Bogieblog

Boyz in the Hood

Yes, today the boys are playing with their new toy in the rain.

Pillows and Rugosas Have Nothing to do With Each Other

Yesterday when we got home from the dump run, there was a package on the front porch. Pillows from Cop Car!!!

They go great with the Livingroom furniture!

Also yesterday (it was a busy day), I cleaned out the rugosa roses. I hadn't done that for a couple of years and there were a lot of dead canes for two reasons. The summer of 2011 I poisoned them - on purpose. the canes were invading past the rock wall, into the path to the dog pen. I spent years trying to dig out roots and canes, but to no avail. I finally got out some vine and stump killer to kill the canes closest to the wall. Then last winter was very rough on them (mild, but no snow to protect them), and which killed more plants.

In the picture you can see I really wiped out the closest portion - the portion further away was not done until today. Poor things will not bloom this year, and will loook like azz for at least a year, but they will eventually come back and be beautiful again.

Big John Comes Home

We have had a fairly dry spring, so WS's equipment was delivered earlier than expected. Cop Car gets a gold star for guessing/deducing the brand of the equipment WS has purchased - it is a John Deere (nicknamed Big John). However, she is sadly mistaken by thinking it is a tractor.

It is a 52 year old backhoe that has little paint left but in which the engine purrs. The neighbor, Chris, went in with us on it as he has several projects that will take avantage of the digging, pushing and pulling power. We got a heck of a deal, for much less than anything you will see on *Bay (Chris was checking out prices to make sure he got a good deal). Heck, we paid only barely over what I paid for the sled - which was dirt cheap itself.

It was delivered yesterday around noon. I happened to hear them coming down the street and ran out to take a picture. They backed into Chris' driveway as it was straighter and easier to unload the machine there. Otherwise it will stay at our place as Chris' wife would be less than thrilled with it as a lawn ornament.

If nothing else, it will excel at removing snow burms in really tough winters!

 

And in Other News at the Bogie Stead

Last week we had some nice days. Wednesday and Friday were nice enough that I rode to work. We also didn't bother to light the woodstove the evenings of Tuesday or Friday - which brings to a total of 3 (or maybe 4) days that the stove has been out since winter started. The nights are still usually cold - in the 20's or 30's, so an evening fire is still the norm though.

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Friday morning I was amazed that there wasn't much traffic once I got toward the MA state line and all the rest of the way to work. I briefly thought there was a holiday that I didn't know about. Of course I hadn't seen the news (I leave before the news comes on) and since I was riding the bike, I couldn't listen to the news while on my way so I didn't know about the drama in Watertown (and MIT before then). A couple of people couldn't come in to work as they were in the shut down area as they hunted for the Boston Bombing suspect.

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Went to get the Jeep inspected yesterday. After an hour, the counter guy said that we had a "Huge problem". I looked at him and he went on that my vehicle passed inspection with "flying colors". So I asked him what the issue was. Apparently they ran out of 2014 stickers and couldn't get them until Monday. I now have to go back next Saturday to get my sticker. Not a huge deal, just an inconvenience, but a bit irritating never the less because I had made the appointment at the beginning of the week, so they knew they needed a sticker for my vehicle.

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WS has decided we need another piece of equipment to help with projects around the house/yard. He has bought it, but can't have it delivered yet because it needs some work (it is very used), and it is mud season here, so getting out to it in the pasture is problematic. I won't say what it is, and let you guys make guesses until it makes its way here next month.

I think I have caught up with my lack of posting the last month or two - but don't get used to it!

Early Spring Showing

I wondered around the yard today to see what was getting ready to bloom. The forsythia looks to be ready to bloom in a week or so.

The lilacs are putting out buds

The shrub in the middle of the driveway, which I can't remember the name to (and googling doesn't help) is really close to blooming (those are closed flowr buds).

And one lone group of crocus surprised me by being in full bloom in the path under the fenceline.

I also saw some things that surprised me - the evergreen cotoneasters were very brown, so I am wondering if they made it thru the winter. Several other shrubs also were not looking very healthy. Although the winter wasn't overly tough (no more so than usual), December did have some very cold nights during which we had no snow cover, so that may have something to do with it. Of course, it is early and if the roots survived, then they will come back.

This is the time of year that I am impatient for plants to start showing signs of life so I can be sure that they made it for another witner.

