THE LAST ONION - MONARCH CATERPILLAR - MUD POTATOES - AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY - MEMORIAL DAY 2021

Weeds are consuming the remains of the onion patch.

The last onion was left to allow the seeds to develop. I plan to try saving and then planting from those those seeds. For the learning.

I freed this little fellow after taking the photo. 

Monarch Caterpillars are here. Neighbor gal photo from last season. She explains how these caterpillars strip the stalks of herbs, eating just the green "bark." Monarchs love dill and will clean out those first. 

She is a fan and grows dill for the purpose of bringing these caterpillars to her yard and then watching them turn into butterflies. She even puts light nets over her herbs to protect these from the birds. 

MUD POTATOES

The East Texas deluge this month has brought rot to the potatoes. These were harvested with a shovel by our neighbor in his fields.  

Clean and eat now. Some have gone to rot beyond use. White dots on the potato is major indicator of rot starting.

He harvested as much as they can eat and offered up the rest of the field to family and friends. A now or never moment.

I washed and scrubbed these potatoes with a scrub brush in a bucket of fresh water. 

They are not pretty nor appetizing-looking. But with a little trimming and sprucing up they are boiled, buttered and sprinkled with fresh parsley. The taste of fresh potatoes out of the ground is not lost at all. But even after some work, a few of these were not salvageable for the pot. 

On the dinner plate, the extra work is well worth it. 

There is also a lot of satisfaction in the wanting to do this, the extra work, TLC and the very low cost of feeding a family good home grown foods. Mom and dad accounted for every penny in my growing up years. Not to throw food away. Taught me that quite often a little work will produce gourmet meals at little to no cost other than a little effort.

Dug my potatoes yesterday and they, too, are all mush. 

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FRESH GARDEN VEGETABLES "SQUEAK" WHEN EATEN. Did you know that?

String beans with bacon, onion, parsley, garlic chives and a side of home made meat balls.

Fresh string beans are on now. Harvest enough for dinner everyday until they run their course. And yes, fresh beans squeak when eaten. As do yellow squash and zucchini. Garden candy. A batch with baby red potatoes above.

 AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Inviting. Would you ever tire of this view?

Standing watch.

High hover.

Next to the ocean.

Columbia River play time

Fruit stands ahead.

Touchdown RVN 1967

Return to base after fire mission. RVN 1967

MEMORIAL DAY 2021

There was a time in the days of old. A 32 year old tradition. 

Her and I were founding members of Rolling Thunder NH-1 and rode with them for quite a few years.

Salt of the earth!! 

Marine Staff Sargent, Tim Chambers. At attention, held his salute for every motorcycle and veteran riding through the DC Memorial Day Parade. Hours!!

Veterans would attend him with water and near the end of the parade line of passing motorcycles, offered road side encouragement to help him complete his mission. He always did. A brotherhood standing with him.  

This year though:

Biden Denies----

Cancels 4th of July fireworks too.

Make ya feel warm and fuzzy?

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Quiet times this Memorial Day in the Piney Woods. Yard work, garden work and visiting with friends and neighbors. Happy to have a day or two w/o rain.

WE HONOR AND MOURN THIS MEMORIAL DAY THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR MILITARY DUTIES WHILE IN THE SERVICE TO THIS COUNTRY. 

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Thanks for the visit and have a blessed week. 

RAIN RAIN...GARDEN PICS - BLOG SITES

....go away!! Not really, because we gotta be careful what we wish for. 

But, have had our fill for awhile. 

Ponds topped off to over flowing. 

Garden exploding; soaked.

Zucchini blossom

Cabbage has been strong since planted

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OLD TOWER FINALLY PUKED

I have been fighting this old tower computer for a year now. Fixed, failed, looked at, fixed again. New C: drive, data drive and reoccurring start up and shut down issues. Apparently those are signs of a pending motherboard issue. 

I have been fortunate to find a "computer guy/shop" and he is on his game. Long time in business and knows his stuff. Good service and has been a big help in taking time to explain things. Laymen's terms. 

