FYI - I have started another blog for my more reflective stuff, like I used to post on One's-Self I Sing. You can find it here if you're interested: http://www.volume2kc.blogspot.com/
Trinity will keep posting here at the Zoo.
This is what the stairs look like after we ripped the carpet off them. All of the wood on the 1st floor is painted this same brown color.
Don't worry this was done on purpose. We have never had access to our attic but it is kind of necessary for blowing insulation - so we made one! The finished product is below.
However, Tim had to make another one in the front room because the roof was so narrow in the back room. It was all worth it because thanks to Tim and Andrew our house is much more insulated. Well it will be once the holes to the attic are closed up...
We got a bed skirt for our bed this weekend which is the only one we've had in the 5 1/2 years we have been married.
Tim's dad has been graciously passing on his This Old House magazines to us and I love them! I found a "reader remodel" that we love. It inspired us to work on stripping the wood in our house. The wood on the first floor is all painted brown and the wood on the 2nd and 3rd floors is white (often sprayed with texture and then painted over). Tim bought some Lift Off and started on the stairs railing. The wood underneath is beautiful. I read that we can remove the paint with a washing soda paste overnight. We'll give it a try sometime and see what happens. We have also been reading about making stains with coffee and tea.
We picked a watermelon last night but when we cut it open tonight it wasn't quite ripe. I took a picture of it on my new blackberry but I haven't figured out how to load it on here. Maybe I'll post on here more often now =)
William Jewell College (my alma mater) is starting a Center for Justice and Sustainability, which Andy Pratt, the Vice President for Religious Ministries and Dean of the Chapel, will be directing for its first few years. I have accepted a position at the Center to help Dr. Pratt get it off the ground, as well as assist with many of his duties as Chaplain, including teaching a couple of college courses per semester. I am so excited! I will start off teaching 3 courses: Introduction to Ministry Skills, Meeting Human Needs & Alleviating Suffering, and supervising students in Ministry Internships. I will also be the sponsor of a ministry group on campus, as well as help out with Christian Student Ministries. And then, there's a whole other world of helping Dr. Pratt with the Center, which I am so excited about. Who knows what that will look like!
I will start Sept. 1, so I will get a whopping 2 whole weekend days off between jobs! Actually, that's orientation weekend for the first year students, so I'll probably be there to help out too. And it looks like I’ll be doing homework until then, preparing for the classes, which start that week. I suppose that’s the life of a professor (Just kidding!).
Mom and Dad got tired of looking at the same post, so they sent some of their pictures of the garden to show you. Thank Mom & Dad! (From everyone who reads the blog).
Potatoes
Black walnuts (not quite ripe yet...)
Green bean
Green chilies
Brussels sprouts (these still have a long way to go)
Cabbage
Corn
And lastly, a picture from the recent Harder Reunion (Granny's family). This year was Granny's turn to host, so Mom & Aunt Pam, along with their husbands of course, did a wonderful job of pulling it off. Thanks for all your hard work! It was perfect and I know Granny would have been proud.
Remember those beets you just read about? Well, I just tried the best beet recipe ever!
I've been making borscht (Easter European beet soup) for a while now, but since we have two rows of beets I figure I need to branch out and find some other ways to make them. Well, here's the next regular in Tim's recipe rotation:
Roasted Beets with Feta from allrecipes.com
I would have taken a picture to show you, but no sooner had I taken the first bite then I gobbled it all down. Even if you don't think you like beets, do yourself a favor and track some down and make this recipe. You will change your mind about beets! And if you already love them, then this will make you drool.
Many years ago, I brought a kitten home (yes, I did it then too). I was on a retreat (8 or so years ago) and found a kitten who was orphaned. I brought it home and convinced my mom to let us keep it. At some point we had to get rid of her, so my sister/cousin agreed to take her. She has had her ever since but now she is going to college and unable to keep her. We agreed to try and add her to our family. She has been here since last Tuesday and has met everyone for a minute. We have kept her in our room to try and help her and everyone else adjust. She is very sweet and we hope it works out, especially with Agnes, because she like to chase cats. We'll let you know how it goes...
