Heavily overcast, lots of humidity, appears there might be some rain
today, we hope.

We're watering by hose and soakers daily, particularly the pear and
kumquat trees, hoping for a good crop. A little free water from Heaven
might be a larger help.

Tomatoes have pretty much given up on producing fruit, pulled three that
were not producing at all. They have gone to compost heaven now. The
sweet chilies are really slowing down and the fruit is getting smaller.
If we get a little rain we shall add a little fish fertilizer to
possibly spur the plants into production again. The crowder peas are
giving us a couple of cups of peas daily, which is pretty good
considering there is only twelve feet of pea vines growing. They're
still blooming and putting on pods. I think next year I will ignore the
package instructions and just plant one pea per foot. Mainly because the
vines are really long and eventually start shading the roots and younger
runners. Cukes are slowing down too. Woke up to 89F this morning in the
dark, still hot and humid. Thank you air conditioning.

The grass is growing like crazy though, I suspect the watering is giving
the St. Augustine grass a kick to grow taller again. We're mowing weekly
instead of bi-weekly. It's not a bad chore, we have a small property so
everything is mowed, weed eaten, and done up nicely in about an hour,
less if we push it harder.

Tilly Dawg is getting a little better, she's been on five pills a day
for an infection plus the coughing, sneezing and wheezing. She's still
doing the latter but not as often. Right now she's snoring on the cool
floor and talking in her sleep. I just can't translate dog into American
English. She's probably trying to get me to feed her more. G

Come on rain.

George

George Shirley wrote:
....
package instructions and just plant one pea per foot. Mainly because the
vines are really long and eventually start shading the roots and younger
runners. Cukes are slowing down too. Woke up to 89F this morning in the
dark, still hot and humid. Thank you air conditioning.

i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.


The grass is growing like crazy though, I suspect the watering is giving
the St. Augustine grass a kick to grow taller again. We're mowing weekly
instead of bi-weekly. It's not a bad chore, we have a small property so
everything is mowed, weed eaten, and done up nicely in about an hour,
less if we push it harder.

Tilly Dawg is getting a little better, she's been on five pills a day
for an infection plus the coughing, sneezing and wheezing. She's still
doing the latter but not as often. Right now she's snoring on the cool
floor and talking in her sleep. I just can't translate dog into American
English. She's probably trying to get me to feed her more. G

Come on rain.

i'll hope it works for you there. we managed to finally
get an inch of rain the other morning. a few hours later
not a single puddle to be found. been nice to not have to
water for a change. should probably go out tomorrow and
give the veggie gardens a drink. better to keep this clay
evenly watered than to have to try to get it down to the
plant roots on a hot day when it is too dry. don't want
the tomatoes to get BER.

give Tilly a scritch for me.


songbird

On 7/10/2016 6:21 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
package instructions and just plant one pea per foot. Mainly because the
vines are really long and eventually start shading the roots and younger
runners. Cukes are slowing down too. Woke up to 89F this morning in the
dark, still hot and humid. Thank you air conditioning.

i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.
We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.


The grass is growing like crazy though, I suspect the watering is giving
the St. Augustine grass a kick to grow taller again. We're mowing weekly
instead of bi-weekly. It's not a bad chore, we have a small property so
everything is mowed, weed eaten, and done up nicely in about an hour,
less if we push it harder.

Tilly Dawg is getting a little better, she's been on five pills a day
for an infection plus the coughing, sneezing and wheezing. She's still
doing the latter but not as often. Right now she's snoring on the cool
floor and talking in her sleep. I just can't translate dog into American
English. She's probably trying to get me to feed her more. G

Come on rain.

i'll hope it works for you there. we managed to finally
get an inch of rain the other morning. a few hours later
not a single puddle to be found. been nice to not have to
water for a change. should probably go out tomorrow and
give the veggie gardens a drink. better to keep this clay
evenly watered than to have to try to get it down to the
plant roots on a hot day when it is too dry. don't want
the tomatoes to get BER.

give Tilly a scritch for me.


songbird


Well, we didn't get any rain, the clouds flew away somewhere else and
the sun came back with a vengeance. It's currently about 96F out back.

Tilly gets scritched quiet frequently, the neighborhood kids come by and
ring the doorbell to see Tilly, she gets her scratching, petting and
gives lots of wet smooches. Every morning and every evening she comes up
to me to scratch her neck front, then turns around to get her butt
scratched, then she's happy. She was really happy when we finished
dinner, she got a little piece of bratwurst for being good.

George

On 07/10/2016 05:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.

We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.

How long do you guys soak them for?

On 07/10/2016 04:21 PM, songbird wrote:
Come on rain.

i'll hope it works for you there. we managed to finally
get an inch of rain the other morning. a few hours later
not a single puddle to be found. been nice to not have to
water for a change. should probably go out tomorrow and
give the veggie gardens a drink. better to keep this clay
evenly watered than to have to try to get it down to the
plant roots on a hot day when it is too dry. don't want
the tomatoes to get BER.

Not a sign of any rain here (Northern Nevada). Not even
a thunderstorm. Weeds don't like it, so there is an upside.
My favorite fishing pond is drying up, so their are numerous
downsides

On 7/11/2016 7:28 PM, T wrote:
On 07/10/2016 05:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.

We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.

