Summertime!

What with the extreme heat, and the ongoing drought, the earthquake that was
felt from Mineral, Virginia, and Hurricane Irene wreaking havoc in most of the eastern part of the United States, it is still a great summer. I wake up
fairly early, do my morning chores before the real heat sets in, then I relax
with a crossword, or a wordsearch puzzle while having breakfast; I'm done for
a long while.

In the later part of the day, I stir up a small bite for dinner, and sometimes I go for a stroll. I love to watch the sun set. It usually start
to set surrounded by a fiery-orange glow. There are times, however, when we're graced to see pink and blue-gray hues following the sun to its nightly resting place. Whatever's going on, it is still a great summer for me!

The 'Ice Cream' Season

I love serving and eating ice cream; don't you? What is there not to love?
So many flavors! Which ones are my favorites? I love the nutty ice creams;
Butter pecan, with lots of large pecan pieces, butter almond, pistaccio,etc.
I enjoy the fruit flavors,too. Strawberry, black cherry, pineapple. There
are not too many flavors that I don't favor.  Add a gourmet touch to your dish of ice cream
combining it with the wonderful,creamy taste of Watkins Cinna-Cream sprinkles!  Smooth!

However, black walnut is my favorite flavor of all time! Rum raisin comes a close second. I'll take any one, or two or three of those ice cream scoops piled high on a waffle-sugar cone, and POP! I've made it to Ice Cream Paradise!
I can begin, center, or end my perfect summer day on that cool note! Yea!!
for ice cream!!

Picking Peas (From Our Garden)

I finished picking a batch of peas from the garden. It can become back-breaking work, if I allow it to. I know how and when to stand up straight and relax my back. I also know when to stop and finish the chore later.
The ants can be a drag. They seem to love the rows of peas, and they are
constantly crawling and stinging. Boy, are they irritating! But, I have
learned to ignore them and get on with the task.

When I zoom in on the work at hand, I realize that I am almost finished. We
give away a picking of peas, then we keep the next batch. That's the way it goes. When it's done this way, everyone's happy, and the peas just keeps on
bearing. The more we share, the more there is to share. I also enjoy working
in the garden. It relaxes and de-stresses me. I become one with Nature!

Its Bounty time! We are already enjoying some of the fruits of our labor. From our garden, we have harvested yellow squash, zuchinni, and the flat, italian beans. It is such a joy to make meals from the things we plant and actually see the growth from the first day, to the fruition of them. I get so much satifaction from working with the soil and being outside, observing nature at the same time. We use the vegetables in salads, soups, stews, and stir-frys. What blessings! We also want others to share our bounty. So we derive great pleasure from giving part of our harvest to neighbors and friends. 'Way to go'!

Social Butterfly versus Clinging Vine

I'm sure it's in the genes, that special something that makes one person a social butterfly, flitting from one personality to another; they seem to blend in with everyone. They are so popular and have many acquaintances.

On the other end of the totem pole, there's the clinging vine personality.
They seem to operate with a bird's eye view on life. They can only accept one person as a close associate at a time, and they are so desperate when dealing with that one person, until they actually do the unthinkable; they drive the person away from them with their clinginess.

Then the clingy person usually have a great meltdown, accusing the social butterfly-type of abandoning her. The butterfly-type is so surprised. It was not her intention to leave anyone out of things. She just enjoy the company of everyone, a real people-lover.

Doggy Dayz

I heard my dog, Choca, barking playfully. I wondered what was he after.
Now Choca shares the fenced-in backyard with his adopted canine brother, Slick.
They each have their own house to sleep in, but for some reason, they prefer sharing one house at a time.

Sometimes they'll sleep in the igloo-shaped house, and at other times, they'll use the regular dog house. Yesterday morning, Choca was the first to come out of the house and stretch, ready for another day. Slick was apparently trying to get another nap.

Choca waited for Slick to come out to play with him for as long as he could.
Then he stuck his head in the house and started to bark playfully to Slick, his tail wagging all the while. No immediate response from Slick. Choca stopped for a little while, then he resumed his mission; trying to get Slick to come out and play! So cute, if you're tuned in to dogs like I am.

How Do I Rid The Garden From Nutgrass?

Nutgrass is a pest that can't be stopped with ordinary measures. You need to go an extra mile to be rid of that. Over the years, we've chopped it,
dug it up by its roots, tilled as deep as the tiller would go, then raked it
off and burned it.

The nutgrass would quickly pop back up in the garden as if absolutely nothing had been done. I really think we need to work on the garden plot for at least one year to get rid of the nut grass once and for all.

We were advised to treat the plot with rock salt when the garden is dry,
then barely wet it down with the hose. Not too much water , or the salt
will become weak and ineffective. Or, as another source mentioned, that
sugar would produce the same results as the salt. Either method, if they work would not hurt the vegetables if we plant shortly after the treatments.