Category Archives: hobbies

A simple summer meal

Aug 22

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     I’m always looking for quick and tasty summer meals.  (Especially things that I can make with leftovers.)  One of my favorites is my curry chicken salad.  It’s simple because I use left over store-bought rotisserie chicken to make it.  I buy those once in while when I know I’ll be too tired to cook when I get home from grocery shopping.  With only two of us, we have at least a half a chicken leftover when we’re done.

     You have to understand that I seldom measure things when I cook.  I can give you the ingredients but you’ll have to make it to your own taste.

     Leftover chicken cut up into bite-sized pieces, golden raisins (a handful), chopped celery one or two stalks, 1 small chopped onion, one sweet cherry pepper seeded and chopped, enough Miracle Whip to moisten everything, curry powder to taste (I use approximately 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons.)  Mix thoroughly and chill for at least two hours.

     Serve on a bed of lettuce with tomato wedges.  DH loves this.  It’s also good as a sandwich filling.

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Friday Photos

Aug 13

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A rare treat

Jul 28

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     I wandered out to the garden this afternoon to take a break from writing and I was glad I did.  I got one heck of a photo op.  There, directly behind my yard, up on a telephone wire, sat a red-tailed hawk.  I dashed inside for my camera praying that no one scared him off while I was inside. 

     I snapped a few shots from the yard.  Several people walked under him never seeing this magnificent bird.  Many city people are not observant of nature.  Since he hadn’t moved, I unlocked my gate and walked down to where I was almost directly beneath him.  He practically posed for the pictures.

     When I got the shots I wanted, I ran to G’s house and told her husband to grab his camera there was a fantastic hawk photo op if he hurried.  He did and he got some great shots too. 

     Every year for at least the last twenty years we’ve had a pair of red-tail hawks nesting in the ancient and very tall horse chestnut trees in the cemetery.  Getting pictures of them is a rare treat since they usually stay hidden because the crows tend to mob them.

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The midnight gardener

Jul 25

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     We’ve still no break in the heat and humidity here.  The veggies don’t mind they are growing like crazy.  Then again, so are the weeds.  Since the veggie garden is in the area of the yard that gets the most sun and it gets it all day, it’s been impossible to spend much time out there weeding it without suffering from heat stroke.

     Thus, I’ve become the midnight gardener and am out weeding by flashlight at the oddest hours.  I’m also killing the cucumber bugs as I come across them.  My neighbors think I’m strange.  That’s okay though because I’m one-step ahead of the bugs and the weeds doing it this way.

     Do you know how you tell someone is an avid gardener?  They will pull weeds out of yours as they converse with you.  I had a young woman stop by the fence and admire the garden today.  She was talking to me about perennials and I went to the gate to unlock it and invite her in.  I offered her a few of my more prolific perennials that have taken over some areas of the flower gardens.  While we talking and I was digging them out for her, she began to pull a few weeds.  It reminded me of G and me when we are checking out each other’s gardens.  We do the same thing.  Spotting real gardener is easy.

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Dogs and cameras

Jul 21

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     Did you ever sit there and think; “Now there are several minutes of my life that I won’t get back” I did tonight.  I wanted to put up a new picture of Patty but she wasn’t cooperating.  One of her best tricks is ‘stick ‘em up’ I wanted a shot of that.  Twenty minutes later and I still didn’t have a picture. 

     Did you know that it is impossible to take a picture and work a dog at the same time?  You also need to be quick on the button to catch the dog doing the trick.  I wasn’t.  Butt shots as she walked out of the picture didn’t work.

     Tomorrow, I’ll ask DH to have her do the trick while I attempt to snap a good picture.  I’m certain Patty will do better when she has her Daddy asking her to do her trick.  She’ll do anything for him.

     The next problem will be to keep Gavin from trying to hog the shutter time.  He likes the camera.  He never enjoyed the show ring but he certainly enjoys getting his picture taken.  I can’t pick it up without having him try to get my attention.  “Look at me, I’ll give my paw.”

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Photo ops with the digital camera

Jul 20

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     I enjoy taking the Kodak Z612 outside and snapping pictures of the dogs, flowers, and the veggie garden.  It’s not a new camera nor is it as reliable as I’d like.  However, it’s either that or the even older and fewer bells and whistles hp photosmart.  These days I only use the hp to download pictures from the card I use in the Kodak.

     Why do I do that?  Because Kodak is proprietary and the program for that camera takes over all my other pictures.  I hate that.  In addition, the hp program to download, crop, and adjust the pictures is more reliable.

     Maybe one day I’ll buy a better camera, but for now, this one will do even with its quirks.  I’m only a hobbyist when it comes to taking pictures. 

     I have three folders of wedding pictures from my three cousins’ weddings and I have them saved on a thumb drive.  I had a great time taking those pictures until the danged Kodak decided to sulk.  As I said, it has its quirks. 

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Picture day

Jun 28

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The old dog needs a new trick

Jun 25

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     DH points a finger gun at the dogs.  “Stick ‘em up.”

     Patty’s paws shoot for the ceiling and she balances perfectly.  She gets a cookie.  Gavin raises one paw and gives a bit of hop with the other.  That’s the best he’s going to give DH.  He’s not fond of the trick since he can’t sit up and hold his balance.  He gets a cookie anyway.

