I'll tell you what, if you're hot, go see a movie in Owasso. Jimmeny Christmas. I can't get warm. Even DH was cold.

Some people "around" me are complaining about the rain and power outages. We haven't seen any rain here.

Nothing new in the garden other than it's rough looking but still producing. What more can a girl ask for? What a blessing.

Well, there is the guest appearance of leaf footed bugs. I don't think I've seen them before. I found 4 on the tomato plants. One fell off the plant as I was trying to force it into a bowl of soapy water. I stepped on it. One flew off. (I didn't know they could fly!) and the other two...well, uh, bow chicka bow wow. I picked them up and put them in the bowl of soapy water. They drowned, but at least they had each other in their last moments. Look at me. I've become quite the killer. I also stomped on several squash bugs. I'm so tough and mean.

Can I just say (again) how impressed I am with the Korean squash. Seriously, I've had to ignore the squash bugs because of being busy. SO, some of the vines die, but there's always 4 more to take their place. They are troopers.

Well hi. . .first, Titan's still with us. I didn't realize how antibiotics can tear up their stomachs! And I'm not overly excited about the vet who treated him, as she didn't mention a word about it. He's on Doxycycline, which seems to be one of the approved ones for dogs. Good. And even though I expect he vomited some of or even most of his pill for today, I did not give him another one, hoping that some of it was working on him. Meanwhile, he was miserable yesterday; I can tell his mouth is sore, so that doesn't help. He tried to eat but threw up. And so then he just gave up. He IS drinking water well, now, thank goodness. I wouldn't be worried about him not eating, except I hate him not having some food in him taking those antibiotics! We had to go back to the vet's today to get the full 14-15 day dose, and I told her he was throwing up. So she sent two magic $7 cerenia pills for his vomiting and stomach, and a bottle of omeprazole (Prilosec for dogs). Meanwhile I spent most of today researching. The cerenia pill wrapped in a wee bit of magic food I fixed for him went down and stayed down, and he liked the magic potion (unfortunately I got the cerenia AFTER he'd thrown up the Doxy food.. So I waited a couple hours and then gave him a bit more of the potion. He was happy to eat it and it stayed down. Yay! He has mostly still just been curled up, but definitely is a wee bit better. LOVED having that food stay down.

Now onto the omeprazole; after researching it thoroughly put it in a drawer to return to the vet. And the same with the goofy pain pills she sent with us Tuesday--didn't use any of them. This omeprazole can cause the same side effects that it should be helping with! I spent the whole rest of the day reading about side effects of antibiotics and found out that many many valid sites talked about probiotics with many good ones recommended. And even the cerenia is now suspect to me after having researched it.

And meanwhile, armed with my new knowledge, his magic potion consisted of crumbled hamburger, with gravy, pumpkin, sauerkraut, yogurt, eggs, and a bit of cottage cheese for fun. Haha! And it wasn't half bad. I told GDW we'd have to make up a bunch for us! And he liked it! I made a whole bunch and froze it into daily packets for him that Garry can thaw for his food. Might have too much pumpkin in it so think I'll add a bunch of rice and buttermilk to each packet. And I ordered one of the more highly recommended probiotic soft chews that'll be here Saturday.

I'm hoping between the probiotic chews and the probiotic foods, that it will keep his stomach somewhat settled.

I'm sure many of you have had experience with antibiotics and your pets. . any helpful comments from you would be welcomed!!

And I sure am sorry I have to leave in the morning; I'll probably be calling home 3-4 times a day! LOL Talk about between a rock and a hard place! Crazy. George and Amy--I suspect many of us in roughly our 10 yr age group, those of us lucky enough to still have parents living, are going through this "fragile parents" thing. Sad, but life. And i'm sure George and Ron are hating being so far away from their parents just like I am.

You all are so so sweet for sending good thoughts to Titan. I had to go see my neighbors to our immediate north today; was glad they were here (they use this house as a kind of get-away house so aren't here THAT often, most of the time.) . I knocked--they invited me in and I told them, "I had to come over to let you know what's going on with your dog." He got it right away and laughed--his wife was puzzled at first, and I said, "YOU know, your dog Rufus." I wanted them to be careful about it all--the contagion factor, the food stuff and so forth. He's a rancher so he knows all about rabbit fever, though has never had it with his dogs or family.

And so, under the circumstances, the yard's a mess, the house is a mess. I still have to map out my route--now THIS is funny--I'm much more worried about navigating through Tulsa than I am about Denver! LOL I lived near Denver once, and also had driven down many times from Wyoming. (BTW, Amy, I remembered that one of my best buds from Buffalo goes down to Santa Fe a couple times a year to see her daughter and family, so I called her to ask about the traffic--she said I'd be fine with it--it's not horrible, if I take the toll road that goes around the city.)

I'm sad to leave the pets, and Garry, and the Brugmansia! lol .

I won't comment on your posts tonight--but have many comments I wanted to make. Honey is so BIG! (And felt so bad about little runt.) I do hope you all have GOOD things happen for a while! (And will pray for rain for Oklahoma--but isn't this brief cooling off more wonderful than the hot uncooled off period! Best.

Dawn, wouldn't I need to plant things earlier than you, because we cool off earlier than you do?

hahahaha, Mary. Just saw your post on I-70. No. It is NOT better! LOL . It's still that exact same way. I have 3 audio books that will keep me entertained, thank goodness! LOLOL

Amy--what is Frito chile pie???? haha

And--it is raining and raining good!!!! I simply cannot even believe it!!

Originally, Sonic took a small bag of fritos, ladled chili into it and topped it with cheese and maybe onions. It was actually on school menus when my kids were in school. I think someone in TX claimed to be the first to make it, but Sonic sold it when I first ate it. And it was cheap. I'm glad you've planned your route. Have a good trip. Hopefully Titan will be on the mend.

Ahhh my post disappeared!

Nancy, my bulldog takes antibiotics when she has skin/ear problems. The three types she has taken are Clavamox, Baytril and Cephalexin. So far, they have been really effective. She hasn't taken them on an empty stomach so I am not sure how much it will upset their stomach when taken without food. Make sure to finish the full 15 day course of tablets. (Ensures the bacteria doesn't reemerge with more resistance). Hope Titan feels better with the antibiotics and probiotics you prepared. Have a safe trip in the morning.

-

Quick question about cucumbers. Can I compost my diseased cucumbers or feed them to chicken? Also, do the two cucumbers pictured below look alright to eat? Not sure about those white lines. Look a bit like leaf miners but I don't see any images of that on the cucumber itself on google. Thanks everyone!

Dawn everything looked better last night after 24 hours of cooler temps. The horses are still enjoying it. Only found 5-6 worms yesterday. They did eat back on the tops of a few plants pretty good but they were all bigger plants so imagine in 2 weeks it will be hard to see. The timing of the cooldown might not coincide with the flowering stage of my blooms. Not any rain at my house yet. The rains have been spotty. Where it rained it was heavy but didn't cover much area. Have chances for several more days. Hopefully we will see some soon.

Amy, I don't even remember the last time we went to a movie. We always intend to but then get busy and never do. I'll have to keep it in mind as a way to cool down!

Jennifer, I would not complain if our power was out for 8 hours if it meant we'd get a cooldown and good rainfall---and by good rainfall I mean an inch or more. I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen. If the power was out for more than 8 hours, I think we'd have to take Amy's advice and drive to the closest city with a theater to watch a movie and cool down.

Leaf-footed bugs are horrible this year. I like to snip them in half with my garden scissors. It is hard to sneak up on them, but they are not as observant or as quick early in the day so that's usually when I'm able to do a little snip snip and turn one bug into two half-bugs.

I'm glad the Korean squash plants are being strong and resilient for you. I brag about them so much and then I worry that maybe they won't grow well for people and everyone will think I am nuts. Do y'all know that none of my squash plants have died yet? None of them---not even the zucchini and yellow straightneck squash that I planted way back in mid-March. I haven't even tried to kill a squash bug since June and I've gotten away with letting them multiply---and still no plants are dead. No SVBs have found us either, which astonishes me. While I don't see any SVBs two years out of ten, I've never had two consecutive years without them---we had none last year and so far none this year---but August awaits and I expect the next generation of SVBs is likely to find us. Some squash plants do have damaged foliage from the pesky squash bugs, but they aren't dead. Had the weather been cooler, I would have yanked out all the squash plants by now but it has been too hot to care. I'm hoping to do a lot of yanking as soon as it cools down a bit more. I do wonder what is controlling the squash bugs. Perhaps the wheel bugs or something else are working that magic, but I'm not seeing any wheel bugs really, and not even seeing the squash bugs even though I know they are there. I am seeing plenty of leaf-footed bugs.

