Roubidoux Ranch

Gold Finch

2011-07-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

Watching the Birds

2011-04-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

I love to watch the birds eating out of the birdfeeder in the backyard. We have a lot of Cardinals when the weather is cold. Aparantly, I'm not the only one watching.

The light wasn't very good, but that is one of our resident Red Tailed Hawks, keeping an eye on things. It started sitting in the field behind the house.

Then it moved right into the backyard on the pool fence.

The birds didnt seem to mind very much and kept munching away.

The blackbirds are called Brewers Blackbirds. I had never seen them before we moved here. They have intense bottle green feathers on their head and look amazing in the sunlight. I have to watch out for my cardinals though. Huge flocks of the blackbirds roost in our trees sometimes and drive the smaller birds away from the feeder.

Art in Nature

2011-03-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

My wonderful hubby edited this photo I took of the bright green leaves starting to form on a tree in the front yard. The black and white really makes the green pop!

The Original Bacon, Egg, and Cheese

2011-03-12T17:42:00.001-08:00

"Quiche Lorraine"

I love this quiche, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Its one of those things that we usually have all the ingredients for. Bacon, onions, cream, cheese, eggs, nutmeg, parsley, flour and butter. I like the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook recipe, but I also like Julia Child's recipe. She said that it traditionally didn't include cheese, but used cream. BHaGC's calls for milk, not cream, and cheese. I prefer cheese and cream, so mine is a nice combination of the two.

I prefer to make the crust from scratch using butter, not shortening. The vegetable oil used to make shortening is made from corn, soybean, or cottonseed oil, or a mix of the three. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure in 1890 they didn't eat oil from any of those three and that's a good enough reason for me not to use it. I don't eat cotton, therefore I don't want to eat the oil from it either. And Julia Child used butter.

Gladiolas?

2011-03-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

I think the entire flower bed in front of the pool is full of gladiolas! There are green leaves poking through everywhere. I was starting to wonder if there were going to be any flowers here this spring. The landscaping around here seems limited to trees and grass.

One of the trees is a magnolia tree though, and I can't wait until it starts blooming.
I cant wait to cover up all that grass under it with mulch. And lots of hostas. I have room to plant every shrub I've ever wanted in this yard. Personally, I think one little patch of grass is enough and the rest should be landscaping. Grass is overrated unless you are a cow or a soccer player, lol!

More evidence of the deer that I haven't been able to photograph yet. I think they're teasing me.

Have a great day!

Around the Ranch

2011-03-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

Its still cold here at Roubidoux Ranch, but we have hopeful signs of Spring coming out.

The dogs are getting so big. They have gained almost twenty pounds each since we got them at the end of January. They are Labrador and Border Collie mixes.

This is the female, Raven.

And this is the male, Bear, playing with his sister.

We've had some nice walks around the property, getting to know it. In the hay pasture, there is a corner where the woods are close on both sides. This "superhighway" runs between the two bunches of woods. I can only imagine how many rabbits must use it to get between the two patches of trees without a hawk spotting them.

We have seen at least 10 deer on the property, but I haven't been able to talk them into posing for a picture yet. The bucks have already dropped their antlers for the year but have left memories of last year scattered around the ranch.

Life on a Southern Farm: Chicken Nesting Box Giveaway

2011-02-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

Life on a Southern Farm: Chicken Nesting Box Giveaway: "FarmMan is still busy making chicken nesting boxes right here on the farm for our HenPals Chicken Nest Box store site. Sales have been st..."

Welcome to the country

2011-01-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

We made it! We now live on 72 beautiful acres in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. I will be sharing our adventures in ranching here, as we get settled into this new way of life.

Welcome to the country, y'all!

Little bit of nature

2010-05-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was making a cup of coffee, I noticed a really big pigeon in the back yard. She (I'm assuming) kept flying down from the willow tree to grab twigs from the perpetual pile in the back yard. There was a pigeon nest there last year too. They make the biggest racket flying in and out of the tree. The tree has little, wavy branches that hang almost like a curtain and the birds just crash through. It sounds scary if you're standing under it when they do it.

