Not any gardening going on here up till this weekend it was bone dry. I was pretty much trying to keep the weeds from growing if any germinated. I did neglect the tomato rows and have plenty of weeds that have gone to seed.

We got somewhere between 9-10" of rain this weekend so it's too wet to do anything. I had to pick the rest of my muscadines before they all split from the extra water. I picked 4 gallons from what was left on the vines. I dig get 2 gallons of juliet tomatoes but there were gallons of them that had already split and the gnats had found them. I will have lots of volunteers next year from all the ones on the ground.

I have some sweet yellow and crimson clover seed coming but it is way to wet to try and get it out. I'd really like to get them established for my honey bees next year. I

ll try and do some more buck wheat next year and find an area that i can devote to it. I have a few vitex negunda twigs planted but the drought kept it pretty stunted.

I didn't do any trimming of my mums this year and haven't really paid any attention to see how many flower buds are on them.

I have been busy brush hogging a lot of the low lying areas this last week before the rain . Glad i got what i could as those areas will not dry out till next summer now. This is probably the busiest time of the year for me trying to get things done before winter. Still have plenty of things to do during winter while the biting and stinging critters are gone.

Brush hogging. Love it. Yeah, oldbusy, i see a lot of work out there, too! But at least it'll be cool weather and could/should go fast. 9-10 inches. Lotta rain!!!

Rebecca, Yay!!! You have outsmarted the squirrels and harvested tomatoes! I'm so glad you're winning this round, and I hope you're feeling better than you have been recently.

Larry, We need all the shades of green we can get in the winter time! Now that you said that, maybe I'll plant some Austrian peas just to give the mostly brown garden some winter color.

Jennifer, It has been a long, slow, hard slog to get all the rooms painted. When I get Tim's office finished, I'm going to dance a happy dance! We've had earth tones for so long that the gray tones are a major change and I am loving the change. I may get tired of the gray and change it all in 5 or 10 years, but if that happens, that is okay too. Our tastes change a lot over the decades...all I have to do is go back and look at photos of our home decor from the 1980s to see how much our tastes (and decorating trends) have changed since then. Our flooring has shades of brown and gray in it, so I won't have to change that if I eventually go back to tans, creams or browns.

I love our butcher block and it is holding up extremely well---better than I had expected. I probably don't oil it enough---maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Having the butcher block in our gray kitchen is important because it introduces wood into what is otherwise a fairly monochromatic color scheme. I use accessories to add more color but I think the kitchen would look too grayish/whitish without the butcher block. Tim likes to cook but he is pretty careful with the countertops---he knows he'll have to remove them and install new ones if he messes them up. lol. He doesn't smoke meat though, and I know that smoking meat creates a lot more mess than just cooking on a grill like Tim does. I have noticed that Tim and I do things very differently in the kitchen, and he isn't as careful with the butcher block as I am, so when he walks out of the kitchen after cleaning up after himself, I go in there and check things and wipe down the counter again if I think it needs it. I have no problem with how he loads the dishwasher---we've been married a little over 35 years so he is pretty well-trained by now (grin). I am not sure how well it would work to have full butcher block countertops in a kitchen used a lot by kids, either, but they work well for just the two of us. I doubt I would have chosen butcher block when Chris and his cousins were kids.

For what it is worth, I clean as I go too, and it helps keep me happy. Tim is more prone to pile things up in the sink as he cooks, and then he'll clean it up all at once. Different strokes for different folks, and all that, I guess.

I'm glad you were able to make your soup. Eating from the garden is one of the best rewards!

Try to not think about the trailer move with sadness. Y'all still will be using it for a while longer---you just won't have to park it at your house. Time marches on and things change. I hope you can enjoy your son's senior year and cooking for the band and not let the 'last time' thoughts drag you down. One of the most exciting (and for parents, the most difficult) things about senior year is all the last times that certain things will occur, but remember that many other firsts will continue to occur as Ethan enters college. I remember our son's senior year was bittersweet for us in so many ways.

Robert, I'm just really thrilled that you finally got rain. It is sad that you had to go through such extreme dryness for so long---and now you're extremely wet. Oklahoma weather can be so uncooperative.

I know there are weeds going to seed in my garden and I need to get in there and get them out of there. I worked on that a little last week, but the snakes are so bad here at this time of the year that I have to be really, really careful where I put my hands. I don't want to find a copperhead or rattler with my hands---I prefer to see them with my eyes and avoid that up-close-and-personal encounter altogether.

I'm looking forward to having a productive winter cleaning up the property too, once we've had a good hard freeze and once we've dried out more.

There's not much new to report from here. We're just really wet and soggy, and still had a mist/drizzle for a large portion of yesterday. It wasn't putting down much moisture, but did add another 0.25" to the rain gauge, bringing us up to 6.05". So, for both the water year and the calendar year, we're still deficient in moisture, but not nearly as much as we were before this most recent spate of rainfall. There is mist and fog outside again this morning, but I don't think it is expected to last all day.--probably just for a few morning hours.

Remember when I had the flu back in August? That was about the sickest I've ever been. I found out yesterday that a friend of ours here who had the flu at about the same time that I did also developed pneumonia while she had the flu. It did a lot of permanent damage to her lungs, so much so that she now has been diagnosed with COPD because of this and has to be on oxygen. They say she'd never regain the lung function she lost. This was stunning news and I feel so bad for her. Something like this makes you appreciate your good health, doesn't it?

Have a great day everyone. Tomorrow is supposed to be a hot one, and I'm not looking forward to the combined heat/humidity, but then a cold front comes in Wednesday and cools us down again. There's more rain in the forecast for later in the week---if if falls, great, and if it doesn't then that is okay too. I know there's parts of OK who need the rain more now than we do.

And, yep, the Red River is up and running fast---nowhere near flooding here or near record height, but you definitely could tell from looking at it yesterday that tons of rain had fallen.

Dawn

I came home from Gainesville to 2 new melons and my first bean of the whole year. It's a purple variety. Its sad because I am ripping it out later. It is smothering my goji berry and I would rather have it than a few beans.

I am at a standstill which way to go and what to do next. My bestest friend Mary that passed a couple of years ago left behind her very confused alzheimers husband. He passed yesterday. That makes 3 so I am done now. Right? What a weary 2 weeks.

Came home to so many blooms it was really cheery. And of course sophie was happy to see me. She has to get tied up when I hang laundry now .for some reason out of the blue before I left she started tearing up my laundry. Two of my favorite towels got shredded.

I may have a job at natural grocers. They called me the other day and I was s holding my breath until he said you won the cooler. Too funny.

Someone posted a request for plants for her classroom on the teacher donation group, so yesterday she stopped by and got several. I warned her they were all pretty small, either just separated or recent cuttings, and she was happy. They'll grow with her kids.

Cliff & I have an arrangement. I cook, he does dishes. In the mornings after coffee, he'll unload and reload the dishwasher and set up coffee for the following morning. I don't care how he does it, it's one thing I don't have to worry about. He also does laundry and I do the bathrooms. He may not do things the way I do, but they get clean and that's all I care about.

It seems like I've been running for weeks. I've made several trips to Bartlesville, trying to get my parents situated in the retirement center. I ate with them one night. I wasn't impressed with the overcooked vegetables, but no one there complained. The fish wasn't bad. My folks are just glad to have someone cooking for them. My mother's congestive heart failure is giving her fits. I wish we could get their old place sold. She is worrying too much, and trying to do too much.

My son is stateside, but trying to get some back issues looked at before returning home.

We went to the Greek Festival Saturday night. The older grandson was with us. We went shopping first and he played in the bouncy house, danced, got his face painted, ate calamari and lamb, walked a lot and his dad said he fell asleep almost immediately in the car. I was a bit cross, because their handicapped arrangements could be better. In the end, we had a good time. And the weather was perfect.

We've gotten a lot of tomatoes and peppers today. I really should do something with them today. We're getting a few okra, but the dog keeps getting in that bed.

My plan for next year is fewer tomatoes, more greens. The potatoes will NOT be in a bed. Too big a foot print. They will be in bags. Okra and cukes get started earlier. I still need to grow my own mulch. Of what I did this year, Elbon Rye worked best. I think amaranth could work if you cut it before it seeds.

Rebecca, I am envious. We have gotten exactly 2 cucumbers. I don't understand it!

Robert, that is A LOT of rain! I'm glad you got it, but it could have spread itself out some!

H/J, I laughed at your tirade about the kitchen. I have said most of it, too. And you don't even get to enjoy the meat, which is the only thing that keeps me going. My son and my husband load the dishwasher the opposite of the way I do. I suppose there's nothing wrong with it, but I can't finish loading it because I do things different, so I move everything. What I don't understand is they've EMPTIED the dishwasher for years, does their brain not absorb where things belong?

