Lesson Learned

Look at all the vegetables I picked in one day! I am so amazed that we have been able to grow all of these veggies. See how the tomatoes to the left of picture are beginning to ripen. Wish you all lived close by, I would share. I had to pick the tomatoes before the squirrels and birds decided to make a meal of them.



I had to scold Hedwig the other day...not a pretty site. I was watering the garden and had layed the water hose down in the first row while I harvested some of the veggies and who do I see... just one row away....Mr. Birdie, taking his morning bath, flapping his little wings and dunking his little feathered head in the water as to say...Look at me, your Hedwig does not scare me nor do you! Well, I walked myself over to that first row and HE STILL DID NOT MOVE! Not only was he thumbing his little beak at Hedwig, but he was thumbing his little beak at me...YES, AT ME! Well, this did not set well with me nor with Hedwig, as I started to move even closer, I guess he decided he was not as brave as he thought. He flew away, hopefully never to return. I hope Hedwig learned his lesson not to sleep on the job.



DH decided he wanted to grill chicken, (they still don't trust me on grilling since the Easter incident).

I sliced one yellow and one green squash and brushed both sides with olive oil, salt and peppered it and put them on the grill.

See how good it looks, as Rachel Ray would say Yum oh!

Vegetables and Pink Marshmallows, Yummy!

Looks like our vegetables are starting to come in. I was able to get some lettuce, peppers, bell peppers and some tomatoes. The tomatoes still have to ripen so I have them all in a row on the kitchen counter top like little round soldiers waiting to turn red. There are lots more on the vine, but my Mom said I need to wait until they sort of turn from the green to a white green. Not to leave them on vine until red as the birds will then want to peck at them.
I also got my first squash, it looks like a baseball nice and round. Well, it got eaten up for dinner today. I fixed it with onions, peppers, diced tomatoes and chicken. Yum Yum, it was just delicious! Can't wait for more to ripen. The cucumber plants are just a blooming like crazy. Can't wait to see them grow. We tied the vines onto cattle pen and they are climbing up very fast. I think we planted the tomatoes too close to each other and also too close to the cucumber plants. Well, we will be prepared next year a little better on the planting space.

Now you know I had to show some yummy pink which I call Frocks because they are the fake Crocs, but they are just as soft as can be, almost like walking on marshmallows, Pink marshmallows. I got these for Mother's Day along with some other goodies (Martha Stewart glitter, Susan Branch stamp pads, craft books and craft supplies. Yippee! I get to do some crafting while wearing my PINK Marshmallows).

Flirty Apron Swap II

Head on over to Shawnee's Flirty Apron Swap II, http://www.flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com . Dead line to join is midnight tonight 5/15/08, so hurry on over and sign up. There is also a great apron giveaway for signing up.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. My day was great! Just stayed home and relaxed. My middle son came over and spent the afternoon with us. My oldest called to wish me Happy Mother's Day, he is in the Navy and could not make it home. My youngest son grilled chicken this time and it turned out great, did not get burned like Easter time when I tried to grill it, Middle Son remembered this incident and brought some brisket just in case (I think he was trying to be funny or maybe he just wanted to make sure we had something to eat in case it happened again, He! He!). We had Hummingbird Cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. Very addicting. Here's the receipe for Hummingbird Cake:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs beaten
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 can 8 oz. crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups ripe mashed bananas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon together into a mixing bowl. Add eggs and oil to dry ingredients. Stir until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well greased and floured 9 inch round cake pans. (I used 2 pans which were a oval). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Crean Cheese Frosting:
2-8oz. pkgs. cream cheese room temperature
1 cup butter room temperature
2 pounds sifted confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese and butter, cream until smooth. Add powndered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Frost the top layers, stack and then frost sides. Enjoy!

Below are pictures of the sterling silver ring I won at Across The Pond Designs by Casey. Thanks for having such a nice giveway. I need to practice taking pictures, these came out a little blurry. The ring is gorgeous, I love it. Sorry for the bad photos.

Looky! Looky! These are the first of some peppers from our pepper plants. Its an assortment of banana peppers, cayenne, and jalapenos. Hedwig seems to be doing a great job. He has managed to keep the birds and squirrels away. Nacho is on call waiting to be backup just in case.

It's a Bird, No It's a Plane, No It's Hedwig the Owl

Above is Hedwig. He is related to Harry Potter's Hedwig. Hubby said he will scare the birdies away and our garden will be saved. Hah Hah! We will see how good a guardian he will be.

Above is our cutie lettuce. I told you it was cute. Just hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Yipee! We got help to get the weeds out. Our son volunteered to help out. Isn't he a sweetie (He really wants $30. Hmmm, lets see what else he can do for this $) Hubby was delegating where to weed and making sure no harm came to the onions which may sorta look like weeds to our son but they are really onions. Ha! Ha!.

See the bare spots we have, well Hedwig get to work, shoo those blackbirds away. I still think I will need to get him some more help. Scarecrow to the rescue! Hmmmmm! Will Nacho return and help save the garden? Stay tuned.