and listening to the ocean. It was nice and relaxing. I headed back when I started feeling really cold. The wind was blowing and it was overcast, although the sun did manage to break through here and there.







All in all it was a really great day.

Time flies...

...whenever you are not watching it closely. So, what am I doing this summer besides hanging out?

(1) Getting back into working out. Not exercising for 7 months and then working out - it's hard and very tiring. Who knew? Yes, I am out of shape but I'm working on it.
(2) Taking care of various things - car repair, dental repair, doctor's visit, DMV stuff - etc. etc. all that stuff that I never have time to take care of during school.
(3) Completing classes for Masters. I have two more.

Yep, just a tad busy. Anyway, not been working on any posted projects lately as quite some time ago I decided that making felted slippers for gifts would be a Good Idea. 4 pair had to be done by the end of July - so well, that's what I've been doing when not taking care of the above stuff.  These are DONE except for sewing up and then throwing in the washer for the magic shrinking process.

Yay! Now I can go back to other projects instead of working on one more pair of slippers.

And... here they are! All done and pretty.

Who works at the post office anyway?

So today I come home to this:

What is the problem here you may ask. A box? Cool. Someone sending me something? Even more cool.

The problem is that this is a box that I shipped out from the Post Office yesterday. Why is it on my doorstep? I really don't know. My only guess at this point is that the Postal Employee who looked at this did not know the meaning of the words From and To. So, off the post office tomorrow...

However, Clapotis is coming along. I've been knitting on it every day. Yes, it is boring but the drop stitches make it all worth it. There is a lot more than there was last time but the Giant Ball of Yarn has not appreciably diminished. Thank goodness for my kitchen scale which assures me that yes, this ball is 2 oz lighter than it used to be.

Knitting Project Gone Awry

So, last week as I was working on the lace pattern shrug I've been putting together I realized that somehow I had cast on 32 stitches for the left sleeve and only 24 for the right. The shrug is worked in one piece and the sleeves are cast on dolman style. Of course, I only found the error when I was actually finished with the sleeve section. I thought of many different things I could do, but really that's an unfixable error so... the shrug is currently back to balls of yarn and I'll have to start over. Seriously Disgusted. HOW did I MISS THAT?

To console myself I turned this giant hank of yarn:

Into a giant ball of yarn (which took a while). I think guesstimating that there's about 1600 yards in this hank. So... to ease my pain I cast on for Clapotis. Because, hey, everyone else has one so I should have one too. I like it so far, and there's no sleeves to make me crazy and I've got plenty of yarn.

Muir is Completed!

I am FINISHED with my friend's lace wedding shawl. I ended up with 11 pattern repeats instead of the 13 the pattern calls for. I really enjoyed this pattern, it was a very good introductory lace pattern. After the first repeat it also got fairly easy to determine where I was in the pattern and if things were lining up correctly. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I steam blocked it and it easily blocked to 70" long which should be perfect for a shoulder wrap. I might make this again for myself, but... longer. And well, NOT in off-white. I also wonder what it would look like in garter stitch.