We picked up a new computer monitor last week and ran into a cable interface problem with it. Seems we’re always playing technology catch-up. Tom to the rescue. He had just the right adapters to make it work and came up to help (do) with the installation. We didn’t really need a new monitor but a larger one would be nicer for Nancy when she’s studying one of her quilting sites. It’s 27” vs the 24” unit we’ve had for several years. I was doubtful that small an increase would be even noticeable but when I saw them side by side in Costco, that doubt was erased.

About 4 months ago I mentioned that I was trying a variety of tomato called Rutgers which was the original “Jersey” tomato. Nancy picked them up at a local nursery when my planned crop of Celebrity was washed out. I didn’t have much hope for them since they are not a disease resistant, nematode resistant variety and that normally spells death here. They survived way too much water early on and the first fruit that started arriving on the scene a month ago rotted quickly -not sure if it was the wet ground or a boring critter but it wasn’t looking good. Then a couple made it and now I’m picking them regularly, as soon as they start breaking – turning color. Shape wise they’re ugly but ripen into really large, dark red, delicious tomatoes. I’ve already got my spring tomato seeds planted but will have to buy again for the fall and will order a pack of Rutgers seeds for sure.

I really do think one of the pineapples is putting on some new growth – maybe just wishful thinking. Where my head is now is to just let them do their thing for the next two months while there’s a chance for uber cold weather and then transfer them to the garden. That moves them into the community property realm but gives them more space and more sun. I now have six of them in a large patio pot so the first transplant will be the first three.

My Chinese greens are big enough to start harvesting for smoothie purposes. I did typhon first and followed up with tatsoi. Both tasted about the same (to me) as any other greens I’ve used. I put in so much different stuff that it’s impossible for me to distinguish any particular ingredient except maybe the pineapple. The typhon is light in color compared to most of the greens I use so the drink ends up slightly less green. What I’m hoping is that it stands up better to heat than the classic winter greens. If so, between that and the New Zealand spinach, I should be able to have greens year round.

Started spring planting including peppers and three types of tomatoes; cherry, plum, and regular rounds. I usually wait until the end of January but I’m forever the optimist that the globe is really warming. That, plus I have a collection of devices designed to protect transplanted seedlings from freezing if needed. The most common mistake I make is moving immature seedlings into the garden and all the garden elements gang up on them at once. So the plan this year is to let them get bigger and stronger under my watchful eye on the porch before transplanting. That means an earlier start. I also started another row of carrots and cabbage seeds directly in the garden to extend the winter season on into April. We got a good rain soaking after that and a forecast for above average temps for the next 10 days so I’m feeling good about their chances.
Lot’s of small birds showing up in the garden so it must be some migratory thing. This morning I was greeted with a large covey of quail, a couple of small woodpeckers, cardinals and jays. No robins yet. The woodpeckers hammer away at tomato stakes and the bean trellis posts; the others just peck around the rows, I assume eating little bugs or seeds.

It’s possible, not for sure, that one of my pineapple tops is rooting or at least growing. Nancy bought two more so I whacked off the tops and planned to plant them in the same container where the first three are residing. In doing so I carefully examined the ones planted a couple of weeks back and I think, think, that there is a micro leaf starting up from the center of one of the originals. We routinely grew them back in the early 70’s but neither of us remember much about it other than they did grow and we did harvest edible fruit. I wasn’t into horticultural details back then, I guess. The other thing about pineapples is that I’ve been told they are bromiliads. I have plenty of flowering bromiliads in the jungle and treat them as semi air plants; ie they don’t really put out much of a root structure – just enough to hang on – but rely on airborne stuff for sustenance rather than roots. I’ll let you know how this experiment progresses- (or doesn’t).

Bachelorhood is looming again. Joey and Mark are taking Nancy and Mark’s mother on a four day cruise starting Sunday. The refrigerator is filling up with small containers of left overs to sustain me over the stretch. I haven’t decided yet how I’ll wile away the time but suspect there’s a surf fishing trip or two on the horizon. It’s been too wet to consider kayaking on the Tomoka. This is the middle of the “dry season” but not so much this year.

One thing I’ve noticed this year is that (I think) there’s a silver lining to Obama care. Before Obama Care, doctors’ offices were jammed and it wasn’t unusual to sit an hour in a full waiting room. Now, they’re almost empty and you get right in, on schedule, with your appointment date. I think this is a result of folks being steered toward doctors approved by their new insurance company; another way of saying it is that folks can’t necessarily go to the doctor’s they’ve used in the past. I think I’ve also spotted another disappointment with the new system. It was supposed to take care of the problems with overcrowded emergency rooms. All of those uninsured folks were supposed to now go to a regular doctor and leave the emergency rooms for emergencies. Maybe Deland and Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach are different, but those emergency rooms still look like mob scenes with runny nose kids. Even with blood dripping, it takes hours to get to a doc via the emergency room.