Yesterday I planted some new plants in the patio area. Today I am very glad that I mulched them in right away. The blasted cottonwood trees are going crazy right now and the little puffballs are sticking everywhere, including in the fresh dirt in the garden where I have seeds planted. All the little puff-seeds seem to grow quite well too. I spent weeks weeding them out last year. I can't just go ahead and weed them out now or mulch the beds because I have to wait for the seeds that I do want, to grow first. Its very annoying when Mother Nature decides to be an opportunist.

Also, if you are a bug, do not crawl near the cat's gazebo. They will get you.

Keukenhof Gardens

2010-04-25T04:16:00.000-07:00

I went to Keukenhof gardens yesterday to see the glorious display of blooming bulbs that they design every year. On the way there, we stopped to see the start of the annual flower parade. They had decorated floats enitirely with flowers. The theme was Europe, with different floats depicting cities or countries.

Then we continued on to the gardens. It was quite crowded, but still extremely beautiful.

I got a pair of wooden shoes as a souvenier and the man who carves them etched a design on them.

Plastic Food

2010-04-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

I watched a commerical today on Sky television about Bird's Eye fish that comes in a plastic bag that you bake it in. They advertize that it is easy, convenient, etc.

But plastic? In the oven? No thanks, I'll cook mine the good ole fashioned way and not worry about whatever chemicals are getting cooked out of the plastic into my food. Same goes for those steam-in-the-microwave bags.

Monkey Socks

2010-01-31T09:03:00.000-08:00

These are my first Finished Object for the 10in2010 Knit-A-Long Group on Ravelry.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A

Yarn: Lion Brand Sock-Ease in colorway 206, "sour ball"

Started January 1, 2010, and finished January 29, 2010.

It only took eight years

2010-01-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

Finally, after eight years of baking in my own kitchen, I have managed to bake a cake that came out of the pan perfectly. It did not stick, it did not fall apart, and it was not burnt.

Behold, Southern Living's Cream Cheese Pecan Pound Cake:

Grab a fork!

Ripe Green Zebra Tomato

2009-08-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Having never grown Green Zebra tomatoes before, I was getting a little skeptical that they would ever turn "amber yellow" at the top, signaling ripeness. All the tomatoes starting forming fruit around the same time, and the GZ's took the longest of all of them to ripen. They taste wonderful, with a more acidic feel than red tomatoes like everyone says. I will grow them again next year and hopefully some of the other colors of Zebras as well.

The Berner Rose tomatoes are great. You can really tell how pink they are next to the three red cherry tomatoes. They are nice and firm, which I like, with good flavor.

My neighbor with the awesome garden decided that her placement of several lavender bushes next to her carport wasn't working and they needed to go. Wonderful lady that she is, she offered them to me, knowing I still have lots of room for more plants. I took three and figured they would like the sunny corner in the very back of the yard. The only problem is the ground. Oh my goodness, it is so packed down! Its really almost straight clay under the sod, and I'm sure the heavy equipment from when they built the houses didn't help matters much. So after much hacking and digging, I managed to get three holes dug deep enough to hold the bushes. I think they look really nice back there, that corner needed something, and I will probably add a few other little plants around them. Maybe a creeping rose or some other kind of low, sun loving plant.

The view from the door:

And up close:

Hopefully the front ones will fill out like the back one. They do look a little pathetic at the moment.

Produce department

2009-08-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

I have been getting such beautiful and delicious vegetables from my garden. I haven't had to buy anything other than lettuce and onions for over a month. Even with my tomato plants gettin sick, I've had more tomatoes than I can eat. I know my neighbors are enjoying them as much as I am.

I've had a few cucumbers and enough zucchini to make some wonderful stuffed zucchini.

I used two big zucchini for the boats and for the filling: several small cooked and chopped squash, cracker crumbs, chopped onion, crumbled bacon, crushed crackers, shredded cheese, and an egg to help it stick together. Then I sprinkled more cheese over the top. They were wonderful!

The crookneck squash plants are just starting to hit their stride so I'm hoping for lots more squash.

And soon I will have some fresh pole beans. These will be fava beans.

You just can't beat the taste of homegrown veggies!

A Day in the Middle Ages

2009-08-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

I went to the Angelbachtal Middle Ages Fair this past weekend. It was very good, they did their best to make it seem authentic. There were hundreds of people in costume, both part of the fair and attending. There was also several "camp sites" within the fair that were done like the Middle Ages. It was a blast.