With your red hair, I would assume you're a Spring or an Autumn and are drawn to warm colors (as am I). DH is a Summer and is drawn to cool colors. We've had blue furniture in the living room most of our married life, because that is the only color we can agree on.

Dawn, I'm glad you finally got rain! You know, we ended up with about an inch and a half. Pretty much every one (including the Tulsa mesonet station) got more. I'm not unhappy with it. I held out and didn't water anything but containers beforehand.

Kim, I hope you get the job at Natural grocers!

Everyone have a good week!

I have no garlic. That put an end to my food prep. I really don't want to go to the store to buy any either. Maybe tomorrow. Speaking of garlic, I need to order some tonight! Someday I'm going to get a great garlic harvest (and green beans)!

We sure go through the garlic.

I hope you get the job, Kim! I've honestly considered applying at Natural Grocers myself. I'm glad your goji berry is doing well. Mine isn't. :(

Amy, you're probably right about the warm colors. I've heard that before. When I was a teenager, choosing clothing colors for your season was a big deal. Was it called Color Me Beautiful?

Jen, I would rather clean up after myself when cooking and have Tom clean up after himself when cooking. I'm much neater, use fewer dishes and clean as I go. haha. And I'm happy when he does the dishes, but often several of them have to be rewashed because he didn't rinse well or stack them correctly. And then it seems the food is stuck worse because it's been dried. It's not a big deal. And what's few ruined wooden spoons. A first world problem.

Ethan just texted. He got a ticket on his way to trombone lesson. Sigh. It's his first.

I have a lot to do tonight. Hope I can get motivated to get it all done.

Maybe you should have let something try to strangle your goji lol

I harvested my sweet potatoes in my south garden today. I only planted 12 slips there, I also planted them late so I was not expecting much of a harvest. I was afraid that the south garden might be full of fire ants like my north garden. I pulled a field cultivator through the garden, dragging the potato vine out into the lawn. We were able to pick up most of the potatoes then. We got a few very nice potatoes but most were fingerlings, which I will try to use for slips next year. ( plus our yorkie loves sweet potatoes and some of the small ones will be his)

I will try to drag the mulch pile in the north garden out into the lawn and spray the fire ants. I have two types of fire ant killer, but I doubt that I can kill all the fire ants out before harvest. The north garden has been planted longer and I am expecting a larger harvest from it.

I had planted some Big Boy Purple hulls a few weeks ago and they are starting to put on peas. I only had 12 seeds, but all 12 plants look good. I will try to save all the seeds for next year. I had also planted a row of Texas Big Boy peas across the highway, but the night after I disc in the last of the deer's peas and planted Elbon rye, the deer turn the peas into Texas LITTLE Boys. I did not thing the deer were hitting the wildlife garden that much, but I went over there after the rain and there were tracks everywhere.

I will pull out my okra plants soon because they are about through producing, and they are shading my 12 pea plants.

Kim, I am so sorry about Mary's husband. You've sure been through the wringer a lot lately. We went through a spell like that for several years where all my dad's siblings (he was from a large family of 9 kids) and their spouses (and some of their children) were passing away right and left. I guess they all just got to the same point at about the same time---it was horrible. I bet it went on for about 4 years with several deaths per year.

At least you won the cooler at Natural Grocers, right? I'm glad your plants are happy. They deserve a lovely cooler, wetter autumn as a reward for making it through the long, hot summer.

Jen, Tim and I have unspoken cleaning agreements like that. For example, he sets up his Mr. Coffee machine the night before, and cleans it up before he leaves the house each day because I don't drink coffee and am, therefore, not any good at making it either. Usually whoever cooks dinner, which is me on weeknights and often him on the weekends, only does the cooking and then the other person cleans up after dinner. (Granted, since I clean as I go, he doesn't have much clean-up to do after dinner if I cooked.) I feed the cats, and he cleans the litter boxes. Except, obviously, when he is out of town then I do both. Usually I tend the garden and he tends the yard, but we'll help each other when the workload is heavier than usual. I usually do the laundry but he'll toss a load into the washer on the weekends sometimes just to give me a break. It all works out in the end.

I have noticed that I instigate all the home improvement projects and about 90% of the repairs. If it was up to him, our house still would look exactly like it did when we moved in back in 1999....he seems fairly oblivious to the fact that a new house doesn't look brand new for very long. We're going to put down a new carpet runner on the staircase this coming weekend---and I have done all the research and planning for that. If I left it for him to do, it never would happen. Once I said it is going to happen---then it happens. lol. It isn't that he is lazy---he'll happily do projects once he starts, but he is a procrastinator or just doesn't notice things need to be repaired. He is happiest in January-July when I am preoccupied with the garden and its produce because I'm not telling him we need to paint this, or replace that or repair whatever. In August through December, I keep him busy with little fix-it projects, but I am right beside him helping him do them too. Recently, I told him that if he did not replace the lock on the front door, which is hard to lock and had become impossible for me to lock or unlock, a sporadic problem since at least 2011 that just kept worsening, then I would change that lock myself that week. The thought of this terrified him so much that he bought a new lock on the way home from work and changed out the lock that very night. Hmmm. Now I know that for future projects all I have to do is say that I'll do it myself instead of nagging and nagging and nagging him for years in order to get him to do it. Or, I can say it is for the grandchildren, and no matter what it is, he does it right away.

Amy, I'm so glad your son is back in the states again. You have been extra-busy this year, and you know, some years are like that. The Greek Festival sounds like fun and we know it must have been fun because all that fun completely wore out your grandson.

Men think differently from women, and do things differently. I don't understand it, but I am sure it is because me are from Mars and women are from Venus etc. lol.

It has been two years since we remodeled our kitchen and created a carefully planned space for each and every thing. I have no problem remembering what goes where---I know which cabinet or drawer it goes into and exactly where it goes within that cabinet or drawer. It is perfectly organized and makes sense---Tim agrees with that in principle. When Tim unloads the dishwasher, he just puts stuff any old place---not necessarily where those objects belong. I am forever finding things in the wrong drawer and moving them back to the right spot, and I tell him too, so he'll hopefully learn where they belong. It is the same thing with the pantry, which has pull-out drawers in the lower 70% and fixed shelves in the upper 30%. Some drawers are taller, so the tall stuff goes in them. This seems obvious since the tall stuff won't fit in the shorter pull-out drawers, right? Well, not as obvious as it should be, I guess, because even after 2 years I'll walk into the kitchen and find him trying to cram a tall container onto a short shelf where it obviously does not fit.

Now, to make things more fun, I went through every cabinet and drawer yesterday and put everything back where it belongs and moved a few things around to new locations based on how we use the kitchen now. I hope this helps keep things where they should be. When Tim gets back from his business trip Thursday evening, he won't be able to find a thing because everything is where it logically belongs.

Jennifer, I remember that whole color-season thing. i do believe it was Color Me Beautiful and for a while it was quite the fad to go "get your colors done". I remember when friends would try to get me to go to one of those things and I told them that I already knew what colors went with my hair and my skin tone and that I didn't need a color consultant to tell me or to try to sell me her makeup and accessories to accentuate my 'season'. I was just laughing at them. I think Color Me Beautiful eventually went world-wide and still is around too. I know the founder of Color Me Beautiful wrote books about it because sometimes I see them at Half-Price books.

Ethan was going to get his first ticket soon or later, so at least it has happened and is out of the way now.

Larry, Congrats on the sweet potato harvest. It is good to get a harvest in such a dry year, and I am sure your little Yorkie will love his little sweet potatoes. Maybe the deer hadn't been hitting the garden as much but were especially hungry after the rainfall.

We always have deer because I feed them, but since the rain fell I am see all sorts of animal tracks back there in that area.....possums, coons, bobcats, of course tons of deer tracks, some odd cat tracks that might be ring-tailed cats (I need to look them up and figure them out) and one set of coyote tracks. There were no cougar tracks so at least our neighbor's cougar might not have ventured this far south yet. The same thing happens after snow (which is pretty rare here---we don't even get it as often as once a year). If you walk through the 10 acres of woods after snow falls, it is astonishing how many animal tracks you see absolutely everywhere.

Venomous snake bites are on the rise here in OK y'all, so please be careful.

