I am here. My garden is sad at home. I hope to spend time in it Sunday. I am still harvesting, blueberries and lots of herbs. At work I spent a lot of time moving garden hoses.. It is so hot and today there is no breeze. I built a compost then at work so I have a designated place to put all my scraps. I went to the dirt yard and got bags of lava sand. I’ve never used it, but it was recommended for my raised beds. Y’all have a wonderful Fourth of July. I’m gonna work and go home tomorrow. I find I need a lot more rest lately.

I have about all of the north garden weeded. The sweet potatoes don't look so good, I don't walk or bend so well, so I just sat down and scooted through them pulling weeds. I am hoping that the plants will look better after I feed and water them.

I also went out to the south garden to weed a little, and was shocked at how dry the garden is.

I am afraid to go check the wildlife garden, I have no water at all at the wildlife garden, and that is where I have most of my hot peppers. Madge likes the sweet peppers, so I planted them near the house.

Hi Friends.

Both Tom and I are off work today and we did a few little things like putting the suitcase and extra litter boxes in the attic. It's so hot anytime other than early morning so that is when we did it. Also found my July wreath for the front door. We wrapped up the auto chicken waterers and stored those away.

I got a box set up for Jean Luc Picard and put it in the storage side of the main coop. With a fan. But, I'm bringing him out in the later afternoon when one of the little coops is in the shade so he can get fresh air. He can't walk at all anymore. It's really ridiculous. But, I don't know what to do about it. The other little coop has a ladder type of thing to get up and down to the coop/pen and I don't want him there...and was hoping if he doesn't have girls to "care" for, he would let himself pass. He's such a good rooster that he thinks he's protecting them, etc. But, he's completely crippled. He drags himself along somehow. He wants to eat and drink and crow. Pretty sure he's the best rooster there ever was. He hatched in our coop under Rosa. Who is 9 y/o now and the last of her group. The other remaining one from her group passed yesterday--Rosslyn Kaye.

I'm down to 17 hens and 2 roos. now.

But still got 6 eggs today. Not bad considering my youngest ones are 3.

Two nights ago, I started pulling aggressive native plants out of the native garden. Gregg's Blue Mist and Obedient Plant. They are insane. I want to fully get rid of the Obedient Plant because it never blooms for me. My mom has one that is more contained and it blooms. It will never be fully out of that garden, tho. I'll just have to do a better job at pulling it. Probably pulled a 1000 plants the other day. The blue mist will remain, but thinned out. It is a butterfly favorite especially in the fall. Both have taken over the wild bergamot, aromatic aster, columbine, and white daisy type of native plant. So....I'll want to replace those next year. It's partially my fault because I didn't do proper clean up this spring. There's crab grass too. It's gotta go.

The vervain and echinacea are both showing up beautifully, tho.

However, the kitchen garden is a darling right now.

Not perfect, but nice. The cucumbers will be pulled soon just because they have some sort of disease. I'll skip planting cucumbers in the garden for a couple of years and try them in pots. Try to clear the soil of whatever disease is there. That leaves an entire bed. What to put there....

The beds around the house look nice. The back garden does not. It needs some real attention. There's Armenian cukes back there but they're not growing well. And butterfly peas. And 4 of those propagated tomatoes. They actually look really nice.

Next week, I might start working on that area. And the native garden.

We are going to head over to our friends' house for his giant firework show in about an hour. We'll go to my Mom's for dinner tomorrow. We had a last minute invitation to our old neighbors' new house for a July 4th party. They have a beautiful pool....but we're not much of swimmers. And we already made other plans with my mom.

That's what's going on around here...

Good morning everyone, and happy 4 TH. It looks like we will have another hot one. I plan on spraying another tank of spray to kill some grass and weeds that it is hard for me to get to with the mower, my weed whacking days are long gone.

I hope to do more weeding in the gardens. It is so hard to keep up with the weeding, mowing,and all the repair that needs to be done on a home.