Nancy, I'm glad Titan is hanging in there. Hopefully the probiotics will help his stomach. That's what I've always used with our pets while they are on antibiotics. I also like to boil bones in water and make them bone broth to drink, especially if they are not drinking much. Luckily, it sounds like Titan is drinking water and I think that helps a lot.

I hope you have a safe trip and enjoy your time with your mom. My mom is 88 and every time we are together and say goodbye, the thought is always is the back of my mind that I might not see her again. It is a blessing to have one's parents live long enough to be in fragile health, but also is nerve-wracking.

Rebecca, Yes of course you should plant earlier than I do with the fall garden, so when you see me mentioning that I planted something, it should scare you if you don't have that same thing planted yet. I cannot tell you when to plant because my spidey senses only apply to me and my area and I've never lived where you live.

Your best bet would be to plant at the earlier end of the range of dates that OSU gives for each item listed in the Fall Gardening Guide. Here it is, one more time, for anyone who needs it:

OSU Factsheet: Fall Gardening

We used to eat frito pie at school when I was a kid and the same school was still serving frito pie when Chris was a kid. I guess some things never change. I like it on a cold day.

Eileen, I remember our little cat, Pumpkin, being on Clavamox when he was tiny---just weeks old. Our son found him in the bar ditch when he was just a couple of weeks old and we had to work with the vet for almost three months to get him well. He couldn't keep any food in his stomach and even would throw up water. It was horrible. I think our vet used every prescription drug in his arsenal at some point, and Clavamox seemed to help the most. Amazingly, after we got him well he did not have any more stomach problems (I was worried he would end up with food allergies or something) and eats like a horse now, keeping it all in his body. I think he is just turning three years old about now or maybe last week because I think Chris found him around August 4, 2014.

The cucumbers are safe to eat---they are just overly mature (this is what happens when cucumbers hide beneath foliage!) and their quality might not be great. You can eat them if they still are good quality or can feed them to the chickens. I like to let the last cucumbers of the season get large like that on purpose so that I can drag out the canner and make a batch of mock apple rings. It takes more than 2 overly large cucumbers to make a batch though. Those white lines on the cukes probably are scar lines from tissue expansion---if they were on humans we'd call them stretch marks.

Jay, I'm glad the horses are happy. I know the long hot summers are hard on livestock and I bet they enjoy the random cooldown here and there even more than we do.

Hopefully the rain will find you and I hope you get more fruitset during the cool spell. We got fruit set in early July when it was rainy and cool for 3 or 4 days and those late tomatoes are a blessing because we normally don't get any fruit set in July.

I'm still waiting, not so patiently, for the cool weather to arrive. That's the downside to being so far south----sure, we warm up early in Spring, but then we're about the last ones to get any sort of summer or autumn cooldown since the cold fronts often run out of steam and stall north of us. I'm not expecting that to happen this time since the NWS is adamant that the cooler weather will reach us eventually. Really, the air temperatures aren't that bad this year---I think we've only hit 100 or higher maybe 6 or 7 times here, and I don't think we've gotten hotter than 102 or 103. It is the heat index that has been excrutiating--we've been in the 110-112 range far too often. I can handle a dry heat pretty well, but humid heat sends me fleeing indoor like the wimpy woman that I am.

I need to harvest cowpeas today so aim to be outside early to get it done.

Dawn

Rebecca, I'd say you need to plant when I do, but I'm always late. One way to figure it is to subtract the days to maturity from the average frost date, subtract a couple of more weeks because there's less hours of sunlight in fall and I figure a week or two of harvesting so it doesn't mature the day it frosts. I actually have a spreadsheet where I figured this out. Doesn't mean I actually manage to plant then, but it's the goal. Keep in mind, we usually have a freeze, then some more warmer weather, so if you can cover it, you COULD plant later. I might be wrong, but very cold hardy stuff I plant later, too. But if it's 100* up till frost date, even the very hardy plants can't acclimate so they will be harmed by a sudden frost. I don't have Dawn's spidey sense. I sure wish I could predict what the weather will do.

We went to see Dunkirk. It's a war movie, so of course it's sad. DH didn't think it was "exciting" enough.

We have shopping to do today and I have tomatoes to process, and a jar of pickles.

I got one of these Love Gloves at Atwoods today. I took about 2 hairballs worth of fur off my cat. I'm pleased. It holds on to the fur better than a brush. Honey pooped at atwoods. ::eyeroll:: Then we took the old beagle to Southern Ag to get her rabies shot. I gave Holly 2 Benadril this morning because she was really itchy. So she trotted around the store with her smiling semi drugged face. She always looks like she's smiling. She really enjoyed her outing. I got 2 different kinds of sprays for keeping dogs away. Maybe it will help keep her from chewing. I found a WATER BUFFALO horn, but no ram's horn. We'll see how that works.

Turns out my parents AC died last Saturday. My sister lives next door, so they spent the hottest part of the day there, but the A/C wasn't fixed till yesterday. I didn't know till Mom posted it on Facebook. Sigh.

No gardening today. No kitchen today.

Still no rain. Was muggy last night. 66 this morning and 90 for a high. Everyday through a week from this coming Sunday is supposed to be in the 70's and 80's. The plants are already looking better. The leaves that have had heat stress curl are looking more normal now.

Wow! This thread moves so fast!
Mary, that was not a three sisters garden. But I did have a volunteer Stewarts Zeebest okra plant in there and some Old Israeli melons in the back.

Amy, For the longest time, Jet and Duke would poop or pee in the vets office even though they never did it anywhere else indoors....not in the house or even the barn, not in PetSmart or anyplace else. I really think they did it on purpose.

The Love Glove looks cool. I had something like that once. Now I just use the cat version of the Furminator brush. It must feel like a massage because when one cat notices someone else is being brushed with it, the second cat comes and gets in line to be next. Then the dogs see it and they line up. I do prefer to brush them outdoors because all the day doesn't stay in the brush---sometimes it starts flying through the air which is what I want to avoid in the first place.

What a terrible time for your parents' AC to go out. I'm glad you sister lives close to them and could offer them some heat relief.

No cooldown to speak of here today as it got hotter (of course it did!) than the NWS forecasted.....High Temperature was 102, Maximum Heat Index was 109. I actually worked outside early in the day and then in the kitchen later on. I'm not sure I'm believing we will cool down tomorrow either. I'm getting worried the front might stall and not reach us. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow, but I'm pretty certain it won't involve the garden, the outdoors or the kitchen in any shape, form or fashion.

George, This does move fast. Sometimes I find it hard to catch up, but when I have time to sit still long enough to read it, I try to stay current and up-to-date by reading through it. Of course, if it is long I may forget some of the first stuff that I read by the time I get to the end. (grin) I'm not going to say I am getting more forgetful, but it seems like my memory is getting shorter......

My garden looks horrible. It isn't even so much the recent lack of rainfall, as it is the year-long lack of rainfall. We are around 8 or 9" short for the year-to-date, which is a lot when your annual rainfall is only 38 or 39" to begin with. At our house, I think we've had slightly less than half of that so far, and the year is a lot more than half over. I noticed today that the native persimmon trees, which do have fruit, are looking pretty droopey/scorched/wilted/sad. So is everything else. I am not really concerned about watering any more, except for the perennials. Watering just isn't helping enough any more so it is mostly a waste of time and money other than the fact that I am trying to water newly-planted (in April 2017) perennials to keep them alive.

Dawn

I accidentally left the soaker hose on my main garden for several hours. Let's just say it got drenched. The soaker hose did it's job, I guess.

Other than that, I see a tiny watermelon on one of the vines. The watermelons in the back garden look stunted.--they are still seedlings really. Not sure what's causing that, but wondering if the soil back there is nutrient deficient. I haven't feed it in awhile. I just don't have time to dwell on it. If the crane melons are as good as y'all say, I should be enjoying those because they look great just one bed over. Who needs watermelons. (I do :( )

Tom is off work tomorrow, so we are going to try our hardest to get the babies into their coop by the end of the weekend. They are doing well in their pen, but I'm still bringing them in to sleep.

That's all here. We didn't get the amazing cool down the news people were yammering on about. Hoping it comes tomorrow.

I got out of my conference tomorrow. So I can spend some time getting the fall garden ready. I even have my list written out. Know I won't get it'll all done tomorrow, but I have the week to keep chipping away at it. I have a new grow bag bed to set up, planning to use it for beets this fall. If it works, I'll get at least one more, if not two, for spring, and plant stuff that sprawls, like squash. I'll rip out at least enough sick tomatoes to get the seedlings I have started, plus plant the squash, cucumber, and nicotiana. Lots of beans need to be planted this week. Apparently cilantro and lettuce too, according to OSU. I'm thinking it might be too early. Everyone needs to be fed. Eventually yank out the rest of the bad tomatoes.