     DH is bored.  The dogs are bored.  The hot weather is keeping DH in the house.  TV sucks there’s nothing on worth watching during the day.  DH wants to teach them a new trick. 

     I told DH to try teaching them to roll over because Gavin excels at lying down.  He’s not getting any younger.  Gavin will be nine in November.  The poor dog is beginning to show his age a bit.  His bully runs are not as frequent nor do they last as long.  He not only takes naps but the dog goes to bed at seven in the evening.

     This should be interesting.  Patty is smart and quick on the uptake.  Gavin figures if it isn’t give paw, down, or kennel up, it’s not worth learning but then again there is that promise of a cookie…

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Cucumber bugs in the melon patch

Jun 20

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     It’s time to buy some insecticidal soap.  I found cucumber bugs nibbling on my cantaloupe plants tonight.  However, they are leaving the cucumber plant alone, which makes one wonder why the have the name cucumber bugs.  I’d rather they’d leave my melon plants alone thank you very much.

     Since I didn’t have any insecticidal soap on hand, I picked off the bugs and dropped them into a jar of hot soapy water.  It killed them.  I may have to continue this method for a few days.  Right now, it looks as though there aren’t many in my veggie garden.  I checked the potted veggies too and they seem to have escaped any bug damage. 

     My neighbors must think I’m crazy when they see the light from my flashlight bobbing around the yard at all hours.  Although, if I hadn’t been checking plants at such an odd hour I might never have seen which bugs were snacking on my plants.

     I am pleased to see so many little cucumbers and peppers on the plants.  All the tomato plants have flowers, there are a few little patty pan squash growing, the eggplants have flowers now, and I have a few teensy acorn squash.  Now all I need to see to make my heart go pitty-pat would be some cantaloupes and watermelons starting.

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Garden update

Jun 13

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     We’ve had enough rain to get the veggies and melons off to a great start.  I have tiny peppers on most of the pepper plants.  The tomato plants all have flowers now.  I have to go out and find another sugar baby water melon plant because I foolishly bought only one and should have purchased two.  The one I have is growing like crazy but without another to cross-pollinate I doubt I’ll get any fruit.

     The eggplant plants have tripled in size but no flowers yet.  I finally have dill growing tall and happy without the nasty earwigs chewing the plant down to the roots this time.  Planting it in the pot worked well.  The squash plants are loaded with flowers and a couple of them have teensy squash on them.  The bush cucumber has flowers but no sign of any cukes yet.  I’m not very certain that the plant was marked correctly because the plant certainly isn’t a bush.

     G gave me some cannas the other day and I planted them.  I hope they come up.  The black elephant ears are beginning to look good.  The ones in the pot are bigger than the ones in the garden.

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How does your garden grow?

Jun 3

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     I’m pleased to say that all the tomato plants I put in have tripled in size and the plum tomatoes have blossoms.  All of the pepper plants are growing tall and are loaded with flowers.  This is the first time I’ve planted dill that the danged earwigs didn’t eat it to the roots within days.  I guess planting it in a pot was the secret.  The fennel plant looks good too.

     There’s a lovely flower blooming on the patty pan squash and there are other buds a plenty.  The sugar-baby watermelon vine has quadrupled in size and I do believe that also has buds.  The acorn squash, the cucumber, and the cantaloupe are growing fast no buds yet but they’ll get there.

     I don’t see any change in the lemon grass but at least it’s alive.  I planted half of my black elephant ears in the pond garden and half in a pot.  The ones in the pot are growing faster. 

     All of the new iris I planted are doing well and so are the other flowers.  My oriental lilies are blooming.  The stargazers are getting tall and have plenty of buds.  I have a ton of coreopsis even after giving a bunch away to other gardeners along with some other iris I had to split.  The day lilies have started to bloom.  I took some pictures but have to download them.

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Masochist or avid gardener?

May 19

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     You would think that after spending four days away from home, suffering from self-induced sleep deprivation, and having the dogs and DH miss me, that for a day or two at least I wouldn’t go anywhere.  If you thought that, you would be wrong.

     Before I left for the conference, my neighbor and I made plans to go to our favorite nursery and do some shopping for our gardens.  When did we plan to go on this expedition?  We planned it for noon on Monday.  Yeah, I never said I was the brightest light in the harbor. 

     What a fool I am.  Besides having to do a ton of writing, I now have extra gardening work to do this week.  Can you say masochist?  Truly, because I didn’t buy a few plants, I bought many plants.  I’ll be digging holes and planting for two days.

     However, I couldn’t resist buying two of the black bearded iris since the one I had died two years ago and I couldn’t find any afterwards.  Then I saw two different variegated ones and two more in colors I couldn’t resist.  Have I ever mentioned that I have a weakness for bearded iris?

     I needed flowers to plant in the cement flower boxes on the front porch.  I saw other flowers that I thought would look nice in the side garden—and those too went on the little garden wagon.

     I was there for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants too and I found them.  Then I saw the sugar baby watermelons and cantaloupe, not to mention acorn squash and patty pans.  They were a tight fit but I got them on the wagon.  I almost went to get another wagon but G mentioned that DH might kill me and that her hubby would make me ride home on the car roof if I overloaded their Suburban.  It was close as it was.  Between us, we filled the back and had to drop down and use half of the back seat.  One more plant and I would’ve been on the roof.

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