Gardening Season is Wrapping Up

Now that fall's officially here, I thought I'd take some pictures of the garden and reflect on how this season went for me.

I took these pictures at dusk, so they're not as clear as they could be.

In the greenhouse, I have Diana the pomegranate who is doing well. She looks sad, but she's actually doing really, really well. I'm going to make a "cage" for her out of PVC pipe and heavy duty greenhouse plastic to help keep her happy during the winter. I'll also trim back her branches quite a bit to fit in the cage. She should have a strong, deep taproot by now, below the frost line, so other than the two weeks we're below zero, she should be just fine. For those two weeks, I'll hook up the heat lamp in an effort to keep her cage above 10 degrees.

I've allowed her to keep *one* fruit.

Outside of the greenhouse, I have Brandywine tomatoes in the left tomato box, and San Marzanos in the right. Moving away from the greenhouse, I have concord grapes, honeysuckle, and kiwi berry. The grapes fruited for the first time, and I can't tell you how excited I was about that! The kiwi berry grew like crazy this year, but no fruit, so I'm hoping we'll get some for next year. We planted the honeysuckle as a filler between the the grapes and kiwi berry.

In front of the arch, I have rosemary on the left,
and lavender on the right. Both are hanging in there, but not
thriving. Maybe next year they'll do better.

I was so thrilled with the grapes I got from Grandma and Grandpa Grape - it's been my goal for years to grow my own grapes. I thought the grapes were done for the year, but it looks like I'll get at least one more bunch! I don't know how common it is to get late grapes, but I'm not going to complain in the least.

The wind and summer storms have played havoc with my tomato plants. They're doing well, but it's been a challenge. I'll have to re-think how I support the tomatoes next year. The cages I had this year just weren't enough to keep the winds from blowing them all around. The other night, when I was looking for ripe San Marzanos to pick, I found this beautiful cat-faced orb weaver gracing my plant.

I learned a lot, but mostly, I learned the importance of deep watering. I was trying to water "just enough" in order to not be wasteful. However, I stunted my garden's growth doing that. My corn really took off once I borrowed a soaker hose from L.E. and started watering with that. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The corn stalks grew to 9 feet tall, but the ears never developed any corn. There are skinny little ears all over, but no corn on the ears. Now I know.

The peas did really well in the pea/cucumber/corn patch, and the cucumbers also did really well. I think the peas would have done better if I'd started deep watering earlier. I borrowed the trellis that the peas and cucumbers climbed from L.E. Next year, I'll use our 'old' slow feed hay net as the trellis. I'll also plant the peas on the north side of the trellis so that when our stupid winds blow, it'll blow the peas into the trellis, not away from it.

The corn looks so impressive. Sadly, it's not. I'll be using it
as fall decoration instead of harvesting any corn.

I should have taken into consideration my hose length when I set up the pepper and no watermelon patch. My pocket hose doesn't reach, and so I had to spray from about five feet away, which disrupted the soil and the roots. My pepper plants didn't grow for anything, and I had to replace them once. Next year, I'll buy a longer hose and set up a soaker hose for this area. When I realized my peppers weren't going to do anything, my goal became "keep them alive the rest of the season", which worked out, and now they're coming on with some peppers. Better late than never, I guess.

That's my sunset bench under the no-watermelon arch.
I love sitting there in the evening.

The strawberries didn't do much this summer - I got one berry all season long - but I'm happy with the plants. I allowed them to send out runners all summer in hopes of filling the bed with plants. The mint has rebounded from the grasshoppers last year, and is now trying to escape the license plate border. I'll cut it back when I bed everything down with straw in a couple of weeks.

Tally, my grandturtle, has been
getting outdoor recess in the
strawberry/mint patch. She's
a master at hide and seek!

My "garden in a box" garden, made up of native flowers is doing really well. L.E. and I split a "box" since there were far too many plants for the little area I wanted to use. I planted them last fall, and did have to replace two of the plants, but the replacement plants are also doing well. Next year, they'll get minimal water, then the following year, I shouldn't have to water at all. I sort of followed the layout that Resource Central gave, but should have paid more attention so the taller plants went in the back. I didn't realize the penstemon would get so tall.

