So many posts since last I wrote. Have to take Honey to the vet for shots soon. I've been drowning harlequin bugs in soapy water. I figured I would do that for a few days and try to reduce their numbers before I pull those plants. Don't want them moving on to other things. There's cabbage worm and army worms on them, too. I left those plants to shade the peppers. When they started looking bad I sprayed with BT. Obviously no effect on harlequin bugs.

My okra are huge and shading out the melon plant. Likely no melons again this year. They're Stewart Zeebest. I expected them to get taller before branching out. Gotta go.

Hi y'all! I am sitting on a camping chair in the water at Flint creek catching up on all your updates.

Nancy, I think of you guys whenever we drive past your areas too. Yesterday I thought of Dawn as we were driving back from Dallas. Oh, and we had to swerve to avoid hitting a cow near Boynton yesterday. It was just standing in the middle of the road late at night.

Amy, we visited a Japanese supermarket in Dallas called Mitsuwa Marketplace. I was so tempted to get some of their seed packets but everything was only written in Japanese. I got some extra dashi if you want to try some. Will take some photos when I am home. I made sure these had no MSG.

As for gardening, I found some of these plants in my raised bed of cucumbers. Are they cucumbers too? Their leaves look different though they have the same yellow blooms. They are smaller and look more round instead of pointed. Not sure if it's a weed or some plant the previous owner grew.

I also found a plant stand for half off at Ikea! Will take a photo when I have it all set up.

Dawn, I finally got my soil test kit. Will get my soil tested soon and let you know.

I better add more stakes on all my tomato cages with the upcoming rain and wind.

Honey weighs 35 pounds.

H/J, I was going to say the full moon was making animals crazy. It rained last night. The patio was wet when I brought the dogs in, but nothing in the gauge this morning. I'd be concerned about a bobcat in an urban setting. Usually they avoid people.

Dawn, I survived Tulsa, just wonder if I scared my DIL. I told her Ron was off Thurs and Fri so if she made appointments then, he could drive her. He's scary sometimes, too, though. I will never understand why doctors and insurance want to send you to appointments at dreadful hours and as far away from where you live as possible! I would rather go to Claremore or Bartlesville than south Tulsa. Would be quicker. But even my folks in Bartlesville only have specialists on certain days, they are from Tulsa, too. DIL needs short term disability. Her back/hip is spasming so she can hardly leave the house. Her original primary care was a jerk and she saw a pain specialist who gave her excruciating shots that didn't help and then gave up. This was a new pain specialist who thinks the problem is in her hip. She's been treated badly and with disrespect and possibly incompetence. Makes me so mad I want to spit. Rant over...

What I mostly make is bread and butter pickles. But when I got around to it last night, I got to the soak in ice water 3 hours part. Ooops. So I cut up the big cukes and made cucumber/onion "salad". Which is cukes and onions soaked in white vinegar/water/sugar/salt. Had enough pickling cukes for one jar of garlic dills which I canned in the stock pot using the new rack I bought. Honestly, it worked but the pot had to be really full. Would be better for half pints. Especially the squaty flat jars. You could do 2 layers of those. I took the fermented pickles out of the fermenting jar and put them in smaller jars today. They were too salty and not sour enough for me. Will try the pickle pipe next time. You say daturas are fairly bullet proof. They "almost never die and you can't kill them." Sounds like a challenge. Bet I can kill them. Next year.

We had a lot of ticks when we first moved here. Then we got the geese and the duck adopted us. We saw few ticks and fewer dandelions. Didn't have dandelions for years after the geese were gone. Sadly, Nancy, the deer are probably bringing the ticks to you. They suffer badly from them.

H/J, I drink store bought kombuca, but not enough to justify making it myself. Does it taste different? Carbonated stuff is not good for me either. I buy it when I can't get my system evened out. Gave it to DH after he had a virus. That was funny. I don't know what taste he was expecting, but it wasn't what he got. He said it corrected things, so he was impressed. He's always so amazed when one of my remedies works. He always wants to shake my bottle because of the sediment.

Nancy, if you can make the trip you just made, you can go anywhere. Although, my brother, who lives in OKC thinks Tulsa has worse traffic, more gridlock. I know there is ALWAYS construction some where. Driving into Owasso on 169 is always ugly. I know all the back ways into town.

So yeah, Stewarts Zeebest has made an impenetrable canopy of leaves about 3 feet above the bed. The other okras I grew tended to get taller and let more light in. No doubt I put them too close together. They look good though. Actually everything other than tomatoes looks good. There will be a lot of zipper peas soon. The other cowpeas have not bloomed yet.

I've been working on this post for an hour, so when I post there will be 3 posts I've missed. Later y'all.

And a very cute 35 lbs. she is!

Dawn, I don't know why either, but both kinds of cukes seem to take longer in my yard. They do get afternoon shade, maybe that's it. I want to plant them earlier next year, but I also want to plant snow peas on that same trellis. Hmm. Maybe I need more trellis(es). There's a project for me. Like I need more of those.

Got a small order from SSE. Starting to make sure I'm stocked for next year on a few things. Just some sheepnose pimentos, garlic chives, zinnias, Zulu Prince daises, nicotiana, and foxgloves. I'll need seed garlic, too. Maybe I'll just pick up some good garlic at Cherry Street market and plant that instead. LoneJack has been talking about Vertina pickling cukes on the veggie board, so now I'm curious about those. Look at me, it's August and I'm planning next year's garden now.

Looks like about this time next week, August comes back with a vengeance. Temps back up in the mid-90s. So, with all the rain, the humidity is going to be killer. Ugh. Guess I shouldn't have started fall lettuce yet.

I'm also going to give the too-tall zinnias and the remaining tomato plants a good whack with the hedge shears, and see if they feel like coming back.

Jacob, Hmmm. I don't know. I have had chickens 4 to 8 years old still lay eggs that are perfectly fine, but of course, that doesn't mean all chickens would. Every breed is different. We just keep adding new chickens every few years, or we let a couple of broody hens set on eggs and hatch out chicks, so we've always got younger girls coming along who lay more often, and the older ones lay until they stop, and then they spend the rest of their lives eating, pecking, digging, scratching and enjoying retirement while sometimes bossing around the younger girls. It also could be excess phosphorus, but if you're using a commercial feed, they usually have nutients in the proper ratio. Or, a lack ofVitamin D3 (which seems plausible because it sure has been raining there a lot and maybe your girls aren't getting enough sunshine, and I'm just kidding, but still.....). Some hens do slow down in egg production after about 3 years, but not all, so maybe it is related to the breed or breeds you have. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.

Jennifer, Well, here, all we have to do is walk out the door and the bobcats take off. Coyotees sometimes do and sometimes do. Cougars do not particularly like to be hurried, but they will mosey on. Luckily, we don't see the cougars often because it is terrifying. Maybe it has to do with the moon. Maybe coyote pups are beginning to hunt more on their own and are coming closer to homes than older ones normally do.

Eileen, Those more rounded leaves probably are some sort of melon leaf, probably cantaoloupes or something similar.

Amy, Honey is so beautiful and I cannot believe how fast she's growing. She might not be a dog when she's done growing....she might be a horse. But she'll be a cute one.

As part of my never-ending purging of 34 years worth of accumulated junk, I was going through boxes of old photos and trying to toss some of the photos. That's not that hard to do because some are duplicates, or just photos of scenery or whatever. Anyhow, I came along tons of photos of dogs and cats we had decades ago. Seeing those photos was bittersweet because at least one of those dogs has been gone for 30 years now, and it is the first time I've looked at photos of him in ages and ages. It made me kind of sad to think about how long it has been since he left us, but it also was fun to look at old photos of him. I kept some (but not all) of the photos of each pet, even Chris' hedgehog and iguana that he had when he was pretty young.

I am sorry for your DIL's suffering. It seems to me that what is lacking in the medical profession nowadays is humanity....it is like everyone is just a number....and every person is just one more item sitting on a conveyor belt being shuffled through the system. I blame the government and the insurance companies for this---they push medical professionals to see so many people per day by not paying them fairly and this means the medical professionals cannot spend enough time with each person. Oh, don't even get me started or I'll rant forever.

Stewart's Zeebest can be monster plants---very thick, as you're seeing, and if planted too closely, can form a dense hedge. George and Mary Stewart specifically selected it for heavy branching, so yours does sound true to type. You can see a photo of George standing with some of his Stewart's Zeebest plants in the article by Patty Leander linked below, and if you read the story, they'll talk about their original Stewart's Zeebest which had 20-something (I think almost 30) branches and produced over 340 pods (if my memory is incorrect, I think I'm at least in the right range). Mine are massive producers this year, but so are Buck's Big Buck and even Baby Bubba. It's been a really good okra year despite excessively dry weather at times.

Patty Leander: Stewart's Zeebest

I always take so long to write that I miss more recent posts too. I just try to catch up on them the next time I write.

Another sad day here---the loss of the wife of one of our fire chiefs, although he now is an ex-chief but still a firefighter. He had been the chief of his VFD for a long time, but a new guy was elected sometime in the last year or two. Her health was deteriorating and Tim said that they basically had sent her home to die (I didn't realize that). Lately, cops and/or firefighters and/or their family members are dropping like flies around here. It always seems to happen in clusters. Anyhow, she was a sweet lady and she and her family have been on my mind all day. They rushed her to the ER last night, but she didn't survive.

Nancy, I hope Titan had a good day today and that he is continuing his recovery.

I know there was at least one tiny tornado earlier today. I hope all of you getting the storms are getting rain but not the hail and strong winds (or tornadoes, should they occur).

Nothing here to report weatherwise, but y'all know the rain and/or cooldown always reaches us 3 or 4 days after it reaches most of y'all. I think the storms must fall apart over the Arbuckle Mtns or something.