Today I am going to clean out and reorganize the downstairs walk-in pantry. This is a long, narrow closet located beneath the staircase, and no longer with a door that opens into the kitchen because we changed that when we remodeled and put a closet type pantry in the kitchen. It is where we store bulk items after we go to CostCo. You know, you cannot shop in bulk at CostCo and bring home tons of stuff if you don't have a place to store it. It seems like cleaning out this big walk-in area under the staircase will be pretty safe---I do not expect to encounter any venomous snakes in there. After I clean it up and reorganize it, it always looks so nice and functional, but we're both bad about just sticking stuff in there that does not belong in there when we are in a hurry. So today I'll take everything out, put it back in a very organized way, and take everything that does not belong there and put it where it does belong.

Have y'all looked at the forecast for tomorrow? After a hot day today, tomorrow and tomorrow night are going to be really cool. I am excited. It has been so long since we've had a cold morning, and I think that Thursday morning will feel awfully cool, if not exactly cold. I plan to venture into the garden early on Thursday morning to do some harvesting because I think it is unlikely any snakes will be active when the early morning temperatures are that low.

Oh, and as a reminder that dry stuff still will burn even when the surrounding area is wet, there was some sort of grass fire or brush fire in Marietta last evening fairly late...maybe at 8 or 9 pm. The firefighters went out on a smoke investigation (somebody could smell smoke from their yard but couldn't see flames anywhere nearby), found a small fire and put it out. You wouldn't think anything would burn after 6+" of rain just had fallen, but apparently something was burning.

Have a great day today everybody.

Dawn

The ticket comment made me think how my mom got her first ticket at age 67. She was stopped many times but never had a ticket.

Dawn it does seem like o have been on a bad roll. I am ready for this to be over. I posted the other day but my phone and gw are not getting along and posts are not showing up. Anyway Duke was the third close death for me in less than 2 weeks. The first was my childhood sweetheart and he committed suicide. So it has been rough. I keep trying to focus on gardening. Talking to my brother is helping mme to plan for the future.

So sorry, Kim. It's hard to know what to say. I'm just sorry for your many losses.

Not much in gardening news. It's supposed to rain tonight/tomorrow as I'm sure you're all aware.

Hummingbirds seem to like my cardinal vine. It's fun to watch them.

I've started mingling the two "baby" chicks with the main flock. They're getting picked at as normal. But, they're going to their own coop to sleep at night. Hopefully in a week or so, they'll be with the flock full time. Still waiting to see if Jules is a boy. There will be a name change if so. She or he is 11 weeks old tomorrow. No crowing yet. The tail feathers look a little different, though.

Well, I just lost a whole lot of my post that I don't care to retype right now. So, I'll say goodnight instead.

Thank you all so much. I do not have a big network of friends besides you al do you get the brunt. Mostly I have been in self induced solitude to get through this. Praying helps. Drowning it out with teaching tapes help. Gardening helps. I weed whacked tonight before the 50 degree rain they are calling for.

I also hope you get the Natural Grocers job, Kim. Thinking of you.

Weighing in on the men/women thing. GDW is the master dishwasher loader here. We use the dishwasher about every third day. Each day when I make dinner, I wash pots and pans as I go, so that when dinner is over, the only thing left to wash are our dishes and maybe a serving bowl or two. And GDW says since I do the cooking, he'll do the clean-up. It's a bit of a joke between us, because he takes so long to eat (because he eats twice as much as I do.) Since we eat at the bar, I jump up when I'm done eating and quick do a little more clean-up, so by the time he finishes, there isn't much left to do. However, it's nice to go relax while he finishes up.

One of the things I most appreciate is that he empties the garbage nearly every day, but for sure when it is full.

And he is usually the one to unload the dishwasher. If he doesn't know where something goes, he leaves it on the counter for me to put away. (I appreciate THAT, too!)

We did spend the day fishing yesterday (for catfish), and we got 10 nice ones. I'm saving fish for various people now, so we keep a couple/three for ourselves, and give the rest away after GDW cleans them. A day of fishing wipes me out, though! On those days, we have sandwiches for supper. And I had a fishing hangover today! I got up late, and Tiny and I slept for most of this evening. So of course, now we're both wide awake.

Today I had paperwork to do and ran to town for groceries. SO, I didn't get the lawn mowed. It is going to be monstrous-looking by the time I get to it, hopefully Thursday.

Tomorrow we need to go to Bass Pro in Tulsa and try to find an appropriate fish finder. Since it's supposed to be cold and rainy, we figure it's a perfect day for the trip. There are so very many on the market that it gets very confusing. We are a NO-bells-or-whistles team, so it has been crazy trying to find one online. The guys at Whitehorn Marina told us we could easily get one that does what we want for $100-$200. That's excellent. I just hope Bass Pro has one like that. And how lucky that Sprouts is right there, too! Heh heh.

I'm in a cooking pout/rut. Garry likes his good ole standard fare. While I like everything he likes, too, I like everything else, too. He's kind of a pill in that regard. And I'm about to decide that if it means I make two separate dinners, if I want to keep trying some crazy (to him) different things, so be it. I love to fix him food he loves, so it'll be totally worth it to me. And maybe along the way, he'll have a bite of whatever I make for me and maybe like some of it. I miss being around all the fancy, eclectic, or ethnic restaurants that were in downtown Minneapolis, but am not near those kinds of restaurants now, so I guess I'll just have to learn to cook some of those marvelous kinds of food. (Asian is the challenge I'm working on now. It has taken me a month or so just to figure out which staples I have to have, so now have one of my sliding pantry drawers (identical to your pantry unit, Dawn) stuffed full of those things.) Eileen is a good person for me to ask about it all. I love her Singapore roots. She inspired me to learn more about SE Asia, and what a fun trip that has been. I'll start out with kind of familiar things (for Garry), like sweet and sour chicken or pork, lo mein, spring rolls (!).

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown have inspired me more, too. I think one of my very favorite kinds of food is Cajun, and New Orleans kinds of things.

Peppers peppers peppers! Yeah, went way overboard on peppers. But, we do love them. Zinnias still powering on, the lantana bush is obnoxiously big. echinacea began producing again, the black and bloom salvia still looking just fine and growing nicely. Late as it is, one of 3 brugs is finally going to bloom, but won't have much time. Datura going, the lovely moonflower vine; holly hock zebrinas. . . (though the deer stripped what they could reach), and amazingly, the hydrangeas are still blooming--not profusely, but blooming nonetheless. All the herbs are great. But really, the flower beds are mostly green growth at this point. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Laughed at your Mom getting her first ticket at age 67, Kim. Me. . . I had a bad, oh, maybe 6-yr stretch, between the ages of, oh, 55-61 years old. Got one speeding ticket before, when in my 20s, while having a sales job that covered many counties in Colorado (having said that, I should have been receiving several a year, for frankly, most of my life). Had one accident 45 years ago when someone broadsided me when they ran a stop sign. But for this 6-year stretch, seemed every time I drove from Mpls to Buffalo, Wy, I got nailed. Got three speeding tickets. Then I was actually arrested for a hit-and-run. And spent a whole afternoon in a jail cell all by myself. (I worked in a large law department for an energy corporation, and they laughed and had a heyday about me being in jail). It's funny now, but wasn't at the time. I had been pulling out of a Walmart parking lot (one of the attorneys I worked for/with said, "Well, THAT was your first mistake, Nancy, being at Walmart! LOLOL True.)" and this loud crude woman, man and younger man walking past, and she was swinging her bag, and I saw them, was aware of them, but they were walking not terribly near me, so I slowly backed out, and they, in the meantime, veered directly into me, and I slammed on the brakes, but her swinging bag was hit by my car. I immediately rolled down my window to apologize (for her stupidity, IMO), and she began screaming obscenities at me, so rolled my window back up., so I drove out of the parking lane. The my mind was telling me, this could be trouble, so I circled back through the lot, looking for them, couldn't find them, so left. Told my son about it when I got home, he said, "MOM, call the police." I said, "WHY, to tell them I had an encounter with a plastic bag?" He was right, I should have. About 3 weeks later, a policeman showed up at my apt with a warrant. (They had repeatedly tried to contact me on my cell, but it was not functioning at the time, so I never got the messages.) At any rate, the case was tossed, the insurance people were actually very sympathetic. All turned out fine. But it was a very tense and upsetting three months, being charged with hit-and-run!!! LOL So though not garden-related, an important note to all of you. CYA!!! Take the advice of my son!

Wow--have no idea how that came up. Oh I know. YOUR fault, HJ, and then yours, Kim. :)

And don't call me at 7 am tomorrow. GDW and I both know I won't be up. Probably won't go to bed for another couple hours.

Funny you mention that, Nancy. I'm an okie girl who loves southern fare and spicy food, married to a Jersey boy yankee who is pickier than most 5 year olds. So we compromise. When I want something he doesn't like, I make sure he has leftovers or hot dogs.

