Same Ole, Same Ole

Being new to this blogging thing, I recognize that it's important to be consistent.  The blogs I like best, usually offer new entries several times a week.  That's why I go to them.  I like their writing style and view points and I like the fact that there is always something new and interesting on their blog sites.

I was surfing yesterday and went to my own site and realized "Hey!  It's been a week since I've had something to say."  Now, really!  My life is pretty boring.  It's hot.  I'm pretty much doing the "same ole, same ole" thing.

When I go back into work, we all ask the same thing.  "What'ja do this weekend?  Nothing."

I noticed in some blogs Wordless Wednesday  or "cute pic of the day". 

Most bloggers don't have something to offer every waking second.  So sharing my "same ole, same ole" might be boring to me...but might actually provide a moment of entertainment for somebody else.  So here goes.

As you can see from the opening photo, the Crepe Myrtle season is ON!  Beautiful aren't they. 

Being from Ohio, I missed out on the gorgeous trees for years.  SM and I spent 4 years in Virginia Beach when we were first married and Crepe Myrtles were everywhere. 

Now that we're south again...(to stay I think)...I planted 11 Myrtles on our 1/2 acre.  Love, love, love em!

The garden is still hanging in there considering we've had 15 days now close to 100 degrees and only enough rain to wet the grass. (99 again today)

NC is all or nothing.  Too much rain in May.  Too much heat in June.

Here is Scooter (aka Boo) sulking after getting his nails trimmed. 

Cockers hate having their feet messed with.  We have to muzzle him just so he doesn't rip my face off. 

Boo went to the vet last week for his annual shots and not a peep out of him.  (I guess he knows who he can push around and who he can't.) 

Now you're probably asking "why don't you let the vet trim him?"  I used to but trims that started out at $8 to $10 bucks have popped up to $15 to $20
bucks.  It's ridiculous! 

Boo's vet bill was $165 just for his shots.  (I think I actually blacked out for a moment when she told me how much the bill was.)

SM appears to be on a carb craving today. 

Steel Cut Oats for breakfast (Trader Joe's).

Tuna Noodle Casserole (?)...He must be feeling nostalgic.

Me?  Can't eat any of it.  I'm battling gastritis this week.  Sigh.  I wish I had a cast iron gut.  Oh well...some of us are pussies.

Catching up...

The 10 day outlook calls for highs in the upper 90's and lows in the upper 70's.  Whatever did people do before AC?  Early morning work...siesta...pm relaxation.

We trimmed back our behemoth holly and privets.  We normally trim these back in April, but several birds decided to set up housekeeping early this year, so we waited till the babies had all flown off.

Looks bare and I miss the shade.  However these bushes grow like weeds, so it won't be long before they're back to normal.

The bees are keeping the garden happy. 

Lots of squash...(surprise?).  I've been giving some away and trying to eat them for lunch daily.

Tomatoes are few right now.  SM eats them off the vine so none have made it to a salad bowl yet. 

The cukes and peppers are still hanging in.

I dreamed I made bread last night.  So what dies a girl do when the high today is 97?  She kicks on the oven to 450 and makes some french bread that's what.

Yum.

Upside down Casey (aka Pig)

World Soccer

As we begin today's match, we have "Pig" on offense.

Pig is an outstanding player.  She uses her formidable bulk to leverage herself into keeping the ball.

And is not above using distraction as a ploy to gain an edge over her advisary.

Observe her technique.

What's that?

All alone?

Not for long.  "Princess" see's an opportunity."

Snagged.

But not for long.

A brief tussle as the crowd goes wild.

Game goes to Pig!

According to the "Ref".

Summer Days

There's not much inspiring me this week.

We've fallen into our summer pattern of 95 degree days and 70's at night.  Chance of rain every day. (It's 99 degrees today...real feel 103)

This is the kind of deluge we get around here.

SM and I try to get our yard work out of the way by 11am and hibernate in to the cool comfort of AC.

In the kitchen, I kicked out some zucchini bread and I've been making alot of squash blossom fritattas lately.

The garden seems to be holding its' own.  I actually harvested 5 string beans.  (They went into the fritatta.) 

Some tomatoes are ripening and a few are doing the "bottom rot" thing. Can't blame em.  (If your feet were in water for three weeks straight, something would start to rot on you too...)

Cucumber and pepper babies everywhere.  (Keeping my fingers crossed)

Casey (aka Pig) doing the "splendor in the grass" thing...

Things That Matter and Things That Don't

SM is HOME! Yeah! 

That means I'm cooking today.  TWC is predicting 95 today. 

When it gets this hot I consider 3 options.  Eat cold or leftover food, (since SM was gone last week I didn't cook at all) grill everything outside (a good option but I'm not feeling it) or cook very early in the morning while it's still cool-ish.

It's 9am, 82 degrees (real feel 85) and I've already made my chicken macaroni salad.  My barbecue meatloaf is in the oven (as I take a moment to blog). 

Here's the finished result.

I don't think I'll be placing recipes on this blog.  I will provide links or mentions to sites where I've grabbed a recipe and tried it. 

Remember the "no-knead bread"?  (winner)

Or the cinnamon rolls (needs more flavor intensity IE: try brown sugar/add more cinnamon/nuts)? 

When it comes to baking, I always follow the recipe provided and I consider myself a beginner with everything other than cookies and cakes.  (I'm pretty good at those already).