Starting at twelve o'clock and moving clockwise: yellow yarrow,
yellow columbine, purple coneflower, firecracker penstemon,
Rocky Mountain penstemon, purple columbine.

As a bonus, I had to include a picture from the sunset bench, under the no-watermelon arch. I often sit out there and do my Duolingo lessons in the evening. Once it gets cooler, I'll go back to sitting in Whimsy to do them.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 3 (fin)

The primary reason for us to travel to Arizona was so Jay could attend an Indiana Fever game. Getting to hang out with Deejo's family was just a bonus. Like most sports enthusiasts, Jay's a rabid fan of Caitlin Clark, and bought tickets last December when they became available. It was a win-win situation - a long weekend hanging with my brother, and getting to go to a game.

Since it was an evening game, Jay and I had time to kill. Deejo and Mrs. Deejo had to return to work, which left us free for the day. Not to worry, Jay had plans for us! One of the toy stores that he has purchased collectibles from is only about thirty minutes from Deejo's place, so off we went to visit Retro Exchange. (Collectibles is what you call toys when you're using your adult money.) It's a gem that's kind of hidden in plain sight in a strip mall. In fact, despite using GPS and our eyeballs, we drove past it the first time and had to double back.

Very unassuming and easy to overlook.

I think I've mentioned that we basically live in a toy store at home, with all of Jay's collectibles. We have cabinets full of Star Wars collectibles. However, I can't completely blame Jay, because I have found some joy in finding John Wick, The Walking Dead, and Supernatural toys as well. Our house is an eight year-old boy's dream. I wasn't looking for anything in particular when we went to Retro Exchange, but was looking forward to just enjoying looking at all the toys from my childhood. It was amazing!

They carried more than Star Wars, but those are the ones I gravitated to, given who I've married. We spent a good bit of time wandering up and down the aisles a couple of times, seeing something new with each pass.

Connected to the toy store was a comic book store. I don't really do comics, never understood the draw, but between Jay and Monster, I'm becoming comic book curious. I was flipping through the bins, idly, just to waste time. I saw a table labeled "TV Show comics" and headed over there, thinking I could find some X-Files or something that was interesting. Boy, did I find something interesting! Supernatural comic books!

Guess part of my Feral Fifties now includes comic books.

I knew about them, and had casually looked whenever we went to Mile High Comics, but hadn't any luck finding them. There are a total of 24 comics, so I've got 18 more to hunt and find. I've already pre-ordered the first one of the new series coming out, so I guess this is a thing I'm now doing.

By the time we were finished at the toy store, it was already triple digits out, so we headed back to Deejo's to enjoy the air conditioning.

We were lucky enough to get to spend a few minutes with Deejo before we left to the game, since we likely wouldn't see him before our flight out the next day. He leaves for work about 4:30 a.m., and our flight wasn't until late morning.

I think the last time I was at a live basketball game was the Nuggets many years ago, when my kids were playing rec ball and they got invited to go play on the court before the game. That had to have been ... almost thirty years ago. I've never attended a WNBA game, and it was thrilling!

We were surrounded by other Fever fans, though definitely outnumbered by the home team fans. There was one player who caught my eye for both her defensive and offensive skills, number 10, Lexie Hull. While she's not super flashy, she's steady and hardworking, just the type of player that draws my interest. Even though the Fever lost, and Jay didn't get to see Caitlin play, we had a blast! I'm looking forward to more games. WNBA is in post-season play now, their season has just about wrapped up, but college ball is starting up, and those tickets tend to be more reasonably priced, so maybe we'll get to go to one.

We've been home from Arizona for a couple of weeks, but a surprise showed up for me the other day!

Jay ordered me my own Lexie Hull Fever jersey! Now we have to go to a game next season.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 2

A couple of weeks before our trip out to see Deejo's family, I saw a cute reel on FB and sent it to Mrs. Deejo, thinking we could have a good time with her skull pans. She's always up for a baking adventure.

Look at how cute these are!