Happy Fourth of July everyone. I just got done eating a delicious meal from my work garden. Potatoes, okra, green beans, and long noodle beans. I wish I could eat like this every day. We are harvesting so much at work that I usually give it to the maintenance crew, but since they weren’t there today, I brought some home. There is nothing is good as eating fresh out of the garden.

I think that I have the north garden down to a manageable level as far as the weeds go, but it still needs a lot of TLC.

What I started with.

What the north garden looked like a while ago. The 3 other gardens still need a lot of work. I have bit off more than I can chew this year.

You cant twell much from this picture, but the Vardaman sweet potatoes look much better than the Covington. I expect that it may be because I planted them later, and amended the soil better. When I grew the Vardaman before, I was not overly impressed with them, although they are much more compact. The Vardaman are the ones that are a much darker green color.

Everyone okay? It was insane at our property last night. Norman had 100 mph winds. I've not experienced that level of wind before....and was actually scared for awhile. Power went off and on 4 times. Luckily, it stayed on the last time, although internet is out.

We lost a big chunk of my tree. The one that is west of my kitchen garden. It didn't take out any of the garden that I can see as it fell just next to it....but it will change the way I garden. I count on the shade of that tree. It allows me to work in the late afternoon/evenings. And it provides relief to my plants during the hottest time of day. Things will change now.

Hope everyone else is okay.

Jennifer, I am glad that things were not worse. We did not get much last light, maybe 1/8" of rain, and a mile of thunder. It looks like something may be moving in from Oklahoma, but what came through this morning went south of us.

I was able to get out and weed a little in the south garden, but the kids are coming over for lunch, and I did not want to get too hot and tired, so I was not out long.

Wow, I did not know anything about that. That’s a lot of wind for Fourth of July. I did not see a lot of reports about fires around here, but it is something that I’m always concerned about. Living in the country with lots of dry pasture land right now is not a secure feeling. I’m sorry about your treat Jennifer. I know how we depend on our shade. I worked outside today and I feel like somebody turned up the heat. I trimmed my blackberry bush back to nothing and asked my neighbor if she wanted it if not, I’m going to put it in the trash because it is a thorny one and it is dangerous for me. I watered everything as best I could and I have grapes. I’m harvesting. They are red with the seed which I specifically wanted and I am so excited. It has been two or three years since I got the Grapevine. Picked a few blueberries one tomato and one pepper. And then I planted some things that I’m embarrassed to say I brought home from the spring fling. They are still thriving in their little pots, but I guess this week they’re gonna be thriving even more in the ground and in my green stock. I also planted some lime basil. It was a plant I got last weekend at the swap and it smells delicious. I can’t believe it’s not even 1 o’clock. I feel like I wanna go to bed. I get up at 4:30 now so I don’t wanna go to bed too early. Y’all have a great week and stay cool.

Ugh. Just typed up a long response. Lost it. It goes along with the day I'm having. LOL

I'll be back later.

Kim, that's so cool about your grapes. I really would like to try grapes someday too. I'll be asking for growing tips when the time comes.

Please take care to stay hydrated and rested. You have a physical job. The best job ever, tho.

Larry, even getting out to work in the garden for a few minutes is so uplifting. Getting hands in the soil is so healing to me. There's science there too---something about bacteria and "feel good" neurotransmitters.

Half of my tree is gone. Our young neighbor came over with a wonderful tool and was able to spend an hour or two and get the broken part down and out. The break extended down into the trunk. Anyway, he was amped up about it. Likes doing that sort of thing and his wife said he even watches videos about it. The tree fell into the other tree and broke a few of its limbs, but the other tree will be fine. I'm not sure what we'll do with the broken tree. Half is gone. I've read that when a tree loses half of it's canopy it can't get enough nutrients to support the tree. So many feelings about this loss. And things to consider with the lack of shade.

We got our internet back after two trips to the Cox store. I'll leave it at that. Just glad it's back.

I'm home today because we took our July 4th day off today instead of Friday. Trying to get a plan together for the day. Might run out and work in the back garden for an hour or two. The onions and garlic are sitting in between our living and dining in a rack and I need to store those away somewhere. Although, I do like that it's cool(er) where they are. It's just not the most attractive thing.