Dawn

Eileen I have a cucumber with leaves like that, either the lemon or the muncher. When it first started growing I thought it was a rogue plant. You will see soon enough.
I tried to go back to the garden tonite but smoke drove me out of town. I could not breathe it was horrible. I guess it was a control burn south east of us. Once it got in the valley here it took a good wind to get it out. I just kept driving until I could breathe again. Tomorrow is my last summer day with little man. Harvest day!

Oh yeah, the GW garden community living near each other! Wow, what fun it would be! Thanks for hopes for Titan. He's about the same as yesterday; pretty good. But he was so peppy yesterday I think he wore himself out, so rested a lot more today.

We got hardly anything done today, other than necessary family calls, trip for dirt and groceries. That truck was so loaded down with peat moss, potting soil, raised bed soil, compost and pine (this time) mulch, amazing none of it flew out. Before GDW became a convert, I was very frugal with the gardening dirts. Now, GDW has decided we need LOTS of everything. Just had to luagh.

Loved the article on the Stewarts' Zeebest, thank you, Dawn!

Rebecca, naa naa (fingers in ears) can't hear you, not listening. Wait, pimiento, you say? Hmmmmm Garlic chives, you say? Hmmm. Wait. Have you grown foxgloves down here successfully? Others of you? I assumed it would be too hot--no?

Oh my goodness, Kim--what a diet! For sure I'd try any probiotic foods--anything healthy to improve would be worth a try, maybe? Bless your heart!!

The entire state of Wyoming has been saturated with smoke, speaking of. My sister's voice belies her troubles with it, my SIL said it's really bad today and yesterday (she's out of hospital after knee replacement and doing very well.)

Amy, I alway am sorry for your DIL's problems. Good docs are hard to find, for SURE, just like good folks in general, and in every profession. So sad. I've had a few medcal rants through my life,, too; know the frustration. Best to her. And about the tick-bearing deer--yep. Feel so sorry for the critters, but it's part of the reason I'm diligent (and Titan when he's feeling well) about chasing them off. And unfortunately, Titan hates possums so much, he has run those off--aaggh. They're tick-eating machines, too, like chickens. So how old is Honey, now--about 5 months? Sounds like she's going to be about the size of Titan, ya think?

Eileen, don't just think of us when you drive by, on one of those drive bys, stop! LOL . But who am I to talk--I just drove near you and Amy and Rebecca and several others of you. (But my excuse was Mr. Dog.)

Hey, you all! IF any of you are interested. . . my SIL sent me a message a couple weeks before I went to Buffalo and asked me what herbs I needed--she was weeding through David's dried herb collection (from Penzey's), and I was taking home what she didn't want. Classic David--so funny and eccentric and bright. If he decided he was interested in something, just a bit wouldn't do. He needed ALL of it. (They had moved into town just 10 months before he died and still hadn't dealt with the stuff at their old house; he just couldn't face it--so when he died, Brucie sprang into action and arranged the auction, and folks to come in and round it up--there was so much stuff, that had two auction rings going, and the auction netted a lot of money for his kids.) Well. When I got to their house, there were four smallish-to medium plastic bins that SIL said I had to take. I said I couldn't possibly use that much in my lifetime and she said she already had what she needed, so I had no choice, I was taking it. Oh what a laugh! He was kinda nuts about chiles, and the largest bin was full of different chiles; dried mushrooms, and large Penzey bags of about 24 other spices/herbs. I just order $75 worth of new spice rack stuff, little herb jars, and labels. REALLY--there is that much stuff. Like I wanted to spend that for spice/herb storage. LOL . I called my new local bff Scott and told him we were going to have a spice party as soon as my order arrived, and he was going to be taking some of these spices (no argument from him, :) ). But why I bring it up, is that there are plenty to share. Any takers for my GW friends? What was David THINKING! I laughed so hard when I saw those four bins. Poor SIL--LOL--but she took it all in good stride.

GOTTA get to bed! Blessings to you all!

Amy, that is one cute dog:) I'm sorry about your DIL. Unfortunately, people who flood the ER and physicians offices looking for pain meds have caused a terrible situation for people like your DIL, or you, or me, etc. Practitioners are not only rushed, they are jaded, IMO. I agree with you on trying to navigate Tulsa traffic. Highway 169 has been a nightmare for so long, that it isn't worth driving it. When I used to drive there, like you, I took back-roads when I could.

Kim, Enjoy your last summer day with your little man. I hope y'all have a bountiful harvest today so you can have a great market day tomorrow.

Rebecca, It must be the shade. I only grow cukes in full sun so am not sure how much shade slows them down, but undoubtedly it would slow them down some.

There's nothing wrong with planning next year's garden now. I do that. I like to make plans while this year's garden is fresh on my mind. Earlier this week, I went back through my seed box, took out every single thing in it, reorganized it, etc. I like to do that before I order seeds for the next year because it helps me avoid ordering something I already have (sometimes).

I feel like I get stuck in a rut with some veggies and just grow the same things over and over and over again. Maybe for next year, I'll try harder to try new things in order to avoid that.

Kim, I know that controlled burns serve their purpose, but I hate them, When the cattle ranchers are burning off pastures in late winter, we can have smoke for days and days...and since we're in a valley, it often settles in and sticks around a while unless a good wind storm comes through and sweeps it away.

Nancy, I'm glad that Titan felt good enough to wear himself out even though it meant that he then needed a recovery day. He is learning the lessons of weekend warrior behavior, you know....go out, have a big day and overexert yourself today and you will pay for it tomorrow. (grin) Before long, I bet he gets his stamina back and will be his usual self again.

I think it is such a good thing that Garry has been bitten by the gardening bug. Maybe that will happen to Tim after he retires, if he ever retires. I fear he is having too much fun to ever choose retirement., but maybe after a few years in this new position, he'll get tired of it. Anyhow, he turns 60 this year so retirement creeps into the conversation a bit here and there, but I think it is sliding off further into the further because he's having so much fun. It is a gift to enjoy your career that much after being employed there for almost 36 years. One of the guys who'd been there even longer than Tim retired recently and I think he was 70. I don't see Tim working there until he is 70 though. I'll have to ask him if he is the longest-serving police officer in his department now. If he isn't, he's close to it.

And, that reminds me, while going through and trying to organize boxes of old photos yesterday (a job that will take days because there's so many of them), I found photos of Tim and I from the early 1980s before we even got married. Wow, were we young then! I look at those photos and smile---we were such kids and we had no idea what a wonderful life together lay ahead of us. How lucky we have been to have all these years together. I am hoping for many, many more.

I'm glad you enjoyed the article on Stewart's Zeenest. Patty Leander writes for one of my all-time favorite gardening magazines and the blog, Masters of Horticulture, is a favorite blog. The folks who alternate the writing there all either write books or they write magazine articles so I've been reading their stuff for years, even back before I discovered their blog. Dr. Adams' book on growing tomatoes in Texas is a treasure as his climate is quite like ours, though generally minus the colder weather we have up here in OK.

I love foxgloves but they don't like my soil or water, and they are exceptionally difficult to grow here because of our hot summers. You might have better success up there with less alkaline soil and water and less extreme summer heat, if your soil drains well, and if you can site them in morning sun/afternoon shade. Most people I know who love them, at least down here, just buy them as a quart- or gallon-sized transplants in late winter/early spring and put them in the ground and enjoy them for as long as they last. They do not least all summer down here like they do in milder climates. You might be able to grow some of the newer ones from seed up there, but to do it, I think you'd have to sow seed in the fall. If I was going to attempt foxgloves here, I'd try the variety Dalmatian. (Swallowtail Garden Seeds has it.) It blooms in 4 months from seed, which is remarkably quick for foxgloves. These are fairly short foxgloves, but that is good because our wind can just shred the taller ones in March and April.

The drought up there in the west and high plains is getting pretty bad, so I assume the wildfires are as well although I haven't been keeping up with them. I know that Montana and the Dakotas are pretty bad off in terms of drought and Wyoming is abnormally dry. Their fire news often doesn't make it to us down here unless a person is specifically searching for wildfire news. I hope everyone up there stays safe from the wildfires.

I'm betting your brother was thinking that the bulk prices at Penzey's were too good to pass up! I buy pickling spices in bulk like that sometimes, especially when I go to Pendery's Spice World of Chiles and Spices in Fort Worth. I also buy too many of their chili spice mixes and their peppers, but they all are so irresistable when you're standing there in the store. Living so far from extended family and cooking for smaller groups now than I did when I lived in Fort Worth, I never should buy spices in bulk but if I go into Pendery's I cannot help myself....so I understand your brother's spice collection all too well.

I hope you got a good night's sleep.

I looked at storms on the radar last night and said 'they're not coming here'. I looked at them just brushing by north of us early this morning for the second morning in a row and said 'they're not coming here'. Eventually, though, they'll drift just far enough north this weekend to hopefully make it here. We were in the mid-90s yesterday with a heat index over 100. Today is expected to be the same. Y'all hurry up and kick those storms further north so we can cool off again, I just hate having August heat in August, although to be fair, our heat right now is more like only July heat, not August heat, so that's a blessing in and of itself.

Beware the rain and the wind and the runoff, along with the chance for severe weather today and throughout the weekend. The NWS has most of us under a Flood Watch or a Flash Flood Watch and then periodically you'll see a Flood Warning, Flash Flood Warning or Flood Advisory pop up. For August, this is exceptionally rare. When it does occur, it often is because there's a tropical cyclone off the Gulf coast sending waves of tropical moisture our way. To have it coming form the north and/or west instead of the south in August seems so odd.

This weekend is tax-free shopping weekend in Texas, which means we'll have heavy interstate and state highway traffic and folks from OK drive down to Texas to take advantage of having another sales tax holiday. (The folks in Texas were driving up to OK last weekend for the same reason.) Between the forecast rain and the heavy traffic, it seems like this would be a good weekend to just stay home down here in southern OK.