Hard Freeze Harvest

We've had a couple of frosts, but we are due for our first hard freeze Friday night. Even after frost, the tomatoes, peppers and basil have still continued to grow (slowly - and unbeleivable as it seems because of our cold temps). Today I cust down all the good basil left, picked all the peppers, and took the few tomatoes that have started to blush since I picked last Saturday.

The basil was run thru the food processor, mixed with a bit of vinegar first (to try to keep the basil from turning black from oxidizing), then olive oil. It was then divided up in an ice cube tray to freeze.

Lemon basil is on the left, regular basil is on the right.

I decided to do something similar with the peppers, using more vineger to provide acidity, then adding a bit of olive oil - don't try this at home, I'm unsure how it will work, or how safe it is. Since I had quite a few peppers, I filled one ice cube tray, plus a jelly and jam jar. Those jars were vacuum sealed before placing in the freezer.

I'm hoping these processes make using the peppers more convenient and the basil flavor stays more fresh.

Garden Giant

I went out to pick tomatoes on Friday, and there was a huge one on one of the plants.

 

Don't ask me what kind it is because it was from an 'heirloom mix" freebie package that I got when I ordered seeds last spring. Also, don't be too impressed as this is the only tomatoe off this plant that hasn't split badly before being picked, and some have split after being picked. None of the other plants have this problem, so it shouldn't be that there is too much water.

This was the first batch of tomatoes I had gotten to pick since Tuesday, so the garden production has definitely slowed down.

Off of a regular jalapeno plant, I got a fairly large pepper.

Unfortunately, something else looked like it was good eating too

Cool nights are expected for this week (low to mid 40's) so tomato production should slow down even more than it has already. Next up for picking, in a couple of weeks, should be squash.

Shield Bug

I was out in the flower gardn below the fenced area looking at how wild everything had gotten. I was contemplating pulling up some of the milkweed, but the leaves look well chewed, and I've only seen a couple of Monarch Butterflies roaming around, so decided to wait to make sure that the caterpillars have finished eating and pupating.

Arching over the particular milkweed pods / leaves was a rogue blackberry bramble (they are getting out of control in the corner). I happened to look up and see this

There were several more bugs on the same leaf, 3-4 moved off to the side when I disturbed them taking pictures.

I have tentatively identified the bugs as a type of green shield bug, Troilus luridus. If anyone can place a different neam on them, I'd be happy to correct that. Whatever name they go by, the shield bugs are insect predators that will tackle caterpillars and beetle larva.

If I get lucky, I will get a whole slew to hunt up the Japanese Beetle larva. However, I think since they are that close to the milkweed, that they are hunting caterpillars instead.

Tree Felling

Last weekend, the Wonderful Spouse decided to clean up the trees along the power line that runs to the house. There was a large tree that was dying and was leaning towards the house, so he decided to take it down in a control fashion. since it was at the edge of the woods, he couldn't just use notching to place the tree (okay, a professional might be able to, but he couldn't). There was only one direction it could go, and only about a 10 degree arc that it could be laid down in that wouldn't damage the house or power lines. He tied a line to the upper portion of the tree and used the trusty 4-wheeler to pull while he sawed. The results came out quite nicely.

It worked out nicely that I let the lower half of the garden lay fallow this year!

Garden Haul

On the 9th I got the first real batch of tomatoes in from the garden. Also got a zuccinin but I made the Greek Style Salad before taking any pictures. 

Then a couple days later, an even better harvest.

That is an 8 quart box those are in. I processed the tomatoes, added peppers and onions, heated the mixture to boiling, cooled it off, and froze it. Didn't want to add more heat to the kitchen by going thru the canning process for only 9-12 jars; I will do that later when most of the tomatoes are ready to process (or at least when it is cooler).

Tuesday I got another 8 quarts of tomatoes, and gave them the same treatment, except I only added onions. I will add the peppers when it is time for the final canning.

And here is a quiz, how many peppers are on this plant. The plant is only about 10-12" tall and maybe 8" in diameter (heck, my basil plants are bigger than the pepper plant).

This stupid plant has 6 peppers on it. It's brethern are pretty much the same way (in height and amount of peppers). I've never had sweet pepper plants be so prolific - taller and bigge,r yes - pepper producing, no. Apparently they are liking the heat and water (it's rained a lot lately).

I'm hoping the harvest stays like this for a while!