Sewing Machine Retirement

Remember that old Singer Featherweight that I was so attached to?  ( http://tilemosaics.blogspot.com/2010/04/old-technology.html )  I finally decided to bite the bullet and retire it.  It was having some problems that I'm sure could be easily fixed, but I couldn't find anyone around here that works on sewing machines.  I had some sewing projects that I wanted to get done; sewing machines were on sale at Costco with free shipping, so I ordered one.

They don't make 'em like they used to.  This new one is actually light as a feather, but that's because it's made of plastic parts.  I bet it won't last 50 years.  But...it will do for now.  It's easy to use and, I'll admit it, it does more than my ol' Singer does.

Apparently, there are some seamstresses out there who like to have a picture of their beloved handy at all times.

Montauk

Me and the Mr. at the lighthouse in Montauk.

They show this lighthouse frequently on Royal Pains.

Look!  We can see Connecticut from here!

Our Trip

Aside from the actual travel, which was hideous, our vacation was lovely.  Our hosts, Tom's cousins, were wonderful and fed us gourmet meals every day.  Gourmet and healthy and beautiful, I should say.

Here they are.  They look like they might be having fun.  Imagine that, having fun cooking.  This is a new concept for me.  I'm a good cook,  in my Southern cooking kind of way;  I cook because I want to eat and nobody else is going to do it for me. I cook good tasting things because I don't eat bad tasting things.  But fun?  Cooking?  Not. 

But, yes, they actually enjoy cooking and they do it well.

Grilled striped sea bass straight out of the ocean, with a wonderful topping of cucumber, red bell pepper, and olives; sides of steamed asparagus and corn on the cob grilled in the husk.  The corn was lightly buttered (with olive oil mayo, actually, but butter works) then rolled in freshly grated parmesan.  It was all wonderful.

Penn Station

When we traveled on our Royal Pain adventure, we had to pass through Penn station on four different occasions. Although, it was not my first time to travel by train, not by a long shot, it was my first time to experience Penn station and it's weird little idiosyncrasy.

There is no regular schedule for which track a train will be arriving or leaving on. Yes, the trains are roughly on schedule time wise, but it's all a suspenseful surprise as to where you are supposed to be when actually catching a train. They have these big signs with the destinations posted on them and a blank spot beside them for the track number. A great crowd of humanity stands in front of the signs staring at them intently, then at approximately ten minutes before the train is scheduled to leave the station, the number of the track appears on the board. As soon as it appears, there is a great surge of the crowd while everyone makes a mad dash through the appropriate door, down the escalator (or stairs when the escalator is not working, which happened more than once), and onto the train.

Apparently, people-who-know-best have decided that this is the most efficient way to handle the train traffic and make it more fun for people-traveling-with-suitcases.

There are no pictures of this event because this person-traveling-with-suitcases was afraid she might miss the all important first viewing of the track number and mad dash to the track.

Ah, Home Again

There truly is nothing like like home.  I knew I wasn't in Texas anymore when I entered the Starbucks in Penn Station to order my favorite mocha coconut frappuccino.  Enter surly barista who made the drink wrong and sprinkled cookie crumbs on top of the whipped cream.  As much as I'd love to have had cookie crumbs, my body doesn't allow gluten so I handed it back.  After several tries too boring to write about, I finally was able to drink my watery frappe.

In addition to taking a few days to laze about and recover from the trauma of traveling,  I've been playing catch up around the farm.

Things keep growing even on vacation and we got our much needed rain, so things have really greened up.  What is it about rain that is so much more effective than watering with a sprinkler?  I've been watering our yard faithfully through the hottest part of the summer, but the best results I've gotten are green circles right around where the sprinkler heads are buried.  A week after it rains, the whole place comes alive and the spots that were green now pale in comparison to the rest of the yard.

I spent most of Friday mowing and weedeating and using the blower trying to get our yard tamed. 

And we're getting more rain as I type this, which is crazy wonderful.

Our Big Royal Pains Adventure

We haven't taken a vacation in ages.  I guess, other than going to a couple of family weddings that were out of town, I haven't traveled more than a few hours away from home since we bought our farm.  Those really aren't vacations, so I guess it's safe to say that we haven't taken a vacation since we bought the farm.

