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Tons of leaves and two dogs
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Our yard has three trees, a large magnolia, a very tall tulip poplar, and a sweet gum tree. In the spring and summer, I love them. They shade our yard and house and keep us cool. In the fall, I’m not so fond of them. In the fall, they drop a ton of leaves.
I raked leaves today. Raked, and raked and raked them. I raked leaves until I thought my arms would fall off. I raked up enough leaves to hide several bodies in the piles if I wanted to. Each pile is waist high and at least twelve feet long.
Ah, yes the piles of leaves. If you have kids (I don’t), they are a magnet. You would think I’d have it easy without kids around. However, I have two dogs who think they are kids and—you guessed it, the leaf piles are magnets to them.
Our city will pick up the leaves if they are out on the street. I need to haul those two huge piles of leaves out there. Well, I will move them if I can keep the dogs out of them.
I raked leaves. Patty flew out the door and leapt into the nearest pile with great glee. I raked the leaves back into the pile. Gavin decided that she looked as though she was having fun so he followed suit and barreled into the other pile of leaves. I raked again. They both dashed through the first pile of leaves. I raked. With every trip outside—they played and I raked.
My work gloves didn’t prevent the blisters from appearing on my hands. I’m pooped. Tomorrow the pups will be going outside on leashes until I can move the leaves out of the yard.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, My blog, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
That’s a wrap…for this week.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s been a long week. In the last two days, the weather improved drastically. We had a temperature of 75 degrees today and plenty of sunshine. Whoopee!
I now have a working oven light. Another whoopee! I no longer have to use a flashlight to check on things cooking in there. My next door neighbor’s dear son came in today and was able to remove the end of the broken bulb. Thank goodness for tall people with long arms!
Dear Hubby is feeling much better since the oral surgeon removed the stitches. In addition, I realized I haven’t heard him complain of a headache since the removal of those broken teeth. That one deserves a big yippee!
The pups are happy and healthy. {Knock on wood there.} I posted a new picture of Patty in the Bull Pen, and if you scroll down a few posts, you’ll see Waldo the owl.
I managed to finish another chapter in my book without going postal.
My kitchen is clean and I did some yard work today. I do need to figure out how to plug the hose for the little gargoyle fountain since I’m worried that he might freeze and crack over the winter. I’ll be bringing him in with all the other garden statuary until spring rolls around again.
Posted in My blog, My books, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Doggoned Green Tomato Pie
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Doggoned Green Tomato Pie
3 ½ c. peeled and sliced green tomatoes
¼ to ½ cup of golden raisins (optional)
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
6 tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. sugar
¼ C lt. brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cloves
1 tsp instant tapioca
Sauté the tomatoes in the butter and lemon juice until just tender. Combine tomatoes with sugar, flour, salt, tapioca, and spices. Line 9″ pie pan with pastry, pour in filling, and cover with top crust. Snip a couple of vent holes in top crust. Bake at 450 degrees 10 minutes then reduce to 350 degrees and bake until crust is brown–approximately 35-40 minutes.
Posted in Food
Tags: Author, baked goods, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Desserts, Disability, Doggoned, Fall Desserts, Fall Recipes, Family, Fiction, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Green Tomato Pie, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, recipes, Writer, Writing
Green tomatoes are good in everything…right?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My potted vegetable garden
I love green tomatoes. I’ve picked them early to fry them when I couldn’t wait for the first frost warning. I’ve mooched them from neighbors on years I didn’t grow any. Last year I planted two tomato plants in a pot, this year I tripled that because last year I had no green tomatoes at the end of the season.
I harvested all the green tomatoes left on my vines before we had frost this past week. Now I have a basket full of them. We’ve had them fried, made into chutney, green tomato salsa, and diced and sautéed with the onions in a chicken liver curry. Remember, DH is on a soft diet. (Nevertheless, the curry was very good!) Now I am dredging up all the green tomato recipes in my files.
