Girlies

Today is the first day of school here and things are nuts! I think I kind of like it better when the halls were much more quiet...

This weekend we didn't do a whole lot due to the weather being pretty dreary. It was some much needed rain so I won't complain too loud!

Saturday night we went over to Walt and Genelle's to help them celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary. They have a little girl who is just a bit older than Ella so the two of them had fun playing with all of Karen's toys.

The very happy couple.

Two silly girls.

Karen had a tatoo on her forehead which I thought was pretty funny and she let me get this picture of it.

Too cute!

This picture captures the Summer of '06 for me. These are our garden shoes that were too muddy to take inside.

I heart this pic!

I also heart this pic which I think may become one of my new faves.

Such a beautiful girl.

Friday Funnies

Not a whole lot going on over here except the mad rush for the start of school. That means that work gets a little nuts with last minute students needing something done yesterday. Boo!

I went to one of our local gems, Westside Market, that carries local produce, flowers, etc. for some fresh basil and came home with a raspberry plant! (Super duper sale, $3!!)

I look forward to enjoying some fresh raspberries!

I needed the basil because I was attempting a recipe I found on Farmgirl Fare for Farmgirl's Savory Tomato Pesto Pie. I added some ground beef and it turned out pretty well. I was so excited as I took it out of the oven because it was a little more involved than I usually attempt. Of course, I felt compelled to take a picture!

Very basil-y but good.

If you are looking for a good laugh this Friday afternoon, check out the proofs of my pics from the triathlon. In all of them my expression is a mix of determination and whipped dog. I am almost too embarassed to share but I thought that everyone deserved a laugh! (Sorry for the poor quality but it's the best I can do without actually having the pic... I can't link to the photographer's site like I thought I could) Update: the whipped dog pics are to come, I ran out of time!)

Have a great weekend!

E helped paint her toes and yet again, Miss Priss

Remember This

This morning E woke up at 5:45. Ugh. That's just a tad bit earlier than I have to get up and about an hour earlier than she normally wakes up. I have grand intentions of telling her it's still nighttime and to go back to sleep, etc. but I can quickly tell that that won't fly.

I took her back to our bed as David gets up (the alarm had been going off anyway) and we laid down in the dark together. After about 10 minutes I realize that she's not going back to sleep and neither am I.

I said to Ella "Come here, sweetie." She crawled over and laid on my chest, giving me a big hug. I whisper "I love you, Ella" and she whispers back "I love you, Mommy". I ask "Are you my baby girl?" and she says "yeah".

I take a second to really squeeze her tight and take a mental snapshot of such a sweet moment. I can only imagine that as she gets older, times like this will become few and far between.

I am so blessed with such a wonderful girl.

Then she says "Where's Daddy?"

And like that, it's gone.

Garden Fun #8

We don't have much going on in the garden that is worthy of reporting or not phallic. I went out to do a little cleaning up and just happened to bring my shears with me... I was out for the watermelon plant since it seems to be all talk and little action. The pumpkin plant has hit 5th gear and needs more space so with a few quick clicks of the shears, the watermelon got a trim.

Do you think I got carried away?

If you are a faithful reader, you may remember that there were 3 growing watermelons at one point. That would be the point right before I walked out with my shears. Apparently I did get a little carried away and cut the wrong vine. Oops.

Decent looking melon, right?!

Just for fun, let's see what it looks like inside...

Not quiiite ready yet

I'll just let the other two grow right along and maybe we will have something ready in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the pumpkin:

The whole deal and a female flower with a maybe baby pumpkin

From gardens to former gardeners...

Today is Granny and Grandaddy's 64th anniversary! Wow! Here is the happy couple then and now (thanks Laura):

Lookin' good, kids!

Tri

I did it!

Thank you so much for your wonderful words of encouragement! It was a great event and I had a wonderful experience. It took me about as long as I had imagined that it would (2 hours) and I was one of last girls to finish. But I don't care!