Now on a newer lap top. Fifteen inch screen with data drive and external back up plugged in. Decent price with a year warranty. Not sure if I will ever go back to a tower. Not for awhile anyway. Nice to have a semi-clean office desk top, too.

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CURRENT NEWS.

Have you seen this? Leader of the free world continues to double down on the depths of dislike for this country and our military. Sad, but I think a good example of what this country has stepped into. 

I so want to leap down the rabbit hole when I see daily examples of utter incompetence/disrespect like this. I am hopeful you are doing your homework. Free thinking. Finding truth. 

INTELLECTUAL FROG LEGS

This episode is called White Hats

I happened on this site awhile back. It is more truth than any of us want and presented with some (a lot) of humor. You have to stick with it.  

This episode also lists 21 independent blog sites that you may want to check out. If you are looking for news sites, opinion sites and truths in a world full of everything but.... well you decide.

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Short post this week. Thanks for the visit and have a blessed week.

ARRIVED IN EAST TEXAS A YEAR AGO TODAY - THE PINEY WOODS

 

IT'S BEEN A YEAR TODAY...

.. since we packed it all up, moved and arrived in Pittsburg, Texas. East Texas. The Piney Woods. Homeless! Bet it all the day we left.

We moved out of the NH house the day we closed and into a motel. Needed the governor's permission to do stay over night in a motel. C19 was just getting its foot hold on the nation.

We needed the permission from the governor of Pennsylvania also for our BnB overnight plan.

Two cars packed to the water line. Walkie talkies and we burnt up a set of batteries each day, bumper to bumper weaving in and out, with the long haul truckers, talking to each other about the roads ahead and pit stops.

We arrived in Pittsburg, TX 3 days later to our rented BnB in which we would live for two months. Our time was spent house shopping. Every day. Much of our downtime there was sitting and looking out over vast green fields, realizing that God has spent extra time here too in the design.

In those early days, we found great eateries. I have told her several times that if I had known how good the food was in Texas, we would have moved years ago. The up-quality/difference/availability is that noticeable.

All of the folk we encountered, less a couple real estate agents, have been wonderfully polite, helpful and wishing us happiness here in Texas. I specifically remember one gal welcoming us to the country of Texas. Serious as a heart attack.

We finally landed in a wonderful 3.5 acre patch of land in the Piney Woods and a new home near Scroggins, Tx. It was inside the circle area we chose to find a new home and has everything we will ever need. Other towns within a half hour and Dallas, two hours away, offer all the icing on the cake we could ever imagine. Add to this year around local markets. Meat, raw milk, veggies, fruits, baked goods.

We knew we had a found the right home and place to live when we could not find the home location, on a daily basis, without a GPS for the first several weeks. We are continually amazed at an endless new back farm roads. We often go out to lunch with our close neighbors and not once have traveled local roads to and from that her and I are familiar with.

Today we are nestled in, all major construction work done that we added after buying the house. Our first garden is up and running. A test garden for me. We have so far harvested all of the main herbs, onions, baby red potatoes, lettuce, spinach and a crap load of radishes. You want to try your hand at gardening, start with radishes.

We do not miss the weather up north. We DO miss good friends and family.

In the past year we have not watched more than a total of 5 minutes of media news. Have quit all of that cold turkey.

We re-said our vows of marriage over Christmas. It has been 20 years and we have joked since we married that we would renegotiate an extension in 20 years. We did and are in it now until some unforeseen event.

Her has had a foot-fix operation and we have replaced all of our doctors and healthcare folk. I was worried about this, but healthcare here is as good if not better. From dentist to PCP, we are in good hands. We have also found an excellent concierge doctor. Major hospital needs within driving range.

We had our medicare wellness check up last week and one of the questions (they ask a lot of questions now) they ask, apparently to check out senility, was "what day was it." Funny, I looked at my wife and asked, “what is today?”

I had to think through what we were doing and because we had this doctor appointment on Friday, I answered, “Friday.” But most days we do not know w/o having to think. My wife confirmed, “yep, Friday.” All of this husband and wife banter playing out while our new PCP watched.

We know Sundays though, because we cannot drive to town for gas station fried chicken or DQ dipped cones. No fried chicken on Sundays or dessert.

