WATCH OUT , OBAMAS!

Jaz and I are on your track. It's the patriotic, self-sufficient, fight the economic downturn thing to do. Honestly, in our case, we just like to say, "I grew it myself," and probably have a mutual masochistic twist in our psyches. (She took Aleve, and I took aspirin last night; both of us slept well.) But, truly, fresh from the garden veggies taste better than "store boughten."

Anyway. . . yesterday we hacked out the earth and moved in our bordering cinder blocks. Today we hauled in topsoil, mixed in planting mix, planted our plants. Voila, we have our raised bed garden. It is obvious we didn't do sufficient planning, but we'll learn from this experience, and hopefully, enjoy the veggies of our labor. We also know we've not planted enough to take us through the summer without visiting the grocery store, but we're on our way. And there's room for more if we want to add something else. Plus there is space in the cinder blocks for us to add herbs which I'm thinking we will do.

Here's what we have started: 4 tomato plants (all different varieties); a cucumber plant (trellis); a yellow crook neck squash, a zucchini plant, a tomatillo plant, one each red, yellow, green bell pepper. Here's how it looks:





As you can see Mack is not much interested in watching veggies grow. Oyster was equally impressed. Jaz and I stood grinning at our handiwork for at least ten minutes cumulative and counting the days to harvest. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

GARDENING TIP: If over the age of 55 find someone at least 15-20 yrs. younger to help with the garden especially the preparation and planting. It worked for me.

CRAVINGS, INDULGENCES, STUPID BUYING & EMERGENCY COOKING

On Jan. 22 and 23 I was deeply involved with Trinity Institute. Part of their promotion was to serve vegetarian menus during the presentation, and we engaged a wonderful vegetarian restaurant to serve our breakfasts and lunches those two days. Part of the breakfast was a beautifully presented fruit tray using half a carved out pineapple with assorted fresh fruit (like those watermelon pictures in Better Homes & Gardens). Well, I have to tell you there is nothing I like better than fresh pineapple, and I loved the pieces of pineapple I managed to get during those breakfasts. It was just enough for me to start craving pineapple.




So. . . in mid-February when the grocery store had pineapple for $3.00 each, and they were perfect---one could smell them--- could I resist? Of course not. However, one person vs. one pineapple lasts a little over two weeks if one has one to two servings of pineapple daily. But, oh, it was so good. None wasted.






A week later when grocery shopping I noticed that asparagus was on sale for $1.98 / lb. It was young, fresh, tender, slender stalks. In other words---PERFECT! It is also my favorite of all vegetables. It was not on my shopping list, but did I hesitate to buy it? Not on your tintype! Apparently my bunch was just under a pound as it only cost $1.88, but it saw me through ten days of daily asparagus.

No complaints so far, but let's get to STUPID BUYING which leads to EMERGENCY COOKING!

I went to Sam's Club last week to buy Glucosamine Chondroitin for me and Polly (my 14 yr. old dog) and coffee. Then I made the mistake of wandering through the market section. Well, it really wasn't a mistake. I wanted to taste the free samples, but they didn't have anything to do with what followed. My wandering eyes picked up on the 3 lb. bag of bananas for less than $1.50 and the 5 lb. bag of pears for less than $5.00. What bargains, I thought, because I usually buy only 1-2 bananas and 1-2 pears per week, and at much higher rates. So, I bought a bag of each.

Dear Friends, it would take a stop watch to determine how quickly the brown specks begin to develop on those two fruits. Within two days I was on the internet trying to find out what to do with pears particularly that didn't involve buying jars, lids, and boiling water baths. EMERGENCY COOKING to salvage my great savings on fruit. Consequently, I now have a LARGE banana nut bread in the freezer, the remains of a banana pudding in my fridge (I took some to Chillax), two jars of Vanilla Pear Butter in the fridge, and two upcoming events when I am expected to furnish some refreshment (Thank, God!). Oh, yeah, and still one banana and a couple of pears. I'm eating as fast as I can.





When I say Life Is a Test I really mean that. Hopefully, we've both learned something here. Let me know.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE.

In this part of the country we thumb our noses at those silly groundhogs which are supposed to be the indicators of when spring will come. These pictures were taken on Feb. 27, and I've just been busy and unable to let you know that spring and hope are on the way.





These Bradford Pears are along side the Wendy's fast food about a mile from my house. There is another row of them in front, but they are just beginning to bloom. Most fast foods are not so beautifully landscaped, so I think this one is outstanding. Part of the reason I moved here is that I think it is a beautiful city. Even the most modest homes have something pretty growing in their yards which has a bloom of glory at some time in the year.






One block east of my house two Chinese magnolias have been in bloom for a couple of weeks. I should have taken the picture a few days sooner, but . . . the wind has been fierce, and it does its damage. It's still hanging in there though.






Just over a block in the other direction this Red Bud tree has bloomed, and it looks so gorgeous. And look at my backdoor neighbor's flower boxes with the forsythia. Not too shabby, huh? (BTW forsythia is part of the olive family and originated in China and Japan. I learned that when I looked up the spelling in the dictionary.)





I'll bet you're wondering how my yard is faring. Maybe not. Well, you're going to find out anyway. First, I've made more progress since this picture was taken, but I haven't finished. Every year the dead lantana branches have to be cut back, and I'm working on it. It could have been done in a day or two, but the trash bin will hold just so much, and one has to leave room for the usual household trash, right? Anyway this is ongoing.




Also last week I mowed the lawn for the first time in a few (too few!) months. However, it looks as if I will have a bumper crop this year. Are these the healthiest dandelions you've ever seen?






Well, there is one bright spot in my yard right now . . . sort of. About five years ago I planted about 50 Dutch iris bulbs in my front flower bed. (This was the bed from which the lantana was removed and transplanted to the side yard, and the #%^&@**& lantana keeps reappearing.) The first year the iris bloomed individually all across the front, and the next year ---eh, pretty much the same. With iris bulbs the story is that they should keep multiplying. HA! This year I had one significant clump on one side of the front walk, and one slightly smaller clump on the other side of the walk.





GO FIGURE!