Farm Report... And Thank You...

Tipper at The Blind Pig And The Acorn picked cucumbers for our planting by the signs for 2011'

My first baby cucumber! It's only about an inch and a half and still has it's bloom navel on it. If you haven't found the baby yet it is laying on the leaf under the big leaf on the left, just below the yellow flower that is peeking out.

I know if you can't see it you can hardly claim it's there but I will get a better photo in a couple of days when the baby grows a bit and I read about how to focus in closer on something behind or next to something bigger.


I love these little tendrils that these plants put out to be able to climb towards the sun. They start out in these little spring like coils and then start unfurling and going in search of support to help them in their climb.

They look so very delicate, these little gossamer strands, but they are very strong. If they get attached to something you'd rather they not climb on they are a force to reckon with all on their own.

This is the 'good' day plant that is the largest. The other two 'good' day plants are putting on blossoms.



Like this...

These little plants love our sandy, loamy soil here. That and I've been pouring the water to them. With the 100 F. and higher daily temperatures we've been having if we hadn't watered I'd have no farm reports or flower tours or anything to share with you all... other than my aches and pains.

These three are the 'good' day plants. They are putting on blossoms like crazy and growing by leaps and bounds.

This photo is of the two 'bad' day plants. I'm going to have to quit calling them 'good' and 'bad' day plants because these two 'bad' day cucumbers have almost caught up with the 'good' day plants.

Once again, I need to read the book on how to focus in on what I'm trying to particularly show off. As you can see the leaf that is pointed at us is very clearly in focus... the blossoms are, shall we say, in soft focus... like I would like if some one takes a picture of me to soften the laugh lines and crepe y, turkey neck...


This is one of four okra plants that we bought, the only one of four that survived... It's probably a foot and a half tall and I've been watching for the okra blossoms because they are beautiful and I like to share the pictures with those who can't grow okra where they live or haven't ever seen it grow. This plant was sneaky though... because I found THIS:
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The blossoms only last for a day once they are opened and so the mother of this okra must have done her thing on one of the two rainy days we had that I didn't go out and check the plant.

This pod has got to be a good 6 inches long... It was growing up next to the stalk under the wide leaves on the top and flat snuck by my inspections.

I love surprises like this.

And I love the support you all have given me after my last post. I won't say that I was surprised because I feel like I know each of you and if it weren't for the distances between us I would be comfortable sitting down and having a glass of iced tea and visiting the afternoon away at your home or mine... I will say that I don't have the words to say how much you touched my heart. I hesitate to put my worries out there because we all have problems to deal with and I hate to think I put out my problems to add to your problems. But I must say that I do feel lighter for having written the post. I have always been willing to share my friends problems because I feel I can be unbiased, but I've always had a hard time sharing my problems because of my own insecurities. You know, people won't care about what's going with me... I'm just a listener, not a talker.

Just please, please, accept my most profound thank you for your support. You all will get me through Tuesday and the unknown and I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you. Your support will help me hold my head high and be prepared for the good, bad, or the ugly and report to you on Tuesday evening. Prayers for good results please.... And Thank you all for being you. My Friends. I cherish each and every one of you even if you made me cry... Thank You for being there for me. I feel I don't have to go through these things by myself now and it takes so much of the stress off me. For that... one final THANK YOU to each and every one of you. I hope that I can be the kind of friends to each of you that you have been to me.

You can reach me at Llachi3@aol.com. P.S. I did the link wrong somehow. I'll fix it tomorrow. I've already taken my night meds and am correcting almost as much as I'm writing. Night All.

Good Golly Miss

Molly!

Meet the newest addition to my Baby Bro and S.I.L.’s household.  Molly is 3 months old and is the new dog in the cathouse.  Fortunately she was brought up around cats and leaves the cats alone except for trying to get one of the three of them to play with her.

And just what is it about a dog’s paw that is so fascinating?  Perhaps the Frito smell that they all seem to have or it could be just the wonderful mixture of textures.  I don’t have a clue, I just think they are wonderful mixture of  utility and beauty.  Oh, well… You all know I’m a little strange by now and this is one of the odd things I find very appealing.

I’m in Fort Worth at Ben and Diane’s.  My youngest sib and his wife.  Ben traditionally works on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day to give other doctors who might have family to visit that require travel an extra day off.  Since both of our parents and both of Diane’s parents are gone Ben and Diane do Thanksgiving usually on the Saturday after.  That way their kids can feel comfortable about visiting their spouse’s family and be able to give thanks for all of our blessings and share a meal with whomever can get here to visit.   In other words, we are blessed with more than one Thanksgiving repast.

Speaking of which…

The cooks did a wonderful job at our house…

Jeff is practicing and loosening up his jaw muscles for the feast.  No, actually he was getting the dressing out of the stove for his mom and touched his finger to something hot and I just happened to be taking pictures at the time and I got this photo.  He will probably kill me for it but if he gives me grief I’ll tell him I’m going to post it on FaceBook if he messes with me, the ‘Other Mother’, too much.

. Carol and our friend Datha… both are wonderful cooks.  I asked Datha to come and play at our house for Thanksgiving and then to pup sit my girls so I can make the quick run to Ft. Worth for the weekend.

Carol’s sister baked the turkey and a turkey breast because the turkey Carol got was smaller than usual and she wanted to make sure that all of us white meat eaters had plenty to eat.

Now that’s a beautiful bird and it was so moist.  I have to give credit where credit is due. 

Dressing… I’m not a big fan of dressing but thought I’d share what was on the menu with you all.

  Soul sweet potatoes.  This is probably my second favorite of the holiday dishes that Carol makes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Oh, boy, this stuff is good and I don’t even care for sweet potatoes except for this and sweet potato pie.

Spanish green beans…  Tomatoes, onion, bacon, green beans and a bit of cayenne to give it some ‘hello mama’ kick. We also had mashed potatoes and my favorite, giblet gravy but I didn’t take pictures of that.  I swear I could put it in a cup and drink it if I had the chance.  Our friend Scotty also brought over 2 pecan pies, a pumpkin pie and a black walnut pie.

Jeff and the girls.  One for each hand.  I love this young man. He is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a child and he is delightful.  Grumpy, very talented, dry wit with a hint (or more) of sarcasm but he is a good guy and very helpful to his mom and his ‘other mother’.  This is the bunch of us that shared in our wonderful dinner. L-R-Yours truly, Carol, Jeff, Datha and Carol’s sister Nancy behind her and Scotty and the four-legged one is SueSue making sure there was no turkeys other than us on the floor.

I’ll try to get photos to share with you all on my second Thanksgiving, tomorrow… well, actually today since it is four in the morning and I’m having trouble sleeping but that’s another story for another day.  I’m going to turn off the light and try to get a little sleep before helping get the food going for one o’clock lunch.