I let the second pineapple go about 2 weeks and it turned from green to gold almost overnight. The interior was much more golden than the first one. Interesting thing about this second one was that it had put out a new shoot on the bottom side so I cut that off and planted both the top foliage and this sucker. If both grow and produce, I’ll have gotten two new plants from this one mother plant which is also still looking good. That makes 13 plants now growing and us officially a pineapple plantation.

Joey and Mark came up and helped Nancy and I respectively. I had three dead trees that needed to come down. Two were pines down by the lake which had fallen over more than a year ago but were hung up in other trees such that they weren’t really any problem. One of those created a natural bridge over the path which gave it some character but over time sunk low enough to make the path unusable by some folk. The other dead tree was a fairly large oak right where I like to park the truck. I grew concerned that limbs or even the whole tree would one day crash down on the truck. Mark brought it down perfectly and cut it into firewood for George. Interestingly the oak turned out to be hollow for about half it’s length – the diameter of the tree was 2’ with an 18” hollow core. Squirrels had made several nests in the hollow. Of course the weather turned to rain making the job just a bit messier but we managed to get it all done in about 3 hours. While we were outside dealing with the trees, Joey was cleaning the top of the kitchen cabinets which we really can’t get to any more. So all in all, a good day.

Good progress on the neighbor’s house. All the windows and exterior window framing done and the compressed foam sheets installed over the particle board. Those are 4’x8’ compressed foam sheets, 3/4” thick, in a thin metallic sheath. Very light weight, felt like a pound or two at the most and could be cut as needed to fit around windows with a knife so they were a piece of cake to install compared to the particle board. The final outside layer is a thin, 1/2” concrete planking similar to Hardee board. This is a bit trickier to deal with and needs carbide or diamond saw blades to cut. Not sure how long that will take to install but guess at least a week or maybe the rest of August. At that point the exterior is nominally done. All of the old wall board, upstairs and down, has been removed so it’s basically an open shell at this point. I was the primary tear down guy on the second floor.

Nancy’s trip to NC is underway, quilt shopping extravaganza. I got to do lots of outside clean up that I can’t get away with when she’s here and also got all the tree hunks over to George’s firewood pile and all the trash wood burned. That was a several hour job in and of itself.

After a few days the pineapple picked up a bit more yellow so I decided to clean it. Delicious. I’ll leave the second one on the plant for another week then pick, clean and freeze. These two will go into fruit smoothies for a few weeks and the cut off tops will go into the garden for a future crop bringing the total there to eight. I don’t know whether new pineapples grow on the mother plants where I cut these off but suspect they don’t since the plant has put out new side shoots. If I can keep these all alive and producing, I should have pineapples on hand as needed – although none of the ones I put in the garden almost a year ago are showing any signs of producing fruit. They’re staying alive and taking up space in the garden but so far no real action.

New phase on the construction project. All of the particle board siding and window are installed. Next step – add exterior corner, window and door framing. They decided on using rough cut cypress for that and we happen to have a great old time saw mill about 45 minutes away. We were able to pick up about half the wood from their stock and ordered the balance for custom cutting and later pickup. About $1000 later we have all the 2×4’s and 2×6’s needed with lengths from 8’ to 16’ . It took a few days and one burnt out table saw for us to make all the 45 degree cuts, and to paint it all. Installation will actually be the easiest part of it – assuming all the cuts are accurate. Getting it all to fit together perfectly requires pretty good carpentry work – way over my pay grade – but George and Garret are absolutely up to it.

Between work at the house and keeping the jungle useable out to the dock takes up about 110% of my time so the garden started looking shabby as plants naturally died off. That process was hastened by a month long stretch of near triple digit heat and a rain deficit of about 90% from normal so I took a couple of days to catch up and get ready for the fall crops. One thing that jumped out at me is that the mystery vine and the sweet potato vines now take up about 25% of the total garden space. It’s hard to believe that the mystery vine originated with one seed from the compost pile so I’m guessing there were more that were hidden from view by the original vine. It’s now sporting a load of blossoms and I actually spotted one tiny, 3” long, melon. It’s green, shaped like a football and has distinct lateral stripes so I’m almost ready to declare it as a watermelon. I’ve bent my pick over the years trying to grow watermelons with zero success so it would be quite ironic if I accidentally produced a crop. If nothing else, when I pull out the vines, I’ll get a full load of compost 3 months later. Ditto the sweet potatoes. Each plant puts out an array of vines which grow longer and longer and even longer. I seem to recall that last time I grew them I swore I wouldn’t do it again – didn’t I?? In a couple of weeks I’m going to work my hands underground where the first ones were planted and see how they’re progressing where it counts.
Going to be a bachelor again next week.