Dawn

Dawn, I need to sort through stuff too. But seriously, I have and it just keeps piling up. I'm not sure where it all comes from. We honestly gave away half of our belongings when we moved to this small house. Our other house had 2 living rooms, 2 dining rooms, 3 bathrooms, etc. We have had 3 garage sales since living here. And endless trips to Salvation Army donation centers. AND we still have more stuff. What is wrong with us?!

Speaking of hoarding spices. Nancy, Tom LOVES him some Penzeys. He has thankfully slowed down on purchasing some of their products (unless he's hiding them in the shop. He has a "grilling/smoking" area there).

I wish Tom would get the gardening bug too. He is helpful, though, and likes to cook with the produce from the garden. He helps me with building the beds and bringing in dirt. I really want him to "keep" bees. He's talked about having meat chickens, which is fine, but he will have to care for them separately from my chickens. I will make them pets otherwise. I doubt any of that happens because we will never retire, I'm afraid. I was thinking about Generation X and how the oldest of us are well into middle age...and I'm pretty sure most of us won't be able to retire. What is that gonna look like? You really don't hear much about Gen X. It's a smaller generation and mostly people talk about Baby Boomers and Millennials. Anyway, this has nothing to do with gardening other than I would like to retire and garden full time. :D I like my jobs, though, so am thankful for that.

Thankful for the rain also. I haven't been home before twilight for the last two nights, but just glancing at the garden this morning, everything looks happy and has that fresh look that only a good rain can give.

Amy, Honey is so cute!

About the kombucha, honestly I think mine tastes better than the store bought. (Except the last batch which set too long and was sour and thrown out). I've had better batches than others and maybe it's personal preference. I flavor mine with different things. Almost always add a crystallized ginger and usually add fruit and a TBSP or two of juice during the second ferment. Different combinations. Some are tastier than others. I keep two jars going. One jar is always fizzier than the other. I have no idea why. Even changing out the SCOBY makes no difference. It's odd. I have pretty good gut health (knock on wood). I drink a bit of kombucha everyday and eat unflavored plain Greek yogurt everyday as well (mostly for the protein).

The chicken pen is holding up well in the rain. I'm happy about that. It sits on a slope that causes the rain to run towards the coop/shed. We kept that in mind while building it and our design seems to be working well. I can't WAIT to put a little flower garden on the out side of the pen. I wish I could go home and start it right now! I need fragrant flower ideas. Is the red honeysuckle fragrant?

Okay. I've rambled on long enough. Time to work now.

I haven't been out to check the rain gauge yet, but south Tulsa got about 3/4" and north Tulsa got about 1 1/2", so I'm probably somewhere in the middle. Glad I put out fertilizer last night, hoping it would get rained in. From the window everything looks pretty happy out there.

Nancy, glad I could be of help! Foxgloves do grow around here. They need good soil, and, like Dawn said, not horrible heat. We've bought them before, and they've done well in late spring to early summer, before the mean heat sets in, especially if they get some shade or speckled sunlight. This will be my first time growing them from seed, though. Not sure if I should start them this fall and plant them to overwinter, or winter sow them for spring planting.

Johnny's pelleted lettuce seeds may be my downfall.

I need to make pesto this weekend, plus cut more herbs to hang to dry. How do I know when they're dry enough for storage? Just when they are brittle and crumble easily? I've been saving old spice jars to store things in. I should put out a few new dill seeds, if the LL cukes are going to start going crazy on me. Where was it that I read that you could make pickle brine and refrigerate it until needed, heating it back up to a boil as you have enough cukes for a few jars at a time? I need to do that. My stockpot can only do a couple larger jars at a time. I also have some strawberries that aren't very flavorful, so they should probably become jam. I have so much to do this weekend.

Jennifer, I am pretty sure that 'stuff' multiplies while no one is watching. Otherwise, I am not sure where it all comes from.

We are at the tail end of the babyboomer generation and have been saving for retirement for decades. Having said that, I quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom in the early 1990s, so we've been saving on one income and it isn't easy. I expect Tim will retire sometime in the next 3 to 7 years and we'll just learn to live a simpler life on retirement income and investments. This is one area in which gardening and preserving food helps because the better you are at these tasks, the more independent you can be when you get older. Even now, we really don't buy much produce. I love it when I can sail through the produce section and get almost nothing....saying to myself silently 'don't need that...or that....or that...." because we have it at home---either in the garden or preserved.

We want to keep bees, but by that I mean that I want for Tim to keep bees since the garden, house, chickens and pets keep me so busy, so it will have to wait until he retires because he travels too much now and I don't want to have to take care of anything else while he's gone.

Retirement isn't what it used to be--it seems harder to put away an amount of money that seems like it will be enough because medical costs just keep skyrocketing and you wonder, too, if Social Security really will be there when it is your turn to retire and collect Social Security after paying into it for decades. Most of our friends here who did retire in their 50s or 60s were pretty bored pretty quickly, and after a year or even less, they found new full-time jobs and launched a second career, albeit one that generally doesn't pay anything close to what they made in their long-time career. It is good enough to supplement their retirement pay though, and it makes them happy to be productive and busy.

Today's rainfall map looks pretty good. When I looked at it, I saw that your area had had rain. Real rain. Yay! A few little sprinkles fell on my head this morning while I was out picking peppers this morning, but not enough to add up to anything in the rain gauge. Our turn is coming, though. Down in the DFW metro, they have a Heat Advisory for today but we don't have one here, so I suspect we'll still be hot and steamy but not quite as hot as they will be down there. This week usually is the hottest week of the year in our county, and this week it isn't bad at all compared to most years, so I'm happy, even on a hotter day.

Red honeysuckle is fragrant but it isn't fragrant every day or at all times of the day. Or, I notice the fragrance more at some times than other so it seems like it comes and gos, but then the plant blooms in repeated flushes of blossoms too. Sweet Autumn Clematis is a great vine that has a lovely fragrance when in blooms in the August-September time frame. Among the fragrant flowers in our garden are these: honeysuckle, flowering nicotine (nicotiana), Laura Bush petunias, morning glories, moon vines, daturas, sweet alyssum, dianthus (including pinks and sweet william varieties), and four o'clocks. Many of the more fragrant ones bloom at night, which is fine with me. Don't forget that many herbs have fragrant leaves or flowers or both, including many kinds of salvia, lemon balm, fennel and lavender. Than, there's always scented geraniums, and some shrubs that flower produce a lovely frangrance too. Generally the fragrance of night-blooming plants lasts from early evening through early to mid-morning, which is the time when people are home in general anyway. Roses are fragrant but hard to keep healthy in these years of rose rosette disease. Lots of seasonal bulbs produce fragrant flowers.

Though the rain missed us, we have had clouds and rain-cooled air from nearby storms so we have been pretty slow to warm up today, and that has been lovely.

Dawn

Just got home from Orschelm's with my cucumber supplies. I can do just two pints today--we went ahead to just eat others. . . lot of cucumbers to choke down! LOL. Now I have a new dilemma--so many delicious recipes in the Ball 37th edition. . . . but. Gotta decide in the next couple hours.

We got a little over half inch of rain early this morning. Just right.

I DO love foxgloves, so will at least audition them next year. Appreciate your input, Dawn, on fragrant flowers. I always prefer to plant flowers that smell good when possible. And mine are same as yours, pretty much. Nicotiana, four o'clocks, now the datura and brug; alyssum (all clustered near the deck, stock, phlox, heliotropes coming next year (they probably won't do well for long in the heat but gotta try them); ditto, what Dawn said, with roses, although I may succumb and try a fragrant climbing one at some point. I have a coral honeysuckle that was a perk in a pot of tradescantia Bruce brought to SF, and it's going well, but don't have it in a good place. And yep, there are lots of good shrubs that smell delicious! Mock orange, the clematis Dawn mentioned, lilacs. . .

Back to work.

Vertigo issues today. Managed to can all the chicken broth we had had in the freezer, which we pulled out yesterday. All of last years left over frozen tomatoes came out and are in the crock pot for spaghetti tomorrow or Sunday. I want to make salsa. Maybe tonight if I feel better. I think I have all the tools I need for canning. It went smoothly, today, though I watched one still boiling jar vent after I pulled the jars out. The steam from the canner smelled like chicken broth, so I'm sure at least one was too full. I recently got this funnel, and I like seeing the headspace markings. Yes, I know the threads on the jar are 1/4 inch apart, and I had a stir stick with stair steps, but this was easier for me.

Skiatook got over an inch of rain. North Tulsa got over an inch of rain. I think Mary said she got 1/2 inch and we got so little DH didn't know if it was rain or dew. I don't know if I should water or not. Some beds look really dry.

Rebecca, I had to look up some of the things on your list. Do you have a plan for your pimentos? I mean, will you eat them fresh or pickle them or what? I really don't want to talk about the heat coming back. I have so squandered the more temperate weather.

Thank you all for your comments on Honey. I think you're right, Dawn, she may be a horse, and I'm trying to figure out how to train her so I can handle her.

My BFF from high school were talking the other day about all the stuff she cleared from her mother's house. She says she is trying to purge, too. I told her I'd let the kids do it, LOL. We lived in our first house for 13 years and this house coming on to 26. There's stuff in the attic...oh, my. Actually, my hope this winter is a thorough cleaning and organizing. Who knows.

I really don't understand my DIL's problem with doctors. They seem to not take her seriously.

I guess I should have re-read my research on Sterwart Zeebest. I think I planted twice. It seemed like the first batch didn't sprout. No doubt both eventually did.

Sorry for the loss to your VFD family.

Kim, your neighborhood is kind of a pain sometimes, isn't it.