A clean out of the freezers could be in order. Thought about making blackberry jelly, but not really in the mood for that. I'll just see where my day leads.

How about all of y'all....what's on your agenda today?

I plan on doing more weed clearing, or maybe Taking Madge out to eat. I enjoy taking Madge out now more than ever. It seems that, it we go out we are forced to spend time sitting and talking, it we stay home we are in a hurry to get up from the table and get some work done. It does seem to matter how much work we do, there is still more that needs to be done.

I just ask Madge if she would like to go to Ft. Smith to Western Sizzling, she seems to like the Idea. It is a little too wet to work in the garden anyway.

Jennifer, that really stinks about the tree. I hope you can find a good solution for shade. I am paying close attention to how I feel. It is very hot out here and I’m keeping water going on the orchard and the in ground and raised beds almost every day. After a day off, it is like I can’t catch up with watering. Everybody is suffering, except for the peppers and the figs trees are doing really well. Of course okra is a trooper. I have picked two cantaloupes and both of them were infested with bugs. So I went and put a handful of DE under my other melons in the greenhouse. I hope it works. It’s so dang roly-poly. The greenhouses are infested with them and I ordered Sluggo a month ago and it still hasn’t come in.

Jennifer, I know that you will miss your tree. I have an oak tree south of my north garden. I have fussed about that tree about it shading my garden, and things not growing well under it. We planted that tree twenty years ago. I told Madge that it would interfere with the garden, she replied that we would not live that long, she was almost right. The past two years the tree has been a blessing. I don't walk or stand well, and I place a stool or chair under that tree, and I can sit down in the shade and spray water out over the garden.

I walked out to the pasture garden to check on it, and it is not good. I don't have water out there this year, and the garden is very dry. I need to try to find another water hose and try to save some of it, st least water the fruit trees. My pumpkins are already toast, the butternut look like they are about gone also.

I am not sure what these are, but I am calling them butternut, they must have been a hybrid or crossed in some way. I have one that is round, some that look like a regular butternut, and some that seem too long. They seem to be tough, they have received no care, and no extra watering. I want to save some of these, and if they seem to be worth saving seeds from I will. I cant understand why I want to save seeds, I am getting too weak to garden anyway.

While I was out at the garden I noticed a shower forming northeast of us, the way the wind is blowing we may get the edge of it, I sure hope so.

I went out to check the pasture garden, it is in bad shape. My pumpkins are dead, and rotting. They are also covered with all kinds of insects. I plan on going out there and spraying the weeds, and maybe the insects.

I harvested one of my (butternut?). Man, is that vine tough. I could not cut the squash off with a sharp pocket knife. I broke the vine just trying to cut the squash off. I will have to use some kind of pruning tool to harvest these squash. I wanted to bring a squash inside to check if it was fit to eat, and to find out how much labor I was willing to invest to save these vines.

I also have some vines from seeds that I had marked "Arabat" 2020. These seeds may have crossed because I grew 4 different kinds moschata varieties that year, and I don't have enough room to plant things like that without the risk of cross pollination

Larry, that sorta reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck squash that I grew in maybe....2021?

My own butternut squash is very wilty right now. With the bright sun and high temperatures it's no surprise.

Kim, the past couple of years the roly polies have been crazy. Captain Jack has a product called Bug and Slug Killer. It has the spinosad that Sluggo Plus has for pill bugs. After Rebecca (?) mentioned it, I bought some last year. It's effective. Not my favorite thing to use, but....

Anyway, I couldn't get Sluggo Plus last year.

I worked at my second job yesterday and developed a severe headache at the end of my workday. Decided to go to Pilates anyways. It was a struggle, (although she did a couple of adjustments on me and that helped with some other things). I was in the shade, not direct sun, but probably didn't drink enough water. I did just enough to keep the animals healthy but went to sleep at 8p, woke up at 930p to carry Jean Luc back into the coop, closed everyone up. Let Tom do the rest and went back to bed.

