More Ignacio

Isn't he adorable!!!!

Angel Ignacio Cisneros

We are happy to announce the birth of Angel Ignacio Cisneros. Ignacio was born on November 29th around 7:30 p.m. Believe it or not, Ignacio weighed 8 lbs. 7 ounces. His mother is quite slender so this surprised everyone. Mother and baby are healthy and back at home. I (Lulu) am going down to St. Paul later this week to help care for the little one. We will update the blog with photos from the visit.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends and family. Trevor and I are spending the holiday alone in Superior. Please do not feel bad for us. We are in heaven: eating, watching movies, and making fun of people who have to be with their family. We put the turkey in around noon and it should be done in three hours. Eating and movie watching are our current hobbies so we are pretty happy with how this Thanksgiving has played out.

Boredom and The Boss

It is day two of my block break and boredom is sinking in. Work consumes so much of my day that I don't know what to do without it. Daytime television makes me angry and I don't like being angry. After my seventh trip to the refrigerator I decided I needed to get outside. Today was a typical Duluth day. Rainy and windy weather meant it was a perfect day to watch the surfers. Yes. Duluth has surfers and they are a motley bunch. These haggard souls brave the frigid big lake hoping for a few waves. With the new Springsteen album on my Ipod, I headed for Stoney Point. Stoney Point is a favorite spot for the Superior surfers and I was not disappointed; Surfers bobbed in the Lake like marshmallows in my hot chocolate. I may have found a reason to lose weight: surfing!

Kit Kat is having a Kid

The photo is of our dear friend Kit Kat. Kat is 7 1/2 months along !! Many of you strained your mind when trying to imagine Kat with a belly. Please send good baby energy toward Minneapolis. Trevor and I are so excited about this new addition to our extended family. Please be prepared for many more baby postings. Most people think she is having a boy but I (Lulu) am convinced there is a blue eyed Latina in that belly. Being that the little one is Latino, no one knows when it will arrive. All we know it that the baby won't be on time.

Trevor and I are all alone again. Bubbles was up here for two weeks and then my family came up for the weekend. The visit was short and it was difficult to say goodbye. You would think I would be accustom to being alone after all of these years. I miss my family; I wish I could see them more.

Sign of the Times

Supplemental income is not easy to come by; this summer I have resorted to calling in to radio stations during their noon time trivia offer. The calls have netted me free subway and movie tickets. This morning rain and humidity greeted Bubbles and I with a slap in the face. Neither of us likes heat so we decided to go to the movies and see "Becoming Jane." While returning from the feminist themed film we drove past several men protesting abortion at the local Planned Parenthood. Wondering what would Jane do, I promptly headed for Shopko where I purchased the supplies to make a sign. Just picture a seventy year old man standing to my left. I protested against the protesters for twenty minutes and then they decided to leave. Before leaving the knelt near me and prayed for my soul in some tongue I did not recognize. All said, it was a great day.

Paulding Light

The phenomenal Paulding Light.
Mr. Roboto and Bubbles excited about seeing a light in the woods.
Ms. M and Lulu excited about scaring the crap out of two cute little kids.


We are continuing to avoid our gardening duties. This week began with a trip to the Paulding Light. Ms. M and I decided to take Bubbles and Mr. Roboto. Bubbles and Mr. Roboto were well behaved and less than impressed with "the light". Ms. M and I thought the kids would get really freaked out and want to leave right away. We ended up spending three hours at the light listening to idiots from Illinois. When you live in the North woods you slowly begin to hate most things from Illinois (relatives are excluded from this blanket hatred). These idiots were no exception. Upon arriving their annoying little children began shoving their way to the front of the lookout and scaring everyone around them. Then the parents began talking loudly about how they are from Illinois and they never have been out in the woods like this and how their trip is so educational because they got to see some deer. We cursed at them a few times and promptly left them to be eaten by the light.

Having Fun Like Poor People

Since we are monetarily challenged this year, Bubble's trip is a bit on the ghetto side. So far we have made free birdhouses at a nature center, eaten plain spaghetti noodles out of brain bowls, and made some friends out of play-dough. Tomorrow we are planning on painting the birdhouses with some free paint from the dump.

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Trevor took these photos of the backyard and has been bugging me to get them posted. He refuses to learn how to operate this blog. I think he wants everyone to notice the orange flower box on the garage. Not only do I love the flower box, I also adore the cute shutters

The earth box is booming. The tomato plants are taller than Trevor and we are beginning to see some fruit. The tomato in the fist photo is a Hungarian Heart. Hungarian Hearts can weigh over a pound. Can you feel the excitement in my voice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peas and Stuff

Peas are glorious. I love to eat fresh peas right from the hull. The are sweet and snappy. Unfortunately, Trevor likes his peas fried up with some butter, flour, and corned beef. Yes - I did just say corned beef. The mixture is then plopped on top of some mashed potatoes. Every summer Trevor has yearned for this meal from his childhood. We all have those meals that no one else understands. I have a meal called cheesy spaghetti. When you describe it -meat, cheese, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup and noodles- it doesn't sound that appealing. But when you put it all together and add in a few of childhood's best memories you get a wonderful summer meal. This was one of those meals for Trevor. He absolutely loved his peas and mush. He loved it so much that he ate two heaping platefuls. I kindly offered up my plate for his consumption.

Lilies

While Trevor spray painted one of our vehicles, I decided to engage in something a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I love our lilies. Lilies are a great shabby garden flower. I especially like the bright orange color of the lilies facing the alley.

