Houston, we have a cucumber!

I had planted all my melons and squash and cucs in the front yard this year. I have such a problem with the dreaded squash bug that I decided to trick them and plant somewhere far enough away that they couldn't find my plants. It seems to be working! I found 2 full size cucumbers last night and plenty more baby ones. Yay! The cool weather and all the rain we've been having just spurred them on to cucumber greatness. I tried Thai Green cucs this year. We have a problem with it being too hot here and the cucumbers get bitter. I thought if I tried some from a hotter region than it might work better for me here. I haven't tasted them yet.

The kids are moving in this weekend, and we're all pretty excited about it. They'll be moving here to save up for their move to Seattle this winter. We figured with C going to college and there being an empty room, it would work out ok.

Hope you all have a great day!

d

Day of rest?

Yesterday, C and I headed over to my sister's house to help paint the outside of it. Little did we know that there would be nothing for us to do. My nephews were sanding the fascia and my father was replacing some woodwork on the front. All that was left was for us to go to the hardware store and pick paint after eating some leftover scones. Then we got back and had lunch and came home after that. Got home around 4 and I got to work here. Did 2 loads of laundry, then I made a big batch of breakfast burritos and put them in the freezer. I made 3 batches of double crust pie crusts and got them into the fridge. I was planning on making a chicken pot pie (or two) for the freezer and a peach pie, but lost momentum after dinner. I ended up doing a small quilt repair and then watching a movie with C and then it was bed time.

Soooo, that's what happened here yesterday.

:)

Deb

Today was pretty good...

Got up and ran into town to the farmer's market. Seems stupid to have to drive into town from the country to get to the people who live in the country, but I did it anyway. Got some good local natural meat, some cheese and some veggies. I'll have to come up with something delicious.

Also today, C and I turned this
into this:

And then I finished this:
And then I ate some ice cream. :)

Tomorrow we're heading over to my sister's house to help paint. I don't think the painting will be too much fun, but seeing everyone will be nice. Mom and Dad are there as well so it'll be good to be together. As much as we don't really agree on much, we sure end up having a pretty good time together. Strange, but good.

peace,

deb

I finally had to throw out last year's solar oven. The cats have been using it for a scratching post. I guess I'll be on the lookout for some good boxes.

T-shirt skirt

C discovered a great website called Threadbangers and found an online tutorial on how to make a skirt out of a t-shirt. It was supposed to be a jumper, actually, but the shirt wasn't quite as big as we needed it to be. I took a photo of it with my phone and uploaded to my
Facebook account, but I have not quite figured out how to get the photo here. I can't get them to upload from my phone to the blog, so here's the next best thing. A link to the photo. C didn't want her face in the photo since she will not be wearing the skirt. It's made from DH's old Misfits t-shirt and since she doesn't listen to the Misfits, she won't wear the skirt. Doesn't want to be a poser.

Hope you enjoy. I'll work on the technical aspect of posting pictures from my phone, but in the meantime, I'll just post links.

peace

compassion

It's been an underlying theme this week. I keep hearing the words "we are connected to everything on the planet and everything we do, good or bad, radiates outward and affects many others". I wonder what God and the Universe are trying to tell me. Or maybe it's just something that I need to ponder. Or just act upon.

hmmmmm

I tried to send a picture and an update but so far it hasn't posted. We'll see if this one posts

My Yard

My yard is a mess. I won't even sugar coat it. Won't even take a picture of it. It's an embarrassing, over grown, brush pile strewn mess. *sigh* I guess I shouldn't make a plan to put in more flower and veg beds if I can't even keep it nice now. My main issue is the mowing. And the weeding. And the edging. You see, my DH, who is really a Knight in Shining Armour, Works. And when I say that, I don't mean the M-F 9-5. I mean Monday through Sunday, 2 jobs, 19 hour days, 80+ hour weeks. He rarely has days where he has the time to mow, much less the energy. We have a very temperamental mower and besides all of that, I just can't start it. I've tried. I tried yesterday and the day before. I can't really afford to hire someone to do the yard work, and the young man I have hired to help me with the heavier yard chores (pruning, firewood, etc) could do it, but I don't want to waste that time and money on something that I could theoretically do myself. So, I've decided that I will acquire a reel push mower. You know, the kind without any power source other than the person walking behind it. It makes a really nice sound when you mow, sort of a whirring. I can handle that. And, once the lawn is mowed, I'll be able to do the edging, and then the weeding. I guess I just don't see much sense in sitting in an overgrown lawn weeding a flower bed. Hence, my yard is a mess.

d

Today, I'm learning how to blog from my phone. Perhaps I'll be able to update more often this way. Never near the computer when i feel like sharing something

Quilts in the Sidebar

I just took a moment and looked at all the quilts I have listed in the sidebar that I need to finish. I think those were posted months ago. Ask me if I've finished any of them. Go Ahead! ASK! The answer will be a resounding "NO". How embarrassing. I guess I should maybe focus on getting some of them done. Maybe one a month or something easy like that. Once C moves down to Galveston, I'll have plenty of time to be productive. Y'all are supposed to keep me accountable!

I harvested the onions. Not as many or as big as I had hoped for, but a whole veg drawer in the fridge full. I think they got shaded out by the sunflowers that were also in the bed and just didn't get enough of what they needed to get big. Lesson learned. Every year I learn something valuable from my "mistakes". I don't really consider them to be failures since I learn from them. The okra is just now kicking in. I got some potatoes, but again, not as many/big as I had hoped, but more than last year, so progress was made. I've got some tomato plants that survived and 2 pepper plants. I put all the melons/cucs/etc in the front this year hopefully to confuse the squash bugs and sneak them by. I also put 2 more tomatoes in the front. A friend's hubby is a landscape architect and he's going to draw me up a plan for an edible cottage garden. I'll have to work it in stages, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to do so this fall.

That's about it, folks. DH is working a 19 hour shift today so I thought I'd work at home in solidarity. I'll be basting a quilt and getting ready to quilt it. Might even get started. I guess I should go do my grocery shopping as well.

Happy Independence to everyone. Be safe.

d