I feel better today and worked at the second job. Indoors, tho. Still have a slight headache...and will wait until the sun drops a little before going out to water.

Before work, I picked my first Dr. Wyche and a basket of green beans. I look forward to checking out the garden later this evening. I haven't seen it really in a couple of days. By "seen" , I mean really looking at it. Not just grabbing a tomato and beans.

If there's enough shade, I might prune and tie up some tomatoes. And it's past time to pick the squash bugs and eggs. Have to wait until that area has shade, tho.

The other day, the onions and garlic went into large baskets, but they're sitting on the bench in our dining room because it's cooler there.

The bulbs meant for replanting have been chosen. I do want to try some hardneck this year too.

That's about it from me.

I hope you feel better Jennifer. I take Celtic sea salt before I drink water. It helps immensely keep away headaches and dehydration. I’m considering moving into an apartment for seniors. I am praying about what to do with my Garden because there’s about 20 mineral tubs that hold perennials. Not sure what I will do with all of that. I’m kind of like you, Larry, I feel like come to a point in my life where I need to simplify things and just enjoy life and getting out of this place would definitely assure that I could start enjoying life. People always say oh how cool to live in a tiny house but no, it’s not cool. It’s a blessing to have a roof over your head, but it is challenging every day. The apartment is about 30 minutes from work so it would cut off two hours of my commute and I would love that. It would give me more time for reading. I am off tomorrow and possibly Friday. They came to spray the grass today for weed and feed. So I went to the office and did paperwork and I may wait and go back to work on Saturday. But this humidity and the heat those chemicals kind of linger around for a while and I don’t wanna be inhaling all that. Jennifer have you ever heard of Barbara O’Neill? I have been listening to her a lot lately and she just has some great common sense health tips. I would love to go to her retreat but I really don’t wanna leave the country. Y’all stay cool and hydrated.

I tried watering 3 of my gardens today, and sprayed about 20 gallon of glyphodate, there is no way I can clean all the areas that I spray otherwise. I have sprayed between 40 and 50 gallon so far this year, and that is not near enough, I will spray fence rows after the hay is baled.

Jennifer, my winter squash is wilty also. I think that I mau have tossed 2 different kinds of squash in the same area over the winter, or, the plants that came up are from a hybrid squash. The only squash that I remember tossing in that area looked like a large butternut.

Kim, I am not looking forward to moving into an apartment, but I am afraid it is a " have to" case. Madge and I both are showing our age, and everything is just getting harder to do. We have so much junk to get rid of. People tell us " I might want that", but it's still here. But we have given ourselves a year to get ready for the move.

Jennifer, some of the squash from the same cluster of plants look like this squash.. Even if I don't get any more squash, I should have all I need.

Kim, can you take your mineral tubs to your job?

I have not heard of Barbara O'Neill....I don't think anyway. I'll look her up.

Your drive is exhausting. I know that. It's how I feel with my drives to work and they're only an hour or so.

Larry, I need to do more with my winter squash this year. I have a lot in the freezer from last year. My fruit isn't near as far along as yours, but I am getting little baby fruit right now. In good news, I didn't find a ton of squash bug eggs or squash bugs either.

It's funny how we're all trying to figure out a way to downsize. Today, at my lunch break, I looked up bush cukes and zucchini. Thinking I would like grow bags to put those in next year. I absolutely LOVE to grow my food, but we don't need tons of it.

I have this gut feeling that I'm going to be forced to downsize at some point in the near future. I might know a little more at the very end of this month. I've even been looking at homes in regular neighborhoods with big backyards and no HOA so I can have a small flock of chickens. It seems backwards, tho. A lot of the "influencers" that I watch are around age 40 and they're ramping up. But in a few years when their kids are living all over the country/world and they have grandkids....they might ramp down. OR they might not. Depends on things.

Anyway...head is so much better today. Which is saying a lot considering work continues to be crazy.

