Killers

So I am a gardener and I work at the library, which set of books do you think I would make a pet project? Well, you guessed wrong. We have a true crime section that was a total mess. Most of the books need editing in the computer and new labels. They are also pretty dirty. I have been working on these books for about three weeks. I am about half way through the set of them. They are really really hard to clean. We were using something called Goo Gone. Today I finally got fed up with that product, took a break, came home and fetched my orange oil. It worked like a charm. I clean more books today than I have in the whole time I've worked there. Everybody needs to try orange oil.

Another thing you have to do when working within a group of books like this is weed out the damaged books. So I deleted about six books from the collection this week. My coworker suggested I do some research and replace those old torn up books with newer true crimes books. So now I am researching serial killers. I have a folder that is labeled Deb's Murderers with names of criminals and books about them in a nice long list. So I get to suggest books for the darkest set of materials we have in the library. Yippee.

Which books would you work with if you couldn't work in the garden section?

Fried Chicken

I can get my men to do just about anything for something chicken fried. Venison is they Monkey's favorite. Manly prefers chicken fried steak or fried chicken. If you have ever made fried chicken, you know what a kitchen trashing, time devouring undertaking it is. Manly wanted chicken for dinner, so I stopped off after work and bought Chicken Express instead of making it myself. There was a major monkey celebration over that box of chicken. One even said he loved me "more."

One type of fried chicken you can't buy at a speedy chicken joint is Italian fried chicken. I will share the recipe below. If you would like you can Italian fry an eggplant and it is very nice as well.

Chicken breast sliced or pounded very thin, think cutlets.
Fresh bread crumbs (soft)
Garlic 2 cloves per two slices of bread to make bread crumbs
Herbs 1 tablespoon dry for each 2 slices of bread used to make bread crumbs or 1/4 cup fresh per two slices or bread used for bread crumbs, or just wing it.
Oregano
Basil
Parsley
Sea salt to taste
Egg white
1/4 cup water
Vegetable oil

I use my food processor to make the fresh breadcrumbs combining processing the herbs with the bread. Mix water and egg white. Dip chicken breast in egg mixture and coat with bread crumbs. Press the breadcrumbs firmly on the chicken breasts. Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Serve over pasta with pesto sauce

Pesto
1 cup fresh basil leaves (lemon basil is my favorite)
4 cloves garlic
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup olive oil

Process all ingredients in the food processor until smooth. Add more oil if the sauce is too thick or more cheese if it is too thin.

Enjoy.

It is Safe to Come Back

After a good nights sleep, an afternoon nap and some light gardening, Aunt Debbi is all better. The monkeys behaved well today. I even took one of them to a recruiting meeting and he didn't pull any stunts.

I partially installed my second rain barrel this afternoon. I say partially, because we were not able to get the down spout off of the gutter. Manly will take care of it for me, I am sure. As soon as it is finished, my rainwater storage capacity will double.

A quick note on Monday's meeting. Paul Riddell came to speak to the KCMGA about carnivorous plants. He actually kept that group quiet they were so interested. Keep a couple of our master gardeners quiet is sometimes a challenge. One member whispered to me that we need a video camera, she was that impressed.

I was finally able to pot up some of the plants I received from Nola. A fewer random pots to trip over on the deck YEAH. Here is what I am thinking, I received seeds and plants from Nola who received seeds and plants from Linda and Brenda. So now I should give a few seeds away and maybe a surprise. To get plants you gotta come see me. So leave me a comment and a link and I will send you some seeds. I have enough for the first ten people who post a comment.

Hurry before I run out.

As I read this agan in the a.m. I see a big, glaring ommision. I forgot about Monica and here fantastic progressive seed exchange a few months ago. I extend this offer of seeds in her name as well.

Melt Down in 3.2.1

Get up can't find socks
Cry
Realize I have the most awesome husband who does not hold me accountable for socks,mine or his. (ofb should not comment, as that may cause sobbing.]
Sweet gift from another MG
Meeting #1
Meeting #2
Lose control of meeting #2
Regain limited control
Awesome speaker
Discover awards won by organization YEAH!
Receive awesome bug eating plant
Help put together rain barrel
Drop rain barrel off at home
Library for six hours when brain quit working
Extended family dinner brain still not working.
Monkeys appear to be happy
Screaming toddlers - poor babies, poorer babies mamas.
Brain begins working in reverse, not a good thing.
Sister leaving town again:(
Commit to something I can't get out of so I won't have a day to myself
Head home late when monkeys experience a mood swing
Wrangle Monkeys to bed. When all Monkeys became suddenly, epically unhappy.
Help me, somebody please help me.

