city cabin

spring images...

2011-06-26T21:44:00.003-05:00

friday, friday...

2011-05-02T19:27:00.002-05:00

comes after thursday but before CATURDAY.

:(

2011-04-25T20:36:00.005-05:00

like many other beekeepers (both experienced and non-) this year, our bees died. they somehow managed to make it through the hardships of winter with plenty of honey and pollen left over, but their population just wasn't enough to keep the colony afloat.

it is very sad to look into one's colony to see a tiny number of worker bees valiantly surrounding a dying queen as she does her best to keep laying.

it's hard to not take personally. these photos show the last cluster, the leftover honey, and eggs and larvae in various stages of maturity.

sigh.

the queen and workers:

what the queen and workers had been trying to do:

honey reserves:

so, who know what happened. we had questions about this queen during the summer. perhaps our gut instincts about her were justified--perhaps she was not a very good queen. we didn't treat for varroa mites--maybe that was it. maybe dr spivak was right, and all of the university of minnesota's bees overlapping territory provides just too much competition. we don't know, and probably never will.

oddly enough, we found out about the status of the colony the day after another bee class with some of the best bee people in the country. so it goes.

Spring. Almost.

2011-03-19T19:34:00.019-05:00

It's been a few months. In that time:

It snowed a lot.

Christmas Cat brought cheer.

XC skiing was attempted and likely adopted.

This guy or girl discovered the resident cockatiel and spent 20+ minutes trying to figure out a way to enter the house and eat him.

The little yellow bird's perspective from inside the house. Imagine a cockatiel-about-to-die death scream as a soundtrack.

To get a colony of bees to survive a long and cold and snowy winter in Minnesota you first cover the brood boxes with a black cardboard box. The box has a waxy surface to repel water and at the top is a special board for wicking away moisture.

And to keep the garage roof from collapsing and the bee entrance clear, heavy equipment was required.

Beyond that, leave them enough honey to eat (we didn't harvest any this year) and they'll vibrate in a bee survival ball within the hive until it's warm enough to...

Take a big *#! or go on a "cleansing flight" on the first day warm day in the new year. Bees are hyper hygienic and don't excrete waste inside the hive. During the cold winter months that must get uncomfortable. After not hearing or seeing peep from the bees for 2+ months we expected the worst. Then on a warm day in February they came out firing. Imagine a few thousand little insects projecting, what looked like tobacco juice, into the snow surrounding their home. And also their dead friends, or more like colleagues for the common cause, had to leave the hive as well.

Again, it was a big relief to see our that our insect friends had survived the winter, this far at least. Many checked out the snow and returned to the hive.

Now that it's late March and the temps are up it's not uncommon to see a bee or five out for a flight. We added some granulated sugar over wax paper to supplementary feed in February (just in case their honey reserves were low). They were probably fine but it's like being over protective of a first child. It looks like snow, but this is their sugar pile. It looks like they're enjoying it.

Today we un-winterized

checked the honey reserves

and added a pollen patty for some food to last until things start growing around here.

It may be morbid or borderline cruel at times, but being hygienic the bees were busy bringing out the dead.

Flowers for the next post.

how i spend time before moss gets awesome

2010-10-11T19:29:00.008-05:00

and you thought this blog was dead. but it's not! things have happened, but as always, probably not enough things to warrant much of anything at all. this entry will be about bees, the next will be about our new love for space-age foam, 50's-era green, and post cards.

we are quintessential new beekeepers. we're (okay, i am) pretty sure something is always ready to go wrong. my instructor from the U, marla (who just won an amazing MacArthur Grant) told me that it was likely that the bees wouldn't produce much honey, due to competition from the U of M's bees (which are in relatively close proximity). sigh. she was right. she knows her stuff.

but before that, we were SURE that we had lost our queen. we didn't see any eggs or larvae in any cells. in fact, it looked like nothing much at all was going on.

so, we ordered a hot babe from california:

who garnered lots of interest from various parties:

and so, we did all the prep work. opened hive, blah blah blah. guess what we found? right. plenty of new brood. and the queen all fat and sassy:

we had a decision to make. to "dispatch" the old queen (think "liquidate". can i make that joke yet? probably not.) and hope that introducing the new queen would be a success, or to stick with the old queen (who was now laying really well) and find a buyer for the new queen was NOT a cheap endeavor). well, long live the queen. we kept snooki and found a guy to buy our new queen. everybody wins.

then, it came to our attention that the colony wasn't making much honey, so per jim's suggestion we consolidated our three deep hive bodies into two, removing mostly empty frames. one frame we removed had some brood ready to hatch, and because we are soft newbie beekeepers, we kept it in the garage and as the girls emerged, we dropped them at the entrance of the hive.

anthropomorphism is exhausting.

after the consolidation and queen drama, things have been seemingly alright. we did some supplemental feeding of 2:1 sugar syrup earlier this fall, but stopped because we didn't want to encourage more brood rearing this late in the season. we bought some nosema mite treatment, but made the executive decision to NOT treat this year. our fingers are crossed that with this nice weather, the bees have been able to put on some weight. we'll winterize the colony when the weather becomes cooler.

in the meantime, they've been enjoying the pond:

and making good-quality, if low-quantity, honey:

here's a video of a worker bee being "born" on one of our frames that i took a few weeks ago.

the cats, as always, really really REALLY care about all of this:

as does the city of st paul, via riverboat:

once, twice, three times a snooki

2010-05-18T20:34:00.011-05:00

(the primroses are totally kicking this year, by the way)

we have actually spent a lot of time doing other typical spring yard things. cleaning, planting, staring at tiny green things in anticipation. however, we have been totally mesmerized by the girls. snooki's girls. it's typical to open up a hive and check things out about once a week or so.

first check, a week after putting in the package. in this check we're looking to be sure that snooki is seemingly present in the colony, and most importantly, laying eggs. eggs look like tiny grains of rice in the bottom of the cells. here's what we found that day, one week after the last blog entry:

bees under the lifted sugar water pail. good. eating. women love their sweets.

