If you’re trying to get to Nance‘s site and can’t get anything, worry not: it’s not you, it’s her. She broke her site when she was fiddling with files, and won’t have a chance to get to fixing it ’til this weekend. She’ll be baaaaack.
Susan says:
Minn-Kota PAAWS, a place I volunteer at when I visit friends in Fargo, is up for a $25,000 grant from Markham Vineyards, which it could win if enough people vote for it (it’s a finalist). Think how many more feral cats and pets belonging to low income people could be helped. Please help spread the word and/or go register to vote and continue to do so once every day until 10/3/11 (or as many times as you can).
It’s a great place all staffed and run by volunteers wanting to minimize the number of unwanted cats.
New month, new banner! This one comes courtesy of local readerfriend Jean, with whom I was having a discussion about tomatoes and how annoying it was to find tomatoes with a single bite taken out of them. That banner cracks me UP.
Thanks, Jean!
Sights from around Crooked Acres.
These pictures are small so as not to freak out the more sensitive among you. Those are clusters of daddy longlegs-type spiders (I don’t know if they’re actually daddy longlegs – their bodies seem bigger than they ought to be), and the one on the right, I almost put my HAND in that cluster. UGH.
And another creepy one – Fred shot poison at this yellowjacket nest (which is inside the wood shed) and killed all the yellowjackets that were on it, but apparently there were plenty of them out running errands while he was doing it. Guess we need to knock it down rather than leave it hanging. I am skeered to death of yellowjackets. They’re MEAN.
Fred made pineapple-ghost chili hot sauce over the weekend. He tells me it’s hot. There’s a shock, no?
Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookie. I made a half-batch over the weekend. They were good the day I made them, but REALLY good after sitting for a day. Recipe is hither. The only problem is that I can’t eat a whole one without feeling ill (and I’m not saying that in that annoying “Oh, I ate a Lifesaver and I’m stuffed!” way. It’s a HUGE cookie.) Next time, I may buy a pack of those mini-Oreos and make much smaller ones.
Dried okra, waiting ’til the cats knock their current okra toys under the stove.
The okra plants are now my height (I’m 5’5″) or taller. We’ve gotten so much okra that the freezer is stuffed with sliced okra. Since I’ve gotten enough okra put away to keep us going ’til next year, we’re currently eating okra with almost every meal. My favorite way to eat it is roasted. It’s REALLY good – put uncut okra pods on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, cook at 450ºF for 20 minutes – and not at all slimy.
Ghost chilies, ripening in the garden. I’ve been told that I’m on tap to make a batch of cherry-ghost chili jam. I am not looking forward to this – but at least I won’t be eating any of it!
The butternut and acorn squash plants get wilty in the middle of the day, but perk back up overnight. We thought it might be bugs, but I really think it’s the heat. I’ve gone to watering the entire garden three times a week instead of two, because we haven’t gotten rain in weeks.
Morning Glory, vining up one of the squash plants. Fred hates Morning Glories, but I think they’re pretty and I don’t yank them out of the garden because I like seeing them!
Muscadines (wild grapes).
We’re gonna get a bumper crop this year. Last year I made a batch of Muscadine jam with them. I’m not sure what I’ll be making this year, since I don’t think we ate any of the jam. It’s funny how much jam I make, given that we don’t eat much in the course of a year.
Muscadine vine. I love vines. Is that odd?
“Thanks for watering the garden, lady. I needed a bath!”
Someone ought to prune that pecan tree. (That red shed is the garden shed. This would be an ideal place for a hammock, if we had one.)
There’s just nothing funnier than a running chicken.
The Rock Star (she’s a Golden Polish) is the absolute prettiest chicken we have, if you ask me. I love her colors.
This little rooster’s pretty, too.
She’s also pretty. I guess we have a bunch of pretty chickens.
The rooster counterpart to the hen in the previous picture.
Oh, Gracie. It’s a bale of STRAW. (Fred put it there to block the hole in the fence that the chickens were going through.) I don’t know what was freaking her out – there wasn’t a HOSE there or anything.
Two girl piggies in the waller.
Happy George.
I love vines, but that Wisteria vine, reaching across three feet of space to grab onto the back yard fence? Maybe not so much.
Someone mentioned last week that they’d like to have a “sounds of Crooked Acres” week, where I post videos of, oh, the chickens and the pigs and what have you. I thought about doing that this week, but I never did get outside with my camera to make the videos, so to tide you over ’til I do get that accomplished, I’m posting some older videos.
First, a couple of chicken videos.
Those are both from around 2007 – 2008. This last one was shot in 2008, and is a visit in the chicken yard, and you get to see the pigs, too.
Harlan keeps an eye on the feather teaser.
These kittens are the standing-up balancingest kittens I’ve ever seen.
“Come HERE, feather teaser.”
Sally’s all “Get it! GET IT!”
Whoa!
So close and yet so far.
“Watch me, ladies. I’ll get it!”
“Oh, right, you got that one, didn’t you? I’m SO impressed.”
“Shut UP, I don’t see YOU getting it either!”
Lucy’s face is cracking me UP. She is clearly SO over me and my shenanigans.
I let Elwood in to meet the Peppers a few days ago. He was unimpressed, as you’ll see.