The potential freeze last night never materialized. I went ahead and covered the tomato plants since they’re at peak production right now but this may be the last time. The forecast being clear for the next 7-10 days in terms of frost or freeze potential and the tomatoes will probably have peaked by then.

Simon is off again with a buddy heading down the Suwannee River; this time in a canoe instead of kayak and this time planning to run from where he left off last time to the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 75 miles. As luck would have it they’ll be doing it in the coldest weather so far this winter. It will probably be close to freezing where he’ll be. I can visualize the trip being 3-5 days depending on how much sightseeing they do. I talked to him a few hours into the trip and he said there was a nice 5 mph current so they could make good time if they want.
I think I owe an apology to the armadillo’s. I’ve been blaming them for rooting up the periphery of the garden every couple of days. It still could be them but they are so selective and non destructive that I have my doubts. That plus for the past couple of days I’ve seen a flock of birds pop up from the garden when I walk over in the morning. I don’t get close enough to see what kind of birds they are and they won’t come back while I’m anywhere close. I kind of think they’re doves but can’t be sure. I tried waiting them out and was surprised to see a young woodpecker attack the bean trellis and a blue jay land on the fence but the larger flock I see fly off doesn’t reshow.

I have twenty celery seedlings nearly ready for transplant to the garden. I can probably hold off another couple of weeks but not much longer than that. The problem is that I don’t have the space available for them. So how is it that I’ve gotten into this conundrum. Celery seeds are very slow germinating and then grow slowly so you need to start them quite a while before actually transplanting them. I timed the seed planting to be consistent with a row of tomatoes crashing – when the tomatoes crashed/froze, the celery would be ready to take their place. The problem is that the tomatoes have not crashed as planned. That’s a good news, bad news thing depending on whether you are a tomato plant or a celery plant. It’s supposed to get cold the end of this week but it doesn’t look to me like it will generate frost. To complicate it just a bit more, I have 4 rows of tomatoes but only one of them is in the designated celery patch. It’s a row on the wet side of the garden, the lake side, that runs east and west. Celery tolerates wet ground better than most plants so I don’t want to plant it on the dry side, especially this season when we still have soggy soil.
Picked the season’s first broccoli.

Added a new green element to the salad mix. In addition to lettuce, spinach, beet greens, and chard add pea leaves. The snow pea and sugar snap pea plants are now topping the 7’ trellis and as well as the peas, you can eat the delicate stems and leaves, either raw or lightly stir fried. I never tell Nancy until she’s finished eating and saying how good it was. Then I drop the bomb. I’m probably a week away from (surreptituously) adding the chinese greens into the mix.

Simon was back home Friday night. They did a long day on Thursday to make the last campground before the Gulf of Mexico in the town of Suwannee. It was freezing cold and the campground turned out to be non existent but a kind senior citizen gave them shelter for the night. More on that next post.

Tried a new smoothie combination that was awesome. You’re stomach will do flips when I give you the ingredient list but it was very tasty to me. For starts the green was kohlrabi greens; the fruit was strawberries and pineapple, both frozen solid, and half an Arkansas Black apple; the miscellaneous items were walnuts and old fashioned rolled oats. The liquids were cran-pomegranite juice and almond milk. I’d give you the amounts of each but I never measure anything – just go with your gut. The Arkansas Black was a nice addition courtesy of Tom and Tina – part of my Christmas present this year. I liked it so much I made another one the next day with a minor variation, substituting kale for the kohlrabi greens and eliminating the walnuts. The latter change was only because I ran out of room. It was every bit as good. I honestly think it’s the pineapple that throws it over the top for me.

I noticed something interesting in the garden. The new oriental green I’m growing, Tyfon, aka Holland Greens, must be incredibly tasty. To bugs. I have it planted with Swiss Chard on one side, Rosemary and Thyme on the other and very close to spinach and lettuce. The Tyfon leaves are peppered with tiny bug holes while all the others are untouched. The bugs must be really tiny because I see no activity at all, none on the leaves; none hovering over the leaves; nothing but the tell tale holes.

