the best part of waking up
is that first delicate sip....
no matter what the cup.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Top Of the Mornin'
Sometimes...
the best part of waking up
is that first delicate sip....
no matter what the cup.
the best part of waking up
is that first delicate sip....
no matter what the cup.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
End of Summer
End of treats from the garden
the last of summers delicate flowers
TOday marks the beginning of FALL!
My favorite season.
I cant wait.
Goodbye summer, see you next year.
the last of summers delicate flowers
TOday marks the beginning of FALL!
My favorite season.
I cant wait.
Goodbye summer, see you next year.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Goin Nuts!
Or should I say will work for peanuts? Hmmm?
The great peanut harvest has started.
I am beyond relieved. Peanuts require a huge investment and are so dependant on the weather and the market, that one just never knows if it is going to be a good year or just a mediocre one.
We really needed it to be a good year this year. The rains came and the peanuts grew and everything looked wonderful.
Ahead of schedule actually...
Until one fine day when The Hub came walking in with a handful of freshly plucked peanut plants in his hand. Lo and behold there were SPOTS on them. Dark brown ugly ones that looked as foreboding as bad as an x-ray at a yearly check up you don't want to ever ever see.
One never wants to hear
"Look at those dark spots"
does one?
Inwardly I collapsed in fear. In my mind I was whisked back to last April when we found a weird mold growing on our oats. Trying for an organic crop of oats that would be safe to eat ourselves and to sell at harvest, went terribly wrong and we had MOLD growing in our crop.
In one minute our hopes for a cash crop were dashed to pieces and we frantically began to look at a salvage operation. Thankfully we discovered that cows can eat the oats as hay and are impervious to the lightly growing mold once it enters their many fermenting stomachs.
So we baled it and the cows had a feast and while we didn't make the money we had hoped to and we didn't strike our blow in organic crop raising as we had hoped, we did at least salvage something.
It was a very scary time and it was with that in mind that I looked at the spots on the peanuts with great trepidation. Here we were, facing another crop holocaust.
So while he headed to the Agricultural Lab I sat here frantically Googling Peanut spots and scaring myself silly with what I found.
Fortunately the lab gave good news.
It seems every ones peanuts in our area were being affected by the excessive and wonderful rainfall.
What had made the peanuts grow so beautifully and lusciously was also contributing to their down fall,
too much of a good thing, moisture!
Apparently “Quod me nutrit, me destruit”
a slightly kitschy Latin phrase that taken literally means
“What nourishes me, also destroys me.”
Can apply to peanuts too.
The peanut experts did give us a fascinating prescription of sorts to serve as a guide for the peanut illiterate (that's us) as to when exactly the peanuts are going to be ready.
It appears there is a formula for everything!
Here is the optimization of all our hard work and when we should plan on reaping a crop according to the computer powers that be...
a closer look...
Isn't that great? A highly technical piece of paper and we wouldn't have known if we hadn't rushed to the nice lab folks in a panic with a box full of spotty peanuts.
Now we had a plan in place!
It begins...
close up of the digger crawly thing that actually digs the peanuts up out of the ground.
Looks wickedly dangerous huh?
Turning to a more peaceful pastoral scene, here's the peanuts, about to see the light of day! Yay!
after the digger crawly thing makes a couple of passes, you see tossed about plants with peanuts belly up drying in the sun.
long rows of peanuts....
or in the words of Buzz Lightyear "To infinity and beyond"!
a close up
The next day
The wagons to transport the peanuts stand ready to fill. Our good weather is holding. Rain is coming. We just need one more day....
The big combines work really fast!
Finally, under a darkening sky threatening rain, the peanuts are loaded and ready for the market
where they will make their next appearance as peanut oil or even better....peanut butter.
Pass the jelly!
The great peanut harvest has started.
I am beyond relieved. Peanuts require a huge investment and are so dependant on the weather and the market, that one just never knows if it is going to be a good year or just a mediocre one.
We really needed it to be a good year this year. The rains came and the peanuts grew and everything looked wonderful.
Ahead of schedule actually...
Until one fine day when The Hub came walking in with a handful of freshly plucked peanut plants in his hand. Lo and behold there were SPOTS on them. Dark brown ugly ones that looked as foreboding as bad as an x-ray at a yearly check up you don't want to ever ever see.
One never wants to hear
"Look at those dark spots"
does one?
Inwardly I collapsed in fear. In my mind I was whisked back to last April when we found a weird mold growing on our oats. Trying for an organic crop of oats that would be safe to eat ourselves and to sell at harvest, went terribly wrong and we had MOLD growing in our crop.
In one minute our hopes for a cash crop were dashed to pieces and we frantically began to look at a salvage operation. Thankfully we discovered that cows can eat the oats as hay and are impervious to the lightly growing mold once it enters their many fermenting stomachs.
So we baled it and the cows had a feast and while we didn't make the money we had hoped to and we didn't strike our blow in organic crop raising as we had hoped, we did at least salvage something.
It was a very scary time and it was with that in mind that I looked at the spots on the peanuts with great trepidation. Here we were, facing another crop holocaust.
So while he headed to the Agricultural Lab I sat here frantically Googling Peanut spots and scaring myself silly with what I found.
Fortunately the lab gave good news.
