Everything Is Sacred

Rain, Rain Don’t Go Away

// December 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Flickr Friday: Black Swallowtail

// May 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gardening, Photography

I saw three tiny caterpillars on my dill plants one day and thought I’d wait and see how big they got. For a couple of days they stayed tiny and didn’t really do any visible damage to my dill. Then we went away to Austin for two days to go see Damien Jurado in concert, and when we came back they had devoured one whole plant and had moved on to the other two. They had also at least quadrupled in size. It was at this point that I decided to research to see what they were. They are the caterpillars of the black swallowtail butterfly, which as it turns out is very beautiful. Upon researching and finding that they feed on plants from the parsley family (Umbelliferae) , I decided that instead of killing them or leaving them to destroy all of my dill that I would move them to my parsley plants, which were very large and unlikely to see any real damage in the final couple of days of the caterpillar stage of the butterfly’s life cycle. Sure enough, they only stayed on the parsley two more days, molted and let out it’s last big poo or whatever it was, then moved off to find a place to go into it’s chrysalis stage. I’ve not seen any of the chrysalis or any resulting butterflies yet, but I am still hoping.

I would also like to note that this is one of my first opportunities to show off the macro capabilities of my newest lens, the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 EX DC Macro HSM.  I purchased this lens in February because I needed something wide, and I really wanted something that had 2.8 throughout.  I have been very impressed with it’s build quality and the quality of the images I have taken with it.  It was an added bonus that it is a macro lens.

View the original Flickr photo

Square Foot Gardening (My new obsession)

// May 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gardening

I promise that I started gardening before the Obama’s did…

So for some strange reason this year I decided I wanted to grow a vegetable garden.  Last year I started growing my own herbs and loved it.  I also attempted half-heartedly to grow a bell pepper plant that I bought for transplanting.  It lasted all of a week before some critter (probably a possum) dug up the poor little plant and ate it.  This year, around February or so, I decide I wanted to grow more.  As is usual with me, it started off with a small idea, and the more I read and learned, the more I decided to do.

If I were to do it over today, I would have decided to use a different border material, probably cedar or some other wood that is more aesthetically pleasing.  As it is, I used concrete blocks to create my first Square Foot Garden bed.  I’m not sure what I read that made me decide to use the SFG method, but I first checked the book out from the library and eventually purchased it.  The method is simple.  You create raised beds and fill them with your own special soil: a combination of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost.  The bed is raised so it is easier to get to, the soil is never compacted by being walked on, and should have relatively few weeds to deal with.  I don’t do many things small, so my first bed is a 4′ x 8′ (twice the recommended size that “Mel”, the author of the book, suggested).

I decided to plant many number of things, including some from transplant and some from seed.  I am keeping track of the progress of every plant using Evernote.  You can check it our or I can just tell you what I’ve planted so far:

Transplant

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carnival Tomatoes
• Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes
• Sweet Basil
• Mild Jalapeno
• Queen Siam Thai Basil
• Red Sails Lettuce
• Chives
• Italian Parsley
• Thyme
• Asparagus

Seed

• Bush Beans
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Paris Island Romaine Lettuce
• Baby Spinach
• Bell Pepper
• Sweet Banana Pepper
• Green Bunching Onions
• Dill
• Cilantro

Flickr Friday: Tooth Grin

// January 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Photography

When you first become a parent you hear from everyone around you about how fast time flies with your kids…but there is no real way to be prepared for how quickly a baby develops.  It seems every single day is a new milestone.  The way Parker looks at the world is so fun…everything is new and exciting to him.  This past couple of weeks have been pretty big in his life.  First, his first two bottom teeth popped out.  I couldn’t help but capture he silly little toothy grin.  The crazy thing is that since I took this picture last week, he has already had another tooth (upper front right) come through, with the next one about to come out!  Not to mention the fact that this last week he actually finally figured out how to crawl… this is both an exciting and scary thing.  I’m so excited to watch him move and be active and play, but at the same time now we have to finally “baby proof” our house.  He seems to already have a knack for finding that one thing in the room that he shouldn’t be playing with.  He is fascinated with Izze (our cat) and the cords for the blind in the living room…both things that we really don’t want him playing with unsupervised.  Oh well, we know that parenting is an adventure. Christina and I keep telling each other how amazed we are by how much we love him.  We know we are so blessed to have such a healthy, happy little boy

I’m going to do my best to revive one of my favorite parts of blogging… Flickr Friday.  The reasons are many: adds frequency to blogging, gives me a steady topic, I love taking pictures and showing them off, I need something to motivate me to continue to blog and to take more pictures.

