Author: Average Jane

Average Jane and the Sand Hill Plums

While I was at BlogPaws, a group of my friends traveled to Western Kansas and waded through thorny thickets to harvest Sand Hill plums. You may recall my jelly-making experience with last year's crop; this year the idea was to include the whole gang in more stages of the process.

This past Sunday was jelly and jam making day. If you click through to last year's photos, you can see that the plums are usually tiny—about the size of cherries. For some reason (global climate change?), they grew monstrously huge this year and they were unusually abundant.

The pickers brought back five 5-gallon buckets of them, which yielded more than 100 jars of jam and jelly and five half-gallon bottles of plum wine.

I arrived at my friend Christy's house a little after 9:00 a.m. Cagey had spent the night there, so they had a good head start on sterilizing jelly jars and making delicious salads for lunch.

There were five of us there dividing up the labor throughout the day. The shifts from task to task were mostly unspoken: we would move from cooking down plums on the stove to boiling water to sterilizing the wine bottles to draining juice to mashing pulp to measuring sugar to mixing and cooking jelly to filling jars to sealing the jars in a water bath. Whatever needed doing, someone was there to step up and get it done in between shooing small children out of the danger zone and stopping for snacks and drinks.

I couldn't stay all afternoon because I had a three o'clock meeting, but we had four batches of jelly and jam finished before I left. I took a few jars home and was sad that I didn't manage to leave with any plum/jalapeño jelly, but I'll get some later. Each of us will have plenty to last us throughout the year, even if we give some away.

I'm really enjoying this annual tradition and I hope I can make it out to pick plums next year. Not that I won't enjoy the results of the harvest either way.

July 9, 2012
Average Jane Gets Colorful

Last weekend I had a blast doing the Color Run 5K with my friend Bonnie. What's the Color Run? Well, I imagine that someone saw some photos of a Holi celebration, thought, "How can I bring that to the U.S. in a non-religious context?" and decided a 5K was the way to go.

The 5K route was around Kansas City's sports complex. About every 3/4 of a mile, there was a Color Station with attendants who would throw handfuls of powdered pigment at you as you ran by. At the end of the race, they invited everyone to gather in a crowd for a Color Party, which meant opening up the packet of pigment you received at check-in and throwing it into the air. That's where the serious color came from.

Here are some of the photos I took that day:

Here's Bonnie with Arrowhead Stadium in the background. Note the clean white shirt. I was wearing one just like it.

There was a huge crowd – about 15,000 people. We were in the first wave of the run, so we managed to get through to the end and leave while it was still easy to do so.

All be-colored at the end of the race.

Even though I brought sheets to drape over my car seats, I couldn't help but smudge some pigment onto the fabric of my car door. Oops.

Pro tip: Don't park too close to a color station.

I had saved my old running shoes specifically for this race, so they were ready for the trash in more ways than one when I was finished.

Next on my agenda: The Glow Run on Saturday, July 14th. Because I'm obviously up for any color-oriented racing gimmick that someone can think up!

July 3, 2012
Average Jane, Dog Nurse

When I got back from BlogPaws, I could see that Toby's ears were still bothering him a great deal. I made an appointment at the vet and took him in as soon as I could.

It turns out he does have a lot of wax buildup, so I went home with some ear drops designed to dissolve the excess. The vet noticed that one of his eyes looked a little red and irritated, so I got some ointment for that. I also pointed out the pimply rash Toby has on his belly, which resulted in a prescription for antibiotics and some special shampoo.

The shampoo created a bit of a quandary since we don't have a bathtub. The vet recommended that I just take him into the shower, which works fine except for the fact that the shampoo has to sit on him for 5-10 minutes before it's rinsed off.

That means I have to try to overlook the ball of abject misery huddled in the corner of the shower while I'm shampooing my own hair and shaving my legs. I find myself apologizing a lot.

Most of the treatments haven't been working particularly well so far. His ears are still very sensitive and his belly rash persists. Really, only the eye looks better and it's still red-rimmed if you pull down the lid. Poor little guy.

So the antibiotics have been extended an extra five days, the showers remain on the schedule every third day, and there are four doses left of the hated ear drops.

The only good thing is that the medicated shampoo seems to be improving his coat overall. His hair was very thin on his back when we started, but after just one shampoo, I could see velvety new fur covering the area.

