In The Beginning, Part II… The Garden

Upon first glance, the yard looked like a little slice of heaven - fruit trees, chicken coop, pagoda, pool, raised garden beds, a great covered patio and lots of space. What we didn't realize is that what we thought was clover was actually a very nasty weed known as 'bindi' that turns into horrible, brown ground cover full of hard spiky balls, and what we thought was grass was predominantly weeds… We also discovered that 2 out of the 3 potted ficus trees around the pool were dying and/or infested with ants, that the chicken coop had been defunct for years and weeds had grown up thick and waist high, that every tree and vine desperately needed pruning.

View from the back door out to the shed/yard/pool.

Dying ficus tree, overgrown lemon tree and bougainvillea next to the chicken coop.

Dilapidated chicken coop, overgrown peach tree, crazy huge weeds, and volunteer tomato plants! (hidden under the weeds)

The bougainvillea attempting to eat the pagoda, and the 'lawn' that turned out to be nothing but weeds :( Our friend Brad decided to give me a heart attack by informing me that, 'one year of seeding leads to seven years of weeding'. Thanks Brad. Nice pool though!

The view of the front yard from the master bedroom - the garden bed erupted in weeds shortly after this photo was taken…

And the huge neglected grape vines in their bed of weeds.

New House - In the beginning…

In the beginning there were nasty old carpets, terrible paint jobs, crappy kitchen cupboards, heaps of weeds and over-grown plants, festy tiles, windows needing replacement, and an incredible amount of 'potential'. Rob told me when he put the offer in on the house that it 'needed some work', but generally gave me the impression that these would be things we could do for 'fun' as time and finances allowed. Um… yeah…

Our new house

About one month ago, Rob and I became new home owners. Our new house is in a Perth suburb about 8 km from our work places. It's definitely a 'fixer-upper' but the location is ideal. The neighborhood seems nice and quiet even though we're fairly close to a major road. We're quite close to shops, bus lines and one of the major rivers that runs through Perth. I'm able to ride my bike to work along a network of bike paths that meander along our local creek and then the green belt along the river. It's a beautiful ride and I feel pretty lucky every day as I pedal along.

Living in a place whilst doing renovations is no mean feat. Add to that two full-time jobs and shopping hours limited to roughly 8-5:30 Monday-Saturday and suddenly time gets very tight and tempers a little short. The first few weeks were a little rough living out of boxes in cramped quarters, especially since the weather was pretty nasty, but we're starting to get settled in and used to our living situation.

Rob's March Visit Part III

Chatanika Outhouse Races!

   I think our little sojourn out to Chatanika with Mike, Lena, and Evan constituted the most fun, silliest, and coldest portion of Rob's visit.  The five of us packed into Mike's Impreza the morning after Rob & I got engaged for a cozy drive out to the little lodge about 30 north of Fairbanks.  This annual event is a truly unique Alaskan experience.  Groups of nutters design an outhouse (dunny, shitter, etc.), decorate the hell out of it, stick one unsuspecting member on the pot, and then sprint down the road with the lot in an effort to clock the shortest time.

   After the races we all went inside to enjoy the ambience, some chili, fries, hot cocoa, and the excellent company.   Once we had partially thawed out, we decided that participating in human bowling was just the ticket…

   While we didn't win at 10-pin (we missed one), I think Rob did get the prize for coming from the furthest away and I'm quite sure we were the only team that got engaged within the previous 24 hours.  All in all, we had a blast.  The best part for me was seeing Rob have so much fun with my friends.  Even Rocky got in on the action…

Rob's March Visit Part II

So I kinda glossed over the most exciting part of Rob's visit in Part I - we got engaged!

~The Engagement~

   I had an inkling that Rob was going to ask me to marry him while he was visiting, but I wasn't exactly sure just how he was going to go about it.  I fully expected it at the airport, but it didn't happen (although that was his intention).  Instead he was extremely anxious about the aurora forecast, abnormally so for someone who isn't exactly into aurora photography as a hobby.  He constantly asked me when we could see it and was terribly (disproportionately, I might say) disappointed when I informed him that this was an unusually bad year for it.