I have realized that if someone only read our blog, it would appear that we planted a lot of seeds but haven't gotten any food. It has been really neat to get vegetables from our backyard. Here are some pictures of our harvests so far:
Beets
Cabbage
Carrot - the rest of these are still growing
Collard greens - Tim's favorite garden treat
1 of the 3 strawberries we have grown - my favorite garden treat
Potatoes - most of these are still growing as well
Butterleaf lettuce - we have gotten SO much of this!
After a long battle with fungus, one of the Guys died this week. We at the Zoo are sad for our own loss, and especially for the other Guy, but in reality he had been suffering from this chronic illness for about a year now, so I believe he is better off now.
We don't know much about his life before joining us at the Zoo, but we believe him to have been around 10 years old! All we know is that many years ago Mark & Ashley, some fellow animal loving friends from Atlanta, saved him and a few other Guys from a neglected pond in their apartment complex. When Mark and Ashley moved from Atlanta to Kansas, they were concerned about the long trip, so they moved the two remaining Guys into our apartment and we have cared for them ever since. After discussing it with the Guys, we all agreed that at such an old age it would be better for them to move to KC with us rather than to start over with another family, so they made the move with us and seemed no worse for the wear. The Guy is survived by his longtime friend and companion, the other Guy.
We have enjoyed many years of entertainment, companionship, and conversation. Guy, you will be missed.
So, you all know that my current job is only a one year thing. I'm thinking of joining Octagon Global Recruiting after this. Looks interesting. I'm waiting to hear from a recruiter now.
We have been doing lots of projects around and outside the house lately. I was excited to buy our house and have a yard but it has been so much better than I even imagined. I really enjoy fixing up our yard and our house. We are having a party on Saturday to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and housewarming. This is the first party we have thrown since we moved and y'all know how we get about parties. We have been working really hard (and having lot of fun) this week to get some projects off our list. Here are some we have been working on:
We built a fire pit in our side yard - now we just need firewood...
This is a farther away picture - we hung a hammock in the trees on the left side of the yard. I will get a better picture of it soon.
Tim got an electric trimmer and has been meticulously trimming the yard ever since - it looks awesome!
Tim also planted some tomato and pepper plants. We still have beans, watermelons, pumpkins, corn and other warm season vegetables to plant.
This is what they looked like when we planted them
One great thing about the cool season vegetables (everything we have planted so far) is that we can plant them once more in the fall. Hopefully we will have potatoes to eat all winter! 
They are really pretty plants that will have flowers on them. The potatoes are ready whenI know it has been a long time since we posted (sorry!) but after you see the pictures below, I think you will see why.
We actually have vegetables growing! Here is the garden as of yesterday. I am going to post more posts with pictures of each vegetable.
Strawberries in the front of the house
This is what the strawberry plants looked like when we got them
This is what they look like now. They will get flowers on them later but we have to pinch them off so the nutrients go the roots and fruit instead of the flowers. We should get some strawberries this year but it will be much less than next year. I will be pleased with just 1 strawberry - okay maybe 3 so that Tim, Susie and I can get our own.
This one of the apple trees. I should have taken a picture before Tim pruned. It looked much larger the other day. It has to be pruned once each year - looks kinda sad now.
These are the raspberry plants - yum! The tall cane on the left is all that there was when we got them. The green is all new!
Tim used old tires to build our compost pile. To turn the pile, we simply move each layer.
Free Water! Tim also set up a rain barrel to catch the rainwater. Thanks to Cherith Brook for giving us the barrels. Now we just have to wait for it to rain...
This is the last bed that we hand tilled - now we get to pull all of the weeds and roots out of it.
We have lots more beds to till to get the warm season seeds in the ground. We plan to go all the way across the yard with beds. It is hard work but we are REALLY enjoying it!
Another picture of the beds. I'll post pictures of the vegetables soon!
