Last of July, First of August 2012
The first batch of grapes is now a pile of raisins! Over the weekend, I harvested another bin full. Didn't get them "cooking" yet though.
G picked the gorgeous eggplant (the biggest I remember?), and several big lovely green peppers and made ratatoulle. Soooo good.
Apples are starting to blush--almost but not quite ripe. Lots of messy fallen ones. What to do?!
Over the last few days the hens have expanded their diet (ugh). Friday they caught a sparrow. (Long, gristly process trying to tenderize and pulverize it enough for someone to eat at least bits of it. I guess it gave them something to do for the day. At one point there were wing feathers sticking out of Charro's beak.) Then Sunday afternoon, Charro nailed a young lizard. Yikes. We think the current mouse total is 4. Mind you, we are completely overrun with sparrows, lizards AND mice, so I don't think the hens are even making a dent, but... Speaking of predators, we were shocked to look up from our chairs in the shade, to find that a roadrunner was strolling through.
Scarlett continues to vault over the fence into the garden. Sigh. So far she is just disturbing G's straw mulch but not actually hurting anything. ?!
G put up a few more rounds of fence for tomato cages. Those are working nicely. Need to take photos--should have tomatoes "soon." (Maybe I should start taking daily photos. I don't have a good eye for how long it takes from various sizes and varieties. A week? 10 days? Shorter for the cherries, longer for the romas and Stupichas?)
Couple of very cute melon babies dangling off the back fence, of all things. G is trying to decide how to support them. (We laughed about Teresa Johansen using an sports bra for a cantaloupe two years ago.)
Entirely redid out little solar fountain. The new one I bought was half the power of the old... so our old arrangement wasn't going to work at all. 100# of gravel, 6 12" pavers, a new fiberglass pot, some epoxy and a day and a half later, we're back in business. We actually sat under our umbrella, reading summer junk food books for several hours late Sunday, serenaded by the gentle burble. :) Still a few pieces from the old one to either give away or stow. (argh).
Last night--several rounds of very light rain. 1/8 inch? Thunder and lightning that made Osa a whining, pacing mess (she kept G up most of the night).
G picked the gorgeous eggplant (the biggest I remember?), and several big lovely green peppers and made ratatoulle. Soooo good.
Apples are starting to blush--almost but not quite ripe. Lots of messy fallen ones. What to do?!
Over the last few days the hens have expanded their diet (ugh). Friday they caught a sparrow. (Long, gristly process trying to tenderize and pulverize it enough for someone to eat at least bits of it. I guess it gave them something to do for the day. At one point there were wing feathers sticking out of Charro's beak.) Then Sunday afternoon, Charro nailed a young lizard. Yikes. We think the current mouse total is 4. Mind you, we are completely overrun with sparrows, lizards AND mice, so I don't think the hens are even making a dent, but... Speaking of predators, we were shocked to look up from our chairs in the shade, to find that a roadrunner was strolling through.
Scarlett continues to vault over the fence into the garden. Sigh. So far she is just disturbing G's straw mulch but not actually hurting anything. ?!
G put up a few more rounds of fence for tomato cages. Those are working nicely. Need to take photos--should have tomatoes "soon." (Maybe I should start taking daily photos. I don't have a good eye for how long it takes from various sizes and varieties. A week? 10 days? Shorter for the cherries, longer for the romas and Stupichas?)
Couple of very cute melon babies dangling off the back fence, of all things. G is trying to decide how to support them. (We laughed about Teresa Johansen using an sports bra for a cantaloupe two years ago.)
Entirely redid out little solar fountain. The new one I bought was half the power of the old... so our old arrangement wasn't going to work at all. 100# of gravel, 6 12" pavers, a new fiberglass pot, some epoxy and a day and a half later, we're back in business. We actually sat under our umbrella, reading summer junk food books for several hours late Sunday, serenaded by the gentle burble. :) Still a few pieces from the old one to either give away or stow. (argh).
Last night--several rounds of very light rain. 1/8 inch? Thunder and lightning that made Osa a whining, pacing mess (she kept G up most of the night).
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