27 September 2010

Helmets and cups

OK, are you ready for a little joke to start your day?  I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself! 

The first testicular guard, the "Cup", was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974.
That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important .
Ladies.....Quit Laughing.

My Master Gardening course is going well.  I really look forward to the class which is held Tuesday evenings.  It is only one semester and there are several of us from here who are taking it so we are able to carpool and that made it totally doable for me.  It is an excellent class and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  We had a Saturday lab this past weekend and we got home early afternoon.  That left a lot of time in the day to work on the stone walkway I am putting in. I will have some pics of that at a later time; I have a ways to go on it, but it is looking good!

Fall is here, but the flowers are still putting forth a lovely show and the fruit on my tomato plants are ripening very nicely.  Can't get enough of those deliscious BLTs!!!!  No tip or recipe or anything to offer you this week other than that lame joke, but I will leave you with a couple of  pictures of the flowers in my yard.  Have a wonderful, wonderful week.  Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs. 






Obviously not flowers -----------------but the pretty leaves of fall are beginning to arrive.

20 September 2010

Squirrel, squirrel go away...............

Good Monday morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and got to do some fun end-of-summer activities.  Fall is fast approaching.
Do you remember the Moleinator I purchased a month or so back trying to rid my yard of the little beast(s)?  I am happy to report that it works like a charm. The mere placement of this fabulous device made those moles dig their way right over into my neighbor's yard!!  So there was nothing to do but loan it to him and, yes, he got the little bugger. Yea!!!! But Mother Nature is a fickle lady and she wasn't about to let me rest so now I am faced with ridding my yard of ground squirrels. They are super destructive not only in making your property look like some giant cookie cutter punched a zillion holes in the ground along with a zillion dirt piles, but they carry diseases ---- the plague in particular ----,they eat tender young plants, gnaw on veggies, they provide food for rattlesnakes, and worst of all they can undermine a building's foundation. Fortunately, the teacher for my Master Gardener's class told us how we can make a bait station that is pet-proof along with bait that is deadly to the squirrels but not to pets as long as it is administered in the bait station.  If you are interested in the recipe for this bait just email me and would be happy to send it along to you along with directions on how to make a station.  Here's a picture of it.
It is made of PVC pipe and the bait is put in the piece that is standing vertical.  It has a cap to keep it from getting wet should a shower pass through and pets can't get to it.  I did have to purchase a new hacksaw to cut the pieces, and I found the cutest little thing.  Just take a look at it; half the size of a regular hacksaw and so much easier for us ladies to use.  I love tools and this thing is one of my favorites!  I know --- I am a little strange, but hey, it gives me such a sense of accomplishment to be able to do a few things myself.
Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs. Have a fabulous week!

13 September 2010

Recipe

Good morning!  So glad you could stop by today.  I don't know if any of you are canners, but I wanted to share my Dilly Beans recipe with you in case you have a bumper crop of green beans or want to buy some from a local farmer's market and can a few.  They are easy and delicious..............and they are super to take along on a picnic, but they won't last until next summer!  You can begin eating them after they have sat on the shelf for a couple of weeks to let the flavors develop.  Because of the high acidity of the vinegar, these beans can be safely processed in a boiling water bath  Hope you like them!

Dilly Green Beans

4 pounds whole green beans
1 3/4 t crushed dried hot red pepper
3 1/2 t dried dill seed, OR 7 fresh heads of dill
7 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled, OR use equivalent in chopped garlic (you know, the kind in the jar :-)
5 C apple cider vinegar
5 C water
1/2 C less 1 T pickling salt (non-iodized)


Wash beans thoroughly, remove stems and tips, and cut them as much as possible into uniform lengths to allow them to stand upright in 1-pint canning jars---  Or you can use 1/2 pints, just cut them shorter----, coming to the shoulder of the jar.  Have jars clean and very hot, and lids and sealers ready in scalding water.  In each jar place 1/2 t dill seed (or one dill head), 1 garlic clove (or equivalent in chopped garlic), and 1/4 t crushed hot red pepper.  Pack beans upright in jars, leaving 1 inch of headroom.  Heat together the water, vinegar, and salt; when the mixture boils, pour it over the beans, filling each jar to 1/2 inch from the top.  Run a table knife down and around to remove trapped air, adjust lids, and process in a Boiling-Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 10 minutes (or longer if you are above 3000 feet; check a reliable source for correct processing times) after the water in the canner returns to boiling.  Remove jars, complete seals if necessary.  Makes 7 pints.
PS If you substitute GROUND cayenne pepper for the CRUSHED hot red pepper be sure to halve the amount of cayene:  Use only 1/8 t of cayenne to each jar.  Wait at least two weeks for these beans to develop their flavor.

If you give this a try, please let me know how you like them. I would love to hear from you!!!!

06 September 2010

Indian summer

Good morning!  Or afternoon ----- I am a little late posting this week, and I know I missed last Monday altogether; it has been very busy around here.  The plan this morning was to grab a cup of coffee and sit outside to watch the sun rise.  That was the plan anyway, until I actually went outside.  COLD!!!  I came back in to check the temp and it read 34 degrees!!!!  This caught me by surprise as I have not been monitoring the weather reports; but it is, after all, September.  Keeping an eye on weather predictions will have to become routine now in order to cover everything in the garden on that one killer night we usually get.  It will extend our harvest by quite a bit.  Seems like most years we get one good freeze that kills everything and then it warms back up. So I am still hoping for an Indian summer because I am so not ready for winter. Fall is such a beautiful time of the year and I love it, but this year I am yearning for as much summer as possible.  I looked up the meaning of Indian summer and it was explained as 

1.A period of mild weather occurring in late autumn.  (YEAH!!!!!)

2.A pleasant, tranquil, or flourishing period occurring near the end of something: the Indian summer of the administration   (ooooooh, this begs for a comment, but I will refrain :-)   
 
I froze corn and canned some "Dilly" beans (pickled green beans) yesterday.  The previous week I picked jalapeno peppers and bells and got them sliced or diced and frozen.  Wood stacked, lawns mowed. Scurrying around like a squirrel getting ready for winter.  I am beginning to ramble so I will leave you with this picture of some of the produce from my veggie patch.  Have a fabulous week!!!!