   Then one night the forecast was decent, so we decided to go out for a little aurora sighting.   Fortified with a few glasses of wine (Rob not me), we set off to Goldstream Valley to see what there was to see.  Within seconds of pulling off the side of the road, Rob was instantly disappointed by the quality of the aurora.  I was a little befuddled and tried to point out to him what it was doing, but much to my confusion he barely looked out the window.  Then he asked if I could turn on the dome light in the car - uh, OK…

  Then, from within the depths of his multitude of layers, he produced a small box and a folded up piece of paper and began to read:

Leslie, your many qualities make you a very special person; your smile and laughter give me happiness; your beauty and passion drive me wild; your intelligence and determination give me pride and admiration for you; your love and affection sustains me, I crave it.  You complete me.

Being with you gives me a full and happy life.  If I have ever been sure about anything, I know I am sure about you and us, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  You are my friend, my confidant, my lover, and my companion.

Leslie, will you marry me?

  

Well, of course I said 'yes', and then suggested we head to Ivory Jack's to celebrate in good Fairbanks style with all of our new best friends.

Rob's March Visit Part I

OK, my apologies that this post is about 2 months overdue - but you try to finish a Ph.D., teach a class, prepare to move across the world, maintain your sanity, AND keep up-to-date on your blog.

   So, the boy who never intended to go to America finally visited Alaska…  In the coldest month of March since about 1922… And he still managed to smile, but I think he must really like the girl who was taking his photo…

   In spite of my best efforts to mentally prepare Rob for the cold, there just wasn't much I could do to ease the shock of arriving to -35C, short days and piles of snow from +40C and beautiful, sunny

 Australian summer.  He was also wholly unprepared for the massive jet lag and coming to a 'city' seriously lacking for public transport, anything to walk around and see, or just things to do in general.  It was sort of a mixed blessing that we both went down hard with a terrible bug for the first week he was here - what a perfect excuse to stay in bed for a week!

     

Once we finally surfaced, our schedule was packed.  I had heaps of work to do and was still fighting that brutal bug, but we still managed to get in a pile of Alaskan adventures.  The ice park was a must-see.  I haven't made it for years and I was psyched to see Lars's kinetic ice sculpture.

  We managed to get over to Belfair to have dinner with the whole gang, plus Mike and Lena, hiked up to the top of Moose Mt., and generally had a little show and tell time around my favorite stomping grounds.  We also got to have some friends over for some über spicy borscht Rob made (I believe it was Russian-Vietnamese fusion he was going for…), house/pet-sat for Jen and Dan, saw some moose, and ate enough fatty foods for Rob to pack on 5 kilos in a few weeks.

 

Spotlight on Mr. Dexter

    Some people think my cat isn't very bright.  I beg to differ.  He can turn nearly any piece of garbage into weeks of entertainment.  This piece of paper was his favorite.  It had so many uses: he could hide under it (as seen above), he could attack it and make lots of wonderful crinkly noises, and he could tear it to shreds.  What wonderful kitty fun!  He also loves ribbon, rubber bands, twist-ties, and plastic sacks - especially plastic sacks!  He also enjoys some good laser pointer action from time to time, but in general he eschews any store-bought toys in favor of things that would otherwise be thrown out.  Such a green kitty.  I think he takes after his mamma.

    Unfortunately for both of us, the little man is a little tumor factory.  He had a fist-sized tumor removed about 18 months ago - not a fun event for kitty or his big white mamma!  Tomorrow we're headed back to the vet to get another one out.  Poor kitty :( (and poor mamma's bank account…)  Tomorrow morning is going to suck because he will probably keep me up all night begging for food I can't give him and then I have to shove him into his carrier and deal with him yowling in the car.  Thank goodness the vet is only two minutes away!

    Dexter's going to be in for a big nasty couple of months.  After he recoups from surgery we'll be separated until the end of August when he finally gets released from quarantine.  Lest we forget the 24 hours of flying he has to endure to get to Perth… argh.  Finally, he gets to move into his new home and meet his sister, Alley.  That should be fun. He'll probably be OK with it, but she'll freak.