Garden Fun #10

It's almost over with the weekly reportings of the garden fun!

The tomatoes are slowly kicking the bucket, leaving just one huge plant to do all of the work. We still have okra and cucumbers (which I think I'm getting sick of) and of course the pumpkins that are just starting. At the moment, the pumpkins are lost among the weeds but I have grand plans to take a hoe to the pumpkin area this long weekend. We'll see!

One thing that we do have in the garden that you never want is caterpillars. Sorry S.O.B.s. E and I tooled on out to do a quick pick over last night and this is what we found.

Two fat caterpillars helping themselves to my tomatoes.

If you look close above the one on the left you can see what's left of a tomato that it was snacking on. I was none too pleased to see these pests and wasted no time in slinging them across the yard (where they met their gooey demise).

Beyond vegetables we have a couple of zinnia plants that are putting out some beautiful flowers. Ella planted these leftover seeds herself.

Zinnias are quickly becoming one of my new faves!

The raspberry plant is desperately trying to hold on to life after I neglected it for a week or so... Oops. Maybe I can find myself some stout manure and fertilize the hell out of it. Wonder if pig, chicken, beef cow, dairy cow or horse manure is better? Our department puts together all of them in a savory blend in the compost piles. Yuuum. On second thought, the idea of that stuff being close to my house is not that appealing. Miracle Gro it is!

Wishes

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

E sends Grandmama lots of birthday kisses!

If you know my mom, ever met her or just admire the woman who created me, leave your birthday wishes for her in the comments!

Not much

Just a few pics to share:

This weekend we had TC over and he told us 'my dad ties me up'. If we weren't hip to the rodeo scene we might have needed to make a quick phone call to the local authorities! But then TC quickly showed us his calf tying skills and we decided that maybe TC's dad is getting a run for his money!

E cheers TC on.

These pictures just crack me up. First, because David was getting the dogs all whipped up last night (it was our first cool evening and the dogs were feeling spunky) and I managed to just barely catch them.

Closer up of E wearing my flip flops.

Catching Up

Sorry for the delay in posting, Blogger was giving me fits Friday and since we don't have a computer at home, today it is!

I finally got around to scanning the other proofs of the not-so-flattering triathlon pics. I am only doing this for your amusement. Common sense tells me to burn these things but it's Monday and everyone deserves a good laugh!

Nice, right?! Can you read my face?!

I had to blur that swim photo. I'm crazy but not stupid!

Here are scans of the ones I bought. Best of the worst, I'll call it.

One of our profs (a UGA alum, BTW!) has a neighbor with a peach tree. Who knew that a peach tree would grow and produce fruit here?! I begged my way into a few fresh, locally grown, free peaches! On my way to making a peach cobbler I sliced into the pit of one of the beauties. Am I the only one who didn't know that there was a seed inside the pit? I always assumed that the pit was the seed. Learn something new every day, I guess!

You bet that I planted that seed!

A Bit of a Haze

David and I had a discussion recently that made me want to look for outside opinion... on the subject of housework. Yeah, I know.

We were trying to work out a better plan for even distribution of the housework and David tells me "I just don't notice that things need to be done" and then pulls the "I'm a man" stuff. Of course, I immediately roll my eyes and dismiss this excuse as crap.

But later I start to wonder: Is there a genetic flaw that prohibits men from seeing the grime that builds up in the shower? Have they been taken care of their whole lives by loving mothers, girlfriends and wives that they have honestly come to look past a teeming trash can? Much like 'beer goggles', is there such a thing as 'man goggles'?

Do women have any 'goggles'? Where can I buy a pair?!

No new pics of E so how about

Miss Dellaina, saying "Even I can see all that dust!"

Garden Fun #9

Hard to believe that I am on #9 of this garden update stuff... Wow, that's a lot of making people suffer through pictures of vegetables! Oh well, on with the show!

We went out and were snooping around the garden and happened upon this bee taking adavantage of one of the last sunflowers.

Really big bee or really small flower...

And Ella decided that she wanted to show the bee her belly. I kid you not. Right out of the blue.

That belly reminds me of a big ol' watermelon!

Speaking of the watermelons, I haven't managed to kill them yet!

Two beauts!

The pumpkins will never say die, I'm afraid. Here's one of our first!

That'd be a s*load of weeds creep, creep, creepin' in!

The tomatoes, okra and cucumbers are still producing, don't worry!

Thank goodness for you that things are slowing down and I won't be able to do Garden Fun much longer!

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!