* * *
An hour and a half of weeding yesterday, and I got a bit more than half the row of onions done. I’ll get the other half tomorrow (I don’t weed two days in a row. Shaddup.), then maybe do the tomatoes, which aren’t too horribly weedy. We’ll see.
* * *
Lanna Lee is
doing a survey for a Technical Writing class. Go
take it and help her out, wouldya?
* * *
Fred thinks the spud is easing us into the idea of her moving to Rhode Island. She’s been spending the night at her friend’s house a lot lately – can’t say as I blame her, her friend lives in Madison which means she doesn’t have to drive 20 minutes to see her other friends or hang out with her best friend or hit Kohl’s or go to work, all of which
is 20 minutes from home now – and the house is weirdly quiet without her here. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we ran around naked and screamed like banshees the first night she was away (sorry for that visual), but we’re getting used to it. Not liking it, really, just becoming accustomed.
Luckily, she’s still willing to fit me in for our usual Wednesday-night-out dinners, so I’ll be spending time with her tonight and hearing all the gossip about her friends and work.
* * *
From my comments:
Robyn, I was going to ask if you planned to can anything, but Melissa beat me to it. 🙂 Seriously, it’s pretty easy. You have to shell out a little to buy some equipment (a big canning kettle with a rack to hold jars, lids, jars, etc.), but the stuff lasts forever, except for buying new jar lids for each batch (cheap). I’m sure Ball has a site you can check for instructions. Of course, if you have a big freezer, you might want to just freeze a mess o’ veggies.
Although I am a teeny bit scared of the idea, I’m still willing to give it a try, so yes – I’ll definitely be doing at least some canning. Fred just planted cucumbers, and I love me some pickles, so I’ll probably can some pickles. And since we have a bunch of jalapeno plants, we might make some pickled jalapenos (not for me, though – I am not a fan of peppers). Also, lots of tomato sauce. We’ll be freezing stuff as well, but I definitely want to give canning a try!
* * *
Right now, Maxi and Newt are laying in the back yard asleep, looking as though they just finished Thanksgiving dinner and don’t plan to move for six to eight hours. Over by the chicken coop? The remains of a rabbit. A BIG rabbit. When Fred came into the bedroom this morning to say goodbye, he said “Don’t go over by the chicken coop. There’s some circle of life going on out there right now.” When pressed, he told me that Maxi was in the process of eating a rabbit that appeared to be bigger than she is. And there was a line of chickens standing and watching her.
When I got up an hour later and opened the blinds in the computer room, Newt was taking his turn at the rabbit, and Fred wasn’t kidding about the size of the damn thing. At this point there’s only one opening to the back yard that isn’t blocked by a gate, and we theorized that the rabbit got into the back yard and couldn’t figure out how to get out, and Maxi and/ or Newt took care of him.
That last gate can’t go up soon enough for me, damnit.
Speaking of Maxi and Newt, I have to say – they are some tiny, tiny cats. If they weigh more than 6 or 7 pounds, I’d be amazed. Considering that over the winter they got to the point where they were just this side of porky, to see them thinned out made me worry at first. I guess it’s all that hunting and good eating (rabbits, squirrels, LITTLE BABY BIRDS) that’s got them in such good shape. Compared to our cats (okay, okay, our INDOOR cats), who all weigh around 10 pounds, they’re teeny.
* * *
When my parents were visiting, we went down to Tuscaloosa one day to visit with my aunt and cousins. We had lunch out, and then went over to see my cousin Delina’s new house. She used to live right next door to her sister but decided that she needed a bigger house, and so bought a house about half a mile (if that) down the street.
The house is nice, but the back yard is what dreams are made of. I’ve seen realtors describe back yards to houses as being “park-like”, but didn’t know what that meant until I saw Delina’s back yard. It is AMAZING.
Delina’s dawg (one of two).
I covet this greenhouse (Fred said it’s more like a sunroom. Whatever it is, I covet it.)
When we got home, I showed pictures of the greenhouse/ sunroom to Fred and said “Make me one of these!” I’m not holding my breath, though. Isn’t it the cutest thing?
Like I said: park-like.
* * *
The mighty, mighty hunter.
* * *
Previously
2006: HOW ABOUT SOME MOURNING, PAUL?