Tomorrow I will do a proper post. Right now I intend to fall into a babbling heap.

Big Scary Storms

 
 
 

Last night was a little hairy. We had some wild storms come through. Our house didn't flood, but my sister had an inch of water in her kitchen and their trampoline was mangled by the wind.

We have two large deck umbrellas. Manly left one of them open and it was really blowing around. In the past, I would have gone out in the rain and closed it, but after reading the Lightening Series over at Rock Paper Lizard, I won't do that anymore. It did blow over, but landed in a peach tree and wasn't broken.

Baby Monkey decided he was going out to take care of it. I didn't let him, but doesn't he look prepared?

Manly works at a water plant and he was exhausted when he got home this morning. He rattled off the millions of gallons of water that went through the place, but I was so overwhelmed I can't remember the actual numbers, something like a bazillion an hour.

Over the last week, it looks like we have had between four to six inches of rain. Everything is sodden and smells like earth. It is not supposed to rain again until Tuesday. Maybe we will dry out a little by then. This has to be good for the lakes, but the Trinity river is out of its banks in some places.

It will be too wet to work in the garden for a few days. Don't worry that I won't have anything to blog about as Paul Riddell of The Texas Triffid Ranch will be speaking to our master gardener group tomorrow. I'll bring you the dirt on his carnivorous plant lecture tomorrow.

How's your weather?

Purple and Orange

 

Like most gardeners and quilters, there are colors I am drawn to and colors I shy away from. Purple, pink, yellow, blue, and green are my flower, plant and fabric favorites. I do have some red, but not too much. I avoid orange. I just don't care for it. Well I didn't until today. There it is, a color triad of purple, orange and green. The nasturtium were started from seed. Luck would have it that all of them in the container are orange. The large pot has a variegated ginger plant along with the nasturtium. The orange higher up in the back is a dwarf pomegranate tree in bloom. Of course, the purple blooms are petunias. The confederate jasmine on the fence is in full bloom and the place smells like heaven.

Now I have a new color combination I will use again. Blues are still my favorite, but I won't run away from orange anymore. If you look closely at the picture you will see yet another broken pot. I just can't help myself.

What is your favorite color combination?

Tattoos and Rain Barrels

Here is a picture of the flower I want to have tattood on my foot. Nola says it is going to hurt and my sister, Becca, is threatening to tell Mom.

 
 
 
 

Now onto the important stuff. James and Shala are making a couple of rain barrels and asked if any of us had our own tank. Of course I got excited and turned into a busy body so here we go. Manly made me a rain barrel last year and I love it.

The second picture is the 3000 gallon rain tank at the KCMG Outdoor Education Center. This is the big bad boy. You can pretty much use only rainwater on a landscape with a tank that size.

The next two pictures are my rain barrel and the overflow containers I use to save water. I can water my garden and container plants for about ten days. I also fill my water garden with rainwater. This means that I don't have to treat the water for it to be safe for the fish. I am planning one more rain barrel and overflow containers. This should really cut down on the amount of city water I have to use.

For my first tank, I purchased a food grade container. It had soy sauce in it during a former life. Manly bought a pvc faucet and flex spout. He cut a square, slightly larger than the opening of the flex spout to allow the water to flow from the flex spout into the barrel. He removed the down spout from the gutters, and attached the flex spout. The end of the flex spout slipped just inside of the tank. This kept me from needing screens to keep out mosquitoes. Gutter guards were placed over the gutters to keep leaves and junk out of the barrel. He installed the pvc faucet by using a graduated drill bit making a hole in the lower section of barrel. This hole is small enough that the faucet threads had to be twisted into place. He used pvc glue as well to insure a good seal. We placed the barrel on a cinder block so the water would drain out better

Confession, the first time I emptied the barrel, I pulled on the faucet and caused it to leak. Gorilla glue fixed it up just fine. There is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the barrel, but it comes out with the last little bit of water, no problem. The best part of this, besides the water of course, was the cost. It cost less than $20. I am getting my next barrel for free from our master gardener group. Sweet.

I found the first barrel at a local feed store and the other fittings came from a plumbing shop and hardware store.

Ingredients
55 gallon barrel
Gutter guards
Flex Spout
PVC faucet
PVC glue
Gorilla glue