Catching up

My garden was a success. The tomatoes are still growing but they are all splitting. I'll try another variety next year. I finally picked my final watermelon. It weighed over twenty pounds. It took 4 months to ripen. I gave most of it away. The melon was too big to store in the refrigerator. It was de-licious! I did plant a couple more pole beans. They grow like crazy. Also I planted radishes again. They like the cooler weather. We'll see how it goes,

I bought Noodle the Anxiety wrap. It's a very tight fitting jacket that soothes her and keeps her calm in severe weather. It is the greatest. anxietywrap.com

Check it out.

Bob left on a motorcycle trip with his group. They are going to October fest in Daytona, FL. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully I can finish up a few projects in the next couple weeks. I'm making a Halloween quilt, still knitting a sweater and trying to finish up the binding on another quilt throw.

Also this summer I gave the go ahead on a motorcycle with a side car. I rode in one this summer and it was great fun and comfortable. The only trouble with this one is that Bob is having carburetor trouble. So it looks like we're not going anywhere this year. I wasn't there when he bought it with the advice from his friends but my motto would be, "If it's not running properly, don't buy it. But, I must say it is wicked cute sitting in the garage.

Oh, I almost forget. In September I walked a half marathon, 13.1 miles for the Dana Farber Jimmy fund. Here I am returning home from the walk that went from Wellesley to Copley Place in Boston. I got the impression from my brother that he couldn't believe how my look changed. He didn't come right out and say it but he was thinking "old and ugly". Oh well, I am what I am.

At least I'm walking.

The Anxiety Wrap

I can't remember if I ever mentioned Noodle's fear of rain, thunder & lightning. She works herself into such a state of craziness. Well, my neighbor told me about a kind of jacket that calms the animal down. Then a friend at work, (she has a spastic dog also) abouth the anxiety wrap.I bought it. You are supposed to put it on the dog for 20 to 40 minutes a day for at least 7 days. I put it on Noodle. I got a phone call and an hour and a half later had passed and I had forgotten about Noodle. She didn't care. I left it on her because there was a storm that night. It seemed to have worked. Noodle didn't huff or puff once. This was unbelievable. Watch the video on their web site it you have a problem animal. http://www.anxietywrap.com/ Here's a picture of the new and very calm Noodle.

Good and bad news

The good news is that I have 2 cantaloupes and 2 watermelons. The sad news is that last week I picked my biggest watermelon.  It weighed 13.5 pounds. It was 80 days since it was planted. The suspense was immense. I sliced it open and low and behold it had barely ripened at all. There were a couple pink spots and a few seeds. As the tears flowed from my eyes I disposed of it down the garbage disposal. It took about 15 minutes to get rid of the body.  It was very traumatic. I'm waiting another two weeks and will try again.

The other day I was opening the gate in my yard and I spot this giant beetle. It blended right in with the fence. I took a picture. It was pretty scarey looking.

One last tidbit. I'm walking in the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund Walk, Sept 18th. I'll be walking 13.1 miles. That's half a marathon. I did it a couple of years ago. It's a nice walk from Newton to Boston and it's for a good cause.
http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/   Click Give and then support a walker. Look for Patricia Holmes. That's me.

The Garden

The garden is doing great. The pickling cukes are out of control. I can't keep up with them. I've been making bread & butter pickles like crazy. They're wicked easy to make. I got the receipe from Martha Stewart of course. I have two canteloupes so far and one huge watermelon. There might be more but I can't find them in the jungle.

The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. They are supposed to be grape tomatoes but they look more like cherry tomatoes. One plant grows so many I might start a small farm stand.

Updates

Per usual there isn't much going on. I went to Plymouth this morning and had breakfast at Persey's. It wasn't as good as it usually is. I then went for a walk. I have a sore foot for some unknown reason but I walked the pain away.
Friday Noodle went to the beauty parlor. I told them to cut her way down. She came  through it like the trooper she is.

The garden is coming along nicely. I harvested all the radishes. Delish. I'll soon have pole beans, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, beets, and hopefully canteloupe and watermelon.