I made a kohlrabi salad the other day and it was not a big hit (with Nancy or me). I cut the kohlrabi into strips about the size of french fries, chopped up an onion, a little salt, a little pepper then marinated in good olive oil and vinegar. Where I made a mistake was using balsamic vinegar instead of a cider or other clear vinegar so it took on a brownish, unappetizing look. I decided to give it one more try and put down a layer of green, baby kohlrabi leaves, a layer of sliced red onion, then a layer of french fry cut kohlrabi bulb. This time I used apple cider vinegar. It certainly looked more appetizing but would it taste better? Where I’ve used raw kohlrabi bulb chips before is in vegetable platters where it sits along side carrot strips and celery to be dipped in ranch seasoning. Everybody loves it but nobody has any idea what it is. I plan to try it this year as a substitute for mashed potatoes. It’s a fun veggie to grow so I’d like to find a way to prepare it that turns my bride on. The verdict is in on the salad – very good. The leaves were a nice touch. They started out light green but after soaking in the oil and vinegar for a few hours they turned darker and brighter. Next time I’m going to mix in a few sliced radishes to really colorize it.

Possible freeze/frost Thursday morning. I’ll go ahead and try to cover up the tomatoes but don’t think it will get cold enough to bother anything else. I’ll pick a load of cherry tomatoes just in case. Between George and us, we’re probably picking a quart a day but the same plants are still loaded with green ones and new blossoms.

At midnight on New Year’s eve, out here in the woods, we all fire our shotguns. If we don’t have one, we wake up at midnight and wonder who the hell is shooting out there. I don’t know whether it was one or two people just shooting their hearts out or hoards of rabble taking a couple of shots each but there sure’s going to be lots of spent shells out there. Nancy never stirred so I can’t count on her in a late night shootout. Maybe we missed a protest against the NYPD.

Got enough greens, not counting Kale, to satisfy the green smoothie requirements for me and several others just like me. Right now that means Swiss Chard, collards, and spinach. Way more than enough kale by itself; could even mix in a few beet and kohlrabi leaves to spice things up; Radish greens. In fact, we have enough produce coming out of the garden to satisfy our veggie needs 100% and then some. The long range, 10 day, weather forecast shows this nice, warm pattern will continue so I expect the growth rate to accelerate if anything. The outside demand for lettuce remains high so I put in a new patch of seeds-this time Romaine. We now have 4 varieties growing, not including arugula, endive, or escarole. It’s my night to cook dinner so I’m thinking about a pasta dish with spinach and cherry tomatoes. Or maybe moving to the wild side and doing Swiss Chard and cherry tomatoes. And of course an exotic side salad. I’m thinking about marinating some kohlrabi strips in oil and vinegar for tonight but that could throw Nancy into veggie overload.

This has been the worst college football season in history. Ole Miss craters, FSU craters, Auburn craters, Alabama craters – what the hell is going on? I’m smelling conspiracy here. Missouri did manage to squeak one out against Minnesota. Minnesota? I didn’t even know they still had a program. The only one of those I picked was FSU going down in flames. I knew that the worst Florida team in history should have beaten FSU so they had to be bad. The silver lining to all this is that all of these games were only shown on cable so I didn’t have to watch them. I was cursing ESPN for locking up a national sport but now I’m glad they did. And I’m getting no solice from the Dolphins, Buc’s or Jags.

This was one of the nicest, least stressful holiday season we’ve had in a while. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, the day after and on into New Year’s eve, everything just fell into place with no last minute surprises – unless you count little Tommy making it home a last minute surprise. We hosted a family Italian dinner on the 26th and that too went like clockwork. I think maybe not having any little kids in the loop made it all more predictable. Then on the 27th, Nancy and Ali came to the lake to spend a few days. The weather was perfect – sunny, low 80’s – for sitting on the dock, drinking a few brewski’s, and solving the world’s problems. We ate mostly from the garden and we’ve crossed over to where guests can now leave here with a bag of veggies to go. They got cherry tomatoes, kale and lettuce plus some citrus.

Nancy picked up some fresh pineapples at a grocery store in Crescent City last week. I cut them up, threw the skin in the compost pile and replanted the tops. When we lived here in the 60’s we grew several pineapples this way but not sure if it’s too cold here or not. I planted them in a container so I can cover and/or move inside if necessary. Fun experiment and who knows, maybe it’ll work again.

