Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime!!

HERE we go folks!! The weather is hot and steamy then chilly, windy and rainy. I never know what it's going to be like but I know for certain no matter what it's like right now, in about 2 hours that could change completely :) Our yard is green and growing quickly. The garden is lush with grass, weeds and tomatoes!! LOL The beans are definitely on the way to recovery and we're throwing a party in honor of the 4th of July.

If all goes well, we'll be taking a dip in the swimming hole while the chicken, ribs and pork shoulder cook on the smoker. I'm taking Kris' idea of the beer can chicken for this get-together. We'll stuff that can you-know-where and season the outside of the chicken liberally with seasoning salt, garlic powder and black pepper. It goes on the smoker until the liquid completely evaporates at which time the chicken will fall over - the perfect indication that it's done cooking!

I haven't quite decided on the side dishes yet but I'm thinking cole slaw and marinated cucumbers. Now some of you might be thinking this is too much roughage but it's all good for you and besides, who can eat pork shoulder without cole slaw??? And what's a summer cookout without marinated cucumbers??? Cool, refreshing, tangy...come see and taste for yourself :) :)

We have been invited to another 4th of July celebration over at Kurt and Beverly's house although the location my change to Jeff's house. I know you don't know them but you should be used to reading about them by now??? Anyway, Jeff does the karoake and it's easier if he doesn't have to haul his equipment all over Centerville and back. Kurt is having shrimp and lobster flown in from Florida so I'll have a little trip down memory lane as I bite into those delicious shrimps!! mmm can't wait!! One thing we don't see much of up here is fresh seafood...too far from the water source to be fresh I guess.

Kurt's food is coming packed in dry ice which they say will keep it through the flight and the hour or so it takes for him to get it home. There, he'll have to either keep it iced down until Monday or go ahead and freeze it...what a shame to have to freeze it when it's fresh from the ocean. I hope he plans to keep it iced down instead.

The 5th of July is when we'll see some REAL fireworks. There's a guy up here who shoots off fireworks over his lake. His brother sells and sets off the commercial type of fireworks and whatever he has left over after the 4th, they set off on the night of the 5th. We went last year and had a blast. Basically, everyone drives over there, parks their trucks, cars or whatever and it's like a huge tailgate party. Sure it can be hot on the 4th of July but so what - that's part of the celebration if you ask me. Put on your tank tops, flip flops, shorts, sunscreen and hats and load the cooler with your favorite beverage. This show takes a couple hours so you need to come prepared - of course I'll bring snacks :) :) We'll probably drive over in my big red truck - there's plenty of room for all of us in there.

I remember the days in Altamonte when we would all gather in my front yard and watch the fireworks going off over Crane's Roost Park. What a great display they put on!! We figured we might as well sit in the yard as get in all that traffic to go over to the park and watch them. I think Neccy may have taken the kids one year...crazy huh? Oh and we also used to go park in the Pizza Hut parking lot and watch the Crane's Roost fireworks. They could easily be seen for miles!

For many years I was at Ernie's house watching the fireworks. Her and I would stand out in the road (so smart aren't we?) and watch as the sky lit up all around us. We would literally be spinning in circles as there were so many fireworks displays to see lighting up the evening sky all around her neighborhood.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, just be careful with those fireworks - they can be so dangerous in the wrong hands...

We're still missing our dog, Ruger. He took off on a Friday and hasn't been back since. We have driven miles and miles looking for him and asking everyone we see about him. Several people have told us they thought they saw him but were always too far behind him to catch up. We're not giving up hope and, of course, we hope if someone has him that they are at least taking good care of him. Come home Ruger!!

Colt misses him something fierce - he's been bringing sticks, bones, wire, pretty much whatever he can find up to the back porch and he leaves it right outside the door. He has chewed the door mat to shreds and even chewed up a soft-side cooler that was left outside. One of the dog shampoo bottles was on the ground under the porch - he brought that up to the door. You know how much he loves getting a bath so that had to be a real prize for us. I told Wally I think he thinks we got rid of Ruger and now he's trying to prove his worth and value by bringing us prizes like that.... LOL Wally said he needs to learn to take the sticks to the burn pile instead of leaving them on the porch. Every day we find he's brought us something new. Poor little fellow just misses his brother...