we provide what's called a foundation in the frames. this is a plastic molding of the classic beehive shape we're all familiar with. bees add their own wax to this, making the cells longer and deeper. if you click on this picture you can see that the bees have started to draw out this comb. there are also eggs on this frame, but mostly impossible to see in the photo.

girls on top of their busiest frame. they were calm for this inspection, which seems unseemly behavior for any jersey girl. but we'll take it.

pollen-gathering machines. check out the cankles:

second inspection happened about a week after this. here we're checking for a couple of things. first, that the girls are gathering pollen (their protein source) and nectar (which will feed the bees and some of which will eventually become honey). pollen is in the dark cells, and nectar is the more liquid delicious filling.

again, looking for eggs, but this time, also larvae and capped brood. it takes 21 days for a worker bee to go from egg to larvae to bee. when larvae are ready to be capped so they can develop into bees in peace, they give off a pheromone that alerts their sisters to cover them up. girls appreciate some privacy, even if they do use bump-its. this is a great photo showing cells with larvae of various stages and covered brood.

third inspection is more of the same. is pollen being gathered? nectar? is there brood? but, more importantly, is the brood hatching? yes, it is. look at the center of this photo and you can see a new baby chewing her way out:

here's another image, showing empty cells from which young bees have already emerged. the first of many jobs the workers rotate through is to clean out these cells in preparation for the next egg. also, this photo shows bees of different ages. unlike us, bees darken as they age. if you look at the bee the third down from the far right side of the page, notice her cute light fuzziness. we were shocked to realize that bees, in fact, have baby faces.

in this inspection, everything was so far, so good. bees being born, more foundation being drawn on more frames. there was some occasional burr comb (bees adding comb where it really doesn't need to be), but nothing to fret about. we just removed it:

but what was nice about this inspection is that we're starting to calm down a bit. the bees are busy (of course), but mellow. they just keep doing their thing as we rip apart their home (without damaging, of course. like if paul bunyon ripped off the top of your house and you continued to cook dinner as he commented to babe the blue ox how cool humans were, and what little ecosystems they develop).

so, we decided to look for snooki herself. and we found her without too much hassle at all. she's too fat with eggs and general good condition now to fly, so no fear of that. can you find her? because if you can't find a queen bee in this picture you may not be able to tell a dandelion from a tree:

and, again, more snooki. can you find the really young bee by her? she looks like an ewok. like, if i could pick her up and give her a hug i would totally do that:

so, that's the bees. they are awesome, and we're so glad to have them around. hopefully everything continues to go well.

we do have the gardens going:

but this picture is from two weeks ago. things are looking much better now.

and above is the arbor, where fierce oriole fights have been happening on a nightly basis.

lastly, a moment of fern zen:

god (or two inept bee-keepers) save the queen

2010-04-24T20:40:00.016-05:00

do you know how much fun writing a blog entry with another person is? not much. but i thank wine for putting me in good spirits, and summit for tempering the man's verbal taunting. anyway, the bees arrive. it is traditional to name a queen and her hive, and we have named our girl Queen Snooki and her Guidettes. we've only seen two episodes of the jersey shore, but that was enough to permanently burn a bumped hair-do, sausage-casing-as-clothing, and "italian"-ness in us forever. and, since our bees are of the italian strain, it only seemed rational...

sugar-water to spray the bee package with, sugar water feeder, and pollen patty--what keeps bees going during a normal april. with the back yard in full bloom, this is not a normal april but we're keeping with protocol anyway.

the package itself, around 20,000 worker bees (all females, if you didn't know), and a queen safe in her little itty bitty condo.

the prepared hive, complete with entrance stuffed with grass. the grass is to inhibit the wanderlust that the bees may have after being driven a thousand miles, sprayed with sugar water, bonked around savagely a few times, and dumped unceremoniously into a fully non-furnished pre-fab home. these bees got rid of the grass in about...an hour.

spacesuits are essential for the full bee-handling experience:

(in the above picture, neil armstrong carefully removes the can of sugar water that satiated the colony until their arrival in st paul. gravity is an issue, unlike the moon.)

or, conversely, it is common to also dress in minnesota athletic wear for those "oh crap we really need to fix this and why are we so confused about a bunch of insects" times:

then, the bees are sprayed with sugar water to keep them from flying off. somebody did not spray them enough (that was me), so quite a few were flying around, confused and alienated, which was a lot like our clients at our day jobs. but most bees were shaken into the hive body (no pictures. 20k in bees kinda brings on a....rush, you know?)then, removal of the queen in her box:

just before adding the queen:

we unfortunately have no pictures of the queen release. this is for two reasons: she did not allow for photojournalists, and she was also incredibly feisty and all concentration was needed to be sure she didn't leave for greener hives.

ready for the top cover and feeder:

and the girls get used to their new digs:

after the condo-developers who also run this blog finally sat down with appropriate drinks to celebrate the new tenants, old friends flew over our heads and landed in the yard:

and in short order decided to visit the bee open house for themselves:

bees were installed thursday early evening. today, even with all the rain, many worker bees were returning to the hive with pollen on their legs. in a few days, we'll check for queen acceptance, and hope that snooki has decided to grace us with her brash italian presence.

total geekout

2010-04-12T20:01:00.002-05:00

we're having bees! everybody is tired of hearing me talk about it, i know. we pick up a 2-lb package of italian honeybees (total guidos) next wednesday. we still have to paint the hive bodies, but man, it's cool to have this stuff and think about bee awesomeness in the near future.

pre-construction:

foundation. these are made of plastic, but the bees add wax to it, making them large enough to raise babies, store pollen/nectar, and make honey:

constructed:

we are going to look SO DAMN COOL:

all we see is a bright white light....

