Sweet Vandalism

There is this sign on Highway 5 between Saskatoon and Humboldt, just outside of Saskatoon.  Whatever is on the sign is facing the people coming into Saskatoon, and on the back of the sign someone once spray-painted "JEN WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

The thing I like about this graffiti, not that I condone vandalism, is that it's been there for probably at least 10 years.  No one, including the province or the city or whoever has actual ownership of the sign, has taken it upon themselves to paint over it.  I think that's so nice.  Obviously no one has complained enough or hated that graffiti enough that anyone's felt the need to remove it.  And like I said, not that I condone vandalism but I like that this sweet bit of vandalism has stuck around for so long.

I hope that Jen said yes, and that Jen and her partner are still together.  I hope that every time she drives past that sign she remembers the first time she saw it and smiles, remembering the excitement of being newly engaged, maybe a little bit shocked that someone would deface public property for her.  Whoever Jen is, I bet she'll be a little bit sad someday when the sign finally gets painted over or replaced.  I think I will be too.

New Sephora Store

Can you figure this one out? 

Allyson:  Mom.  What does this mean??
Allyson:  Unfortunately public school system off and they seen to be at s e for a me im line to get im Haha

ally yummy cookies

Mom (Monday):  allyson made yummy cookies have pumpkin seeds im them
Mom (Tuesday [my work shift ends Wednesdays]): One more day them you can have some ally yummy cookies Haha you can

Plans for next summer already

This summer is pretty much officially over as the colder weather gets more consistent, but I am already so excited for next summer because hopefully I will have a yard to grow things in!  But even if not, I'm still excited to grow things again.

Obviously I had great luck with tomatoes this year, but I found an awesome variety that I must try next summer:  spoon tomatoes!  Apparently these are delicious little tomatoes the size of peas!  AWW so cute.  How neat would they look in a colourful tomato salad?

Secondly, and this one is a little/lot more ambitious, but BAMBOO!  You can grow bamboo in Saskatchewan I think.  There are several varieties that can survive to -32, which with mulching I'm sure could survive a Saskatchewan winter!  You can buy it from a place in BC that sells tons of different varieties.  How awesome would that be to have a few patches of bamboo in your back yard?  It would seem like you're in Florida during the summer!

Having a garden will be the most fun, because then I can actually go to the store and look through seeds and find neat things like snake squash, I can actually try it out instead of being limited to little pots.

So... stay tuned for next summer!

THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

GUESS WHAT I FOUND AT THE STORE TODAY!!!!

LIME YOGURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Lime yogurt to my knowledge has not existed in Canada for the last 7 or 8 years, and it is my favourite thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Pregnancy Rumours

Someone at work:  Are you pregnant?

Me:  No!  Why would you ask that?

Person:  Well someone asked me if you were pregnant and I said I didn't know but I'd ask.



Is it weird that this happened more than once this week?  (For the record I am definitely not pregnant.)  What a flattering rumour to have going around.  Probably due to my beautiful glowing skin.

DO NOT ROB

When I was about 4 or 5, there was a break-in/robbery near my grandparents' house.  Since I spent a lot of time there and they had lots of fun toys for me to play with, my first worry was that what if the robber came to their house and stole all my stuff?  How to prevent this?

What if there was a way to communicate to the robber that there were certain things that were off-limits, for example, my posters on the wall, my bed, etc.  Take the fridge, take the TV, I don't care, but leave my stuff alone thank you!

I was a pretty smart kid for my age and my parents had taught me to read signs that said "Do not enter" so I wouldn't go in those places, so I knew how to spell "do not."  Luckily, my name is Robyn and although I didn't know how to spell the word "steal" I figured that a robber robs, so "rob" must mean the same as "steal" and "rob" is probably spelled like the first half of my name... "DO NOT ROB" was born.

I set to work with a black marker writing this warning on everything in my little room that I didn't want robbed.  I don't really remember what I wrote it on that day but since the slogan remained on many items for quite a few years, I recall seeing it on some posters, a bedside table, possibly a lamp, a desk, and somehow I think I got it on the bed frame too.

Eventually my parents and/or grandparents discovered what I did and I got in trouble but hey, it was worth it because my stuff never got robbed.  In fact, that house never got broken into - they probably saw the signs through the window or something and realized this was not a house to mess with.

I always knew that the above-mentioned bedside table was the one that's still in my room now but I could never find the inscription.  Today I decided to look really hard and discovered a very faint "DO NOT ROB" on the bottom shelf area.  It has either been painted over or has faded, but it's somewhat visible.  Here's a picture I took with some heavy editing to try and bring out the writing as much as possible:

DO NOT ROB:  a foolproof way to make sure robbers don't take your stuff.

Oops

And this, folks, is why it's important to remember to water your cactus...

PETA into the Mainstream

Overheard in Disney World, as a massive Clydesdale pulled an empty passenger trolley on a well-greased track down the street.

"Oh that POOR HORSE, having to pull that whole cart all by himself."

Uh, ever heard of AGRICULTURE?  (Credit for that zing goes to Brahm.)

Vermicomposting Excitement!

Finally, what you've all been waiting for:  an update on my vermicomposting adventure!

Today I harvested the dirt from my vermicompost bin.  I did not expect to be so amazed at what I discovered!  Those worms are power eaters!  Many times during the summer I threw my compostable scraps in the garbage because I was worried that the worms were getting overloaded but today when I dumped out the entire Rubbermaid bin and started separating worms and dirt and materials that had not broken down, I was really impressed to find out that the only uncomposted materials in the bin were a few rotten tomatoes and apple cores I put in there this week, some cherry pits, and a couple of corn cobs. 

We put so many food scraps in there this summer and it was absolutely gratifying to see that it had all turned into incredibly fertile soil that I can use to kick start next summer's gardening adventures!  This composting experiment was a HUGE success and I would highly recommend it to anyone who's ever thought about trying it, looking for a way to compost without creating smell or requiring a large corner of your backyard, or just as a way to use up kitchen scraps so your garbage can doesn't smell as much.  Seriously - all you need is a Rubbermaid bin with some holes cut in it for air and a spot with a temperature greater than 5 Celcius the majority of the time (so basements/garages should work well).  It's an awesome way to turn kitchen scraps into incredibly rich, natural fertilizer you can use on your lawn, garden, house plants, etc.!

Since the worms multiply, every few months when you separate out the dirt it's probably time to also give away half of the remaining worms to a friend, so it's great for starting conversations about ways to reduce food and yard waste in a city with no convenient composting program.  What a totally awesome, no-downside initiative.

My worms are ready to separate into 2 or 3 new bins - if you're interested in starting your own vermicomposter (and live in Saskatoon) let me know!  I'll hook you up with some worms and help you get started.

My vermicomposter, ready to be harvested.  Yes, something is growing in there - I think it's so fertile that even though it's totally dark, the seeds from a lot of the things I throw in start sprouting... until the worms eat the new sprouts.