Nancy and a quilting buddy are going on a road trip to North Carolina to explore quilt shops. Her eyesight or lack thereof, doesn’t seem to stop her activities much. She’s just gradually moved toward less challenging designs and every now and then endures the indignity of having to ask me for some pattern reading.

Wildlife observation. We have a resident family of three Sandhill cranes that wanders back and forth among my yard and the neighbors on either side giving them about 10 acres to cover. They were strutting about George’s this AM when I went over to water the garden and since they are used to me now intruding, we shared the space with no problems at all. I had noticed that one particular area of his field, a 20’x20’ patch, had been getting more and more torn up as if someone was hitting it with a tiller or garden hoe. Turns out it’s the Sandhills and they were pecking it vigorously obviously digging for food. I never was sure what they ate but it’s clear they’re digging for worms, grubs, or whatever else might be living in the ground. The part that surprised me the most was how deep they were digging. They have pointed beaks that look to be 12”-18” long and they were stabbing down the whole length of their beaks. You also have to wonder why they have chosen that one, average looking spot out of the large area equally available to them. I’m sure they know what they’re doing, it’s just interesting.

Got a nice surprise in the garden this morning. Remember me mentioning that New Zealand spinach is supposed to handle the summer heat? Well it didn’t and about a month ago I pulled out all the dead vines. That was the last of my greens until next November. As I was weeding that area today I noticed some bright new green just sprouting. Upon closer examination I saw that it’s the spinach rejuvenating. I don’t know if it’s sprouting from old rootstock or germinating seeds but whatever the source, it’s happening. And it’s happening in 95 degree, lots of sun weather. I let the last crop get totally out of control in terms of spread but will try to keep this better managed in hopes of having some blendable greens by the end of August – about 3 months before the kale and collards reclaim their control of the ninja. By control I mean thinning the plants much earlier and maybe transplanting some to places with some semblance of shade.

Well it’s time to fish or cut bait – referring to picking a pineapple. I checked the grocery store offerings again and for sure mine look identical in terms of size, color, and the size of the leaves growing out the top. I’ve also notice the plants have put out new sprouts from which I assume new fruit will form. That may also be a sign that the plant is ready to be shed of the old and start anew. I did a little research and learned that I should pick a fruit and then let it sit a couple of days before cutting into it. I also learned that a single plant will continue to put out new sprouts or pups and those in turn will eventually produce fruit (and more sprouts). There’s not a season and the plant will put out a fruit “when it feels like it” as opposed to any kind of schedule. So with new sprouts popping out and replanting fruit tops as we eat them, there can be an ever growing crop with fruit happening nearly continuously. They get most of their nutrition from the air so no need to fertilize or worry about the soil. Seems like the only danger is frost so I need to be sure to keep them nice and warm during the winter.

Getting ready for the fall tomato season. Checked and I have the seeds I want; Checked and compost pile #1 will be sufficiently cooked to heavily dose the tomato plants; checked and the row being solarized is heating up nicely so the nematodes should be crispy critters. The game plan is to plant the seeds in the house this coming weekend in preparation for a Labor Day planting in the garden. I also checked and I have plenty of squash and pole bean seeds for late September planting. When I remove the plastic from the row currently being solarized, I’ll move it to a new row where the squash will live so it’ll have a couple of months to cook. I’m still adding new material to compost pile #2 that will be part of the October planting. The way my system works is that when I move the compost from pile 1 to the garden, pile #2 becomes #1 and gets no more input. All new stuff goes into the new #2. Make sense? I get a new pile into the garden every 3-4 months or so, depending mostly on the weather.

I do have a large change coming in the compost generation area. A friend of George’s asked me if I wanted a pickup truck bed liner for a compost pile lining. It’s for a full sized truck, 8’ bed, and being black, should heat up nicely. I moved the contents of pile #1 to the garden and moved the bed into that location, drill drain holes, and will start the new compost in it.