Jennifer, a lot of folks don't have a lot of choice about downsizing after 80 years old. It seem sa tho that is when your kids are becoming better off financially, going on trips, going to see grand kids, and ready to enjoy their own life, and you are at the point of going to the doctor more, not able to care for a lawn and home, and just don't feel like going anywhere. At 83 and 87 Madge and I are about used up.

I need to get out and water. I can only water every other day, that sorta forces me to rest, or do other things every other day, which is fine but I cant work long at a time, and it is already 81 degrees, and I want to be back inside by 85 0r 86 degrees. Four gardens are too many to water by hand. This heat will force me to cut back weather I want to or not.

We got a beautiful inch of rain overnight. I feel so blessed. Last night I had time to water the pots and Greenstalks and told everything else to "hold on" and I would get to them today. I really thought the rain would miss us. This has freed up a couple of hours to do some chores indoors after work. On Sunday, I'm at work by 730 and am home by 1.

We had the "baby" Friday night and until around 3 yesterday. We had a lot of fun with him but things don't get done really. We'll have him again this coming weekend. It's totally worth it, tho. He's getting so big so fast. He's at the toddler phase when he's realizing he can say "no". He refused to drink any water for me yesterday. "No." He did have milk in the morning and with his PB&J. And we got smoothies in the late morning. But, it was so hot that I really was concerned about the lack of water.

Anyway, all that to say is that I had a stack of stuff to do in the house and am SO glad I won't have to water this evening. I'll finish up indoors and then go out to tie up/prune diseased tomato plants and mess around out there. Just need to water houseplants and find a good recipe for tomato and cucumber salad and get that made. Probably need to clean our the refrigerator too. Throw some things to the chickens.

Tom and I made a "wheel chair" without wheels for our crippled rooster. I think he likes it okay. It helps him sit up and look around and get off his side for a few hours in the evening. We made it out of PVC pipe/joints and a small plastic tote with holes cut in the bottom for his legs. They sell poultry wheelchairs, but they are expensive.

We drove by Rick's house last night. Someone has cleaned off the porch and front drive area. I wanted to see if he lost any trees. Most homes in Norman seem to have lost trees last week. No loss of trees, tho, in the front. I didn't go to the back, but wanted to.

We peeked in the window and it hasn't been cleaned out yet. I can only imagine what it will smell like. The refrigerator and freezers have been off for probably 9 months when the electricity was shut off. Because they cleaned off the front porch, I no longer have a key to get in. I had it hidden under a shelf thing. I wonder if the Survivalist Garden would have had a good year.

I saw a little Karjari melon fruit last night, but haven't really checked the cantaloupe yet.

I'm ready for some melon!

Hey, has anyone tried Astia zucchini or Bush Slicer cukes from Renee's Garden? They are supposed to be good for pots.

Anyone else blessed by rain last night?

We got a little rain last night, not as much as we needed, but every little bit helps.

It was cloudy, and cooler today. Jerry and Emmy came over this evening and harvested the gardens, I think they are going to share their harvest with friends, and maybe preserve some of the produce.

Madge's daughter and grand daughter came down from northwest Arkansas today, they looked at apartments online. I told them that they are getting in too big of a hurry, but they are excited about us moving up there. I am really dreading the move, but I feel that it is the best thing for Madge, she has never liked being away from her kids, but 5 of the 6 live less than 120 miles away, one lives about 315 miles away.

I have both of my small tractors set up with implements on them now, one has a brush hog on it, the other has a tiller attached, maybe I can start getting the place cleaned up a little. I am not able to work very long, but I think I can work a while in the morning, then come in before it gets too hot.

Jennifer, I went over to the wildlife garden this evening while Emmy and Jerry were here, I I have winter squash and pumpkins coming on over there also, but they are just growing wild, and the deer and critters are eating pretty bad at the vines, I may, or may, not get any produce from over there. The only good thing I can say about the wildlife garden, is, that the deer and other critters are also eating some of the weeds. I have about 40 pepper plants in the wildlife garden, and they are not being disturbed a lot.

Larry, that's great that your daughter was able to harvest some produce and will put it to use. What all did she harvest?