I bought everything we needed, and on Labor Day, we chose not to leave the house, instead opting for a movie day. Making the skull cakes was the perfect edible craft for a movie day.

We might have overfilled the molds a touch. No worry, we'll
just cut them flush with the pan.

Honestly? I would have eaten them just like this :)

We blended the cherry pie mix
so it would be slightly less chunky.

The white chocolate was trickier than
we'd anticipated - it kept running back
down the mold and pooling in the bottom.

To solve the problem, Mrs. Deejo brushed
on the white chocolate, and I slammed the 
heads in as quickly as possible.

We filled the tops of the skulls
with the "brains", then put the backs on
and covered them with more white chocolate.

After they were assembled, we popped them into the fridge for the white chocolate to harden, and went back to watch another movie.

Removing them from the molds was tricky. I'm not sure how
the lady in the video did it with metal pans.

Success? Maybe.

I'm not sure if this is really a Pintrest fail, or if it's a really good
"nailed it". They're definitely decrepit looking skulls.

BRAINS!!

The jaws made me giggle. The detail was astounding.

Despite them looking terrible, they were tasty and we enjoyed them. There was lots of laughter while making them, and even more laughter while trying to remove them from the molds with the help of Jay and Deejo.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 1

Jay and I took a long weekend over Labor Day to go visit Deejo and family in Arizona. Last time we were there, we tried to go to Mel's Diner, the setting of the TV show "Alice", but it was closed. This time, our flight was getting in early enough that we could go have breakfast at the diner we remembered from our childhood.

Okay, to be honest, I really only remember "kiss my grits!" from childhood, and the fact that as a child I thought that was the funniest thing ever.

Deejo and family met us for breakfast, which was good. The menu had some scenes from the TV show sprinkled throughout, but I really wish they'd had a quick write-up about the show, how long it aired (1976-1982), etc. I love little histories like that when they're written into the menu. Also, non-Gen Xers don't know the show, so just saying that "Alice was filmed here" means nothing to them.

We really didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, so after stuffing ourselves on diner food, we headed back to Deejo's to hang out. Jay and I are travelers, so to go vacation with next to nothing planned, was different. It felt good to not be going, going, going. 

I'd packed a couple of swimming suits and planned to sit in the pool and read. Deejo had warned me that it would be too hot, but I figured this Colorado girl could handle it. I could not. My swimming suits never got wet. I did plop my bare feet down into the pool after sun down a couple of times, but there was definitely no sitting in hot water while the sun pounded down on me while over 100*F.

That night, we decided to go to dinner at Oregano's, which is an Arizona-based restaurant chain. We have one in Fort Collins, but the portions are huge, so Jay and I very rarely go. Deejo's daughter sweetened the deal by telling us that they had bellini flights on special. Well, sign me and Mrs. Deejo up for that!

Not bad for $14

Just a few years ago, I could have, and would have, killed this flight of bellinis. However, Jay and I drink even less frequently than we go to eat at Oregano's. I managed to try each of them, and get down the equivalent of one. They were yummy, but I just couldn't do it.

The next day, we tried to escape the heat by driving north to Jerome. I've only ever been to Jerome one other time, several years ago, when Jay and I drove our Kia Soul down for a Soul Hamsters meet-up. I had really enjoyed our brief visit then, and looked forward to going again.

Y'all, I had serious deja vu when I stepped off the stone stairs leading down from the upper parking lot onto the street. Not because of our last visit, but I had an immediate sensation of being transported back to Blevio on Lake Como, Italy. I stepped onto the street and looked left, the retaining wall spanning the area, with the smallest amount of shoulder on the road, looked and felt just like the retaining wall that lead to our favorite market in Blevio. Even walking down the stairs, looking out over the street was familiar. I mentioned it to Jay, and he agreed. We even told Deejo and Mrs. Deejo that if we just followed the retaining wall a few yards, we'd end up at "our" market. I was so taken aback, that it didn't dawn on me to take a picture. It was a surreal moment.

Looking down over a very Tuscan-style hotel/resort (?).