2010-02-16T19:17:00.005-06:00

hello. let it be known that teachers in february are out of words. we don't even talk to each other, preferring to communicate via vague flailings of the wrist, barely audible groans, and occasional heavy sighs. it's just that time of year.

please note the common theme of WHITE with this update. WHITE on the outside:

and WHITE on the inside:

(not white, but SUCH FINE HELPERS):

white dishwasher. virginal. pure. not spewing water all over the entire basement:

winter at city cabin

2010-01-18T19:18:00.002-06:00

sledding:

cardinaling:

cooper's hawking:

and, finally drinking:

these are the things winter is for.

Fall's Here! And Now It's Gone.

2009-12-06T17:22:00.012-06:00

The residents of City Cabin have been a lot delinquent with regards to updates. In fact we missed a whole season. Fall was pretty nice, and a few weeks longer this year.

The oak was as brilliant as any time we've lived here.

Our neighborhood became notorious for having one of it's members quoted in the local paper complaining about the noise of the new football stadium. We checked out some of the opening night hoopla, not a bad perspective without a ticket.

And the fish were able to stay outside until the middle of October.

The pioneering four made it through another summer. Biggie is our favorite.

But a funny thing happened...

These guys showed up.

At the end of July we noticed that we had a lot of little dark quarter-inch fry swimming around in the pond. Goldfish eat their young but we held out hope that one or two of the most agile might survive. By September we regularly saw two of the young but no more. We were a little surprised to pull out six on October 18. We were happy to finally get number seven, a little fast fish a week later. And we were shocked on October 31 when we were draining the water from the pond in preparation for the upcoming deep freeze. A huge dark fish revealed itself. The shock was two-fold:
1. Of the eight young the average size is now about an inch long. This fish is at least three inches long, closer in size to the adults than the other young.

2. We keep the fish in the lower, larger pond. This fish appeared in the upper, smaller pond. To get there the little fish or egg would have had to have gone for a ride through the water pump in the few minutes a week that the filter is off being cleaned.

For now the family is spending its time reunited in their second home/plastic tub. Little do they know that their owners just completed a Craig's List transaction today and they'll soon be movin' on up in the world to 55 gallons enclosed in glass.

On the building front it's been pretty quiet. The warm fall allowed for some time spent in the garage trying out a few new/inherited tools. The drill press and bench grinder came from my grandfather via my great uncle. I don't know when either last operated but both worked great for making metal support braces for the work bench.

All that is left is to cap the ends and add a metal work surface with backsplash. That will have to be ordered as I don't have a torch or plasma cutter. Yet.

The Dog Days

2009-08-07T21:54:00.035-05:00

It's been a busy summer travel season at Citycabin. That's the excuse we're offering for few home improvements and infrequent updates. During packing the most senior cat tried a classic suitcase trick but little did he know that Davey Crockett hats are not in style in Caliswedornia.

Despite a cool, dry spring the latest gardening projects were going according to plan.

Excellent pond plant choices this year have made for clear water and happy fish...

...so happy that our 4 pioneering goldfish are now 4 goldfish and 3+ baby goldfish. If you're patient and the light is just right, you might catch a glimpse of one of the small, gray offspring. Adults eat their young so professionals separate the two groups after hatching. At citycabin it's all about natural selection and we're rooting for the young to be good at hiding until they're too big to be eaten. Half-Incher is a fine young man we have high hopes for him in the future.

This isn't him. He's too good to be caught in a photograph. This is his enemy. Or mom or dad.

And the inaugural vegetable gardens offered a nice crop of lettuce, a fair amount of green beans, pretty-but-stomach-burning inedible radishes, a few cucumbers, micro carrots, and zero-yielding broccoli and strawberries. Just wait until next year!

From heirloom to cherry we have 8 different varieties of tomato plants in various stages of development. They're a bit further along than this June photo

Actually more like this:

but an early frost or squirrel attack might prove catastrophic.

In summation the summer of 2009 will be remembered most for plants, ponds and critters not from Citycabin proper but other places.

Keep 'er between the lines

Look out for trees

A nice walk among 1000+ year-old trees

Senior picture

Note to self: remember to turn left ahead

and right, then left, then right, then left

And don't question who owns the beach

These three do

Some thousands of miles away...

are wild berries to be picked.

Getting around sans Mustang

Look out for the locals

They're crafty

Even the ants don't mess around.

Brackish Lake Superior

Beautiful

Refreshing

Best finished with sauna

some pun using the classic film Willow should go here

2009-06-14T16:33:00.007-05:00

we've played with sticks this week. or, to be more specific, with diamond willow, which is essentially a fungal infection gone right. in relation to this particular willow, here is one of the most poorly designed pages on the interwebs.

about two winters ago, it seemed like a good idea to trudge into a frozen swamp, clamber through some runty trees, pick out cool dead branches, drag them to a road, load them, use a sacrificed kitchen knife to scrape off all the bark, sand for hours, and then seal these branches (thanks for the help, dad! i love being an only child). the result is pure awesome:

so, these finished branches (each is about eight-ish feet long) sat in our garage for a long time. not because we didn't like the wood, but because we weren't quite sure how to best use it. there was thought of a Bird-Feeding Station (the idea grew to such epic proportions that we just gave up on it. tough to build disneyland in the back yard, you know?), something like a tripod, maybe railing, a border, who knows? and then, drunk on the feeling that the end of school will give a couple of teachers, we just went for it.

we made art:

and then we decided to shabby chic the railing on the front steps.

before (SO lovely):

last time you saw sparks, it was for stomp. now he's working to join savage aural hotbed:

a drill press older than the ages of all my pets plus me combined helped in process, along with the dremel, which seems to make an appearance in most home improvements:

after:

and you might think snakes are awesome, but so are birds:

Shovel Fever

2009-05-22T23:27:00.005-05:00

The blue tarp was supposed to suppress growth and set us up for a clean, blank slate for planting a new shade garden.

For future reference, multiple weeks under a blue tarp = the most lush grass in the yard with minimal dandelion growth. Don't be fooled, this patch under the oak is little but dirt and the most hearty crabgrass, creeping charlie and other miscellaneous weeds by mid June.

Time to alter the shade garden preparation plans. Deep tillage became sod relocation. We love you sparrows but we're not so down with moonscaping the yard. This spring there are a number of other fine places to get a dust bath.