I think tomorrow, I’ll make green tomato pie but that only takes three and half cups. Maybe more chutney is in order to use up what I’ll have left. I could dice some into the chili I plan to make on Friday. I bet that would be good. Hmm, there’s that recipe I saw for green tomato bread—that’s it, next year I’m planting more tomatoes.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Fall is here
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Fall has arrived. The leaves are rapidly changing colors and dropping to the ground. I need to get the netting up over the pond soon or I’ll have another huge mess to clean up next spring. I went through it this year and I don’t want to do it again. We do have to raise the netting a bit, so we don’t have the frogs snagging themselves.
I have some PVC pipe to use to construct a framework that I can drape the net over and clip it leaving a 3 to 4 inch space between the bottom of the netting and the ground. That should keep most of the leaves out of the pond and give the frogs free access for as long as they need it.
I took Gavin outside today the air was brisk, the wind moderate, and he was full of himself. The fact is, he was full of himself he didn’t smell, see, notice, or find the dead frog. He walked right past it. No, it wasn’t Goliath. It was a rather large bullfrog but not as big as the worm moocher, Goliath.
However, at the time I didn’t know it wasn’t Goliath because these frogs are seldom active until dusk. Later, I went out to check the pond and quite happily discovered Goliath sitting on the bench rock waiting for me to serve up some worms.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Gnasty gnats
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The last couple of weeks we have a plague of gnats. They swarm and bite not just the dogs but us too. When I ran the trimmer around the pond, the gardens, and along the fence those nasty bugs were biting the heck out of my ears. They drew blood and were worse than the mosquitoes. It’s a darned shame the bull frogs consider them too small to be an appetizer.
No, our frogs want to eat birds and nightcrawlers. One of the frogs, probably Goliath, has the mourning doves on heightened patrol at the waterfall. The birds have begun to use a lookout when they come in to drink. I haven’t seen any starlings stop by for quite a while.
When I sit on the little bench by the back door, I can see a dozen or so gold finches feasting on my coneflowers’ seeds. They arrive every afternoon around five and aren’t as skittish now as they were this summer. The cat bird joins them. From the far side of the cemetery I can hear the red tailed hawk yelling at the mowers. I can’t stay outside and enjoy the birds for long because the gnats discover me again.
Posted in Dog related, hobbies, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, bird watching, Birds, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
A little of this and that
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I received a lovely surprise in my mailbox today. The prize package from Jennie arrived. She’s such a dear. She didn’t have to send the package all the way here from Cardiff, Wales. She could’ve fibbed and sent it to someone closer. I’m glad she did send it to me though because it’s a delightful little treasure trove.
The news that one of my favorite actors has died threw me for a loop. I’ve always adored Patrick Swayze and kept hoping he’d beat that nasty pancreatic cancer.
We’ve had two sunny days in a row now—Hooray for the sun! I managed to backwash the pond filters, pick five tomatoes and a dozen or so grape tomatoes. There’s still more out there that aren’t ready yet. The first hint of a frost around here and I’ll scrabble to pick all the green tomatoes—we do love fried green tomatoes.
After I finished the yard work, I went straight to my computer and spent several hours reading and critiquing one of Dave’s books. He’s truly an excellent writer. In fact, I think I used ‘excellent’ more than once in my comments on his manuscript. I’m telling you people, when his books are published, you have to read them.
Posted in In memory of..., Misc, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Bullfrog glamour shots and garden pictures
Posted by doggonedmysteries
After accepting a bribe of worms, Goliath obligingly sat still for several photographs tonight. He stayed still even with my use of a prop (a one pound coffee can) to show his size. Goliath frog is fat! I then downloaded his ‘glamour shots’ and the garden pictures I took last week. You will find them on our garden and pond page.
The garden pictures are from August. I’m always on the look out for black flowers and foliage. (I have a thing for them.) One of my favorite pictures is of my black elephant ears. We lost our black bearded Iris to the mice a couple of years back and we haven’t found another one to replace it. This year I purchased a couple of daylilies that are quite dark but not black. I like the black flowers and foliage because they make the other colors in the garden pop. They also go well with all the gargoyle statuary. 😉
I did forget to take a picture of our torch wielding gargoyle. Yes, the torch does work. I’ll get around to photographing it one of these days.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Photgraphy, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
To can or not to can
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I can’t believe it. We’re halfway through our second jar of my Cousins’ homemade jam. The first jar we finished was his raspberry jam what a heavenly delight! This one is sour cherry-raspberry and all I can say is wow. I’m sorely tempted to open all the others to taste them but I will restrain myself and go one at a time. I’m not certain as to which one we’ll try after this jar is empty.