After that I have the usual inside stuff to do, like laundry and cleaning. I need to make pesto too. Tomorrow doesn't sound like much of a day off work to me.

I have what is supposed to be a red pimento pepper plant, one I started from seed. It looks suspiciously like a poblano instead. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. I've heard people talking about this company and getting wrong seeds in packets or crossed seeds, so I'm starting to have my concerns.

Jennifer, I hope your Crane melons are yummy. Our melon harvest is in full swing and we have been enjoying the muskmelons and watermelons so much. Fresh melons are one of the great joys of summer. We don't have a ripe Crane melon yet, but hope to get some soon if the beastly heat and my lack of watering doesn't kill the vines before the melons can ripen---which is a real possibility because I really am just done with watering in the face of unrelenting heat with highs in the 100s daily.

If you have watermelon plants that still look like seedlings after all this time, I'd suspect something is really wrong---possibly the soil, possibly cucumber beetles fed on the roots early on or something similar because that's just not normal.

Rebecca, I'm glad you'll have time to work on your garden for fall. I'll work on my fall garden whenever the cooldown arrives, which at the rate things are going here, hmmm, might not happen until winter. Just kidding, I hope.

If you'll tell us who the send vendor was that supplied the seeds for your pepper that doesn't look like what you are expecting, I imagine someone here can tell you if they've had such issues with that company.

The NWS keeps raising our forecast highs, which makes me wonder if the cooldown is ever going to get here. All week we had a forecast high of 93 for today and now suddenly they show 95, so I expect 98 since we're usually 3 degrees higher than the forecast, which isn't really much of a break in the heat. Every day here we look at the forecast, sigh, and wonder where the cooldown is hiding. And we won't even talk about where the rain might be....probably hundreds of miles north of us somewhere. Our overnight low finally made it down to 80 degrees around 5 a.m. and probably will drop a couple more degrees but then it won't stay there long.

The grasshopper population here is rapidly exploding. It is starting to get scary. That's just one more reason not to water. Why waste water growing plants that just will serve as grasshopper chow?

I'm ready for a break from the garden, which is not exactly the same thing as abandoning it. I still water the cucumber and peppers and the perennials, and I harvest daily but that's about it at this point. It is just too hot.

Dawn

I just noticed that somebody here lives in a county that has a flash flood watch in effect through tomorrow morning, I think it said. I don't want to jinx anyone by mentioning names or locations......but I think some horses might be dancing and prancing and enjoying not only some cooler air but perhaps a bit of rain as well between now and tomorrow morning.

Well, I got out and watered my container tomatoes. I don't know if I'll do anything else today. The cucumbers, okra, and southern peas are all doing good and growing, but the rest of the garden needs to be mowed down. I'm still getting zucchini, but probably not for long because I'm not watering it anymore. The tomatoes are all just beautiful. They are getting huge, loading up with blooms (Brandy Boy and Black Prince even have a couple of mega-blooms). They are filling out their cages. They look far better than those that I've grown in my disease-pit of a garden, so I'm impressed right now. It tells me my garden needs a tomato holiday.

They found another blood clot in my heart, so I'm back on Coumadin, and for the time being, Lovenox (shots in the belly) as well, so my diet will be restricted once again. When I found out, I had a meltdown and, in frustration, came really close to just chopping down the whole garden. I'm glad I didn't, but I'm gonna have a lot of wasted pretty transplants. If God is willing, and the creek don't rise, I'm gonna get some of those into the ground. I know I can't have much, but I can have some if I remain consistent, each and every day, and my INR doesn't fluctuate a bunch.

I'm gonna start some container carrots and beets, I think. I probably won't put any leafy greens in the garden, because they are just too high in Vitamin K, unless I just use it for a ground cover of some type. Decisions, decisions. :)

Well, it looks like a beautiful day here, and I'm hoping so for the rest of you!

Mary

Dawn attempted to leave a reply earlier. Maybe I didn't hit the submit button. We have received 1.1 as of two hours ago and still raining. It was 66 degrees this morning. A nice rain. I'm heading to Guymon to pick up CO peaches. I can sit and watch the rain and eat peaches. I love the CO peaches. I will eat a box a week until the season is over.

Does anyone else have problems with getting those coated seeds going?

I have heard that pelleted seed is only good for one year because of the coating process. I don't think I've ever used them. Maybe you got old seeds?

Jay, glad you're getting rain!

Mary, I'm so sorry about the blood clot and coumadin. The process of growing is good for you. It is exercise, it is good for your mental health. Plant some flowers. I resisted flowers, I thought veggies were more practical. But I find my flowers make me happy. How about a cover crop, to choke out the weeds. I'm glad your tomatoes are doing well.

H/J, I like to let the hose run and overflow the chicken's water dish so they can walk in the cool water. More than once I have forgotten it. I'm kind of afraid to see my water bill.

Dawn, I cringe when you talk about your heat index. I hope the cooler air reaches you soon. It seems fairly nice here today. I've only let the dogs out so far. What I noticed last night, around midnight, was it was VERY pleasant out side. Lower humidity and cool.

Honey really isn't potty trained yet. Sometimes she asks to go out, sometimes not. I try to let her out regularly. I'm not sure why the big stores make her poop. Maybe it's just that time of day or a stress thing. She LOVES her water buffalo horn.

I noticed yesterday the "short" cowpeas decided the rain the other day meant they should grow another foot and take off out of the bed. I think these are zipper cream. I planted them without support BEFORE I read comments here about how long they get. There is one volunteer malabar spinach in that bed. There used to be two, but I think the cowpeas ate the other one. The Egyptian Spinach grew 6 inches in the rain, too. We've gotten several cucumbers. DH has to get down low and look because they're all at ground level right now. The okra and melons look good but no flowers yet.

Amy, those Texas Cream Peas that I grew have gone insane! They weren't supposed to need a trellis, if I planted them in blocks...that was NOT true. They definitely needed a trellis. This last batch of zipper peas, I did make a little trellis out of 4 foot stakes and twine. Just to give them something, after seeing how out of control the cream peas got.

I got everything done that I could this morning. Still some things left on the list but I'm happy with what I did. Yanked out a bunch of tomatoes, and planted 2 Creole, 2 Homestead, 1 Sungold, and 1 Tommy Toe. There are a few tomatoes I'm going to let stay for awhile, but I do have a few more to rip out too. Got the butternut squash, Diva cuke, and nicotiana in. Finally planted the purple basil seedlings. Seeded 2 pans of pansies for fall. Need to pick up more seed because Mom wants me to seed a couple pans for her. Watered everything. Fed the front flowerbed plants. Picked up over a dozen hosiery bags from various places around the yard. I wonder what my yard guys think of me.

This week I'll get the grow bag bed set up (have to wait until that part of the yard is in the shade in late afternoon), yank all the green beans, and reseed for fall, plant beets in the grow bag bed, seed more red bunching onions, finish yanking the tomatoes that need it, and at some point figure out where the sugar snaps are going to go and get those in. And find places for garlic. Oh, and carrots.

I had a staredown with a squirrel over a tomato. I saw him running along the fence, carrying a tomato still wrapped in the hosiery bag and bright pink zip tie. He stopped at one end of the fence and we stared at each other while he removed the zip tie and tossed it in the neighbor's yard, dropped the hosiery bag on top of a pepper plant, and chowed down on the tomato. I was maybe about 10 feet from him. He let me get to about 4 feet away before he ran up a power pole and into a tree, still carrying what was left of the tomato. Seriously, I give up. I'm done. I've seen it all.

And, the rat traps are going back to the store. Neighbor's cat wandered through the yard, stopped to check out a few things but didn't bother anything. So, nothing I put out can harm another animal. The enclosed bait stations aren't big enough for a squirrel to get into. Ideas?

At Cherry Street market this morning, I got some beautifully ugly heirloom tomatoes, small sweet onions, local strawberries (!!!), new potatoes, and fresh garlic. I think burgers and popcorn potatoes for dinner tonight.

Cleaned out my seed case. Nothing like doing that to remind you of what you don't need.

Was looking at Johnny's website last night. They seem to be higher priced for some of the same things I can get at, say, Tomato Growers Supply. Is there any special benefit to ordering from them over someone else? They do have a couple exclusives, but would it really be worth the cost? Not sure.

Dawn, the seed company in question is Baker Creek.

Mary, I'm sorry about the frustration you're experienced with continued health issues. Hang in there. Often recovery from such cardiac issues is sort of one step forward, two steps back. I'm glad you didn't come home and rip out plants in frustration.