I had chosen this event because it was for women only and really geared towards first timers. All of the staff was very nice and encouraging and understood that most of us had no clue as to what we were doing. The other participants were also very encouraging (women's nature?). There was a lot of "Keep it up, ladies!" and "You're almost there!" between participants during the events.

I did better in the swim than I thought I would even though I did the breast stroke the whole way! I kept thinking of when Grandaddy taught me to swim out in the bay and would offer me a quarter to swim to the dock. Their house was in walking distance of a convenience store so some candy money was a sweet deal! I'll be looking for that quarter, Grandaddy!

The bike part was a wee bit more challenging than I had expected. More like a helluva lot more challenging. It was hills the whole way. Boo on hills. On one particular hill I had to get off and walk. But I got my rear back on (just in time to coast down the hill!) and hobbled my way back in.

Then was the run. I didn't hydrate very well on the bike so an actual run was out of the question until I got some water down. I tried to jog at the 3/4 mile point and my thighs were like lead weights. Ugh. Once the water took hold, though, I was able to jog the last mile and a half. Yay!

The finish line was sweet. There were several hundred people around and they announce my name and hometown and everyone erupts in cheers and applause. Very nice.

I learned some valuable lessons that will be very helpful if I try one again. As I told G&G, my time can only get better!

Foolishness

Wish me luck!

Here and There

Last night I went over to the Rec (K-State's student gym, track, etc.) to work out a little. Since the high temp. here yesterday was 108, it was still pretty damn hot come 8:30 and an outside workout was not on my agenda!

I rode the bike for 8 miles and discovered one very important thing: riding on an actual bike is preferable since you get a breeze blowing on you. I was sweating like a horse, certain that the temperature indoors was at least 85 degrees! Geez! Then it was off to the track for a mile and a half before they closed the doors.

What would cause me to subject myself to such abuse? Stay tuned 'til tomorrow!

When I was at the Rec, I saw a girl with a pretty cool t-shirt on. I had seen that the front had a pink ribbon on it and then I saw the back. "Because great breasts are worth saving" I think that's a great slogan for breast cancer awareness.

Today is Granny's birthday! Happy B-Day, Granny! Have a great day in Paradise!

Tomorrow (which is today in Austrailia) is Niki's birthday! Happy B-Day to Nik! Have a G'day! ha ha!

At da beach!

Oh My!

Who knew that innocent pictures of vegetables would make people's minds roll through the gutter?! Yesterday I received two remarks about the phallic okra that I am growing! Both girls decided to maintain decorum and send me their thoughts privately, which I can appreciate. I can also appreciate a certain level of nastiness (which generally equates to much laughter on my part).

You want phallic?! I'll give you phallic!

This puppy was in the fridge.

Alrighty then!

Make me laugh, people! (And you might want to use Blogger's 'anonymous' feature.)

Garden Fun #7

My, how things can change in a week! Check out how much the watermelon has grown!

Whatamelon!

Last night David finally convinced me that the corn was ready to be picked. I had been holding out, hoping that the ears would get bigger but... Here's the spread:

Little Miss, wearing my flip flops and mighty proud of the corn she shucked.

So the corn is finished but the pumpkin is getting in gear.

Sunflowers on the left, watermelon on the right.

Speaking of the sunflowers: This is what those beautiful flowers look like now. Yuck. They have to go through this stage for the seeds to develop but, boo!

Little seeds forming

I am so surprised at how many people don't know what okra looks like! Maybe it's just Kansans...

These have 'batter and fry' written all over them!

And last, but certainly not least, the tomato haul.

Red beauties!

We all had BLT & C's last night and they were just as good the second time around. I wish that more of you were near so I could share my juicy tomatoes with you! If you think of a sufficient way to package them up, I'll ship you over some!

Lazy Days

Another weekend has passed and I still have managed to get jack done. Oh well, c'est la vie, right?! The people in charge of cutting down the corn decided to get their stuff done, however. Ella and I watched from the kitchen window as the silage chopper came by and filled the truck up. She likes watching such things and would get excited as they made subsequent passes. Of course, I decided to snap a couple of pics so all of y'all can be enlightened to silage chopping! Yea! (And yes, that's the screen of the window that you see. Sorry!)