He goes back to the vet once a week until he shows improvement. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

July 2, 2012
Average Jane’s Wonderful BlogPaws Experience

I had such a good time in Salt Lake City at BlogPaws. I loved seeing old friends and making new ones and it was even more fun with my good friend Spyder as a roommate. Here are some of the photos I took, in no particular order.

Here is BZTAT, Jenifer Whiston and Spyder, all doing what social media people do at dinner! We met up for local microbrews and dinner the night before the conference.

This is my new dog nephew, Duff, and his mom Katharine McMahon of Kat & Dogs. I fell in love with his brother, Lucky, at last year's BlogPaws, which led directly to my adopting Toby. (Note: If you put Toby next to Lucky or Duff, it would be the perfect illustration of the difference between "pet quality" and "show quality" in a particular breed.)

Just like last year, there were lots of dogs in attendance. This is Tillman, spokesdog for Natural Balance. As you can see, he's a monster skateboarder. He and his dog buddies and handlers travel around in a huge bus and do various amazing dog tricks.

This is Preston. He can ride a scooter or a bike. Unfortunately, his bike didn't make it to the conference thanks to an airline snafu, but he did a great job on the scooter.

I loved this little guy's studded "wristbands."

There were also cats, like this lovely gal in her fetching pink wig.

I spent a little time with Bret Michaels, who was debuting his new line of pet accessories at PetSmart. He didn't have a lot to say, but he didn't object to my bringing home a cool studded jacket and leash for Toby.

Here's Laurie Ruettimann with a flat capybara because, why not? It was wonderful to get to hang out with Laurie one evening and see her session on monetizing your blog. It was definitely one of the most dynamic sessions I attended.

Speaking of capybaras, I was happy to reconnect with Melanie Typaldos and Stacy Winnick. They're determined that next year's BlogPaws will feature many more small animals such as rabbits and rodents.

On the first day of the conference, I skipped one of the session blocks and instead made an Honor Flag for the cats from my past. They strung them all into two long banners and hung them on the stage at the closing event.

The important thing to know about BlogPaws is that it's truly a social media conference. There are sessions about blogging, SEO, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, podcasting, video and just about anything else you can think of that would be useful to someone in the social media space. There's nothing about it that's restricted to pet bloggers, it's just that pet owners love to hang out with each other and it provides a great backdrop for a lot of knowledge.

The sponsors were incredible. This is all the stuff I brought back, which I divided between my cats, my dog, my sister's dogs and a local rescue group. I'll be writing some product reviews in the next few weeks because there were some outstanding new products in there that are well worth sharing.

Next year's conference is back in the Washington, DC area and I've already purchased my conference pass. Can't wait to see everyone in 2013!

June 25, 2012
Average Jane Leaves for BlogPaws

Today's the day I get on a plane at the crack of dawn and head to Salt Lake City for BlogPaws 2012. This year, my friend Spyder is coming with me, so it's really going to be fun!

I'm not taking my laptop, so this will probably be my last post until Sunday or Monday. However, for anyone I meet at the conference, I'd like to introduce my animal family.

This is Toby. The fact that I have him at all can be directly attributed to BlogPaws 2011. He's a 9-year-old Italian Greyhound that I adopted after his original family gave him up, post-divorce. He enjoys chew sticks and accompanying me on my daily 5K walks through our neighborhood.

Dr. Jones is my only male cat. He spends a lot of time thinking of stuff to get into. Fortunately, he also spends a lot of time sleeping. He has a very fluffy belly that must be woozled regularly.

Trillian is my youngest female cat. She loves to be snuggled and petted, especially when she's away from her arch-nemesis, Xena, whom you'll meet shortly. If you work for my company's IT department, please pretend you never saw this photo. If you ever come over to my house to eat, please know that I keep lots of Lysol wipes on hand to disinfect the countertops and appliances.

Xena enjoys sunbathing, treats and constant access to the food dish, as you can see. She and Trillian spend their days establishing and defending vital strategic bases in the kitchen and living room. Xena is my husband's kitteh wife and she likes to dramatically fling herself into his arms.

Velvet is our oldest cat. I adopted her as a "buffer cat" between Xena and a very elderly cat we had at the time. Despite the fact that she's at least twelve years old, Velvet is the most playful cat in the household. I think she may even play with the dog when we're not looking.

So that's the gang I'm leaving behind for the long weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting all the pets that people actually bring with them to the conference, hanging out with all the friends I made last year and making some new friends.