It seems every ones peanuts in our area were being affected by the excessive and wonderful rainfall.
What had made the peanuts grow so beautifully and lusciously was also contributing to their down fall,
too much of a good thing, moisture!
Apparently “Quod me nutrit, me destruit”
a slightly kitschy Latin phrase that taken literally means
“What nourishes me, also destroys me.”
Can apply to peanuts too.
The peanut experts did give us a fascinating prescription of sorts to serve as a guide for the peanut illiterate (that's us) as to when exactly the peanuts are going to be ready.
It appears there is a formula for everything!
Here is the optimization of all our hard work and when we should plan on reaping a crop according to the computer powers that be...
a closer look...
Isn't that great? A highly technical piece of paper and we wouldn't have known if we hadn't rushed to the nice lab folks in a panic with a box full of spotty peanuts.
Now we had a plan in place!
It begins...
close up of the digger crawly thing that actually digs the peanuts up out of the ground.
Looks wickedly dangerous huh?
Turning to a more peaceful pastoral scene, here's the peanuts, about to see the light of day! Yay!
after the digger crawly thing makes a couple of passes, you see tossed about plants with peanuts belly up drying in the sun.
long rows of peanuts....
or in the words of Buzz Lightyear "To infinity and beyond"!
a close up
The next day
The wagons to transport the peanuts stand ready to fill. Our good weather is holding. Rain is coming. We just need one more day....
The big combines work really fast!
Finally, under a darkening sky threatening rain, the peanuts are loaded and ready for the market
where they will make their next appearance as peanut oil or even better....peanut butter.
Pass the jelly!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Emmy, You Big Baby!
Emmy.
You all know Emmy my little heartbeat. What you don't know is...
EMMY IS SPOILED.
Yes that's right, spoiled. She is not allowed on the furniture but has a floor cushion from PetSmart that made my husband think we should ditch our bed and just sleep on it!!
Her doggie pillow has a place of honor in the living room right by my favorite chair. She loves to be out romping and playing with the other dogs during the day. Once it gets dark and she gets tired she climbs the front steps and leans perilously over the divide to "tap" on the edge of our bay window with her paw. Tap tap tap on the glass around 9 o'clock means Emmy is done with her day.
Some nights Emmy will snooze cozily on her pillow, letting out the occasional doggie fart and all is quiet.
Other times Emmy is still in high gear when she comes in. Nothing is harder for her (spoiled as she is) than understanding that she is not totally on equal footing with The Littlest Princess (grand daughter) "no, Emmy you can NOT eat half of her hot dog while she screams at you"
"NO NO stop it Emmy!"
And woe betide her if Nana (that's me) makes the rightfully indignant Princess ANOTHER hot dog to replace the stolen one and Emmy disobeys the dreaded "Nana" too....
That can cause Emmy to be sent to her room for a big ole doggy timeout!
So what does Emmy do?
She pouts.
a close up of poor little piffle while she pouts...
notice her horrid confinement conditions...
not one but TWO doggie pillows to cushion her bruised ego,
along with her toy babydoll (of which she has bitten off a leg)
most politically inappropriate I am thinking.....
for her part, I am sure that she thinks that this is the doggie equivalent of Guantanamo Bay, but fortunately for her The Littlest Princess and I both watch the Nanny on TV and we have been enlightened to the fact that a time out should be the same as your age.
Since Emmy is 1 yr old we give her 7 minutes for her time out.
It's that "dog years thing."
You all know Emmy my little heartbeat. What you don't know is...
EMMY IS SPOILED.
Yes that's right, spoiled. She is not allowed on the furniture but has a floor cushion from PetSmart that made my husband think we should ditch our bed and just sleep on it!!
Her doggie pillow has a place of honor in the living room right by my favorite chair. She loves to be out romping and playing with the other dogs during the day. Once it gets dark and she gets tired she climbs the front steps and leans perilously over the divide to "tap" on the edge of our bay window with her paw. Tap tap tap on the glass around 9 o'clock means Emmy is done with her day.
Some nights Emmy will snooze cozily on her pillow, letting out the occasional doggie fart and all is quiet.
Other times Emmy is still in high gear when she comes in. Nothing is harder for her (spoiled as she is) than understanding that she is not totally on equal footing with The Littlest Princess (grand daughter) "no, Emmy you can NOT eat half of her hot dog while she screams at you"
"NO NO stop it Emmy!"
And woe betide her if Nana (that's me) makes the rightfully indignant Princess ANOTHER hot dog to replace the stolen one and Emmy disobeys the dreaded "Nana" too....
That can cause Emmy to be sent to her room for a big ole doggy timeout!
So what does Emmy do?
She pouts.
a close up of poor little piffle while she pouts...
notice her horrid confinement conditions...
not one but TWO doggie pillows to cushion her bruised ego,
along with her toy babydoll (of which she has bitten off a leg)
most politically inappropriate I am thinking.....
for her part, I am sure that she thinks that this is the doggie equivalent of Guantanamo Bay, but fortunately for her The Littlest Princess and I both watch the Nanny on TV and we have been enlightened to the fact that a time out should be the same as your age.
Since Emmy is 1 yr old we give her 7 minutes for her time out.
It's that "dog years thing."
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