Holy Freakin' Garden, Batman!*

*See June 22, 2008 post for comparison!

Here's the garden so far... The tomaters are taller than me, the beans are trying to take over every other plant's space, the pepper is making two peppers, the squash finally fell over the edges of the barrells, and I'm trying to train the pumpkin vine (1) to go into the compost area.

This pumpkin vine (2) has pretty much taken over the allotted area before the forsythia.

This other-side-of-the-forsythia pumpkin vine (3) is going around the corner.

This pumpkin is on (2) vine. My hand is for scale. I've NEVER had a pumpkin this big before the end of July so I'm looking forward to what it's big destiny will be!

I finally got my second pumpkin this weekend on vine (3). The fertilization gods must have smiled down on this baby. My finger is for scale.

And those never-can-remember plants out front are finally sporting some flowers.

Optimistic Commitments

As I was comtemplating my garden and my navel yesterday pre-rain storm while having a plant epiphany (it suddenly came to me that pumpkin plant leaves are actually big ass green funnels, the reason they are so wide and have that notch by their stem is so they can catch rain and direct the water to stream down the stem to the rootlets the vine puts down because there is no way in hell the original root ball is going to be able to take care of the miles of vine they put out), I realized that having my three cats is a valiant show of optimism.

What I mean is, having a pet means you are positively expecting to live long enough to take care of them and have them predecease you. Now I don't mean to dwell on their dying before me, but I've made the commitment that I will be here to take care of them for the duration of their nine lives.

I am their momma and I'm expecting to be here for them.

Hobbes is 11, Doodle is 8, and Moomin is 2. When Hobbes is 20, I will be 47. When Doodle is 20, I will be 50. When Moomin is 20, I will be 56.

The sheer optimism of this blew me away yesterday. It just never occurred to me. I never thought about it, taking the three of them for granted. Shame on me. I guess parents feel this much more intensely.

Sure I make tentative plans a couple weeks ahead of time, my job has me plan a month ahead, and I just bought a new car. Yes I look forward to coming home, to the weekend, to holidays, to time with friends, to new books, and to other things that don't happen right away.

But making the commitment to say yes to having a pet is more serious than that. It means you are expecting to watch over their health and well being and it's going to be YOU.

So having marveled that I could be so optimistic and how much they add to my life, the pendulum then swung the other way and I engaged in some major pessimism by trying to figure out who would care for my kittos if I wasn't here. That made me majorly depressed and I had to go take a deep reading break to get my mind off of the subject.

After giving each furry kid a kiss and telling them I loved them dearly.

Peas and Brownies

My next door neighbor is FINALLY home! YEAH!

I don't have to water her plants anymore.

So about 3-4 weeks ago she asked me if I would water her garden, her landscaping, and her porch/deck plants while she was away on vacation.

Immediately I hear the knee-jerk reaction voice inside my head yell "NO, I can barely keep up with my own garden, landscaping, and other high maintenance plants!"

But the pleasant neighborly coming-out-of-my-mouth voice said "sure, just so you know there might be a few losses. Show me what you want watered." She said she was fine if something didn't make it.

She showed me around and left the next day. The first week and a half I managed to water every other day, sometimes once every two days. Then I hit a really busy patch at work and it got hot and stayed hot and I got super cranky and came home tired from work and quite frankly I really wasn't doing a consistent job with watering my stuff and I forgot to water hers for about 4-5 days in a row.

When the guilt and obligation got too much for me, I dragged my unhappy ass out to her yard and discovered her dahlias were SUPER unhappy with me. They were all drooping forward over their mini gates and some had even slipped under the gates. Her veggie garden on the other hand was SUPER happy, everything was tall, fat, and taking over each other's spaces.

I gave everything a good soaking, even the fat and happy garden, but especially the dahlias. They got watered 3 times. Then I tried to straighten them out and get them propped back up again. In the process of doing that I managed to break at least three of them. So then the original guilty feeling of neglect was compounded by actual accidental plant murder. Great. Let's just say I was back on track with the every other day or two of watering.

Yesterday I got home from work and my neighbor was walking around her yard taking a survey. I showed her my boo-boos and apologized. She said she was thrilled to see everything and amazed at her veggie garden and pointed out the huge sunflower she hadn't known about. I said I thought it was supposed to be there. She laughed and said I could have the pick of her garden, just tell her what I wanted, and she had something for me.