Their fun was happening here:

Our fun was happening here:

A portion of the turf crumbled during transplantation but even 1% success beats the erosion that was occurring before.

Thanks to friends, family and the st. paul farmer's market, we had built up a nice stockpile of plants waiting to move in. Finishing the path and mulching the garden had to wait. There wasn't much motivation left in the evening after this citycabin project.

During the fun this guy showed up over our heads. This is the first sighting of a scarlet tanager around citycabin. They are apparently often overlooked given their propensity for remaining high in the tree canopy.

And the bubbling pond sounds have brought a few new friends this spring. I'm a dolt, so this intially looked like a gigantic strange-acting wren that really liked falling water. Instead, "books" and my resident bird expert tell me this is an American Redstart, it prefers to breed in moist mixed and deciduous woods with undergrowth and in swamp woods (we fooled you with our that-day purchased dwarf cattails, sucker!). It droops its wings and fans its tail with bright plumage to flush insect dinner.

Update from an earlier posting: Our mallard buds have dropped by every day or three since the initial visit. Before this cat was brought in from the mean streets of South Turtle Lake I once watched her stalk wild geese, outweighing her 5x at least. It's good to see that she hasn't lost her sense of adventure.

herculii

2009-05-12T19:48:00.007-05:00

a yard of soil is 4x4x4.

a yard of soil is 2,000 lbs (1 ton).

a yard of soil carried up several steps to the top of the garage using 5 gallon pails helps one to recognize how much 2,000 lbs is (roughly the weight of a blue whale's heart).

here's 1/2 of the soil:

and most of it ended up in the new raised garden beds:

(no wonder he carried the buckets so quickly--they were empty.)

we also used some of the soil to re-fill all of the pots. he isn't a big fan of annuals. and i understand why. but for some reason, he's a fan of thompson nursery. i think this might have something to do with my favorite mother-in-law having a seasonal position there, leading to 50% discounts. thanks, nepotism!

here are some of those great plants:

(p.s. to the lady responsible for these nice annuals--i read the card for the goldilocks pictured above, and the tag said the plant is actually a perennial friendly from zone 3...)

the crabapple tree is in full bloom, doing much better than last year. however, wind as i type this probably means our enjoyment of the blooms is nearly over:

and, as always, hot bird action.

harris sparrow:

(they won't be here long--they're headed up to northern canada, Furthest-North-Nesting-Sparrow--one really needs all caps for that).

we've a pair of mourning doves:

and the orioles are back:

and busily maintaining the status quo, the cats thus remain unimpressed.

Spring MEGA Update

2009-05-04T20:37:00.031-05:00

One better take advantage of spring in the week that it's here. April/May tends to be when most of the year's action takes place at citycabin.

First, a last act of winter involved covering a few bare walls.

Somebody had this tattooed:

From a soon-to-be-sister-in-law (you're going to have to get used to the sound of that, A.T.):

because I get my way once in awhile:

in remembrance of the former home:

and in honor of our new home, but an homage to an older one. My grandmother moved out of her childhood home this past summer. In addition to a number of wonderful home furnishings
and tools proudly displayed and utilized at citycabin

were some great postcards copyright, 1908.

Changing gears, the spring work has been advanced by the addition of a handy trailer. Gone are the days of folding down the backseat to push in 8' sections of lumber from trunk to dashboard.

problem(s):
1. desire, at least by 1/2 of the household, to grow stuff other than flowers
2. lots of rabbits, squirrels and shade

solution: the sunny, heat island, impervious surface of a garage top

Above are two 4'x6'x12" planter boxes. They should be the right height to be easy on one's back and also rabbit proof. The floors were tipped up and in soon after the photos were taken. Now all that's left is to do some strategic hole drilling for drainage and add soil. As soon as the temps are more consistent and the st. paul farmer's market rolls out more of the goods there will ideally be some veggie growth to photograph. Instead, it's time to be satisfied trying to grow grass over a season's worth of birdseed winterkill.

The trouble's mostly worth it. After a slow spring the past few days have offered a few never before seen visitors:

evolved, modestly-dressed squirrel

yellow-rumped warbler (which we didn't know until birdchick kindly helped with identification)

blackburnian warbler. Click on pick and zoom in to see a great Riddler's mask.

And, I know they're common and I came within six inches of hitting one with a golf ball on Sunday, but to wake up to a drake mallard swimming in your little backyard urban pond was much too fun.

He and his girlfriend took off before there was time for a nice photo.

It was before 7am today and the greater birdwatcher in the house excitedly pulled me out of bed. It was worth it.

Lastly, it's been awhile. Another jailbird sighting:

(back) into the wild

2009-04-22T18:51:00.011-05:00

i'm going to totally ignore how long it's been since the last post. we've done some things--had a lot of art framed and matted (pictures forthcoming. i struggle with obscene amounts of reflection no matter where i try to take the photos), did some minorly epic oak tree trimming (oak is VERY HEAVY. that's why it's a HARDWOOD. we are geniuses), and small fixes here and there.

anyhow, it's spring.

the pond wintered fairly well. three mice lost their souls trying to cross the biggest body of water they'd probably ever seen. farewell, little Mouse Cortes.

and the guy loves to do things more than once. he calls this "fixing" while i call it "annoying". so, we dug up the pond yet again to re-level. i think we have it right this time.

and, as testament to the fortitude of carp across the globe, the goldfish lived through the winter. they were released back into their natural habitat of plastic vinyl tub today.

check that look of shock. lake's still a bit cold, little orange.

we're also planning another shade garden.

here it is, completely finished:

we'll throw these plants on the top, left in boxes and bags, of course.

and we're going to replace the bricks with old tires for full effect.

sometimes planting takes on proportions of danger, at least according to the box.

all epic. all. the. time.

