Some Say a Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

...but for this one, I'm relatively speechless.

Oh shit.

I guess the yellow squash was just practice.

Mutant Fruit and Mystery Plants

Well, we are finally getting some fruit out of our garden with the squash plants as our winner. There are several cucumbers, but they've been a bit slow going and could use a couple more days. And then there's our first zucchini (Amber just told me we now have three). Other than that, we have flowering buds on our tomato plants and some good signs from our peppers but nothing to get too excited about.

In keeping with the Old Testament notion of giving the firstfruits, I had to come up with someone to give our first squash too (Amber thought this was extremely weird). So, I finally decided to give it to one our pastors who has his own amazing garden and is heading up our church's urban farm. In fact, the night I picked our first result (last Friday), the urban farming initiative in Pittsburgh was having a fundraiser at a local bar. So, I took my fresh squash with me and offered it to my pastor and let him know I self-pollinated it too - which he thought was hilarious, and a person who overheard what I said, high-fived me and said, "Well give him a cigar!"

In the process we've managed to have some curious results. First, a couple weeks ago we noticed a plant was growing out of our compost pile - not a bad place to grow, mind you, as the soil there is probably the best out of our entire back yard. Nonetheless, we're not quite sure how the seeds go there and aren't 100% positive what the plant actually is. However, from the looks of it, the plant is probably a cucumber seed and must have gotten there as a result of us throwing some scrap piece of cucumber on the compost pile some time ago. Additionally, we acquired an odd looking squash fruit that managed to, so it seems, allow a whole new stem of the plant grow along with it right down its side. Not actually sure how this happened, and I've never seen it before, but perhaps it was the result of some wacky cross-pollination I did when trying to self-pollinate the plants!

The Worth of a Pair of Boots

This past Saturday, we were to meet Amber's parents on the other side of Pittsburgh to give her mom a pair of boots she left at our house the weekend before. These weren't just any boots, but were the boots she wears when they go on motorcycle trips, and they were just getting ready to ride down to North Carolina.

So, I hurried Amber out the door (as we were already running late), only to realize ten minutes later that we had forgotten the boots! We turned around, picked up the boots, and went through a little deja vu experience and were on our way. Then, we got to the interstate. Apparently, Pittsburgh has this lovely concept that they like to do ALL their road construction on weekends to avoid it getting in the way of people traveling to work during the week. Well, it wouldn't be such a bad idea if they didn't work on every highway at the same time AND closed them off down to one lane - AND gave some more forewarning to everyone who utilizes these roads a bit earlier than the 11:00 news the night before.

So, needless to say, we found ourselves in a sea of traffic. This was, of course, quite ironic given the signs we saw on the interstate reminding us it was "nozone action day" and to limit our fuel consumption. Traffic was going so slow, cars were pulling off wherever they could as they were overheating or running out of gas. When all was said in done, what should have been a 25-30 minute drive took us almost 3 hours and 1/4 tank of gas... our entire Saturday afternoon spent sitting in traffic. Grr...

At least Amber's mom rewarded us with buying us lunch afterward and naming me the best son in law in the universe (of course, Amber's an only child, so I'm guessing she doesn't have much to compare me to). Nevertheless, right now, I'm in the middle of preparing material for the twelve schools I'm applying to for PhD programs; And if I get an offer from a school outside of Pittsburgh on a day I'm stuck in traffic, I think I'll be pretty motivated to take it.

The Firstfruits

Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen some tremendous growth in our garden. The lettuce is tall enough we can cut and eat; our zucchini, squash, and cucumber plants have grown to ridiculously large sizes; the tomato plants are starting to bud their first flowers; and a number of bees have fortunately found our little aisle of vegetable plants (that was the happiest I’ve ever been to see bees in my life!).

In addition to the bees, which have only recently begun to do their job, I’ve had to self-pollinate some of the plants by using a cotton swab to extract pollen from a male flower and take to a female one. Ok, so maybe that sounds a little gross (Amber finds it slightly offensive); yet nevertheless, I can say I’m the proud ‘father’ of our first two squash.

On the other hand, we’re still waiting for our peppers to take off, as they’ve been a bit slow going. AND, it seems I’ve discovered that I’m prone to breaking out in a ghastly allergic rash when brushing up against the leaves of vegetable plants! Ugh!

In other news, things are finally starting to slow down a bit after I preached at my church and re-took the GRE two days later on July 2nd. I didn't do as well as I had planend (on either of them), but it's over and I'm quite relieved. Now its on to filling out more paperwork for applying to PhD programs and preparing for August. In August, we have two weddings in our hometown of Lafayette, IN (one is my brother's), school starts up again, and I have a paper to present in Seattle that requires some further work.

