In The Garden With Callie

Finally!  The last day of August.

I am SO looking forward to putting this Summer behind us.  It wasn't like it was all that bad just that it was such a bust.  I really missed eating my green beans and summer squash. 

I wandered out to the garden yesterday to cut some flowers when I hear "meow, meow, meow..." in rapid succession. 

Here she comes.  "I think I'll call her Callie, short for calico."  SM announced to me this past week as I walked out the door to go to work.  "Sounds nice." I told him.

It'll take a while for the name to stick.  In my head (and when I write) she's still the "Freakin Cat" but out loud I end up calling her "Ki", or "Little Wee".  Probably a hold over from 14 years with our old cat Kiki.

Anyway, I'm in the garden cutting flowers and "Sweet Thing" hot-foots it over to me yelling the whole time.  I pick her up and move her over to my side of the garden fence and start snipping.

She's only the second cat I've been around and as I'm moving around the flower bed cutting she starts twining herself around my ankles.  Once I get a flower or two in the jar, she's distracted and starts checking things out.

I took her to the Vet this past Monday for a health check.  Turns out she's already been spayed.  They showed me a little green "tattoo" that they inject into the skin on her belly to let folks know she's been fixed. 

She's laying there all floppy while the Vet gives her the once over.  "This is a great cat.  You hit the jackpot with this one.  I wonder..."  He gets a look on his face, picks up a hand held gizmo flips the cat and passes it over her.  "This cats chipped!  Nobody microchips cats!" He was actually excited.  So was I for a few minutes.  Visions of leaving cat-less danced in my head.

He got on the phone with the national microchiped registery people.  Turns out that while she might be chipped, she's not registered.  He says he saw a study where 60% of the folks who actually chip their pets never register them because of the $45 fee they want for the paperwork.  (I've never chipped either.)  He gave me the number (Ha...as if...freakin cat) and proceeded with the required round of shot's, roto-rooter and blood work for HIV and leukemia. 

$180 later, I'm the mother of a bouncing baby cat.  8lbs 8oz.  Estimated age?  7 months. 

SM got the willies when I told him that.  "That's 7 months to the day that Kiki died.  You don't think..." SM said looking at the cat.

"No, I don't."  I told him.

Although I do find it odd that out of all the homes around here, she's latched onto us.

Watch out lizard...She's coming for you next!

Oppenheimer or Zazzles?

The freakin cat is still around. 

Well, technically the freaking "kitty" is still here.  If it was a grown adult cat I'd bet it would have taken one look at my pack of dogs and hot-footed it outta here.

I tried to get some better pictures yesterday.  Have you ever tried taking a picture of a kitten?

Dogs are WAY easier I can tell you that.

As it is, there exists an uneasy truce on our back porch.  The dogs are VERY curious and (having been with a cat before) want to go up to it, stick there nose in the appropriate smelly spot and take a sniff.  (Look carefully and you'll see the cat on the other side of the window.)

Kitty is having none of it. 

I let Scooter out to see if we could all be friends.  Kitty hunched up, put on her scary face and lashed out with a yowel. 

Scared me and the dog.  I almost peed my pants and I think she might have gotten Scooters nose the way he's sulking in the house right now.

All my neighbors are laughing.  "Someone has got your house address and knows where to drop them off."  Deb said to me yesterday.

I personally think they're relieved that the cat didn't taken up residence at their house although Deb says that there are at least 2 feral cat roaming the neighborhood that both she and a neighbor are putting food out for.

This one is not feral, though.  So far she (SM believes it to be a girl) is very friendly to the peeps that live around here.  We've tossed around some names.  SM thought that Oppenheimer or Zazzles should be in the running.

I'll wait till after the Vet gives "it" an OK before commiting to a relationship though. 

SM on the other hand is completely charmed.  Kitty is already setting up her throne. 

The dogs better watch out.

You can see that world domination is right around the corner.

NO!

Nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono

Nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono.

Aw,Crap.......

Where You Find It.

Not much going on this month.  Or for that matter the whole season.

What an unusual year this has been.

I should call this the Year of The Flowers.  I couldn't be more pleased.  And it's made me even more determined to invest more of the garden to them.

SM went through the garden yesterday and came up to me and said "Can we just toss some gasoline and burn it all?  The weeds are that bad."

 

I laughed.  "Not a bad idea.  Do you think it would kill all the mosquitoes too?"  I asked.  I've nicknamed the garden Skeeterville.  It's SO infested.

 

There is so much to dislike about this gardening season and yet...




I'll be glad for what I have this year.

 

Laughter In The Rain

I watched "When Harry Met Sally" yesterday.  (Full movie link online.) 

Again. For probably the 18th time.



What a wonderful movie.  Great music, great acting.  Love the 80's clothes and hairstyles.  So many "truths" about men and women's relationships.