2009-01-08T18:54:00.020-06:00

i've really been meaning to update every month. looks like we didn't do much during december. hopefully this brand-spanking-freaktastic january blog will make up for it.

some people like to relax during vacations. not anybody living at this cabin. well, the female persuasion would appreciate chillaxin' time, but that was not to be. and to be honest, the 3.5 days of straight up standing-on-chairs-taping-electrical-paint extravaganza was more than worth it.

the living room before:

the living room had many issues, spanning from a totally crapola color scheme

to a ceiling falling apart

and very poorly done electrical outlets and vent.

i mean, ridiculous work preceded our moving here.

so, we fixed things in a few ways. since we're in no hurry to strip walls to the studs in order to re-sheetrock (what is known in my family as "some real shit work"), we instead texturized the walls with this great pre-tinted stuff known as 'manda mudd. check it:

the guy also practiced his audition routine for stomp:

and ceiling painting is totally the best and most fun thing to do

preceded by almost blowing my head off with the super-charged ceiling texture repair

but, finally, we conquered city cabin.

just to remind you, before:

and after:

and then there's the kitchen and accompanying hallway. an unstunning underwhelming use of some potentially cool space. here we re-painted the brick, more new outlets and covers, and new color in general. it was his idea for the blue, i think he credits mad men (which is, stylistically, a time period i envy in every way).

before:

(notice the little yellow helper above?)

during:

and after:
before:

during:

after:

and thanks again, swank, for cool old affordable stuff to tie things in together. the fact that it's a cat was a very small factor. really. really.

and lastly, two new light fixtures, one in the kitchen, one in the hallway, work off the same switch.

before:

(let me preface this by saying that we don't leave fixtures dangling from the ceiling. this might have been influenced by an early beer and a "let's get new fixtures!" decree.)

check the excellent taping job on this light:

after:

so, that's it. hours of grueling labor. a fair amount of trips to the hardware store. but i guess we did manage to have some fun over our winter break aside from digging the new digs:

before. during. after.

2008-11-16T09:56:00.004-06:00

pictures probably speak more than words here.

also, gratuitous cute (note how the orange cat is rarely pictured? that's because he spends most of his time destroying things in a very un-cute way):

snowbirds

2008-11-16T09:49:00.002-06:00

we've been winterizing at city cabin. and our noble 26 cent friends have taken a well-deserved holiday south. to our basement. where they will live in dark foodless comfort for the next six months. kinda like taking a winter vacation in sweden.

it's true--i've been dying to scoop up these fish for a closer look ever since we've gotten them.

over-priced and under-located glutted condo market:

man vs beast

2008-11-16T09:43:00.003-06:00

in the eternal struggle of man versus nature, paths collide, wars are waged, and peace is a notion of utmost futility.

the perfect day

2008-10-12T15:02:00.005-05:00

garrison keiller has written quite a lot about why people love minnesota, and why minnesota people love fall. in particular i remember reading an essay in which he explains that out-of-staters tend to visit during one of the very handful of perfect october days, and then fall in love with the state. we who live here all the time, though, cannot perfectly enjoy this day due to 1) guilt at the notion of such utter giddiness; and 2) knowing that brutal cold winter is just days (but hopefully weeks) away.

so in celebration of this enjoy-this-october-day-but-not-too-much-because-we-don't-want-to-jinx-ourselves, here are some images of fall from city cabin.

the postman's walkway:

the migratorily-challenged male grosbeak:

covet thine neighbor's maple:

the following are from the dwindling days of outdoor chances at farmer's market:

and, of course, more birds....

juncos just returned to city cabin yesterday:

this flicker's cuteness must make up for poor photo quality:

wood thrush:

like a nightclub for birds. because it's full of champagne:

ahoy from fall

2008-09-28T18:56:00.004-05:00

if i thought that this blog would be a once-a-month kinda place, i probably wouldn't have started the thing, as all it does is reinforce how little has happened around here since early summer. but hey! we have had some new bird sightings. and the dude has done more masonry work, which he does not love, but is actually pretty good at. so, here:

finally, a grosbeak. i've only been waiting a whole long year:

the front steps were a mess. i mean, they kind of still are a mess, and i imagine winning the lottery and having really cool block installed to replace the poured concrete. but i don't buy tickets so, my chances are only slightly less than people who DO buy tickets of winning.

before:

after:

in other news, we've done some more planting. the st. paul farmer's market had a purveyor who was selling 3 & 1/2 inch pots of perennials for a buck a piece. good deal. we threw down ten bucks, and then threw the plants in the ground. also, the nursery we bought our shade plants from sent some replacements which are also now in the ground. fall is looking pretty nice around here. too bad we've been too enamored with new bikes to really get much done. but hey. the snow will be here soon.

2008-08-11T12:05:00.003-05:00

over a month. pathetic. as i gaze out the window at my neighbor's new siding in progress, i feel slightly chagrined at the low level of home improvement activity at city cabin. the male counterpart is off combining (excepting rain), and i've been spending many hours working at the barn (a real struggle, let me tell you). so, yeah. really, it's been enough just trying to keep the gardens alive. thanks, rabbits. jerks. so, a visual tour, in separate posts, of what's been going on for the last month. first, the pond.

water lettuce takeover!

requisite sun shot:

regrettably, the bloom lasted one day:

new resident. just kidding. this is from the bigger pond the male counterpart has been residing at:

a day in the life of a city cabin bird

2008-08-11T11:56:00.003-05:00

big ball o' fuzz (this ball confuses everybody that visits. i hope this clarifies. if not, you're hopeless)

"i am a baby, therefore i nom nom nom"

baby oriole + sprinkler= easy entertainment

hawk 1, sparrow 0. i apologize for the picture quality. something about the shock of a hawk ten feet away in the yard, two vodka gimlets, sunset, and fumbling with the camera....

sparrows. oblivious. hence above photo.

those guys eat anything

2008-08-11T11:33:00.008-05:00

swedish crayfish party (actually featuring one real swede! ((not pictured))):

farmer's market bounty (all local):

ikea bounty (all china):

farmer's market:

some party store bounty:

before:

artsy!

leaving the nest

2008-07-02T21:12:00.005-05:00

yes! you are mighty correct in that we haven't done much updating at all. this is mostly because the guy is busy doing this, and took the camera with him for all those riveting tractor action shots:

can you HANDLE IT?????

