{"id":109109,"date":"2024-11-09T13:20:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T21:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=109109"},"modified":"2024-11-09T13:20:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T21:20:29","slug":"saturday-gardening-at-pistachio-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saturday-gardening-at-pistachio-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Gardening at Pistachio House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">M<\/span>y beautiful bride Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we&#8217;ve been neglecting it this year, so there&#8217;s still a lot to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I focused my energies on the raised bed behind the chapel. Because we can&#8217;t see this from the house or yard, it has been very much an &#8220;out of sight, out of mind&#8221; situation. It was effectively a mass of long grass and bindweed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I would&#8217;ve given a lot for a Rototiller! Instead, I cut down the grass with the weedwhacker, and then I went in with a hand tiller and broke up the turf and pulled as many of the roots as I could.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I sowed the entire thing with a clover mixture, which I hope will smother out the remainder of whatever grass might still be alive. We want something low-maintenance back there until we can decide what to put in permanently. The clover should also fix some nitrogen into the soil, which is pretty terrible back there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then the drizzle began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Man, am I going to be sore tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My beautiful bride Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we&#8217;ve been neglecting it this year, so there&#8217;s still a lot to do. The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today. I focused my energies on the raised bed behind the chapel. Because we [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-francine-my-love","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/2024-11-09-13.01.18.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-snP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110292,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fridays-the-thirteenth\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":0},"title":"Fridays the Thirteenth","author":"Thom","date":"13 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (\"it's lucky in Italy!\"), so on most Fridays the 13th we would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Francine my love&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87514,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/reason-438-why-i-love-my-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":1},"title":"Reason 438 why I Love my Wife","author":"Thom","date":"01 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"in both the Extraordinary Form and the Benedictine Ordo is the Memorial of the Seven Holy Maccabees. Their story may be found in the Bible - provided you've got a Catholic or an Orthodox one. Martin Luther removed these books from his Bible - so if you don't know their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Francine my love&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":2},"title":"A Sunday at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"22 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop, or \"The Hill\" as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself \"Grit City\". So that's a whole\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Francine my love&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/thom-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":110511,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/small-steps-in-the-oratory\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":3},"title":"Small Steps in the Oratory","author":"Thom","date":"14 July 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"chapel at Pistachio House is the oldest building on the property. It began its life in about 1904 as the shack in which the folks who built Pistachio House lived during construction. Over the decades and century since then, it has served at various times as a coal bin, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Moments in Time&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Moments in Time","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/moments-in-time\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109670,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-twentieth-spoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":4},"title":"The Twentieth Spoon","author":"Thom","date":"01 August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I noticed a tea towel hanging in her kitchen. It illustrated the various types of Welsh love spoons. It still hangs in the kitchen of Pistachio House. If you're not familiar \u2013 as I certainly was not \u2013 there is an old custom in Wales to give carved wooden spoons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Francine my love&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86127,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-feast-on-the-feast\/","url_meta":{"origin":109109,"position":5},"title":"A Feast on the Feast","author":"Thom","date":"23 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, we held our annual feast of thanksgiving at Pistachio House. We had a houseful of guests for dinner, including family and friends. We ate good food, drank good vino tinto (or beer, tonic, cider, water, coffee, or tea as the occasion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christ the King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109112,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109109\/revisions\/109112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}