If you've seen the pictures on the flickr site, you know that my baskets have been just brimming with healthy, all natural, locally grown fruits and vegetables. In this week's basket was a head of red leaf lettuce, a new variety of carrots - these are slightly larger than the first two bunches, tomatoes - including an heirloom variety that I devoured as soon as we got home, cucumbers - also a new variety, one that changes color and flavor as it matures on the vine, a nice, big head of cabbage (going to try Kris' creamed cabbage recipe!), scallions, crookneck squash, patty pan squash and a nice container of blueberries. This is the first year my farmer has grown blueberries and what a sweet success they turned out to be!!

We were at a friend's house yesterday after picking up the basket and he let me wander through his garden. He had a surplus of jalapeno peppers that he told me to help myself to!!! woo hoo!! Well, I didn't make a pig of myself but I did pick about 6 or 7 that looked like they were ready to come off the plants. He said he and his wife are out there picking from the garden every day now that all the vegetables are coming in. He has bean plants that aren't looking too healthy but at least nothing is eating away at them! LOL We told him how mine were eaten down to the sticks but are now showing slight signs of recovery. hahahaha he said he and his son would come take care of the rabbit population if we wanted them to. I told him he was welcome to come on over in repayment for the peppers!! That's how things go around here :)

The only thing he's waiting on now is the watermelons and the pumpkins. Those will come later in the summer and early Fall as we all well know.

I've been cooking up a storm lately. I made the turnip casserole - I think I told you about that, didn't I? Well, it was really good and makes the perfect substitute for scalloped potatoes if you have someone in your house who can't eat potatoes. The turnips were sliced thin and layered with sliced onions, swiss cheese, cheddar cheese and romano cheese. Poured over top was a combination of 4 eggs, 2 cups of wine, a few dashes (or more) of hot sauce and some chopped, fresh parsley. I baked it in the oven for an hour and a half and it was ready for dinner. Whew was it ever hot!! LOL we had to let it cool for quite some time - even my alien mouth couldn't handle a bite of that casserole full on. But soon enough I was digging in!

The next day, it was even better. It seemed to me that as it sat overnight in the refrigerator it got denser. It was kind of like how lasagne does when it sits overnight...you know how it just gets together better? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

The squash was next on my list of casserole creations...LOL I took a recipe from a book, put everything together as it instructed (of course!) then added some chopped, smoked chicken that I had thawed out earlier in the day. It was good but I thought it should have had some cheese in it. Next time it definitely will. LOL
Having still an abundance of squash to eat before it goes bad on me, I decided to cook it with the peppers, onions and mushroom that I normally make to go with our steaks. That's right! When you slice your peppers, onions and mushrooms, just slice up a yellow squash to go with them. I cooked the squash in the juice from the mushrooms with a little butter added. When it started to get tender I added everything else. I sprinkled in some salt and pepper and liberally poured it over the steaks - very little juice remained but what was in that pan was all eaten when everything was said and done. Don't knock it til you've tried it :) lol

I made some stir fry but left the squash out. I kind of wish I had included it now though. It was just okay - there was definitely something missing from the last time I made it. I used all the same ingredients but it was lacking in flavor. I brought some to Darryl - just because I have to bring him something, he's always bringing us stuff - anyway, I told him it wasn't that great but maybe if he added some hot sauce to it??? He said he thought it was pretty good with or without the hot sauce so maybe it was just me.

As I said earlier, the beans are in a recovery stage. They are coming back although not nearly as many in numbers but I did get a handful of them just the other day. I saw where there are a few more little, skinny ones that will soon be ready to pick and within a week or so, I should have enough to consider them a batch! woo hoo! My trick to keeping the critters away from them is simply to stop pulling the weeds around them. Apparently, whatever it was that ate them before, doesn't recognize them now that the weeds have grown up around them. Hey, that's okay by me - whatever it takes! It was quite accidental, of course. When I saw that they were destroyed, I quit pulling the weeds. When I noticed they were coming back, I figured it was because the weeds had grown to the point where the critters couldn't tell the difference and since they don't eat weeds they have left my beans alone :) :) Love it!!
Gosh, I'm really going to miss my weekend weed pulling excursions...LOL!

The summer weekends are already being planned well in advance so there's always something to do or somewhere to go if we feel like it. I know why it's like that here now - because during the winter, if you will recall, very little going and doing got done on account of the weather... :)

While we're enjoying 87-89 degree temperatures and daily rain, which we are in desparate need of, soon the 90s will be upon us! We're outside as much as we possibly can be until that happens so if you call, leave a message, we'll get back with you once we're back in the house.

Until next time...

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck