post freeze report

Well the freeze last week was not as hard as forecast but did inflict some damage – hammered the tomatoes and a bit of leaf damage on baby cauliflower plants. By and large everything else seemed to fare well. I’m going to do an experiment with the tomatoes and simply cut away the dead foliage. The fruit seems hard 5 days after the event and I’m thinking it would be a bit mushy and turning black if it had been killed. The question will be whether the plant can still mature the fruit with so much foliage damage. I’ve watered well and gone to a full chemical attack with regular fertilizer – don’t think this is any time for a wimpy organic. I’ll give it a week to show some improvement or just yank out the old and plant something new. Time is running out for winter crops but about 3 months away from planting summer stuff so I can’t dilly dally on making the decision one way or the other. Sure glad it’s back in the mid 70’s. Two days of winter is just a little much!

I don’t know what all of you do with your kohlrabi but we have a new favorite. Cut shoe string pieces and mix with cabbage to make an incredibly crunchy cole slaw. I used half a head of cabbage and one kohlrabi and a few tablespoons of Marie’s cole slaw dressing. Um, um good. We brought some to Tommy’s for New years day dinner and nobody complained so that was a good sign. Gave a couple to Wilma, Nancy’s bridge partner and she shredded them up with carrots. Unfortunately I only planted a couple dozen and they’re winding down. Have to get some more on the front burner for Fred’s visit although I have a few rows of Japanese Turnips that should fill the void.

Nature at this place never ceases to amaze me. Aside from the mouse in the trunk, George has a baby squirrel in a nest way up under the cover of his dock. But I think I beat all of these today. I started a project to put a set of motion lights on the driveway about halfway between the carport and the house. It’s really dark when walking from the car to the house and Nancy is a little reluctant to park up there after dark. The project is technically easy; pick up a hot line already in the carport and run a new circuit down to the tree where the motion light will be mounted. I already have a junction box mounted to a post at the carport so I figured the easiest way to deal with that end was to open the junction box and figure out which set of wires to splice onto. Imagine my surprise when I took the lid off the junction box and 6 or 8 tiny eggs rolled out along with some broken egg shells. The junction box has a cover and gasket so the only opening is a micro slot where the wires enter the box but something somehow got into that and laid a clutch of eggs. The eggs were white, round with a diameter of about 1/4”. Very tiny, very delicate. I had to dissect one to see what was inside and found a tiny lizard in some stage of development. You could make out the head and eyes and the general shape so I’m fairly certain that’s what it was. As I said there were several broken eggs so clearly something hatched and left the box. I’m guessing that the rest of these may hatch as well so I have them in a good spot in my shed.

political prognostication

I usually don’t write back to back blog entries, but it’s too cold to go out.

I want to make my political forecast before the Iowa caucuses so that I’m not biased by those results – which I think are meaningless this year. As a broad overview, there has never been a more motley crew running for as long as I’ve been politically aware. It makes me sad that between the two parties, there’s not one person I could really get behind. Of course It’s not likely I’d ever vote for a Democrat as they define themselves these days – in the 50’s, when the Democrats were far more conservative – think Southern Dem’s, Scoop Jackson – sure. But when the Democrats moved their base of operation to San Francisco, Boston, and New York, and drummed Joe Lieberman out of the party for being too conservative, they lost me along with most of the south.

That said, how in the world can the Republicans field a group with guys like an ex governor from Massachusetts, a thrice married, pro abortion, pro gun control New Yorker, and a guitar playing, aw shucks, Baptist minister from Hope Arkansas as their leading choices. You don’t win elections in Massachusetts or New York by being conservative. At least Rudy doesn’t back away and deny his past; Romney is a plastic guy and will say whatever it takes. He even looks like a Ken doll. I don’t count Fred Thompson as a real candidate and hope he can get his day job back. I do enjoy watching Ron Paul win the hearts and $$ of the non-voting crowd.

When all the dust settles, no doubt the dem’s will pick Hillary. The press will do their best to make it sound like there are other candidates, but trust me, it just ain’t so. The Clintons have money, organization, are ruthless and know where all the bodies are buried. End of story. I’m certainly happy about that and truly believe she’s the most beatable candidate they could field. I would be far more concerned about Obama and his ability to provide all the guilt ridden Dem’s a chance to wipe the slate clean on their racial past. One scenario I think about is Edwards dropping out and throwing his support to Obama. Reasonably sure that still wouldn’t do it but that would make the Clinton’s (and me) groan a bit. I can’t imagine anyone cares who Biden or Dodd would support. My guess is the reason they are in it at all is to collect money and maybe a shot at the VP slot regardless of who gets the eventual nomination. Biden could help Obama and I suspect that’s who he’ll throw the 3 voters he accumulates toward. Don’t think he’d be too interested in a slot behind Bill.

For the Republicans, as much as I don’t like him, McCain will be the winner. Given the choices, he wins by default. He benefits by any nasty world events that are sure to happen over the next year and is scruffy enough looking to win the trustworthy, honest guy vote. Prisoner of war, married 100 years to the same woman, Arizona home, maybe Episcopal or Methodist – nothing too out there, nothing too negative for most people. And I think he gets the dropout support. Fred Thompson will be the first to hang it up and will support McCain. Huckabee goes next and goes to McCain – no way he can support Romney. Game over. I guess the good news about that is he can for sure beat Hillary. He’ll be able to swing plenty of Democrats because many of his past positions were so Democrat – think McCain Feingold (supposed) campaign finance reform; an easy path for illegals to gain citizenship; and sufficient Bush bashing along the way. He’ll be a hold your nose pick of most Republicans – given the choice between him and Billary. I’m not going to predict a running mate, since he is so unpredictable, but if he proves weak in the South, Huckabee could make sense – kind of an Al Gore sort of choice. Good at Funerals and on the entertainment committee. It really doesn’t matter who Hillary chooses because we get Bill and he’d be a de facto VP. Probably a good chance to name an ethnic – how about the rev’s Jackson or Big Al Sharpton.

The one scenario that makes me nervous is Bloomberg getting into the race as a third party candidate. Perot gave us Clinton 1; Bloomberg could give us Clinton 2. That’s the one exception to my ABC theory – Anybody Beats Clinton.

Just my opinion.

And another “suspicions confirmed”. Dr. Frank, the big guru from the National Hurricane Center, just said that 6 of the 15 named storms this past season shouldn’t have been classified as tropical storms – too weak. He also said that for the last decade the NWS has been routinely categorizing storms as Tropical Storms which would not have qualified in prior years. And he also reiterated his position that the storms have nothing to do with any global warming and that the practice of naming smaller storms is done to support theories that the number of storms is hooked to global warming. I think most of us old guys in Fla have known that this storm categorizing thing has been over inflated so it’s nice to hear it from the expert.

winter’s here

We’re about to get winter just when I was gearing up for global warming. The forecast was for 30 degrees last night and 26 tonight. It was actually only 40 here so maybe it will only get to the mid 30’s tonight. I don’t necessarily think the forecast was wrong but rather believe we have a bit of a micro climate here due to the lake. It’s been warm all fall so the lake water temp is still in the 60’s and the ground is still quite warm. Also it was windy all night which tends to keep things warmer and more moist – picks up warm moisture from the lake surface. If we make it through this cool down, the next one could be the more damaging with cooler lake water and cooler ground temps. Just to be safe I picked a few heads of broccoli, cabbages, and enough lettuce to last a week. I covered up all the veggies which I think are vulnerable, picked all the grapefruit and will just hope for the best.

Another first for the garden – cauliflower. I have never grown cauliflower and it seemed to me that maybe they wouldn’t do well here since no heads had appeared 90 days after planting. Then early last week the mini head formed. Within 3 days there were heads forming on all and the first one had more than tripled in size. So I now know that once they start coming on, they make up for lost time. Lots of little snow peas now so those will be hitting the frying pan in a few days.

We had a nice New Years holiday and for the first time in years, actually made it past midnight. We usually celebrate when they do in Europe and are tucked away in bed by 10 PM. This year we had an early dinner at a very nice restaurant with a good friend and then drove down to Tom’s house to attend his New Year’s Eve gala. It was a nice group of people and we had a fun time. My favorite was watching Tina’s chocolate fountain and a little fella who was mesmerized by it. I think he was 5 or 6 and started slowly by picking up a pretzel and correctly holding it under the fountain. That worked so well he picked up a cookie and repeated the procedure. After a while he was dunking stuff – cookies, veggies, fruit, whatever was handy – with both hands and his face was getting more and more smeared and covered with chocolate. Finally he couldn’t stand it and stuck both hands – no fruit, no pretzels, no cookies, just the hands – and started sucking on his fingers. All the adults – except for me – were engaged in some kind of party game so I was able to witness this guy getting away with something that would have horrified his parents. What he didn’t realize was the evidence all over his face.

Gator game – what Gator game???? Sure glad I switched to the Missouri Tigers.

Christmas summary

Had a very nice Christmas at Tom’s. Simon got me a Mizzou cap which I am learning to wear without worrying what people will think. I just pretend it’s a Gator cap. Only kidding – I’ll wear it with pride – assuming Tommy decides to attend next fall. If he changes his mind, I’m back to my Gander Mountain cap. Joey got me a signed copy of a book in which he is mentioned and in which Indian River Cruises gets some prominent page time. A client of his writes these Fodor type travel books and did one on the Central Florida Coast. Joey helped her with some ideas and photo’s so the book has a nice personal touch for us. I also got the worlds nicest Sudoku book – so nice that I hate to write in it. Nancy got me a bar of soap designed specifically to be used after cleaning fish. No doubt I could use dozens of bars but I wonder what there is about it that focuses on fish cleaning. From the same source she got Simon a bar that is supposed to repel mosquitoes and Tom a camp soap that works in cold water, hard water, and even salt water. Tom got us tickets to the UCF – UCONN basketball game later tonight so we’ll drive down shortly and spend the front end of the weekend there. That should be fun although I’m guessing UCF will not be much of a match for UCONN unless maybe part of the plan is to have UCONN partying and laying out by the pool in our 80 degree weather. That could work. Joey got us a gift certificate to Karlings, one of our favorite restaurants and he also plans to treat the whole family to PF Chang’s in the near future – when we can all synchronize our times and travels to let it happen. That became even more difficult when Tom got Tina a cruise to Cozumel and I got Nancy a trip to NY to visit Chris.

Simon got saxaphone lessons starting right after the first of the year. He already has a sax and has been trying to master it on his own. His goal is to be good enough to make the marching band next year. Glad he’s doing it there and not here! I’d have him practice down on the dock since I have deeply ingrained memories of Chris learning the Clarinet.

One of the more unique gifts was the Key Lime tree that Joey and Mark got for Tom and Tina. That should be the gift that just keeps giving and the new source for key lime pies and Corona toppers.

I think my biggest surprise gift was from Chris. He got me one of the old timey, manual pasta makers. It’s a bit of an inside joke. I loved the one we had in Utah and when he and I spent time together making chicken cacciatore with home made pasta. Well we made a mess usually so Nancy hated the machine and somehow it never made it from Utah to Florida. An automatic pasta maker showed up but it just didn’t come close to matching what we made with the manual machine. I haven’t made the cacciatore since in protest but I guess now I’ll have to resurrect the recipes – that is when Chris visits – and assuming the mess doesn’t doom it from the start.

All in all, there were just way too many gifts to remember – lots of games, clothes, movies, books – and it took us all a couple hours, literally, to open them. Waste management will have to put on a special truck to haul away the wrappings just from their house.

Toyota Mouse

More about the mouse later. Keeping with the highs/lows format and starting with the highs – Attended another Christmas program in Port Orange. This time we were treated to Brenna and the singing Cubs at Sugar Mill Elementary. I’m sure that without her voice, the 40 or so member group just wouldn’t have sounded as good. There was a chime group that played an instrument that looked like a giant tuning fork with a built in clapper. To play it they would slap it so the clapper made contact with the tuning fork. Nice sound. Another high point was a solo by a first grader. Apparently they had done a dress rehearsal earlier in the day and she totally froze so about a half hour before the real performance started and the crowd was about half seated, her father warmed her up and she seemed to do fine. Still you were holding your breath when it came her turn to actually perform. Her dad accompanied her on the guitar and clearly you could see he was a professional musician and probably played in a band. At first she had a little trouble positioning herself for consistent microphone use but once she got past that – which I’m not sure she even knew was problem – she belted out a nice Christmas song – a new one I’d never heard. It was a fairly difficult song with multiple full octave or more jumps but she nailed every jump. Her name is Chloe Moran and I predict that you’ll here more from her in about 10-15 years

More good news – little Tommy (all 6′ of him) got a monster score on his recent ACT test. The test was very important to him because the University of Missouri requires a score of 29 for direct admission into the School of Journalism. He scored 32 which puts him in the 99th percentile. I’m fairly certain that was a higher score than his dad earned oh so many years ago. I think they also use the ACT test to screen for cashiers at Wal-Mart. To get that job they must score less than 10.