Oh dear, Nancy, I remember the trips for dirt and mulch.

I've goT to go, If I missed you, "Hello!".

Amy, Sorry to hear about the vertigo. It is so frustrating. Do you have it often?

I canned bread and butter pickles and zesty candied jalapenos--three canning batches in total. That was after working out in the garden in the morning hours when it still was cloudy and cool. Our heat index only hit 100 and our actual high was around 90 degrees so it definitely felt better than your average August day...but, lol, you know....not that much better. I think tomorrow is supposed to be about the same but then, finally, the cooldown arrives with some rainfall. Hopefully they are right about that.

Canning is always such an adventure---and I think pressure canning is trickier than BWB canning---I haven't used my pressure canner in so long (and I don't miss it, either). I actually learned canning backwards---on a pressure canner first and then a BWB canner. I am an alien from another world and always do things backwards. Just ask my husband and he'll agree with that statement.

The answer is clear---you need a horse trainer. Or a dog trainer who also trains horses. Honey is a beauty though and, like all pups, she'll grow up and learn how to behave and stop being such a handful....eventually.

I do not understand your DIL's trouble with doctors not taking her seriously either. That must be incredibly frustrating.

Thanks. She was a sweet lady---the wife of one firefighter and the grandmother of another. I feel for the family. Even though her health had been poor, I am sure they weren't ready to lose her. It is alway so hard, even if you think you're prepared for it. We plan to attend her memorial service on Monday. I hope it isn't pouring down rain because our country cemeteries don't have paved lanes....just gravel or tightly packed soil, so that could be a muddy mess.

Nancy, I love fragrant flowers, and I love old-fashioned open-pollinated ones because they seem to attract more bees, butterflies and other pollinators than newer hybrids do. Having said that, I'd still go with a hybrid Foxglove since they are so finicky in our climate. I cannot keep heliotrope alive past June. We just get too hot and too dry, but sometimes I buy some anyway, and generally put it in a pot so I can move it into a shadier part of the garden as we get hotter.

We're supposed to get rain starting sometime tomorrow and running through the overnight hours and into Sunday....possibly even Sunday night. Y'all know how it is---they tell us what to expect, but then the storms do as they wish and go where they will, so we'll see what happens. More rain would be nice, but I don't want to be too greedy since we just had rain on Sunday. If someone who needs rain more than we do gets our rain, I won't complain about it. It isn't as if complaining does any good.

Dawn

It is a pain here lol. When I first moved here I really believed I was doing the right thing. This was where I would finally put down roots. But I have never felt like I belonged here. The weather the poison it's just too much but I am not a city girl. I just want a place to live and work without having to be on disability.

Amy tell your dear dil to keep going to different Dr's until someone listens. Just today I heard a story about a lady who suffered over 1 year before the Dr took her serious. I hope she finds one who will listen soon

Y'alls dog pictures are so cute. My oreos had 11 beautiful big huge babies. I finally crawled under the truck to see and count them. She is a good momma altho she is very timid a good dog.

There was 1.10" in my rain gauge this morning, so a nice soaking. There was street flooding here early this morning. I have it emptied out and ready for the next storm. I'm going to Cherry Street market in the morning, rain or not. Hope it'll hold off until I get home and get the basil cut for the pesto.

Amy, I really want to be able to can the pimentos so I can use them like I would the jarred. I use them in so many recipes - several casseroles, pimento cheese, potato salad, chicken salad, deviled eggs. But, I'm still searching for a safe recipe. I'm thinking they might need to be pressure canned, so if that's the case, I'll freeze them. But I'd like to be able to can them. The Zulu Prince daises are absolutely gorgeous.

It's killer humid out there now.

I also showed up at work today with green fingers that smelled like a stink bug.

It's perfect here this evening. Perfect. (Weather wise, I mean.). Amy, this vertigo is recurring, right? How long have you been suffering with that? It is a bugger. Do you take anything for it?

Rebecca, I am also a huge pimiento fan, but I bet you'll have a hard time believing I'd never heard of pimiento cheese until I got here. Of course I'm crazy about it! I've used it for years and years, though, of course, in other dishes.

Kim, thinking of you. Hoping good things . . . maybe you WERE doing the right thing. This has been such a huge challenge for you. I believe you can do anything now. And maybe your next place with be like heaven in comparison. That's my prayer for you. Please know you're in our hearts.

My pickles today were a pain. I ended up with just 4 pints of dill relish and 1 pint of dills. Couldn't find stuff, realize I need a pint-sized water bath canner, several other things I can't remember at the moment. And I wasn't happy with Ball's rather poorly written directions for dill relish in the 37th edition. Ambiguous at best, so ended up with the mixture in half water half vinegar! AAGH. So lots of extra work. Takes skill to clearly write a recipe. Still, realized I could have figured it out if I'd thoroughly analyzed it. I'll never assume they assume folks making their stuff know canning. I might have caught on if i hadn't made the dill pickle brine just previous to that. But it WAS half water and half vinegar, so when I saw the relish recipe, I put THAT water and vinegar together, too. Grumpiest with myself because ultimately the blame was mine. But it cleared up and I laughed. What a spoiled brat--living in heaven, following your loves--playing the world's tiniest violin for you, Nancy.

I'm glad to hear you haven't used your pressure cooker for a long time, Dawn. I was pondering on it recently--of course the one I wanted was a zillion $$ . lol. Then I thought, "Really, Nancy? You DO remember you much you loved canning as a young woman, right?" You just sealed the deal for me, especially since I FAR prefer frozen veggies and fruits to canned. I WILL, however, happily spend the money on a pint-sized WB canner.

Amy, yes, the dirt! 4 big ones of peat moss--half a dozen compost bags(cuz we have quite a bit of our own now--yay!) 6 big raised garden soil bags, all to mix with our "dirt" in the back, still enough from the truckload we'd gotten earlier. 8 big bags of pine mulch. Am needin' my oak leaves, can hardly wait til November, but at least we're getting lots and lots of grass clippings with the green green summer. GDW has already been applied the mix to the former Mexican sunflower bed. Next year will be better yet!!

Speaking of green. Hope I'm not repeating myself. What a beautiful sight green country was when I entered it after my trip to 1100 miles away and back. Like entering the Emerald City. UNBELIEVABLE.

Still laughing about my spices. And your guilty plea about them, too, Dawn. David was like that with EVERYTHING he fancied. Oh, his collections! Approx. 5,000 record albums; old pocket watches; smithy forges; small pepper mills; old tools; other gadgets; succulents; paintings from regional artists; and he was a talented bagpipe player and worked with various bands as their talented drummer for oh, 30 years. He also collected words. He tied flies, was a pretty talented blacksmith, made kites, even knit himself a fine beautiful intricate sweater (then he got bored and quit), grew and cross-bred succulents, plants. Loved cooking, making jams and jellies, and ADORED chiles (I got one whole big bin of chlles!) One of our favorite things to do was to have a new word for each other in our weekly phone calls. And by profession, you'll like this, he retired after 35 years with his fire department. Handsome pension; bless his heart. His fire department work gave him time to play drums for the bands. (Something like a bunch of hours on, then the equivalent off.) . What an incredible gift he was in my life. So glad he was my close friend. Hard to grieve sometimes just for the sheer thankfulness that he was part of my life.

I wish one of you would come can with me for a month--Jerry, Dawn, whoever else is a consummate canner. What I love about you, Jerry, is your sheer joy in canning. That makes me want to can!

Titan's doing okay. . . kind of plateaued the past 2 days. Not eating quite so well. But ate a dinner tonight of baked chicken, cooked hamburger, largely, and liked it. But didn't finish it off. And this morning, was not at all interested in scrambled eggs, chicken, cheese. Likes the hot dog he gets in the morning (although not the part that has the pill in it), and same at night.) Today he managed to finally bark when we had a knock at the front door, but not his usual loud deep bark. He IS perkier in the evenings (like me? LOL), but definitely not himself yet. Still, we're encouraged. Know the antibiotics upset his system, so when he has finished them in the next week, we'll take him in for another blood draw and hope he won't have to take more.

Having just said that about Titan, he was just about in the back yard exploring like crazy, sniffing everywhere like crazy, energetic and interested as heck. Like, what have I been missing.... we're in to bed time and he's right there with us but with his pet football and tail wagging and loving us both up. Yay Titan!!! I am so happy--he's gonna be good!

Just cut a huge basil harvest, then realized I'm almost out of olive oil. Back to the store before the rain starts.

Kim, I know it is hard there. That's such a trying environment in good years, and let's not even talk about what it is like in drought years out there. And, yes, there's always the farmers' usage of chemicals, which you'll never escape as long as you are there. My wish for you is that you can find a place more suited to your dream where the growing conditions are better. I know you will bloom wherever you are planted, but it shouldn't have to be so hard. You know, you were doing the right thing at the time. It felt right then, didn't it? I don't think going there was a mistake, but things happen and life changes and maybe now what you're learning is that your time there might be just another stop on the journey. Perhaps you are meant to end up somewhere else. Denton would be perfect! You'd have access to so many farmer's markets, but of course, it is hard to find affordable land there (or anywhere). Maybe you need to find an organic farming commune---or intentional community---or whatever they call them nowadays.

Oreos had a huge litter. I cannot imagine how she is able to feed that many. Poor mama dog. At least she and the puppies are getting a break from the usual August heat.

Rebecca, I hope you're having fun at the Cherry St. Market today and hope the rain holds off until you can get that basil cut.

Your assessment that pimentoes must be pressure canned is correct. That's why you haven't found a safe recipe for canning them in a boiling water bath. Here's the recipe from the NCHFP in case you decide you want to get into pressure canning.

Pressure Canning Pimento Peppers

Of course, you could pickle them, but then that gives you an entirely different product from what you are used to using when you buy canned pimentoes at the store.

