Furry Friends and Flowers

Whenever I get the camera out, the animals all seem to appear. They love to have their pictures taken. Lucy was keeping a close eye on JJ when I took this shot hence the laid back ears.

Bear loves to pose anytime she sees the camera. She prefers this "on alert" pose. It can be hard to get a good face shot at times. She thinks the profile shots are much better.

This is Casper who does not belong to me but enjoys visiting the herb garden for the catnip.

JJ hiding under a chair. He is a bit of a stalker although he only stalks the other cats.

I got several surprise zinnias after tossing out a packet of old seeds. This one was especially pretty.

This is a candy cane zinnia. They are not doing quite as well this year due to the extremely dry condition.

I honestly have no idea exactly what type of flower this is. I do know that it tolerates heat and drought very well which makes it a favorite of mine.

This is one of the sunflowers I planted in the garden. The idea was to use them to attract bees and increase pollination of the vegetables. My husband decided we needed something other than plain sunflowers.

Pineapple Plants

Part of the fun of a fresh pineapple is sprouting the top and ended up with a plant. I enjoy that as much or more than eating the pineapple. I lost one of my plants to the cold last year, but two survived and are thriving in this hot, humid weather.

This is the oldest of my pineapple plants. I repotted it earlier this spring, and it has really taken off. I also like that they do well with very little water.

This plant has actually sprouted out into three plants. The main one is the smaller in the middle. The two new ones off to the sides are growing better.

This is the third plant left from last year.

These are the three new plants that I sprouted this year. I planted two of them in larger pots only because that is what I had left. They will probably not need to be repotted for a couple of years.

I have yet to get a pineapple sprouting off one of my plants but hopefully will soon. They are a nice addition to the deck as they are. With this very dry weather they are the few plants I have that are still pretty and green.

Garden Update

I decided it would be easier for now to post my garden pictures in my regular blog. Maybe next year I will be more on track to keep up with the gardening blog. For now one is enough. Here are some new garden pictures. Everything is really growing!

Rattlesnake Watermelon

(So far thankfully I have seen no actual rattlesnakes)

Cantaloupe

Gourd

(for fall decorating)




Pumpkin
(a regular orange pie pumpkin)

Lumina Pumpkin

(For decorating because I think white pumpkins are neat)

Celebrity Tomatoes

Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes

Jalapeno Pepper

Banana Pepper

Tomatillo

(I love that they look like paper lanterns!)

The Birds!!

Does anyone remember that Alfred Hitchcock movie? I still think it is one of the scariest movies ever. When was the last time you ran into a zombie or mutant alien? Now when was the last time you saw a few birds?

These are my mom's blackberry bushes which are loaded with fresh, juicy, ripe berries. All of the leaves and thorns are concealing a nest full of baby birds.

Here is what is guarding the nest and therefore the blackberry bushes.

Let me just say this mama bird could win a starring role in Hitchcock's movie. I cannot convince her that my interest is in the berries and not her babies. She swoops down at me squawking all the time. I picture all of her bird friends joining in the attack. That casts me as Tippi Hedren's character Melanie Daniels. My only rescuer was a dog who quickly tired of my cries for help and left me fend for myself. In the end I walked away with only mental scars and a gallon of berries

Menu Monday

After being sick last week and not eating much at all, I decided I had better make out a proper menu this week.

Pork & beans with hot dogs and au gratin potatoes - I found a package of four hot dogs in the freezer and cans of pork & beans in the pantry. We have freshly dug potatoes from the garden and I found a pint of cream that I had frozen. This will clear up a bit of space in the freezer.

Chicken Fried Rice - I found one chicken breast in the freezer that can be stretched into a meal by adding in some frozen stir fry vegetables, brown rice from the freezer, and a couple of scrambled eggs. I will serve this with crescent rolls.

Hamburgers and chips - I have homemade hamburger buns in the freezer which do not need to stay in there for too long. We have some packages of chips in the pantry to make this a quick meal.

Fish fillets, salad, and sweet potato fries - We bake the fish fillets with butter and herbs. The sweet potato fries are frozen and quite yummy.

BLTs - The temperatures here are climbing which means lighter meals are welcome on the menu. Sandwiches will pop up on my menu more and more as the humidity and temperatures rise. We are trying beef bacon as opposed to pork.

Tacos - I have taco meal kits in the pantry. This will help use up the lettuce. We almost always have taco seasoned meat leftover so I will freeze it to use in a salad for a future meal. I also have some guacamole in the freezer.

Pork tenderloin, macaroni and cheese, green beans, and squash - The pork tenderloin is in the freezer. I think I have one package of frozen macaroni and cheese left. The green beans and squash are from the garden.

Garden Harvest

I have been dream of fresh yellow squash since I started the seeds in the greenhouse. Last week I was finally able to pick some from the garden. Half of these went to my parents. The ones that I kept were sliced and fried. They were oh so good.

For more pictures of my garden, check out my other blog, Green Toe Gardening. I have uploaded several pictures of my garden areas.

Birthday Cake

My dad loves lemon desserts. After I mastered lemon curd, I knew I wanted to make this cake for his birthday. It is a lemon curd cake with lemon Swiss meringue buttercream icing. This was my first time make a Swiss meringue buttercream so I was a bit nervous, but it turned out beautifully. My icing skills need improvement, but I was happy the extra lemon curd was thick enough to hold its shape for piping. The cake was yummy too!