I know that traditional greens are out because of the Vitamin K issue, but can you have any root crop you want? There's tons you could grow in addition to carrots and beets--turnips, rutabagas, radishes, parsnips, celeriac, salsify, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, and onions, leeks and shallots. It is too late to plant some of these for fall---but there's always next year.

Jay, That's terrific. I got all excited about your prospects for rain when I saw the Flash Flood Watch, but of course, we all know how sometimes the rain is just so hit and miss. I'm glad this rain isn't missing y'all up there, and I hope the horses and plants are enjoying the cooler air and every single raindrop that falls.

Now you've gone and done it----made me have a powerful craving for locally grown peaches. I'll have to buy some tomorrow. I hope you enjoy your CO. peaches. Fresh peaches are one of my favorite things in the summertime.

cochise, If I am having trouble getting them to sprout, I just soak some of them in water to make the clay coating start to dissolve and when it gets really soft, I pour the water off of them and plant them. It kinda defeats the purpose of buying pelletized seeds in the first place, but sometimes when I want a specific variety, the seeds come coated whether I wanted them that way or not. If your seeds already are in the ground or in flats, about all you can do is water heavily enough to help the clay coating dissolve.

Amy, I'm dreading the July water bill because I make wet spots and puddles and mini ponds for the chickens, and especially for Augustus the turkey because he seems extra heat-sensitive, every single day....especially in July of this year. I've now stopped watering 90% of the garden areas though so if the water bill makes me cringe when it arrives, at least I know I'm no longer watering much of anything and the August water bill will not be as bad.

The heat index is the problem, you know, because we have had much worse temperatures, albeit with low humidity/low dewpoints, in drought years that haven't felt nearly as bad as this year's H.I.'s. I could tolerate the temperatures so much more if it were a dry heat. Today is not much of an improvement over yesterday. We are a few degrees cooler, but the heat index topped out at 106 (hopefully it doesn't go higher) so I cannot say it really feels better. Oh well, maybe heat relief arrives here tomorrow....or the next day....or (grin) the next day. It has to get here sooner or later. I also would happily put up with the higher heat index if only rain were falling, but it isn't. Brown is the new green in our neighborhood. The problem with being so far south is that sometimes the cold fronts stall and don't make it all the way down here to us. I hope that doesn't happen this time. It could be worse. When I woke up and checked the temperatures early this morning, we were at 79 degrees at that point---but Dallas was still at 85, so it certainly could have been worse here and I am glad it wasn't.

It is so hot that when one of our firefighters went to the fire station this morning, he discovered the air conditioner (it is only for the conference/training room, kitchen and bathroom, not the bays where the firetrucks are parked) was frozen over with ice and not cooling. One phone call and our favorite HVAC repair guy was on his way to check it out and fix it. Tim met him up at the station and he checked everything. He didn't necessarily find a reason for the ice---the unit was only ever so slightly low on freon, so the best explanation is just that the unit is overworked this week in the heat. We don't even keep the air conditioned part of the station very cool, but we try to keep it in the 80s in there so that the ice machine, fridge and freezer aren't overworked in the heat because we need for them to work properly.

I'm glad Honey loves her horn. We used to get some sort of horns for our dogs to chew. She's still a pup so it doesn't surprise me that she's not 100% trained yet. She'll get there.

Lots of southern peas do that, and so do plenty of half-runner beans. I think the beans don't know the meaning of the word 'half'. With many of the heirloom forms of southern peas, I think that they are bushes only because they don't grow 15-18' tall....if they can find somewhere to run or something to climb, they go for it and grow like they're bent on world domination. While some of the university-bred bush-type southern peas do stay very bushy, they all get larger for me than their description leads one to expect. Perhaps it is our heat that makes them grow in an extra vigorous manner. I always laugh when I read a retailer's description that says something like "bushy plants 26" tall". That sort of description invariably gives us plants that get 3, 4 or 5 feet tall. The vining types are even worse. Invariable they climb to the top of whatever support you're growing them on, then reach up another foot or two into the sky and then cascade back down to the ground. There's no quit in them.

Mary, I adore heat-loving plants like southern peas that don't know when to stop growing or that simply refuse to. During the hot months when less resilient plants wilt and sulk, they just keep on keeping on.

Rebecca, I figured it was BC. I have had so much trouble with their stuff not being true to type that I have almost stopped buying stuff from them. Back in the old days before the company got so big, their stuff was better---more true to type and more likely to be the variety you thought it was. I feel like quality control has suffered as they've grown and I send most of my business elsewhere nowadays. I also got tired of endless hype about each and every variety being so incredible. Varieties should be able to sink or swim on their own merits, not on ad/descriptive copywriting that borders on hyperbole. It makes me sad, but it is what it is. I'm pretty easy to please, so saying that BC has blown it with me progressively over the years is a big thing---I've just had too many disappointments from their seeds, especially in the tomato category.

Your yard guys either understand there's a squirrel problem or they think you're throwing a lot of really wild parties. (grin)

You probably need the Havahart live trap to trap your squirrels, but then they are alive.....and you have to release them somewhere else, so I don't think that would work. A live, trapped squirrel can be a vicious biter if you get your body too close to the trap while it is in it.

With Johnny's Selected Seeds, quality and customer service are the most important thing you're paying for, and their quality and customer service are top-notch. I do not know how they source their seeds. If they have contract growers who are growing specifically for them (and I think in some cases they do), they you probably are getting a higher quality seed from them than from other companies who buy from the huge seed wholesalers whose seeds are grown in other countries and imported into this country. If JSS is buying and importing seed from those same huge wholesalers, then it likely is the same seed that is sold elsewhere. I've never been unhappy with tomato seeds from Johnny's, Tomato Grower's Supply, Victory Seeds, Tomatofest or Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, so they are my go-to sources for tomato seeds. I think as long as someone is using a reputable company, the seeds are more or less the same. Having said that, I've noticed that seeds from Johnny's always germinate quickly and have close to a 100% germination rate so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that maybe their seeds are better. It might just be that they do a better job of environmental control when the seeds are in the pipeline---being shipped, packed, distributed, etc. It is very hard for a seed company to grow all its own seed---High Mowing Organic Seeds is one company that does try to grow the majority of their own seed on their own 40-acre organic farm. I really like them too. So, I don't know if a person who shops for the lowest price necessarily gets a lower quality of seed---you might be getting seeds from the same wholesaler---they're just sold to many retailers who pack them in their own packaging for retail. I don't shop purely on price alone, but I do try to avoid spending much more money than I have to. The problem often is that if you want 10 varieties of tomato seeds, and you do comparison shopping between, let's say, 5 retailers, you probably find some varieties cheaper at one retailer than another but in the end it pretty much all averages out because Retailer #1 might have a lower price on a couple of varieties but not all, etc.

When I find seed companies I like, I tend to continue buying from them until their quality or customer service slip enough that I cross them off my list. As long as they perform well, I buy from them. Tomato Growers Supply is one of the very first seed companies from whom I ever purchased seeds via a catalog order (back in the pre-internet days) but I go back ever further with Johnny's. I've been a customer of theirs since sometime back in the 1980s, which is remarkable when you think of all the seed companies that have come and gone since then.

Dawn

These peaches come from an orchard in the Palisades area of CO. They have ran routes down this way for years. They keep expanding east. This year the truck will go as far as Edmond. They are firm when you buy them but in a few days are just right. I found two I could eat. I will eat about a box a week. They are reasonable in price I feel. We will pick up some for Judy and her friends next Sat in Elk City. I didn't want to wait that long. Also bought a box to split with my step dad and my sister. She makes good cobbler if i furnish the peaches.

Ended up with 1.20. But looks like it could rain more. The cooler weather helps but the humidity is tough. I think I'm back at Leedey.

I first bought from Johnny's in 1981. At some point they reorganized and became an employee owned company, which is something to encourage over being swallowed up by a bigger (and badder?) corporation. They've been supporting organic gardeners since I first purchased from them. There are some things, like you say that you can't get anywhere else. You also need to compare how many seeds you're getting. Most of Johnny's packs are pretty generous and check out their sales. I've never purchased from Tomato Grower's Supply. I have seen people I respect promote them. I usually decide what varieties I can't live without and then try to find the best deal. Then, of course, I have to buy a few more things to make it worth the shipping ;) Usually, between my favorite vendors, I find everything I want and if I pay more for something but save another shipping charge I'm still ahead.