Kara, snoozing on the dryer.
“What are you doing out here? You don’t belong outside! Get back inside, it’s safer!”
Previously
2010: Jake of the l’Unervilles.
2009: Jon Armstrong was all “HEATHER INVENTED MAYTAG WHEN SHE WASN’T BUSY INVENTING BLOGGING AND BEING THE FIRST EVER TO EXPERIENCE NATURAL CHILDBIRTH.”
2008: I know. I’m an unreasonable monster.
2007: No entry.
2006: The truth is, Fred has been excitedly pricing tractors every minute of every day since our offer on the house was accepted.
2005: Ahhhhh, smell that fresh, crisp autumn air! Why, it’s down to 90 degrees today. I almost need a sweater.
2004: She turned 86 last Thursday. She’s the only grandparent I’ve ever really known.
2003: (and you KNOW he insisted on it, was all temper tantrumy, screaming and beating his fists on the floor, wailing “ACTOR AND NOVELIST! ACTOR AND NOVELIST!”)
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
I get wilty in the afternoon, too. I must be part squash.
Your lifesaver comment reminded of my bff. She was at work and everyone was ordering lunch. They asked her what she wanted and she said nothing, that she had just had a Tic Tac. To this day, she doesn’t know why she said that and no one has let her live it down!
I think this may be the first banner I’ve seen without a cat photo in it. Is the world ending?
JESUS H!!! I know I’d see all those stringy things coming from the roof and I’d go and take a closer look to find GIANT SPIDER LEGS!!!1!! Nightmares…I just know I’m gonna have them.
Well, an Oreo-filled chocolate-chip cookie would help soothe my shattered nerves. Looks yummy! Even regular choc-chip cookies are better after sitting overnight (if we can wait that long).
Happy George needs a shnorgle.
I love how you call Ellwood “Ellie”!
Finally got my shit together to ask you a Friday question. If someone was thinking about starting a blog, would you recommend going with Blogspot or something like that, or is having your own domain name preferable? Didn’t you start right out with your own domain name? Any general thoughts about this much appreciated!
First Jane’s blog, now Nance’s blog…what is the world coming too! Woe.
Lucy reminds me of a meerkat.
And the nest of spider legs that look a bit like cobwebs? I could have done without that. Creepy. Those legs look to be 3-4 inches each. Extra-creepy.
OMG – I skimmed right past the banner. Love it!
Re: yelowjackets. Personal experience – destroy the cone AND the wasp spit or whatever they use to attach the cone – it has liquid in it, that the yellowjackets hone in on, and will continue coming back even if the cone is gone, until you get rid of that too.
(thanks for the creepy memories)
I luv wisteria – it smells really good. They can suck the life out of a tree if they start wrapping around it. They are water guzzlers. Luv em tho. Even tho they murdered a small oak tree we had back in the day.
Hey, whatever happened to the chicken with the crooked toes/feet? I seem to remember it not being around anymore, and am too lazy to search your site. It would probably take me HOURS to find the info.
The okra talk reminded me that I wanted to ask about pickled okra. I made some last year that was really great, but can’t remember where I got the recipe. I don’t see it in your recipe list–did you post that or did I find it elsewhere? Thanks.
P.S. I’m assuming “waller” is Southern Speak for “wallow?” Took me a while to figure out what waller meant.
Robyn, what do you use for household cleaner? I’m worried about one of our kitties, who likes to get into the shower after we used it and lick the shower pan. I use Tilex on it to clean it, but always makes sure I rinse it thoroughly. Still, I’m worried there is some residue left that could make him ill.
Suggestion for Bwana Fred, Yellow-jacket hunter. My husband waits until evening and spritzes nest, when all/most of the residents are home. Then he knocks down the nest.
Thanks for update regarding Nance’s Dysfunction Junction blog. I discovered the problem last night.
I love Elwood’s little staredown with (who is that, dang, the silver tabby) – Elwood’s all, “You lookin at me? Huh? HUH? You lookin at ME?!?!” and she’s like, “Yup. *STARE*” and Elwood’s got nothing but, “Well… well, I don’t like it!”
And which one was it who was helping you clean up the speck of lint on the floor? THAT’s the cat I want to adopt, one that’ll pick stuff up!
I love the new banner!
The spiders? Not so much…*doing my Cowardly Lion dance*….but thank you for making the pictures small. I have a feeling I’m the only person who’s afraid of a PICTURE of a spider. Ew!!!!
Tis not nice to start off your entry today with freaking daddy long leg spiders which are the evil beasts that started my fear of spiders way back when I was a kid in Michigan. I scrolled quickly past those pictures and shuddered, nearly knocking the laptop off my lap.
Oh Harlan, be still my heart, he’s giving Corbie a run for his money in the handsome brown tabby category. They are getting so big!! And I’m so happy to see them not puffing up at the hissing Ellie. LOL
I read your journal in Flipboard for the iPad and out of ALL your pictures today guess which one they used as a “cover” for your post? Yep, the cluster of grandaddy long legs. I was scared to even tap the screen!
The two acorns in your banner look like crooked boobies!
Oh… you have to try Panoreos. — You take your Oreo cookie and dip it in pancake batter and then throw on the griddle. Cook like a pancake. SO good!