You've been missin me, haven't ya?

Sorry about the missing days. I have just been swamped at work trying to learn a teammate's job so I can be his back-up while he is out of the office. To make matters worse, my machine was migrated to a different domain (don't ask me, that's just what they told me) and now I don't have access to all the links I need. La la la, figures :)

Needless to say I have some free time while the people in India escalate my ticket to the people in, "who knows where," who take our IT calls...

Gosh, I haven't been up to much but the days surely do get filled up quickly. I have an update on the vegetable garden (thank you Teri). While I thought I had all squash and tomato plants, I'm told I have cucumbers too. I have butternut in addition to summer squash and we're not 100% sure on the tomato variety. I may have yellow heirloom or Roma tomatoes or both. I may not have either, they could all be Big Boys. I'll be pleased no matter what they all turn out to be and now you and I have something more to look forward to.  Woo Hoo - just like Christmas morning!

Wally watered them for me one night because I was fixin dinner (yes, I said fixin - it sounds better) and they were looking sad. After that, it's rained so we haven't had to water them. I do have to get out there and hoe up a mound of dirt in the middle of my row of tomatoes though. When it rained, I could see how low the ground was and the water was standing around two of the tomatoes. That's not a good thing. Guess what I'm doing tonight? LOL  I don't mind, it's good to get out there and work in the garden. Even if you have just one potted plant that you nurture and tend to, it gives you a good feeling to see it thrive. Too bad the kids weren't that easy... just stick them in the ground, give 'em some food and water every day or so and off they go!  ha ha ha ha ha

Other than a little too much water, the plants looked fine. They're standing upright even after being pelted with rain drops and blown around in the wind. All the squash/cucumber plants have blooms on them and one has a big fat bud on it. I'm thinking that's the cucumber but we'll see. The question is whether to make pickles or let them get cucumber size or both... the dilemmas never end.

Amazingly enough, the horses haven't stepped in the garden even once. No hoof prints at all. I don't know how they know but they do. Can't say the same for the dogs. They were drinking out of the mud puddle instead of going to their water trough. They have to walk across the tomatoes to get to the water so I was really watching closely and even tried to run them off. They didn't listen to me at all - apparently they've never seen the vein...

We're going to put up a string around the garden area and hang aluminum pie plates from it. From what we see and hear, this keeps the deer out. You would think the dogs would have that duty but they aren't interested in chasing deer in their old age and since it's not hunting season, I'm not allowed to shoot them. As far as the crows go, the corn on the fishing hook didn't work. We have another plan for them. Dennis & Debbie Hall gave Wally a motion detector with an alert sound on it. It was intended for use at the gate but we're thinking it might serve us well to keep the animals out of the garden. It lights up and it makes noise - daylight or dark problems solved. Hopefully - keep your fingers crossed. We won't know until the plants get bigger and animals actually notice them.

My Lily of the Nile hasn't bloomed yet and still shows no signs of even thinking about it but if there's one thing I've learned about the garden here in this zone, you just have to wait and see. There's plenty else blooming while you wait on another. I found Butterfly Weed in the yard and along the driveway so I'm kept busy watching the butterflies drink from them, especially seeing as how my hummingbird feeder has proved to be a flop. Maybe I just need to move it so they have more privacy. It's hanging right on the front porch which I thought would be perfect since the sun shines on the red juice all day long. Hummingbirds must feel differently though because I haven't see a one and believe me, I'm watching.

I tell myself they must be coming to drink while I'm at work and I just miss out on the view but the water level tells me different. It's right up there where it started. :(  :(   Patience? With me it comes and goes.