I think it’s good news that the lake is super clear these days. It’s clear as in Deleon Springs kind of clear. My guess is that since we’ve had so little rain for so long that particles normally contained in rainwater and runoff from the land are a far less piece of the total mix and the underlying springs are now the main source of water. It makes for tougher fishing but it’s interesting to be able to look down and see the fish, especially when a monster bass swims by.

On the other side, we missed Olivia’s Christmas program where her orchestra performed. Olivia is now mastering the clarinet and we would loved to have seen her in action. Unfortunately we had a scheduling conflict with Brenna’s performance and we had made that commitment earlier. I have a feeling there will be plenty of concerts ahead in the future.

Would a mouse in the trunk of the Camry count as a negative. Nancy had left a bag of clothes in the trunk and a mouse somehow got in and decided that, with some modifications, it would make a great nest. I honestly can’t figure out how he got in but there’s no mistaking a mouse nest made from the felt lining in the trunk. We have a trap baited with peanut butter sitting in the trunk now. First day did not net a taker so chances are he’s already found a better home. update – this is going to blow you away. This morning Nancy and I took off for Costco so I loaded a couple of coolers into the trunk to carry cold stuff. The trunk was completely empty and the mouse trap untouched. So I removed it. We loaded up at Costco and came home. After unloading the coolers, lo and behold there was mouse nest, very large and very visible in the trunk. So in the couple of hours we were gone – 9 AM until 2 PM – the mouse had built a nest probably using cushioning from the seats or something. If that wasn’t enough, there were half a dozen baby mouselets in the nest. No hair, eyes shut. So not only had she created the nest but had hatched a clutch. She reluctantly left the nest and hit somewhere so I removed the nest and waited for her to return so I could throw a towel or something on top to remove her. She came out and was certainly pissed off but I was unable to catch her. A bit later I saw her out on the lawn looking for the nest so clearly she can get in nd out with no trouble. I loaded up a couple of traps and will get some poison to finish the job but she looks like a smart mousey to me.

And the real bad news – seems I’m now sharing the cucumbers with some worms. We’d been harvesting really nice cucumbers for a couple of weeks but several of the ones picked this week were “occupied”. So I guess not only am I share cropping with George, I’m sharecropping with critters.

Highs and lows

Last week had some highs and lows.

We visited the Stetson Mansion which was open to the public for a few weeks. Historically the mansion was built back in the 1880’s by Stetson, the hat guy. Deland was the winter home and they spend about 6 months of the year not too far from here. The mansion is about 8000 SF, 3 stories, and had fallen into a state of disrepair over the years. A couple of guys bought it 2 years ago for $500K and decided to restore and remodel. They elicited the help of the Deland Art Museum and the specialist on interior decorating from the Museum. Key to the project was the idea to solicit suppliers to donate materials and labor in exchange for free advertising. Companies like Hunter fans, Sherwin Williams paints, Anderson Windows, Viking appliances – jumped on to create a showcase which they can use in advertising for a year. The result is mind boggling. The most interesting combination of detailed restoration and totally modern remodeling. To give you an idea of the scope of the project – when it started there was one old timey bathroom; just one in the entire place. The finished product has 11 incredible bathrooms. We were lucky to hear about it before it was closed to the general public. As of today, it’s a personal residence and may be open to the public from time to time as the owners see fit. It sounds like the grounds, a work in process, will be available for special events such as weddings.

Early in the week our great nephew, Sean, called and asked us if we would come to his school’s holiday performance. He plays in a bell group. Not sure if you call that a bell band, bell orchestra or what. We drove over and really enjoyed the concert. Sean is really quite good and was the only bell ringer that played in every piece they did and switched positions from song to song. Melissa told us that the Bell program was so successful they were raising funds to add another octave of bells. I was blown away to learn that was a $7000 investment. She also said that to get a single bell refurbed was $100 so these are no regular Santa Claus bells. Brenna asked us if we’d go to her performance this week so we’re in for another treat this week. Seeing the kids grow up like this is a double edged sword – great to see them developing into such well rounded kids; not so great to realize how much older and bigger they’re getting each year.