It's not for lack of trying.  Tom is always trying to get me to go here or there.  But, at heart, I'm really a homebody and since all this nonsense with "security" at airports, I just don't enjoy the process.  I figure that if I don't enjoy it and if I don't really have to get on a plane, then why do it?

Well, I finally gave in and consented to a trip to The Hamptons in New York to visit some of Tom's family. 

Tom and I have TV shows that we watch together and one of our favorites is Royal Pains (although we call it "Hank Med").  It's about a concierge doctor in The Hamptons.  In case you don't know what a concierge doctor is, it is one that makes house calls exclusively and is at your beck and call if you can afford the retainer.  Anyway, supposedly it is filmed there, so we feel like we kind of know the place already.  Of course, it's probably like the show Dallas where pretty much nothing really looks, in real life, like it does on TV (we used to live near and drive by Southfork several times a week, so we're pretty familiar with that phenomenon - people, don't be crushed, but the house is not some great big mansion as you've been led to believe).

So, maybe something fun will happen that I can blog about (anything is better than my squash bug saga)...that is, if I can remember to take my camera.

So, off we go.

Buh-limey, Waiting for the Rain

This looks like a foggy day, but it's lime in the air instead of moisture.  (And sad little dogwood that looks like it might have died of thirst)

Tom sent some soil samples to some university to get tested and the results were that we needed lime and certain fertilizers added to the soil to grow better hay and choke out the weeds (theoretically, I'm doubtful that any amount of hay or grass growth will choke out weeds).  Tom searched for weeks for someone to apply the lime - one big outfit told us they are only applying lime in the winter because they're too busy applying fertilzer right now - he finally found a man nearby that would do it and he got the application scheduled.  Of course, his equipment broke down and we had to wait several more weeks for him to finally show up.

We were curious as to how the lime would be applied to the fields.  Turns out they just dump it with a dump truck.  They hauled tons of it in from somewhere in an eighteen wheeler with four large dump things on it.  They look kind of like those big commercial trash bins like are out behind stores or apartment buildings.  If you look close, you can see them in this picture.  By turns, they were each dumped into a regular dump truck.

Then the driver took off across the field with the tailgate of the truck loose and flapping. 

As he zoomed around the lime fell out the back and onto the ground.  It was pretty windy so a lot of it blew around before settling.  Our neighbors probably got a fair amount of lime on their fields.  We're glad to share.

The fields were white. 

And as we wait for the rain to water it in, the wind blows.

More Squash Bug Damage

I think I've mentioned fighting the squash bugs all season.  It has sort of  been a losing battle.  I've only managed to keep them from completely destroying all of the vines like they did last year.  But, every morning, when I go out to search them out, I still find them - fewer, but still eggs on the leaves, nymphs, and adults crawling around sucking the life out of the vines.

I smash everything I find.

These are the pumpkin vines damaged by the bugs.  The whole area was full and lush and full of pumpkins.  I was able to pick several before the bugs managed to kill off over half the vines.  It's still blooming and still putting on some small pumpkins, but I can't imagine that it will last much longer.

I really need to find a good preventative.  That will be next season's task.

We can't complain too much because we've had a fairly mild summer here in east Texas, especially compared to last year.  But we've had temps in the 100's for the past week with no end in sight and it's taking it's toll on the grass, hay, flowers, and trees that are already stressed from the drought.  We've also had no rain for several weeks, which isn't helping.

**Shudder**

Garden gate latch.

Right under the gate latch.

Lends new meaning to the saying, "If it were a snake, it would have bit me."

I didn't see this critter until I had already opened the gate, walked through, then turned to close it.

It stayed curled up in there until I poked it a few times.

Then it slithered magically across the board.

I didn't know what kind it was, but went inside and looked it up.  It is a Texas rat snake (also often called a chicken snake) and not poisonous.  They eat small rodents, which is good, but they also get into the chicken coop and eat the eggs, which is not good.  This one will live another day, but if it decides to go to the coop, that's where it's luck will run out.

Holy Moley

Just when I was beginning to think I might be done picking squash bugs off the squash, these little critters showed up on the eggplant.

Potato bugs!

So now. in addition to looking for these little copper eggs

(usually on the bottoms of the leaves, so not easily visible) and squishy them, and looking for baby and adult squash bugs and squishy them, I have to look for potato bugs on the eggplant vines and squish them.

Will it ever end?

And something has taken a few bites out of my perfect little aubergine eggplant.