Nancy made something new for supper – a Rueben Casserole. If you like Rueben’s you’ll like the casserole. She also put together a new clothespin bag so we have the fanciest one in the neighborhood if not the galaxy.

It’s looking more like this will be a Trump-Clinton election which complicates my voting this year. I’ve always had an easy choice but not this time. I can’t vote for Clinton and I can’t vote for Trump so I have to select a write in candidate. I don’t want the job so I won’t write in my name. I don’t think Nancy would be interested so that’s a non starter. My kids wouldn’t be interested and I probably wouldn’t vote for them if they were. Steve Spurrier could probably make my short list. I saw Harrison Ford in some movie where he was the Pres and managed to save Air Force One from some terrorists so that would put him on the short list too. I liked the guy that used to be the PBS Car Guy but he might be dead and probably wouldn’t be interested. Jesse Ventura won; Arnold Schartzenager won; Al Franken won so anything is possible. So you can see what a conundrum I’m facing – so many choices. I like that Elon Musk guy but I don’t think he was born in this country.

I have a mystery vine growing in the garden. I’m guessing it’s a melon of some sort since cantaloupe and watermelon residuals are often pitched into the compost pile. Lots of leaves so far but no blossoms. It popped up in a large unused area so I’ll just let nature take it’s course. If nothing else, the vegetation will end up as compost. When I’ve tried to grow melons in the past, they start out looking good but before any melons can mature, the critters find them. Maybe by accident we’ll have some luck this year.

One problem we have in Florida (and maybe everywhere else) is that over time car’s headlight covers cloud over so they lose effectiveness over time. It’s significant enough that you can be ticketed for it. I noticed it on the Toyota- even though it’s only 20 years old – but it looked like a larger job to replace them than I cared to entertain. Besides, I rarely drive that car at night anyway so it wasn’t a pressing issue. The other day I noticed my neighbor squirting something on his headlights and wiping them off with a small hand towel. I asked what he was doing and he said that his headlight covers were so bad he couldn’t safely drive at night and that someone had told him to clean them with Deep Woods Off, a mosquito repellent. I watched as they cleaned up like new in just a few seconds. The next time we got to Walmart I picked up a can – I was doubtful that it would work on mine but we can always use the repellent. Sure enough, it cleaned them up with a minimal effort.

Work continues on Garret’s house. The particle board siding is totally done on the ground floor and half finished on the second story. We should finish that part of the job this coming weekend. The new windows are installed on the ground floor. The interior, both floors, is mostly demolished to make way for a complete remodel. As we had hoped the studding on the second floor was, for the most part, good with no rot or termite damage. The afternoon heat makes it really tough going on a sustained basis. To me this is the hottest summer I can remember here – 95 degrees and “feels like” temps of 105 all this week.

Way too hot to fish although I may give the surf a shot on Friday. Nancy has a bridge game going in Palm Coast so I might take that opportunity to give it a try. But it is scary to think about being on the beach from noon to 3PM.

And, I’m calling the swarming ant attack over and done with. Haven’t seen one in the last three days – contrasted to the hundreds we were seeing between 5PM and 7PM every day. I don’t know if all the stuff we sprayed finally took it’s toll or that they all hatched and start another cycle but for now, relief.

Starting to see some progress on the house rebuilding project. The framing is mostly done except for potential wood rot on the second floor and we’ve started putting up the 4’x8’ particle board sheets, aka outside walls. Those go up quickly and give it a finished look as compared to just open framing. Putting up these sheets on the lower level is easy but it becomes challenging at the upper levels. We used a 2”x6” plank between two ladders as scaffolding but it takes two guys to handle the sheets on the ground and two on the scaffolding and it’s just very awkward and dangerous. George to the rescue. He came up with an idea for a mobile scaffolding using his pickup truck as the base. See the pic. It took us a day to build it and it works like a champ. We reached a big milestone this weekend when the south wall was completed in terms of finishing all the framing, restoration and installing the first layer of cover – particle board. Although this is a small wall, it had the most termite and water damage and was essential rebuilt 100%. The bad part of putting up the walls is that it gets hotter inside and I do mean hotter.