So those were the high spots.

The lows were oh so low. I’ve been bragging up my garden and relating how well things are going. Well, unfortunately the zucchini has not been looking all that great for a couple of weeks after a gangbuster start. Turns out we have the feared and dreaded Squash Mosaic Virus. It’s virtually incurable and could also infect other veggie types including the cuc’s, tomatoes, and future crops for years. I called several horticulturists and learned that, more or less, there is nothing I can do once plants are infected. No cure. No chemicals, drugs, no hope. What I learned is that there are some varieties of veggies that are hybrids specially developed with virus resistance and there are sprays which, if you spray prior to the virus hitting, can keep the plants safe. You have to spray as soon as the seeds germinate and the first green sprouts up and then keep up the spraying all the time. The virus is spread by aphids and once an infected aphid, even one, bites into the plant – it’s history. We’ve been picking plenty of cuc’s but all of a sudden the plants are looking piqued and I know they’re doomed. Luckily none of the leafy stuff is impacted and the tomato variety I planted is highly resistant to virus. Twice before I had tried to grow green peppers but within week of planting, they all crashed. All the horticulturists said that green peppers would be most affected and I can verify that.

The other low for the week occurred yesterday. We had a cold front march through about 5 AM which was forecast to bring the threat of tornados. About a year ago I bought a weather radio after some fairly close tornado events. I never used it – in fact never turned it on – and had stored it away. Of course the box with the instructions has been lost in the shuffle so when I retrieved it Saturday night, I found out that there’s more to it than just turning it on. It has to be programmed for a specific region which is a 6 digit coded address. I went ahead and plugged it in and vowed to work on programming it Sunday when I could find the box or otherwise get the instructions for programming. Turns out it has a pre-programmed default which tells it to issue an alarm if a tornado alert is issued anywhere – where I think anywhere means anywhere in Florida. It worked and about 5 AM the major league alarm goes off. We woke up in a flash and couldn’t remember exactly where I had set the radio – in the bathroom where a plug was available. luckily I hadn’t installed batteries so when the power plug was pulled it shut up. We turned on the TV and learned that, sure enough, there was a tornado alert active but it was for somewhere over near Tampa. So the good news was that it worked; the bad news is that I was wide awake at 5 AM on a semi false alarm. Needless to say, I got hold of the area code information and programmed it to only alarm us when Volusia County was in the threat area. I also put in batteries and leaned how to turn off the alarm. I probably won’t remember that part if it goes off 6 months from now and will just yank out the batteries.

garden update

The garden is going gangbusters. We’ve been picking green beans for a couple of weeks so they’re about played out. I won’t plant more green beans until next April. The cucumbers are coming on strong and unless we hit a freak freeze, will be more than both our families can handle without going into cucumber overload. The variety is brand new and totally burpless with no bitterness at all so you eat them without peeling. Can you do anything with cucumbers aside from cutting them up in salads? We picked the first cabbages this week and will have enough to last through this month at least. Could pick a kohlrabi any time now and that crop too will carry us through December. Little heads are forming on the broccoli which means we’ll start cutting that soon after the first of the new year. Probably pick a few heads of lettuce next week and then right on through until late spring. I plant new lettuce on more or less a continuing basis so once they start maturing, there are plenty behind them. I’m actually planting 5 different lettuce varieties so we’re going into the salad season with a nice future ahead. Plenty of little green tomatoes so we could be into those before Christmas but I’m guessing right after the first of the year. Blossoms just starting on the snow peas so that too will be a late Dec – early January start.

Our cousin Martha suggested that a new popular veggie in California is Broccolini which she described as a replacement for broccoli raab. I searched all my catalogs, and no seeds available. I learned on the internet that broccolini is a cross between broccoli and Chinese Kale developed in Japan. So far, no luck locating a source for the seeds. I can get the Chinese Kale and the picture shows it looks like broccoli raab so maybe I’ll try that (or not).