Stringers has 6 packs of pansies, violas, and dianthus for $2.99. I’ll be planting today. Didn’t have any snapdragons, but I hear Southwoods does.

Kim, I am so sorry about your childhood sweetheart as well as your niece and Mary's husband. I know the last few weeks have felt unbearable. It is perfectly normal to feel these losses deeply and to grieve deeply. I hope you'll let yourself do that. I always feel like, when I am grieving the loss of someone I cared about, it is all about me missing them---I'm not feeling bad for them because I know they're in a better place with our Heavenly Father. I'm feeling bad for myself and for everyone else who cared about them because we've lost them from this earthly life--and that is a normal feeling. I also always try to remind myself how lucky I was to have special people in my life who meant so much to me that I grieve so deeply for their loss. (sigh) Life is not easy sometimes---and I do love to retreat to my garden and work my grief out of my system out there. I think that works as well for me as anything else---I've always felt closest to God when out in his world that he created, surrounded by the plants and all the little creatures that live out there....and, normally, by the blue sky and beautiful sunshine, though neither is visible here today.

I hope you're getting the rain and cool temperatures there. It is cool, almost cold here (58 degrees right now a little after noon) and has been raining all morning. Tonight is supposed to be pretty cool and we are supposed to wake up to cold 'jacket weather' tomorrow. I can't wait---it won't last, but it will be a nice reminder that cooler weather is coming soon.

Jennifer, Wouldn't it be interesting if Jules is a male? He should start crowing soon if he is, and it will be a sick sound---juvenile roosters sound, to me, like teenaged boys whose voices are changing. It takes those juvenile roosters a while to develop their more adult-sounding crows.

I hope you get the rain. The radar has looked great for much of OK today so far.

Nancy, I hope the trip to Bass Pro today is a successful one.

It is cold and rainy here. I got up and opened all the windows to let in the cool, glorious morning air and I let the dogs and cats out. By the time I had fed the deer and the chickens and come back indoors, it had started pouring rain so I had to let the dogs and cats (by then, wet and muddy) back inside, then closed the windows and mopped up all the muddy pawprints. It is like the first part of my morning was wasted because I had to come back along and undo everything that I just done. Sometimes you just have to laugh! Our forecast said 0.10-0.25" rain today unless you got a thunderstorm. Well, we got the thunderstorm and have 1.5" in the rain gauge with very light rain still falling, disgusted animals, and cold hummingbirds mostly staying under the porch overhang to stay perhaps a bit more dry and a bit more warm. There were 4-6 deliriously happy ones feeding all day at the feeders and the trumper creeper vines in yesterday's warm weather (88 degrees, heat index of 95) but today's weather is much less enticing and enjoyable. I think these are migrants who showed up a couple of days ago and were eating voraciously, refueling for the next leg of their journey. I wonder this morning if they are wishing they'd moved on further south yesterday? They couldn't have gotten ahead of the rain, though, as it is coming up through Texas too.

Jen, I'm lucky. I married a Yankee Pennsylvania boy who grew up eating (and liking) some stuff I'd never heard of, don't like, won't prepare and won't eat either. Luckily for me, he fell in love with Texas cooking and southern cooking and only rarely longs for weird stuff now---like rhubarb. (I'll buy him rhubarb jam or jelly, I'll bake him rhubarb pies---but I am not eating that stuff myself.) He likes to cook, so sometimes if he doesn't want to eat what I've prepared, he'll just make himself hot dogs or an egg sandwich or something.

Rebecaa, I'm seeing a lot of winter flowers here now. Normally it still is too hot down here to plant them now, but this year might be the exception (if we ignore yesterday's hot weather). I have dianthus plants left in the garden from early Spring and they are in bloom now. Usually they'll last at least a couple of years here---sort of short-lived perennials, at least in our clay soil.

I hope you have fun buying and planting some cool-season flowers.

I was hoping to work in the still-soggy garden tomorrow on our 54-degree morning, figuring snakes wouldn't be out in those temperatures early in the day. Well, today's heavy rainfall probably has killed that plan. My garden already was a muddy mess, and the new rainfall of 1.5" with more rain still falling probably has turned the garden pathways into an impossibly muddy mess. So much for the best-laid plans. The big puddles in the dog's yard finally had dried up yesterday, though the mud remained. Now we're back to huge puddles again. I know that the weather experts keep getting mixed signals about whether or not an El Nino is developing, and whether it will be a typical one or a Modoki one, but at our house, this recent weather certainly feels like a developing El Nino feels. We're overjoyed to get the rain here, but the mud gets old quickly. I guess I need to go search and find the latest El Nino updates and see what they say.

Dawn

Anyone know what this pretty little thing is?

And, this was a couple of Sunsugar tomatoes when I planted them.

Nancy, I think I’m growing Aji Dulce next year whether I want to or not.

Well, I yanked up all the pepper plants save 3 that still have ripening fruit - 2 bells and my sheepnose pimento. Couple more tomatoes too, but there’s still lots of fruit hanging on most of them. Spinach and lettuce seeded. $20 worth of pansies, johnny jump ups, and dianthus planted. Got chased indoors by a shower, so starting laundry and thinking I’ll make some molasses spice cookies. I have a beef top round in the crockpot with gravy that’s starting to smell yummy.

Rebecca, those sure are large blooms for a Sunsugar, but some of my "unknown" tomatoes have blooms much like that.

Rebecca, Your white-lined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata, is beautiful. There is a similar one that is called a pink-spotted hawk moth, but I think yours is the white-lined sphinx one. I have a lot of them here---they feed often (not exclusively) on four o'clocks, but also on purslane and moss rose. The first one I saw this year was pupating on a moss rose plant. Some people say that they do not eat tomato plants, but I found them in huge numbers on two newly-purchased fall tomato plants in late June or early July, so apparently they do. I normally do not see them on tomato plants, but we were in drought and it was hard times around here for some of the wild critters. Their caterpillars are pretty and look like this one, but their coloring can be highly variable:

An Example of a Lines Hyleata (White-lined Sphinx) Caterpillar

Those morning glories all over your tomato plants are why I spend so much time pulling up volunteer morning glories. I love them when they stay where I planted them, but they rarely are well-behaved and reseed all over creation. That part drives me mad. I hope your Sun Sugars are getting big and giving you lots of tomatoes.

It sounds like you had a very productive day, and I'm glad it was a shower that chased you indoors and not a crazy squirrel.

Larry, You're still just as funny as ever. Can you imagine what size tomatoes that flowers that size would make?

Nothing happened here except it rained almost all day, heavily earlier in the day and then lightly for the rest of the day. We finally got some sunshine around 5 p.m. There was an earthquake in Carter County near Wilson this afternoon, so maybe 30 or 35 miles as the crow flies, but I didn't feel it here.

Rain lilies are blooming in the fields, and goldenrod is growing like mad and blooming now along the banks of the old pond and on the edge of the woods. Liatris (Blazing star) is blooming near the driveway gate and also along the fenceline. Some of the tiny native asters are in bloom in spots scattered around the pastures. It amazes me how quickly prairie wildflowers growing in awful, dense clay soil can bounce back after drought. It is like "just add water" and they'll zoom, grow and bloom in days, even if the plants were so small before the rainfall that you didn't expect anything from them. The liatris, in particular, is a huge butterfly magnet.

Lots of butterflies and hummingbirds were out this afternoon, especially after the sun came out. I cannot help thinking that they won't be that crazy about the cool autumn weather we're expecting to have tonight again tomorrow. The early morning hours should be our coolest morning temperature since a big rainy spell the first week in June. I have a hoody and a flannel shirt hanging in the bathroom so I could choose whichever one seems right for whatever temperatures I awaken to tomorrow. It is going to be fun to have an autumn day that feels like autumn, even though much warmer temperatures will come back in a couple of days. It is still September after all for a few more days and September weather seems to dance back and forth from summer-like to autumn-like constantly.

Still, the weather we're having now is so wonderfully mild compared to August.

Dawn

Dawn, this was an awful year for my cherry tomatoes. Yesterday I got a handful of 10 off 4 plants, and that was my biggest weekly harvest of the entire season. None of them got taller than 5 feet, and have looked sick from the first week. They have always been planted in ground, so next year I’m trying a couple giant (25 or 30 gallon) grow bags. And, I have ONE MORE squirrel to get. He did cuss me out good a few times today, but I just cussed right back and threw one of his half eaten green tomatoes at him (the one he left on top of the neighbors fence.) I’m not minding the morning glories on the tomato so much, since I’m not getting much else from it, but there’s one wrapped around an okra plant too. One of the ones that’s only producing one pod every 2 weeks or so. I love the moth, too. Now I’m regretting (kinda) disposing of the 2 hornworms I found on the tomatoes today - if they were really tomato hornworms like I assumed. I move first, think later with those. Maybe they weren’t. You can keep your goldenrod too, I’m horribly allergic to it.