Too hot to fish.

Too hot to garden. The only thing surviving at this point are a couple of cherry tomato plants, eggplants, and a few pepper plants. No greens for the smoothies so that’s a bummer. Sweet potatoes seem to be doing just fine but we won’t really know on those for a couple of months.

I think we finally have the swarming ants under control. After I gave the jacuzzi enclosure another, super serious blast of powder it seems we’ve turned the corner. On Saturday there were maybe thousands in the tub; hundreds on Sunday; dozens on Monday and one or two stragglers on Tuesday.

TV still working although it hasn’t had to perform in seriously stormy weather. Update – worked fine for the past couple of days with plenty of rain and lightning. I’ve still got an itch to add another small amplifier inside the house to see if an extra 10db’s would pull any more stations out of the mud. Up until about 2 years ago we got channel 56 very well and then it disappeared. My neighbor still get’s it on occasion so I’m fairly sure it didn’t just turn off. A small, indoor amplifier costs about $10 so why not try.

Icemaker glitched but I fixed it in about 5 minutes – practice makes perfect.

And I’m not exactly sure how to tell when the pineapples are ready for picking. I checked out the one’s in Publix yesterday and they look exactly like ours – about the same size, color, and with the same size fronds coming out the top. I’d really hate to cut one off only to find it was not quite ready after nursing it along for over a year.

Officially the buggiest season ever. Highlights – I have an exotic spider living just outside one of the living room windows on the lakeside. It’s about 6” across and has big, swollen knees on each leg. It must be a female because this morning there are two tiny babies crawling over the mama. This is all outside the center window but there’s action in the other two. Wasps have started building nests and steered clear of the center window where the spider is king.

Since all this is going on outside, it’s interesting but something going on inside the house isn’t so interesting. Our back bathroom has been home for swarms of ants the past three days. As if by magic, they just appear with no obvious entry path. I’ve sprayed heavily with some serious bug spray and they all seem to be dying shortly after entering the room but it’s disconcerting, nonetheless. There will be absolutely none and then an hour later, a hundred flying around and quickly dying, mostly in the bathtub. I think they’re attracted to the large windows and are trying to get outside. They hatch in bursts – nothing for 6-8 hours and then hundreds over a couple of hours. We cleaned up the bodies last night about 7PM and checked again about 11PM and found none; but at 6AM there were 100’s dead in the bottom of the tub or the window ledges. It’s consistently happened from 4PM to 7PM. For the life of me I can’t figure where they’re coming from. I’ve sprayed every place I can think of and the fact that they live for only a few minutes after touching any surface or crevice tells me they are definitely making contact where I think they should but I can’t find a definitive source. So I have an exterminator coming. I hate that because the guy will try to sell me a contract and tell me how horrible it is not to have one. A humorous thing is that when swarming they are banging into the big window, trying to get outside. Outside on the window and window ledge are several lizards – I counted 6 one time – going crazy trying to get at the ants. The ants are trying to get out the window and the lizards are trying to get into the bathroom. They don’t get that there’s a pane of glass between them and their prey so they lash out their tongues while jumping from ant to ant. I suggested to Nancy that we catch a couple lizards and bring them in the bathroom but she didn’t jump all over that approach as I’d hoped so I didn’t mention the spider as another candidate. Update – the exterminator confirmed my belief that they are not termites. Termites are much smaller and have only two body parts whereas ants have three. That’s a big relief. They’ll come back tomorrow and do the whole house, indoors and out, with some kind of powder. This treatment will cost about $150 which is less than I expected. I have to be sure to have him avoid my pet spider.

