My Sister Has a Question

I received an email this morning from sister#2. She had a better garden this year than I did. I am not jealous, really, I'm not. Apparently, popcorn crop failure runs in the family.

Here is her question,

O.k. Well I tried it again and I caught the microwave on fire again.
Can you ask your gardening people what I might be doing wrong and see if any of them have ever grown and successfully popped popcorn on the cob?

Tell them that the popcorn I bought popped beautifully in a paper bag on five different cobs and that the popcorn I grew is directly from those cobs.
I am becoming mortally afraid of popcorn.

Love, Me

Aunt Debbi here again. If any of you have any information on what in the world we both could have done wrong please help. My popcorn and her popcorn look just like the popcorn seed we grew them from. My didn't pop but scorched with the traditional popping method. Hers' catches on fire in the microwave when the parent corn popped just fine with that method. Are we drying it too long, too short, is there a magic spell?

White Catterpillar

I found this frittilary caterpillar on the passion vine today. It can only be a frittilary, but it looks like an albino. So far I have not been able to find out any information about this. I am trying to find a local lepidopterous society. Maybe they know something about this.

Here it is again. I looks like it is in one of the later enstars. I wonder what the butterfly will look like. Maybe I should take it and put it in a caterpillar habitat and see what happens. Maybe I shouldn't . I need more information.

Here is another frittilary. It has lavender instead of black stripes. The web search for this variation says it does happen more frequently in Texas.

Here is another. Looks like it is getting ready to make a cocoon as it is in the upside down J position. I hope we stay warm enough to let them complete the transformation.

Do You Think He Needs a Haircut?

Yes, those are my ponytail holders.

No, I did not help him.

Somebody help me. Please help me.

Thanks A Million Kathryn

Katheryn at Plant What Ever Brings You Joy, posted about the wrap up of the scarf initiative. She showed pictures of the scarves. They were all lovely. It is wonderful to think of the little girls who will wear them and stay a little warmer this winter. I was so worried I would not be able to get mine ready on time. But there it was today along with all the others. This makes me feel better about human kind. Look what can happen if one person has an idea, puts it out their to a bunch of blogging friends, and then organizes it. Fantastic. Thanks a million Kathryn.

How I Became Aunt Debbi

Yesterday, Brenda asked how I became Aunt Debbi. See that tall blond in the picture above. It is all her fault. That is our Meme. Back in the day I called her Rhonni. We met in jr. high school and have been best friends for thirty years. She even gave me a BFF key chain a few years ago. In that picture, we are 16-her and 17-me, the petite brunette. She became my drill team little sister in high school. I just decided to keep her.

In high school, people get a lot of nicknames. My family has always called me Deb, but in high school, I became Debbi. It was the 80's I could spell it silly if I wanted to.

Now, Meme started her family early. She had twin daughters when she was 20. Because she had the first babies and she called me Debbi, Aunt Debbi I became and have stayed.

I have 20 nieces and nephews and two grand nephews. The grand nephews are the beautiful boys of Meme's twins. They call me Aunt Debbi too. The other 16 nieces and nephews call me aunt Debra or Deb, not nearly as cute, but I answer to just about anything.

Obviously, I have a very large and fertile family. We have one more niece on the way this winter. You should see family dinners, it's a zoo.

Ewww

I found this on my deck tonight at about 10:00. I usually step on them before I see them. Ever tried to get slug slime off of your bare foot?

Blogoversary

Aunt Debbi's Garden is one year old today. On this date last year I made my very first post. I was taking myself really seriously. Nobody commented. Lucky for y'all the Monkey's took over. This blog may be silly, but it usually isn't boring.

A look at my site meter shows that more than 13,000 people have been here to visit. Now, I know that is not a lot in the big blogging picture, but hey, I'm blown away.

I have enjoyed this hobby very much. I have made some great internet friends and actually met one face to face. I love to read comments y'all leave and go out and read y'alls blogs.

I have gotten some great ideas from other garden bloggers. I hope I have given a little bit of good information along with all the silliness.

I chronicled the really silly invasion of pumpkins in my tiny garden.

We were involved in several sock situations, one became an international incident

I feel like this is a great record of our lives from my point of view and saturated in plants.

The Monkeys are not impressed.