while i, meanwhile, have been doing lots of things involving this pretty thing:

what the hell, let's see some more horse eye candy:

so, anyway, we've been busy doing summerly things. but, before that, we did actually do some home improvement in the department of Spending Money on Rocks.

i'm sure you remember the pond. well, i know you were holding out for the post-modern black plastic liner, but i'm too many years out of english majoring for that. so, we went and got ourselves some stone. chilton stone, to be exact. 600 pounds of it. let's enjoy the journey.

go neon! go neon! go, go, go neon!

the peace and tranquility of city cabin cemetery:

rocked hard:

i won't include the transcripts from laying this rock. let's just say...nothing.

three weeks later:

we have lots of landscaping to do around the pond(s). much of that will wait until the next planting season. however, i'm jazzed that at least one of the water plants is blooming cute little purple blossoms.

and then, the birds. baby birds everywhere. man, are they dumb and endearing. they know how to eat by themselves, but if ma or pa are around, they suddenly become helpless. it's been a great time anthropomorphizing in the backyard of city cabin:

more bird pics later, because today i'm too sad that the wrens have left the nest. wrens are excellent in every way.

adventures of young and stupid birds and the new birdbath

2008-06-11T20:15:00.004-05:00

life is hard at ten weeks old. too many decisions, too much confusion. feathers are growing in, and one can hardly fly. hence, this:

try:

try again:

the birdbath serves its purpose:

still:

a smiling bird:

realizing predators might actually exist:

The Life Aquatic

2008-06-10T00:34:00.033-05:00

In the Grand Plan we had imagined a water garden (or pond) in our small but cozy back yard. The sound of running water, aquatic plants and maybe a gold fish and later a koi or three. As we approach the one year anniversary as residents at City Cabin these were supposed to be some-day-in-the-future plans. But after the imaginations were shared with parents and in-laws we suddenly, and gratefully became proud water garden owners in December of last year. The ground was too frozen so we had to wait to dig in this spot:

But some rhubarb had to be moved first (some excellent jam/sauce also came of this).

There is a 35 gallon molded upper pond with 125 gallon lower piece. It looked huge inside a house in December and, as many guests to the house have suggested upon seeing the flat roof of our garage, it's like the hot tub that we really need. (note: we now have every pet possible except for a reptile and a dog. This one was just visiting)

When you dig, better know where the electricity to the garage is buried. With the help of a nicely-crafted scratching tool I can now tell you that the line is precisely 38 inches out from the wooden garden wall and 24 inches deep in the ground. This job was only fun for the photographer.

Then the real digging began. This space happened to be quite the archeological gold mine. In addition to rocks, cinder block and metal shards, we bagged this monster. The pronounced rebar growth suggests a great supporting role within its tribe.

After the digging was setting and leveling.

Chip out some wood to best create the pleasing waterfall sounds and better disguise the spout.

Somebody (Charity), check on the cats. Are they missing us? Didn't think so.

Add some water and level some more.

Admire the pond with dirt displaced. Let's pretend that heavy rain 6 days later didn't result in spillage, digging up and leveling again the upper pond.

We spread the dirt pile throughout nearby gardens and planted grass in its place to occupy the space until landscaping plans have been approved by the team. There is a great site (see Roseville, a mile north of 36 on Dale) for free compost to mix with our poorish soil. Grass began sprouting within 4 days of planting. As you can see, the sunflower seeds that the birds choose not to eat are also quite hearty.

We have had a 20 gallon indoor aquarium for around 10 years and have learned the ropes, often the hard way, with aquatic plants and creatures. Within a few days of establishing the pond we introduced the first plants.

And played around with leftover bricks for hydrological purposes.

Today we introduced the first residents. I wonder what it feels like to have the value of your life determined to be 26 cents? Your brothers and sisters may be fed to larger fish but these four are the pioneers of this ecosystem.

This guy or gal showed up the first night that the pond started bubbling, dipping his/her hand into the water of both the large and small ponds. I hope our new friends swim in the deep water tonight.

this is why the house is a mess

2008-05-29T17:25:00.009-05:00

all we've been doing is gardening. this will probably end up being multiple posts on the same subject, as i realize i'm missing photos of a few things, but i'm not going to go out in the rain to capture them. that is for another day. let's start this thing, right?

BEFORE:

DURING:

(200+ leftover bricks--that's part of the next post):

scary hole to nowhere:

another shot of progress:

AFTER:

the butterfly garden

(plants in this garden include a black knight butterfly bush, red penstemons, dragonflowers, keys of heaven, monarda, and asters)

BEFORE:

DURING:

another angle:

AFTER:

the big shade garden

and

granted, this doesn't look very impressive. yet. about 1/3 of the plants were shipped bare root, so there's no foliage at all. they don't show up in the photos. total, there are roughly 80 plants in this garden.

(plants include astilbes, bleeding hearts, toad lilies, columbines, primroses, and cyclamens--i know the cyclamens will sprout only if i'm lucky, and only for the season. however, they came with the package, so why not try?)

BEFORE:

(it's hard work operating the camera. much more intense than digging up pavers and gravel and sand. i barely made this shot before i passed out from fatigue.)

DURING:

AFTER:

the vegetable garden (with some stray perennials)

and

this explains why the house is covered in a fine layer of cat hair, the cockatiel is lonely, and none of the grading is done.

Can't Get Enough of This

2008-05-27T20:05:00.008-05:00

I thought that moving from a brick house to one primarily made of wood would give me a long and possibly permanent vacation from masonry. The vacation lasted exactly 11 months. Apparently water is as corrosive as advertised. While not the Grand Canyon some of these gouges were 2"-3" deep and made me feel kinda icky inside as I walked by before and after work each day.

Fortunately the trowels and repointing tools from jobs past were not lost in the move. The bucket is what all of the best masons use these days.

