I am Going to Put Their Weenies to Shame

I got the call. Will you bring beans to the cookout? My family is going to have a pot luck Memorial Day party. The meat course is hot dogs-cricket chirps. Apparently, wedding dress shopping is more important than, say, brisket.

Do I go to the store, buy a couple of cans of baked beans, and call it a day? NOOOO. I buy four cans of pork-n-beans and add BBQ sauce, molasses, spicy brown mustard, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, bacon, and about a pound of brown sugar. These beans are dessert.

The sour dough bread is rising on the counter. I fed the starter last night and left it out to make a sponge. The kitchen smells like yeast, yum. I have tried to teach someone how to make this bread. No one will learn, sad. The tricks are honey and kneading with a very soft hand. Grandpa M taught me how to knead bread when I was a little girl. He just couldn't stand by and watch me pound on the bread dough like it had done something bad.

Baby Monkey is home alone with me today. He had to come home from a sleepover last night because of an earache. Poor Baby Monkey, first a wasp sting and then an earache. He can't win. We are enjoying the day together. He found some ripe blackberries earlier and we are going to make cobbler.

Eat your heart out other sisters. I AM the cook.

Just so you know, the other sisters could care less about competitive cooking. All they care about is the bread. Well, eating the bread not making it.

Wedding News.

Here is Baby Sister beginning to look for a dress. She had five of us there with her "helping." She didn't kill anyone or cry. Very brave girl.

Here is Baby Monkey yesterday. It was the first day of swimming for the cousins. Somehow he was stung by a wasp on the lip. He is fine, but it hurt a lot.

An hour or so later, he was jumping with an uncle and a baby cousin.

I Thought This Would Be Fun

Bog Garden

This is what I have been working on instead of blogging.

Do you have a low-lying area in your landscape that is a nuisance because it holds water? Consider creating a bog garden. This garden style contains interesting plants that thrive in a very moist environment. These plants include grasses, perennials, and water plants. It can be an area full of blooms. Building a bog garden provides a habitat for frogs, butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies, and many other animals.

In addition to providing interest in the landscape, a bog garden plays a role in rainwater management. The bog slows the movement of the rainwater and filters the water. This can help with storm water management by reducing flooding and pollution caused by storm water run off.

To create a bog garden begin by selecting an area that naturally holds some water and excavate about two feet of soil. In this area add a layer of stone or rubble and then a layer of course soil. The bog will begin to fill with decaying plant matter over time and create a natural bog. The bog should not hold more than one foot of water. Use flat rocks as planting shelves. Place the most moisture loving plants in the lower lying areas of the bog and more drought tolerant plants toward the edges. Provide visual interest by contrasting color, texture, and plant height. Be careful not to overcrowd the garden. It is essential that a bog garden stay moist. For more information on building a bog garden go to http://www.ee.enr.state.nc.us/garden/boggarden.htm

Some Bog Garden Plant Choices
Iris
Lily
Umbrella Sedge
Bog sage
Zebra Grass
Pickerel
Lizard’s Tail
Ribbon Grass
Elephant Ear

The Votes Are In

The sock poll has closed. Fifteen readers participated in this silliness. Forty percent of those who voted want to keep their socks. Therefore, I can keep my fuzzy socks without fear of a visit from the sock police. Anklettes with pompoms were the least favorite socks. Five voters said we should ditch them. Only three people wanted to get rid of knee socks with the colored bands. I was surprised at this. Everytime I see someone wearing them, I think of the 70's and shorts that were waaay too short. Finally ourfriendben was all by himself in wanting to get rid of socks completely. Cinj did say she agreed with him in the comments, but her vote did not show up on the poll. So sorry ourfriendben, socks are here to stay, but we can't make you wear them.

I promise to try to take this blog a little more seriously, but don't count on it.

Giant Swiss Chard

I pulled this sucker out of the garden today. The Swiss Chard, not the monkey. How are we going to eat all of this.?
Does anyone need any?

Baby Monkey had to get in on the act too. Ignore his fashion disaster.

This Means War

Fire Ants. Need I say more. Well I don't but I'm going to.

This afternoon I was setting up to weed in the garden and plant some peppers. I have a three gallon container that I use to hold the weeds and move them to the compost pile. I have not moved the container in about a week. It was sitting in an area where I thought a fire ant pile had been taken care. A while back I drenched it with a mound drench of orange oil and molasses in water. Well the little Brazilian monsters were back and had made a mound up inside the container. I was not aware of this and took the container full of mad ants to the compost pile. Ants fell out on my feet legs and middle. I have fire ant stings from my waist to my toes. I won't go into the exact locations, but it was bad, very very bad. Put it this way, I had to strip to get them all off of me.

So now I am mad. I don't care about fire ants as long as they stay away from where I am working and where the boys are playing. I have been told that they eat fleas and ticks. The problems only comes up when they get in my garden or under the swing set, trampoline, or in the log cabin play house. Then they have to die.

I use spinosad with pretty good results. It just takes a long time. The mound drench is pretty effective and very satisfying. I love drowning them as revenge for stinging me. Double Danger had a hint about using coffee on the mounds. Supposedly, they eat it and explode or something. I tried fresh ground coffee beans on two mounds and it seemed to work. Now I am mad enough I want to do something more. So I go on the interweb and find more wacky ways to kill fire ants. I found suggestions such as cayenne pepper and corn starch, instant grits, artificial sweetener, and borax. I didn't have borax or instant grits. I did have chili pequin, corn starch, artificial sweetener, spinosad, and coffee. I mixed all that stuff up and dumped it on the three mounds. I will let you know tomorrow if it worked. We will call this Mad Aunt Debbi's Fire Ant Killing Concoction or MADFAKC. Never mind, I need to work on that a little.

Oh yeah, my teenager called me a communist because I made him study. Looks like he needs to pay more attention in social studies. This is not a communist state. This is a dictatorship and I am the Queen.