Recipe for Spicy Bloody Mary Vodka, Success

Ingredients

1/2 full bottle of Swedish origin discount vodka

1 full bottle of Russian origin discount vodka 

6 serrano peppers seeded and sliced lengthwise 

4 green jalapenos seeded and sliced lengthwise

5 red jalapenos seeded and sliced lengthwise

1 head of garlic shelled into cloves

2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns

Instructions

Take all these things and put them in the Swedish bottle because it has less alcohol in it and because Sweden makes cooler looking bottles. Remember to top off the Swedish bottle with only Russian vodka due to Sweden's loss of its eastern half (present day Finland) to Russia in 1809. 

Put on the "Hippy Hippy Shake" and flip the bottle around just like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, but never forget your humble roots and make a point not to smile. Wait six hours for your awesomeness to cool down, the gathered crowd to disperse, and for the vodka to become infused with the fruits of Hell you placed in its soul. 

Serve with Homemade Bloody Mary Mix from Allrecipes.com, garnish with everything pickled you can find in your house, and serve to your wife. 

This concludes Lesson #234 of Adam's Tips For A Successful Marriage Through The Use Of Alcohol. 

The Never Ending (Landscaping) Story

'Round about last September, we decided that the current landscaping was no longer working for us, and in fact, was working quite valiantly against us.  When we purchased our beautiful new home (in the dead of a Minnesota winter, I should add), we also inherited the hardiest sumac this side of the Mississippi and a killer vine with roots extending clear to China.  Each year we hacked away a little bit more of the jungle - helped immensely by an unplanned and unannounced afternoon clear-cut when my mother came to visit one weekend - but still, the process wore on.

There came a point when we could no longer see the sun from the sunroom.  Something had to give, and that something was my patience and a month's worth of disposable income.     

Adam and I spent a few weekends last fall finishing my mom's original clear-cutting methods (slash-and-burn would have undoubtedly been quicker, and probably cleaner, but we didn't want TJ getting any ideas.)  Then we decided to call it good enough for one season, and we hoped that winter would kill off whatever we missed.

 

When the snow melted and spring returned, we saw the brown and barren results of our latest project, and we remembered that we had forgotten to complete Step One.  We needed a plan, and we needed someone else to come up with it.

Step One: The Plan, or What $75 Buys You at a Design Center 

We met with Megan from Gertens, and Adam and I both agreed that Megan is the new leader on this project.  What she says, we complete.  No arguing, no complaining, no substitutions.  This time, there will be follow-through (and probably blood).  

 
We purchased our shrubs and evergreens from Gertens and began to lay out the foundation of our project.  I scored some great deals on flowers, plants, and grasses from the Friends School Plant Sale.  (Well, they would have been great deals had I not bought five of everything.  Now they are just "deals".  I won't even tell you what that bill was.)   

It took me several days/weeks to get everything in the ground, likely due to the fact that I measured everything to the nearest quarter-inch.  Adam helped by removing the straggler roots from last year's sumacs and by conveniently going on "radio silence" whenever I had a request for help.

Step Two: Stonescaping, or How Many Rocks Can I Get for $40?

I will leave out the details of this little project, but it should suffice to say that the more you try to level something, the more you need to drink.  After nearly breaking down into tears over a concrete bench off by mere millimeters, I decided to hand my hour-long leveling project over to Adam.  Then I followed my 3 cups of breakfast coffee with the rest of the Pinot Grigio and some string cheese.  Approximately 7 minutes later, everything was perfect, including the bench.  Thanks Adam.  It turns out that you don't need an app for that.

 

Gardening, or Nicole's Summer Project with No Help from Adam Ever

A few weeks back, while Adam was away at a frisbee festival, Pickles and I decided to plant a little summer garden.  Adam has been strongly opposed to this idea for three reasons: first, we will be paying someone else to grow and deliver our summer veggies through a CSA (one small share in a local farm); second, he thinks he'll get roped into helping me dig, plant, weed, water, etc; and third, for good reason, he thinks that this will become another hobby that I will whole-heartedly throw myself into for a week or two, and then decide that I have much better things to do, like hang out on the Internet.

He may still be right, but we went ahead without him anyway.

For the third year in a row, I have not gotten around to planting anything in the flower bed behind our house, so it will become a mostly-sunny garden area again this year.  Maybe next year we will put in a small plot on the south side of the garage.  

I started the garden plot on May 3rd, and three weeks later, things are looking good!  Since we have such a small area, I didn't plant a large quantity of anything, but I did manage to sneak in quite a few varieties: summerlong lettuce mix, spinach, garden beans (which really took off once we had those 2 90+ degree days), carrots, and radishes - all from seed.  I also planted two sugar-snap pea plants from the Farmer's Market.  I'm going to add one or two tomato plants, a cucumber plant, and some peppers (all in containers - no more room at the inn), and then I think we'll be done.  

Delicious!  I'm off to thin the herd.  I didn't expect all the seeds to grow, but I feel like most of them did.  We should be able to start eating the radishes soon.

Mother's Day Weekend in South Dakota

We stayed in Mitchell while we attended Tyler's USD graduation, and we managed to pick up a little bit of that ol' South Dakota Spirit.  (And by spirit, I mean ticks.)  

It was a beautiful spring weekend, and we were very fortunate to spend time with all members of both the Barondeau and Johnson families.  That doesn't happen very often, and we really enjoyed our trip back home.  

Mark, Doug, and Adam showing off the family resemblance

Three dogs in one house made for a very happy TJ - not sure if I can say the same for Mark and Mikayla's dogs, Tucker and Tux.

Travis and Sarah, Adam and Nicole, Mark and Mikayla, Doug and Janice (not pictured: the wonder dogs of TJ, Tucker and Tux)

Congratulations Graduate!

We recently ventured back to the Coyote State to wish Tyler luck as he commences life in the real world.  Adam and Christopher had a lot to say about what that takes - my bet is on money and connections.    

Tyler had the honor of choosing which honors to display upon his graduation robes.  He eventually settled upon Paintball Club, Secular Students Alliance, Anime Revolution, and the Council for Exceptional Children - or maybe it was just magna cum laude.  It's hard to recall.

The whole group gathered to celebrate the tallest member of our family and his achievement: Nicole and Adam, Amanda and Christopher, Tyler and Courtney, Deb and Ron ("Mom" and "Dad").

They're smiling because there will be no more talk of FAFSA in their house.  In our house, FAFSA is all we talk about.  It's the best. 

Congratulations, new grad.  Here's a photo for the cover of Business Week.  Now go out there and economize!  Stay away from credit default swaps and sub-prime mortgages.  But you already knew that, didn't you?  Good luck, buddy!

Squirrel and Friends

Because I know how much you care, our squirrel is back, and this time, he brought friends.

Broken-ear bunny has become quite attached to resident squirrel, and they work as a team to get every last grain of bird feed.  Neighborhood robin prefers the periphery of the action, but then, who doesn't?