Well we’ve got two months of 2011 under our belt now. If you’re like me you might have had a few New Year’s resolutions that have either gone the way of the dinosaur or perhaps are still going strong. A lot of my good intentions focused on personal health. Not like I’m a total train wreck but this waist line and blood sugar levels aren’t going to fix themselves.

I’ve done the gym membership in the past. While my commitment starts out strong in January, by April 1^st I’m the fool who sitting on his backside while a faceless exercise conglomerate collects my monthly bank authorized drafts.  And yes, I can terminate my membership at any time but there’s that lingering belief my inspiration will return. Round about Labor Day all hope is lost and I officially call it quits.

This year I decided to return to my long suspended habit of walking the dogs. Somehow I convinced myself that once the big dogs, Hannah and Whitney, were gone the little guy, Max, would do fine running around his yard. We even adopted another small dog, Mr. Otis, as his companion to spur him on. Unfortunately nobody explained it to Mr. Otis who would much rather hide under the pillows all day then chase another K-9 around the rhododendrons. I still thought that would all change when Trixie joined the clan in 2009. Her Poodle energy worked while the sun was shining but not so much when it rained. And as everyone knows, it rains a lot here.
   

Anyway I have been chartered with completing 3 walks per week around our Shoreline
neighborhood – a reasonable goal. Max and I head out alone first. He injured his back leg in December so the pace is not so demanding. It was also the extra guilt I needed to get me off the couch and on the sidewalk. Since he used to walk with the old girls he fell right into step and seems to really enjoy the outings. Once he’s back inside, it’s Trixie and Mr. Otis’ turns. They get a longer jaunt at a quicker pace. Figured it would help burn off the extra energy these two part Terriers possess. Doesn’t make a bit of difference however I have learned that Mr. Otis is afraid of rain.

So far we’ve got 7 weeks under our belt (pun intended) and we’re going strong. With any luck Max’s leg will mend enough that the two groups will merge soon. Who knows maybe Mr. Otis will overcome his Ombrophobia. And while I haven’t seen a downward trend on the bathroom scale I at least lost some of the guilty conscience. Now if I could only stop eating the Girl Scout cookies .

Prune-A-Thon. Just the name causes my cutting hand to twitch even now. Last weekend with much anticipation I attended the annual event organized by Plant Amnesty .  And while there were discreet fundraising efforts, the entire focus was on helping the ordinary gardener advance their diabolical, I mean, botanical knowledge. 

Several hands-on (instructor's only) sessions addressed general tree pruning as well as some species specific classes. With my small orcard in mind, I hit the one about fruit trees. Starting with a basic review of tree biology the instructor stressed the need to know your triming intentions. Fruit vs. leaf production is the result of branch angles. Forty (45) to sixty (60) degrees is the sweet spot for heavier harvests. Visualizing next year's growth helps to determine this year's actions. The direction and strength of a future branch all depends on where you cut today. The overall goal is good sunlight and air flow among the branches.

A good learning moment presented itself when the instructor accidentally broke off a lead branch. She had been conducting her pruning to effect a conical shape (christmas tree like). The fateful removal of the lead (star) branch made that impossible. After a quick assessment she quickly transitioned the tree into an open crown structure. The tree was young so a change of plans was suitable. Her actions served as a great demonstration that pruning like all gardening is a work in progress. The day's program also provided several slide shows about dealing with overgrowth, managing rhodys, nurturing clematis and growing roses. In a triage state of mind I attended the last two offerings with hopes of salvaging some much negleted plants.  
  
Sky Nursery in Shoreline proved a convenient and gracious host. Not only did they provide many flyers that supplemented the day's activities, it really helped to run ideas and questions by their informed staff. I know I'll be consulting with Dan (the fruit farmer in his time off) when it comes to my apple and pear orchard. Other organizations represented were Master Gardners , Seattle Tree Fruit Society  and my favorite, Seattle Tilth Garden Hotline . Someone to call when you don't know when to fertilize or water. How cool is that? 

Regardless of the dreary weather outside this time of year, you need to start planning that garden in February if you want fresh produce by summer. That probably explains why all those garden catalogs arrive in January when yard work seems so distant. So after looking through Spring Hill , Michigan Bulb and Gurnsey's  booklets I was eager to place my orders. Of course the looming deadlines of their sales promotions provided some motivation. Anyway, it took less that an hour to secure my 49 bulbs, 5 potted plants, 3 bareroots.and 22 seed packs. That's a lot of planting especially when you consider the seeds alone could 3,900 or more starts. Something tells we'll have a few leftover seeds. 

 

Like most 'urban farmer' we have limited garden space so I want to make sure it's used well. It is also important to stage the harvests so broccoli, spinach and carrots will be ready at spaced intervals rather than all at once. The two of us can only eat so many heads of lettuce in a week. So my next step was to identify the time it will take to go from seeds to edible plants. From there I was able to set up a schedule for greenhouse germination and in-ground planting using an excel spreadsheet. Now all I have to is wait until the packages arrive. They say you tend to do better with a written plan. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

By now you've heard that December was a blistering month regarding existing property sales. It's probably no surprise given that Seattle's real estate prices were about 26.3% off the market peak of June 2007. The 2010 year end absorption rates for homes city-wide was 3.8 months while condos were 8.3 months. Six months is considered a balanced market. Drop below it and your in a Seller's Market. Move above it and the Buyer is in the driver's seat. But it doesn't take much for this residential engine to shift gears.  

