Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Autumn Clematis and Rose of Sharon. That’s one pretty big bunch of overgrown greenery in the back yard – no wonder the cats like hanging out out there.
Tommy and Newt, hanging out by the fence.
More Autumn Clematis, taking over the fence.
Loony Jake, hanging out on the log Fred put there just so the cats could hang out on it. I like it when stuff works out like that.
Volunteer Purslane, growing in one of the empty raised beds. I can see why this stuff is considered a weed – it won’t die, it just keeps coming back!
Elwood, Tommy, and Kara. I’m in the little raised-bed garden, they’re in the back yard. They can’t come into the raised-bed garden because they’d have to go through the gate, which will set off their collars. They’re not happy with me at the moment.
The Ghost Peppers are really starting to come in.
By the way, whoever it was that mentioned I’d want to wear a face mask while I deal with cooking/ powdering/ dealing with the ghost peppers, THANK YOU. I dehydrated four of them last week, and then put on gloves, a face mask, AND took the blender out onto the front porch to grind the peppers into powder. I can’t imagine how much my lungs would have hurt if I hadn’t been wearing a mask!
Also, Fred made Ghost Chili hot sauce over the weekend (outside on the hot plate). I haven’t tried it – and won’t – but he reports that the flavor is similar to that of Habaneros.
One ripe Tabasco pepper.
Blight, I think. It’s pretty much taken over all the tomatoes.
Wee baby cabbage plants. Germination wasn’t great this time around; I think I’m going to just plant these in the raised beds and see how they do.
Maxi keeps me company in the garden.
Squash bug eggs, right before I squashed ’em.
Wee baby acorn squash! They’re about two inches long.
Wee baby Butternut Squash! It’s about three inches long.
Lots of little Butternut Squash.
Happy squash plants.
Busy bee on a squash blossom.
Begonia growing in a pot on the front porch.
Happy Hydrangea (in the front flower bed; the Oak Leaf Hydrangea is growing on the side of the house near the stoop.)
“HALLO YOU HAS SNACK FOR ME.”
“I HAS TO CLOSE MY EYES WHEN I THINK ABOUT SNACK, IT MAKE ME SO HAPPY.”
“WHERE SNACK? SNACK OVER THERE?”
“GRACIE, WHERE SNACK? FIND SNACK, GRACIE!”
“NO SNACK OVER HERE, GEORGE. I ALREADY EAT IT. HEE HEE.”
“George go to pout. We stay here and wait for his snack.”
“I startin’ to think there’s no snack today.”
“I hope there’s not a snack I’m missing out on. I don’t HEAR a snack.” Someone needs a haircut.
Wandering chickens.
Checking the tomato plant in case some tomatoes grew in the past ten minutes (hey, you never know).
Roo keeping an eye on me…
…with both eyes.
Hello, gorgeous.
Broody hen, sitting on eggs. Because what we need is more chickens.
Volunteer squash plant, in the maternity yard. If I recall correctly, half of a spaghetti squash was tossed in there.
Considering what to do next.
Doing it. (Anyone who has chickens recognizes that stance and knows what that hen is doing. She’s laying something, but it’s not an egg.)
This stress can’t be good for her heart.
“You go ‘way. We talkin’ ’bout you.”
Poor Lucy Peppers. Minding her own business, making shadow monsters, and Everett’s gotta mess with her.
::thwap::
“I KEEL YOU.”
“Not sure you wanna do that, boy.”
“I keel her, instead.”
“Wait. Where YOU come from?!” Sisters stick together, y’know.
Spanky takes a sun bath.
Previously
2010: Kitten movies for you.
2009: The only excitement is watching the show to see if Kim gets so excited that her face almost moves.
2008: “I’m trying to recall the many houses we’ve driven by and seen Mennonite children scrubbing down the pigs and cows. Thinking… thinking…”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I haaaaaaaaaate having to deal with strangers.
2003: I guess when your boss (the Supreme Court) tells you to do something and you tell him to go fuck himself, shit tends to fly.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: The thrills and chills around here just never stop, folks.
I think the volunteer squash plant in the maternity yard is a great way to get the mama chicks into having their own garden.
I always wondered why you planted purslane, it grows like crazy in our backyard and if I don’t get a chance to weed every week it takes over my entire patio! We named one of our cats Purslane after the character in “A Love Song For Bobby Long”..Pursey for short.
GHOST PEPPERS! YIKES! My hubby loves some spicy peppers but while we were on vacation we went to a store called The Pepper Palace and he tried salsa made with ghost peppers and almost DIED! I had to get him some milk an his mouth and throat burned for hours afterwards! You are a brave woman working with ghost peppers!
I made the suggestion of using the face mask with the ghost peppers. Like I said in my comment, I made one batch of salsa with ONE pepper and cleared the sinuses of neighbors on either side of us. The entire house (animals included) coughed, hacked, wheezed, and watered up for over an hour. It was BAD!!!
I don’t know how you don’t squeeze the stuffin out of loony Jake! He is always happy and smilin’ and just darn cute. I Loves me some loony Jake!
Your garden pictures always impress me! I can’t keep one single potted plant alive in my office window!
I so love Sights from Crooked Acres Thursday! You know what would also be neat? How about one day doing “Sounds from Crooked Acres”? I saw that picture of all the chickens milling about, and I couldn’t stop thinking how neat it must be to sit outside and close your eyes and hear the chickens clucking and the dogs woofing and the bees buzzing and the cats meowing at you. How about it??
Also what brand of electronic fence/collar do you use? We had a crappy one that had two settings – nothing at all or full-blast-scare-the-poop-out-of-the-dog. Could never get it to work right!
I hope this makes it in in time for Friday Questions (edit at will to shorten; we all know how wordy I am):
A little while ago you listed three anti-odor products (and one mix-at-home dealy) (yes, that was me searching for odor remover just now). I know you said they all work really well and that you listed the one out ahead of the others only because it has no scent of its own – my question is, do you know how well they work on KEEPING odors away? Not just covering up temporary odors but getting rid of lingering problem smells?
It’s not a cat issue, surprisingly. One of my dogs refuses to be potty trained. She’s seven years old, I’ve tried absolutely everything, she’s the first dog I’ve EVER had a problem housebreaking, and she has a host of other :ahem: Issues so I (and the vet) have come to the conclusion that she is neurologically incapable of being fully trained, and have just started keeping her outside 90% of the time. Which kills me, but oh well.
I have only just this month put the area rugs back in my house, after rolling them up and banishing them to the garage while I tried to figure out how to get them cleaned. Steam cleaning didn’t work, enzyme solutions didn’t work, nothing worked. Dragging them out into the driveway and scrubbing them until our arms fell off, rinsing them with a Great Lake’s worth of water, and letting them dry in the sun with a liberal coating of baking powder (on the backing) for four days seems to have *helped.* It’s bearable to have them in the house now; you don’t get bowled over with the dog piss smell as soon as you open the door.
But there is still a lingering residual odor, on one of the rugs in particular. It’s a $300 rug and I am almost ready to just throw it out. I’m willing to give these products, or any other product anyone can recommend, a shot, but only if someone can give me a heartfelt and enthusiastic recommendation about their effectiveness on lingering odors. (I will have to cross-reference any other products anyone recommends, as over the years I have tried at least a dozen “odor removing” products without success. The “You Stink” industry has made a fortune off of me and that damn dog.)