First Harvest

We got to the first crop of über delicious tomatoes before Timex.  Looks like the peppermint soap spray works as a deterrent for the critters.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. A hummingbird took a long peek through the sun room window

2. Watched the season finale of Outlander with Red.

3. Celebrated The Eldest's 28th birthday

4. While over Red's, watched a hawk enjoy a meal. Awesome, though not so much for whatever the hawk was munching.

5. Himself surprised me with flowers. (They were on sale)

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

There are second cousins but I do not know them. I met them at wakes but that is all. They did not seem to want to keep in touch. It was an attitude that we were the poor cousins. They also lived in better places. Their parents were good to me. They treated me with extra consideration. But then I was what they called the heir apparent. At the time [ed: 1920s] there were not many people who lived to 65 years. Fathers died young and the eldest child had to give up his dreams and get a job to support the family.

When my aunt died they [ed: her children] decided that they would want to buried close to their mother so they bought graves to be side by side. I don't know if their children did the same.

My aunt brought her family up properly they [ed: her children] never sassed her. In fact, I witnessed an incdient where my cousin Joe was pestering her for some reason and she said "Do I need to get the rolling pin?" this was a broom stick that was sanded down to its wood and from use in rolling over pasta dough had a gold look. He persisted. She reached behind her, took that rolling pin and tapped him. Joe quickly knelt down on one knee, took her hand and kissed it.

It opened my eyes. A symbolic acknowledgement. Kissing the hand that feeds you.

For some reason, I jumped ahead.

Wordless Wednesday

How Does His Garden Grow?

The straw bale garden seems to be thriving. The lettuce failed, but tomato, cucumber, and green peppers seem to be thriving. Weeds are not a problem, though mushrooms grow out of the bales. Himself is not sure whether mushroom spores were in the bales or happened because of the fertilizer used.

The potted, cherry tomato plant is doing exceptionally well. There are a few tomatoes that will be ready to harvest by the end of the week. That is, if Timex doesn't get to them first.

Dance of the Gypsy Moths

The Gypsy Moths have emerged after the catepillars munched on leaves of many trees. Lots of trees in the area are bare branched. There were so many catepillars having a picnic, it sometimes sounded like it was raining. You could hear the little critters munching and crunching.

This week you couldn't walk outside without being swarmed by brown and tan months. The males are busy fluttering around looking for love in all the spaces. The females don't fly very well.

Hopefully, a wet Spring will kill the catepillars off so the trees won't be decimated.

Water Works