Melina is having her now-usual two-hour morning nap and I have had a huge cup of coffee (after spilling coffee and grounds all over the kitchen counter) and am buzzing with caffeine. Caffeine usually gives me a creative boost, and since Science Friday is on the radio talking about grafting fruit trees, I'm thinking it's time to graft some apples onto the pear tree out back. This pear tree is in the prime of life and produces copious fruit most years - the only problem is that I don't really like pears, though Melina does. (She has started picking pears off up the ground and biting into them, with varying results. The other day I found a big worm crawling across her hand that I think had been living inside the pear she was eating).
I've looked up grafting on the web (here's a nice blog entry about grafting) and it appears that I will need to start this project in November or December, when I will have to order "scions" (cuttings) from a reputable scion dealer. Looks like I should start with quite a few because it's not guaranteed that they'll all succeed. Then I have to figure out how to actually graft the cuttings onto the tree - fortunately there's plenty of advice out there on the web. Eventually I should end up with a tree that bears both fruit and apples - maybe several kinds! Sounds like a good early spring project.
Other projects I'm contemplating: printing onesies and small children's teeshirts with various designs. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but have been discouraged by the flood of printed onesies I've seen since I got the idea. Does the world really need more onesies printed with cute sayings? I need a more original idea. I'm working on it. It would be fun to develop something to sell at Last Thursday, the local monthly art festival.
Another project: Landscaping the planting strip (also known as the hell strip) between the sidewalk and the street. I've found some good landscaping ideas and Jeff is behind the idea, but I need to find out what plants would survive our hot summers and rainy winters. Next step: trip to the nursery.
Another project: Holding a Northwest Earth Institute course at my house this fall. They have courses on raising environmentally aware children and on bioregionalism. Several of my friends are interested. Next step: Call them and find out if I can hold the classes less than once a week (the schedule they recommend).
Another project: Sign Melina up for swimming classes. They start September 5, but are held on Saturday mornings at 10:00, and I'm not a morning person. Still, the baby needs to learn to swim.
See what caffeine does to me?
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