When it comes to savory cooking, I might read a recipe for an idea, but then it's all freestyle from there.

Take my meatloaf.  I get requests for the recipe all the time but other than telling you the ingredients, you're on your own. 

How much of this?  How much of that? I couldn't tell you as I just use my senses...It looks right, smells right, feels right.  If those 3 three things apply, it generally tastes all right too.

I improvise alot. 

My standard meatloaf has ground beef (80-20) Jimmy Dean Hot Pork Sausage and ground turkey.  I use Lipton's Beefy Onion, lots of Worcestershire sauce, 2 eggs, katsup and Progresso Italian bread crumbs. 

I couldn't begin to tell you how much of anything...I never measure.  I also never use loaf pans to make meatloaf.  Fat=Flavor, but as you can see I want the fat to drain away and the flavor to stay.

(Mmmmm.... leftovers)

What I didn't have today was Worcestershire sauce, Hot sausage (I used regular pork sausage instead) and ground turkey.  I also usually top the loaf with green pepper strips but at $0.98 cents a pepper, I thought I'd pass. 

I decided to zing it up by adding barbecue sauce (3 different brands), spicy brown mustard and some horseradish. 

So something new.  Is it a winner?  Yep, it's moist and has a nice kick to it.

I always used to buy name brand products exclusively.  Since food has gotten more expensive, we've dabbled with the store brands more. 

Some things DO taste different and somethings don't. 

Things like tinfoil, plastic wrap, garbage bags don't matter.  I've found that they function the same.

We tried Trader Joe's Dishwasher detergent...works great, (no weird smell).

Walmart Brand potato chips, sprinkle cheese, salad dressing, kidney beans, all their pastas, sugar, oils...all these have passed our taste tests.

(Walmart Brand taco chips, instant SF puddings, rices.... all suck.  IMHO)

We purchase our meats mostly from Sam's Club. They have great bulk meats and I love the Endelmans (?) Hot Italian Sausage they have.  And never forget Sam's rotisserie chicken.  ( I de-carcass-ify them and use the meat in sammies, wraps, soups and salads).  

I guess the point of this blog entry is to encourage you (and myself) to try something new...improvise.  It might just work out great.

Steambath Gardening and The "Wee"

It's supposed to be in the 90's this weekend. With a chance of rain...(please stay away).

I went out this morning to eyeball the veggie patch and decided that once the leaves turn yellow and spotty...Well, it's time for some aggressive pruning.

My tomatoes look like crap.  I just can't bring myself to toss them just yet though.  SM is coming home tonight...we'll see what he thinks.

This bed seems to be drying out finally.

 

Kiki (the Wee) enjoying a hot summer evening..

Re-evaluating the garden

I'm not one to back away from a challenging situation.  (I think that's one of the things I bring to the table at my workplace.) 

I'm a problem solver.  I enjoy evaluating situations and diagnosing potential pitfalls.  I'm also usually pretty good at coming up with beneficial solutions to those issues.

When SM and I decided to invest in a vegetable garden, we decided we were in it for the long haul.  We plan on staying where we are for the foreseeable future.

We wanted the opportunity to grow our own fruit and vegetables in our own yard.  We understand that we will benefit from the healthy eating and cost savings that a garden will provide over time.  We acknowledge that there will be successes and failures every year.

This year (our first) has been our investment year.  We had to start somewhere and knowing our challenges with poor soil we invested in the good stuff.  Mel's Mix. (I believe that decision was a winner.)

Our typical summers here are hot and dry.  I think that's one of the things we assumed would be a constant issue that we would have to deal with.  We even discussed having a well drilled, or rain barrels installed...we've discussed it all.  Having enough water has always been an issue here in the drought ridden southeast.  And water from the tap is expensive.

Ha!  Not this year.

Our existing beds are an interesting mix.  Only a few feet separate them and yet, as you can see, one bed is draining well.  And the other is not.

I pulled up the successful (but finished) sugar peas.  Great year with them!  I then put my rake into the soil to turn it over and evaluate it.  It's been maybe 2 days without rain and as you can see, I have issues.

I think the solution for this is to build up the bed.  I plan on having SM create a wood frame to enclose the bed and back fill it with more compost/topsoil(?) and create a really deep bed that can keep the roots above any ground water but also allow them access to water as needed.  (I'm wanting to plant carrots this fall so I'll need a deeper bed anyway.)

SM suggested sand to help with drainage.  I've read that the combination of sand and our hot (sometimes blazingly hot) summers would turn the bed into an oven and cook our vegetable roots to death. 

The squash and cucs don't seem to mind the soaked conditions.  Here they are aggressively blooming.

The peppers are hanging in there for now.

But the tomatoes... sorry guys...I know you're unhappy and I feel your pain. 

I can't really do anything to help these poor buggers out.  If (when?) they die back, I'll likely use the above technique to raise this bed as well.

Until then, I'm assuming that these plants are likely doomed and I will use the new raised bed (that SM and I will create this weekend) to plant some
more "store-bought" tomatoes. 

I don't like the idea of not having any tomatoes.  It's still early in the season.  I thought about starting some more from seed but I think that's pushing the window a bit.  I'll just suck it up and purchase them to guarantee that I'll get some fresh product.

Stay tuned!