SM and I have seen it several times but not lately and since it was raining and there wasn't much else to do we sat and laughed all over again.

Rain or sun, have a happy laughter filled weekend.

Mamma's Home...Well, Almost.

It's 2 a.m.

It's 2 a.m.
The fear has gone
I'm sitting here waiting
The gun's still warm
Maybe my connection
is tired of taking chances

Yeah, there's a storm on the loose
Sirens in my head
Wrapped up in silence
All circuits are dead
Cannot decode
my whole life spins into a frenzy - Golden Earring

Sing it with me now....Quite possibly one of my favorite 80's songs for some reason.  It must be the guitar riff.  The video sucks but the beat is the best.

Twilight zone. 

Yep. 

I can agree with the sentiment at least.

I woke up this morning hearing the sound of a light rain.  The windows have been open the past few days as we've enjoyed an unusual streak of cooler weather. 

I crack an eyeball and glance at the clock.

It's 2 a.m.

And then I smell it. 

Sighing, I get up and carefully make my way to the hallway and turn on the light. 

Yep. 

I close the bedroom door to allow SM to at least pretend to sleep and head for the bathroom tub where the carpet cleaner has taken up residence the past few days.

Scooter has got himself a case of self inflected garbage gut.  He eats everything and anything in his path.  And then we get to enjoy the consequences. 

He is a vacuum cleaner.

A Hoover.

As SM pointed out to me last night when I got home from work..."That dog is the Tiger Shark of the canine world.  I expect if you open up his gut there might be a license plate or two stuck in there."

I'm beginning to wonder myself.

This all started Wednesday when I came home from work.  I've been cleaning messes  on and off since then. 

Now, normally Scooters episodes with the big D are usually resolved with a day of fasting, then a fascinating mixture of pumpkin, rice and boiled chicken or ground turkey fed to him for a few meals then slowly adding back in his normal chow as time goes by.

This week, Mamma's been gone.  A LOT.  So much for good intentions.  SM for some reason, will follow my instructions at least once.  And then it's like he forgets completely and gives Scooter a bowlful for regular chow.  Like he did last night.  As I discovered last night when I walked in the house.

"I just fed everybody."  SM informs me.

"Yeah?  What did Scooter get?"  Thinking I need to cook more rice and get more pumpkin.

"Oh, I gave fed him regular since he didn't have any accidents today."  SM replied. 

Uh oh, I thought in my head. 

Well, no point screaming about it.  It's already done.  Two steps forward, one step back.  It's been like that all week.  Inconsistent care.  I get him close and then SM's good intentions slide me back.

So I was not surprised to wake up to this mornings mess.  

Sorry Boo...A 24 hour fast, then back on your special diet.  I might run it all by the Vet on Monday if I can't get his butt straightened out by then.  This has been a longer episode than usual.  

I've got post-ops this morning and then I'm home till Tuesday.

Thankfully, Scooters behavior is perfectly normal other than the big D so I'm not too concerned.

Not yet anyway.

If this doesn't resolve soon, we just might end up discovering he's got a license plate in there after all. 

Apples In August

I tell you, it never occurred to me. 

We picked apples this weekend.  

Home grown apples. 

From my own backyard. 

I'm in shock.

Most apples in the US are grown in the northern states.  In the South, most are grown up in the mountains where it's cooler.  In any case, to me, apples are a September - October fruit.  Cool weather, frosty mornings = APPLES.

I've never grown apples before and it never occurred to me that since our trees bloomed earlier than the rest of the country that (correspondingly) the fruit would also be harvestable sooner that normal.

I'm not sure what made me wander over to the apple trees this weekend but I'm glad I did. 

The Fuji didn't have many apples to begin with but what was there was rotting with butterflies and various bugs feasting on them.  I was shocked.  Are the ripe already?  I let them be.

I then went over to the Gala tree which was absolutely LOADED with apples.  Most of them in were decent shape considering we didn't spray.  (Who could spray?  All it did was rain this Summer.)

I picked a couple off the tree and went into the house to check them out.  SM was there to help. 

Nice...Look at that white crispy flesh!  Crunchy and not overly sweet.  SM immediately said.  "Let's plant 5 more."

So we grabbed a basket and picked every single apple off that tree.  Some were buggy but most are good for applesauce or fresh eating if you peel them and cut away the questionable parts. 

Mmmm...Applesauce.

Which is actually funny because we're using up the last of my canned/frozen sauce this week.  Perfect timing. 

I have to work 6 days in a row this week so the saucing will commence next Sunday.  Until then, I separated the "eat them soon" blemished apples from the rest of the pack.

Considering this is the first year I've had fruit on my trees, I'm pretty pleased.  I need to consider what needs doing to these trees (besides aggressive pruning) to help get a decent fruit crop.  This is about as organic as you can get.  