A neighbor fishing in a local lake came by with a large bag of speckled perch carcasses to be buried in the garden. They looked like cabbage fertilizer to me so I buried a carcass by each plant, but not too close. I was a bit concerned that something would dig them up but decided to give it a try. Two nights went by with no problems at all but on the third, about half had been dug up. I was very lucky and not one plant was disturbed which makes me think that the culprit was a small cat rather than a raccoon or possum. I reburied them only to have the same thing happen the next night. Plus another raid around the periphery by an armadillo so I had about an hour’s repair to restore both raids. Again, no plants were disturbed.

Got enough greens, not counting Kale, to satisfy the green smoothie requirements. Right now that means Swiss Chard, collards, and spinach. Way more than enough kale by itself. Could even mix in a few beet and kohlrabi leaves to spice things up. Radish greens. In fact, we have enough produce coming out of the garden to satisfy the veggie needs 100% and then some.

Two inches of rain last night and the garden is a swamp again although everything looks pretty good. The rain on the roof woke me up a couple of times last night but there must have been some wind there too. Another dead bay tree came down. It was on our property but came down onto George’s, across the compost pile, and onto his asphalt driveway. I got it pretty well cleaned up but will have to deal with the main trunk later. That part is in the jungle on our property so no urgency. This has really been a wet fall. One thing that seems to have changed this year is our maple tree dropping it’s leaves. This tree normally drops all it’s leaves in just a few days. They go from green to yellow to gone really fast and that seems to be happened just that way this year. The difference is that it normally happens in February, not December. This fall has been cooler and wetter than normal – more like winter than fall – so maybe it faked out the maple. The leaves from this one tree generates a major load for the compost pile but the compost pile won’t be ready for the input until February. Somehow I’ll deal with it.

Had a great Christmas. Joey and Mark came over Christmas eve to help out around the place and stayed overnight. We drove down to Tom’s to celebrate the day with a surprise guest, little Tommy. Tom’s family had driven up to Chicago the week before to attend his company’s Christmas party and little Tom rode back with them. It was a fun day – great company, great food, and a hookup with Joanne’s family, Johnny, Nancy and Ali. We’re hosting a spaghetti dinner today, the 26th, then Nancy and Ali will be coming the 27th and staying a couple days with us. We’re looking forward to it all. We talked to Chris for his birthday and Christmas. He and Jamie had driven to Jamie’s mother in Wisconsin. Apparently the large snow storm forecast never materialized so it was an easy, uneventful drive.

Got the dishwasher after a few false starts on the delivery. A robo call told us it was coming Dec 18 between 2 and 4 PM; a human call told us that it was going to happen on the 19th, time to be determined. A couple hours later the robo guy called again to reconfirm his original message. It didn’t happen until 4pm on the 19th. Joey and Mark came up on the 20th and we’re back in the dishwashing business. There was a difference in the connections between the old machine and the new one but two trips to ACE had us up and running. Very quiet so that delayed start feature is probably not necessary but we’ve got it just in case. After the installers left, we washed a load of dishes. All seemed to go well until a couple hours later I stepped in a puddle. It wasn’t obvious where the leak was coming from but based on the amount of water, it wasn’t a major hose break, maybe a drip drip kind of leak; in my mind, the kind that fixes by putting a bowl under the leak or maybe if we used the delayed start, it would dry itself out by the next morning. But the installation surely comes with a warranty. We had breakfast the next morning and loaded the dishwasher for another run. I parked myself horizontally on the floor in front of the dishwasher with the front cover removed and a flashlight so I could find the leaky connection. Never happened. Mark had a theory that perhaps air bubbles were created/trapped in the water lines which would create one time leaks. Right now that looks to be explaining what happened.

Planted some more “new” seeds, an escarole/endive mix and a new butter crunch lettuce variety. Not sure what you do with either escarole or endive but I think maybe you mix it into salads raw. I’ll do further research if and when anything grows. This is how I broaden my horizons. Even if we don’t like it, bet it’s good trading material. Maybe the shrimp lady is crazy about escarole. At this point I’m 100% + planted (some things I’ve planted are too close to each other). I’ll be scrambling for space when I thin these new seeds next week. Ditto the carrots I have to thin – where to put the micro carrots? With carrots and radishes I just put them along the outside of a row, making a hedge. I’m eyeing the row of cabbage now trying to decide if there’s enough room to squeeze a carrot hedge the length of the row. The weather is perfect for transplanting – low 70’s, cloudy to drizzly.

I’m ok with opening Cuba so long as they don’t become another drain on our tax dollars as their neighbors are. I’m also ok with Sony pulling that NK movie. I can visualize the Sony lawyers going apoplectic at the very thought of an incident at some theatre. Ditto theatre owners. I do hope that the US Gov’t quietly, behind the scenes retaliates in some significant fashion.