Roots setting now. At my/our age all of this still surprises me. We made the decision. Acted on it and have never looked back. 

It all started here a year ago today.

Thanks for the visit.

HOME MADE WOODEN GARDEN BENCH - EAST TEXAS LIVING - GUINEA HENS - ONIONS/POTATOES - MANY DAYS OF RAIN AHEAD

We could not find a good garden bench for her to work her flower beds. After a rolling fall off of a bucket, it became apparent  the "now" need for this daily use tool. Best I get to designing/building.

I used an indoor bench made of plastic as a model. Light in weight, but not suited to outdoor use. Dimensions and general design were written down, a ten foot 2 x 12 was purchased and a quick layout and build (of two benches) followed using all power hand tools. 

Garden bench for her prototype. Proved to be good design, over-built on purpose and sturdy. In this form, too heavy and cumbersome to move about. Worthy of build #2.

Final bench. Lighter in weight, easy to move, sturdy, fully functional and good looks. 

 

I have covered my mistakes here quite well. Garden bench(s) three and four soon to follow. I will make a YouTube video of the building process and share.

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Early morning weeding

Yellow squash bin and tomato buckets growing area free of weeds. Goal was to get the whole area completely weeded, but pooped out after the time to cut, scrape, rake and shovel all into the side by side. But boy oh boy does it look great. Hate having to weed with a passion. Finally purchased a good hoe and sharpened it for weeding. 

The sharpness makes all difference in the chopping of weeds and scraping others clean from the top of the soil. 

Bringing this tool to improved function. Razor sharp!

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RAIN SOAKED FIELD

I think long walks in this field could become daily habit. A dog or two to round out the experience. 

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GUINEA HENS

A half dozen Guinea Hens live about a mile away from us. On one of the main roads we travel to and from local towns. A farm road. They hang out on a blind corner in the road and we have learned to slow down because of them. 

We look for them every time we come and go. A welcoming site. Country living. 

They are a weird sort. If one runs they all run. Seemingly without purpose or understanding of cars passing by on the road. One will start running right in front of the car and the rest will follow with out issue. 

We stop and wait. Have to see them all somewhere ahead safe before we move on. They are chatting in GH talk and always stay together. 

Guinea Hens are a wonderful alert system. Anything that comes near them unfamiliar causes them to start to sound off. We understand though that clean up after them near the house and on a patio is a mess. Regardless, we are fond of these little creatures.

 

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"Life's like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep."Carl Sandburg

...a process of discovery. 

But no weeping here.

I have heard this quote quite often. Never given it much thought. Refers to some level of discovery in times of our lives. BUT, mid week I started to harvest more of our onion crop. Applied the quote to harvesting.

Pulling from the ground with a gentle tun, the roots quickly let go. The greens are leggy now and lost the tenderness and flavor. But the onion!! What a wonderful treat. 

From the ground they come out dirty. I cut the roots off as close to the onion bottom as I can with out damage. Washing in a small bucket of clean water removes the dirt, then the onion needs to be peeled one layer at a time. Maybe two and usually no more than three layers. And in this peeling back of the layers indeed reveals a discovery. Brilliant small white onions. Fresh to the touch. Never given the sensation of feeling a linking to freshness. But the onion has a way of notifying me that I need to go no further though touch. This backed up visually.

Each little onion was set on the cloth as if an individually finished product. Dried for a couple hours and then bagged and set in the fridge. 

They are going to seed now and are at peak flavor and growth. Leaving a couple in the ground, but harvesting the rest.

First red potatoes dig test

Baby red potatoes, string beans, parsley, onions, bacon and melted butter. 

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 MANY DAYS OF RAIN/THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD starting today.

Local growers concerned about this forecast. May is apparently the wet month, but this month is above normal.

Potatoes could rot in the ground. Tomatoes need hot sun now. So it is wait and see. 

We will be seeding for grass over the days ahead to see if we can improve the front and back yards.  Maybe gain on that.

The rain has started and within 15 minutes the front and back yards are puddled and soaked. East Texas garden is now on its own.