Nancy, Canning can be frustrating at times. Be patient with yourself because some of the canning recipes are not nearly as well-written as they once were. I rely more on the recipes from the National Center for Food Preservation than the BBB any more.

I think Emerald City is a perfect description for the Green Country. Gosh, that means most years I live in the brown country. Now, that does not sound very appealing, and to be fair, it isn't all brown. Normally in August the fields are brown with bits of green (generally the late summer wildflowers) mixed in, but roadsides that get mowed have some green in them, and then there's the patches of green in the trees along creeks and fencelines. I have taken great delight in watching our yard green up, even though it is the hated bermuda grass, in response to Sunday's rain. In fact, I've outright marveled at it because we have green grass in August, and not because we've been irrigating it.

David sounds like such an amazing person. I know you must miss him terribly. He certainly worked in what I consider one of the most honorable professions there is---I think that sometimes we fail to give our firefighters the credit they deserve. Sure, they are heroes---they rush into burning buildings, etc. but they do so much more. Who's the first responders on emergency medical calls? Often, it is those same firefighters. They are out on the highways, in very dangerous conditions, working at motor vehicle accidents. They help lake and parks/wildlife personnel recover drowning victims. They respond to calls for gas leaks, chemical spills, building sprinkler alarms/malfuctions, hazardous materials investigations, cats in trees, ducklings in storm drains....or whatever. They are out there after tornadoes and other weather disasters helping in 101 different ways, many of them both difficult and dangerous. All the firefighters I know (and I know many, many, many of them, both professional and volunteer) do all the above and more with the best attitude, and they can be serious when they need to be serious but they also know how to cut up, have fun and prank one another. To think that David did all those sorts of tasks for 35 years is awesome---and he earned his pension.

Your reports on Titan's continuing improvement make me smile and also feel so grateful in my heart that he is getting better. I believe you and Garry have done it----you've saved your best little (okay, big) canine friend. I hope the results at the doctor's office next week are good.

Dawn

I haven't used the water bath canner at all this year. The one jar of pickles I've canned I did in the stock pot. I think today is salsa day and bread and butter pickles. What I remember about relish is I complained at the harvest forum that I had too much liquid. They told me there must be a lot of liquid to can safely. You drain some off when you open the jar.

Rebecca, I can't imagine there would be much pepper left after 35 min in the pressure canner. I'm thinking frozen, with maybe a vacuum sealer for longer storage. I have some peppers I'm debating on what to do with.

I usually freeze in freezer bags. I had all the chicken broth and tomato sauce thawing the other day and they ALL leaked. Hefty, Ziplock, Aldi's brand, didn't matter. Now I know my DH is hard on things. They get beat up when he moves them around. But it really seems like vacuum sealing would be better. I found all the frozen onions, which are now somewhere in the bottom of the freezer. I think I must vacuum seal onions this year, so they'll keep longer, since I haven't used the ones I have. DH really likes the purple onions I grew this year. I think that would be all I would have to grow for him, LOL. And they're supposed to keep longer. Red Creole, from the short day sampler.

Vertigo is an on going problem. I know I can't tilt my head up/back. Have to bend forward to rinse my hair. These things I've just incorporated into my life. But sometimes allergies/sinuses trigger it. Possibly even pressure changes from weather. It is not in my ears, been to the doctor for that.

Kim, congrats on more puppies. Can you give those away at market?

Rebecca, you are braver than me if you're killing stink bugs with your bare fingers. I've been hand picking harlequin bugs. Yuck. Also finding army worms and cabbage worms. Only with gloves. There was a large black bug I have to look up. I left it hoping it was stalking harlequin bugs. Need to look it up. Congrats on the basil. I have enough Holy Basil for an army. It is living mulch for my peppers. I just chop and dropped most of it because it was blocking their light.

Nancy, by the time I start to feel comfortable canning, the season is over and there's nothing to can. You KNOW sometimes I can't find things. Glad to hear Titan perked up last night.

Dawn, you'll think I'm weird, but in winter, when a pasture is brown, I see the different shades of brown, tan, wheat, rust. It pleases me. Especially if sky is gray and maybe the grass is wet so the differences are emphasised. I find it beautiful. Most people find it dreary. Oh, well.

Got the olive oil and back home before it started drizzling. Made 3 batches of pesto and about a pint of fresh salsa (not Annies, and not canned). Therefore, I must make tacos this week. Wish I had cilantro. Darned nature, cilantro should grow at the same time as peppers and tomatoes. The salsa was about half out of my garden. I used my red scallions, and poblano, Anaheim, Habanada, TAM jalapeno, and a Big Bertha pepper. Tomatoes and garlic from Cherry Street. Lime juice. Salt.

Speaking of peppers, I'm wondering about BC seeds again. My TAM heatless jalapenos are not heatless...not by a mile. I was expecting to have a bit of heat from them, but for me they are inedibly hot. Every bit as hot as a regular jalapeno. I think I'll email them, but also order a different variety for next year from another company and compare them. They are beautiful peppers, though. Even checks like regular jalapenos. Jury is still out on the Habanada.

Have y'all tried the culantro and Vietnamese cilantro? I agree, Rebecca (as we all do), why can't cilantro grow at the same time as peppers and tomatoes? I saw the video Dale did with Prairie Wind Nursery--the were talking about using Culantro and Vietnamese cilantro as replacements for the cilantro we all know and love. I'm wondering how close the taste is...

I'm growing papalo. It is close enough tp cilantro to pass the husband test. But I'm afraid to can with it. Culantro was out of stock when I ordered seeds.

Amy, Different strokes for different folks, so no, I don't think you're weird. I don't mind the wheat-colored grass in winter when it is supposed to be that color. I just don't like it during the spring and summer when it is supposed to be green---it sets off thoughts of grass fires and wildfires in my mind, I guess. Green grass will burn if it is a dry green, but not as easy as dry, dormant grass burns. What I really love in winter is when there is a very heavy frost or very light sleet or very light freezing rain that coats all the standing dry grasses and forbs in the pastures and then they sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. Now, I'm not talking about heavy icing of the kind that brings down trees and power lines---just the really light stuff....especially when heavy frost is on everything and sparkles like diamond dust.

The rain arrived here a few minutes ago. This isn't the big one thats supposed to lead to flooding. This is the little precursor storm expected to drop 0.25-0.50" in the afternoon. The heavier rain is expected to follow this evening and overnight. We got substantially darker and cooler so Augustus (the turkey) rejoiced by walking around in the light right, though he has disappeared now. He'd probably hiding in the shrubs or under the covered patio or on the covered porch. He likes light rain, but he will eventually move into a location that is sheltered from it as it gets heavier.

Guess how we know it is really raining here? The cops and/or firefighters and/or EMS start getting calls for vehicles that have spun off the road/hydroplaned/slipped/slid or whatever and need help getting out of the medians, ditches, gullies, etc. The first call for that just went out pretty close to our home, so the rain must be heavier there than here. It is raining hard enough to knock DirecTV off the air. At least we still have power and internet, so far.

Rebecca, It won't help now, but right now is a good time to sow cilantro seeds for a fall thru early winter harvest. It is aggravating that cilantro won't grow here when we need it most....

I'm telling you, BC has just about lost me as a customer because of too many varieties either not being true to type or not matching the hype, and I hate that because I was buying from them back when they were real small. I think the first year I bought from them, they printed something like 1200 or 1500 catalogs and were excited about that. I still will buy cowpeas and some flowers from them, but I've lost faith in most other things.

I've grown and used papalo (huge monster plants here) and culantro and they are okay but I don't like them as much as cilantro and don't grow them any more. I'd rather just buy the real thing during the time when we cannot grow our own.

We just got weather info that a stronger band of storms is expected to arrive soon, so I'd better finish this and hit submit before the weather goes downhill (if it does at all---but Dispatch was warning a deputy who's working close to us, so if he sees heavy weather headed for that spot a couple of miles from us, it seems likely we'll get it as well).

I love rain in August. It seems unnatural to have so much of it, but we will take and appreciate every drop that falls.

Dawn

Dawn, the cilantro for fall is already in, just starting to poke it's heads up. Doesn't help me with the salsa now, though.

I have a lot of BC seeds because I can buy them locally at a place I want to support. But I'm thinking I'll go ahead and start mail ordering a few seeds a month now, so I'm ready for next year. And I can still get Botanical Interests seeds there.

Appreciate hearing that Dawn about varieties not being true to type and not matching the hype. I'm armed with info for January's seeds!

Amy, how many times I've commented to GDW on the drives to Muskogee in the winter, "How beautiful, the gray sky and black trees without leaves, against the muted grasses." And it IS. And it most certain is in the fall! And yep, the emerald green in the late spring and summer, too!

Speaking of, how many of you grow Marzano plum tomatoes? My friend up in Wyoming had ones that were all about 4 inches long and probably2 inches in diameter. Got a fair amount of weeding done today--felt SO good! And moved a bunch of zinnias out of their home in the compost bed.

Nancy, I knew you would relate, since you paint. I used to take the back roads home from Tulsa when I worked there. This one field, in Dec, it was in an industrial area, but it had layers of different kinds of trees, that made different patterns in slightly different colors. I always wanted to take a picture so I could paint it some day.

It has been raining here all afternoon, but I don't think it has amounted to anything.

I'm attempting to make salsa for the first (and last) time. Dawn do you chop all this crap by hand? I have 2 qts of juice in the fridge and only 4 cups of chopped tomatoes. Made 1/2 a recipe. My chopper chopped the bell peppers okay, but WOULD NOT chop onions. I've been working on this ALL day. First I washed jars, by hand, because dishwasher still is broken. It really should not take this much effort. But getting the seeds out first is a pain, too. I also haven't the vaguest idea how many peppers I need for 3/4 cup (one). Chopped 2, green peppers in eggs tomorrow. Or how many onions for 1 1/2 cups. I chopped 2, with leftovers. 2 T of cilantro. Really? I made DH go to the store for real Real Lemon and Real Lime, because mine is Aldi's. This really stressed me out and then you have to clean up the mess. No pickles to night. Whiskey maybe, not pickles. Oh, and the dog has been a pill all day, too, because I wasn't paying attention. Thanks for letting me vent. Don't expect salsa for Christmas, that stuff is pure gold, even if it tastes bad.