I’m a morning person. That works much better in the summer because it’s bright daylight when I get up and it’s warm so I can be outside playing before 7AM. It gets too hot to work in the afternoon so I have to go swimming or otherwise play in the lake. Finally it cools down while it’s still light and I can do fun evening things until 8PM. This time of year, can’t even say the “W” word, I get up and it’s still dark and too cold to go out. Sometimes it’s 10AM before I can really get up to speed. Then to make it worse, a few hours after it warms up it’a dark and cold again.

Barbara brought over a container, probably a quart or more, of Portuguese Kale soup. I had noticed that a few leaves had disappeared from the Kale plants but with 10 plants, we will have enough to feed half of Barberville. I use one leaf in my green smoothies and have such a variety of green candidates for smoothies, that I can always count on having kale if I want it. The soup was delicious. I looked up Kale on a nutrition guide and compared it with other greens. Hands down, Kale is the clear winner in the vitamin A dept. Way more than spinach or any other green I checked. Doing that check I was surprised to find that cabbage is a killer source of vitamin C. I always think citrus when considering vitamin C but now I’ll never look at cole slaw the same way.

Just watched a really strange TV show. It was originally shown on FX a year or so back but we watched it on DVD via Netflix. Fargo is a dark, dark comedy – I guess. Lots of blood and gore; lots of laughs – good writers, good direction, good sound track. Lots of big name actors playing smallish parts. It reminded me of several Tarantino movies so if you like those, you’ll like this.

I really have to laugh when I hear Economists trying to sell the idea that falling gas prices are a bad thing; and when they think our inflation isn’t high enough; or that Russia or Iran or Venezuela getting squeezed is a bad thing. These guys have zero credibility with me. The only negative I can think of with low gas prices is that it becomes tempting for the gov to raise gas taxes.

December is a bad month for doctors here. Nancy and I have a set of doctors to cover the various disciplines that schedule semi annual visits for routine checkups. Those happen in July and December so by the end of this month, we’ll be pretty well picked and poked. Most of my doctors tell me I’m healthier than they are. Not necessarily the Urologist, Dr.Grinch. Bah, humbug.

Joey and Mark came over the other day to help me redo the entry ways into the three sheds. Over the years these pavers have shifted and sunk so that they were barely visible and wobbly. That wasn’t working for Nancy. I had put the pavers in myself years ago but they are heavier than they were when I first did the job. Way heavier. Also one shed had sagged enough that the doors weren’t lining up properly, making it difficult to lock. So I asked them to redo the entry ways and straighten up the shed for my Christmas present. They had it done in a few hours and I have to admit that it’s probably better now than when I did it the first time.

We’ve had 6 days in a row that flirted with frost in the morning. It’s not unusual to string a couple of cold days together but it is different to have it last so long. I decided not to cover the garden and it looks like I lucked out and made the right call. The only thing at this point really vulnerable are the tomatoes. If they were forecasting temps in the mid 30’s, I’d cover but the mornings have consistently been just above 40 and even though they say we can still have frost, we don’t seem to be frost prone here until it gets a few degrees colder. I think being so close to the lake makes the difference. If we survive the next 2 nights it looks like a 10 degree warming trend will get us almost until Christmas. For reference, the climate folks say the date for the first frost here averages Dec 20. It also looks like the 14 cabbage transplants made yesterday have all survived. The only thing left to plant are 6 Calabrese broccoli plants that need another week in a sheltered environment – that rounds out and fills the garden for now. The next space will open when the tomatoes crash and no telling when on that. It’s not impossible that they could survive another month. If that happens I probably won’t refill the space with more winter crops but instead get it ready for spring plants in March. Hard to believe but I’ll be starting the warm weather crops, inside, next month.

Ordered the new dishwasher and scheduled delivery for December 18. Joey and Mark will come up to do the installation. I’m fairly certain I could do it myself but…………… One feature on the new one that the old one lacked was a “delay” start. That way Nancy can load it after dinner and set the start for 6 hours later. With our small house the dishwasher is too close to the TV so it bothers me when I’m trying to listen to the news over the dishwasher noise. This one is supposed to be quieter but I’ve never really heard a quiet one.

I made chicken cacciatore last night, my speciality. I did one modification to my tried and true recipe by adding a handful of fresh spinach leaves for the last two minutes cooking. Great change!! Don’t think I’ll risk it with one of the new exotic greens unless they are so spectacular, I can’t resist.