The previous house required a trip to a few different mortar outlet stores in search of a soft-brick-friendly-extra-lime blend. I enjoy home improvement work but that wasn't fun. The bag above is a standard cement patch formula from the neighborhood big box home store. At least so far this mix and cinder block appear made for each other. We'll see when the freeze and thaw cycle returns.

And this home has allowed me revisit another past hobby. In high school and college I gave a number of haircuts to brothers and friends. That was fun. Now this is fun. Thanks to my dad for the use of the big clippers.

The wires are not as close as they appear.

Can you tell that we were a little eager waiting for the plants to arrive?

wah-chicka-wah waaaahhhh

2008-05-22T19:59:00.008-05:00

it's been a while. to be frank, the man around here had taken over the bloggin' for a while. getting all cocky and whatnot with his link-making, picture-posting, and ego-tripping over the Man Cave.

i've just spent the last three hours planting a shade garden whilst he golfs. my life is so hard!

we have big things cooking in the landscaping post department. my guess is that entry will happen after the weekend. until then, birding has been great at city cabin. in a romantic kind of way. everybody is gettin' it on avian style. it's bird sex in the city:

nectar--like an after-coitus smoke:

building a love nest:

heeeeyyyy baaby:

things to come: toad lilies, lilacs, flame grass, and my greatest challenge of digitally capturing the hummingbird that showed up tonight.

A Place for Everything

2008-05-03T23:45:00.015-05:00

(note: first entry without blog mentor's over-the-shoulder guidance, time to cut loose)
In the time that my significant other and I have shared a home it's come to my notice that, surprise, we don't share a common philosophy on everything. She likes to wake up early and get a lot done by noon. I think that many significant improvements can be made between 8:00pm and midnight, or later. I believe that my older brother has been most inspirational in this perspective. Two years ago we bonded by garage building in a December snowstorm by tractor light.

Given the differing philosophies and close quarters of City Cabin where is one allowed to accomplish such tasks without disturbing the early riser?

The Man Cave, (coined by the blog mentor) of course.

I'm not a big car guy, building guy, mason, blacksmith, ornithologist or agronomist but I enjoy dabbling in all of them. Kinda like writing words and putting them on a compewter. So I guess by default of gender I'm the director of garage space at City Cabin. With other distractions the garage didn't get a much attention in the past 10 months we've been here. I installed a garage door opener. It's the far one, Craftsman's updated aerodynamic model for more better opening.

And I like to hang things up, bag things and stack things. Ready for action!

The silver pipe to nowhere is the chimney, minus a heating source. Word on the street is that the city of St. Paul and insurers don't approve citizens installing wood burning stoves in garages, even if they're not attached to the house AND mostly made of cinder block buried half way into a hill. I can get a kit for a barrel stove for less than $60 and it would be complete in a day. Maybe if the fall is unseasonably cold...

Last week while transporting fall's yard waste from our still-in-development composting site

my first garage art installation happened.
On the first sticks-and-leaves-stuffed-into-a-tarp-lined-Neon-trunk-trip I spotted an interesting item abandoned on the road. Two trips later and without its proper owner coming back to claim it this found its way into my backseat .

With my profession and family agrarian connections I've had some time to devote to admiring and driving semi trucks. While I'm typically critical when it comes to brand loyalty and human-as-billboard marketing, I'm a hypocrite when it comes to Kenworth trucks. I pushed the toy version around as a kid and now, essentially, I do the same.

Pssst. Don't tell anyone but instead of doing man stuff at City Cabin today I saw the season's first oriole.

And word from my associate working at the horse barn was that humming birds are in the area so I made WAY too much nectar mix and chose an interesting container. I'm still learning.

But I found a way to get it into the feeder. And a new oriole feeder arrived home hours after this adventure so hopefully the Cabin will have few new guests to report in the coming days.

balance restored in st. paul!

2008-04-26T13:58:00.017-05:00

well, at least until the republican national convention.

the weather is ridiculously nasty enough today that i have time to procrastinate indoor fix-ups by updating the house blog. just last sunday, the temp was in the mid-seventies. today, snow/wind/clouds AGAIN. kvetch, kvetch.

so when it was all beautiful last weekend, we were really jonesing to get our hands in the dirt. but, as any good minnesotan knows, it is waaaay to early to expose those poor plants to the elements quite yet. we satiated ourselves by digging up all the crappily-laid bricks bordering the gardens and re-doing them completely.

see what i mean by lack of balance?:

(these are either side of the porch on the front side of the house)

now, i'm all for eclectic design. however, the two of us are a bit too scandinavian for shenanigans like that. so, we changed it up to look like this:

and we have the south side before:

and after:

he DOES get all the fun jobs:

in birding news, we've witnessed tons of cool stuff lately. last sunday, a red tail hawk flew through the yard. the songbirds were NOT big fans. many new birds we've never seen before are stopping through on migration routes, like this fox sparrow:

and a new sighting just today, a white-throated sparrow:

most people don't get excited about sparrows. but we do. i'm not sure what that says about us.

we root for the underdog?

soundtrack for this renovation:

red-winged blackbird yelling

robin tweakin'

Minnesota warms up, a bit. Then. There.

2008-04-16T19:26:00.011-05:00

(FYI: B's first try at this blogging thing, hopefully I can spell pretty good.) The poor grammar in that preface goes out to public education and my blog mentor who's looking over my shoulder.

Anyway...it did warm up last weekend and it's all the rage in Minnesota small talk. So it's not quite this nice:

But it's this nice:

That's me washing a big window. See the backup paper towel? That way when I fall off of the bar stool that I'm standing on I can use my one good arm to wipe the blood away from my eyes to see the clean windows in all of their glory. OSHA doesn't apply at City Cabin. I get all of the fun jobs.

