Memories Back

A few short takes because I finally remembered the stuff I was thinking of (see earlier post).

I brought in my hummingbird feeders the middle of last week. Neither of them had been touched for a couple of days so I figured even the migrants had found their way further south.

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I actually got a few tomatoes! I picked 6 last Sunday. Most are cracked around the top from too much water, and they were still half green when I picked them. However, upon sitting on the counter all week, they have ripened (and not cracked any more) nicely. I got to have tomatoes in my lunch salad yesterday (and have enough for the next several days of salads).

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Also picked from the garden were a bunch of green beans (which actually are mostly purple because I plant the purple ones) and I pulled a couple of carrots. There are still plenty of carrots out there, but I will only pull them as I need them for my lunch salads.

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The first difinitive sign that winter is really on its way; Tory is gaining weight quickly. He drops a lot of weight in the summer - becoming almost skin and bone. Now he is up to about 10 pounds. This is the sign for me to start fattening the dogs up for the winter too.

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The cats are definitely earning their keep. The back yard is littered with mouse bodies every day. Sunday, while I was in the vegetable garden, I discovered that someone had also killed a rat. I wonder if it migrated up from the farm just down the road? Anyway, can I hear a WhooHoo for the cats?

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Speaking of mice, one died behind the wall in my bathroom. Dead rodents have a distinctive smell, and I'm not really happy about it - but not unhappy enough to start tearing out sheetrock. Experience has taught me that the smell will go away in a couple more weeks (fortunately, it doesn't stink as bad as when something died behind our bedroom wall - must have been a squirrel or chipmunk because that reeked strongly!)

Comments

[Cop Car]

WhooHoo for the cats! Did you read King Rat? Perhaps you could have delicious stews from the mice & rats with which the cats gift you. Well...perhaps not. Sounds like you are, at last, having some good eating out of your hard-earned garden. Good show! Do you cover your carrots to extend the length of time you may pull them without their being frozen?

[Jay]

Winter... ick!

Covering the carrots is something we did when my grandfather grew them. Parsnips, too, where they have an even longer season to start with. At least one year he wintered them in the ground and had them to pick in March.

[bogie]

Never actually had carrots grow bigger than and inch, so never had enough to cover them. This year I might.

[buffy]

WooooHoooooooo for the cats!

I can't believe Cop Car suggested rat stew.

[Cop Car]

Buffy--What part of my "growing up poor" story did you not understand? Well, so, we were never so poor that we ate rat stew. The suggestion just goes to show that I am well read??!?

[bogie]

Buffy: King Rat is by James Calvell, the same author as TaiPan and Nobel House (yes, I read King Rat - I've read all his books several times). The lead character dines on mice and rats, to suplement his meager diet while he is a POW.

[Cop Car]

I've eaten rattlesnake, mountain oysters, wild game, bison, sparrow eggs, and alligator. As long as it is well prepared and cooked, rat stew can't be that bad, can it? (Just add a bit of your salsa!) BTW: Congratulations on getting 5 jars of salsa out of your late garden. It gives you something to look forward to on special occasions.