As Promised

The stuff I promised to post about have become the central themes in my life sooner than expected, so 1) I'm going to cram it all into this post, and 2) the wedding pictures (yes, I have some) will have to wait just a little longer. If I can remember my flickr info, I might just put up an album there.
Anyways.
Since the wedding, the world seems to have expanded. Not that I wasn't leaving the house - it was just that when I wasn't home, I was running wedding-related errands or going to my wedding or something ridiculous and bridal like that. It has come to my attention in the last several days that some people leave their houses just for fun, so Rob and I gave that a try over the weekend when Matt offered us a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. Now I think I'll only visit zoos where I know someone who can give us a tour. We got to visit the windy, subterranean tunnels where he spends most of his time, meet some animals (including his friends, the smallest deer in the world), see a bird show, and even feed this giraffe. A friend of Matt's was in charge of that part, and he kept telling us that pictures usually didn't turn out because the animals eat so quickly. But look! You can see the tongue wrapped around the cracker (it's the black thing). So there, charming Australian zookeeper!
In other news, the garden is out of control. Do you live near me and need some cucumbers? Despite the fact that I love cucumbers and have a million different ways to use them, I am a little overwhelmed. Last night I even made pickles! 14 quarts! It went well. At least, all the jars sealed like they were supposed to, I didn't scald myself with boiling pickle brine, and I don't think I even pickled any dog hair. Hopefully they taste ok, but I taste as I go when I cook and bake, so this is new territory for me. The hardest thing about this is not knowing if the effort will pay off. But they look so pretty there, I'll probably be satisfied no matter what (unless we have a botulism problem). Check back in 6-8 weeks to see how they were good/if we're dead. I have tomatoes (we want to make salsa, and maybe even just plain old canned tomatoes) and green beans (does anyone know a good recipe for those?) that I'm hoping to be able to can too.
I did have the good sense to try canning AFTER I put in some time sweet-talking my way into my new name. At least, I like to think it went better than it would have if I had gone to the DMV smelling like vinegar with cucumber seeds in my hair. That said, it did go about as well as can be expected - I have a new bank account and a new license, at least. I expected trouble, because the Nebraska wedding license and certificate does not have a place to put a new name. This is intellectually interesting to me: does this indicate that Nebraska doesn't assume a wife will change her name, or that all wives will? I think about an article I read not too long ago about a man who took his wife's name in California, and he had quite a time because there was only a spot for the bride's new name on the certificate. On a larger scale, name changes, the idea of family, patrilineal societies, etc. Hi, my name is Lindsay, and I do cultural studies.
On an immediate, personal scale, though, this is not interesting but a potentially enormous headache, since several government agencies will not issue papers showing my new name without first seeing proof that some other government agency has done that already. But luckily, the DMV is run by people with some disdain for every state other than Minnesota, so they were happy to scoff at Nebraska and issue me a new license with a new name of my choosing. Seriously, they didn't even look at what I put down. I could have gotten a license for Lindsay Humperdink Botsworth, III, and I might have if humperdink.botsworth.III@gmail.com weren't already taken.
To add to the DMV triumph and my (probable) success at pickling, work started early (7am!) this morning on our exterior remodel. Here you can see the huge, awful antenna coming down. They're starting with the roof, hoping to get it done before a storm rolls in on Thursday. I'm hoping right along with them. It feels great to see something actually happening after the months and months of planning and waiting. The downside, of course, is that it makes me want to get back to work on the interior. And when I write "get back to work on the interior" I mean "take a sledgehammer to the nearest crumbling wall," not "patiently consider the most cost-effective and efficient options and work methodically to complete one sane project at a time." Certainly not "carefully evaluate my own skills and time constraints, then hire a professional for things I cannot possibly teach myself to do in the two hours I have before my meeting at school." If that sounds like I'm running around the house like a maniac, smashing bathroom fixtures and tearing live wires out of the walls, take a deep breath. That kind of crazy will probably wait until at least October. Maybe even October 2010, if I want my marriage to outlast my pickles.