HJ, I’m thinking about next year already too. I’ll need a new okra variety, which tomatoes other than EG, some different zinnia colors, different cosmos colors (maybe a different color scheme out front altogether), what bags and pots to replace, when to build the new trellis. Part of me is ready for a rest (like my back, I have a stress fracture) and I’m sick of heat, but part of me wants to start over again now.

Wow, you are getting some serious work done today, Rebecca. Haha re aji dulce. Prolific little suckers, aren't they! Beef with gravy in crockpot does sound yummy. Sometimes I fix pot roasts just to have that smell wafting through the house. We're doing corned beef and cabbage tonight.

I had a hard time getting any posts on GW, so googled it. Yep, google told me to clear all my cookies. I cleared everything out and voila!

Kim, yes, losing all 3 of these people in such a short time span has to be a heavy hit. I am so sorry for you and all their loved ones. Dawn always speaks so eloquently, that I'd just like to say her words speak for me, too.

We DID find a fish locator/finder at Bass Pro today that didn't bust our budget; and our stop at Sprouts was more for getting a little better acquainted with the store than anything. I didn't really need much. Picked up rice paper for spring rolls that I'm really excited about making!

I sympathize for how muddy it gets for those of you with clay soil, when you get too much rain. We rarely have that here with our rocky shallow soil, although in the spring rains we will have, because the Bermuda hasn't yet filled in the lawn.

Just boggles my mind, Dawn, about how many flowers you have! I wish I had a few places with more sun, and yet am grateful for my shady backyard that keeps that hot hot weather at bay just a teense. All in all, it's good. I love liatris. Cannot think of anywhere I'd be able to put them.

Jennifer, two words: Jules Verne. Jules is a guy name. Guess it can be a girl name, too.

Getting torrential Tiny interference with typing at the moment. typing sneakily with right index finger is slow. Gave up. He's gone now.

We got the cool weather today, but no rain to speak of.

Hahaha, Dawn! Loved that you spent time putting kitchen things where they belonged and that Tim would never be able to find them because they're in their logical place. Before GDW realized that it drove me BONKERS to not find a kitchen utensil, he'd put them just wherever. Now if he doesn't know where they go, he leaves THEM on the counter, too. Thank you GOD! lol

We had THE best corned beef we've had yet this evening. Got it from Aldi. So I feel great about getting it from there now, and it a point cut, whereas Walmart only sells a flat cut. We can hardly wait for reubens now after tonight's meal. I sauteed cabbage with bacon, onions and pepper, rather than adding cabbage to the corned beef mix. Love sauteed cabbage. So I've been kind of pampering GDW with our meals the past few days. I'm gonna slam him tomorrow with shrimp lo mein and stir-fried veggies, Asian style. LOL I warned him a few days ago I might pull this stunt.

Not much to say today. . . . I know, odd for me. :) Blessings and love to you all.

Rebecca, honestly my tomatoes have looked awful since they've been planted. I've been lucky, though, I guess. I've had decent harvests. No idea how or why.

Nancy, Jules was supposed to be Julius Caesar if male (Juliet if girl), but Ethan is calling him Picard, as in Jean-Luc Picard.

I was indoors all day, but I know it was cool. So glad to be home for Wine Wednesday.

Our kitchen is set up pretty much how Cliff set it up when we moved here. He was home all day, I was working, so he did the majority of the work. And since I really don't care (my mom set up my kitchen when I moved into my house in Tulsa and I never bothered to rearrange it), it will probably stay like this until we move again.

LOVE, Kim, hope it goes well!!!!!!!!!

Jean-Luc is one of my all time favorite TV people, HJ!

Yay, Kim! I've heard NG is a good company to work for. I really like all the employees at the Norman store.

Mine too, Nancy. Ethan just recently discovered The Next Generation. I was college age at the time. My group of friends liked to go out for dinner, etc. on Sunday nights. We had one friend who had to make it home by 10:30 to watch.

The garden will probably not even be looked at for the next few days. Contests start Saturday. Game tonight. Shopping tonight and tomorrow to finish up food purchases. Then we'll do it all again next week.

Rebecca, I'm sorry to hear about the stress fracture in your back. So what is the solution for that? Bed rest? Staying off your feet?

I am allergic to ragweed which is simply everywhere at this time of the year, and the pollen can travel on the wind for hundreds of miles so trying to keep it clear off our property hasn't really made much difference either. I'm glad I'm not allergic to goldenrod because it is so gorgeous. We don't have tons of it, just little pockets here and there, but I love its bright yellow, cheerful blooms.

A lot of people had tomato troubles this year. I really think the weather is mostly to blame because it made it hard to plant on time, and we all know that we get better harvests when we are able to plant early enough to beat the heat. Usually, though, all the bite-sized varieties produce well throughout the summer, so something else must have messed them up--weren't y'all awfully hot and dry for part of the summer? That could do it.

Nancy, Tidy Dude is the best kind of interference though? Could he be any cuter than he already is? Nope.

I love Reubens and haven't made them in ages. Thanks for the idea and inspiration.

I'm just glad Garry's stomach issues finally are cleared up and y'all can eat whatever you choose. I know it was a long, frustrating summer.

Jennifer, I don't worry about tomato plants that look awful as long as they are producing. Tomato plants are so susceptible to so many diseases and pests that sometimes it seems like a miracle when the plants are looking good. As long as they are producing, I don't care how the plants look.

Jen, When we were younger, that is how our kitchen was---just however, whatever, wherever and we just dug around in cabinets and drawers until we found what we were looking for. I have found that as we have aged and become more forgetful, it is really helpful to have a specific place for everything. Now, of course, it would work better if I could get Tim to put things back in their logical place (sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, but I think he is getting better).

Kim, CONGRATULATIONS! I am so happy for you. Finally---a job that I am sure you will adore year-round, because you know, farming and gardening work don't leave you with much to do all winter. How wonderful is it that you'll get to float and have some flexibility? I know how hard you work and all I can say is that they are lucky to get you. The discounts and the seed rack are just the whipped cream and topping on the sundae, aren't they?

Jennifer, You're about to get super-busy! I hope that Ethan's band has a successful contest season, especially since it is his senior year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. It is so muddy here after about 8" in the last 8-10 days that I don't even know how the football teams will be able to get out there on the football fields, nor the marching bands either.

This morning was gloriously cool here, but not too cold. Our mesonet station showed 49 degrees, but our Min-Max thermometer showed 55 here. I have noticed for the last couple of weeks that there has been a substantial difference in their temperatures and ours. I am not sure why. I did wear a flannel shirt out to feed the deer, and spotted a young buck (very young, only 4 or 6 points) coming to eat this morning with the does and fawns. He usually eats at night after dark with the other bucks, so I found it interesting that he came with his mom and younger siblings today.

I have the 4 year old today, rather unexpectedly as Chris had to take the bird back to the vet in Dallas and thought the 3 hours of driving, round-trip, would be too dull for her. I was excited to be able to say "yes, bring her here, of course!" So, my day is going by in a blur of Softee Dough, which is like Play-Doh only softer, yogurt smoothies, grapes, Pizza rolls and Nick Jr. We've also petted cats, loved on the dogs, and made Halloween sticker pictures for the refrigerator...which is covered with the art work of both the girls. Of course, Tim is coming home from his police conference today expecting a clean house and a well-rested wife. Ha, ha, ha. Well, the house started out clean and I started out well-rested but I cannot guarantee what condition the house and I will be in by the end of this child's visit. She is a constant whirlwind of energy and activity, and I just try to keep up with her.

I ventured out into the garden today before she arrived, figuring it was too cold for a snake to be out in there. Everything looks pretty good considering 8" of rain has fallen in the last couple of weeks, with 1.75" falling yesterday. Hopefully we'll be dry for a while now so that everything doesn't get mildew or fungi on the foliage. Lots of plants are in bloom, including the coleus in the pots. I'm just proud that I kept them pinching back and actively putting out new foliage until late August. Often they try to bloom in July when it gets hot. Other plants are going to seed, which is normal for this late in the year. The marigolds are impressively---they outlasted spider mites, severe drought, grasshoppers and other pests, and somehow still manage to bloom and look gorgeous. They probably are the prettiest flowers in the garden at this point. Well, the four o'clocks look great, but 95% of them are just outside the garden fence and not in it, and I wish 100% of them were as they tend to be so invasive.