So far it looks like the soil enrichment process is working. Each time I start a new garden section I thoroughly go through and de-rock it down at least 8”. Then top with a 6” layer of yard mulch – chipped up bushes – a 40# bag of composted manure and a 40# bag of peat. There is no doubt that when I plant in the area that received this treatment, it’s far superior to the areas previously planted. So by spring, I will have done this process twice for 100% of the garden. Then plan now is to add another 100-200 SF of garden area in the spring. At that point we should have enough space that we’ll be harvesting year round and it shouldn’t require that much attention to the soil itself. When I pulled out the first bean patch, the soil was rich, black and soft. Prior to all the work on it, that same spot was sand, sand, and more sand.

Now I’m thinking chicken coops. Think eggs, wings, and chicken poop. If I was still tying flies, it would be a no brainer

Blues are bitin’

After a great Thanksgiving with Tom and his family, we took off for a week at Flagler Beach. The weather couldn’t have been nicer – low 80’s daytime; low 60’s at night. I fished my heart out while Nancy quilted and caught up with TV on the big flat screen installed since our last visit. I knew the bluefish should be running this time of year and had prepared for the season while in Jersey this summer. There I was introduced to a special bluefish rig using finger mullet for bait. I caught nothing with the rig in Jersey but it was technically appealing and I knew it would work given the right conditions. When I purchased a bag of finger mullet on Saturday, I looked around Big Al’s Bait and Tackle shop to see if they had any of the rigs. I described it to Big Al and he explained in detail why that rig might work in Jersey but would never work in Florida. I’m thinking that since the same fish that were cruising the surf in Flagler in November were probably in the Jersey surf in September and if they would hit the rig in Jersey, surely they’d like it in Florida. Sure enough on Sunday I started banging the Blues big time. I got 22 in just a few hours – all small but still, lots of fun. For the rest of the week I caught blues every day including a few that went maybe 4lbs. Along the way a few sharks including a couple 3′ sand sharks – just the right size for nipping toes – and a few small whiting. By the end of each day, I was totally worn out from casting my giant surf rig and hauling in fish – mostly casting I guess.

Found another great eating spot while there. We passed this shacky looking place and thought it was a fish market. Turned out that the Flagler Fish Company is indeed a fish market but also a restaurant. The menu ran the gamut from Salmon Oscar to fish tacos and all included some really exotic sides – for example portabello, tomato, asparagus salad. We ate there twice and the second time I tried the cole slaw which without question was the best cole slaw I’ve ever eaten. If you want one of the fish entrees, you pick it out and watch it being cleaned so no question about what kind of fish it is or how fresh.

On Friday we left the beach and headed straight to Joey’s for the annual Christmas boat parade. It was damp and windy – I mean windy – but the invited guests were lots of fun and the catered barbecue excellent so what’s a little wind and a few waves. A great finish to a great week.

When we arrived home, found a nice email from Little Tommy saying he’d been accepted to FSU. We called and learned that of the 4 applications submitted, he’d been accepted by 3 and would hear on the last one on Feb 28. Of course it’s Florida that is keeping the suspense up. Missouri, FSU and UCF all jumped at the opportunity to land him. My first choice is naturally Florida and if Missouri beats Oklahoma tonight and stays #1 in the nation, they would be my next choice. Even though Chris got his Master’s from FSU, I just can’t move them any higher than 4 on my list.

weather change

Breaking out the winter wardrobe. The cold front that moved in yesterday has dropped the early morning temp below 50 which is my pain point. That means long sleeve shirts, sweat shirts and pants, and lined jeans. Wooly socks. Put away the shorts and flip flops. I have really jumped into the jungle clearing now since the cool weather puts down the bugs and lets me work at my normally fierce pace without breaking a sweat.

I need another month of warm weather to bring in the warm weather crops – the squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans. I think I’ll make it on everything, especially if I start thinking green tomatoes. About half the garden is in winter crops and by Christmas that will be up to 100%. Up until now the garden has been a nice hobby but now I have to get serious about it. I don’t normally go to the grocery store and when I do, I hit the wine aisle or the deli while Nancy does the real shopping. For some reason this week we were in a big hurry and Nancy told me to go over to the produce section and pick up a green pepper. While there I happened by the broccoli and was blown away by the price – $2.50 for a small head. I continued scanning prices and noticed that a small head of cauliflower was $2.89. Wow, but the real show stopper was a small package of turnips. Turnips are something you should get for free or at least have to get a service cart to move a dollars worth. The package couldn’t have been a pound and was $3.09. They didn’t have any snow peas or sugar snap peas so I can only imagine what they’re going for. All of a sudden I view my garden through a different set of glasses. I’m looking at $100 worth of Broccoli and cauliflower alone. With no exaggeration, there will be several hundred dollars worth of goodies coming out of the garden between now and Christmas and just as much between Christmas and April Fools Day.