BC does a large volume of business. I'm sure some of their suppliers are better than others. They contacted ME about some carrots that weren't true to type, and sent a new pack. Eventually I got a gift certificate for something THEY determined was wrong. That is where I got the Haricots Rouge Burkina du Faso cowpeas that aren't performing and germinated poorly. IDK if it's the seeds or me. Sometimes I think the descriptions sound better than the tomatoes are in reality, or maybe they're better in a different climate.

I really cannot believe your squirrels! I'd have had a broom after that little snot. Sounds like you were very productive today.

Yeah, Mary all the cowpeas are going nuts.

Dawn, I got a ton of BC seeds on clearance in January, so I planted a lot of them this year. So far they've all been fine, as far as I know. I'm going to grow out the suspect pepper plant all the way before I make any judgements. Stringer's carries BC seeds, so when I need something and can't wait, they're usually the place to go. I will probably pick up a few things from Johnny's, but I doubt my budget will handle too much. If I can get a better price elsewhere on something, I'll probably do it, but they have a few things I'm not seeing elsewhere. I don't NEED anything, but you know I'll want things.

I made the mistake of looking at the Swallowtail website. Damn you Dawn. At least the flowerbeds will look good.

I am going to give potatoes a trial run this fall, just to get a handle on it. Then more in the spring.

It was so nice out this morning. Sun was strong, so I got a little pink, but a beautiful cool breeze and perfect gardening in the shade. Imagine, a day in late July with no heat index. Dawn, I hope this does get down to you. You will get so much done outside, snakes notwithstanding, and the poultry and house critters will be happy. We've made it up to 90 now, but still no heat index.

Incidentally, the Charleston Belle pepper seeds that are doing so well for me this year are BC seeds. And TMD recommended I yank the Big Bertha pepper that won't produce. Thought there was something wrong with it that it won't pollenate. The same variety that I planted a month later has several peppers set, so something is obviously off with it.

Rebecca, I know your squirrel problem isn't a laughing matter. I'm very bad, though. I had that story all pictured in my head and it got me tickled. That needs to be on youtube. They are smarter creatures than we give credit.

I stopped ordering from Baker Creek because most of the seeds didn't come true. That has been my experience with them. Of course, my orders were pretty much limited to different tomato varieties, and not other things.

Dawn, I can pretty much have anything (kale, collards, etc wouldn't be smart because I don't consume much of them regularly), as long as I'm consistent. So, if I am a salad eater, I need to eat it every day. Iceberg lettuce instead of leaf, etc. I can have cucumbers, zucchini, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, and small amounts of peas and green beans. As long as I keep things consistent. I've spent all day running Vitamin K numbers, and making a plan. We'll see how it goes.

Today really turned out to be a pretty day. I feel like I wasted it indoors. Looks like we're in for some relief from that blistering hot weather we have been having. My pot impatiens on the front porch got a big haircut today. They had spider mites! Man, I hate those things! I ordered a big bag of Bonide Garden Dust, and almost everything got some today. I put Neem on the impatiens, but I may just "Bonide" them next. Those demon spider mites have ruined so much this year and if a blow torch is needed....well, that might be next :/

Those peaches sound so good! I looked at Porter Peaches at Reasor's today, but they are almost $3 per pound!! I put them back.

Turbo, those Porter peaches have been worth that price to us. They've been excellent this year. We are on the lookout for the Colorado peaches now.

Anyone ever grow shallots from seed around here?

A person can search for Cunningham peaches and see their schedule and prices. It varies some depending on the taxes where they are that day. I gave 35 dollars for a box and that is several pounds. I didn't weigh it but know they are cheaper than at the store.

And they have great honey also. It is raw honey and the two of us will go through a jar in 3 weeks and that is with me only being there on weekends.

:(. Do NOT like being away from home!!! Titan has figured out that the antibiotics are BAD. Now has figured out to eat his food and not eat the pills. GDW said now Titan doesn't trust any food that GDW puts down for him in the form of a treat; and can eat around the pill if scattered in his food. This is not GOOD. I'm worried sick, being 1100 miles away and feel so bad for GDW. He's going to take him to another vet on Tuesday, who was highly recommended to us. Do any of you know if they ever can give antibiotics in shot form? Meanwhile, I felt I HAD to get up here for Mom and to see my son and grandson from Mpls (who are here too right now), and to take my SIL to the hospital 30 miles away for her surgery Wednesday. And turns out Mom's acting like she's 50 again; is just peachy keen; got in today, called son twice, drove by his motel 3 times, no Wade. AGGH. Wish I'd stayed home with Titan and Garry!

Doggonegoshdarnnabbit, It's a heck of a trip from home to up here. 1100 miles if you don't take a wrong interstate branch and drive 47 miles out of the way and back to (so 94 EXTRA MILES and and hour and three quarters) to get back on track. (Obviously, I did. Was fit to be tied!). Enormous thunderstorm just before leaving Kansas into CO that lasted 45 minutes, couldn't see the road, but at least had highway markers; another one just like it 60 miles south of Denver. But made it to my motel reservation in Wheatland Wyoming by 11:30 pm. BUT. I had a super good audiobook--one of Michael Connolly's, and kept me wide awake and perky. (Although I had to replay many parts when I was experiencing and distracted by thinking, this could be the end, with extreme rainstorms and heavy traffic around Denver.)

I am a little ticked off, too. These people up here think we've got it made. And yet everywhere I look in my old home town, the flowers are thriving and flourishing, the vegetable gardens are healthy and spectacular. All the folks think they're deprived because they only have 3-4 short months to grow stuff. The are jealous because we have such a long growing season. They're so wrong. No bugs, no fungus from too much water. My sister-in-law was so amazed that everything here reseeds so much that we hardly distinguish between perennials and annuals, and that we have so many months to garden. I told her today that she didn't understand--gardening in OK is WAR.

Only been gone 2 days and wanna be home.

That was one of the few things I didn't get this year, fitz. . . BER. Yep. MY SIL up here has it on her 3 potted otherwise good-looking tomatoes. Gardening is not for sissies!

Nancy, it's like when Dad is home with the sick kid, and all he wants is Mom.

Glad you made it safely.

For those with slight BER problems.

BER is almost always a slight mineral deficiency problem, other than a excessive dry period.

It usually means the soil needs a little calcium. If I remember correctly it can be Mg or Zn too but I think that is much more rare. I'm sure there might be other causes like maybe fungal and such.

I used to loose a few tomatoes like that every year and the fix was super simple.

All I started doing is adding every eggshell I could get to the garden every year. I did not even grind them up, just hand crushed them and scattered around where tomatoes were. I even did this in the off season and they got tilled in.

I have not had one tomato with BER now in like 4 years.

I have heard of people even using old sheetrock for the source of calcium. I have to be careful there because that is a good way to make cement and I already have some pretty tight soil as it is.

You can buy ground eggshell for chickens at your local feed store if you don't eat eggs. I even used to know one guy that planted his tomato seed in an empty eggshell and planted the whole thing.

There is 3 things around here that are solid gold and I could never have enough of to add to the garden. Eggshells, coffee and tea grounds, and wood ashes.

I add everything back to the garden, cornstalks, pea hulls, potato peels, all of it. At times, like right about now the garden looks like a refuse pile. It gets tilled in

However, using the soil for the composter like I do does create some ideal conditions for worms and grubs. One good, one bad. I will never totally get rid of the small June bug grubs anyway as I am in a cow pasture and surrounded by other cattle farms. Turn over a random cowpie and there they are.

Its the old way. You take something from the soil and you add something back. Take the candy coated wrapper off it and that is what gardening/farming is really about. SOIL BUILDING.

I realize I'm an old skool dirt farmer and this might not be ideal best practices for those of you with prepared beds but hey, its the way my family always did it and it works for me. The proof is in the back of the pantry.

Petit Gris and Chantrais cantaloupes that cross pollinated F1. Nice deep orange flesh, almost wine like flavor and small seed cavity. KEEPER SEED.

packed chest freezer full of corn, onions,tomatoes, watermelon juice, beans, squash and the like plus about 140qt overflow three jars deep

.

Harvest is done except peas a few peppers and 2 melons left. WHEW, now me and the canner can take a break. I think I will kick back today with a nice highball glass of 21 year I've been rat-holing, as I could never afford replace it. Might let you sniff the cork. HA. That was tough without the wife being able to help on the food prep and canning end. As usual, too much of some things, not enough of others but you always get something.

I think the only thing I am growing this fall is maybe some greens and cabbage to try my hand at some kraut if I can find a decent size crock cheap.

Jay, You are making me hungry for peaches. I hope y'all enjoy every lovely bite.