Brought in the first General Lee cuke tonight. Sent it home with my mom to try. It produced before the LL cukes, but probably only by a few days. LLs grow fast.

Well, we've either gotten almost 2 inches of rain...or 3. I can't remember if I dumped the rain gauge yesterday. Either way it's nice. And welcome. I did want to start staining the wood parts of the pen, but rain is nice. And it's cool. In August.

Thanks for the opinions about the fake cilantro.

Wow! Nothing here, maybe I'll check weather and see what's going on. BTW, Hazel, I checked out kombucha. Was thinking. . . as much as I like buttermilk and yogurt, maybe I WOULD like it. I'm going to buy a bottle and see how it is.

Let us know what you think about it, Nancy. I like the berry flavors best...especially blueberry.

It's like beer, Nancy, don't shake it.

Oh what a gorgeous day for gardening!!! Garry went to work on enlarging the beds, I spent the day on my new knee pads (LOVE LOVE em--not needed really for my body, but sure will save my jeans!!--Woo hoo, was so much fun not thinking about how dirty I was getting my jeans!) . The dirt was very damp--perfect for tackling weeds. We're 1/3 done for now with weeding all beds, between both of us in the past two days. . . It's a good start! Somewhere out there is my second favorite gardening tool, my Japanese hand hoe. :( . Bad Nancy. I also had fun, went on a hacking-everything-back binge. And taking cuttings of begonias and fire engine red coleus, perilla magilla, black sweet potato vines (oddly, the aphids leave those alone, unlike the poor lime green ones). Cut back all the obnoxiously sprawling tomatoes and cucumbers, nicotiana, again, whacked off many cleome--if they grow back fine, if not, fine. We whacked off the avocado trees last week and yep, all three have sprouted numerous branches. I'm still chuckling to myself about whether GDW will have to build a green house for them! LOL.

I'm loving watching the raised veggie beds extended out another 15 inches wider (makes a surprising difference is how big they are), and excited about the new fence that will enclose the kinda hugelkulter bed and extent the veggie area back by 10 feet.

And boy is that dirt stuff we got the other day disappearing quickly. GDW put a bunch of the mix in the fairly cleared tithonia bed, and now into the expanded raised bed he was working on today. I'm sure we'll be going back for more in another couple weeks.

The zinnias I relocated, as well as the sun coleus and perilla magilla into that sun bed didn't wilt one little bit with all the clouds and the constant mist or light rain. Perfect--who'd have ever thought one could be transplanting plants on . August 13. Amazing!

I WILL let you know what I think, Jennifer, of the kombucha. I Really Really hope I like it!

I'm so happy those of you who needed rain so badly have gotten some! Makes my day! Looks like everything is traveling mainly east for now and south of us, and that's fine with me.. If we get rain, great--if not, still fine.

Amy, you cracked me up with your canning comment. Thank you!!! And yes, I remember your frustrations about not finding the stuff you needed. In fact, I thought of you while going through my own frustrations! LOL And, by gosh, I am going to find a special place for my canning gear. And gonna get my smaller stock pot! That's ridiculous, to can those few little pints in that big ole canning pot.

On a "loving to be gardening" high tonight, thanks to all of you!

LOL, Amy, okay, will not shake it.

This is so cool--by the time we're done with the fenced in beds, we will have gained about 300' sq more of veggie room! So excited! As you can see the cucumbers are happy; got two giant pepper plants in the foreground (with many more good producers scattered here and there through the yards.) . Go, GDW!!

Nancy, I love those raised beds. Everything looks so nice and tidy, not to mention your garden is beautiful. :)

Rebecca, At least the cilantro should grow quickly with all his rain. That's about the best you can hope for here in the summer months. I can get Botanical Interests seeds at several places in the DFW metro which, given the lack of anyone local that has anything other than Burpee or Ferry-Morse, is where I usually do brick-and-mortar seed shopping. Mostly, though, I just order online and I order in fall and winter so my seeds are here long before I need them. That way I'm not stuck waiting on seed orders to be delivered.

Nancy, I've grown just about every version of San Marzano I can find. My favorite is San Marzano Redorta purchased from Seeds of Italy, but Heidi outproduces the SMs and we like its flavor better (it is from Africa, so Oklahoma weather doesn't bother it at all) so I generally only grow it for my main paste tomato crop, sometimes adding Striped Roman or one other one just for diversity.

Ack, I'm always on Tim's case to get out of bed and get moving early in the day so we can get things done before it gets hot, and today he's actually done it, so gotta go! Got 2" of rain overnight, and mud and puddles are everywhere. It is simply glorious, but I bet we'll be hot and steamy all day. More later

Dawn

Well, I'm glad everyone got some rain. I'm about sick of it now haha. I've never tried kombucha tea, nor does it sound like something I would like....who knows though. I drink too much black tea.

Those raised beds beds look awful nice, Nancy. I never thought of using cinder blocks before- sure beats rotting wood!

Still cool here. According to my weather app, we have a high of 73 and a low of 66 with all day rain. Sure won't help my chickens' vitamin D deficiency...

Yesterday was also cloudy, cool, and rainy, so we headed into the Ozark mountains to try to hike to Sam's Throne. Well, we initially hiked out to the bluff where you could then see Sam's Throne off in the distance, but then the trailhead to the throne was at the top of the bluff, with climbing hooks on the side for you to attach rope so you can repel! My brother then dropped his water bottle down into a crevice in the bluff where we heard it "BANG." On the sides all the way down....We'd have hated to lose it so we noticed a rock climber coming up the bluff, and he got it for us under the bluff and then came up. Very nice of him. Bottle survived (it's metal), but dented all over and the lid busted. Lid can be easily replaced so that's nice. Anyways, he then told us that we can go an easier way to the throne on a different trail where we first came in. Will keep that in mind next time.

-Jacob

Calloway in Denton has big wall of BI seeds too. I will have to make time for them when I go down Wednesday. I need greens mostly. Great wet day here ready to pull weeds.

Nancy I use my small stock put for canning small load. As long as it stays covered with 1 inch of water. I bought a rack on amazon but before that just use clean dish rag

Kim, Calloway's Nursery was one of the places in the DFW metro that I was thinking of with the BI seeds, though I usually go to the one in Southlake since there's a CostCo and Central Market nearby, and we tend to visit all three of them on the same trip.

Jacob, That's a gorgeous sight to see. I'd be tired of rain (and clouds) too if I'd had as much as you have had. Rain is great until it turns into too much rain.

I'd trade my weather right now for yours in a heartbeat. It curently is only 84 degrees here and heavily overcast, which is great for August, but the dewpoint is high, so our heat index has hit 93, which feels sort of steamy---but a couple of weeks ago the heat index was in the 107-110 range so I know that even if it feels kinda bad this afternoon, it still is nothing like it was a couple of weeks ago. I do think the heat and sunlight return here in full force later this week, but really, here we are at almost mid-month and the second half of August is usually milder than the first half, so maybe it won't get too bad over the next couple of weeks. Everything is rapidly greening up, except for plants that had gone brown and dormant and which may not green up again, so the green is a sight for sore eyes and beats the toasted brown color of the pastures that is more common here at this time of the year. m

I noticed some cotton fields are starting to bloom and they were a lovely sight to see today, and I saw lots of tractors and combines in half-harvested fields that were not, unfortunately, completely harvested before the rains came. I doubt those combines will be harvesting any more of the grain crops this week as they are sitting in clay soil with water pooling on the surface of the ground.

Nancy, It is always fun to have more space for gardening. I chose growing veggies, flowers and herbs over lawn long ago, and am so much happier with it. We still have some lawn for the free-ranging chickens, but I'd convert every inch of it to garden space if we didn't have chickens and if so much irrigation wasn't required every summer. When we live in Fort Worth in the 1980s and most of the 1990s, we had the most gorgeous St. Augustine lawn and worked hard to keep it lovely, at least in the front yard. Out back, we had a little lawn near the house, but most of the back yard was veggie beds, fruit trees, two lily ponds, a shed, a rear entry garage, a screened-in porch, a swimming pool and deck, etc. One reason the front yard looked so good was that it was relatively small compared to the back yard, so it was easy to maintain and keep it nice....but we lived out there in the back yard and I always enjoyed the huge amounts of time we spent out there both working and playing. I felt the multi-use back yard was a much better use of space than the pretty front lawn which basically wasn't good for much except looking good.

Jennifer, I'm so glad you finally got decent rainfall. It took it long enough to find y'all this summer.

Here's the 14-day rainfall map for anyone who has lost track of how much rain has fallen in their area. On this map, the numbers are what was recorded at area OK Mesonet stations and the colors are the radar-indicated rainfall. At your house, your rainfall may vary from either or both of these:

OKMesonet: 14-Day Rainfall

Nancy, Do you mean to tell me that the knees of jeans are not meant to be perpetually muddy and stained with clay? Oh my, I've been doing it all wrong. I guess I need to get some knee pads. I always think about it, but then never really get around to doing it.

I did a lot of whacking back of plants last week and need to do more this week. It is the only way I know to keep the garden somewhat less junglelike in the summer months.

It is an awesome August for sure---we almost never have an August cool enough for transplanting. I have about a million Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina' sprouting in the flower border, which is about 999,990 too many. They, um, tend to be invasive. So, I'll be weeding some of them out. I'd like to transplant some to other areas, but will have to see what the weather does. It is so hot and muddy today that the one thing I know for sure is that I'm not going to do it today.

