Rain

It has been raining since about midnight last night.  There is standing water in the yard and garden.  It is the most beautiful sight.  We have had such a dry year.  Everyone is on water restrictions.  Some worse than others because of  zebra muscles in Lake Texoma. 

The animals are not nearly as excited about the rain as their mama.  The manx are giving me dirty looks.  It seems that they think I caused the rain.  (wish I had that super power).  Abby stood by the backdoor to be let out, took a few steps into the yard and got a "forget this" look on her face and came back in. 

Here is hoping this helps fill up our lakes. 

Dear 2011

Dear 2011,

It was a mixed bag.  Manly was on blood thinners for half the year.  We didn't find out that the blood clot had cleared until September.  Finding out that he no longer had the blood clot was the biggest surprise blessing of the year.  The doctors told us he would probably have it for life.  We are so grateful this is over.  The silver lining in this is that it made us truly appreciate our health and each other.

We also found out that all three of the boys and I have a weird type of diabetes called MODY2.  Nothing to do for it but watchful waiting and limiting simple carbohydrates in our diet.   My doctor does not feel that my blood sugar levels are high enough, at this point, to prescribe medication.  There is no approved medication for children.  Although this is not good news, it did cause me to make some major changes in my own life.  On April Fool's Day, I changed my diet.  I now eat mostly lean protein, dairy and vegetables. This keeps my blood sugar in a healthy range.  Over the last nine months, I have lost 33 lbs.  This is a very very good thing. This fall I also began jog/walking or wogging ;) and yoga. 

The horrible drought took all the pleasure out of my summer and fall garden this year.  We have had rain recently, so I am enjoying my winter garden.  Here is hoping that this next year the drought breaks completely.
 
I want to focus on the good and not the bad.  May 2012 bring more blessings and fewer stressful situations. I am going to forge ahead into the new year with focus and intent to parent my best,  show gratitude for the love and support of a good man and create the best life I can for all of us.

Goodbye, 2011.

Aunt Debbi

Oh, and I intend to get my sense of humor back here on this silly little blog :)

Asian Greens Soup

I have some sort of Asian green that comes up in my garden every year when the weather cools down.  I usually just cut it and share it with my coworker, Kathy.  Today, I decided to make myself some Asian greens soup.  Simple as can be and yummy. 

Handful of greens chopped
1 teaspoon chicken Better than Boullion
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Make chicken broth, wilt the greens in it, add the lemon juice and enjoy. 

Now I will go outside and plant some Swiss chard. 

Cabbage Fail

For some crazy reason, my cabbages are not growing.  I have allowed the volunteer endive to grow with them.  Maybe that is the problem.  I am also trying to grow them in the containers that were home to the awesome tomato plants early this summer.  Maybe that is the problem.   Anyway, I'm going to try to locate some new cabbage plants and try again.  Maybe start some from seed it I can find them.  Stupid cabbage.

Cold Weather Gardening

My winter garden is doing okay.  Tried Brussels sprouts for the first time.  They look pitiful  The broccoli is okay, but the cabbage is not doing too well.  Gave everyone some fertilizer this afternoon and hopefully they will buck up.

The volunteer plants are doing fine fine fine.  I have lots of cilantro, endive and lettuces.  The elephant garlic is about 18 inches tall and ready for me to eat some.  I was really worried about the garlic because the bulbs stay in the ground dormant all summer.  Because of the drought, I couldn't water properly this year.  I was afraid they had completely dried out and died, but they are just fine.

I'm going to make an effort to be more of a presence here.  I got so discouraged when Manly was sick that everything just seemed too hard. Then the horrible heat and drought of last summer sucked the life out of gardening here in Texas.  I'm still dealing with a little apathy towards things I generally love.  This too shall pass.  The Monkeys are healthy, I am losing weight and Manly's blood clot has finally cleared.  Count blessings.

Rebuilding

This has been the worst summer heat and drought wise since 1980 here in Texas.  My garden suffered major damage because we could not keep enough water on it.  I am afraid I have lost two hardy hibiscus and I know I've lost at least two antique roses most likely a third.  The City of Tiny Town Texas also decided to start a major road construction project on the streets bordering our house.  The mess is indescribable.  I've never seen this much fine, silt-like dust in my life.

Between the heat, drought and construction I sort of just gave up on the vegetable garden this summer.  The only things that survived were the pepper plants. Everything else just died including my amazing tomato jungle.  It has been heartbreaking.

We had our first major rain in months last night.  We got at least an inch of rain, probably a little more.  Unfortunately, I did not have all of my rain barrel taps shut and one of the barrels was blown over before it could fill  up.  All I managed to catch was 55 gallons in one of the tanks.  STINKS.

The weather has cooled off considerably yesterday so I was back out in the garden full force.  I payed for it this morning when I could barely get out of bed I hurt so bad.  The cure for that soreness was more gardening of course.  An hour of weeding and I am all loosened up.

As I look around our area I see so many dead trees and shrubs.  It is going to take a lot to get our landscape back in shape.  This is one of the reasons I am so happy that Michael Nolan and Laura Mathews started The Regrow Together Project.  It is a worldwide effort to help gardeners who have lost or been harmed by our crazy weather be it from drought, flood, heat wave, hurricane or tornado.  Obviously, my efforts will be to help those who have been harmed by our extremely hot dry summer.  Please join us in helping gardeners worldwide regrow from natural disasters.  We are all in this together.

No More Slime

I love fried okra.  I dearly dearly love fried okra.  Now, I am really not supposed to eat fried anything, but especially breaded fried things.  I cannot stand okra cooked any other way than fried or pickled.  At least that was the case until the Best Boss in the Universe ran across a Cajun dude at her sisters house.  Mr. Cajun Man told her that you can saute okra in olive oil until it quits sliming and it is quite good . Mr. Cajun Man was right.  The okra stays slimy for a few minutes and then it just sort of cooks off.  With a little garlic and some crushed tomatoes it was sooooooo good.