I told her that I'd been eyeing her peas so she said she'd pick me a baggie full and leave it for me on my stoop. Then she went in and came back out with a tiny sampler of Simply Divine Brownies as a thank you. I told her she shouldn't have and she said she wanted to.

I'm going to have the peas for lunch tomorrow and I had a brownie tonight with milk. YUM!

I Got It! Got My FIT!

Finally!

Isn't it's snaggle-tooth grin the cutest thing ever?

Isn't this the cutest car butt ever?

My new cute car makes me look cute too!

I bought my car today! And I certainly got a crash course in getting to know the newbie! Driving it home, it rained the whole way. Nothing like having to juggle new car vibes, new windshield wiper set up, new back windshield wiper that have never dealt with before, defrost, lights, whole new dashboard, and seating. But she handles great, has TONS more chutzpah than my old car, and she's fun to drive. I already showed her off to my parents. Now to just see my co-workers drool over her. Sigh.

I have lots of room left over in my garage. Who knew a four-door would be smaller than my old two-door?

Incredibly Sheddy

Update: photo put in!

I've been brushing my three kittos every other day in a vain attempt to stem the tide of shedding fur. I'm losing. Everything in the house has a layer of cat fur instead of dust. The gremlins under the bed have enough to make their own cat if they were interested in doing so, but they're more interested in driving me crazy by hiding my stuff.

Hobbes and Moomin adore being Safari-combed (pictured above). Doodle on the other hand makes me follow her around the house and then after about 5 minutes, she does this back twitch to let me know if I continue, she's gonna whip around any second to grab and bite the shit out of me. Moomin does the same thing only he attacks the comb after awhile. I've developed a tri-universal technique that works for all three cats in different ways. I hold a left-over plastic cable tie over their heads. Hobbes likes to rub his face on it while I comb him. Moomin will rub his face, grab it, or bite it and it serves as a suitable distraction from the comb which I do not allow him to play with or attack. Doodle will play with it, but again, her attention span and tolerance are MUCH shorter than the boyz and I have to watch for the "zooy look" which again means if I don't stop I'm gonna get grabbed and bit real fast.

I basically Safari-comb a small two-week-old-kitten-sized ball of fur from each of them each time. The tape dispenser in the picture is for size comparison! Imagine the ginormous hairballs they'd be trying to ingest if I wasn't combing them. As it is, Doodle yarfed up the mother of all hairballs last night. Holy moly. No wonder she yarfed up her snack, that damn hairball was the size of my thumb which is bigger then the size of her tummy!

Today I took Moo and Doo to their annual check-up at the vet. I let them know this morning they were going and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, Doodle slunk out of the room and did not come out to get her job or say goodbye to me. Then when I came home after work to get them, Moomin and Hobbes greeted me but Doodle was nowhere to be found. She KNEW and stayed hidden, praying I wouldn't find her. Moomin jumped right in one of the carrying cases and I zipped him in. I found Doodle in an unreachable position under my bed. So I did a bad thing. I tricked her into coming out by shaking the treat container. Oooh was she mad when I popped her in the other case. She howled the whole way to the vet. I tried to reassure her that she was not going to get anymore shaved spots or any blood taken. I did NOT mention the shot she was getting.

Anyway, Dr. W checked her out first and stated she looks good and squeezed her innards "which felt good". After getting poked and prodded and pried, Doodle got her shot, leaped back into her case, and dug herself under her blanket. Moomin climbed up on Dr. W's shoulder after she weighed him and launched himself onto me while she was notating. She said he's quite the acrobat. I said he certainly was along with living up to his nickname "Sir Chompsalot". Dr. W laughed and laughed. While she was shining the light into Moo's eyes, she told him he had very beautiful eyes. He didn't even notice he got a shot. He's so oblivious at times.

At the end of their appointment, I was covered in fur. I could barely see the color of my shirt.

Back to the Safari-comb.

I gave them all treats after they got out of the cases. It was the least I could do for tricking my smarty party girl.