I have a large, lower cabinet for all my canning and food preservation supplies, but what I really want is to add on a big walk-through pantry on the north side of the house so I could have a place to store all the canning supplies and all the home-canned goods together. IIt would be a bonus if it had a large countertop (so I guess it would be more like a butler's pantry or scullery) where I could line up all the fresh produce daily waiting to be eaten or processed. Building it is on our 'to do' list for after Tim retires. It would have to have a doorway to let the dogs out into their dog yard, but I'd be okay with that. As it is now, home-canned goods end up in the walk-in-pantry, the pull-out pantry, and tucked away in under-bed storage boxes and upstairs closets in the spare bedrooms. I'd love to be able to keep all of it together in one place. My favorite kitchen tool, and it is one that I bought when we first moved here, is a set of 4 big stainless steel stockpots, ranging in size from big to huge. They nest inside one another for storage, so don't take up as much storage space as you'd think they would. You can use them for anything, and sometimes I use the smallest one as a BWB canner if I just want to can 3 or 4 pints or half-pints of something insead of dragging out my big Ball BWB canner which is far too large for small batches of anything.

I wish the rain didn't have to end. It is so good to fall asleep to the sound of raindrops on the roof, even if it means you're occasionally awakened, briefly, by the crash of thunder, and the barking back at the thunder by our black lab mix, Jet. It is nice to know that if thunder ever attempts to break into our house and kill us, Jet is on the watch and ready to attack it. Of course, he is sound asleep on his blanket on the sofa now, likely because he spent half the night barking at the thunder. He didn't do that when he was younger. He slept like a baby---and so did we.

Dawn

Holly, our old dog has always been afraid of storms. But she goes to the bathroom and lays between the tub and toilet. Apparently her previous owner taught her that. Biscuit didn't like loud noises, but they bothered her less as she got older. I think she was getting deaf and didn't hear them. Maybe that is why Jet barks, the thunder surprises him. Or maybe he feels it and it doesn't make sense to him.

We had only a trace in the last 24 hours. I might have to water. At least containers and cukes.

Your proposed pantry sounds lovely Dawn. DH would love it if I didn't have produce all over the counter. He wants to stack tomatoes. I have 3 small plastic bins that stack, but they're not very sturdy and have fallen more than once. I cleared a bottom shelf in my cabinet yesterday. The pressure cooker will live there, and for now the waterbath canner, which I have filled with the funnel, jar lifters, etc. I wish I could fit the Weston there, but not. The pressure canner will nest in the WBC, but with the lids they are too tall. Anyway, If I have to play Tetris to get things in and out I won't use them. Especially on the bottom shelf. I'm just pleased to have them in the kitchen and not have to maneuver the dog gate to get them.

I can't get my Zebrina to grow. Maybe I'll winter sow. I've gotten seedlings but never gotten beyond that and I don't remember why.

Y'all I can't get down on my knees, but if I sit on my bucket seat after a rain, guess where I get wet.

For those in the Tulsa area, Stringer has seeds from several companies, including Renee's. I believe Southern Agriculture still had a Botanical Interests rack last time I was there. Atwoods and the box stores pull their seeds around the 4th of July. I have picked up super cheap seeds on clearance at general dollar.

Jacob, that's a beautiful view! We used to camp and canoe in Arkansas when I was a kid. Beautiful country. There is no such thing as too much black tea. Kombucha doesn't taste like tea, though I think it starts with it. It is fermented, so more like beer. Then flavors are added, like fruit. It is really helpful to soda pop addicts, It has probiotics in it, which is what I buy it for. I just don't drink enough of it to feel like making it. DH wasn't crazy about it.

Nancy, GDW is working hard! You, too. Oh, I can't find something else. My son got me kevlar gloves for Christmas to use when I used the mandolin. I can't find them and fear DH has mixed them up with regular gloves. I want to slice cukes today.....

H/J got rain? Has hell frozen over?

I believe the first Little Leaf cuke is on the vine here, Rebecca. Not a lemon cuke to be seen though. Someone on line mentioned they freeze cilantro in lime juice, which I thought was brilliant. I don't know, it might be kind of limp for fresh salsa, though.

DH is at work. I may not do anything ;)

I wanted to be out in the garden today, but I had to work. I'm off tomorrow, but with a 50/50 chance at rain, who knows? I should have gone out tonight after work, but my back says that 50/50 is closer to 100%, so I came in and took a pain pill and fixed a Caprese salad for dinner.

Nancy, I have knee pads too, but not to protect my jeans. They're to protect my knees! I don't have problems with them, but I can't kneel on them anymore without pain, because of the autoimmune stuff. My mom has two bad knees (one high school basketball, one junior high rodeo) and swears by hers.

Amy, I've never seen Renee's seeds at Stringers, but I need to go there next weekend to get sugar snap seeds, so I'll look again. Maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for. Are they the little 0.99 packets? Their big ones are BC and BI.

My brussels sprout seedlings surprised me by growing a lot. I should at least get them in their grow bags tomorrow, even if I'm doing it in the rain. Stringer's is getting seedlings next month, in case mine don't make it.

Dawn, I'm trying to stock up on seeds now, but we all know that something wonderful will come out over the winter that I will absolutely have to have. Just like everyone else. But Johnny's pelleted lettuce seeds are at the top of my list. And, the healthiest of the spring tomatoes left in the garden is a Creole, which does not claim any disease resistance. It's almost 7 feet tall and still trying to set fruit. Yes, some fungusy stuff going on, but it's powering through it. I think if I grow mostly hybrids next year, because of the disease pressure, I'll still have a few Creoles. And the taste is fantastic. However, the squirrels prefer OPs to hybrids, although they'll eat anything.

Caught some stink bug porn out in the squash bags when I checked things after work. Took great pleasure in stomping on them. At least they went out happy, I guess. Wish I'd taken the spinosad out with me.

About 0.20 of rain in the gauge overnight. Emptied it out and am ready for more.

Mary and Jacob, thanks for the kind words. That is a fraction of the yard, but it's a very important fraction. The newly expanded raised veggie beds are going to be 46" wide, 20 feet long, and the last raised bed in that location is going to be much wider (GDW has a plan, I'll give my input tomorrow). I'm greedy, didn't want to give up any of it to a walkway, but he thinks he has an idea I'll be good with. MY version was going to be an 8'x20 foot raised bed, which of course would entail walking through it. We'll see what his idea is. Most likely, more sensible.

Amy, I was out weeding on Saturday for most of the day, and today (Sunday), I had to laugh, as my legs and thighs were feeling it. That's what I get for not being out working for nearly a month. Still, a good feeling. Nope, can't work too hard, keeps us moving. And laughed about you not finding something else! Hahah re sitting on your butt. . .getting soaked! I have 2 zebrina in the shop bed that are fighting valiantly but struggling, but a couple in the open deck bed that seem to have proliferated and are on their their third wind and going strong and spreading out! It's a crap shoot, I tell ya.

Dawn, I didn't mind that my jeans got dirty and muddy, but I HATED that going through the wash didn't get the mud out. So I run our muddy jeans through two cycles of heavy duty.. So with my new handy dandy knee pads, woo-hoo--only one round through the washing machine! LOL

Jacob, that photo was so incredibly beautiful, and to know you said your photo didn't do it justice. I've never been in Arkansas, but know I must take a stroll. I now I love your next-door neighbor, OK green country, and for sure I'll have to have GDW and I come over and see.

Kim and Amy, ordered the smaller stock pot today. Can hardly wait.

I am heels-over-#$%^ today with all the work that has to be done with just being gone for 10 days. Inside AND outside the house. CRAZY. Thank God I'm retired and don't have to work!! LOL And keep adding to our frozen tomato collection as well as having some to eat. And cucumbers. Anyone got any GREAT and new cucumber recipes? And how many jalapeno peppers does one need!

Okay, Dawn, you talked me into it, Heidi.

And that's as far back as I could go at this late hour. Rain? Hardly any here, but that is more than okay--our place is still fairly damp. So glad all the rest of you got it!!

Blessings to you all!!!

Amy, Jet's personality has undergone a tremendous change since his big brother, Duke, died. I think Duke was always the protector of us all, and now Jet feels it must be him as he is the oldest male. So, he barks at everything---he barks at Chris, he barks at Tim, he barks at our other dogs and our cats. He barks at thunder. (sign) He'll even bark at me if I come into the house wearing sunglasses and a hat. He is super protective and tries to put himself between Chris and I or Tim and I (Duke never did that). I think he is carrying his made-up oath to protect mama (the feeder of all pets and the giver of dog treats) a bit far, but mostly it makes me laugh at him. He might not appreciate that. This morning he did not bark at the thunder (I don't know why). He is 12 years old and going from gray hair to white hair (he once was jet black) so it wouldn't surprise me if his eyes and ears aren't what they used to be. He doesn't even chase deer, rabbits or squirrels any more, even if they are 10' away from him. He doesn't really even bark. He just stares at them and, if I am pretending to read his mind, I'd bet he is thinking something like "In my younger days, I would have run you off.....". He is sweet to me and very protective of me, but increasingly intolerant of the rest of the world. I just automatically put him upstairs in our bedroom if someone comes over because I don't know if I can trust him around anyone else--I'm not saying he'd attack, but he'd probably bark, and I would imagine that would make someone feel unwelcome.

The Calloway's in Southlake has Renee's Garden Seeds too, but I usually order them during her late summer/autumn sale.

