Earlier this week while I was at the library, I found a flyer from the city of Burbank offering free composting classes. The bonus is that when you take the little class and if you live in Burbank, you walk away with a very nice composting bin. I was kind of surprised how excited Mario was. The last thing I expected was for Mario to be up and early for a Saturday morning class. He was even more excited when he found out we'd be leaving with a free composting bin...something I had apparently forgotten to tell him. By the end of class he'd figured out how much of our garbage would actually be able to go into the composting bin...he's pretty certain that 87% of our garbage will end up in the bin.
The only problem now is trying to figure out where to put it. It's supposed to be on dirt and that's kind of a problem for us. Luckily we have an apartment with a backyard, however, that backyard is just a cement patio. We have the room for it back there if we move a few things around, but like I said, it's all cement. Our other option is putting it in the front yard...and we don't' think our neighbors would really like that. We could hide it behind the bushes outside out apartment, but it would be right next to our front door. You know how klassy that would be! I can't say we're really that hardcore. So I think we'll end up with it in the backyard on a plank of wood with some wheels...gotta keep it mobile right? To add to all of the excitement, we ended up winning a fancy new rake made from an old car tire. Once they mentioned that there would be a drawing Mario turned to me and said that a rake would be useless to us because we have such a small scale garden. Then they called our name and I got all excited and told him to go get it. So we came home with a bin and a rake...very exciting I tell ya!
After class we took off in a cloud of excitement. Got some lunch. Took my mother-in-law on some errands. Then we came home and completely crashed! We were down for the count.
Luckily we totally made up for that today. Mario was up first thing this morning working in the kitchen. Loading and unloading the dishwasher, cleaning shit, sweeping, putting things away...I was surprised, but also very happy not to do it myself. Then I heard the sounds of breakfast being make. I was thinking I had totally scored. I had my lazy butt on the couch while the man was working away in the kitchen. Not too long afterwords, Mario comes at me with a plate...of pizza. Yup, my gourmet breakfast ended up being leftovers. I was totally happy with that, but it makes me wonder what the hell he was doing in there that sounded like breakfast cooking. Maybe he had made himself a quick brecky and then handed me the dud. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers! I happily ate my pizza.
Then it hit. No not gas and not the urge to take a nice afternoon nap. That energy that makes you do things you hadn't intended on doing. I knew I wanted to sweep up the backyard a bit. That was as far as my intentions went today. I ended up going out sweeping up, moving around our bikes, getting rid of a bunch of trash and random garbage, including a bucket of putrid rainwater and dirt, organizing my container garden, and straightening our furniture. Then Mario came out and cleaned up our bikes. Pumped up the tires. Got rid of said putrid water. Then got to BBQing some meat for dinner. While he cooked away, I decided that this was a good opportunity to plant some herbs. Now, I am not good with all the dates for planting things. I can get a general time of year right. However, I decided today was the day. It's been so nice in California and because I had accidentally left my seeds out in the rain and they had sprouted, I had decided it was my cue. If they are willing to sprout themselves, then it must be time to plant them. We don't really get so cold at night, so I doubt it will be too much of a problem if I plant a little early. I ended up planting my lettuces, arugula, and spinach, which are a little late in the season for planting actually, some tomato seeds, parsley, and some other mystery seeds that the water had damaged the packaging on...I do love surprises! I transplanted the sage and parsley sprouts that had started and readied the planters for the snow pea transplants. Those came up right away after the rains last month. The package of peas had fallen over into a pot and are now a bush of vines. There are some other things planted also, but I'm drawing a blank.
The only problem came when I had planted my lettuces, arugula, and spinach. I had bought longer planters for them and they all weren't fitting on my plant shelf. I wouldn't mind putting them on the ground, but last year Bob caused some problems with the lettuce pot that was on the ground. First I noticed the new plantings were smooshed. Then I noticed an area that they were dying. Finally, I caught the troublemaker, Bob had chosen that lettuce pot as his bathroom. Apparently, the soft leaves were nicer to poop on than the normal litter box. So, this year I am not going to even tempt him with it. I was looking around for a nice spot to put them. I figured I'd have to get another shelf on craigslist maybe...then it hit. There is a whole fence separating us from the neighbors. It's a blank slate waiting to be used. If I could figure out a way to...I got it! I remember seeing some wire the other day in the junk box. I strapped those planters to the fence. They kind of sit in a sling that hangs from the slats in the fence. I have to admit, they look pretty cute.
More importantly, Bob's butt can't get up that high. I can't wait to see all the lettuce and stuff growing! Plus it's totally temporary!
After a few finishing touches, the backyard ended up being completely cleaned up and ready for more BBQing and lots of spring fire pit nights with friends.
Mario had finished up dinner...yes I got breakfast and dinner out of the man...and I lit a fire in the pit and sat out there with my dinner and a book. Of course the minute Mario sees the fire pit going, he starts calling friends to come over. Tadao ended up coming over to finish the BBQ leftovers, drank the last of the cheap beer that my sister's boyfriend left us at Christmas and just sat around the fire pit until we ran out of wood.
It was a nice weekend!
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