So Much for the Sweet Corn!

As you may have read a couple of weeks ago, I broke down and got a puppy. As you also know I am trying to grow a garden. The two don't necessarily go hand in hand.

The other day after being down at my grandddads I came home and as ususal upon arrival home I give the garden a once over to see how it is doing. But what do I find in the corn???

The Puppy of coarse and he was laying amongst a pile of torn down corn plants from the 4 rows that we had growing. My yard has tons of trees and there were corn stalks everywhere.
I screamed at the dog, I screamed at my kd, I screamed at my darling hubby. Neighbors came by to see what I was screaming about and I told them all that the dog was damned and for them to look at the terrible damage he had done.

Just at that point out of the corner of my eye I noticed something flutterng in one of my tall pines trees...it was a corn stalk!

How did the corn stalk get in the tree? Those very bad Squirrels did it! The squirrel town that lives in the parrell universe next to ours had crossed over into our realm and stolen the corn.

Poor Gunner. Poor Child. Poor Hubby. I had been so nasty to them about letting the Gunner get into the corn, and all along it was the squirrels. I couldn't believe it!

I went inside to get the camera so I could take a picture of the corn stalk in the pine tree. It took me as few minutes as I got waylay ed with my obsessive compulsive behavior. When I got back outside about 10 minutes later, the corn stalk was GONE!

They had taken the evidence so now I cannot even show you what these monsters did.

I will be borrowing the tiller from himself and transplanting some peppers that I have in spot that is a little too shady and they will be nice late peppers.

I'm also going to sow some collards and more onions, and possibly some turnips and rutabagas.

Granddad is Home from the Hospital

The prognosis isn't good. His will is strong and his spirit even stronger. I don't know how he will deal with this.
He has had 100% clogging of his curated artery for over 20 years and they told him years ago that he wouldn't last long.
He is going to have to take a lot more meds to keep the fluid from building up, and he's gotta keep lots of water in him to keep his kidneys working.
His biggest fear was kidney failure, and now the docs are saying that is what is eventually will happen.
He's always said that he was gonna die with his boots on, and I have always believed him.
My Aunt doesn't live here and doesnt' see him like I do.
If he can he's gonna get up and do what he wants, or he will just roll over and die.
I won't know until I see him tomorrow.
Hopefully the kids will be able to come as well, if not we will still bring the puppy.
He loves Beagles, and Gunner is so sweet he will cuddle right up with him.
To all of you Readers who are Believers; Please send up a few for my Granddad. He's been through soooo much, and while I might not be ready for him to go, I certainly don't want him to be ready yet either, I want him to put his boots back on for a long time.

The Harvest is Coming In!

After being busy with the bees last week I wasn't paying as much attention to the garden that I had in previous days. When my neighbor arrived home he said "Steph, your not watching your tomatoes the way I am" (He has been watching very closely waiting for a ripe tomatoe to sink his teeth into since his garden drowned in early spring). I grabbed my old wash pan and went out into the garden to check it out.
To my amazement not only did I have tomatoes, but also eggplant, onions and ton's of basil!
I planted two different varieties of eggplant a Chinese white, and a regular purple both of which have turned out beautifully.

I'm so excited with the harvest thus far with the small kitchen garden. The garden in the back however isn't making me so proud. My corn is only about chest high with tiny cobs, my cucs and zuc's have tons of blooms but no veggies yet. Then the peppers! Oh, I'm beside myself with my peppers. All of the hot peppers are going great, yet I have not had one single sweet pepper. I do as of this afternoon have a tiny little sweet pepper about as big as a marble on one plant, so it doesn't look like were going to have many stuffed peppers to eat.

Anyway, I will be grateful for what has come to fruition, and thought I would share the pictures of the garden and the harvest with you.

I can't wait to see the results of the artichoke plants!

Happy Bittersweet Birthday Granddaddy

Today certainly didn't turn out the way I had pictured it.
I got a call from my Aunt who is visiting my Granddad from Florida this week and she said that Grandaddy had gone to the hospital earlier in the morning for congestive heart failure.
I'm so beside myself. She gave me his number and I called him.
He sounded in really good spirits. He even sounded better than the last time I spoke with him.
I told him this was a heck of a way to spend his birthday and I wasn't going to be able to make fried chicken as I had planned but we bring him a cake and celebrate anyway.
I was sooo proud of all my kids, each of them came to see him and we had a wonderful visit. My Aunt was their, with her granddaughter and we spent a few hours with him just being silly and telling old stories.
I picked up a bouquet of flowers for him, Billy and the kids got cards and we stopped at Food Lion and got a cake. The cake decorating person wasn't there and I had to write Happy Birthday on the cake myself.
He was really surprised to see us all and I think everyone was relieved to see him in such good spirits.
I'm not ready to lose him. I need him too much in my life, and I don't want to go through yet anohter grieving process. I'm scared for him and the things he has to deal with. I wish he would be honest in his communcations with the ones he loves and not let them think that they are getting over on him. It saddens me to think that he looks death in the eye everyday yet hee continues to allow things that make him nuts to continue.