And the week ended on a high note – a very, very, very close lightning strike knocked out our TV antenna amplifier. I’m not sure how much “togetherness” we can handle so this needs to be fixed pronto!!! We had TV antenna service a couple months back to restore our previously perfect signal and in one big boom, we are out of business. I knew immediately that the antenna signal amplifier had been fried so first thing Monday morning I tried to call the TV guy. The phone system kept telling me the call couldn’t go through and to try back later. After an hour of this we decided to go to Deland and visit the shop in person, mostly to emphasize how serious the problem was. The shop was gone, abandoned, no longer in business. We (Joey and I) decided we should try to find a new amplifier and fix it ourselves. Struck out at Radio Shack, Best Buy, Walmart and Lowes. I was resigned to ordering a replacement online and not having much help to install it when the time came and being without TV for at least another 3 days. One last call to ACE hardware in Pierson, literally 5 minutes from the house, scored. It was a different make with some interfacing issues but with Joey up on the roof and me taking the bits and pieces of the new unit and the old, we managed to get it up and running in just a few hours. The acid test was signal strength at night when we experience the most signal drop. No problem at all – in fact better than it has been for quite a while. I have to kluge up some kind of protective weather/bug shield and some minor cable cleanup but I’m labeling it a complete success.

Had a major plumbing success yesterday. For whatever reasons the water valve in both toilets started leaking at roughly the same time. Fixing leaky toilet valves is one of those jobs that should be really simple but somehow can turn into a nightmare. Personally I’d deal with it by just turning off the water supply valve at the toilet after the tank has filled then turning it on when it empties but my bride is not happy with that solution and wants it to work as intended, all the time. Went to Lowes and found shelves full of replacement parts with prices ranging from $8 to $20. The shelf area that appeared to be the heaviest shopped had a couple sitting there at $9 so I went for that model and got one for each toilet. I asked the sales assistant and he said they were all pretty much the same and he personally used the same one I selected. That made it feel right.
Armed with replacements, I decided to attack the front toilet more aggressively and actually fix/readjust the unit currently installed and leaking. I bent a couple of the pieces by hand and miraculously, the leaking stopped. Went to the back bathroom and tried a similar quick fix but no luck. I read the instructions on the replacement several times, very carefully. This is usually the step I omit. The replacement was a totally different design than the leaky one so it didn’t do any good to study the current installation. One thing I learned over the years is to make sure the tank is absolutely empty before removing the water feed line. Sounds simple and obvious but……….. Undid the water feed line and the old part came out easily in about 3 seconds. The new one was installed in under a minute and didn’t leak when I turned on the water again. That’s a big deal. The tank filled to exactly the right spot and turned the water off. Still no leaks. I flushed it for the first time and it came off perfectly. Job done.

Great birthday. Tom came up to the lake on Saturday. We went fishing early Sunday morning and caught a few, one worth talking about. Then Tina and Olivia came up and we headed for a new (to us) barbecue place at Palm Coast, beach side. We had seen this place hundreds of times but always decided that it didn’t make sense to eat barbecue at the beach when there are so many good seafood places. So I was surprised when Tom called and asked if I’d ever heard of this place and how it was ranked #7 in the nation or something. The most famous barbecue place I know of is in Austin, Franklin’s and that’s ranked #10 by the same ranker. It’s a tiny place with a sign that says bait, tackle and barbecue. I had been in there a couple of times to buy tackle and noticed that there was a window with a sign that said “order here” but I never had the impression barbecue was a real business here. It’s in a county park with a boat ramp on the intercoastal and I guessed most of their food business was to boaters who pulled in and grabbed some lunch. Holy cow was it good. We all had ribs and they were as good or better than any I remember and the sides were incredible. I had beets and goat cheese and smoked barbecue beans as my sides. Best beans I’ve ever had. We all came away with the same take on it – excellent.

For us, the storm named Colin has been much ado about nothing. I was hoping for a few inches of rain, less than the TV weather guys are saying, but still a nice, wet event. As we end the second day, there’s just about an inch in the rain gauge. We had a few short periods with fairly hard rain and some wind gusts, but more on the order of a typical rain storm than something with a name. Having said that, there was one garden casualty. We had a serious wind gust that blew over 90% of the corn. I promise – this is my last attempt at raising corn. Between critters and weather, it just doesn’t work here – unless you consider bulking up the compost pile as a positive. – update, make that 5” and add a couple of tomato plants to the blow over list.

What we were mostly concerned about with the storm potential was the vulnerability of the house we’re working on. It’s completely open on the ground floor and the second floor on the south end of the house. It could be a real mess with blowing rain, especially if the second floor gets soaked. We had hoped to get by with only a minimum rework on the top floor but this could be a game changer. Update, it looks ok. Nothing fell over and not too wet inside. George and Garett managed to get a plastic sheet across the open back side and it apparently did the job.