New Paint

As a few of you know, Trevor is determined to get 250,000 miles out of our free car. The car was given to us by a friend who had purchased it from another friend. The car has been in "the family" for the last seven years. Trevor spent Sunday morning giving the old girl a new paint job. He really stepped it up and used a spray paint made specifically for cars. The last time he spray painted the car he used the same spray paint that we used to paint the compost barrel. He is very pleased with his workmanship and now plans on painting our other car. God help me!!

Earth Boxes

The first photo is an official "Earth Box". The official "Earth Box" was a present for graduating. I planted two Hungarian Heart heirloom tomatoes and two heirloom purple bell peppers. I am pleased with the earth box and intend to use it next year. The plants are huge with tons of fruit and flowers. We have not had any problems with pests, drought, or over watering. The second photo in an unofficial earth box. The unofficial box was a birthday present. Trevor fashioned a large household tote with a false bottom, drain hole and black plastic covering. He then built a large wooden structure that has wheels so we can move it when entertaining on our deck. The unofficial earth box is cooler than the official. I especially like the color and the fact that it was handmade by my hubby. We planted heirloom pickling cukes in the unofficial and are happy with their development. We planted them from seed late in the season and are looking forward to tracking their production. We like the unofficial earth box so much that we are planning on building two more for next year's crops.

Strawberries!!!!!!!

Our strawberry plants have produced two beautiful pieces of fruit. Trevor and I shared the spoils of our hard work. Note that Trevor's t-shirt is of the homemade variety. He claims that the recycling symbol with an exclamation point will be all the rage with local treehuggers.

Dog Park Days

Due to the size of our yard we are forced to take Buster to the dog park. Buster enjoys running around and sniffing other dogs. We enjoy watching all of the different breeds and their silly dog antics. Sylvia enjoys sitting next to us. She isn't very sociable and wants to make certain she is the center of our world. Duluth has a very nice dog park located on the West end near the zoo. If you have a pet and are in Duluth you should check it out.

Herb Delish (sounds like Herb Cavindish)

Trevor and I shared this wonderful plate of summer food. Please take a close look at the salmon; all of the herbs are fresh from the garden. Olive oil, basil, rosemary and parsley are all you need to turn this wild caught salmon into a summer delight. The fresh herbs made this an amazing piece of fish. Many of my friends live in places where they don't have access to land for gardening. Herbs can be grown inside with good light. Apartment, condo and penthouse dwellers unite and grow some wonderful herbs in those windows with gorgeous views !!!

WE LOVE SUMMER

This is why we love summer.

New Growth

There are so many exciting things going on in my little yard. Our neighbors offered us the Hibiscus plant in the first two photos. Knowing that Trevor has a green thumb they thought we might be able to bring it back to life. When we got the plant it needed to be replanted immediately. After a great deal of watering and a new home the Hibiscus is blooming. The third photos is of a tomato plant. As many of you know, I went a bit tomato crazy this summer. Twenty eight tomato plants germinated! I am planning on canning most of them and giving any extra to the food shelf. Photo four is so tantalizing. Eating a strawberry off the vine is so much better than the ones at the market. Photo five is blurry but interesting. Ground cherries are new to me and I am attempting to grow one. They look like a Chinese lantern pod and the pod contains a fruit that can be made into jelly. In the future, I will post of photo of the mythical Mexican Sour Gherkin.

They Are Already Here

View the video by clicking on the link below. It is offensive but important to see.
http://view.break.com/278059
You have all heard the argument for the war that goes a little something like this - if we don't fight them over there then we are going to have to fight them in our backyards. Well, they are here and would be in my backyard if it weren't so small. I am not afraid of the terrorist from far off lands but I am afraid of the ones down the road at the local Baptist Church. Our freedom is not jeopardized by the existence of Al-Qaeda. Lets take care of what we have going on at home. After viewing the video at the above link could someone please explain the upside down Canadian flag! Are we to believe that Canada is one sinning country? At what is with the "you will eat your kids!" line?

Are you ready to deal some drugs?

That question seemed a bit funnier when asked by a Hot Cop to George Micheal. I am in need of cops, any kind will do - hot, ugly, short, tall. As long as they have a weapon of some sort, they are welcome in my neighborhood. Yes, this relates to my little yard. You would think that with a thirty-foot wide lot I wouldn't have to worry about multiple drugs deals happing in my front lawn. Superior is full of surprises. Our economy is so terrible that our drug dealers have traded in their four-wheel drives for economy cars. Great! Now Civics can park end to end in front of my house and its party time for the meth heads. Usually I don't mind the drug deals; survival of the fittest at its best. Today was different. I am mad. Trevor and I are going to have to come up with some yard ornament that deters dealers. Maybe they have an food allergy like vampires with garlic. I will look into this and let you know what I come up with. Do you think the "War is Not the Answer" sign in the yard is attracting them? Maybe I should switch to my favorite bumper sticker: CAN'T FEED 'EM! DON'T BREED 'EM!. That bumper sticker was at the dollar store and I found that quite ironic.

Buster Blue (Red, Pink, Orange)

One look and Buster and you know what color our next project will be. It is hard to see in the photos but Buster has orange, red and blue paint all over him. The blue paint is from a few weeks ago and the red and orange are from today's project. Also, you can tell what materials we are using; Buster's hindquarters are covered in sawdust.

Front Yard Improvements

Our little backyard always seems to be where we spend most of our energy. This weekend Trevor "mixed it up" and did a front yard improvement. The area at the base of this tree was pretty plain, so he decided to use some landscape edging we had lying around and make a flower ring. Although it looks a little blah now, in a few weeks we should have quite a variety of summer annuals.