Garden

Picked today: 15# of tomatoes & a handful of beans, 5# of Butternut Squash.

I didn't know I planted butternuts.

I don't how to cook butternuts.

Going to have to find a recipe. Wonder if they can be grilled?

People...

Seen one morning while I was running errands, an 800# hay bale on a truck cap. That had to be fun going around corners. Well built cap, though.

Is that a squash in your pocket?

Went down to the garden to dig a couple taters for dinner. Washed and put them on the grille, sat down at my desk...WHAT THE HECK IS IN MY POCKET?!?!?!

Oh...I forgot I picked a squash, too :)

Nice one too:



Picked 5# of tomatoes yesterday.

Hopefully pictures of the garden to come this weekend after I finish cleaning it up.

Garden Update

Combined take from Sunday and Wednesday, less what I've already eaten or gave away:



Harvested 10# of Tomatoes & Squash today.

Brought 12# to the food pantry.

8/21
Picked 7#, some green beans + most tomatoes.

Jake

Jake passed away earlier this evening, Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 around 10pm. He had been sick for about a week. Saturday he spent about an a half hour outside in the sun, walking around the yard, but Sunday he stopped eating, and Monday he stopped drinking. Tuesday he didn't even want an ice cube I offered him.



He was curled up under my desk and I had been been stroking his leg with my toes before I went to the kitchen to make a late dinner. It was a later dinner since I had napped this afternoon having been up till four this morning, waiting for a thunderstorm to pass as I didn't want Jake, who had always been scared of them, to be alone as it passed. He normally would pace the house, but in he was too weak to move much in the last couple days. He didn't seem in pain or distress, just sullen and I let nature take it's course rather then deal with the stress of a trip to the vets. When I returned from the kitchen with dinner, he had passed on.



Jake was a year and a half old when he came to me on September 9th, 1999 -- he had been taken from his original owners for neglect. They had left him tied on their porch for a week during the summer when they went on vacation.



Jake and Oscar that first night.





Some more from '99:











(Most of these photos aren't in any sort of chronological order...)







So one night I hear a commotion in the living room, and get out of bed to find this sad sack with his head stuck in a bag:







He was known for his impressive efforts at mischief sometimes...

































These last three are from this year. Settling down in his old age, he accompanied me once or twice a week to the garden. Although he still occassionally like to take off and get muddy running through the swamp and woods.

Garden Update

Picked 17# this morning, delivered 15# to the food pantry.

8/13 Update:
Picked 5#. Tomatoes ripening rapidly! Gave most to Pam. Squash is passing quickly, I'm guessing Squash Vine Borers. Very, very few Squash Bugs this year (and very few Colorado Potato Beetles if I didn't write that down earlier).

8/15:
Three+ hours of weeding and tying up plants...pheew.
13# picked, all the onions, and a whole bunch of tomatoes. I'll have to take a pic tomorrow!

Old Sturbridge Village

Rest of the photos here.

It was a very relaxing birthday.

Amazing

Fresh picked taters and squash, onion was picked a few weeks ago (still far, far fresher the supermarket!)

Put taters on grille, medium x 20 minutes.

Cut up squash & onion, dash of raspberry vinaigrette, dash olive oil, fresh ground pepper. Mix, wrap in foil.

Squash goes on when meat does. 12 minutes @ medium was perfect for the squash. Meat got over cooked at 7 minutes high / flip 5 minutes medium...I didn't adjust for thinner cut.

The squash & onions were indescribably good.

Garden update:
Picked 10# of squash Sunday, delivered to food bank today (plus about 4# last Wednesday if I didn't record that).

Picked maybe 1# today.

Signs of dryness again :( Deer have pretty much devastated the bush beans, and my yellow beans aren't coming in, assume I planted them in too rich of soil.

Rockefeller Quote

(So I can link to this from the quotes gadget)

"I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a liking but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a mans word should be as good as his bond; that character not wealth or power or position - is of supreme worth. I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individuals highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His Will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might."

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Garden Updates

Needs weeding!

First zucchini.