Already January shows hints of idling as reflected by a 42% drop in closings from the prior month. Couple that with a 7% increase in overall inventory for the same time period and absorption rates quickly transcend into a Buyer's Market territory. But it's too early to say what course this ride will take. Lower sales can somewhat be attributed to the holidays. People simply have other things to focus on during December. If they didn't make an offer on a house well before Christmas then there's no closing in January. It's just a matter of logistics really. 

It's going to take at least the month of February to see just where this road leads. Certainly prices are very attractive and while the industry experts predict further declines you have to wonder at what expense. A 5% drop in a home's purchase price (the average decline in Seattle over 2010) can easily be run down by an  iinterest rate jump. And while waiting for that possible price discount, you're reducing your next year's tax deductions. All in all the good houses that are well priced will likely sell quickly. There may even be multiple offers in the choice locations. But for now it's a little early in this road trip to say we're off to a good start.

 For years we have lugged around more storage containers and cardboard boxes then I would care to admit. The contents are leftover items from Nic's days as a collectibles dealer in Snohomish, WA. Sometime last fall we decided to restart the business of buying and selling yesteryear's treasures. Once we finished digging through everything our next step was to build inventory. That's when we began hitting the auction circuit. Besides the twice weekly events at Sunset Auction in Edmonds, WA, there is the twice monthly auctions at Tuxedo Antique Mall in Duvall, WA. 

Take it from me. If you want to save money, auctions are the way to go. Getting an oriental rug or complete dining room set at a fraction of retail prices is typical. Dishes and stemware provide some of the best bargains. Artwork and lawn art alike can be bght dirt cheap. But to capitalize in this environment you need time and patience. Not something most shoppers possess. Persevere and it's like winning the lottery. Besides individual lots (single items) there are box lots. And they are pretty much what the label says, a container full of different items sold as one unit. Acquiring goods in this manner are the most economical but not every auction house offers this type of merchandising.

 

As autumn progressed we slowly built an inventory requiring many hours of sorting, pricing, tagging and cataloging. Our two distribution channels were Ebay  and the Waterfront Antique Mall in Edmonds, WA. Choosing which one to use depended on the specific item. Larger expensive items tended to go online first and then transferred to retail if it failed to sell. The appeal of an item and where the appropriate buyer could be found was the basic guide. We also had to consider logistics like shipping once Christmas drew near. 

Important in all this process was pricing. Not only the research required to put a proper price on each piece but also the psychology behind getting buyers to buy. We started the venture with minimal discounting and adjusted things as time passed. Since the holiday season is over and buyers have closed their wallets we decided to close down the booth and solely use online selling for the next few months. So we packed up all those boxes and containers and stowed them away once again. Don't be surprised if you hear about a yard sale or two when the weather improves.
 

It's been a little over a week since our return from 16 days in sunny Puerto Vallarta Mexico. And it doesn't take long for the gloomy skies of the Pacific Northwest to sap your energy. Even so I have begun my new year's resolutions on a slow build. Last Saturday grudgingly provided mild temperatures and some dim sunlight to get out in the garden. It more or less was my first effort to clean up the disaster caused by the 2010 growing season. I don't think we ever did get temps above 80 between July 4th and Labor Day.

I spent most of afternoon prunning the old apple tree. While we have lived in this home more than four years, I only began last January to educate myself on fruit tree maintenance by attending classes sponsored by Plant Amnesty and City Fruit . Initially the grand dame seem to suffer from apple maggot but a season of observation proved that the problem was actually apple scab. That requires a thorough clean up of fallen fuit and leaves (last October) followed by treatment with a fungicide between now and late spring. I'll be treating the espalier pears and apples as a precaution.

As tempting as expansion is I think I'll keep the current vegetable patch pretty much as is. What's likely to change are the plant varieties and planting method. The exotic tomatoes from the UW Hortocultural Society are off the list. We only got one piece of fruit from a dozen plants. And I'm considering moving the peppers to containers. There's some extra room way out back so I'm considering a bee hive. Should help with pollination and the honey that's harvested would be nice. There's a service that will maintain the hive(s) in echange for most of the honey. Not a bad way to sample apiculture before making an investment. Might need to take a class as well.

There's still more work to be done on the blueberry bushes and the strawberries need a new home after the squirrel scourge of last summer. But most importantly we need to get the greenhouse sealed and ready to go. There are seeds that need planting. Anyway, I'll try and make a regular habit of posting about our progress. By the looks of it there'll be plenty to write about since there is so much to do. But isn't that typical of any yard. Meanwhile stay warm and dry even if you can't get away to tropical climate.   

 

It looks like September is the month for launching new (ad)ventures in our house. Besides a new start-up pet care business, Emerald City Pets , and a new real estate website, Realty Seattle , we're also restarting this blog. What you'll find here are short stories and simple accountings about the daily lives of a same sex couple living just outside Seattle, WA. We share our lives with a bunch of clever, precocious and challenging pets. After living here for 4 years, the summer of 2010 marks our first experiment on a vegetable garden and small fruit orchard. We began the project by constructing an 8' by 12' greenhouse from a mail order kit. Gaby, a friend who is 'soil challenged' in her dowtown condo, lends us a hand on weekends. One of us is a real estate broker while the other is employed part-time at the University of WA after being laid-off mid-June. So don't be surprise if you hear a little about the real estate market or campus activities. We're also exploring different ways to supplement household income. Besides the pet care business we also have an 'E-bay store' called Emerald City Goods & Collectibles. Meanwhile, we're thinking about a road trip to keep the vacation budget modest. And since our 3lb Chihuahua is something of a Facebook celebrity with 5,000 friends, you'll probably read some stories and antecdotes about Stella Luna and her siblings. So return from time to time and see what's happening while we enjoy a Seattle Life.