Knitting supposedly hadn't been invented back then, or just wasn't widespread, so these socks are crocheted. I did see several pairs of handknitted socks in the clogs and boots of people in costumes though!

The best costume I saw all day:

There was jousting.

And more great costumes:

Summer Vacation 2009

2009-07-06T02:01:00.000-07:00

My husband and I did the whole whirlwind-see-the-whole-family vacation this June. We had a blast and saw a lot of the family, some of which we hadn't gotten to see in years. I even saw cousins that I had never seen before. It was great and we are very thankful that everyone was able to take the time to spend with us. Living so far away makes those visits very precious.

While in the States, we got to visit some very cool places. Many of them involved food because when family gets together, they eat. You know I'm not kidding.

One neat place is called Lambert's, in Ozark, Missouri. It is the home of the "throwed rolls" (bad grammar on purpose). They actually throw rolls at you. Delicious, huge, hot rolls. As many as you want. They also walk around with "extras" in great big bowls. The day we were there the extras included fried potatoes and onions, black eyed peas, and my favorite, fried okra. Its decorated kinda like Cracker Barrel meets Route 66. Very neat, lots to look at. If you're ever in Ozark (and there is one in Foley, Alabama too) you should definitely go.

This was the okra girl. It was her first day.

Ozark, Missouri, where Jimmy's parents live, is right next to Springfield. And guess what's in Springfield? The original Bass Pro Shop, and yes, we spent many hours walking around it. That place is so neat. The big waterfall area was being renovated so there weren't as many fish to see, but there were still some really cool ones in smaller aquariums.

These are trout and ducks...

And these are some really, really, really huge gars. You should have seen their teeth! I would not like to meet one of these while swimming!

Mom’s dog, Tanner, is really huge and intimidating. He’s also Mom’s big baby and loves nothing more in the world than to have his butt rubbed. Look at that smile, he’s in heaven.

When we got home, there was fresh produce from the garden waiting for us. In this picture are two Turkish peppers and two purple bell peppers. The bell peppers aren’t quite as large as I would have liked, but they still taste good. They turn very dark green when you cook them.
These are some of our carrots. Very, very tasty. We got about a pound from each square foot that we harvested. I have planted them successively so we’ll have more every so often the whole summer.

While on vacation, I got a lot of knitting done. In addition to five or six cotton dishcloths that were immediately confiscated by Mom and Momma, I finished two pairs of socks that I had on the needles. These are Jimmy’s. The pattern came from last years Stitch and Bitch calendar and is called River Ripples.

This pair is for me and is Cookie A’s Twinkle Toes knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts “Love-In-Idleness”.

Garden Update May 17, 2009

2009-05-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

Things are looking really good in the garden. All the seedlings have been transplanted out into the Square Foot Gardens. I still have enough seedlings left for another 4x4 box and I'm debating whether I should go ahead and plant one. I didn't get as many flowers mixed in with the vegetables as I wanted so I could put them in another bed if I decide to build one. I will have to wait and see if I have time before we go on leave.

This first picture is of Square Foot Garden 1. The two big plants at the back are the first two Double Rich tomatoes I started inside back in March. They are just starting to bloom. In front of them are two cherry tomato plants. They blend in so you might not be able to pick them out. On the right back corner and in the middle are marigolds. On the front corners are lettuces with carrots in between them. The taller plants on the sides are bush beans with cucumber vines next to them. The cucumbers will be trained up stakes as soon as they get a little bigger so we get nice straight fruit.

This next photo is of Square Foot Garden 2. All the tomatoes across teh back are Peacevine cherries. I think the one on the back left corner either got sunburned or too cold. We have had both extremes of weather lately. I have another seedling to replace it if necessary. The front two corners are marigolds with carrots in the middle. They are just sprouting so not really visible in this picture. Behind the carrots in the middle I have planted Butterfly Weed which should be sprouting in a few days. As I am sure you can guess, it attracts butterflies and other pollinators like bees. On the sides are more beans and cucumbers.