2005: Dumbass things I have done today.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: Ass in the Past will be the name of my 14th novel.
2000: Ah, the heart warms.]]>
Holy cow, I want a greenhouse like that too! Wouldn’t it be perfect for starting plants from seed early? And for raising orchids?
You can also make some jalapeno jelly, which even people who don’t like peppers (me!) love. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do, and you end up looking some kinda culinary genius.
I am always so jealous when I see yards like that. And it always makes me feel so ghetto. 🙂
That sun room is available in kit form. I saw one being put togeather on one of the TLC shows. You need a concrete base and 2 to 3 people to put it togeather. On the show it took 2 guys one full day.
Thanks Robyn, for the shout out!
(I am sure it was Mr. Boogers.)(It couldn’t be Ms. Poo! No way!)
Hey you.
You might want to worm Maxi and Newt – just in case. Cat and their worms. Ew.
did you know that hot pepper jelly and cream cheese make a good spread for crackers
ewww! a rabbit? poor thing! and I hate me some wabbits!
anyway, cute, cute, cute greenhouse!!!
And I was just thinking this morning, “Self, when you read Robyn’s entry today, remember to ask in the comments when the Spud is leaving for RI and if she (Spud) is getting excited about the prospect of emptying the nest and heading off to higher education.”
Consider it asked. 🙂
BTW, did you get the logo sub mission for consideration for July? It’s in your email box. :))
Oh you’ll get accustomed to being “empty nesters” and then you’ll get to LOVE it. I was SO enjoying just me and my husband in the house, running around naked when we wanted to, having the bathroom to myself, doing 1/2 the laundry, etc… My daughter moved back in with us temporarily a few months ago. That’s when I realized how much I loved us being alone. I am glad to have her here now because I see her much more often, however, I won’t feel nearly as bad this time when she moves out!
LOVE that greenhouse!
If Miz Poo did rip the hole, it was obviously only because of Mister Boogers evil mind tricks he learned during his Interpol years. 😉
I second the worming…Rabbit + Cat/Dog = Wormy poop always. Might explain the thinning out too.
Robyn, check out these greenhouse kits. They look similar to the one in your picture.
So will Maxi and Newt be disallowed from the backyard once the gate goes up? Or will they be climbing the fence to get in and out? If they do that, won’t MB and T try to follow them out? etc, etc.
One year, we had dozens of tomatoe plants and we ended up just throwing the tomatoes in a ziploc bag and freezing them. When they thawed, they were mushy, but perfect for tomatoe sauce. It was a real treat in the midst of winter!
I want to live in that greenhouse! Well, with the addition of a bathroom, but that’s the cutest little house I’ve ever seen.
Robyn, http://www.homecanning.com has a pretty good overview of canning, but I highly recommend the Ball Blue Book. (Just don’t do what I do and constantly refer to it as the Blue Ball Book. Heh.) You can usually find it with canning supplies, but if not, I’m sure Amazon has it. The book has tons of recipes and easy step-by-step directions that even I can follow.
The dog nose picture is so funny!
Poor put-upon Mr. Boogers. Blamed for everything! That mean Miz Poo got him in trouble again!
I canned tomatos for the first time in my life this last summer and froze corn… it was easy! The tomatos we cut into chunks and boiled them, you put salt in there and then once it is boiling for a certain amount of time, you just pour it in the jars… the heat from the maters seals the lids down. Go figure. I had thought it was soooo much harder. The corn we cut off the cob, put it in a huge pot and cook it with water and sugar mixture. Once it cooks for like ten minutes, it is poured into big freezer bags, laid flat in the freezer and that is all. I can tell you this, after having that corn last year and just running out here about a month ago, I can’t wait for corn to go on sale and start freezing it. I HATE canned corn now. There is NOTHING like the farm corn. Don’t let canning intimidate you…. tomatos arent hard, corn is easy peasy. Now, I don’t know about beans and stuff, haven’t tried that out yet.
You still haven’t tried my hoe method for weeding have you? When you finally get tired of breaking your back and killing your knees and the pains of the sunburn are making you vomit and you decide.. screw it and grab the hoe… you’ll say “Shoulda done that months ago” Teeheee… That’s how I finally learned my lesson.. after my mother in law gave me the whole “city girls are ditzy” lecture. LOL!!!