June 20, 2012
Average Jane’s Dog Parenting Failure

I noticed Toby scratching his ears right before I was going to take him out anyway. It seemed like the perfect time to take the ear cleaning drops outside with me in case he decided to shake his head after I applied some.

We went outside and I started squeezing the bottle into his ear, but the drops were coming out really slowly so I squeezed harder.

The applicator tip flew out of the bottle and ear cleaning juice drenched my shoulder and the dog's head and neck. I was committed at that point, so I poured a little in Toby's other ear while I fished around for the bottle parts.

Then I had no choice but to rinse off the dog with the hose. You don't usually bathe Italian Greyhounds, but in this case I needed to make sure he wasn't going to be leaving greasy ear drop marks all over the house.

We stayed outside longer than usual so he could roll around in the grass and look at me balefully.

Needless to say, he got a treat when we went back inside.

But he wasn't happy. Not happy at all.

June 17, 2012
The Neighborhood Where Average Jane Works

Here are some more photos of the fun stuff in the area near my office.

June 13, 2012
Average Jane Is Obsessed

Yesterday I woke up a little bit late and had to rush out the door to get to the site of the Tri-Yoga 5K that I'd impulsively signed up for the previous week. I was determined to do as much running as I could manage and I'd even gone to a short running clinic for newbies the day before.

Unfortunately, after I was already on the road I realized I'd forgotten to put on my Nike+ Fuelband that tracks all my movement. Aaagh! I was already running late so there was no way I could turn around and get it. So I wouldn't get any "credit" for my 5K. Darn it.

I didn't run as much as I'd hoped to, but my 5K time was the best I've managed in many years. I came in 150th out of 165, but I was incredibly pleased at how it had gone and I feel very optimistic about my other upcoming 5Ks.

Once the race was over, I did a bit of yoga and headed home. Toby had been very disappointed to watch me put on my running shoes and leave without him so once he greeted me I thought, "Why not take the dog on our usual 3.4 mile route?"

I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that I wasn't also thinking about making up those Fuel Points. Yesterday was Day 30 and I'd hit my goal every single day since I started!

It was still quite early and I knew Toby would appreciate the exercise, especially because he'd been cheated out of his walk the previous day due to my dad's garage sale.

So that's how I ended up covering 6.5 miles of ground on foot in a single morning.

I thought I'd be really tired after all that, but instead I felt energized. I waited for my husband to get up and we went out for an incredibly hearty breakfast. After that, I went to do a volunteer project, attended my 7-year-old nephew's baseball game, and took my sister's 5 o'clock yoga class, which was just what I needed for my stiff leg muscles.

After dinner at my sister's house, I came home, cleaned the cat boxes (ick), and went to bed at 9:00 p.m.

I didn't get in a walk this morning due to rain, so I'm trying to decide between using our treadmill at work or hoping it clears up so I can walk tonight after work. Either way, I have to get those points!

June 11, 2012
Wordless Wednesday: Average Jane Walks the Dog

June 6, 2012
Average Jane Takes A Painting Class

Last week I created something that serves as a vivid reminder (literally and figuratively) of why I'm a writer and not a graphic artist.

This photo may be my favorite piece of artwork to emerge from the entire experience. Foreshadowing!

A while back, Cagey emailed me about a LivingSocial offer for a painting class at ARTichokes. We were originally going to do an abstract class, but that one got canceled, so instead we ended up in a class where we were led through the steps to paint a still life of some tomatoes in a dish on a table. I'm not going to lie: that isn't a subject matter that I was anxious to have represented in my home decor scheme. But what can you do?

I will say that the gallery where the classes were held was really cool. And they let you bring your own wine to drink during the class. So they got huge points for that.

The instructor had us start off by dividing the canvas into sections and outlining the tomatoes and their dish.

You can already tell that my tomatoes aren't quite as tomato-shaped as a person might want.

Then we started adding other colors.

And shading.

And more shading.

I'm not so good at the shading.

And I'm really bad at highlighting!

Sad to say, that last photo is of my final result. It looks like a pomegranate on a tie-dyed sheet with two other pomegranates sitting on a Polaroid of the sheet. I will not be hanging this up in my house.

The good (?) news is that it was no worse than anyone else's rendition.

However, despite the undesirability of the finished product, the whole experience was a ton of fun! I enjoyed the entire evening and I would take another class there or do one of their open art nights without hesitation.

Maybe I can even bring back my tomato canvas and paint something better over it.

June 4, 2012