Our proposed pantry off the north side of the house will happen, but I am almost positive it will not happen until Tim retires. At the same time we build it, we want to build a big sun room on the north side of the house...probably about 16' x 24' or something---a nice place to have nice indoor/outdoor furniture and a place we can sit in the summertime. The sunroom off the west side of the house, even with trees shading it late in the day and with an air conditioner in there, is just too, too hot for us to use it late in the day unless we really crank up the AC. The great thing about the west sunroom, though, is that it is a great solar collector in winter, so you can let heat build up in it, then open the door between the mudroom and the sunroom and let the heat flow through the mudroom and into the house and warm it up. I'd like to have a sunroom on all 4 sides of the house that I could use at will as greenhouse space or sunroom space or solar collector space, but that's never gonna happen. We have a nice wraparound porch on half the east side and half the south side of the house, but we just don't use them. The cats lay on them. Sometimes the chickens come up onto them (I wish they wouldn't), but if we're outdoors, we aren't sitting still. They are nice and shady though, and help shade some of the east-facing and south-facing windows from the sun, so I do like that about the porches.

I had a hard time getting Zebrina started here. It just didn't thrive. Maybe my soil still was too high in clay content back then for it. Or, we were perpetually too dry. Over the years, though, something changed and now it is an invasive thug that even pops up and grows in the pathways, and sometimes in the grass or driveway outside the garden. Since it reseeds, it is possible the ones we have now are better adapted to our soil and conditions, but it is just as likely that the soil has improved enough for it. I like most invasive thugs that are volunteers from something I planted on purpose---if I am going to have to pull 'weeds', it might as well be pretty ones.

I'm laughing about the bucket seat. You know, it is always something, and if it is not one thing, it is another. That's so true about gardening here.

I seem most inspired to not do anything in the summer when Tim is at work. He's only at work for a few hours today and then he'll be some so we can go to that funeral. He only went in for the big Monday morning staff meeting, and he had to drive through rain all the way there. Miraculously, I fell back asleep after he left (which almost never happens) and I was sleeping so incredibly well when our fire pagers went off about 90 minutes late. Back to that 'it's always something' thing again. I bet if I was wide awake, the pagers wouldn't have gone off.

The sun is out now and I bet we get steamy quick. We're supposed to have high heat index numbers down here this week, with them getting higher each day as the heat returns more and more. Oh well, we have had a good run of cooler, wetter weather and I knew it wouldn't last forever.

Rebecca, Of course something wonderful will come out over the winter, probably in January or February after I've already got seedlings going. It is the way of the gardening world, is it not? Still, I like to beat the rush. I still remember when we had the big economic downturn of 2008-09 and tons of people decided that growing their own food was one way to deal with it. The seed companies were swamped with orders and shipping was weeks and weeks behind. It didnt' bother me, because I tend to shop ahead anyway, but a lot of people got really behind while waiting on their seed orders to come and I've never forgotten that. It motivates me to stay on top of things and order seeds in the fall.

Renee's Garden Seeds has really pretty artwork on their seed packets---the same type of beautiful illustrations you'll see on Botanical Interests Seed Packets. You can look at their packets here to get an idea what to watch for in stores:

Renee's Garden Seeds (Currently 50% off!)

One thing, among many, that I love about Renee's seeds is that you can get some packs with 3 varieties in a packet, and each variety is dyed a specific color with non-toxic food coloring so that you can carefully select seeds of each variety to plant if you aren't going to use the whole packet. I grow a lot of her melons, lettuce, bean, greens and some tomato varieties. Also, a lot of her flowers and herbs.

I tried growing Creole several times, both in the ground and in containers, and all I ever got was big monster plants that rarely produced much fruit, which is not a problem I often have. Maybe you'll have better results there than I had here.

How crazy is it that the squirrels prefer OPs to hybrids? All my life I've heard the squirrels are mainly after the water and not the fruit, but now I am wondering if that's really true. If it were, it seems like they'd choose any tomato---so if they are choosing OPs, that makes me think they are choosing for superior flavor (like I do, lol).

I hate, hate, hate stink bugs with a passion. I know that God created the world and everything in it, but I cannot help thinking the Devil himself somehow created stink bugs, leaf-footed bugs, squash bugs, squash vine borers and bermuda grass. Otherwise, why do any of them exist?

Nancy, Don't overdo it on your first few days back in the garden. The pain is not worth it. I am always shocked at how sore I get in springtime when I'm suddenly out in the garden all day every day endlessly, trying to stay on top of everything for as long as possible before the heat and the snake season set in and cut my time in the garden significantly. Our garden in our early years here had tiny paths 12-18" wide. I wanted all the space possible for growing space, but we were in our early 40s then and life was easier. Now that we are older, a few years back, we widened most of the pathways to 2' wide, and now I'm wishing we'd made them 3' wide. One of these days we'll do that. One of my closest gardening friends down here has kept gardening well into his 90s, although now that he is in his mid-90s, his son does most of the heavy labor involved....and, they've always plowed with a tractor, which in a lot of ways is so much easier, except you cannot have the sort of raised beds we need for both better drainage and erosion control. I cannot imagine living into my 90s, much less still gardening at that age....but, if it were to happen, I'm pretty sure we'd be up to 4' wide pathways by then (hopefully long before then). If we ever get around to building raised beds in the back garden (also on the after-Tim-retires To Do List), I imagine we'll start out with 4' wide pathways in between 4' wide beds. It will mean giving up garden space for wide pathways, but it also will mean raised beds lined with hardware cloth to exclude the voles, so it will be totally and completely worth it. Even though we aren't quite in our 60s yet (Tim will be in a few more months), I'd rather do the planning and building for our golden years sooner rather than later....while we still have the energy to do it.

One thing I've long noticed here is that the men and woman who retire and sit in the rocking chair on the porch do not live nearly as long as the ones who get outdoors and work in their flower beds, yards, gardens or with their horses, cows, chickens, goats, dogs, cats or whatever. I've also noticed those same physically active folks are involved in community activities and volunteer work and are busy all the time. I really think that staying active as long as possible, and as long as one's physical condition allows, helps a person live a longer life.

Another half-inch of rain today puts us at 5.9" for the month of August, more than double our usual August rainfall. It is such a blessing and everything is turning green again. I just love it.

Dawn

Rebecca, I bought some Renee's seeds at Stringer, mmmm, 2 years ago? It was tatsoi I think, cool weather stuff and I think it was wintertime. It's possible they don't have them any more. Seems like they were on a separate rack from the others, but I've slept since then.

I should get some spinosad. I saw no stink bug or leaf footed bugs in my garden till last year and then it was only a few, but this year I have lots of damaged tomatoes. What IS that stuff inside the tomato? Not eggs or larva.

Nancy, Arkansas is definitely a trip you should make. We liked to canoe on the Buffalo river, hmmm, 50 years ago. Doesn't seem that long. And we camped at Lake Wedington. More recent history, I took Girl Scouts to Devils Den. We went there on a birding field trip once. Car full of women talking, and missed our turn. Ended up in Missouri. We honeymooned at Silver Dollar City in Branson 40 years ago. THAT place has changed.

Really, the Ozark National forrest looks like a day trip for you and the Ouachita National Forrest is just a little further south.

Heidi is a heavily producing, good holding, pest resistant, "tomato" tasting tomato. It has earned a permanent place in my garden...unless I decide not to can any more. You know I hate it, but I look at the jars on the shelves and feel accomplishment. Anyway, this was a good year for tomatoes. I expect some of the others I've grown would have produced better this year.

Dawn, all my male dogs have been wusses. Biscuit barked at everyone until they petted her to prove they were acceptable. I had this big stupid male dalmatian and a little beagle mix female. The meter reader told me the male didn't worry him, but he was afraid the little female would take his leg off. This is the same dog that I looked out the window to see my toddler sitting on her back using her ears like reins. She just turned her head and licked his face.

DH wanted room to run a mower between our beds. It also meant that a wheel chair would fit between them. Ours are probably 5 feet apart, which makes a nice distance for cattle panel arches. He won't let me mulch the paths.

It sprinkled here a little bit ago, but no significant rain in days. I watered containers and cucumbers last night. My hose still leaks, so when I water the first 2 beds off the patio get the runoff.

My daughter brought her dogs over to play with Honey last night. Bentley is a year old pit/lab(?) mix. I think he looks like he's got Great Dane in him. He's the one who got shot. Max is mostly pit bull. They chased each other around the yard (and mostly avoided the garden) and had so much fun they attracted a dog on the other side of the fence. Honey wrestled with them inside, too. She's been napping HARD today. Didn't REALLY work too hard to chase the cat. Cat even sat on my lap awhile without notice.

Amy, The dogs are so cute together. I wish I had big wide paths like you do, and that is exactly what the back garden will get when we finally make raised beds back there. I am going to think of it as my garden for my golden years and build it accordingly with easy access in mind. Probably we won't build it until Tim retires because, honestly, I don't think we'd ever find the time. Between work and all the travel related to his work, nothing much outdoors gets done any more unless I do it, and I am absolutely stretched to the max in that area. I cannot do more than I already do. In fact, I cannot even do everything I try to do now and always am hopelessly behind, which really stresses me out.

One of our friends asked me yesterday at the fire station if Tim had told him that they have 8 puppies and he has put our name on one and is saving it for us. I laughed at him and told him sorry, but the 4 dogs we have now is about 3.5 dogs too many and I don't want another. He insisted that if I saw how cute they were, I'd want one. I am sure he is right, so I will go out of my way to avoid seeing them. The last thing I need or want is one more thing of any sort that demands any time or attention.

It is crazy that the rain is not falling there now. I guess either you get to have rain or I get to have rain but we both cannot have significant rainfall at once. So, I hope you get rain this week since you need it and that we don't get rain since we have just had plenty fall in the last few days. Sadly, that doesn't seem like it is what happens here......rain never seems to fall where it is needed most. It didn't rain here overnight, so maybe that means the pattern is switching back and you're going to get rain in the next few days.

Dawn