Amy, I was relieved when Johnny's became employee-owned because I knew at some point that Johnny himself would want to retire and I feared what might happen to the company if he did. We've lost so many of the great, smaller seed companies that way when the founder sells out to someone who doesn't run the company the same way and runs it into the ground and ruins it. Selling JSS to his employees, many of whom have been there for decades was the ideal solution. A similar thing happened with SESE some time ago and the employee ownership is one reason that I feel their quality remains high as well.

With BC, I arrived at the same conclusion about their descriptions---I wasn't getting anything close to their rapturous descriptions and got tired of it. If someone promotes a tomato as being incredible, it better be incredible and all too often theirs are not. I'm totally over buying tomato seeds from them, and I don't buy much else from them either. They will have to earn back my loyalty by providing top notch varieties that perform as described or I'll totally stop buying from them. I don't buy much from them now as it is. I used to buy tons of seeds from them every year, even back when they were young and small.

Rebecca, It took me years of minor disappointment stacked on top of minor disappointment added to a few more major disappointments to make me stop ordering very much from BC. Maybe that never will happen to you, but what I noticed is that when I really started paying attention, a lot of their varieties were disappointing, so I just started buying other stuff from other places and I've been happier with the performance of those varieties. It was a slow thing that developed over time, not a big sudden thing, and I still order a little bit from them---but not a lot like I once did.

Most of us don't NEED nearly as many seeds as we want and purchase. What can I say? If we are going to feed an addiction, it might as well be a seed addiction, right?

I adore Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Often, they have AAS winners the first year the seeds are available, and I've tried lots of interesting varieties through them. They constantly add new and unusual flower varieties too that I seldom see anywhere else. And, they ship very quickly. I often get my order 2 to 4 days after I placed the order online. What's not to like about that?

I am glad you are able to get so much done during the break in the heat. It is cooler here today. We aren't cool yet, but we are cooling down, I think, so there is hope. Maybe by about Tuesday we actually will be in the 80s and feel cool and I can spend a whole day in the garden just ripping out summer plants and getting ready for fall planting. That is my dream day! I hate to sound like a broken record, but both our temperature and heat index today once again have exceeded the maximums forecast by the NWS. Why can't the forecasters get it right? (grin) Or, shall we blame the weather and lament why can't the weather just behave as forecasted? Just ONCE this summer, I'd like to be able to say we are/were cooler than forecast, but I doubt that's going to happen. Still, the low to mid 90s feel better than the low to mid 100s.

Mary, I know the consistency with Vitamin K is the thing that matters for a person on blood thinners. I had a friend (we've lost touch the last couple of years) I met through this forum who survived a widow-maker heart attack with such severe damage that he had to have an LVAD and, of course, had to be on blood thinners and be consistent with vitamin K and all that. It was quite an ordeal for him and it wasn't just the diet---it was being dependent on that LVAD and having to worry about power outages and battery failures and stuff.

Oddly, of all the problems here this summer, spider mites are not a major one like they normally are. I do not know why. We were hot early and I first saw the stippling from spider mite damage on tomato and pepper plant leaves back in April. Yes, April! I figured they would put an early halt to the garden's productivity, but they never did. With the way the weather fluctuated from early, early heat to late cool weather in May, perhaps the spider mites reproductive cycles got messed up. Or, maybe the lady bugs have been keeping them down to a low enough level that I just having seen damage on the plants advance and worsen beyond what I noticed in April. Whatever it is, I'm grateful for it. But, you know, you never get a pest-free year. So, while spider mites, SVBs and squash bugs have not wreaked havoc on the garden (yet) this year, the stink bugs, cucumber beetles, various caterpillars and leaf-footed bugs have done a lot of damage. Every year it is something, but not always the same somethings. We have had no Colorado Potato Beetles for 3 years now, and I'm not complaining about that. We almost never get a break from spider mites destroying plants, so I'm just trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Fitzjennings, It is Blossom End Rot and is caused by the way the plants' vascular system takes up and distributes calcium within the plant, so the best way to combat it merely is to keep the soil evenly moist and avoid widely fluctuating soil moisture levels. BER most often results from the plants running short of water in dry weather, but it can be caused by very heavy rainfall that also interferes in how the plants' vascular systems function. It is often mischaracterized as being caused by a calcium deficiency in soil, but that is an oversimplification of the issue. Generally the calcium is there but the plant cannot distribute it because of too much/too little moisture interfering in the process.

Nancy, Poor Titan. I know he is tired of feeling crappy. Yes, some antibiotics can be given in shot form, and when we have had a very sick cat or dog, our vet has hospitalized it there in the clinic and put it on IV-antibiotics as well. Often the pet needed the IV for dehydration and/or nutrition, so I guess the vet figured they'd kill two birds with one stone by delivering antiobiotics in the IV. That usually required a vet clinic stay of 3 to 7 days, but every animal treated that way recovered and was restored to good health.

I'm pretty sure that when Pumpkin was a tiny just-rescued kitten who couldn't hold down any food (he even threw up water), the vet (who is a cat specialist, and who even knew that there are vets who specialize in cats and only cats?) put him on some sort of sedative to soothe his stomach or dial down his vomiting reflex or something. I don't know what it was, but the cat was so heavily medicated I was afraid he'd die. He just lay there like a zombie. It was scary. He spent most of several weeks either lying on top of Tim's chest and sleeping or lying on my chest and sleeping. It appeared he "needed" to lie right atop our hearts to sleep, so for weeks we would drop everything and hold him while he slept. That sedative also was essential for his recovery as I do not think he ever would have recovered if the vet couldn't stop the vomiting because he was so tiny and weak and frail. Sometimes we gave him water with an eyedropper or syringe just trying to get enough moisture in him to keep him hydrated. He was around 2-4 weeks old during the worst of that whole ordeal, although he'd be closer to 2 months old before we finally got him stable and gaining (barely, just a tiny bit at a time) weight. We went through about 6-8 weeks of fearing he wouldn't make it, but he did. It was several more months before he'd gained enough weight that I was able to stop worrying about him seeming to be so skeletal. He is slightly over 3 years old now, having come to live here on August 2, 2014, and you'd never know his first couple of months were so dicey. That was the worst bout of sickness we've ever been through with an animal and it was nerve-wracking. Honestly, I am surprised he survived those rough months.

I hope Titan makes the same astonishing kind of recovery. Often, once an animal is on anbiotics, the recovery still is very slow and then, because you've been so attentive to their needs, they are spoiled and even after they recover, they seem to need more attention than before. I think giving him probiotics is about the best thing y'all can do to help him at this point since the antibiotics can kill good intestinal bacteria along with the bad stuff. I hope the new vet to whom Garry is taking Titan on Tuesday has other ideas about treatments to try. I pray for Titan and you and Garry daily----I know it is so hard for you to be away and you'd rather be back home, but after all that driving, I hope you make the most of your time up there and squeeze in visits with as many family members and friends as you can. I'm glad your mom is in a good place during your trip so y'all can enjoy one another's company.

As for gardening being easy here....lol, lol, lol. It IS war and maybe someone has to live here and garden here to understand it. A long growing season sounds great, except that it means the pests and the weeds also have a very long season to grow and reproduce and drive us up the wall. I'm hoping for a very cold winter in 2017-18 (not that I expect we'll have one) because we have had snakes out since January and I'm sick of them. I'd like to have a winter like the old days when I could at least be sure we would not have any snake encounters from December through March. It isn't much of a break---but not having to worry about them for a few months sure is nice.

Dawn

Wow, only one post today? I hope it's because everyone has been out in the garden all day.

Cochise, That's a big tobacco hornworm cat. You'll have a sphinx moth soon if you let it live. I grow flowering tobacco (nicotiana alata, in this case) for them, but this year they've been ignoring it and eating datura plants instead. I haven't had them on the tomato plants much this year, and that's fairly typical. I guess they prefer the daturas. The very first one I found in my garden this year was the caterpillar of the white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) and it was ready to form its chrysalis (literally did it right in front of me which I'd never seen before) and then dropped down into the soil. I never found any damage on any plant in my garden from that one, but it was big and fat so had been eating something---perhaps the nearby four o'clocks. That was on May 25th. I didn't see another hornworm until sometime in July I believe.

Rebecca, If I was having the kind of weather most of y'all have been having, I would have been out in the garden, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's where everyone has been today. Maybe tomorrow I'll get out in the garden for the day, or on Tuesday. It was cooler today---I believe the temperature maxed out at 93/heat index of 97 at our Mesonet station but a touch hotter at our house at 95/99. I did go out to the garden long enough to water containers of ornamentals and to pick winter squash and summer squash, but it was too hot to stay out long. It is cooling off faster than usual tonight, so that's a really hopeful sign.

