and grow and grow and grow?

With two (different from those above and of the eight kinds) tomatoes, apricots, corn and cantaloupe!

the otter & the paddle boat

The dogs had a great day swimming. The owners came home muddy & exhausted, as did the dogs. Annie swims like an otter - no splashing, graceful, the water barely moves. Blue, on the other hand, swims like a paddle boat - splashing, half standing, scared. Annie will go for the bumper with focus and determination. Blue just goes. He usually gets distracted along the way but then remembers the bumper. More practice with Blue will hopefully bring him around to the non-splashing kind of swimming - it makes for less mess on the owners!

We broke ground!

Tuesday, July 29th at 9:35 am we broke ground for the new UMNH. It was an amazing morning & so fun to be around 500+ people who love the museum as much as I do.

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

my littlest brother - 24 today. Where does the time go?

fresh from the garden

There are three garden areas at the Volta house: the front 165, eight barrels on the backyard cement patio, and the side garden that houses the tomatoes.

Today, Rob and I picked the first tomatoes from our garden. Last year, the only one to enjoy the bounties of the barrel containered tomato patch was Annie the mean-spirited-just-as-they-turn-red-tomato-eating dog. While it was funny to see her slink down the rows between the containers and sniff out the ripe fruit, it was also painful and as I stated before, very mean. I didn't have a fresh tomato from the garden after she returned from the 4th of July visit with the grandparents. This year, we moved the patch to the side of the house and replanted the barrels with Anaheim peppers (take that mean dog). Now they, Annie and the blue dog she is training, only have access to two of our 16 glorious heirloom tomato plants. There is NOTHING like a freshly picked tomato - we were in heaven. I can't believe we grew these plants from seed!

When we ventured to the front 165, Rob pointed out TWO pumpkins, many baby cantaloupes, one baby watermelon, three zucchini squash ready to be picked, plus three rows of corn shoulder-high. We BBQed the smallest of the squash and to my surprise - I loved it! I can't wait to harvest more & make bread & cookies and of course, more BBQed treats!

While we didn't get the fourth garden patch planted with onions, it seems we will be eating well this summer and fall from the veggies that have grown in our gardens.

where I work

I work at the Utah Museum of Natural History on the University of Utah campus (top photo). This library-turned-museum building, built in the 30's, displays just a snippet of what we have to share. We have incredible collections - most of which are housed in the basement or off-site. These pictures/renderings are of our new facility. My job is to work with a small team of people to help find funding so we can build these cool new digs! We break ground on July 29th and will hopefully have the doors open for visitors the first part of 2011.

little get away

Take one quiet mountain setting. Add in good food, your best girlfriend, and top it off with two days relaxing by the pool. What do you have? A little spot of heaven on earth...just what the doctor ordered!