The big shears on the chopper and the chopped up corn getting shot into the truck.

We had our fine friends Angie and Scott over for some adult activites Saturday night and boy, did we go crazy! Played a tough as nails game of Monopoly, we did! It was the strangest thing, the way we all were out to screw the other guy... As a result, there were more hotels on that board than I have ever seen. Of course, I snapped a pic of that too, since I was the grand champeen!

I bankrupted 'em all!

I topped off this jam packed weekend with the first BLT & C (cheese) sandwich of the season. Damn, was it good, too. It made all those hours of weeding well worth it! I think I just might have another one tonight!

Do you remember me mentioning that we got some rain last week? That night was bath night for E and after some of her not so nice behavior, David told her that she was going to have to take a shower outside if she didn't straighten up! Her response to that was "OK!" (anyone surprised by that? Yeah, me neither). So outside she went and had a grand ol' time, asking for her shampoo and some soap! (We didn't let her stay outside long and she did get an old fashioned tub bath.)

Nice job of keeping this PG, huh?!

Footnote: swam 500M and biked 6.5 miles

Smut

OK, y'all. Are you ready for something nasty? It's corn smut and I've got some in the garden. Yuck.

The whole ear and a cross section.

It gives me the willies just looking at it. Corn smut is a fungus that essentially makes the kernels enlarge to a mushroom-like growth. From what I read at Wikipedia, the growth is called huitlacoche and it is considered a culinary delicacy. People eat this stuff?! Ugh.

Eat it or not, this junk is ruining several ears of my corn! My much loved and coveted corn! Thank goodness it's only a few ears.

I feel like I need to take a shower.

Such a cute dress but "Don't take my picture!"

Off to the Fair

When we got back Saturday we had a little bit of time to rest up from the trip and then it was off to the county fair and rodeo!

We met up with Miss Mal and the girls chose the pink Jeep to ride in (of course!).

Playing in the fun house and coming down the slide head first (of course!).

Looks like a Miss Priss, doesn't she?!

Awww....

We had a good time riding the rides and watching the rodeo. Ella liked the barrel racing and told David that she wanted to run barrels... oh mercy. We had better start saving up now if we are going to have to support this habit!

Footnote: The rain kept me indoors. Rain is very good for some growing watermelons!! Yea!

Garden Fun #6

As promised, here is the big news from the garden while we were gone:

The watermelon plant wakes up!

I was beyond excited when I checked out the garden once we got back. (We have 3 new baby watermelons!) The whole plant has grown wild and is attempting to comingle with the pumpkin... gotta put a stop to that.

Before I left I went out to the watermelon and told it, in no uncertain terms, that I was ripping it up when I got back unless I saw some evidence of fruit bearing. I kicked a little dirt at it and sprinkled it with some artful cussing and let it think about the choices it had. Damn straight. I guess we see who is boss! (One other little thing that may have helped: I found some little green wormy type critters on it previous to this so I soaked the poor plant with some serious bug killer after giving the ultimatum.) Whether it be the serious talking to or the fact that I killed the little bugs that were eating my previous fruits, I don't care. Spiked watermelon, here I come!

The tomatoes went wild too, all deciding to ripen at a moments notice.

E in tomato land and the pickin's from two days ago.

I am picking at least 10 tomatoes each day! Ask and ye shall receive, right?! This is making up for last year's failed crop too!

Last night I picked an ear of corn, just to check the readiness.

Lookin' pretty good...

The ear looks pretty well filled out but is still kind of thin. We'll give them a bit longer, if we can keep the bugs off of them! (I sprayed the mess out of the whole garden last night with the same nasty bug killer that worked on the watermelon. Either things will flourish or I killed the whole lot.)

The haul from last night. This doesn't include the 7 tomatoes I had picked that morning!

I told you that there was news to be had!

Footnote: Ran 1.5 miles and walked 1.5 miles