Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Dialog by a French Squirrel......

(read the following to yourself with a French accent- yeah, you know the one- like the skunk on Bugs Bunny)


Squirrel: "I'll just sit here and scratch myself while they eat those delicious, homemade chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting......."

Squirrel: "What did I just say! CUPCAKES! - I can smell them, the beautiful glow of the aluminum foil calls me........They are within sight- Come to me oh, beautiful cupcakes.....I long for you...."

Monday, July 13, 2009

One up on the Fire Ants

Our potato harvest

I try to be an optimist, I really, really do. After all, this world is full of enough negativity and sadness already.

Sometimes, a person just has to keep hope alive. This time, my little form of hope came in a quick trip to the garden to dump my compost bucket on the pile. There was this handy, dandy pitch fork just waiting for me. I gave it a sideways glance and thought- "Naaa, I'd be wasting my time". That little voice inside said, "What have you got to loose- just a little time"

What is this leading up to you say? Well, remember that sometime back, the evil fire ants devoured all of my fingerling potato plants. First they started at the top of the plant and then ate down the stems and into the ground- yeah, kind of like locusts. Most people don't believe me when I say they did this but I have photographic proof- you've seen some of it already.

Potato Hill was the area in which we planted our precious spuds. Potato Hill now sits vacant except with a few mysterious looking mounds and loads of saw briars. Those mounds made me curious. What if, just what if, they (the evil fire ants) missed some of the buried spuds. I couldn't wait much longer and I snatched up that pitchfork and went to the Hill. What you see in the picture above is what was left. A single, lone, little tiny potato that had started it's life but had it's growing season snatched away by some evil ants. I smiled when I found this potato. I was so proud. Not that we had grown it, but that I had somehow triumphed in some strange sort of way over the evil ants that were out to get me and everything I touched in the garden.

Take that you nasty little ants- you missed one- HA!


Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bug Stuff

First, he found us...


And then, I found them....

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Garden Update

To a die hard gardener, the sight of all of the grass in the following photos, would emit shame to the garden owner's name. In this case, it's my fault- all my fault. I take the blame. Yes there is grass everywhere but I do have a couple of excuses for that grass. First off, this year has been unusually wet. It rains a lot and when it rains, you can't exactly get out into the muddy garden. 2ndly, our garden isn't exactly nearby our house either- 10-12 miles away to be more specific, lastly, we've been having a little car trouble that has prevented us from transporting the entire "herd" anywhere at the same time. So there you have it....my excuses.

Now, it has quit raining so much, I have wheels again, and I therefore, ventured out to see what remained of the sorry, neglected garden that I had so many high hopes for. Poor Uncle Bubba has been doing what he could when he had time to keep things going but he is limited in daylight hours.


This is a hopeful sight, don't you think? I bought these yellow crookneck squash seeds with high hopes that if I planted 6-8 plants, we would be supplied with enough yellow squash to last us all year long (we don't eat much of them to begin with).


Wait a minute, uh.....isn't that a zucchini? Um, yes it is. It is wonderful that there is a zucchini growing so happily but there is one problem. I didn't plant zucchini. Guess what? I guess that all of my yellow crook neck squash plants are actually zucchini...... hmmmm, maybe I have a bone to pick with the seed company now. Anyway, we picked our zucchini and are quite proud of it. At some point, we are going to cook it up and eat away as the kids can't wait to eat something that they helped grow.


Check out these weed infested pinto bean plants. They are a little dry right now and if we don't get some rain in the next day or so, things may turn even uglier than they are now.


The peanut plants seed quite happy in their little situation (minus the grass infestation mind you). It won't be long and they will be flowering.


Poor Mr. Okra. I almost walked right past him without noticing he was there. Some bug is eating good at night (along with the deer). Look out Mr. Bug- I'm going to get you with some soap spray real soon.....


This is Uncle Bubba's Bloody Butcher corn. (Yes, it's going to be red corn). See the little corn to the left of the big corn? That's our Blue Dent corn. The grass is going to eat it up if we don't get busy this weekend trying to save it's life. Our corn will be blue by the way, if you didn't catch that fact. We have some regular white corn planted but I'm not sure it's gong to make it. Deer are particularly fond of young little corn plant niblets.

Well, there you have it. Here are the totals thus far:

Harvested: 1 single, lone zucchini that we didn't even plant
Lost: Two crops of carrots (deer ate them), lettuce (deer ate them), cabbage (deer ate them), bell pepper plants (drowned in the swamp), chili peppers(drowned), 36 tomatoe plants (thank you chicken manure that washed down the hill and poisoned my poor seedlings), 12 cucumber plants (drowned in the moat that we called the garden when it was raining almost every day) and last but not least, potatoes (thanks to the fire ants).

Hmmm, I guess we need to do some planning for the next garden huh? Those plans need to include a fence, higher ground to keep the garden from being a swamp part of the year, and I need to find some kind of fire ant control for those poor potatoes. It's not over yet and I'm not going to give up.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Friday Fill Ins




Go to Friday Fill Ins to fill in your own!


1. The last thing I ate was Homemade French Fries and Buttered Carrots.

2. A "Monster's Verses Aliens" Coloring Book is something I recently bought.

3. When it rains, it pours.

4. Roly Poly Girl was the first person I talked to today.

5. Hugs are greatly appreciated .

6. A chocolate fudge cake, a down comforter, and a quiet evening provide extra comfort.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to grocery shopping, tomorrow my plans include doing a few puzzles on an online game to earn someone some much needed "gold" and Sunday, I want to maybe visit some old friends !

Thursday, July 9, 2009

What's Outside Scott's Car Windows- Plant Animals

Scenes from the widest main street in the world........(literally)

The noble lion (and friend)


Barney beware....


Mom Giraffe, baby giraffe, and a flamingo

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Team SC's Christmas in July Promotion


The South Carolina Etsy Street Team is having a Christmas in July Sale!

Each shop is offering sales, free items with purchase, and/or discounts that could save you tons of money and help you get a much needed start on Christmas shopping. To take advantage of these savings, visit the shop or shops of your choice and read the discount offered in the shop's store announcement. You can also type in "XIJ" in the Etsy Handmade category search to find specific items that are included in this sale.


(Click on the store names to go directly to their shops)

All About The Buttons : Buy 1, get 2nd of equal or lesser value for 50% off for anything in entire shop.
Carolina Kloset: Offering 20 % off Christmas ornaments
Carolina Girl Bowtique :15% of total before shipping
Curlyfry SC's Collage: 25% off all earrings and bracelets only
Custom Candy Creations: 10% of total before shipping
Ladypippie- 10% of total before shipping
LOL Soaps- Free bar of soap with any order over $15
The Village Star- 10% of total before shipping
Minnie Maes- 20 % off fabric business card holders AND 10% off zippered pouches in stock
Roagom- free gift with purchase [2 pair of allergy free earrings]
Morgan Alexa Designs - Buy a banner and avatar set and receive a free Christmas Banner and Avatar
Nascarnana : 20% off artwork
Stitch'N Love: 20% off
Flutterbees (Lowe40): Free Shipping on Bath & Body products

A Wordless Wednesday