With warmer weather and being American one also acquires a sudden drive to go out and consume. Luckily for us, there are a number of used/vintage stores withing a five mile radius of our home (think the flea market in Battle Lake, minus the campers) and you get to consume some relatively fun, previously-used stuff. For example, tired of looking at your washing machine? Get a couple of these:

and one can be mesmerized by the bamboo weaving instead.
Which also complements my favorite piece of string art in the room:

Our screened-in porch was essentially unused during the inaugural summer. Maybe it was because it looked like this most of the time:

Thanks to a weekend visit to Swank and a couple of days of deliberation with the realization that 99% of patio furniture is unbelievably ugly and expensive, our catio (termed by my blog mentor) became this today:
The three chairs, table and love seat all fit into a Dodge Neon. What a machine! Further props to my sponsor in catio design, Newcastle.

in full denial of the current weather conditions

2008-04-13T18:22:00.006-05:00

i just ordered 135 plants from spring hill nursery. that's a lot of planting.

i prefer to just not think about where those plants will be stored until it is safe to put them in the ground.

all of those little plants (and ALL of them will survive, dammit!) are going to go into these spaces:

butterfly garden. we're ripping up the bricks and re-locating the chives.

50 foot long shade garden (just a few lonely hostas there now):

and, the gap between the yard and the garage roof:

the entire five minutes i was taking these photos, i was being maliciously barked at by this:

the past few days have proven to me that grackles eat about five times their body weight in seeds every hour.

this is spring?

2008-03-31T17:18:00.003-05:00

yeah. this is spring.

apparently, so is this:

the birds are way confudido:

and, frankly, so am i.

free nuts

2008-03-19T17:35:00.009-05:00

i'm holding off on the mutant zombie squirrel for a bit, as i actually have trouble stomaching the pictures. in lieu of that, some cleansing shots of birds from the backyard. all of these were taken in the last two weeks.

white breasted nuthatch:

red breasted nuthatch:

extremely scruffy downy woodpecker:

infamous chickadee:

red bellied woodpecker:

cockatiel:

blame being midwestern

2008-03-17T18:55:00.007-05:00

so....yeah. i wasn't done with the bathroom yet. i didn't realize the ceiling was such a fugly color, and i kinda forgot about the messed up area around the toilet. so, i painted the ceiling with three coats of white, and patched holes and re-painted everything else in the room.

before:

and before:

and after:

and after:

in birding news, the mourning doves and robins came back on saturday. robins, meh. mourning doves? WOO!

coming up, a post on mutant squirrels and mangy rabbits. and woodpeckers.

sound track for this renovation:

the honey dewdrops, the handsome family, and epitonic radio

blame the finns

2008-03-14T14:36:00.012-05:00

see? i told you more things would get done around here with the pressure of the camera. we knew moving in that we'd re-paint the bathroom. and, even though you're not supposed to design a room around a shower curtain, i did anyway.

well, here's before:

yes. enjoy the soothing darkness. dark darkness.

here's during (two layers of primer in):

and, after:

the reason we just decided to design around the shower curtain is because we're both big fans of marimekko. the guy i live with studied abroad in finland and bought a bag by this company. since then, we've been keeping the minnesota contingents in good wealth.

as you can see, i did receive some help with this project:

"guh....me helper?"

while the others pansied up when i opened the doors for air:

"more heat, idiot. we live inside for a reason."

soundtrack for this renovation:

francoiz breut, thao nguyen, and bon iver

insert cheesy light/lamp/80's song reference here

2008-03-13T14:11:00.008-05:00

even small changes are changes. i know you're all thinking "hey, whoa! where are the action shots of this amazing transformation?". we didn't have the digital camera yet. and, in fact, i blame the lack of a digital camera for a relative lack of improvements going on around here. which means, be prepared for lots more amazing city cabin changes. or at least, bird pictures.

before:
(of course, taking a picture of this atrocious thing on the basement floor just adds to its Saw-like mystique. oddly enough, my mom likes this thing, so she gets to keep it. i think it's just a momentary lapse in her what is ordinarily good taste.)

after:

we saw that our favorite lighting store (not that we have a full roster of lighting stores we visit) was having a big sale. having zeroed in on this piece on a previous visit, it was more than gratifying to see that it was discounted $90.00. it's now hanging above our dining room table.

soundtrack for this renovation:

Dosh, Jose Gonzalez, and the American Routes program on NPR

the enemy mine

2008-03-11T17:37:00.004-05:00

not cute. see all that seed on the ground? not from chickadees or cardinals. they are neat and tidy diners. i am joining the army of Squirrel Hate. they eat all the seed:

they even drink the water:

you want them? come and get 'em. we even have a live trap for you to use.

when we lived in mpls, i think we trapped and released about 12 squirrels. that was unethical, and now we are paying the price with highly evolved critters who excel in leaping through the air past any baffles we may use. sigh.

yeah, i guess we could stop feeding birds. but then we wouldn't be able to enjoy sights like this gorgeous chickadee ass:

the first post of the 1,673,995th blog in the world

2008-03-10T14:38:00.007-05:00

first things first. it is very likely that i, cp, will be updating this blog most of the time. this is because my better half is more often found doing useful and important things, like car repair or hanging things up. he's really good at that. so, don't assume we're both lazy. that's just me.

secondly, the only reason i got hooked on the idea of a house blog is because of our old neighbors. so, berate them here: http://www.oldminneapolishouse.com/

oddly enough, the lovely woman who bought our old place has a blog, too. hers is of another popular sort--people who can and like to cook: http://riceandspice.wordpress.com/

you will find that our old 'hood is much more hoppin' with excitement than this one. i won't lie. you are going to find mostly a lot of bird pictures. i blame my birding nerdness on sharon stiteler, who can be found here: http://www.birdchick.com/blog.html

we sold our cool townhome last june, and bought this house the same day it was taken off the market. panic much? yes, i did. anyway, this is a little house in st. paul.

the place was built in the mid-forties. it used to have a trapdoor in the kitchen floor that led the basement. the people who lived here before us had really bad taste in color and few abilities in home repair. we aim to improve on what they left us.

so, in the spirit of being relatively unexciting and borderline nerdy, here is the coolest thing to happen today (other than it being my birthday and the first day of spring break)--a new bird sighting! i'm pretty sure it's a juvenile red bellied woodpecker. that, or an eagle.