Thanks for the visit and have a blessed week.

 

PATH LESS TRAVELED - SOME GARDEN HARVEST - BREAKFAST PATTIES - FIRE ANTS - OPEN MARKETS - CLASSIC CARS

 East Texas field

Seen in an open field next to the highway. Sad, yet beautiful. 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe I think.

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HARVEST

An example of why the window for harvesting radishes is small. The large radish was from the first planting and not harvested. The smaller radish is from the second planting and harvested the day I took the photo. 

Radishes that get too big become punky/soft and hot to eat. Smaller radish is perfect in crunch and flavor. Lettuce was harvested on the same morning. Also has a short window for harvest. 

Next season I will plant radishes two weeks apart and in smaller quantities. Also more lettuce as it grows easily. "Just put it in the ground." Quick advice when all is said and done. 

Her and I are back on better diets again. Radishes work as a snack for me. 

Salads every day for lunch and/or dinner. The lettuce has a sweet flavor right out of the ground. Seems easy to grow. 

Ready to eat.

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FIRE ANTS

Not a good morning find while checking the garden. Fire ants started their takeover of the strawberry bin. I dug them out as best as I could. Lost two plants. Killed the ones dumped on the ground outside the bin and sprayed the remaining with plant friendly bug killers. 

Refilled the hole and am hoping for the best. 

Also found a small hill in my onion patch. Pulled the onions out and plan to put cinnamon down. Apparently that is a user friendly way of removing them. 

Ant killer products also kill the ground for growing/harvesting any eatable foods. 

Fire ants are bad news. Their bites sting and itch beyond crazy. And the itch lasts for days. The only remedy I have found that works is a dab of honey on the bite, but requires a band-aid as honey can get messy in an instant. But it takes the sting and itch out and lasts. 

I did not see ant hills becoming an issue with the garden this season. Weeds yes, but not ants. 

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A horse and a tractor.

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EAST TEXAS ZUCCHINI/YELLOW SQUASH BREAKFAST PATTIES

“Would you like to split the last one?”

“Yes,” her said.

And there it was, her “two thumbs up” breakfast review of this experiment.

Wife told neighbor that our yellow squash and zucchini were coming on and will be overloading next week. Neighbor replied that she uses hers to make “zucchini/yellow squash patties, like salmon patties, for breakfasts.”

Point being is what to do with garden harvest when it comes on. Can't really share with neighbors as theirs is coming on, too. Going to waste is absolutely not an option. Dehydrate, freeze, but eating what is coming out of the garden each day needs to be put into action.

The experiment

One large zucchini grated into a bowl

One small garden onion with greens chopped

Pepper and mix

Seasoned bread crumbs, maybe 1/3 cup.

Two medium eggs whipped and added.

Ingredients folded together. Bread crumbs added a little at a time in the folding.

Can Cooker all purpose seasoning, two small shakes. (We order this from Tractor Supply – seriously) Excellent seasoning for everything.

Mixture a little wet.

Fried in a small skillet using a pad of butter and touch of bacon grease.

Medium high heat, spooning medium scoop and flattening in the pan.

Maybe 2 minutes then flipping. 

Maybe two more minutes and turning the heat down.

Her started to rave. Excellent, add nothing, can you do this again and finally an insistence that I never ever experiment further as it will wreck what I just accomplished. Damned serious she was. But all of this begs with wanting more experimentation. 

Her wants a stack tomorrow morning. Like pancakes. These are light, fluffy and will for sure help the daily consumption of garden grown veggies.

Properly plated.

 

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Saturday markets

Weekend markets are on now with local farms and merchants selling their goods. Local market yesterday morning was also joined by a classic car show. 

The very best table of home grown veggies at the market. An opinion. We crunched on a bundle of these fresh carrots like candy. Onions rocked and we gifted a bundle of turnips (above onions) to our neighbors. 

My first car.

Bench seats. Classic times!!

Dash porn

Ford Flat Head

Just perfect!

Thunderstorms and rain predicted from today through Wednesday. Our chores are completed as best as we can get done. 

Appreciate the visit and have a blessed week.

Answer to last weeks question; DILL.