I understand Madge wanting to be close to her kids. Even Edmond feels too far. But, Oregon is ridiculous.

I've been meaning to ask you this....once you move to an apartment situation, will you be able to come to your property for a day or so each week. Just for fun?

I'm enjoying having fewer tomatoes this year. Initially I planted 12 (I added the 5 propagated ones in the back garden). It feels good to be able to care for them somewhat properly. Last night, I pruned and tied up the Sungolds. They look a lot better. That variety grows insanely tho. They are outgrowing their cages now so I'm tying them to the arched hoop that's for the butterfly peas.

Tonight, I'll try to work on the Dr. Wyche. They are by far the most diseased of them all.

Next year, I'm considering cutting back even more. Maybe 6 tomato plants. One Sungold, one Isis Candy, one Dr. Wyche, one TBB, one Big Beef and one Jet Setter. Comparing Big Beef and Jet Setter....I think I like Jet Setter best. But, I've only grown Big Beef once so that's not a fair judgement yet.

I might throw in an Arkansas Traveler too. I've missed that one this year.

There might be a time when I'll want to preserve tomatoes again, but it's doubtful that will be next year.

It's really time to think about the fall garden. I'm considering doing broccoli. Maybe once I pull the cabbage, the broccoli can tho there. Also want to start pansy seed soon.

Jennifer, the land will stay in my daughters name. I plan on leaving the largest tractor and the 6" brush hog, but I doubt that I will able to do much work by then. I plan on selling the house and 1+ acre of land. I have already given 3 tractors away, the new tractor is to go to my daughter to help maintain her lake home. They may want to haul the new tractor over here to do a little touch up work, but it is too small to heavy work.

I have had Madge to call an attorney so I can update my will. Madge is the first one I want to look after, the kids will fall in behind her. My daughter told me last night that her two daughters have plans to build on the place, but not the money. The two grand daughters are still trying to build their careers. The two grand daughters want to build a small lake on the east side of the place and put their houses there. That is a big bite to chew, but they are good kids, with good work ethics, and I can see the lake and homes happen it that stays their goal. My daughter would like that also, because that would put them close to her. The younger of the grand daughters is a civil engineer, working for a company that designs dirt and concrete dams. I think that she will know how to design what is needed. The older of the two has a degree in music, I am not sure what she will do, maybe toot her horn while the dam is being built. If Nero played while Rome burned, maybe Laken can toot while the dam is being built.

Emmy told me last night, that she had lived within 20 minutes of me all her life, this move for me will require some adjusting on her part. (mine too ).

I need to get off of here and go do some clean up work around the wildlife garden, and a little brush hogging for my neighbor.

That's a beautiful plan for your property, Larry. A lake with your two granddaughters living in houses on it.

I was able to clean up the noodle beans arch last night. And tied up and pruned the Dr. Wyche tomatoes and one of the Isis Candy. The Isis had gotten very unruly. Finally I just tied it up to the noodle bean arch. The Isis and Sungolds are very large. I really need to figure out better trellising situations for them in the future. Rick's boss gave him 3 really nice tomato cages that Rick then gave to me. Maybe I can make 3 more of those. Except they don't seem quite tall enough for the cherry tomatoes.

As I was walking Josi last night, I saw my neighbors' tomato plants. She never prunes and doesn't get the amount of disease on her plants either. I don't know how she does it.

Everything is mostly good out there. My garden is never perfect and my produce is rarely picture perfect....but it tastes so good. I made a really yum cucumber, tomato, onion salad and took it to work yesterday. My co-workers loved it so much. I left it for them today while I go to my other job. It's an easy and delicious way to use up some of the produce.

Has anyone grown vidalia onions?

Kim and Glenda, I know y'all are super busy. Hope things are going well for you.

I better get my bag packed and head over to the north side. Probably won't have time to garden tonight other than watering a few pots after Pilates.

What's growing the best in your gardens right now?