Then there is the Herb Bed. In the middle are hardy herbs. More tender ones like basil and cilantro are still being hardened off on the balcony. On the right are yellow crookneck summer squash plants and on the left are zucchini plants. Along the back are echinacea and more butterfly weeds. These have sprouted but are just getting true leaves.The rose bush outside the front door has exploded this year. I gave it a good pruning and a good feed of pelleted manure a few months ago and just look at it. It is actually growing multiple buds on one stem like a floribunda rose instead of the single stem its supposed to be. I'm not complaining though.

We have lots of green strawberries.
And soon we will have lots of lettuce. The little patch of lettuce on the right is the first of the seed tape I planted. On the right you can just see the rows of sprouts where the latest planting of seed tapes are coming up.

There are four lines, but I think as with the one on the right, the green and red "salad bowl" lettuce is much stronger than the lollo rossa and bionda.

It was the fumes...

2009-04-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

All knitters know that the yarn fumes in a yarn store will overwhelm you and your pocketbook very quickly. Apparently, seedlings at the garden center do the same thing. I went to look for 'a' pepper plant and came home with a turkish, chili, and sweet purple pepper plants. And a yellow tomato plant. And an aloe because if you are going to hopefully be handling chili peppers, you will probably need aloe eventually.

The two lighter colored pots are gladiolas that I started inside. Right now this happy little group lives on the first floor balcony or inside by the office door, taking day trips outside weather permitting.

And yes, I had to get the purple pepper plant so I can say: 'pick a peck of purple peppers'!

Double Eyelet Rib Socks finished!

2009-04-25T02:28:00.000-07:00

I have FINALLY finished the double eyelet rib socks. I started them last July and quite literally, they seemed to take forever. And now that they're finished, they are too big. I kinda knew this was happening though. Not too big a deal because now I have a Christmas present for a certain relative ready to go and its only April. It would please me more if I had planned it that way though.

This is Chai modeling for me.

If you look carefully at the middle lettuce seedling on the right, you will notice it has company, hungry company. I set this tray of lettuce out a few days ago to get the seedlings ready to transplant. Then I noticed that two of the spinach seedlings that were also in the tray had been cut down to nubs. I was quite PO'd but blamed it on birds. So I planted a few of the remaining seedlings and brought the rest back in to protect them from further decimation. To my horror, in between fixing dinner and eating dinner, another lettuce seedling got chopped. (the one in the upper right corner) That's when I saw the caterpillar. He had obviously been in there the whole time, having fallen from the bush that overhung where the tray was sitting on the patio. I didn't have the heart to smoosh him or put him in the trash bin like I do with the snails. So I just scooped him up in a spoon and flung him way out into the yard. Maybe he'll go munch on the plants at the new apartment building behind us.

Garden Update

2009-04-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

I feel like my garden is off to a great start this year. I am growing two varieties of tomatoes from seed. This first picture is from about a week ago of the cherry variety. They are called 'peacevine' tomatoes because they are supposed to have a natural sedative in the tomatoes. We'll see about that. I just hope they taste good.

The other variety is called 'double rich' and is a normal sized slicing tomato. They are supposed to have as much vitamin c in every tomato as an orange. The one in the picture is from the first planting of five seedlings, of which only two are left. Fingers crossed, they are doing really well. I also started another batch of seedlings that are just starting to get true leaves. I may keep several of them in pots so they can be brought in to finish ripening after first frost.

I also planted twenty or so marigolds to grow along side the tomatoes to deter pests. They seem to be doing well. This picture is of the first batch I planted a long with the first tomatoes. Then I have a much bigger batch planted two weeks later.

The tulips planted last fall are doing amazingly well. So well that I wish I had planted a whole lot more! I will this fall.

I had one big surprise in the garden this spring. Underneath the willow tree, a red tulip came up. It is spectacular and must have been planted by the previous renters three winters ago. It must have never gotten cold enough the past few winters to activate it. It was definetly cold enough this winter.

Its the weekend, finally

2009-02-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

Now that its the weekend, I finally have time to catch up and share with you.

I have finished my GGH fingerless mitts and had enough yarn left to make a cute earwarming headband. I love these colors and the yarn is oh so soft.

Chai is quite happy because I have figured out a way for me to be on the computer without him walking across it to get my attention. He can now recline quite comfortably next to the computer on a warm, fluffy, down blankie.