I think I mentioned that the cucumber crop was shortened by a return of the feared and dreaded nematodes. I had real problems a few years back but thought I had beaten them with massive infusions of compost over the past 5 years and selective solarization. Last year was nematode free which I thought was a permanent condition. Wrong. So I’ll solarize a couple of rows where the cuc’s and squash were growing – that means pulling all the plants and weeds and then covering with clear plastic for a couple of months. That heats up the soil enough to kill the nematodes 8-12” deep. I know it works but didn’t think I had to do it annually. So far the tomato crop is looking good and they are usually quite vulnerable to nematodes. I have them growing in a section fairly far from where I’m having the problem so I’m guessing the problem is local. Ditto green beans – those are doing quite well and are prone to nematode attacks.

I repeat – how is it possible that a great country like this with over 300M people, could come up with two losers as the finalists in the presidential race. I think I’ll just write in a name – maybe one of my blog readers. Obviously they’re an intelligent, astute, and discerning group.

Our trip to Alabama was really fun. We had programmed the GPS to his office in downtown Centreville and it guided us there unerringly. I’m fairly sure we never would have found it otherwise. This is RURAL, RURAL Alabama – about 20 miles from Tuscaloosa – lots of two lane, mostly unmarked roads so we were totally reliant on the voice in the box. We went by Si’s trailer and reintroduced ourselves to his dog, River and turtle, Tony. He’s on a small lake that’s loaded with bass and catfish and is about 100’ from his door to the water. What more could you ask for? We had a family style barbecue at Big Daddy’s and then got to our hotel in nearby Vance. The big surprise was that this place is in the middle of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, except that it’s sitting behind a new Mercedes manufacturing plant. Incredibly large and must employ thousands. Until we saw the plant, I had my doubts as to what kind of a place would be this far out in the woods. I’m sure 99% of the guests are visiting Mercedes. Very nice accommodations. I think we were both asleep before it got dark.

The small town and county where Simon presides as the Extension Agent has an annual lily festival to honor a particular variety that only lives locally in the Cahaba River. The river runs through a National Wildlife Refuge and we got to experience it all. There was a formal program which included several Alabama political figures, a Botany professor from Samford University who is the worlds foremost (and perhaps only) expert on this particular lily, and a presentation by Simon describing current and future 4-H programs. There was a luncheon which consisted of 3 long tables full of home made dishes – a pot luck kind of meal. There were probably over 100 people, maybe double that, but trust me, they had way more than enough food. You wanted to take a spoonful of everything just to try new things. We met his co-workers and others in the community who know Simon and listened to nothing but accolades of his work and how much they appreciate him being there. Many of the folks are close to our age and treated him like their own grandson. It was amazing to me how easily he fit into such a different environment.

We hit another of his favorite restaurants for dinner Saturday night and then breakfast on Sunday with Amy, his lady. Funny story on the Sunday breakfast – we made arrangements to meet them at a restaurant called the Sawmill – at least we thought it was the Sawmill – and programmed the GPS to guide us there. When you say “sawmill” in Alabamese it sounds like Saw-meal so you can imagine our surprise when before we got to the place, we passed a restaurant with a big sign that read SawMeal. What made it most confusing was that the GPS still had it two miles away. Should I stop at the Saw Meal or drive on looking for the Sawmill? Let’s just stop here and call Simon. Oops, no phone service. We are in RURAL Alabama. So we decided to just hang there at the Meal and hope we spot Simon either at the SawMeal or driving past to get to the Sawmill. We were early but they pulled in exactly on time.

Highlight of the return trip was breakfast/lunch at a place in Gainesville, the Flying Biscuit. I’m a bit of a biscuit Nazi so I couldn’t resist. Unquestionably the best biscuits I’ve ever eaten – and that’s a big deal for me. We bought a dozen to bring home and freeze. They’re still good albeit not quite as good as right out of the oven.

Quick garden highlights – Nematodes got the cucumbers; acorn squash made it for the first time in 10 years of trying; more green beans than we can possibly handle ourselves; picking cherry and plum tomatoes; cut down most of the collards and all the Tuscan Kale-bolted – sprayed the corn with Neem after finding some critters lunching and munching on it.