The Fur's A' Flyin'

It's hot.  I don't have enough non-broiling-hot hours in the day to groom animals.

So, Pearlie got a haircut.  I don't claim to be a doggie hair stylist.

And, since I suddenly turned into Edward Scissorhands, minus the talent, Edward was not spared.  This is what happens around here when you let your hair turn into felt.  Either that, or male pattern baldness.

"hmmph"

Update on Nettle Erradication

I posted about various treatments for nettles back in June of 2010 ( http://tilemosaics.blogspot.com/2010/06/bulls-horses-and-nettles.html ), and it has occurred to me that I did not post a follow-up on how well the treatments worked.

I'm sorry to say that they did not totally erradicate the nettles.  We still regularly have bull nettles cropping up throughout the property.  Tom pulls them by hand.  And we have great patches of the Carolina horse nettle that he has to treat throughout the growing season.

Our next plan of action is to get our soil in tip-top shape.  We've had the soil tested to see what it needs and will be applying lime and some fertilizer in the coming weeks.  Then a regular regimen of mowing.  We have been told that if we fertilize enough, our hay will eventually choke out the nettles and other weeds.

We shall see.

Also, we've been letting the goats roam freely.  They like to eat the young sand burrs and the burr grass.  I think that has been helpful in keeping the burrs from taking over.

Twig Arbor

I got it in my head that I wanted to build a twig arbor.  So, I gathered up some of the small trees that were casualties of the drought and roughly the same size and built this.  Then I planted an Asian Jasmine next to it so it can climb.  It's pretty shady, so I don't know how the jasmine will do, but, so far, so good.

It looks pretty straight from this angle, but that is deceiving.

One of my trees was crazy crooked.

Don't be hatin'

I like it a bit wonky.

I Take It Back

Maybe I am getting better at it.  Well, it's probably not me, it's probably the good weather, but the garden suddenly exploded into life.  I've blanched and frozen several quarts of green beans.  This is the first year I've ever gotten more than a handful.  I still haven't gotten the hang of picking them at the right time.  I tend to wait too long or miss some of them hanging on the vine (they're very hard to see amongst the foliage) and then they're tough to eat.

I also blanched and froze a few dozen corn on the cob and have some waiting to be shucked.  I'll probably have another batch or two to pick in the coming days, then the corn will be done.  Maybe I'll have time for another crop of corn.  I don't know how it grows in the heat of summer.

The cucumbers continue to produce more than I know what to do with and I'm still resisting making  pickles.

The butternut squash survived the invasion of the squash bugs and, although I'm still finding some on the vines and leaves, there are far less than when the season started.  So, I'll have loads of butternut unless some other disease or pest crops up that I'm not prepared for.

Pumpkins?  I thought pumpkins were supposed to be harvested in the fall?  I followed either the Farmer's Almanac guide or my organic gardening book's guide on when to plant.  I'm pretty sure these pumpkins are ready to be picked and there are many more at different stages of development.  What does a body do with so many pumpkins and it's nowhere near Halloween or Thanksgiving?

This is some kind of melon called Canary.  I don't think I've ever seen or heard of it before.  I thought I was planting canteloupe, but it doesn't have the netted skin like canteloupe and the flesh is sort of creamy white instead of orange.  I picked one and cut it open today.  The seeds are in the middle like a canteloupe and the taste is a cross between canteloupe and watermelon with maybe a dash of cucumber.  It will be very refreshing when it's chilled.

Some critter, probably a cute little bunny, is eating the pumpkin and watermelon.  It will eat on the same one each night

until it looks like this.  Then it will move on to another young fruit.  I'm not terribly upset about it because it takes several days for one to be eaten and I have so many.  But, if it starts destroying too much of the garden, I think I'll send one of the young men out there for target practice.  Jasper Cat hangs out in the garden a lot, but I guess she doesn't stay out there at night, otherwise, she might be able to keep the bunnies away.

I read recently that watermelons need a lot of water as the vines are growing and getting established but after the watermelons get bigger, too much water will dilute the sweetness.  So, while they ripen, you need to cut down on the watering.  I have accidentally done something right.

Flower Gardening

My flower gardening is going well this year.

The other Dahlias were yellow

and another white one.

Turk's Cap.  What an amazing tiny little flower.  This plant dies back completely during the winter, then puts up all new shoots in the spring, getting bigger each year.