My next move is to start some exotics. Exotics are vege’s that nobody has ever heard of. I have one semi- exotic now – kohlrabi. A friend put me onto those in Salt Lake about 30 years ago. I noticed that they now have purple kohlrabi but I’m growing the conventional white ones now. In my sights are purple and orange cauliflower and something called Romenesque. Romanesque is a cauliflower looking veg but instead of a rounded head, this is a bizarre, peaky, swirly kind of lime green green head. And I’ll move on to the less widely known lettuce varieties, of which there are literally hundreds. In a nod to Nancy, I’ll put in collard greens with the understanding that I don’t have to eat them.

new pet etc

The weather patterns finally changed and we’ve moved hard into fall. That means that wave after wave of cold fronts move in from the northwest every couple of weeks. Generally each one gets progressively stronger with frost happening usually in Dec and January. For the past week it’s been dry, clear, and cool. We’ve gone from slightly above average, mid to upper 80’s, down to a below average mid 70’s with night time temps in the 50’s. A really welcome change but I could still use a month with slightly higher temps. It’s been so cool that I finished up the garden, working a piece at a time, and have it about 90% planted out now. This week I put in peas and lettuce and will finish off with a couple rows of beets. Should be doing the first harvesting next week – string beans. Tangerines turning orange; grapefruit turning yellow – what could be better. This temperature drop sweetens the fruit just at the right time. Greyhounds.

Something quite interesting and surprising happened the past two days while working the garden. What I’ve been doing is digging down about 8-10” with a hand tool and picking out rocks and gravel by hand. Real drudge work. To give you a feel for the amount of gravel – an area of maybe 10 SF gets me a full wheel barrow full of gravel and I’ve done maybe 80 SF in the past week. I’m guessing that’s 400 lbs of gravel. I use the gravel to fill in low spots in the driveway so that’s a bonus. Anyway, yesterday I’m digging down to loosen up the ground and my hand is deep in the dirt when I wrap around something soft. It was a shock to the system when I pulled out a toad – living and breathing. He (or she) was quite alive and seemingly living under ground. No apparent entrance or exit hole. I pitched him a few feet and he just sat there watching me. I had also unearthed a couple of insects and he quickly gobbled them up. The next morning I return to the same general area and there he is a few feet away. I started digging and he hopped over closer and waited for me to dig up more insects which he quickly dispatched. So I now have a pet toad. Honestly, when I go to the garden now, where ever he is, he hops over to me. I wonder if I grabbed him up and fed him to my pet bass…………. Nah, couldn’t do it we’ve already bonded and maybe now that I’ve dug him up he’ll return the favor and gobble up whatever bugs are attacking the cabbage.

Funny story. Nancy has a euphemism she used with the kids when it was time for them to go to bed. She would say “it’s time to go to Lilly White’s Feather Ball”. I always assumed it was something her mother or grandmother had used on her as a youngster. And it was. She said it conjures up images of clouds and white feathers and sleepy kind of things. Last night she asked me if I was familiar with the term as a kid and I told her no, that it was something I assumed was a New York thing or maybe a German thing since her mother and Grandmother were German. The reason she was asking was that a friend of hers in Salt Lake, Barbara Jones, had been commissioned (I think) to write a children’s book and was thinking of using “lilly White’s Feather Ball” as the title. She had asked Nancy if she knew the origin, I assume for copy write purposes. Barbara is very creative and I guess the book would somehow hook to a line of fabric or maybe a quilt pattern. Anyway, I suggested that Nancy Google “Lilly White’s Feather Ball” to see if maybe there was already a book with that title. She did and found that Lilly White was a stripper in NY and used a feather ball as a dance prop. Can’t wait to get a copy of the kid’s book and see the material. Wish I could find a picture of Lilly to put on the blog.