Or in it if the mood strikes him.

I took some really great pictures of the cats. I even managed to get them all in one frame.

I looked down at the camera, realized I wanted a better shot, and looked up to see that naturally Nicky was now five feet further away than she was two seconds ago. This is cat's law of course.

We had some really pretty snow this week. Yes, snow, woohoo, happens every year right? But being from the South, it still amazes me.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Beautiful Yarn

2009-02-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share my progress on my newest project with all of you. This is GGH Magica, 100% wool, and it is so soft and smooshy! I wish you could feel the smooshiness through the internet somehow. And the colors are absolutely brilliant.

I am making a simple pair of fingerless mitts, better to show off the colors I think than something more intricate. I am knitting them flat then going to sew up the seam leaving thumb-holes. I have two balls of this and I am hoping I have enough left for a headband too. That way I can coordinate. Like the Yarn Harlot pointed out, my knitwear usually doesn't match either!

I have a Craft Room!

2009-02-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

When we moved into this house, it was one of my goals to have a craft room. I didn't think it would be that hard to accomplish considering this place has five bedrooms and a basement bonus room. So in the bonus room, I put my stash dresser and all my scrapbooking supplies. Then I noticed I might want a place to actually do some crafting in my craft room. So when one of my coworkers got a new dining table, I immediently pounced and asked what she was going to do with the old one. After all, the table is going to be covered with pictures, paper, glitter, and buttons for the rest of its natural life, it didn't need to be new or pretty. It turned out to be pretty though and almost new when you take into account the fact she has twin eight year old boys and the table is still in one piece.

So then I had a table and stash dresser. Life was good. I could craft in the craft room.

Then my husband decided that we had too much furniture in the living room to play the Wii. Which was true of course, I just didn't want to admit it. Part of the couch would have to go. And it would go into the craft room. Yeah!! Great Idea!!!

Unfortunately, that meant carrying it down these stairs:

I am not a complete weakling, but I am likely to drop the couch on my foot or throw my back out or fall down the stairs. The possibilities for self-inflicted injury were endless.

Nevertheless, we managed to get the couch downstairs without injury to me or my husband, or miraculously, the couch.

I'm not finished accesorizing or organizing ( please ignore the large pile of luggage in the picture) but I am loving my new craft room!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-09-08T21:25:00.001-07:00

August 29th was my 26th birthday. I think I finally feel at least partially grown up. One indicator that I may be grown up is that for my special birthday treat, I wanted real food instead of cake. My dinner of choice was Flambe, or Flammkuchen depending on which side of the French/German border you are on. Traditional Flammkuchen is a thin pastry topped with creamy white cheese, onions, and chopped ham, then baked until crispy. Its almost similar to pizza. I love it.

I had been staring at the giant box on my entertainment center for over two weeks ad could not wait to open it. Well, I did wait until I got home from work because I knew I would want time to play with whatever it turned out to be. I stopped by Heather's on my way home and received the most wonderful box of smooshy, colorful, yarny goodness, including my very own yarn bowl made by the Knit Witch ( http://www.knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/ ).

Then I asked Heather if I could use her Swift and Ball Winder for the Humanity Merino/Bamboo sock yarn I had gotten the week before. She looked me straight in my retinas and said her swift ties had broken. Crap, I really didn't want to wind all that yarn by hand. I did with the Pistacio and it took me two solid hours. The only person who enjoyed that was Chai because he got to nap in my lap under a pile of yarn for two hours.

When I got home with my new goodies, I opened Jimmy's present. It was, of course, a ball winder and swift! He had asked Heather what I wanted for my birthday because he didn't have any ideas for once and she of course knew I would love to hve my very own Swift and Ball Winder, especially since I can't seem to help buying more hanks of yarn every other time I go over to her house. I'm blaming it on the yarn fumes. I don't have any tolerance!

Expensive Hobbies

2008-08-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the "don't go overboard" speech to day from DH. I was telling him about this awesome organic seed website I found that does seed collections of several different themes and how I am so excited about next year's garden. (They are called Seeds of Change, please check them out.) They do a basil collection, several different greens collections, like European and Asian. Also flower collections like sunflowers, immunity builders for making herbal teas, and even a natural dye collection. (I'm sure my friend Heather will be interested in that, she dyes yarn). So DH says not to spend a lot of money. My hobbies, expensive? Never. I told him its the natural progression of hobbies. You learn to knit, you want to dye, then spin your own wool. You like to cook, you want to grow your own vegetables. At least gardening only costs dirt and seeds. I could be asking for a flock of sheep!