So now we're on to bats. We are looking at either buying or constructing a couple bat houses. They are priced anywhere from $34.99 to $50.00 if you buy them on-line. There are a couple of websites that offer free plans so I'm going to show those to Wally so he can see if he prefers to build them himself. Bats are a very good source of mosquito elimination - each bat can consume upwards of 3,000 mosquitoes a night. That's some serious chowing! We don't have a mosquito problem yet but summer typically brings them. Or so I hear... Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee had a bat when they lived in the Longwood house, his name was baseball...LOL  Baseball BAT, get it? ha ha ha ha ha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEVERLY!!!  I meant to get on here yesterday if only to say that but work was so busy I didn't have a free minute to do it. If you see her, please give her a birthday hug for me! Bev, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed yourself and having done so, I hope your hangover doesn't last too long. You still  have to party this weekend you know!

Dinner was too good not to mention, besides I know you all look forward to this part so you can whet your appetites for lunch :)  I made salmon patties, yellow rice and green beans. I know that doesn't sound so awesome but the salmon patties were lightly seasoned with Old Bay, salt & pepper. I added just a little bit of finely chopped onion (so small even Rebecca wouldn't notice...) and a little bit of bread crumbs and an egg (thank you Mom). They were pan fried on medium heat until both sides were lightly browned and the insides were juicy and tender. I've said it before, if yours come out dry - you're doing something wrong. The yellow rice was from a bag but the bag never has enough seasoning for my tastes. I added two cilantro bouillon cubes, a couple splashes of hot sauce and a few saffron threads. Now that was some good rice. We don't normally eat rice because of the starch so this was a treat. Since I was treating us, I really kicked it up! The green beans had been canned by Sherry Daugherty's dad a long time ago. I still had them in the pantry and decided to break them out. They tasted just like they were fresh from the vine. They were so much better than store bought, I just can't describe it. I didn't even need to butter them if that tells you anything. I know Mom - you would butter them anyway... but really, they were that good.

So guess what? I'm going to grow some green beans too...Teri said I can plant them now, reap the harvest and still have time to plant another round. Off to Ace Hardware I go for some Bush Beans :) just as soon as I get out of work.

On another night I made a smothered okra dish that we really enjoyed. I got the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (of course) and it was super easy. You can use either fresh or frozen okra and it really doesn't matter. There isn't much difference in the taste of this vegetable either way. It has chopped tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. The okra will get slippery and sticky but if you keep letting it cook, that will go away and you'll find this dish to be quite varied in its flavor compound. If you don't have the cookbook (though I'm not sure how you live without it) and would like the recipe, let me know. I'll email it to you. Don't be surprised if it takes me a week or so, sorry Lizzard!

Yes, we're planning a trip to FL. The dates aren't set in stone so I can't tell you when. As we get closer and I'm more definite on the plan, I'll update the blog. Hopefully we'll have time to fit in a visit to all of you but you know how that goes. We'll be at the Oriole's for most of the visit...  Tell Marcia to get her tape ready!

By the way, Rebecca ratted herself out this morning. Apparently there are those of you who know better than to let a child of mine have the "soda of her/his choice," and yet you still went ahead with allowing it. It seems you were even somewhat encouraging of this deliberate disobedience... I know who you are and I will be sure to make mention of it when I get there. LOL!

On a sad note, we say goodbye to a very sweet man, Dennis Harmon. I know he had his ornery, curmudgeonly ways but who doesn't when you get to be his age? We enjoyed Dennis' "set in stone" attitude and his boyish smile all at the same time. Not too many people can pull off being somewhat opinionated while still giving you his sweetest smile. That was Dennis. Our thoughts are with those close to him.

The U-verse thing didn't work out for us this week. We'll try again for next week so we can have internet access at the house and no long distance on the phone. If that makes you feel like I'll be more accessible, please don't get too excited. While you are welcome to call me anytime, when I'm home, there's always so much to be done that I barely have time to sit down. I will promise to try getting on the internet though, especially as it pertains to pictures. I want all of you to see the beauty I'm exposed to every waking moment. Today I was up around 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. I watched a couple hours of tv and finally got up at 4. The fog was heavy and the moon just a sliver but it was quiet,cool and very calm. The peacefulness makes for the best way to start a morning. You'll see one of these days.

Well I hope this makes up for my couple of days being out of touch... enjoy your day!

"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon." ~Doug Larson