Looking at the long-term forecast beyond this week, it looks like September temperatures will return and keep us on the warm side in early October. Why can't each month just have the temperatures it is supposed to? Our poor gardens get hit by every kind of weather, often at weird times.

My fig tree has formed tiny new figs in the wake of the drought-ending rains (yes, today's Drought Monitor shows our entire county completely out of drought and post-drought conditions today), but it is very doubtful that they'll mature before the first freeze. It is abnormal to get new fruit forming so late in the season. It seems like everything about this growing season has been abnormal.

We have no native persimmons this year so I cannot do the seed test, but the folks who have been doing it are posting photos of spoons on FB, which I believe means a very snowy winter. If that's right, I'll be okay with that. We have a long sloping hill in our pasture, a Radio Flyer sled and grandchildren---so snow is very welcome! We hardly ever have snow here, so it is a real treat when it falls, especially when it falls in inches instead of just being a tiny dusting of snow. Have a great day everyone.

Dawn

Kim, I've not been to a Natural Grocers! So I just had to google, and look forward to trying it out next time we go to Broken Arrow. Anyway, glad you got the job. Might be a really good fit for ya, sounds like. Congratulations!!! I always wanted to work at a good grocery store; I even applied a couple of different times when I was younger, but never got hired! lol

Speaking of Tiny Dude, he is a grasshopper killing machine. He's working on his fourth one for today. He catches them, brings them up to the deck to play with until they don't move any longer, then goes out and gets another. And he to stuck up a different tree today.. I was weeding and heard him crying. Once I saw where he was, I told him to figure it out. And he did, finally.

I'm mowing today and doing laundry. The grass was too wet this morning, so I'll work on it this afternoon. Dawn, hahaha, yeah clean houses kinda go by the wayside with grandchildren!

I must say, I kinda like tiny dustings of snow! Course, you might know I'd say that! The morning was very cool here; I had my polar fleece jacket on over a long-sleeved shirt as I had coffee on the deck first thing.

Jennifer--I watched Star Trek Voyager in the 90s; hadn't watched any others, until I discovered Jean-Luc when I moved down here! And then binge-watched the entire thing!

Okay. . . lawn's not going to mow itself. GDW is having fits presently trying to figure out how to install our fish locator.

I have a craving for venison, suddenly. What I hoped to have. What I got.

Nancy, I've never been to a Natural Grocers either. I just Googled and found one in Denton, so the next time I'm down there, I'll have to check it out.

We had a dog who would catch and eat grasshoppers, but our cats only play with them although they might kill one while trying to play. The chickens were tired of grasshoppers by mid-summer but lately they are eating them again and it is keeping them busy. We still have a lot of grasshoppers for this late in the year.

My dad used to tell us that cats will get themselves down from a tree--otherwise we'd see cat skeletons in trees. lol. Our cat at the time had climbed a pole at the city park across the street---a light pole at one of the ball fields that was about the size of an electrical pole but a bit taller. She stayed up there on top of that pole all day, all night and half the next day. There was a big hurricane blowing in down on the Texas coast--I want to say that it was Celia in 1970 but my memories are fuzzy. What I remember is the relentlessly gray sky and clouds, and then it finally started raining and Fluffy came right down that pole. I don't know where Celia went, but she sent us enough rain after landfall to chase the cat down off the light pole. I don't think the cat ever left our yard and crossed the street to the park again after that.

I wish our lawn would mow itself, but it won't. I'll mow it tomorrow or the next day, depending on when the puddles from this week's rainfall dry up. All I really care about is that we're out of drought, officially, woo hoo, and have green grass again. We also have water in the creeks and ponds and frogs croaking and carrying on, a little bit early this morning, but tonight it sounds like a frog convention. We also had a gazillion hummingbirds today and lots of monarchs. I believe everyone is busy on their southern journeys now.

Your Heavenly Blue morning glories are misbehaving badly. While researching something for someone else (and, ha, now I don't remember what it was, but it involved morning glories), I read something interesting. The guy writing it was a morning glory enthusiast/amateur breeder and he said that back in the day when Clark's Heavenly Blue Morning Glories first became a big thing, they were in very high demand because of their unique color and that virtually every seed company had their own improved strain and tried to convince potential customers that their strain was the best (of course), which means now there's lots of different strains in circulation (though not identified as such), which explains their uneven performance. He was explaining to someone why their blue morning glories might not be blooming as expected. So, if you want to try them again, I'd just try seeds from a different source in the hope you get a different strain.

By the time Tim arrived home, all the toys were put away, the house still was clean and I didn't seem totally exhausted. This despite Chris going to the ER in late afternoon with severe back pain that turned out to be a kidney stone. So now Chris is at home, heavily medicated for the pain, and trying to pass that stone. He told me he intends to get up and go to work tomorrow. I told him that I wouldn't try it----he cannot work a 24-hour shift and take the pain meds needed to get through that whole passing-a-kidney-stone ordeal. So, we'll see.

It was a gorgeous day here. I wish the weather didn't have to heat up again, but starting tomorrow, it will. The local TV mets say our early October weather will feel like September weather. I'm not sure what they mean. Will it feel like September weather normally does...or will it feel like the September 2018 weather which felt like August weather? Either way, I guess it will be warmer than the average October weather.

We had tons of squirrels in the yards today driving the dogs crazy. The heavy rain and wind a couple of days ago brought down a lot of acorns somewhat prematurely so perhaps the squirrels were here to gather nuts.

Dawn

Natural grocers has been mmy favorite store since 2011. Quality vitamins, toiletries, and meats. Bulk herbs and grains. I really do like the whole store and they have health classes for free. Good company to.

I'm looking forward to visiting the one in Denton, Kim, to see what it is like. It would be a lot shorter drive to it than going on down to Southlake to Central Market, although I'll never stop going to Central Market either. It is just that it would be nice to have a great place to shop that is dozens of miles closer to our house.

It is cool and foggy this morning. It definitely feels like fall. I wish the weather here wouldn't heat up again. I hope the trees develop nice autumn color. Most years they don't, but every now and then we get a year when the Shumard red oaks turn glorious red shades. I'd love for this year to be that year. We need to plant some Chinese Pistache trees in the yard to give me the fall color I crave. From experience I know that when we get heavy rain in September we usually don't get good fall color as all the trees instead put on monstrous amounts of fresh new leaves that are in no hurry to change color and fall.

Our HVAC compressor is acting up. I am sure it is some minor little part that needs to be replaced. When Tim got home he went out in the dark around 9 pm with a flashlight to look at the compressor, which I didn't like---I didn't think it was worth the risk of stepping on a snake in the darkness, but he did it anyway. He came back in and solemnly told me it wasn't coming on and working. Duh! Same thing I already had told him. So, I guess this morning we'll call our HVAC guy and see when he can come repair it. At least this didn't happen on a 105 degree day. Ho hum. Spending the day waiting for the HVAC guy to come was not how I was planning to spend this day. I want to go plant shopping and bring home something that will be pretty in autumn. I could have done it last weekend but was too worried about the heat coming back this week, which it did, but only briefly. I guess we'll see when Toby can come to work on the HVAC and then figure out what we'll do with the rest of our day.

Have a good day everyone. From the forecast, it looks like the high school football games tonight (finally!) won't be dodging rain and mud.

Dawn

Dawn I think the produce is high but they have great sales and markdowns. The selection of organic herbs and dry goods is what I really like. In fact I need to get some stuff today. Mint and hibiscus for my tea.

I went to Quitaque for funeral got load of pears. Mosquitoes were so bad I finally had to give up. I going to make pear sauce.

My son surprised me last night. I thought he was coming home today, but he came by at 12:30 last night. Apparently my daughter knew, but couldn't tell me. ::big grin::

Who buys bulbs on line? Who do you trust. I saw "nectar garlic" on FB (I have now lost the link). Maybe not this year. But I need a source for bulbs.

They wanted to put my mother in the hospital for her congestive heart failure. She chose not to, so they are arranging home health care for her. However, this means it will fall to us kids to deal with the estate sale and sale of the condo. I think my father is very happy at the retirement home.

I like Natural Grocers, it just isn't conveniently located for us. One could, however hit NG, Whole Foods AND Trader Joes pretty easily as they are pretty close together in Tulsa. NG created my love of kale with a clearance bag of organic mixed greens. I never got the hang of shopping there, but always found something.

Our hens aren't laying, or they're laying in a hidden nest. Before, they were breaking eggs, or laying them outside the nest boxes. We only have 2 left. I'm considering some ducks. But we would need a different coop arrangement. I hate to take on new hens before winter.