Tomatoes, flowers, and yarn: a great weekend

2008-08-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

I love my homegrown tomatoes. They are, without a doubt, the best tomatoes I have ever eaten. There are three different varieties in the pic below. The four on the left are Italian Oxhearts, a hybrid variety called Fourstar. The two on the middle right are called Culina, also a hybrid. On the left are Phantasia, a hybrid. Even though the Fourstars are supposed to weigh 150 grams and the Culinas are supposed to weigh around 100 grams, all the Culinas have been heavier than the Fourstars. They almost feel light for their size.

At the beginning of Summer at Real, a German grocery store, they had a "bargain bucket mix of bulbs" on sale for three euro. I bought and planted them, knowing that most of them would probably never germinate or bloom. They proved me wrong and have grown some of the most gorgeous gladiola's and dahlia's I've ever seen. I got some good pictures of the gladiola's today.

The carrots and cabbages seem to be coming on well. We had a good bit of rain this past week and I found several earthworms above ground in the bed when it got too wet for them. Its good to know that the soil is quality enough to attract them. This first picture is the cabbages.

This picture is the carrots with a few heads of lettuce growing to the right.
My best friend Heather, also known as DharmaRN on Ravelry and Etsy, creates the most beautiful colors on yarn. This is a sock I am working on using her Merino Super Wash Sock Yarn, fingering weight. At ten stitches per inch on 2.5 mm needles, it has taken me forever to knit the leg of this first sock. I started on the heel flap today.

This pampas grass bush outside my front door has bloomed this week, at least I think you call it blooming, and it is looking gorgeous. I wanted to share this picture of it with everyone.

Inspired to Knit

2008-08-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

My very first Knit-Along! Eek! At least this one does not have any guidelines. Its more about the process I think, a great place to start.

This is the link to Interweave Press' sales page for the book: http://www.interweave.com/knit/books/inspired_to_knit/default.asp

I ordered my copy Monday. I hope it gets here fast!

In the Garden Today

2008-08-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

My garden is doing wonderful things today. I am so excited!

My tomatoes are finally turning red. We planted them the last weekend in May, so this has taken two and a half months.

This is how tiny they were in June.

I have picked two zucchini but they are very tiny. I picked them because they had stopped getting any bigger and one of them actually seemed to be shriveling up. The biggest one on the plant is four inches. Hopefully it will surpass the five inches of the ones I just picked. DH said that the weather is probably keeping them from getting a good size. We are having quite a mild summer, only about three weeks of 90 degree weather. I'm guessing the average has been somewhere in the high 70's. I was actually wearing long sleeves to work today.

The new vegetable bed is doing great. I have carrots, lettuce and herbs in it right now and some cabbage sprouts that I will transplant this weekend. Making the bed was real easy but it sure did take a lot more dirt than I thought. I bought what is called "roll-board", lots of little boards stapled onto a wire and all about the same height. Then I bought short posts that can just be hammered in the ground where you need them. I didn't have to do very much digging, just the grass off the top and a little tilling with the hand-tiller. Then poured a whole lot of dirt. Way more dirt than I thought it would take. I could probably add 160 more liters of dirt and it wouldn't be full. What I'm really liking about this method is that once you add the dirt and soak it in well, you are ready to plant. Not very much digging required. I'm already planning to put another bed along the back fence for spring because this one filled up so fast. The landlord will probably wonder what I'm doing to his grass, but the moles have already ruined the yard so why not make it productive.

These are cabbage sprouts in paper planters that you can plant straight into the ground.

The green bits are carrot sprouts. DH informed me after I planted them that there are too far apart and I could have fit more in. Oh well, I'll know for next time.

Carrots, a few lettuce, and my herb garden.