Dawn

Dawn, a friend was telling me today that when she started having squirrel problems in her garden, she got her preschool age boys a couple of water cannons, and they fixed the problem pretty permanently. I told her I might need to borrow them (both the boys and the water cannons.)

Do Augustus and the chickens (that sounds like a bad country band) ever run around in sprinklers to cool off? I can see that they might not like getting shot with water cannons or super soakers. Or would they think it was raining?

Nancy, and Dawn, bad fire in downtown Wagoner tonight.

NO way, Rebecca!! I gotta call someone! (Not Garry! HE won't know anything til it shows up in Tulsa paper. I'll have to call a church friend in Wagoner! Haha, but true. ). Or maybe someone will have something on FB. Thx for note.

Nancy, if he watches Tulsa news, they all carried it.

Nancy, do you think Titan would eat the pill if you put it in a piece of cheese? We used to do that with our dogs when they needed a pill. That or we put it in the middle of a spoon of peanut butter.

Been busy the last couple days as my oldest daughter's boyfriend flew in for the week. This is our vacation week and we are just doing things around the city. Went to Cabela's today and I was so excited but then was not impressed. I was more excited about the live fish than anything, lol. I did get a couple of cast iron pan handle covers and a new visor. I love my hats!!

So, I did spray my veggie plants with soapy water because of all the aphids. Did this BEFORE I read Dawn's post. Darn it!! Apparently my hand was a little squeeze happy and put too much soap in it. However, I didn't know it until the next day when I went out and everything had damage from it. I was so mad at myself. But.....it didn't kill them, thankfully. I pruned the tomato plants. Lesson learned.

Got a few more cucumbers and have tomatoes that are slowly turning red. I think once the weather cools down some my beans will explode. I have 4 small watermelon and a couple cantaloupe.

They are calling for 40% chance rain tomorrow. Here's hoping we get it.

Okay, I'm sorry. . . This is not precisely or even all-that-closely related to gardening. But because I now consider you as my good friends, I just have to share my trip with you. I've been away from my home, Wyoming, and more specifically Buffalo, WY for 33 years. And every year since then, I've gone back at least twice a year--a 12.5 hr trip, and for the past 2.5 years, a 16-17 hr trip. And out of those 33 years, 30 of them were as a solo driver. I LOVED my solo road trips to WY, but there was ALWAYS some drama, and often, some reason for great concern. Usually a horrendous snow storm or rain storm. Once locked my car keys in the car in the middle of nowhere;. Oh, the stories go on. And on. I could write a book about JUST my trips back home to WY. And I have to say, there was often sorrow involved in these trips; and often, surprises; and even, sometimes a GREAT joke amongst the sorrow or surprises; but ALWAYS a good story, and a sense of thankfulness. And this one will be a chapter full of it all.

Here is where the gardening part comes in. . . All these Wyoming sissies think they are the toughest folks in the world because they only have 3 or 3.5 months at the most to produce a garden. And many of it try to do it with nearly pure clay--heck, I did way back when, and it was a bugger. But I get to Buffalo the other day and see nothing but BEAUTIFUL and health plants, flowers, veggie gardens--looks like the gardens of Eden. Glorious. And I was ticked off. And jealous! And this evening I was privileged to visit the home of the "Buffalo master tomato-growing champ" and walked away with THE perfect Beefmaster tomato--large and just itching to be sliced for a pure tomato sandwich. (It was juicy and delicious.) The county fair is next weekend and I'm positive Don will be the Grand Champion with his Beefmasters and San Marzino paste tomatoes--those were enormous and gorgeous!!! But when I got to see his garden and greenhouse (reserved for his tomatoe), I asked him if he ever grew black tomatoes. No, he loved what he grew. I implored and begged him and demanded that next year he grow just ONE. He didn't say, NO, and I said "just one measly black one?" "Just ONE," Don. So all of you--which one should I make him grow!??

Well you all know about Titan's plight. Makes me wanna throw up, and I'll get back down home ASAP. I'm beside myself. Spent a good amount of time on the phone with GDW, and feeling SO bad for him that I'm not there to share his worry. And miss GDW so much--which is another blessing. I'm no longer an independent spirit being free, after loving 33 years of it. Well, I'm free, but choose not to be alone. I don't want to spend a moment away from him.

And you know about my Mom. It's so sad, and yet it's so good. I spent several hours with her Saturday and she was like 50 years old. Spot on and firing on all pistons. And I was supposed to see my son (one of the few people I'd joyfully die for--despite the fact that he almost quit talking to me because I "abandoned" them to move down here with GDW--and he even really liked GDW), but because I don't know how to use my new cell phone, I wasn't getting HIS calls to me--meanwhile I was sending him calls and voicemails every 3-4 hours saying, "Where ARE you??? Call me!" Finally a call from him came in while I was actually on the cell, I got it, and we met up, but I only got to spend 45 minutes with them because they were on their way back to Mpls. I broke into tears when I found out they were leaving right away, and it was a very joyful 45 minutes with Wade and Westie and Mom.

Went through getting lost and taking wrong track in Wichita delaying my 16-hour trip by two hours, then two major cloudbursts in western Kansas and then 100 miles south of Denver, then nearly bumper-to-bumper traffic around Denver for 100 miles, then rain on into Wyoming. 14 hours to the motel I'd reserved in Wheatland WY; that was an adventure in itself.

So this morning I was lamenting to first bff from the age of 5 (LOL, HJ), 30 miles away from here (who I will be with for a couple days in a couple days) that I left my dangerously sick dog and beloved husband to see what I thought was my dying mother and my son and grandson--and my mother seemed to be about 50 years old and sharp as a tack, and I still hadn't seen my son and grandson, and I just wanted to get back in the car and get back, and would as soon as I delivered my SIL to the hospital on Wed. So then I went up to see Mom, and guess what--she didn't know who I was!!!! LOLOL. Well she figured it out after about 2-3 minutes, and then she and I got a big laugh. SO SO funny. (Nevertheless we both got the message there---she is on her way out, and she is good with that. Then when Wade and Westie and I were all together with her, we all were actually joking about it. It was a most blessed time.)

THIS one will be one of the really good chapters in my book about trips to Wyoming. Blessings to you all!!

Nancy, we have two tricks in feeding our dog pills. We usually stuff the pill in a small piece of banana and throw it to her as a treat (so that she will just chomp on it in mid air). She usually gobbles it up without realizing there is a pill in it. She will eventually figure it out after a few days though.

The other way is to manually open her mouth and put the pill as far as we can down her throat. We will then hold her chin up and rub her throat downwards continuously (to tickle her throat) until she swallows the pill.

Also, maybe you can try the Greenies Pill Pocket? It's a treat that lets you hide a pill in it. You can get it from Petco or PetSmart.

My friends and I made a last minute trip to Fort Gibson Lake on Saturday. Told them I wanted to try Son's Charburgers. All of us really enjoyed it! Love the cheese balls and fish sandwich. By the way, they have a mean frito chili pie there. Haha I thought it was funny since Amy was telling you about it.

Oh, and I saw the fire in downtown Wagoner on the KJRH Facebook live stream. At that time (around 7pm), they were still fighting it for over 2 hours.

Rebecca, If I had small boys who would enjoy shooting squirrels, I'd put them in the car and drive all day to bring them to you. I hope you can find a couple of little guys to borrow who want to come over and hang out with you and shoot squirrels with big Super Soaker type water guns.

Augustus and the chickens do enjoy the sprinkler. I put a sprinkler in the yard and run it for them every so often---generally not long enough to really help the grass, but long enough for everyone to play in it. It isn't just the poultry that enjoy it--wild birds of every size from huge crows to tiny hummingbirds also enjoy having the sprinkler on. They especially love when I have it on underneath trees so that they can sit in the trees and let the water from the sprinkler cool them down while they sit there. This is how Tim knows he is married to a lunatic woman----he'll come home from work, the sprinkler will be on in the yard and he'll walk inside and say "gave up on rain and watering the yard?" and I'll say "nope, watering the birds". lol Or, he'll come home from work and there's huge puddles in the driveway. He'll ask hopefully "Did it rain?" and I'll say "Nope. I made puddles for the birds and the butterflies." I also will turn on the soaker hoses to water the clay soil around the foundation so that the foundation won't crack and shift (we've been successful so far---here since 1999 and the foundation remains intact despite some huge cracks in the ground in areas where I don't water). The soaker hose doesn't run at a high enough rate to really cause puddles, but it wets down the ground and the chickens will lay on the wet ground because it feels slightly cooler. Whatever it takes. In really hot weather, we run fans in the chicken coops to at least give them some air flow. Even when I stop watering the garden for the most part, I never stop watering the birds or the soil around the foundation.