Yes, they're spotted but I'm pretty impressed considering we did nothing other than prune them back in February.

Any tips or suggestions all you apple growers out there have to get a successful harvest would be greatly appreciated.

Puzzle-ing Mood

When we went to the beach a few weeks ago, my SIL Connie had a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle out on the table.  She said they always do a big puzzle every year.  It lays on the table waiting for some unsuspecting soul to wander by and add a piece or two.

Enter sucker number one.  Me.

I tend to like to be "occupied" in some pursuit.  Yes, I can veg out with the best of them but I tend to get twitchy over long periods of nothingness.  So as the group gabbed, shifted and swayed through the weekend, I would spend time with my new found friend.  The puzzle was one of the tougher ones they've put out.  According to Connie, it sat there for a week and never got finished.

Now I've never been a puzzle person but last week I went out to Target and picked out a pleasing picture puzzle.  I laid it out on the table and I've been working on it ever since.

And I'm actually enjoying it.  (Oh the Horror!)

I've been in a Summer hibernation mood lately.  I'm not canning anything.  Every time I wander into the garden the bugs have me running out screaming within minutes.  I feel mellow and lethargic.

All I want is a cool breeze.  Less humidity.  Yesterday the heat index hovered near 100.  I'm done.  Over it. 

Bring on Fall.

Until then, I'll wander back to the kitchen table and work on my pretty picture. 

Blooming And Drying

The veggie garden might suck this year but my "cutting garden" is stepping up it's game beautifully.

Every time I go out to cut I ask myself..."Where have I been?  Why didn't I do this sooner?"  I love this flower garden!

The zinnia's keep on putting out.  I'm also starting to get some bigger blooms too.  What a thrill!

I cut flowers weekly for our home (of course) and my good neighbor Debbie gets a weekly bouquet to thank her for taking care of our pups when SM and I are gone.  Deb's already commented that she's planning on starting a cutting garden next year too.

I also take flowers in to work.  I set a small mason jar at the reception desk and another on my desk.  I can't tell you how many comments I've gotten from patients for such a simple thing.  There's just something about fresh flowers isn't there?

One of the seed packs I threw out there this spring was cockscomb.  Otherwise know as celosia cristata in intelligent circles.  Around here I call it the "brain flower" cause that's what it looks like.  A brain.

About a month ago I cut one and parked it on a mason jar along with some zinnias and waited to see what it would do.  It lasted a long time which made me wonder if it was worth it to dry the sucker. 

I pulled it out when the zinnia's were done, wrapped a rubber band around it and hung it upside down in my office.  The cleaning people actually left it alone.

So far it's drying up nicely so inspiration struck.  I went out to the garden and cut some of the bigger heads and stripped off the leaves.  I had flinched some rubber bands from work (contraband...don't fire me!) and goggled a "How To" just in case I was missing something.

I found a nice message board thread on MaryJanes Farm about it.

I cut it on a dry day, and I hung it upside down from the rafters in the barn or garage but first I put it in a bag that will catch all the seeds that will fall out of it...good for seeds next year. The many seeds will make a mess under where you hang them. Keep it dry and dark until dried and then you can use it in wreaths or flower arrangements. One year I tied a bunch together at the stems, tied a florist bow and added in small gourds, indian corn, and some grasses and it was beautiful that fall by our fireplace. I also had read somewhere to spray with a hairspray and I think that helped to bring out the colors.
i tried to find seeds this spring but couldn't fine the nice big cockscombs that I like...so hang on to your seeds! 

Good advice especially about the seeds falling out.  I hung them upside down using the rubberbands attached to a wire hanger and stuck a garbage bag loosely under it to catch the seeds. 

Yes, I have wire hangers in my house.  Sorry Joan. 




Anyhoo...I've got these hanging in the spare bedroom to dry.  I wasn't sure about hanging them outside in the shed in this heat and humidity.

I'm kinda excited to see how it goes.  I'm thinking of a wreath for the front door for the Fall.  I've got at least this much cockscomb still out in the garden to cut and dry.

I wonder what other flowers dry well.  Not a pressed dried flower, just regular flowers that keep their shape and color when dried.  Shame my hydrangea is so small.  I could dry those too.

Any expert flower driers out there?  Suggestions? 

And does anyone know if the zinnias will reseed themselves for next year?  I've been tossing the spent blooms back in the flower bed just in case they do. 

It's All About ME!

Yesterday morning SM and I were sitting at the table waking up with our caffeinated weapons of choice.  I was perusing the internet hitting some of my favorite sites when I came across an article on HuffPost 50 about The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying.

After reading this article myself, I then read it aloud to SM and we engaged in a nice conversation of "What If's".