How long do you guys soak them for?
For us it's about an hour before eating some. I like them better after
they've soaked overnight. A few black peppercorns in the mix makes it
better, but crack them, it's even better.

On 7/11/2016 7:30 PM, T wrote:
On 07/10/2016 04:21 PM, songbird wrote:
Come on rain.

i'll hope it works for you there. we managed to finally
get an inch of rain the other morning. a few hours later
not a single puddle to be found. been nice to not have to
water for a change. should probably go out tomorrow and
give the veggie gardens a drink. better to keep this clay
evenly watered than to have to try to get it down to the
plant roots on a hot day when it is too dry. don't want
the tomatoes to get BER.

Not a sign of any rain here (Northern Nevada). Not even
a thunderstorm. Weeds don't like it, so there is an upside.
My favorite fishing pond is drying up, so their are numerous
downsides
We have several drinking water lakes around here, most are very large
and we can fish, swim, sail, etc. on them too. I grew up in an area of
Texas where you had to drill a well to get water as the rivers were
heavily polluted at the time. Mostly have been pretty much cleaned up
with minor exceptions, such as the San Jacinto River in Texas, look it
up online.

On 07/11/2016 06:47 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/11/2016 7:28 PM, T wrote:
On 07/10/2016 05:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.

We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.

How long do you guys soak them for?
For us it's about an hour before eating some. I like them better after
they've soaked overnight. A few black peppercorns in the mix makes it
better, but crack them, it's even better.


:-) !!!

T wrote:
On 07/11/2016 06:47 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/11/2016 7:28 PM, T wrote:
On 07/10/2016 05:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.

We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.

How long do you guys soak them for?

until they're gone.


For us it's about an hour before eating some. I like them better after
they've soaked overnight. A few black peppercorns in the mix makes it
better, but crack them, it's even better.


:-) !!!

some people react to pepper... ... love it.
it hates us.


songbird

On 7/12/2016 6:54 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
On 07/11/2016 06:47 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/11/2016 7:28 PM, T wrote:
On 07/10/2016 05:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
i gave my brother a nice armful of cucumbers this
morning. so he can feast on them. like us he likes
to slice them up with onions and soak them in a
little vinegar and sugar in some water.

We do that too, without the sugar. Our parents did the same thing,
something cool and crisp with a little bite when you come in from work.

How long do you guys soak them for?

until they're gone.


For us it's about an hour before eating some. I like them better after
they've soaked overnight. A few black peppercorns in the mix makes it
better, but crack them, it's even better.


:-) !!!

some people react to pepper... ... love it.
it hates us.


songbird

We love our pepper mill, nothing like fresh pepper on anything. So far
we haven't had any problems, been doing it for over fifty years.

Picked a small bucket of crowder peas this morning before the really hot
time. Plus several cukes, sweet peppers, etc. All gone to the church
pantry today as we are swamped with the things. Might as well give them
to those who don't have much and need it.

George

George Shirley wrote:
....
We love our pepper mill, nothing like fresh pepper on anything. So far
we haven't had any problems, been doing it for over fifty years.

i love the taste of it on a lot of things too,
but i don't like what it does to the rest of me
besides the tastebuds. Ma gets blisters in her
mouth from it.


Picked a small bucket of crowder peas this morning before the really hot
time. Plus several cukes, sweet peppers, etc. All gone to the church
pantry today as we are swamped with the things. Might as well give them
to those who don't have much and need it.

i watered everything good this morning while it was
still cool enough. had sweat running down my back
from just standing in the sun. beautiful day. i will
be hiding inside for most of the afternoon reading and
taking it easy. later on i'll see how long i can weed
maybe 15-30 minutes at a time. we'll see.

the peppers are just starting to show up in any size
now, and the tomatoes about golf ball sized. a lot of
flowers. watering them good will help them set fruit
on the hot days. rattle those flowers.


songbird

On 07/12/2016 10:12 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
We love our pepper mill, nothing like fresh pepper on anything. So far
we haven't had any problems, been doing it for over fifty years.

i love the taste of it on a lot of things too,
but i don't like what it does to the rest of me
besides the tastebuds. Ma gets blisters in her
mouth from it.


Picked a small bucket of crowder peas this morning before the really hot
time. Plus several cukes, sweet peppers, etc. All gone to the church
pantry today as we are swamped with the things. Might as well give them
to those who don't have much and need it.

i watered everything good this morning while it was
still cool enough. had sweat running down my back
from just standing in the sun. beautiful day. i will
be hiding inside for most of the afternoon reading and
taking it easy. later on i'll see how long i can weed
maybe 15-30 minutes at a time. we'll see.

the peppers are just starting to show up in any size
now, and the tomatoes about golf ball sized. a lot of
flowers. watering them good will help them set fruit
on the hot days. rattle those flowers.


songbird


So far I have one marble sized green cherry tomato.
:'(

T wrote:
....
So far I have one marble sized green cherry tomato.
:'(

there's flowers but i didn't stop to look to
see if our one cherry tomato plant has any on
it yet.


songbird

On 07/12/2016 02:13 PM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
So far I have one marble sized green cherry tomato.
:'(

there's flowers but i didn't stop to look to
see if our one cherry tomato plant has any on
it yet.


songbird



Got lots of tomato flowers. Got about three eggplant flowers.
Purslane is seeding like crazy. Tomatillos have flowers, I think.
It is hard to tell.

Earwigs ate every last radish sprout.