This is how we roll in da Hood

First a little explanation of our hood.  We live in Richmond, CA.  If you were to google Richmond, you might discover that it is one of the most dangerous cities in America.  What that statistic won't tell you is how diverse the neighborhoods are.  If you were to look at a map you might think that in the land grab Richmond got last draft pick with isolated pockets of land here and there, some ghetto, some farmland, some fancy waterfront and some regular neighborhoods.

When we bought our house last year we moved from the "safe" town of El Cerrito to "scary" Richmond.  Nevermind that I could almost throw a stone at El Cerrito town hall, pizza delivery is no longer an option. Thankfully I love to cook and our new digs have a fabulous kitchen.

So it was with great joy and irony that Mr. Fiberpuppy discovered this meat tenderizer.   He likes to say it sums up Richmond's culinary style.

Happy St. Pawtricks day.

Well here's another edition of ridiculous things people do to dress up their dogs.  (St. Patrick's day edition)  Enjoy!

Green and Shaggy

Green and curly

You've been shamrocked.

Party Pooch

Working with what you've got

We've been in our new house since June.  We've been trying to take a wait and see approach to re-vamping the entire garden.  We wanted to see the yard in all it's seasons before making any major decisions.  (that and our limited budget).  Ironically, our back yard with it's 3  Koi ponds and 29 palms turned out to be not so awesome in terms of growing veggies being on a northern slope.  Other than that it is a paradise.

So with my desperate need for fresh herbs and veggies we looked around.  And discovered that our cement covered front yard had southern exposure.  Hmmmm. 

David being the perfectionist and asthetic had ideas of tearing up cement.  Um not even close to on our budget  I suggested building raised planters.  David agreed that could work, but we would need redwood since other woods would rot.  Again not on our budget (are you seeing a theme here?)   Perhaps next year once we recover from putting on a new roof.  But we did have some Doug fir (which would rot). 

Well in a stroke of genius (or bad taste if you ask David)  I remembered seeing plantings in old bathtubs and such and thought well heck I can buy plastic storage containers from Home depot for $4 a piece drill a hole in the bottom.  So David built a platform for the containers so they would get more sun over the fence.  And here they are.  I planted basil parsley, thyme and chives and have plans for another for tomatoes and cukes.

This is not a permanent solution.  But planting time is afoot and heck even fresh sprouts in plastic bins is an improvement over pavement in my mind.  Perhaps we can afford redwood next year.

Perhaps not to the aesthetic's eye a perfect solution but for those of us on a budget.  Hey if you have a deck you can have a garden.

The compost bin to withstand the apocolypse

This past weekend was gorgeous here in N. Cal.  We took a look around the yard thinking about where to put the veggies and realized we were going to need a boatload of dirt.  We decided we needed a compost  in order to satisfy our longterm need for dirt.

First problem was where.  We have raccoons in our yard so we didn't want it too close to the house.  Unfortunately, the perfect place for the compost required moving 2 trees.  "No problem" says David "I'll move those trees and after lunch we'll make the bin."

Well after a half day of digging up a ficus and a palm it became apparent that this project was not going to be done in one day.  Although we did find some neat bugs and salamanders on Saturday we didn't even start the bin.

Sunday David and I (mostly David) got started on the building.  Not being the most competent of carpenters it took us longer than expected.  By 7 on Sunday night I had to yell down to tell David I was gonna have 911 on speed dial if he didn't stop using the circular saw in the dark.

Well Monday we had to work but David came home early and ITS FINISHED.

Wait how long do we have to wait for our dirt?

Best T-shirt

First I must admit that I am a fan of Abba, much to the distress of my husband who teases me mercilessly. Kind of like when he caught me reading a bumpy cover novel or what he calls bodice rippers, but I digress.  

Well David was attending a book signing of Dirty Donny who has a new book out called Monster Revolt.  Donny style is really heavy metal and he has done extensive artwork for Metalica.  David noticed this t-shirt and asked Donny what Abba was thinking it was an acronym for something.
Nope Donny's a fan.

So David gets some serious credit for buying me this shirt as he really hates Abba.  But I guess the irony of the design and the band was irresistible.

First time I wore it, a checker at Trader Joe's (who was obviously a metal head) complimented me on it.  He looked baffled when I told him it referred to the band

Best Dog Costumes

Well it is now October so I'm starting to think about Halloween. I also have dog on the brain since losing my Weimaraner 6 months ago. Well I thought I'd combine the two and give y'all some fun dog costumes.

Dr. Spock

Watchdog

Taco

Rabbis

USS Enterprise

Bunny

Willie Nelson

Pooh

Skunk

3 Headed dog from Harry Potter

Skuba Sam

And last but not least Chia Pet

Viva La Revolucion

I've been a bad blogger (slaps self on mouse).  Within the past 2 months we bought a house, moved into said house took a canoe camping trip and generally had first homebuyer meltdown.  But...just saw some eye candy I had to share.

We went down to San Diego (for a total of 22 hours) to see an art opening called Viva La Revolucion a dialogue with the Urban landscape.  Husband is publishing the book that documents the work so we did had an invite.  It was curated by Pedro Alonzo and I must say he did a fine job.  Many of the artists did works in the city outside of the gallery.

Above is my favorite work.  I'm not sure if I was supposed to photo or not (Guard was unsure but hell it is supposed to be street art so I went guerilla thus bad photo).  It was a guitar made out of a man.  His toes held the top frets of the strings.

Also Sheppard Fairey  (of Obama poster fame) was there and even took over some DJ time from the main DJ.  Gotta say that boy must be my age cause he was pulling out Blondie riffs and such.  Here is a piece that popped up outside the museum after we had entered the show, and by the look I can only say it was a Sheppard.
Piece

So if you are anywhere near San Diego check out the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (vs their La Jolla campus)

Enjoy the eye candy.