I'm trying to get a good stand of Cosmos going by letting it reseed itself.  Unfortunately, only one plant came up this year, but it's a doozy.  It's way taller than I expected.  I might should have put it more towards the back of the bed.

The miniature roses are blooming profusely.  I need to train it to climb on the fence instead of lay all over the ground.

Orange Canna

Asian Cucumber Salad

I'm looking for ways to use up my cucumbers so that I won't have to make pickles and came across this recipe on allrecipes.com. I made it last night and it was sooo good that I couldn't stop eating it. I used my own cucumbers, onions, and fresh mint and some tomatoes that a friend had grown (unfortunately, my tomatoes are not making).

1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes*
1/2 tsp. salt
2 lbs cucumbers, halved, seeded, and sliced (3 or 4 large cukes is about right)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 roma tomatoes, chopped (other tomatoes work just as well)
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs. chopped frest mint
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Whisk together the vinegar, sugar, coriander, red pepper flakes, and salt in a salad bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, and chopped mint, and toss to coat with dressing. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to blend flavors. Stir occasionally.

Before serving, toss again with chopped peanuts.

*The red pepper makes it quite hot, so if you don't like hot so much, go easy on the pepper.

Straw Bale Gardening Update

Well, I must say, I'm disappointed and unimpressed with this straw/hay bale gardening.  I do like how it elevates the plants so they aren't all over the ground and it's a little easier to pick the veggies, but I think that's the only good thing about it...except that I like how it looks, which is of little value.

In the bale row farthest to the right at the far end are the cucumbers that survived.  They're producting well.  The rest of that row was zucchini.  I planted about ten, but only three survived.  Those three are dead now.  The problem I had with them was, firstly, keeping them watered enough.  The bales dried out very quickly. 

 Secondly, zucchini plants are heavy and the roots couldn't get a good hold in the hay.  When they started putting on zucchini, one of them got so heavy that it just fell out on the ground. 

Lastly, from what I read, having the plants up off of the ground is supposed to help keep the pests off of them, but that was not the case with the squash bugs.  It did help with the moles, but I had to inspect every leaf for squash bugs and their eggs every day. 

Anyway, between the weak root system and the squash bugs, the zucchini didn't make it and I replanted in another area.

The middle row is butternut squash.  I'm fighting the squash bugs with that, but so far, they are making it.  It's easier to keep the vines propped up on the bales so that they don't pull the roots out.

The tomatoes are growing like crazy, but not putting on tomatoes.  Haven't figured out what's going on with that yet, but I have some friends who already are picking their tomatoes. 

I'm really not getting any better at this gardening thing even after, what? five seasons.

Dinner Plate Dahlia

Yay!  The blooming of the Dahlias has made my week.  I can't get over how beautifully perfect this flower is.

It is a full eight inches across and so heavy that it hangs it's head.  I'm surprised the stalk can hold it up.

Here is is amongst the daylillies to show a contrast in size.

I must admit, when I ordered these bulbs from Breck's ( http://brecks.com/ )

I didn't really believe they'd bloom the 6-9 inches promised.  I especially didn't expect anything this summer because I planted them in the spring of last year.  I planted ten of them in different colors and they all sprang up.  Then the drought hit and, even though I watered them faithfully, the drought killed off over half of them.  The ones left got buds on them and were promptly eaten up - everything but the stem - by grasshoppers.

In our climate, you're supposed to dig dahlias up and store them through the winter, replanting in the spring.  My efforts last summer were such a dismal failure, that I didn't even bother digging them up.  They over wintered in the ground and to my great surprise, three of them grew this spring.  This one is the first to bloom, but the others have buds on them, too.  Can't wait to see what colors I have left.

The Lawn

I'm so excited that our lawn is recovering from the drought.  There are a lot...a LOT of weeds, but the St. Augustine grass is going strong and starting to retake its territory.

And, I think it's pretty cool that the cannas I planted behind the orange patio furniture...

bloomed the exact same color as the furniture.

Remember This?

Let me remind you.  I started this in July of last year; posted about it in August.

http://tilemosaics.blogspot.com/2011/08/slow-season.html

Finally, almost a year later...it is completed.  I had painter's block for several months.  I just have to put a coat of varnish on it and then it will be winging its way to the intended recipient.

It's a knockoff of the Paul Van Ginkel painting, White Out.