First off, neither SM nor I share any of the top regrets in the article.  As a matter of fact the concept of regret is a difficult one for me personally to recognize.  I tend to look at my life as a series of choices that I've made.  Regardless of whether the outcome of the choice was good or bad, I absorb the situation and move on generally with a shrug or a shake of my head that things just didn't (or can't) work out. 

That doesn't mean I don't go through a lot of angst and emotional distress.  It's just that I've accepted my role in the process and have moved on.

SM and I agree that not having kids has simplified our lives tremendously.   I've always considered myself more "selfish" than most so not having the responsibility of raising a family has allowed both of us to do things we might not have because of the risk to our family. 

IMHO, most of the regrets listed in the article factor heavily on whether or not you live a selfish life or a selfless life. 

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I think the fact that SM and I didn't have kids plays VERY heavily into this. 

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
I agree with the author that this is common with men.  I can TOTALLY understand the "provider" mentally.  SM and I both contribute and we enjoy our work.  It's part of who we are not what we need to do.  That doesn't mean that I wouldn't quit tomorrow if I didn't need to work.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Ha!  No problem with this one.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Maybe it's because we moved a lot when I was a kid but (to me) friends come and friends go.  I'm always on the lookout for a new friend.  But my best friend, SM, is still with me.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This one's just not in my vocabulary.  I'm as happy as I can be given any set of circumstances.  My favorite days are when someone comes along and turns my otherwise "bad" day into a good day.  With just a smile or a laugh or a comment or two.

Woof

So I'm up this morning and out the door by 5am.  73 degrees and so humid the sidewalk is "sweating."  Within minutes, I am too. 

The dogs start panting by the time we're at the end of the block.

Welcome to the dog days of August.

"Woof"

It occurs to me as I'm walking around that it's pitch black out there.  Maybe I didn't notice it as much last week because of the full moon but I really needed the flashlight I've got strapped to my wrist. 

It also occurs to me that it feels like February.  February?  Yep.  February.

My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall for obvious reasons.  Generally nice weather, air you can breathe and the fact that you can spend long periods of time outside without either sweating or freezing yourself silly.

February and August always feels like months I just have to "get through" and to be honest I'll be very glad to be done with this Summer.

What a dog ass Summer this has been so far.

The garden is DOA.  SM went to pick tomatoes with a basket in hand and came back empty handed.  "They're done."  He said tossing the basket on the counter.

"Done as in diseased?  Done as in no fruit on the vine?"  I asked from the safety of my recliner. 

(*Me and the bug-a-boo's outside don't mix anymore so I've been avoiding the garden except when I go out to cut flowers.  Then I wear full defensive gear.  Even then they still manage to get through.  SM though is not quite as tasty to the nasty little buggars so he tends to get less bites than I do.)

"Done as in rotting."  SM says shaking his head.  "Shame..."

It is indeed.  But that's the way the ball bounces.  Some years you hit, some years you miss.  All I can do is hang out and bark about it. 

"Woof"

Until September.

September when the fresh breezes blow in.  Then I'll be outside once again. 

Until then I'll spend the month of August perusing your blogs and admiring your harvests inside the safety of my house with the AC pumping and the ceiling fan spinning.



"Woof"

Nice Diggs

We got back from the beach late Monday.  Relaxed, happy and surprisingly sunburnt. 

We only sat out on the beach for a few hours and it was a cloudy day to boot with intermittent sprinkles while we lounged around and walked the beach.  It didn't occur to either of us that we might get zapped so we didn't apply the sunscreen.  Ooops!  Just goes to show you that we're not beach people.  Guess we won't make that mistake again.

The cool thing I wanted to share about this trip was that Ron's family utilize a search engine called VRBO when searching for a rental house.  Vacation Rentals By Owner. 

There are 12 people in Ron's family so when they get together for a family vacation (every 2 yrs) they like to rent a house instead of a hotel and they've used this site with great success.

Here's the link to the house we stayed at.  The 5 adult couples all had their own bedroom with an attached bath.   The kids all stayed in one room (bunk beds) that also had an attached bath.  This house was definitely built for the rental market.  (SM and I slept on the couch for the few days we were there.)

 

The house was HUGE.  Plenty of space to gather as a group or find some solo time if you wished.  It was only a block away from the beach access but came with a golf cart for hauling all your beach crap. 

We figured that the cost per couple is about the same as you'd spend for a week at a hotel.  Everybody brought breakfast, lunch, drinks and snack stuff with them in coolers. Then we ran to the local Piggly Wiggly (oink!) for all the stuff we didn't bring.  Dinner can be an inhouse group thing, solo dining out or a fast food hit for the kids.

All in all I was pretty impressed with the whole shebang.  SM and I got to mooch a few days away from home on the cheap.  Can't get much better than that @;)