Coffee in San Antonio

// January 9th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Coffee

If you now much of anything about me, you know that I have a little bit of an addiction to coffee. Moving to San Antonio from small towns in Oklahoma (Claremore & Shawnee), there was a real shortage of good coffee shops to be found.  So when I moved to San Antonio, I was so excited to experience Starbucks.  Who doesn’t love the fact that there is always one near by when you need it and that the coffee is pretty good.  They also are pretty intentional on the overall experience within the stores… or at least they used to be.  Maybe I’m just over it, or maybe they really are going downhill.

So I’ve begun a new personal quest to research and try out other avenues to good coffee in San Antonio.  My most recent passion has been making espresso at home with my Ascaso Dream. (The pictures up top are from making coffee at home. That is my best attempt so far at making latte art. Christina’s homemade chocolate anise biscotti was the perfect compliment.) The natural progression, then, is the find the best espresso roast beans to make my coffee at home.  Right now, my absolute favorite espresso comes from Wildfire Coffee Roasters here in San Antonio.  They roast their own coffee in small batches at their single San Antonio and date every package so you know how fresh it is.  I am absolutely addicted to their espresso (and the rest of their roasts are great too).

That said, from a little research I have also learned of two other roasters in San Antonio that I have yet to try, but that are certainly on my list:

- San Antonio Coffee Roasters

From what I gather they are a supplier only, and don’t have their own shop.

- Kiva Coffee Roasters

They are technically located in Fair Oaks Ranch, but close enough to be considered a local roaster. They are small volume and I don’t think they have a shop either.

As far as actual coffee houses go, I’m compling a list to try and review. First, the places I have been to:

• Wildfire Coffee Roasters- I’ve already talked about their fresh roasted beans, which is what makes them a great place to go get a great cup of coffee.  The atmosphere is nice, but a little cramped.  They offer free wi-fi (a must) and attempt to foster community.  They even have their own facebook group.  Because of the small space, it is hard to concentrate away from the door traffic.  Still, it is worth a visit.
• Ruta Maya – I actually went to RM 1 time and did my own half-hearted mini review, but alas they have since closed their doors. RIP.  I know they were a favorite of many locals.
• La Taza – My favorite place to go and hang out right now.  They serve coffee from the aformentioned Kiva Coffee Roasters, and it is pretty good.  The atmosphere is what makes me want to keep coming back, though.  It just feels like home, and has lots of places to sit down and work, read, or talk.  They also offer free wi-fi. The owner was nice and let us shoot a part of a video for the past Christmas there.  Extra points.
• Sip Coffee & Espresso Bar – Sip is located downtown and is a nice place to drop by.  The coffee is ok, and the food isn’t bad either.  I don’t really ever feel the need to go out of my way to go to Sip, but if I’m nearby I’ll go.  They were really nice and let me shoot an Eastgate All-Access promo there with Chris, so they get points for that.
• Caffegio – This is one of my favorite meetings spots.  It is pretty wide open and has free wi-fi.  The coffee isn’t really that good.  Christina and I bought some espresso from them… don’t do it.  Not even close to fresh.  If that is what they make their espresso with, count me out.  I’ve never tried any of the food, so I can’t comment on that.

Next, the places I have yet to visit.  Feel free to comment and let me know if you know of someplace else I should check out.

• Olmos Perk
• Guadalupe Street Coffee
• It’s a Grind

That’s it for now, I’ll add as I figure out.  Coffee snobs unite!

Merry Christmas from the Isenhowers

// December 25th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Parker, Video

To our family and friends. We love you all and thank the Lord for you every day.

Or Watch the Quicktime file “Christmas Card” (You need Quicktime to watch it. Download it if you have problems watching it)

No-Shave November

// December 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // Life, Video

A few of us at CBC participated in our own official un-official “No-Shave November”, which I am pretty sure that I officially won (un-officially of course).  I present as evidence a video that includes my Daily Mugshot pictures along with the shaving video I shot with iStopmotion.

Beard Shave from Kyle Isenhower on Vimeo.

Flickr Thursday: Parker in the Park

// October 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

We took Parker to our neighborhood park for the first time the other day.  It is a pretty short walk from our house, and they just put in a brand new play-set within the past year.  We were so excited about bringing him that I think we probably jumped the gun a little bit.  Without a doubt Christina and I had more fun than he did (although he didn’t fuss at all).  We put him in the swing, which was hilarious.

2 weeks til 28

// October 10th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

My phone has been ringing off the hook lately. People keep saying “Kyle, your birthday is only 2 weeks away, what do you want?”  Well, besides your friendship….

Twitter Updates for 2008-03-17

// March 17th, 2008 // No Comments » // Twitter

• In Austin hanging out with Christina’s sister Laura and bro-in law Tommy. #
• Slow morning in Austin. Nice to be able to relax without worrying about fixing up the house you are in. #
• At Precision Camera in Austin. Man, I wish SA had camera shops this great. #