It's Birthday Month!

Yours truly celebrated my birthday with my family at Seacrets on the 17th. I'm getting old, and not liking it one bit.
It was my daughters suggestion to go to Seacrets as she was already in OC for the day. She promptly encouraged me to imbibe in their signature drink the 'Pain in the Ass' which is a Frozen concoction of Pina Colada layered on a frozen Rum Runner with a Myers Rum floater on top.
After two I couldn't feel the sunburn that I had incurred the day before.
Number 1 Son wasn't able to join us in the celebration as he was working and running around the nightclub keeping the club sounding great. He did stop by the table several times, but it wasn't the same.
We met there at about 5:30 and the 9 year old was having a great time exploring the grounds, although because of the state laws he wasn't allowed to go into the water or on the dock.

July is a big month in our home as Number 1 and my daughter were born 10 and 1/2 months apart. My son was born on July 29 of 85 and my daughter was born on July 9th of 86. Subsequently, they are the same age for 20 days every year. Funny thing is as much as they don't get along on a day to day basis they have become very very close over the last couple of years and it is a wonderful thing to see the love that they have for each other and for the nine year old.

I was out boating today with Himself and Himself's Herself on Himselfs new boat, when I received a call from my daughter telling me she was dropping by but wouldn't be able to stay long. I told her I probably would miss her as we were going to be a couple of hours. When I got home my dining room table was covered with presents. She bought me the most beautiful things. This from the daughter who we have always bought the presents and put her name on the tags for her family. Kids never cease to amaze me. She knows me so well as she bought me things that I would definitely buy for myself.

Tomorrow is my Grandfathers Birthday. We will be going to visit and make him dinner and a cake, and spend time with him. He is so independent, and so strong willed. He doesn't want or need anything, just time well spent with those he loves and those who love him. He will be 94 and he is absolutely amazing. I want to be like him when I grow up!

Sorry I haven't posted any pictures, my husband has had custody of the camera for the last few days, but I have lots to share.

Honey Day Was Huge Success!

Out of 3 honey boxes with 9 honey frames each (not all had honey) I was able to harvest 5 gallons of honey from the one established hive!

This great news, as last year I only got about a gallon from the same hive.

I didn't rob the new colony as I am letting them get established and let the Queen lay lots of worker brood to collect honey for the hive.

Remember every third bite that you eat comes from a Bee.

If you can and are interested in beekeeping please go buy the equipment and establish a hive.
If you care about your fellow man and yourself and your ability to continue to eat but don't want to personally keep bees; then sponsor a beekeeper.

Two Years ago 50% of the Honey Bee's Worldwide Dissapeared. Last year they are estimating about a 30% loss.

Each and every one of us has to do something to find a way to save the Bees, so please support your local beekeeper.

You can even buy a hive and give it to a beekeeper, they will take care of the bees and work them, and then they will give you 1/2 of the honey from it as an incentive to help.

Albert Einstein said that if the Bees ever dissapeared, mankind would only have approximately 5 years left.

Do your part!
Don't buy hybrid flowers and vegetables.
Don't use pesticides.
Plant lots of Sunflowers and open pollinated vegetables and fruits and let the clover spread through your lawn!
All of this will feed the bee's

Robbing The Bees In The Morning

I talked to Karole today and she is getting the honey room ready for us for the morning.
I have 3 honey boxes that are brimming. The last time I had that many I had nearly 100 pounds of honey! I'm sooooo excited!
Karole didn't get such a good report as I from Dean. She has three hives with Colony Collapse Disorder.
While we rob honey from her healthy hives, I think that we are going to combine the three sick hives and see if they can get better. Feed them, and cover them in powdered sugar so that the mites won't stick to them as easy.

I'm going make my fabulous chicken taco's and my friend Judy's homemade Pork Tamales.
I spent the afternoon with Judy and her beautiful daughters yesterday.
We haven't seen each other in 30 years, and it was so cool, we just picked up where we left off.
My kids and darling hubby all insisted on coming with, and they all had a good time.
We had crabs and corn on the cob on the deck with entirely tooo much to drink. Later after the crabs wore off Judy pulled out these homemade tamales that she and her daughter Alexandra made, and they were out of this world! They were the best damn tamales I have ever tasted.