17 Days

2008-08-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

My Darling Husband told me about a week ago that I wasn't allowed to check the mail for a while because he had ordered my birthday present. No problem. Today, he comes home with a huge box, goes upstairs to wrap it, then comes back downstairs and places said box on top of the entertainment center. I do not mind this. I am quite proud that he can wrap a present without it looking like a truck ran over it. The problem I have is that my birthday is on August 29th, 17 days away. He expects me to stare at that box for 17 days, knowing full well that it will drive me crazy. I think this can be categorized as cruel and unusual.

Lord John and the Private Matter

2008-08-11T08:57:00.001-07:00

I just finished another Diana Gabaldon book, this one called "Lord John and the Private Matter". I have already read her Outlander series, several times. I love it and can't wait for the next one to come out. I'm sure like many other Outlander fans, I wished Diana wouldn't bother with Lord John and would get on with the next installment of Jamie and Claire. I take that back now. I was sucked into Private Matter just as thoroughly as Breath of Snow and Ashes. It gives you another look into the world that Jamie and Claire inhabited in the 1700's.

Unfortunately, I read the third Lord John book first, but it can stand alone if you have never read any of Diana's other books. I thought reading more about Lord John might bother me as he likes Jamie quite a bit more than Claire, if you know what I mean, but it didn't get in the way of the book and the historical aspect of life for someone like him in London was interesting.

Diana's website is http://www.its.caltech.edu/~gatti/gabaldon/gabaldon.html. Check her out. I downloaded the first Lord John book, Brotherhood of the Blade, from Audible.com and can't wait to listen to it while driving back and forth to work this week.

Artificial Insemination...for Zucchini?

2008-08-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

When we decided to grow vegetables this year, I thought I would start slow. Instead of several zucchini plants, I only bought one. But there is a very good reason why all gardening advice recommends planting them in groups of two or three, and that is so you can actually get zucchini to grow on your zucchini plant. I didn't know that there are male and female flowers on a zucchini, which really should have been obvious since you need boys and girls to get babies unless you're dealing with frogs. Which I'm not.

If you'll notice in the picture above, the male flowers are tightly clamped shut while the female is blooming in all her glory.

So, since the male and female flowers are never open at the same time on my plant (yes, even in the plant world men and women can't get along) I have taken matters into my own hands. I snipped off a male flower after it bloomed yesterday and stuck it in a tupperware in the refridgerator. This morning when a female flower bloomed, I took a q-tip and rubbed male pollen on the female pollen. Hopefully the millions of bees that visit my lavender bush will also visit the zucchini flower and smear the male pollen in better.

Now it's wait and see. If I get a normal zucchini, then it was a success. So far, all the baby zucchini have shriveled up and fallen off after their flowers bloomed, which I learned means they aren't getting fertilized. Duh. I'm sure gardeners everywhere are laughing at me.

Christmas Knitting

2007-12-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I finished the socks I had been working on for my dad for Christmas. I haven't seen him since last Christmas since we live an ocean apart. I know he really misses me and wishes I would call or email more often. Which I should. I always think that I should email, and then by the time I sit down on the computer I forget. Or I think I will call him and then realize with the time difference its four in the morning there. I just hope that when he wears these socks, he will think of me and know I was thinking of him the whole time I was working on them.

Lessons learned from Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Actually, we had two, one with people my husband works with and one at home. They were both great. The reason we had two was because it never feels like Thanksgiving to me unless I am actually making the turkey.

Lesson #1 - I should probably get over the "I must have a turkey at my house" mania. We could still have turkey pot pie like we always do a few days after Thanksgiving. I can just buy a turkey breast and use that. We never eat all the leftovers from the day of anyway.

The day after Thanksgiving we went shopping at the PX and I was very happy to get a roasting pan complete with a rack. Saturday morning as I'm preparing the bird and looking at the new pan, I think that it looks rather about the same size as my oven. I have a European size oven, much smaller than its American counterpart. I take the empty pan and attempt to slide it into the oven. No such luck. The lovely big handles on the side stick out just far enough to prevent this from happening. I was still able to use the rack though by putting it into a casserole dish, but I tdidn't get the same thrill from that arrangement.

Lesson # 2 - When buying large roasting pans, make sure the measurements of the darned thing aren't bigger than your oven. Also make sure that the turkey on its rack in the pan will fit before the day of baking. Mine fit, but just barely.