Melissa, Hopefully the plants will recover. If a person must spray with soap, it is best to use a real insecticidal soap like Safer's Insecticidal Soap as it is micronized so it is less likely to burn---and also because it is real soap. Back in the day (when all of us were much younger) you could use dishwashing liquid because it really was made of soap. So, flash forward to the 2000s and dishwashing liquids are not soap any more---they are much harsher detergents and also contain degreasers and other chemicals that can strip the cuticles off plants and leave them vulnerable to burning---either chemical burning or sunscalding due to the stripped cuticles. You still can buy real soap in most stores--look for the bars of Fels-Naptha on the laundry aisle (just cut shavings off them and dissolve them in water), or Murphy's Oil Soap, which the last time I checked still is soap and not detergent. Or, if you have any local stores that carry the Dr. Bronner's line of pure castille soap (or any brand of castille soap), those are real soap and not detergents. I always have Dr. Bronner's lavender soap, and usually his peppermint soap and tea tree oil soap on hand all the time, but use them more for pests around the house---like ants trying to come indoors, for example. I do not actually use soap in the garden myself. Well, maybe once every few years, and the only way I use it in the garden itself is to walk out to the garden with Safer's Insecticidal Soap in a spray bottle in my hand and then I spray the soap directly on the pest that is vexing me---which only would be blister beetles or a cluster of squash bug or leaf-footed bug nymphs. Nothing else is enough of a problem for me to bother with the soap. I never spray soap on my plants if I can avoid it--other than whatever tiny portion of the plant gets hit when I'm spraying a blister bug or a cluster of freshly-hatched nymphs. I don't think soap is good for plants in our climate and avoid its use as much as possible. Really, I always start with the lowest toxicity solution as a part of IPM and that's hand-picking the bugs and then dropping them into soapy water to drown, cutting them in half with my scissors or carrying a bowl of soapy water and flicking pests off the plants and into the bowl of soapy water....and I bet I don't do any of the above more than a half-dozen times per year. I just wait for the beneficial insects to kill the bad guys, and then I deal with the few bad guys that the beneficials aren't able to control. I've learned that the less I use pesticides in my garden, the fewer insects I have overall, and that is true virtually every year. When I start interfering in the natural ecosystem of the garden, that's when pest problems skyrocket.

I hope you get the rain that is in your forecast. They keep pushing our rain further out and decreasing the expected amount, so my hopes are falling accordingly. It has to rain again eventually, but y'all need it a lot worse up there so I surely hope you get it.

Nancy, Poor downtown Wagoner. I hate it when a downtown area burns---often you lose some charming older, historical buildings and that is sad.

I'm glad you had a good day with your mom....and then you got to see her in what probably is her more usual (lately) confused state. It is a reminder of how dementia works---even after over a decade with Alzheimer's and a long, slow decline, my dad still could have a rare lucid moment or hour here or there where it seemed like he was himself again for a while. Those rare lucid periods became more and more rare (almost nonexistent) near the end, but then on his last week, when he was in hospice care, it was like God gave him back to us for a day or so and we had actual conversations for the first time in a couple of years, and he seemed to have a clue about who we were and what was going on....and then a couple of days later he was gone. I am so grateful we had that couple of good days before we lost him. To me, just those couple of good days felt like some sort of miracle. It was hard on my mom, though, because she misinterpreted those good days as a sign he had miraculously been cured of Alzheimer's Disease and started second-guessing everything that was going on medically.

It sounds like your trip has been very eventful.

If I was only going to grow one black tomato, and flavor was all that mattered, I'd grown Black Krim. A lot of people don't like it though because it splits and cracks a lot in heavy rainfall and is not the most productive plant. So, for someone who might have high expectations for higher productivity and less cracking, maybe JD's Special C Tex (it is really early in my garden), Vorlon (also early), True Black Brandywine, Black From Tula or Carbon. Or, if your friend would prefer a hybrid, then he cannot go wrong with Cherokee Carbon, a hybrid of Cherokee Purple and Carbon.

I continue to pray for all of you and for Titan's situation. I so hope that he is cured. I hope the new vet will have some better options that help him recover and without the misery of throwing up the antiobiotics over and over again. Poor doggy. I know it is stressful for Gary to have to deal with it alone but he is perfectly capable and you need to enjoy your time up there and not rush back prematurely after everything you went through on that long, long drive.

When we first moved here from Ft. Worth, I missed everybody and everything terribly and drove back down there almost weekly. For a long time, Oklahoma felt like the new place and Texas felt like home. I never second guessed our decision to move here but it sure took me a long time to adjust. Gradually over time the driving down to Ft Worth so often ceased and eventually almost halted altogether other than trips down for family get-togethers and holidays. At some point, I realized that I had let go of the idea that Fort Worth was home...now it is the place where I gew up, but it stopping feeling like home in the early 2000s. The growth down in the metro area is just so massive and miles and miles of once open-countryside that I adored is now just one big massive new housing development and the accompanying strip malls after another. Every time we drive down, there's less countryside and more concrete---and at an astonishing rate. I hate all the concrete and the traffic and I hate seeing former farmland continually converted to more concrete. Now, when we are down there, even though I am thrilled to spend time with my family, the fact is that we cannot get in that car, get out of there and get back up here to our rural area quickly enough for me. I believe the DFW metro area has gained a couple of million people since we left it. That is insane, and it is never-ending. Southern Oklahoma is and always will be home despite the frustration of near-constant drought and venomous snakes. Moving here still is the best decision we've ever made. Lots of Texas areas that still had somewhat reasonably priced land when we moved here and that might have been viable options for rural country living down in Texas closer to our family are just concrete jungles now and I'm so glad we choose to move further out to an area we thought would stay rural for the rest of our lives. Many of the little rural Texas towns we loved and could have relocated to back then are huge now---like Frisco and Celina. Even Denton, which wasn't small but still had semi-rural neighborhods, is huge now and not nearly so many rural or semi-rural areas remain around it.

I know you'll be happy to get back home to Oklahoma where you belong, but it also is good that you got to make that trip home to spend time with your loved ones.

Dawn

Hmmm, I'm way behind here. Rebecca, I have planted shallot seed. I don't recall actually getting shallots. Someone gave us some bulbs, that I poked into some spare ground in the fall, and those produced. I have a volunteer in the tomato bed now, it's gone to seed. I'm thinking started from seed in early spring they would have to be left in the ground until the following spring.

Mary, I think it must be very hard to figure out what to eat on your diet! I was on blood thinners briefly after joint replacement surgery. They didn't give me very thorough instructions.

Jerry, you've been very busy! I canned some more tomato sauce last night. This time, the first canner load, instead of sealing, the little pop up air vent WHISTLED shill and loud. I figured that can't be good. I shut it off. Took the cover off (after it cooled) fiddled with the air vent, put lid back on and it worked properly the second time. I think maybe I had too much water in it. Did another load after that. I usually pick one bed for a compost pile through the winter. I don't think it will happen this year, the new pup would not be able to leave that alone.

Yikes, Cochise, that is huge. They give me the creeps!

Rebecca, My chickens don't like water falling ON them. I used to spray them with the hose if they got into beds they weren't supposed to be in. I think the combination of kids and being sprayed would deter a squirrel. Of course, you have super squirrels.

Nancy, many of the black tomatoes do better in a hot dry climate. My friend in MN raves about Pruden's Purple. The one I grew here didn't impress me, but it was also a bad year. A lot of people rave about Black Krim. The one I grew was awful (could have been crossed seeds, also grown in a bad year.) I would think Brandywines would be a good option. Maybe the best choice for a newcomer to dark tomatoes.

I'm so sorry about your mom and glad you got to spend time with her when she was lucid. So sorry you missed spending more time with your son. Have a safe trip home.

Eileen, I saw those pill pockets at Southern Ag, too. I'm sure they're available on line if GDW can't find them local.

Dawn, I like the idea of watering the birds!

We went to breakfast yesterday and when we came back my harvest basket of tomatoes had fallen and there were tomatoes all over the floor. Puppy was in the kennel. Hmmm. Then I came home from having dinner with my son and the bins on the counter that hold tomatoes had been knocked to the ground. Puppy was in the kennel. I think the cat came out, didn't have food and we weren't home so she knocked stuff over. She's REALLY had her nose out of joint since the puppy came.

I took sliced tomatoes and cucumbers to my son's last night, and it was very gratifying to watch my 4 year old grandson eating a purple tomato (probably Cherokee Carbon, but I have several dark tomatoes and they get mixed up) and fresh cucumbers. IDK, something really special about that. I will have to take my extras to them. I think I'm about done canning, though I'm considering a batch of Annie's salsa.