When Jay and I had visited with the Soul Hamsters, we were there for a totally different reason, and thus only stayed in Jerome long enough to grab something to eat at the Haunted Hamburger before resuming our drive. With Deejo and Mrs. Deejo, we had time to just wander. I had enjoyed my brief visit to Jerome with the Soul Hamsters, but I fell in love with it this time around. It's quirky, witchy, haunted, and just plain fun!

The pictures of how they got this
truck into the "mall" were pretty incredible.

This bunny might be scarier than the
Rabbit of Caerbannog

Throw a coin to your sh*tter

I found my next craft for Maggie.

It's a good thing we only traveled with backpacks, because there were so many cute things that wanted to come home with us. I think we only covered about half of Jerome on this trip, so we'll be coming back (and with more luggage space to take things home!).

Latte Coffee Candle

 Before I talk about our crafty day, I just wanted to give a quick update on the kombucha flavored with stuff I grew! The watermelon cucumber was so refreshing, I loved it. Jay had a bottle of the honeysuckle and enjoyed it enough that I'm going to try to gather enough flowers to make a half gallon of it. I only tried a sip of the grape the other night as I moved it to the fridge, but didn't get much grape flavor, so I've been letting it sit in the fridge a bit longer. This morning, when I looked at it, it had more color, so I'm looking forward to trying it with dinner tonight.

~~~

Each year, since I turned fifty, I've been trying to learn a new skill. Even though we don't have a family history of dementia and just a minimal history of stroke (Grandma Mary had one, but she was a life-long smoker), it's always in the back of my mind that I can do things to prevent, or at least increase chances of recovery. Not to mention, I want to be able to wipe my own butt when I'm 90, so staying physically active is important. Hence the reason for learning new skills each year, in an effort to keep my neurons cranking out the myelin and exercising both sides of my brain. 

Since I've turned fifty, I joined the circus, learned to paddle board, learned to crochet, have been learning Italian, and tried picking up little skills here and there. Hell, Mom and I built Whimsy together - there was a lot of learning that went on, and is still going on, with that project. This year, though, I didn't have a big learning goal, which is where the little one-day classes are coming in handy.

I told you all of that so that you'd understand that I was already primed when I saw a Facebook ad for a Skill A Week. The intro cost was steeply discounted (I think I paid $15 for three months), so of course I signed up. I figured that this was something Mom and I could do together on Mom nights. Already, I'm behind because I have to order the supplies for each week's skills. It's a good thing the classes were so discounted! 

The first week's class was candle making, specifically a candle that looked like a latte. 

I forgot to take pictures of the process of making the ice cubes, but I did learn one really important thing, should I choose to make candles like this in the future: direct heat is your friend when melting high-temp gel wax. I tried using a double boiler. After 45 minutes, I gave up and went straight to direct heat. The gel was melted within five minutes. Now I know. It's a good thing that I followed the instructor's advice and made the ice cubed in advance, because if I'd waited until Mom got there, that's all that would have been accomplished.

Almost forgot to take this picture, too.

I chose to use pint canning jars, since I have an abundance of canning jars, and I know they can handle high heat. After we put the wicks in, we added the ice cubes and got started on melting the wax for the coffee and milk. The wax for the coffee/milk was a lower temp wax, so the double boiler was used effectively. We added in the scent, then split the wax into two pour jars: one to be the milk, the other to get colored for the coffee. Then, we started pouring the candles.

The milk went first,

then the coffee.

Pouring was the easy part, waiting for it to cool was the most difficult. Luckily, we'd planned to eat dinner and watch another episode of Reacher, which kept us entertained and not messing around with the candles as they cooled.

They looked like chocolate milk, not a latte once they cooled.

I reminded both Mom and myself that we needed to trust the process, and broke out the heat gun to warm it. The instructor said it would bring out the coffee color and we needed to "melt" the ice cubes to make it more realistic looking.

It worked!

But as it cooled, it started looking like chocolate milk again.

I think I was a little too generous with the heat gun and melted the wax too much. <shrugs> It happens. This was a ton of fun, and I'll likely make candles again in the future, though probably not something that requires more than one color.