I've read all your posts. Love you all.

Edited: the nectar garlic link. https://awaytogarden.com/nectaroscordum-or-allium-siculum/

Kim, The mosquitoes are horrible here too. I expected it after all the rain we've had recently, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. Oddly, I'm seeing craneflies around too and we usually only see them in Spring. It is such a weird year.

Amy, I was so thrilled for you when you posted on FB that your son was home. What a wonderful surprise!

Colorblends is a great bulb supplier if you want to order online. Their catalog is the thing of winter dreams.....

When I look at their catalog I just want to order everything.

Colorblends

I'm sorry about your mom's CHF. She certainly knows her own mind, doesn't she? I can't blame her for choosing to not go back to the hospital. I hope the home health care arrangement works for here. I also hope she and your dad have given y'all all the proper power of attorney stuff to deal with their estate and all because it makes things go so much more smoothly. My mom and dad did all that paperwork for power of attorney stuff about 15 years before we needed it, but that was a good thing because my dad had Alzheimer's later on and wouldn't have been able to sign all those documents if they had put off doing it until they were far advanced in age. Hopefully your mom can relax and leave all the condo and estate stuff in your hands and just focus on her health. I am glad your dad is enjoying the retirement home.

Are you sure the hens aren't laying? Sometimes at this time of the year, really sneaky snakes slide in and get the eggs before the people can find them. Been there. Done that. More than once, in fact. I hate thieving chicken snakes and rat snakes. If you put golf balls or phony eggs in the hen's nesting boxes or nesting areas, that often serves a double purpose---it will encourage the hens to lay their fresh eggs there, and the inedible, phony, egg-like objects will frustrate snakes who swallow them and can't digest them. They'll usually regurgitate them somewhere nearby. We found some of our phony plastic eggs (maybe they were wood, I don't remember now) about 30' from the chicken coop one day in one of our earliest years here and couldn't figure out how they got there at first, and then we realized a snake had to have swallowed them up and later regurgitated them. We didn't lose another egg to snakes that summer.

Another possibility? If y'all have been abnormally cool, cloudy and rainy like we have recently, it is possible that the shortening day length plus all the cloudiness is affecting the hens' laying. That usually doesn't happen here until we get to the shorter days of winter, but it has been so persistently cloudy and dark for the last couple of weeks here that it wouldn't shock me if that happened. The magic number of day length hours needed for steady laying is around 14 hours of light per day, though I don't think it is hard and fast, and there seems to possibly be some variation by breeds. Or, a different but similar thing---if the hens are molting or preparing to molt, that is where their energy goes and they often won't start laying again until the molting has ended and their new feathers are in. I haven't noticed our hens molting yet, but I noticed yesterday morning that our big Copper Maran rooster is molting already. If you want to keep your hens laying in winter (after the molting is over) just put a lightbulb in their coop and leave it on as long as needed in either the morning or evening to add as many hours of light to their daily exposure as needed based on whatever your daylength is at any given time.

Today ended up being a really nice day. The HVAC guy put us second on his list this morning and probably was here by 10 a.m. or so. By then, I had pruned back a lot of tree foliage that was hanging out over the driveway and some monster four o'clocks that were doing the same thing and had fed the compost pile all the new trimmings. After he made a quick, minor repair to the HVAC system and left, we went and ran all our errands in town, ate lunch out and did our grocery shopping. I spent a little time in the garden after dinner, mostly ripping out bindweed and four o'clocks that have been sprouting and growing and trying to bury everything in the garden beneath their foliage. I also took out a lot of the zinnias that are biting the dust after all that rainfall. As much as we needed the rain, getting 8" in less than two weeks is just too much rain for some of the plants in the garden---I also have some partially dead pineapple sage. Even well-amended clay soil doesn't always drain well enough in heavy rainfall. I got a lot done in the garden in a relatively short time while Lucky stalked grasshoppers in the garden. Since it is only Friday, I feel like we're a day ahead of ourselves, so to speak, since we did all the Saturday tasks on Friday. We stayed cool and cloudy almost all day---our high temperature was lower than forecast---only 76 degrees. We ate dinner at Tim's favorite restaurant in Marietta (there's not many to choose from) and had a pretty easy day overall since nobody cooked today.

I'm really ticked off at all the stores---I do not want to see Christmas trees lit up in stores in September, but there they are in...Sam's, CostCo and Lowe's, and probably other stores as well. I didn't go into the garden center/Christmas area at Wal-mart, but Tim went there looking for wasp spray and didn't find any because "all they had in the garden center was Christmas stuff" (he said, in a very disgusted tone of voice). lol. I want to see pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and chrysanthemums, not Christmas trees before October even arrives. Is that too much to ask? Y'all know this irritates me every year.

Dawn

We have a huge mosquito invasion here. Hordes of them hang around just outside all our exterior doors just waiting for us to walk out the door, and every time a person, dog or cat goes in or out, the mosquitoes try to fly inside. Hunting them down indoors and killing them if they make it indoors is very tedious. It is the same thing when you get into the car---the mosquitoes fly in with you.

Many counties near us, mostly on the TX side of the river, are reporting positive findings of West Nile in mosquitoes caught in traps. Fort Worth has had 200 mosquitoes test positive for West Nile in recent days. Some cities have begun spray programs.

Y'all be careful around all these mosquitoes. I assume that with this many mosquitoes active and testing positive for West Nile, we likely will start hearing about human cases of West Nile soon.

Tim and I suddenly have wasps---three new, big wasp nests have appeared on the house this week. He sprayed those with a wasp spray just around sunset yesterday and will spray again this evening if any wasps still are on/in the nests. I imagine the cooler weather explains the sudden appearance of the wasps and the building of nests on the house. We had wasps around all summer and just ignored them because they are very beneficial insects to have as many prey on caterpillars, but they weren't around the house much in the hot summer months, and they weren't building nests attached to the house.

We won't even mention the huge fire ant mounds popping up everywhere, other than to say they are here.

There's tons of grasshoppers still, and we also still have stink bugs and this week I am seeing a few squash bugs.

Y'all know that squash bugs will feed on Halloween pumpkins and decorative pumpkins you have sitting outside for autumn decorations right? I watch for them and try to kill them when I see them there. Any that escape death will overwinter and be the start of next year's squash bug problem.

Back in the summer months I got tired of weeding the asparagus bed, so cut back the asparagus really hard and sowed a ton of leftover flower seeds into that bed. I figured if weeds were going to grow mixed in with my asparagus plants, they might as well be the weeds of my choosing. So, in the asparagus bed we now have a lot of plants in bloom: cosmos, the grain type amaranths, Nicotiana alata, daturas, Laura Bush petunias, zinnias, rose moss and more. I'm sure there's weeds in there as well but you really cannot see them because of all the pretty flowers in bloom. The asparagus grew back of course. Nothing kills asparagus. The seeds I tossed into the asparagus bed were slow to sprout and grow because we were in drought, but the plants are doing great now. That is a good thing as many of the summer bloomers that have been growing in the garden since March or April are worn out and dying back or going to seed, but that one long asparagus bed is full of fresh fall blooms.

Many of the zinnias I planted in the spring are rapidly declining now after this latest couple of inches of rain that fell this week. The soil is just too wet for them now, but at the same time, a few small zinnias that sprouted in the mulch in adjacent pathways are getting ready to bloom. I'm glad I left them in the pathways when I saw they had sprouted there. Usually I immediately yank out anything that sprouts in the mulch, but I can't yank out baby zinnias in August because I know the older ones are tired out and worn out and declining. Some of the pineapple sage plants are in the same condition of decline---they like well-drained soil, but I have a total of 9 pineapple sage plants, which means we still have plenty in bloom because only a couple have died.

I believe the monarchs are migrating through here now. We had tons of them nectaring yesterday and most are flying south. Some are flying southwest, which also is fairly typical here at this time of the year. Some of the males are puddling. All in all, there's still a whole lot going on outdoors even as the season is winding down.

The most amazing garden survivor is 2 or 3 flat-leaf parsley plants that somehow survived all the heat and drought (not bad for cool-season plants in a 100+-degree summer, growing in full sun), followed by purple datura volunteers that sprouted in August and are getting ready to bloom in the next few days. The fall tomato plants still don't have much fruit on them, likely because we stayed in the 90s very deeply into September so it won't be a great fall tomato year here, but the SunGold I put in the ground in March still is producing so at least there's that.