Two Fabulous Evenings

Evening No.1

I wanted to go see "Wanted" again (it was so fast, this time I could see things I missed the first time around) and I wanted to go OUT. So I called J's daughter, M, to see what she was doing on a Friday evening. She said she'd be out for a couple of drinks. I asked how late she'd be out and she said "a couple of drinks usually means til 1am". I laughed and asked I could join her and her boyfriend after the movie ended. She said sure. So I spent the next hour getting ready. Not for the movie, but for going OUT. So many decisions. I really miss the times J and I lived together. It was great having a friend around, getting ready together, making sure your clothes and make-up were fine and not going to put you on the receiving end of being made fun of. It was hard putting together an outfit that was subtly sexy but not screaming "I'm alone at the movie theater, try to pick me up" or "Check out this poor-going-by-herself-to-the-movies chick". I finally landed on a tightish pair of jeans, black belt, black platform sandals, and a black zipped shirt. I wore my hair in a loose twist for the movie, betting on the hair products keeping the wavy curls made by the clip once I got to the venue and took the clip out (which worked by the way). My make-up went on smoothly except for some mascara issues which always happen. I hopped in my car, arrived at the movie theater, stood up straight and walked confidently (and trying to be somewhat mysterious), got my ticket, and watched my movie. First one out the door and back to my car, drove to the local venue, saw that M's car was there, and proceeded to do the "just looking for my friend" act. I found her and thus began a very fun evening full of laughs and chat. I think some guy may have been checking me out, not sure so I had to ask M. She said most likely he was checking me out as I caught him looking at me three times. I told her I had to ask coz it has been a VERY long time since I've been out and about and checked out. I saw one of J's old flames at the end of the evening. We reminisced. I drove home, fed the kitties their snack, fed myself a snack (missed dinner I was so busy getting ready), and fell fast asleep.

Evening No.2

Today J2 called to see if I still wanted to see "Wall*E". I said yes and she said that if her husband could get TJ to nap, she'd bring him to pick me up to see the 4:30pm show. This would be his very first big screen movie experience and she wasn't sure how it would go, but if he napped we had more chance of it being successful. TJ napped and I could tell he was in a good mood when they got to my house. We drove to the theater and J2 said she'd talked to TJ about what seeing a movie was like. TJ waited in line great, I gave him the tickets to hold, J2 held her breath and TJ didn't even look or ask for any refreshments, he asked if there were any elevators as we went down the hallway which we were able to reassure him that there were none, and we opened the door of the theater. TJ was a little nervous of the floor lighting but once we turned the corner and he got a load of the screen, he was in silent awe. We sat down with him between us, watched one preview, watched the Pixar cartoon (which was awesome), and then the movie started. There were a couple times the movie was too loud and he had to cover his ears (EVE liked to blow shit up), or it got too dark, or the action lagged a bit, or a scene got just a tad too scary and TJ would say "I don't want to watch this movie anymore". J2 and I were always ready to point out something interesting on the screen or explain something so that he quickly got back into it again. One of the funniest moments was when Wall*E and EVE were trying to say each other's names and TJ sang out in a clear loud voice "HE'S WALL*E!!!". Thank goodness it was a kid's movie, coz that loud singing out happened more than a couple times. After the movie finished and we were walking out, I asked him how he liked his very first movie. TJ said "it was great". Out in the lobby he zoomed over to the refreshments and asked for popcorn. We got him the small bag coz he did such a great job. He held onto that bag all the way out to the car he was so thrilled. J2 got a very cute sound/video bite on her cellphone of TJ answering questions about his first movie experience while he held his popcorn bag with two hands and grazed off the top. We then went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and afterwards walked the market around the corner from my house for old-fashioned ice-cream treats which we ate as an ice-cream picnic on my drive-way. TJ had to problem solve how to eat his ice-cream, it was one of those with the wooden pik and frozen solid. By the time he was done, he had ice-cream up to his hairline and down the front of his shirt. TJ waved goodbye out the window the entire time J2 was pulling out.

I had such a good time.

You Don't See That Every Day

And I haven't ever in the 17 years I've been living here.

Except finally today.

I saw my first MOOSE!!!!!

I can't really count the fleeting glimpse of midnight moose butt several years ago as my first sighting because it was so quick and blurry. But this morning definitely counts.

