Here is Spring!! Out I go to the garden

So...these aren't my chicks. They're cute, but they're not mine yet. You see, farmers (people with chickens) can wake up early and they buy all the chicks. Me..I was raised and born in a city, and I came out of college studying bio-chemistry.
My point is, let's hope I get some chicks Wednesday =) Cause they're smelly and fluffy and I want to see eggs made and then steal them from the confused mom chickens. Then make soup.

Here are some flowers of Spring-time in Ro-mania. They're called Snowballs..more or less. They ssmell nice and they're cute. My counterpart (I'm sure it was him) put one in my hoodie at the office cause I guess he really couldn't help himself. AND here on the right is my garden. I got to til that soil, then put seeds in! My grandma did gardening, and I've heard rumors that my mom is trying it out too, BUT this is my garden and I've not really eaten vegetables all Winter cause they're A.) WAY expensive, b.) imported from different countries so they're not all that tasty, c.) and c.) the only stuff I could buy consistantly and locally were carrots, potatoes, and onions.
This running into backyard, and yanking food out of ground, then washing and then eating it = so much better when it's harder to get.

I've put in seeds for: red peppers, carrots, beans, radishes, lettice, dill, basil, onion and garlic.
Oh, I also received about 120 white corn seeds from another volunteer who has connections. So I prepared myself a cornmaze. It needs about 74 days and I started it on Thursday of last week, so hopefully I'll have corn and a maze on: July 20th, 2009.

Then I also tried to build a chicken home for when my chicks get bigger. (=/, I'm still debating cause raising chicks can be a responsibility...and I have to work and travel and not be home)
We'll have to see. Hopefully they'll learn to take care of themselves by the time I go on my next trip.

Here's some weird looking purple flowers that bloomed about 1 1/2 months ago. Flowers bloom at different times here; weird.

Okay: GAME = FIND THE LETTICE
So, my little patch of lettice has baby lettices too small to make a real salad, but I keep spotting random things of lettice. So, can you guys find them?
It's like seeing Waldo when you don't suspect him. Anyway, that's how my salad is being made for now.
That'll teach them to now grow where they're supposed to!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures:

More pictures from Thanksgiving, where we went to the village Sunday morning.

Cats:

Hey! We get a good shot of the turkey too! See how small its breast is. It was a female turkey too.

Gypsies in our region are the best metal workers. They make these type of pots and rice doesn't burn on it, they barely stick.

Some of Peace Corps came on a visit so we went to the Indian restaurant in the city. It was okay, but I've had better curry in the US. Maybe cause I like my curry spicy and more flavorful and Romanians tend to like more bland flavors. It was still ethnic and fun.

My backyard dump (all the trash besides the compost stuff):
The cat helped by lying in the sun, he didn't collect the bottles, my neighbor did.


So I built these things so the trash won't fly around and there's a plastic section for the left and others to the right. Not bad for May '08 to March '09; minus the trash that was lit on fire and burned in November.
Game: Where's the cat? in the picture to the right.

Market, and it was on the 1st of March, it was bring and warm and nice.

Hum...their version of sour cream and onion chips. I tried it...and I like the sour cream and onion a LOT more. (I had thought it was really the same, but nope, it's dill).


Working on my local paper. There's a shop, and there's the post office selling the paper for me.

Still Winter. Did you know people use the branches of this type of tree for all sorts of stuff: fences, whipping horses, holding up plants for their vineyard, tomatoes, etc...

Some people (mostly gypsies to my knowledge) come with large bags and sell stuff to the mayor's office. So my co-workers were shopping for clothes.

My large fish called: nov-lak

Yum.

Over at Emily's for a girls' weekend. We made sushi and watched Casablanca. It's a good movie =) I liked it and it was digitally remastered so didn't look like an old film.

We used raw..or smoked fish: herring salad. I dont' know who would eat this salad by itself, but it was good in our sushi.



I don't know why, but there's a beam of light directed at the plate of sushi on the left, and I find it weird and funny.

Gradina mea (my garden)

Here are pictures of my garden.

Yes, I have a nice place to live.
Yes, some people came over and built these mounts and put in the tomatoes and peppers.

Who gets to figure out how to water them?
Who gets to figure out if they need to "weed" out the weeds?
Who let chickens loose in their yard to eat the insects?
It's great and all, but ...I didn't ask for the garden, and I didn't know that people would make me a real one. I was thinking to plan a small tomato plant and onions.
Now I get to water my yard once a week, and till the soil and weed.
My neighbor is helping to teach me and her chickens are eating my bugs.

I'll do it, but maybe my garden will die next year....we'll see.

The Shed

Okay, so I don't have the initial pictures, but I have the final pictures of the shed.

However, I can no longer deny the world Calvin and my masterpiece, so here you are:

Shed

Frame was laid out, and filled with pea gravel- bags and bags of rocks.

Wooden panels fit over the graveled base.

Shed was partially assembled on the grass.

Shed was dragged over with the help of strong friends!

Cinder blocks used to help prop the edge of base

Replacement parts, this time non -broken, correct colored parts

The ceiling is in!!

Finishing up the shingles in the cold cold night. We saw the moon, the stars and our breath.

Windows got installed =) Fancy.

Last task: doors, and the thing broke...........

the end.