3# of zukes, summer squash, and taters picked today. Having issues with blossom end rot (?) on the maters...but that too shall pass.

Something is nibbling my beans :(

2" of rain since last time I posted rain fall.

It's not just Providence

Summer squash are in :)

4# of squash and tomatoes harvested tonight. Cucumbers from a local stand.

Along with some red lettuce, craisins, croutons, chicken salad, and a raspberry vinaigrette made for a quite nice dinner.

I'm doomed...

Federal Hill, Providence.

I had heard of it before. I never ate there until lunch today.

Not my photo, shamelessly stolen from the 'net:



Phenomenal.

As I'm eating calamari to die for, I'm reading the signs on the poultry store across the courtyard. They offered items like quail eggs, rabbit, and pick your own live chicken.

Walked through one delicatessen before we left with a simply amazing selection of meats, cheeses, and bakery breads. 40 minutes from my house...this is the real.good.stuff.

On a related note, I will at some point in my life own a suit from Marc Allen, the successor to Briggs in Providence.

It's bedtime

And you realize you've had a pocket tee on backwards all day long. Including in public.

Summer Time and the Livin' is Easy

July 16th had my first potatoes, a Yukon Gold that was to die for, and a couple red ones. Now if I just had a real job so I could've afforded a nice T-bone to celebrate with them (had London Broil instead).


July 17th picked my first JetStar. Made a nice salad, which also included a cucumber I found at a roadside "Free" stand on a back road in Foster the other day.

The Mad Men Playlist

Shamefully stolen from the Boston Globe. I'm putting it hear so I remember to go add these to my collection later.

The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’’
Kyu Sakamoto “Sukiyaki’’
Astrud Gilberto “Agua de Beber’’
The Singing Nun “Dominique’’
Johnny Mathis “What’ll I Do’’
George Jones “Cup of Loneliness’’
Percy Faith and His Orchestra “Theme from ‘A Summer Place’ ’’
Vic Damone and Percy Faith “On the Street Where You Live’’
Yma Sumac “Gopher Mambo’’
Ella Fitzgerald “Manhattan’’
Ann-Margret “Bye Bye Birdie’’
Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons’’
Roy Orbison “Shahdaroba’’
Bobby Vinton “P.S. I Love You’’
Miles Davis “Blue in Green’’

Rain Glorious Rain

Gotta get some pictures of the garden...and my Daylillies!

Anyway, since (and including) June 23rd I had less then 3/4" of rain, all in little quarter inch or less rainfalls. Dry, dry, dry. Finally setup the hoses on Sunday, complete with an adapter so they're fed by the sump pump to save electricity.

I went to move the hoses at 2:30pm today, and the sky north of my looked like the coming of the Apocalypse. "Great, it's raining north of me." Dump 2/10ths of an inch from the rain gauge, move the hose, big drops of rain start coming. I and Jake were soaked by the time we go to the house (on top of the laryngitis I had from the five hour long job interview yesterday!)

We had a pop-up storm that stayed parked over southern Windham county and northern Providence county. Ended around 4pm, when I walked down at 8pm to check...2-3/4" of rain!

Doe, a female deer

Viral video from a year ago I just discovered!

Emily V. Driscoll...

Brains and Gorgeous. *sigh* (Or to quote Leslie Winkle from Big Bang Theory, "Come for the breasts, stay for the brains.")

From this article on her Asian Longhorn Beetle documentary. Her website is here.

Hmmm

For some reason one of my old co-workers, April, used to use the phrases, "Sharing...scarring" and "I'm building a brick wall in my mind..." quite often.

I don't know why.

Goofball

Oh, this is darn near ten years old...testing to see if I can embed from blip.tv:

More peas, please!

Season totals:

Little Marvel: 8 pounds
Tall Telephone: 13 pounds

Just finished the the Tall Telephones today, picked most back on Monday. When I shelled the Little Marvels I ended up with about 4# which worked out to 8 cups of peas in the freezer.

Gotta freeze the Tall Telephones tomorrow :)

And it's about time to plant some more for a fall harvest...