I was on my way to a rather far away meeting with a client when the client's mother waved in the direction of the left side and said "isn't that a fabulous fake moose over there?"

I turned to take a look, realized she was very wrong, and said loudly "that's no fake, that's the real deal!"

We both turned and stared as long as safely possible in a moving vehicle that one of us was driving. Of course, neither of us had a camera.

The she-moose (she didn't have a rack on her head, so we figured she was a girl) was standing in a grassy vacant lot between two businesses back from the side of the very highwayish street we were driving on. She had her head up sniffing the wind, watching traffic, and soaking up the morning sun (it was around 8am). When we picked up my supervisor, my supervisor said the moose come out of the forest/boggy areas they live in early in the morning and at dusk to escape the hoards of mosquitos and lick the salt off the roads. Well, our moose seemed very relaxed and happy to maybe have several mosquitos around her rather than a cloud. As for licking the road or side of the road, she wasn't making any moves to do that when we passed her, but who knows about afterwards. She was gorgeous tho. I know moose are not the most attractive animals, but she was the color of melted chocolate, shiny in the sun, and just had a confident calm charisma about her. And she was HUGE, bigger than a pick-up truck.

So I've officially been welcomed to Maine. It's taken 17 years, but I've finally seen my first Maine moose.

A New Summer Favorite

And just in time too! I'm going to have squash coming out of my ears this summer.

My mom found me this "The Home Garden Cookbook" (by Ken and Pat Kraft) at the booksale and pointed out several squash recipes. I tried one of them tonight and it ROCKED!

Isn't your mouth just watering at this point?

I couldn't stop eating them!

I have to admit. I didn't think I would enjoy squash any other way then the way I usually make it - saute it down until both the squash and onions are completely carmelized. But since this first attempt turned out so delicious, I will be trying several others. Here's today's success...

Skillet Squash

"A milk infusion seems particularly adapted to summer squash. We have used this recipe for zucchini [gag] also, and it would probably work as well with patty pan." - Ken and Pat Kraft (gag courtsey of Slambo)

4 medium-sized yellow squashes cut into 1/2 inch slices
Milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 Tsp butter

*Optional - I added Mrs. Dash's Onion&Herb and from it's tasty goodness, I think you could basically add any other seasoning you like.

*Optional 2 - Parmesan Cheese - I added this to the top of the squash about 5 minutes before taking them out of the pan. Mmm mmm mmm good.

-Put squash slices in a bowl, cover them with milk, and steep for 30 minutes

-Drain well.

-Mix flour, salt, and pepper (and other seasoning of choice, experiment, go wild!).

-Put the mixture in a strong white paper bag (I found the plastic bag cereal comes in completely handy for this coz I don't know anyone who just happens to have a white paper bag waiting to be used!)

-Put in half of the squash slices.

-Hold bag closed and shake it up and down a few times to coat squash with mixture.

-Repeat with rest of squash.

-Melt butter in a large skillet. Note: butter should be completely melted and bubbly (not burning) before going to next step. The book recipe doesn't say this, but my second batch was far better than my first coz the pan was hot.

-Add floured squash slices and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, turning slices over at the 10 minute mark.

-They should be golden brown when done. Note: if you like a little extra crisp, I found you can add another 10 minutes (5 each side) safely without burning as long as your butter isn't. That would be the time to add the Parmchz if you want.

They say this recipe serves 4 but I have to warn you, not all of them are gonna make it to the table. I was eating them as they finished and only have one helping left for lunch tomorrow.

Enjoy! I know I did and will be again, many times!

Where Lawnmowers Go To Die...

or have a REALLY long rest. Or become part of the Lawnmower Repair Guy's collection, like Bluebeard. Sorry the pictures are small and blurry. I was trying very hard to not get caught taking them. I called today and my mower was ready for take off. So while I was "hallooing" for assistance, I was snapping quick, and now I see blurry, pics. And really, they do NOT do this place justice at all. Well, when I have to get my blades resharpened at the end of the summer, I will try again. If you do click on them for a bigger view, you will get a muddled impression of many mowers, sort of like sleeping medication is acting up and things get all multiplied coz you can't see straight.

This is one side of the view heading towards what I believe is the "shop". I have no idea how one gets in, but there is a tiny path threading to some sort of door-like set up.