We have a number of choices. There’s the blueberry, the strawberry, the strawberry rhubarb, and sour cherry sitting in the cupboard waiting for us to dive in. My cousin and his daughter make tons of jams for the family every year. Another cousin makes a wonderful salsa.
I’ve also been hoarding a jar of my Aunts’ tomato relish—it’s my last jar.
I’m sorry to say that I haven’t done any canning in several years. I used to make this wonderful tomato pear chutney, a port wine jelly, an apple ginger jelly, and a jalapeño jelly. Dear Hubby misses the jalapeño jelly most of all. I quit canning when my dishwasher died, it was a portable, and we never replaced it because it took up too much room. It had a sterilizing cycle that I used to sterilize all my jars, lids, and rings. It’s too time consuming and too much work without it.
Posted in Food, hobbies, Misc, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Cooking, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Cooler nights now
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The last couple of nights have been wonderful. It’s been very good sleeping weather with the temperatures in the mid sixties. Our AC is off and the house opened up during the day with the low humidity and cooler days too.
I am saddened to see that the leaves are ever so slightly beginning to change color and some of the Tulip Poplar and Magnolia’s leaves have fallen. Summer has passed too quickly.
We’ll soon have to rake leaves. Dear Hubby and I hope to get the pond covered properly this year so we don’t get as many leaves in the water as we did this past fall. We never did get around to putting the netting up and I had a heck of a job cleaning the pond out this spring.
The bullfrogs are eating everything they can grab now, fattening up for their winter hibernation. Yes, for Goliath this includes any birds that happen to land too close to him.
It’s also time to change the Koi to their fall food. I’ll have to add that to my list to pick some up this week before I forget it.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
My turn!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Since Gavin wrote the post yesterday, Mom said it was my turn today. My name is Patty; I’m the lovely dark princess in the picture above. Mom says I’m no princess I’m a Peppermint Patty I have no idea what she’s talking about when she says things like that ‘cause I know I’m a princess. Daddy says I am his rescued Rumanian princess. I love my Mommy too but she cleans ears and stuff so I’d rather sit with Dad.
When I went outside tonight, I chased two of those green critters into the pond. They both screamed and hopped so high I thought they were birds taking off. I couldn’t help chasing the first one he was sitting right at the bottom step. I surprised him as much as he surprised me. Halfway to the pond the other one screamed and took off so then I had two of them bouncing green things in front of me. I was so excited! That is I was until they splashed into the pond. I don’t like to get wet so all I could do was try to see where they went. Mom said they hide under the water with the fishes and can stay there for a long time so I should stop looking and come in.
I told Gavin about the green critters that Mom calls bullfrogs. He says he’s heard them scream and splash into the water but never saw one close enough to chase it. I beat him on that one!
Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
We are one step ahead of the squirrels in the great tomato war
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Gavin here, Mom said I could write the blog tonight. Boy is Mom completely ticked off at the squirrels. Tree rats she calls them. While Patty and I were enjoying the AC, it seems that those sneaky critters went and built a nest in her magnolia tree. Then they started stealing tomatoes and had the nerve to sit on her bench by the back door and eat them!
Patty says she could scare them off if only she could climb the tree. We’ve both tried but we don’t have any cat blood in us so it didn’t work. The danged old tree rat laughed at us but then so did Mom. Now that it’s cooler outside we’re patrolling the yard more often.
The tree rat cusses at us from the top of the magnolia. Patty and I pretend we can’t hear him and maybe he’ll come closer.
Dad says it’s time to get out the have-a-heart traps again. He said something about relocating the fluffy tailed rats. I don’t know what relocating means but I growled about it at the squirrel tonight.
Posted in Dog related, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
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