Hobbies

Since I stopped taping live music I have struggled to find a hobby. Something I enjoy the process and the payoff. I have some video games I like to lay play but nothing I'm passionate about. I love Splinter Cell and FIFA but at some point they are just games.

I never, or at least not yet, developed any handicraft skills. I did beadwork when I was a teen but I'm not a carpenter of anything like that. I haven't fished since I was a teen either. I don't have many friends and with the ones I do have we don't "do" things. At some point after meeting Tara and her mom I started seeing the things Bonnie was doing with gardening and somewhere along the way I heard about native plant gardening. I've talked about it before but the basic idea is you plant things that live where you live and they should survive, even thrive, with little effort on your art.. It is the lazy man's gardening. If done properly it is also a habitat building form of gardening meaning you create an environment that is beneficial to insects, birds, rodents, water use and run-off. HUGE positive impact on the world around you with minimal effort. And no chemicals needed, usually.

This is my new hobby. I love studying the plants, I like looking for the plants for different parts of my yard, I like the work involved and the results are great. When the first buds and flower heads come out I start getting really excited and can hardly wait for the first flowers. When the flowers are here I stop and admire, often. When fall & winter take them away I study the bark of the perennials and the evergreens and anxiously await spring again knowing the stuff I planted last year will be more spectacular the next spring.

Everybody who has read Tara, Jai & Julia - a Nuclear Blog knows we planted a tree for Julia. Quercus Alba (Swamp White Oak) which should be a good tree for climbing once she gets about 10 yrs old. When Mike from GroWild came out we wandered the yard and he made suggestions. One thing he made me realize was that I hadn't done anything in the front yard. The majority of my planting had been done in the back. At the same time my 2 Rose Verbenas came out to play. These little plants were pint-sized plants I bought on a whim during last summer and OMG! These things have come out with the most brilliant, most boisterous purple. I am hooked. So, I planned for a couple weeks and went to a garden store near me to get some sun loving plants including more verbenas.

Today is my first day as a SAHD and I decided to try and put some stuff in the ground. I started with the verbenas. I plants three parallel to the driveway and three on the opposite side (adjacent to the neighbor's drive way. I bought some thyme seeds which will, if they grow, be on the property edge in front of the mailbox. Behind that will be some oregano, sage and lavender. I expect to get a few more things go fill in near the mailbox. The postal delivery drivers will get a nice mix of scents and sights when they deliver to us.

Yeah. I finally have a new hobby.

----------------
Now playing: Booker T. - Get Behind The Mule