So many morning glories, mostly Grandpa Ott's, sprouted and started growing along the fenceline in late summer that they are beginning to shade the pineapple sage, Russian sage and purple daturas, so I spent some time last evening yanking out a bunch of them. With sunlight/day length becoming increasingly limited as we go more deeply into autumn, I want for the flowers in the border along the driveway to not have their sunlight blocked by aggressive, weedy MGs. Today's task will be to cut back four o'clocks that are growing through the western fence and shading my peony plants and adjacent container plants. If only the four o'clocks would stay where they are supposed to grow outside the garden fence, but four o'clocks ignore boundaries. It is all fun and games out in the garden later today, at least until I encounter a snake of any kind. Then, the party will be over.

Dawn

I made Madge's Austrain winter pea bed yesterday, also made a larger bed along the creek bank where very little was growing. I disc in some of my old hay to improve the soil.

I really need a better way to plant, but will have to make do with what I have for now.

I will go pick my peppers and trade them for eggs, and then go repair another area in the pasture that very little is growing on. I will be using more of my compost/mulch supply. I really dont like that but need to improve the soil.

I also need to kill as many fire ants as I can, they are taking over the place. I have used powder to kill ants in the lawn, but I cant walk well enough to do the same in the pasture, I will use a 30 Gal. spot sprayer. I have never tried to kill fire ants with a sprayer, I sure hope it works.

Trying to color with Ryder the other day and obviously not doing a very good job he helped granny out. I had colored a rather boring tulip and when I got up and came back I had quite a few additions. Yellow pollen, bees and a hive. I was in shock because I forget how much he actually listens to me. Wow I pray my words are worth listening to.

Larry, I hate fire ants. No matter how many your kill, more just keep on coming. I've been dealing with them since at least the early 80s when we lived in Texas.

Kim, I think Ryder remembers every single thing you tell him and every single thing you show him and every single thing he observes himself when y'all are gardening together! He has such a wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience stored up in his brain from such a young age, already. That is just so cool.

For what it is worth, I can remember things my grandmother said to me 50 years ago (even though I don't feel old enough to have memories going back that far), and I can remember things she taught me, except I've forgotten how to tat lace because I haven't done it in so long, and I can remember things she showed me. I don't think Ryder ever will forget the things he's learning either.

Our weather today continued to be cooler and cloudier than forecast. I'm not complaining, but it is odd how they miss on the forecast every single day. I wake up to forecasts of highs in the 80s and then they lower it at some point to highs in the 70s. I think the clouds, fog and mist hang around too long, for whatever reason, and we just don't warm up as much as they think we will. Today they lowered the forecast high from 81 to 76 and we only made it up to 74.

It was a very low-key day here. We went to Lowe's and picked up odds and ends for some minor home improvement projects we're working on, then we came home and worked on them and cooked St. Louis ribs for dinner. It was just a nice, quiet day. We had the OU game on the TV as we came in and out of the house and living room while working on things, so mostly kept up with it. Now we have the Ohio State-Penn State game on for the former Yankee who lives in this house. I didn't work in the garden because I was working on house projects. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and the garden still will be there demanding I do some pruning and other chores.

Dawn

My dad died young, but I remember many things he said from the early 1950's. The first was " a man is no better than his word", The second was " you could protect yourself a little against a thief, but you have no protection at all against a liar. Those two comments have always been with me.

Larry those are both awesome sayings. I don't remember much of my childhood and the parts I do are not worth repeating. Lol

I had two things I wanted to comment on, , , first was spoons in persimmons seeds. I read it, Dawn, and had NO idea what your were talking about. We were having dinner at Whitehorn Cove Marina last night and heard one of our friends talking about it, so I turned around and asked Mark what it meant, and what it was. He explained it to me and had a photo on his cell to show me! Wow! He said they didn't get any this year, but a friend split six of them and all six showed the spoons! Thanks for bringing it up, Dawn! Another new lesson!

Larry, AMEN to the first, nah to the second. Two pernicious lies sprang up about me, a few less so awful. Neither took track, thankfully. First one because people knew who I am, and second, because of the due process of law. I'm lucky indeed! I credit my luck to my Heavenly Father. Either of the worst lies about me could have harmed me greatly. Both dissolved.

I'm so happy Amy's Travis is home, and so happy you had a sweet wonderful day today, Dawn.

I worked hard on trying to clean our boat up a bit. Fish guts everywhere. I gave up after a couple hours and went online to order super-duper cleaning stuff. Ouch. Worse than cleaning the bathroom!

I still haven't figured out what the second gardening topic thing was. Oh, all of you, please pray for my memory. :)

Oh, Kim, LOVED your post about Ryder. He is one blessed little guy, to have you in his life!!!! And I know the blessing he is in yours, having precious grandchildren from birth to now, too.

Two things. . . . first I learned what the spoon in the persimmons was. I overheard "Mark" mention it at a nearby table when we were having dinner at the Whitehorn Cove Marina yesterday, so asked him about it. He had a picture of it on his cell! Mark said they didn't get any this year, but his friend had split six seeds and every single one had a spoon.

So. One more new thing learned. LOL

Ah, Larry--first one, amen! Second one, nah. I've had a few lies told about me that fell apart; a couple could have been very damaging, but none ever gained any track. First, I never gave them any track, myself. And a large group of acquaintances knew who I am. Now gossip, on the other hand. I hate it when folks spread gossip! (Especially harmful gossip, which were the case in the liess in my instance.)

Now what was my second grand GW comment???? AGGGH. I have the memory capabilities of a gnat.. So glad you had a sweet wonderful day today, Dawn! I am having a hectic night! LOL Fascinated with Anthony Bourdain's trip to Madagascar, but had to pause cuz I had an itch on my right rib cage, began to scratch and felt something. So had to immediately jump up, and yep, it was a tick. And just found a second one!!

Larry, It sounds like your father was a very wise man. My dad and my grandfather were not big talkers, both being very quiet and retiring in nature, but they were good, moral men who had high standards and held themselves and their families to those standards, So, with both of them, I don't remember what they said so much as I remember what they did---they taught us by example. I think you and I both were lucky in the Father department, weren't we? I do wish I had more of their words to carry in my mind, but at least I can remember their actions.

Kim, I'm sorry you don't have happier memories from your childhood. None of us can deny that some childhoods are perhaps best forgotten. Some of the best people I know had really miserable and sad childhoods and I think they succeeded in giving their children a completely different life because they made a conscious decision to not raise their children the same way they were raised. I admire that because it is too easy to just continue those abusive patterns----choosing to halt that sort of family dynamic takes a strong person who doesn't want their child to go through what they went through. One thing I find interesting in my own family is how differently we four kids, each of us spaced 3 years apart, remember our childhood---you'd think we all 4 grew up in different families. I do not think any one child's memories are right or wrong---it is just interesting that we experienced life so differently or perceived it so differently in the same household.

Nancy, People truly believe the persimmon thing. I'm not sure I do, but my persimmons often show mixed results, and maybe it is the incredibly erratic nature of our hot summers down here---maybe it messes with them. I do believe signs I see in nature and from nature more than I believe any human-derived forecast though.

If any of y'all believe that the industrious nature of squirrels in late summer and early autumn signals whether or not a cold winter is coming (i.e. the more you see them gathering nuts, the worse the winter will be), then the squirrels here are going crazy and trying to pull acorns off the trees before they even fall....and that makes me think a bad winter is coming. I sat on my bed yesterday, staring out the window in fascination, as one squirrel in an oak tree did his best to remove green acorns from the tree--and was completely unsuccessful because they're not ready yet. He was going out way too far on small branches to reach these acorns, nearly falling, clining to the branch for dear life, and still pulling and tugging trying to remove those acorns. Meanwhile, dozens and dozens of acorns brought down in last week's heavy rain and wind litter the ground beneath that same tree. I wonder if those acorns are being ignored by the squirrels for a specific reason? Perhaps they are pest-infested and are not any good.

I'm so glad Amy's Travis is home too!

Ticks---I hate them. Our chickens mostly keep the yard tick-free, but the ticks will invade every now and then and it will take the chickens a few days to eat them all. Or, a cat or dog goes out and gallivants around, going off into unmowed areas and brings ticks home. You'd think they'd have more sense and stay in the mowed area where ticks are less likely. I have found a couple of ticks on me recently after using the string-trimmer to cut down tall grass in places like the bar ditch down by the road, but I've been lucky and found them while they still were moving around and hadn't settled down to feed yet.

Ticks seems to be a much bigger problem here than they were in Texas when I lived there, but then I lived in a 50+-year-old neighborhood then and am rural now where we built on old farm land that had reverted to wild land, so that also must account for some of the difference.

Well, we made it through another week and another month. Here comes October, and the real winding down of the warm-season gardening period as cool weather becomes increasingly more common and daylength continues to shorten.

Dawn