I’ve been reading, just no time to post - will try long post later. Went to dermatologist yesterday and have over a dozen burns on my face and ears so trying to work a couple of hours and come in. My tomatoes are diseased and spider mites so going to prune heavy, pull some and feed then hope for the best. Larry, my sweet potatoes are vining too far and getting snaky so I’m going to prune some to about 5-6’ runners. I’m hoping that won’t affect my harvest? Keep posting - I’ll catch up

later. Jennifer share your recipe?

Jennifer grass is growing the best in my garden. I need to get with you before I move. I’m sure there are Garden related things I will be getting rid of including plants. We got a lot of rain at the work last night and I hope it’s enough to bring everything back around. Tomatoes are gone crazy I’m fixing to go in with long sleeves gloves, etc. to pick tomatoes. Noodle beans took a break. They are blooming like crazy again. I think the dry heat got to them because. On them so they gave up producing for a little while.

Glenda, my sweet potatoes are not doing much, they were just covered in weeds. I think the weeds robed most of the water and nutrients from the soil. I think that I need to feed and increase the water to my sweet potatoes.

Madge went to northwest Arkansas to look at apartments, her kids want us to move now. There is no way we can move now, we have too much junk to get rid of, and we are not able to do much, especially in this heat. There is also a lot of work that I would like to do to the house to get it ready to sell. It would be different if we were younger and could do more work, but if that were the case, we would not be forced to move.

While Madge was in northwest Arkansas, I was able to go to town for parts to repair one of my brush hogs, clean up around the wildlife garden, and do the brush hogging that my neighbor wanted done, Madge does not like me working like that, so I need to do it while she is gone. That may not be a nice thing to do, but I feel so much better if I can get out and do something.

While I was working on the brush hog, one of my friends called me from the hospital, saying that he was going to move also. My friend is living with his sister now, she is 89, he is 91. My friend said that he want to move back to his home town, and get set up into an assisted living home while he is still able to think clearly, he and his wife were both in a nursing home, but she died there, he thanked me for being such a good friend, I told him that it had been nice, but we both have been guilty of turning the pages on a calendar too many times, and sooner or later it will catch up with you.

This was my day to water, but I have been hoping for a rain. My luck will be that the rain misses us, if so, I may try to water tomorrow after mowing the lawn. It is hard for me to understand how I use to work for a living, keep a nice lawn, do all my home repairs, have a garden, take kids to ball practice, be active in church, and have a life, now I cant even keep my junk repaired.

Jennifer Larry, y’all are sure busy. Larry, I think it’s funny you sneak out while your wife is gone. Make sure you keep your phone handy. I am getting busy here. I’m going to fully plant my green stalk. And focus on what I will be able to keep when I move. There are several things that I will take to work and plant in their garden. I really can’t imagine not gardening and I’ve only been doing it for 16 years. I always pictured myself leaving here and going to a piece of property, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me right now. So I will be moving into an apartment and selling my tiny house and shed and most of my gardening stuff. Like the greenhouse I just got. I hope to be moved by the end of August. The place I’m looking at has a large patio and a sliding glass door. So I will be able to have plants out there. The other thing was my dog. She goes where I go and I pray that she gets used to being an indoor dog. She’s never really been indoors much. She’s a runner so out here she just free ranges and stays on the property 95% of the time I would say but now she will be on a dog lead or in the house. I hope my allergies go away because I don’t need to deal with that on top of everything else. My onion and garlic harvest came in nice and dry from the shed. I got them all trimmed and they look really good. My fig tree is thinking about producing this year. It has one stem about 5 foot tall. Garlic chives are going crazy. Mallow is just about done producing seeds. I have some leaks that went to seed and they are getting close to me collecting the seed. I have to be quick because if there’s one grasshopper out here that’s the first thing they will go for. They love those garlic, chive and leek seeds. I threw out a bag of Black Eyed Peas that had bugs in it. It was seed that I had saved from years ago. Well, it is sprouted and almost ready to produce, so I may get a good harvest of Black Eyed Peas before I leave here. I think today’s the day I’m gonna harvest some grapes and I hate to say that I do not like the taste of them, but I love the idea of making grape juice. I don’t need any more jam in my life or for my children so juice sounds like the best thing I can do with it. I am going to harvest my mint, even though it went to a flower. I read that it’s OK to harvest and use for tea. It does not get bitter. It just puts the oil flavor into the seed head. So I can use the leaves and the flowers. My desert Willow is very tall this year and I hate to leave it behind, but I don’t see any way that I could take it with me. I bet it’s 10 feet tall. It was a gift from the school when I left in Quitaque. I planted it over my little duck and I don’t think they would have to pull it out to move the tiny house out. That is all for now. I better do something productive.