Busy busy busy

No doubt, the length in time between now and my previous blog bears evidence to the busyness of our lives at the given moment. Last night, I preached at our church on Romans 8, today and tomorrow Amber is at a conference in State College for sign language interpreting, and tomorrow I take the GRE in hopes of bettering more scores to increase my chances of getting into a quality PhD program next fall. Hopefully, by tomorrow night I'll be able to breath a sigh of relief!

During the month of June, I was also able to submit a philosophy essay to an academic journal, which is currently being peer reviewed but the editor of the journal said he was planning on publishing it. Additionally, I wrote a book review on a recent commentary regarding the works of Emmanuel Levinas and sent it off to another academic journal. And today, I put in the mail a grant proposal to an organization that offers fellowships worth up to $3000 to do research on the nexus between theology and society. Ah, the games I play all in the name of academic advancement. Now its the waiting game, but it was also a relief to get these projects done and submitted.

This last Thursday, Shane Claiborne visited our church and spoke to a packed out crowd regarding his latest book, "Jesus for President," which I highly recommend. CNN was there too, and you can check out their coverage of it right here. Consequently, some friends from Indianapolis dropped in to see us the same day while in the middle of a road trip, so we managed to go to half of the event, and then stepped out in order to spend time with them (thanks for stopping by Dennis and Heidi!).

How (Too) Firm A Foundation

Finally, after an uphill battle, I think our garden is starting to shape up. Of course, it's still a little bit behind schedule and it won't bear any fruit for another few weeks, at least its starting to grow. Turns out, the dirt in PA just isn't cut out for growing vegetables as its about 20% clay. I talked to an owner of a local nursery and he said, "You could make bricks out of our dirt here. It takes at least two years of tilling the ground here and working in compost and organic materials before you'll get good soil." Nice...Guess we should've looked into things a bit more. No wonder everyone has raised beds around here.

Nevertheless, we've made three big changes that I think have helped us out tremendously. First, we placed our grass clippings around the plants in order to help hold in moisture and keep the ground from drying out so quickly. Next, we broke down and used some 20-20-20 fertilizer we had around the house (we had hoped to go "organic" but... alas...). Finally, I brought home about twenty pounds of used coffee grounds from the coffee shop I work at and we spread it around our plants. So, "with your powers combined..." we're finally starting to see some progress.

In other news, I managed to get an assistantship next school year as an editor for Duquesne's academic publishing company. Not only does it pay for my tuition and offer a stipend, it will provide me an insider's look on the publishing business and provide me some ample opportunities to make contact with people within academia. Part of my job description will be finding scholars within the field who can serve as peer reviewers of the manuscripts Duquesne is thinking about publishing. Additionally, I was just accepted to present a paper on the Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, at a national conference in Seattle in late August. My brother Bryce just moved there, so not only will I get to present "with the big dogs," I'll have a chance to see my brother and have a free place to stay.

We're having fun continuing our CVS treasure hunt and earning "Extra Care Bucks" (ECBs) The last couple times, we've combined coupons with CVS sales, and along with the return ECBs, we've actually earned money off our transactions... Craziness. For instance, we purchased everything in the picture to the right for a total of 67 cents after using coupons and ECBs. The last time we went, we purchased some shampoo, deoderant, and other things, and after everything panned out, we spent about 20 cents, and made money on our ECBs. The clerk was incredulous.

Last weekend, we saw Over the Rhine perform in Pittsburgh. It was somewhat of a disappointing show even though we enjoy their music so much. The show was only about an hour long and the seats Amber and I were right next to the speakers. We listened to most of the show with our ears plugged! Overall, we had a fun time though, as virtually everyone we know in Pittsburgh was in attendance. We went out with most of them afterwards to a place called Fatheads that has some of the most amazing hamburgers.

Aside from all these things, I've been busying myself with relearning Algebra in preparation for the GRE which I am retaking in early July for my Phd applications and getting over a cold that Amber graciously passed on to me. I went through a whole roll of Halls yesterday to ease my sore throat, and now I'm on to the perpetual nose-drainage stage... Who knew one head could produce so much snot... (TMI, I know). Hopefully, I'll be feeling better soon so I can stay on top of the various projects I am working onat the moment.

Do You Believe?

“The sterner part of me, the part that’s determined to be nobody’s fool, says, ‘Just admit it. God is a fiction we’ve invented to help us live with our awareness of our own mortality.’ Dogs and cats think they will live forever, and have no god. I can’t help but notice that the only species that knows from the get-go that it will one day no longer be alive is the one that erects cathedrals and marches around with statues dressed in robes.

“But at the same time a universe with no ordering intelligence of any kind is so barren. I wonder if some of us aren’t too smart for our own good on the subject. It’s easy, especially in this late age, to congratulate yourself on your ability to see through everything, but when you see through everything you end up with nothing at all. Do I, does anyone really and truly want to be so undeluded as to live in a world wholly devoid of mystery and magic?”

- Novelist Michael Cunningham when asked, “Do you believe in God?” in Antonio Monda, Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 36.