This is a down and dirty snap of the other side of the thready path.

And this is when the lady "hallooed" me back and I had to take the last one as I headed back out to her.

I've got my hand push mower back, it sounds ferocious and ready to take some grass down.

And it only cost $25.

Downgraded I Am

The cable guy came today to install the filter. I left work for two hours to be available during his "window of availability". Turns out he did and gone before I got home and when I called at 2:30pm, the customer service guy had me check my limited repertoire of channels to make sure A) the filter works and B) they didn't accidentally disconnect me.

I'm down to 14 channels

I feel like I'm missing a limb.

Oooh how I'm gonna miss that limb.

I'm not looking forward to the withdrawal period or the phantom pains. Media is a drug.

I just have to keep remembering my mantra - "saving money with more time to read".

Okay, deeeeeeeeep breath, let it out... and think of the $40+ I will be saving each month. And another deeeeep breath.

PS: I have two bonus channels that come in black and white and slightly fuzzy - a sports channel and Disney. Just my luck. Two more channels I don't want. Well, at least I'm not paying for them.

Next week The Closer starts. Damnit. Stop thinking. Breath.

Mom, I'll be comin' over for this show and Project Runway on the weekends if you TiVo them, please? Hope you don't mind?

My Mini Doctah Jones Adventure

So I'm watering my newbie plants.

In my bare feet trying to avoid the large and in charge juicy-ass ants that seem to be taking over the world nowadays.

As I'm on my way to fill up another watering can full of water, I hear a skittering next to the house. I look but don't see anything at first, but I still hear some skittering and it sounds animal-like as opposed to a dry leaf blowing across the driveway.

Then I notice movement in the basement window well. I peer thru the plastic cover and discover a small black snake trying it's damnedest to find it's way out and getting pretty darn close to finding his way into my dryer hot air hose.

I lift the plastic cover and the snake is a smart one. He manages to get up over the edge and continues his way along the house. He gets to my one step stoop which puzzles him for a moment.

At this point I'm just interested in watching him. I really don't mind snakes like Indy does. Get me around bees and wasps and I will pull an Indy snake-in-the-plane fit.

Finally the snake makes a choice. The WRONG choice which forces me to take some stunt man action.

He decides he is going to go up the inside of the trim around my door.

I decide this is highly inappropriate and I'm not allowing this. I pull him out by his tail.

He turns around and quickly heads back up into the trim.

I quickly yank him out again.

He gets pissed and lunges at me. And coils himself up like you see pissed off rattlers on those Animal Planet shows. And lunges a couple more times.

I'm no where near him. I'm NOT stupid (although I appear to be sometimes, when it counts I'm not). So while he's busy keeping a close angry eye on me, I'm busy trying to find something to assist him with moving along and staying out of my door trim.

I use one of the small booksale signs I didn't use for the sale to try to coax him but he transfers his lunging biting maneuvers to the sign. Fine by me.

I get him over the stoop onto the other side where he makes a lightening attempt to go up inside that side's trim at which point I promptly pull his ass out yet again.

He's SUPER pissed with me now and divides his attention between the water hose, the booksale sign, and me, lunging and biting.

I had to laugh at him acting all "big and stuff", he seriously looked like a mini rattler minus the rattle. He was doing that coily thing and his head was all flattened out like cats when they put their ears back to hiss.

I explained to him that under no circumstances was I going to allow him up in the trim nor was he going to get a chance to bite me, so he better make the best of things and go enjoy himself under the cool of the hostas.

Which he finally did.

I hope he sticks around, he's good for the garden, eating slugs and bugs and all.

Just as long as he stays away from the dryer hose and the door trim.