Kim, I cant really say that I sneak out, Madge most often knows what I will be doing, and I do try ro always keep my phone with me. Madge and I both try to caution each other about doing too much, but we both know that we are going to do what ever we can. we don't want to give up. I will finish going nuts when I move to an apartment, but that is where we need to be.

We got a nice rain, about 1.4 inches, but it was not enough that I could not brush hog some rows of squash and okra for my neighbor a while ago.

The rain that got a lot of the metro and other areas of Oklahoma--completely missed us yesterday so I put them sprinklers on the garden and hand watered the other stuff.

Looks like we might have got some rain today at home. We did at work. I'll know in a couple of hours when I go home to check it.

Nothing new to report really. It's past time to start pansy seed. Might do that this weekend at some point.

We have our grandson tonight through late Saturday afternoon. The other grandma is dropping him off to my work. That really saves me (and him) from a long drive in rush hour. I hate that she'll have to deal with it tho. At least I'm used to it. She lives 10 minutes from them. BUT....by the time I picked him up from daycare in Edmond and got home, it would be 630. He's usually taking a bath then and in bed a little after 7. Trying to squeeze his dinner in and all that would be challenging. Anyway...just glad she's bringing him to me.

Once he's asleep, I'll go out and and look around my garden. See if there's anything interesting that's new.

OH! I have swallowtail caterpillars on a couple of my dill plants. Yay! Saw them yesterday. Finally some (potential) butterflies.

We got a little more rain a while ago, not much, but will help moisture in the soil.

I mowed the lawn, and around the garden and all of my junk. I did not check the gardens at all.

Those flowers are so pretty and cheerful, Larry. I'm sure the people driving down the hwy appreciate the beauty too.

Glenda, I think you asked about the cuke/tom/onion recipe. I can't find the recipe that I used. I think it was 3 large tomatoes (I used 2 red and 1 yellow), 3 or 4 small/med cukes, half a medium onion sliced thin. (I used the mandoline for the cukes and onions)

Then...a half a cup of white vinegar. (It called for a full cup), a TBSP or 2 of oil (I used olive), a TBSP of sugar and salt and pepper.

To me, it was too wet, but everyone else liked that it was so wet. It was VERY juicy. The flavor was wonderful. Oh, and I also chopped up some fresh dill. But basil or parsley or other herbs would be good too.

The swallowtails are enjoying the dill now. Glad I got some while it lasted. lol

The dill will be back, tho.

Yesterday, after Gray went to bed, I checked the rain gauge and we had over half an inch. I pruned and tied up the TBB tomatoes. They look better and have quite a bit of fruit on them.

These highs in the 80's are allowing the tomato plants to set more fruit. I'm glad since we're about to "pay for" these lovelier temperatures, I'm afraid.

Tonight, Gray and I were outside in the kitchen garden (where he was enjoying the Four Elements section) when it started pouring hard. We got almost half an inch--so about an inch in the past 2 days. I like that. A little here and there more often instead of many inches all at once.

My poor crippled rooster got drenched and I feel bad about that. But as soon as I could get Gray inside with Tom, I was able to get him into the coop.

Tomorrow we will be busy with Gray most of the day. And we'll pick up daughter from the airport late, so I might not get much done. There's always Sunday afternoon/evening tho. There's quite a long list of things to do including picking a few elderberries, making and freezing pesto, making blackberry jelly, cleaning up the hoop house, starting broccoli and pansy seed.

I'll make a new thread.