Veggie Garden Start

It's been so beautiful here for the past week; sunny and warm! I found myself browsing the seed selection at my local store, and yes, I even bought some. Tom Thumb lettuce, Regal Hybrid spinach, and Nelson Hybrid carrots, all from Territorial Seed Company which sells seeds and plants that do well here in the Pacific Northwest.

After that, I just had to visit my garden and see how it's been doing all winter. I cleared out some dried up vines from peas, tomatos, and some marigold stems, and did a bit of weeding. If I'd started earlier in the day I might have just planted a few of the seeds just to see how they'd grow! But, it was late and the sun was beginning to set, so I lingered to enjoy the last rays of sun and warmth, and then headed home.

Spring is not far away!!!

Northwest Flower & Garden Show

Taking place through this weekend, in Seattle, and unfortunately I won't be there! Here's the website for the show: http://www.gardenshow.com/seattle/index/ for more information.

Their "Garden Tip of the Week" is to "Build a worm bin for your kitchen!" Such excitement about worms--in the house, no less! I've considered it but somehow, even in winter when a trip to the outdoor composter is something I put off longer than I should, a box of wriggling worms under my sink doesn't have a lot of appeal. However, my cats might find it quite a wonderful new toy--box of live, wriggling stringy things that can provide endless fun. No, think I'll skip it for now.

Fossil Flowers and Op-Art Fish

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture blog recently posted some of their curators' favorite acquisitions over the past year. Favorites included a collection of Washington spiders (35,000 of them!), an incredible op-art looking fish, called a Psychedelic Frogfish (which also made Time's top 10 as number 6: "The World's Weirdest Fish." Also on the Burke curators list (listed in Part 2) were a Brontothere skull, and my favorites (along with the fish) a 15 million-year-old fossil seastar from the Olympic National Park, and some 50 million-year old fossil flowers from British Columbia.

I was happy to see that they posted a photo of the cases containing the spider specimens rather than the actual arachnids, but I was not too happy to see the hyena skin (with a tag through its eye). To see the fish minus spider and dead hyena pics, check out the Time Magazine article--it shows quite a dramatic shot of the fish.