This and That, Tids and Bits

I still don't have my handpush lawn mower back. Seems the repair guy has a "slowness" issue. Last Wednesday I finally had to borrow my neighbor's mower coz my grass was getting too too out of control. Hah, what grass? Let me amend the previous statement... my crop of clover, violets, some kind of fuzzy leaved plant, somethings ugly and spiny, and the four different versions of what I believe to be crabgrass all mixed together with dozens of anthills in the front yard and good grass making a sincere effort to disappear was getting too too out of control. If I don't get my mower back soon I may have to Plan A: borrow someone's mower or go to Plan B: shop around and find an electric-powered mower to purchase. Once the handpush mower is ready, I will be taking pictures of the place I dropped it off at. It's a veritable mower cemetary. Lawn mowers as far as the eye can see, well, until they hit the tree line. But that ruins my verbal effect. Mowers everywhere you look then. I'm pretty sure they go there to die, or us owners just never get them back/give up/leave them there. Or else this guy has a mower hoarding issue. I'm on the fence. The place where I got my mower recommended them. Hmmm. I still have my nice professional looking claim ticket. And I've talked to them directly on the phone several times. So I know this is a place of business. Unless it's a cover for collecting mowers from innocent dupes like me. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

I found a new word...

Traffucked

Good one, isn't it? It means you are so stuck in traffic you ain't getting to your destination ANY time soon. Appropriate for this weekend. Here's to you avoiding being traffucked!

I'm happy to report Moomin and Hobbes' bowels are back to normal. Doodle on the other hand is still dealing with some poopie issues. Let's just say it veers between loose poop somewhat-in-turd form and diarrhea. I'm out of ideas. I've changed the litter completely out and scrubbed all three cat boxes thoroughly.

My garden is going fine. I will be able to pick squash by mid to end of next week. I should pick my green pepper soon. The front something-or-other-named plants in front are getting taller every day. The moonflower is about a foot up the black garden post. And I planted 6 new plants called globe flowers today after work. I thought I lost one of them, but it seems to have come back from the almost-dead. I will have to be very careful with it from here on out.

I tried two new recipes this week. One was a super delicious fiasco. I made my own version of Chinese dumplings. Next time I need to use a non-stick pan. I thought my Jamie Oliver pan was non-stick, but I was OH SO wrong. Basically the dumplings came out great in the putting-them-together process, but actually cooking them was a disaster. Instead of dumplings I had sausage meatballs mixed with noodle casings. Delicious, but a disaster. The second recipe was a different take on Tuna Casserole. It's good but could stand some tweaking. I was highly disturbed to find I accidently bought the wrong tuna format. It came out of the bag as a filet. GAG. GAG. GAG. Let's just say I don't think I've ever worked that fast in the kitchen before to reduce something to flakes, thrown into the casserole, and shoved in the oven to bake. GAG. Why Tuna Casserole then? Supreme comfort food that Mom made when we were kiddos. If the tuna is small enough, I don't have an issue cooking or eating it, but just for casserole purposes. I do NOT eat it any other way. GAG. And to actually have to handle a big honking filet of it smelling the way it does... GAGGAGGAG!!!

I have a book sale to go to tomorrow. I will be there bright and early with my bagel and OJ. I'm always first in line at this one. I gotta get my books before the Book Predator. God I dislike that man. He always comes with a big box so that he can just grab entire sections of my favorite subjects. I've checked his box, no rhyme or reason. That makes me anxious. He could grab something I want. And he's scruffy, unshaven, disheveled, baggy dirty pants, and he's just a thorough Book Predator. I can't see that he CARES for books. Ugh. My book nemesis.

Speaking of books, I've decided to downgrade my cable to basic. This means instead of 65 channels (of which I have 10 that I watch outside of the regular channels of ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CW), I will be down to 14. The ones I mentioned in the parenthesis and 9 other useless channels I don't watch (like the Canadian French, TV guide, two local cable TV, PBS - sorry, a ridiculous channel with bizarro selections, one with constant paid programs, and two others that I have no clue about). But instead of $59/month, it will be $11/month. Cheaper as is needed nowadays. I sure wish they would let us pick our channels. My co-worker said cable companies don't like to do that as they make more money offering package deals of channels. I told him they are losing money with me but if they offered me channel choice, they'd make some of that money back. Whatever. More time to read, tho I will miss The Closer's new season, Forensic Files (I love that narrator's voice), reruns of SVU, DinersDriveInsAndDives, random movies I missed in the theater and have been too lazy to try to rent, and the new crop of paranormal shows that are on various channels I will no longer be getting. Maybe Mom will TiVo The Closer and I can come over on a weekend day and watch it. Or watch a whole slew of them in one go.

What do you say, Mom?