So busy busy day tomorow, I'll take pictures and let everyone know how it went.

Good night!

I Think Pack Ratting is an Illness...

Insomnia crept into my bed the other night and I found myself watching 'Clean House- America's Messiest House' at 2 in the morning.

The featured house and owners were absolutely beyond. Their entire lives were wrapped around what they had and not what they did and who they were. As a matter of fact what they had was who they were.

Why, in the name of all that is sane would someone call a TV show that does what they do, and invite them into their lives and home and want a makeover but not really want to change?
These people didn't want to get rid of anything!!
There house was nearly as bad as the womans house I have linked called 'My Mothers House' (Not mine) it was disgraceful.

The saddest part was that all of this stuff kept them from living an even remotely normal life. They just went out and bought more stuff thinking they were going to feel better and it never did.

I really wish they would do follow ups to these shows. I want to see this couple a year from now.
The entire design team were beside themselves because these people were sooo beyond comprehension. It is amazing they were able to do anything with there house at all yet they did a beautiful job! Yet in my heart of hearts, I don't think these two are gonna be able to handle living in a clutter free world. I just know they're gonna junk it up again.

It's funny, I think about why people would do things like this, and I think back on my own life.
When I was a kid and lived with my parents, my dad was a total neat freak. I even had drawer inspections once a week to make sure all my clothes were folded correctly. As an adult; I refuse to fold my underwear and pj's. It's like my little rebellion.
I have found as I get older I like to have less things. I used to have sooooo much stuff, but stuff is work, and I don't want to take care of it. I hate to dust, and clean!

So my solution has been to have as little clutter as possible thus giving the appearance of a neat house but not always clean house.

The good thing about less clutter when you don't like to clean is that when you do get around to cleaning, you have a lot less to move and deal with and it makes it much easier.

I really hope those people were able to get it together

The Almost Finished Mural

As I mentioned last week I rescued a friend who got over her head with a mural she was volunteered into doing. The Mural is on the side of a cinder block garage, that has window and a door on the side of it. Originally the Mural only contained a beach. During one of my dips in the pool to cool off and get a faraway perspective of the painting it was bothering me that there was window floating in the middle of a beach scene.
So being my bossy self, I told Kathy I was going to paint a Tiki Hut around the window. Thank goodness she liked the idea. Actually the homeowner is going to turn part of the garage into a pool house, so if they put a counter under the window both inside and out they could actually use it as a bar window. I hope the homeowner takes the suggestion and puts a couple of stools in front, and make use of it.

I'm Such a Sucker!!

I did it, I finally did it. I gave in, I said yes, I so totally caved. I was completely manipulated into saying YES!

I told the 9 year old man child he could have a puppy.

His evil manipulative 21 year old sister took him to a friends house who had a mother dog with a litter and took pictures of the 9 year old with this puppy; named the puppy and sent the picture to me saying 'Mommy I need a Puppy'!

Is it wrong to call her a B**ch? In this case, I'm not sure it is.

I have successfully been able to ward off the Puppy agenda, by saying things like..."It's a lot of work", or "What will we do if we have to go away again"? And lots of other assorted reasons and sometimes simply resorting to just NO.

But they worked me over and I finally gave in.

Last night was the night. We went and got the dog. He was finally old enough, had been weaned had shot's and wormed the whole bit.
The creature is 'Cuteness in a Can', it is really adorable, but a feel like such a sucker.

The 9 year old was told that he was completely responsible for this animal. The animal is his and he is to take care of him. He is to read dog training books; take him outside every 15 minutes (because I'm completely neurotic about puppy pee on the floor)

The puppy's name is Gunner, he is a Beagle Terrier mix, with short fat legs and a Beagle face. White hair with brown spots and a squishy wet black nose.

The 9 year old stayed up almost all night with the Pup last night, and this afternoon I found him on the couch snoring, with his hand hanging off of the couch into the puppy's bed with puppy asleep on his hand. He was so exhausted!
He came up to me after dinner and thanked me for letting him have the puppy and also thanked me for saying no until now, because he said it was way to much work for him to do before.

I think we are going to do the crate thing so he can gets some rest. I'll go to Wally World in the morning to get one. We put the puppy monster in a box in the kitchen tonight and he yellped for a little while but finally got over it.

I just can't believe I said yes. I know he will grow up and be house broken and all that good stuff, but I avoided it for so long I almost feel like I had another baby.

Pray for me!