Quilting & other stuff

Bob built me a quilt wall roller. I bought batting and he put up two brackets so that you can roll the batting up and down.You move it forward when you wind it back. Very CLever. It works great.

I bought a couple mandevillas last week. They are small right now but soon they'll be climbing the trellis that Bob made.

THE GARDEN EXPERIMENT

I decided to grow a garden this year. I had one in the past when I lived in Plymouth. I'm just gonna grow a few basic vegies & a couple melons. Last year I grew a couple tomato plants, cukes & beans.  I planted them in the flower beds.  The weather was so horrible that everything rotted away. Bob got right to work & built the frame for the garden bed.  I hope the plants look as good.

Update t contest & my pathetic Ebay story

Needless to say I didn't win the tart contest. Oh, well. Better luck next time. It really was a great recipe. Now on to Ebay. Back in November I received a catalog from the Anthropologie store. There was a sweater that I just loved. It was $200 buckaroos. Forget it. I figured I'd wait until it went on sale and maybe buy it then. It is now April. I happened to explore Ebay one day & low and behold there is the sweater. But it didn't really look like the same sweater as in the catalog. I questioned the sellers a little bit. They all said it was authentic. My husband even said, "no way is that the same sweater". I was delusional. I thought they were just bad photos on Ebay.  So knowing deep down that it was a copy. I still bought it. What a jerk. I bought an xtra large even though I don't where that size most of the time. Stuff in those stores tend to run smaller. Well my fake sweater came promptly. I attempted to put it on. It must have been made for a pigmy. So I'm out $90 bucks that I don't have. I just wouldn't listen to my own advice. I'm a real loser. So now I'm reselling it back on Ebay for $25 bucks if I'm lucky. Click on the link to get this fabulous sweater.http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTHROPOLOGIE-STYLE-SOLSTICE-FESTIVAL-CARDIGAN-/290551952970?pt=US_CSA_WC_Sweaters&hash=item43a63ef64a

The Contest

I just entered a contest from food52.com. It my recipe for Mushroom tarts. First prize is a trip the Martha Stewart show. The recipe was my mother's. It's around 50 years old. I just made them today and took a picture for the contest. You can get the recipe from the link.

Pork loin roast & vegetables

Made a new recipe today. It's called Asian pork roast. I served it with mustard glazed carrots & shallots. I've made these vegetables before. This time I used boiling onions instead of shallots. They are too expensive. Bob said the entire meal was delicious. I thought it was pretty good myself.

Burito was begging me for a taste also. Here he is shown enjoying his piece of pork.

Noodle, OFR, Eye etc.

I finally brought Noodle to the beauty parlor. I brought her back to my old place. She seems to be allergic to different shampoos. She ends up scratching for a month. The Doggy Boutique uses a shampoo for sensitive skin. They did a great job on her.

Bob and his buddies from the Old Fart Riders meet for breakfast at Sam's restaurant on Thursdays. They had mugs made with the OFR logo on them. They asked the restaurant if they could bring in their mugs and hang them up on a shelf so that they could use them every week. I thought it was the most studpid thing I ever heard. You would think this was a private club. Give me a break. Anyway. the members asked Bob to make a rack to hang up the mugs. Here is the OFR logo that sits on top of the mug shelf. Whatever floats your boat (or your mugs.). It came out really nice.

The last thing on my list of tidbits is the ongoing story about my eye. My vision in my right eye was getting worse. It was very cloudy and everything was distorted. Scare tissue was forming on the retina where it was lasered.and it was tugging on it. So this operation was to remove the scare tissue.and also I had to have a cataract removed. I have another gas bubble in my eye so I have to keep my head and eyes down for the next week or so. I even rented a special chair which helps you sit in the proper position. I won't know for a few weeks or even more if the distortion is gone. I can only hope. Oh well, so long for now. I'm heading back to my chair.                                        

The latest boring stuff

I'm just gonna catch up on a few things. First I've been working on my macaroni & cheese recipe. This newest version is great. I have lowered the calories even more. It;s made with fat free Kraft or borden chessese. Believe it or not it melts. Yum Yum.
8 oz. fat free chedder (kraft)
1 cup non fat milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups macaroni
1 tbsp whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tbsp parmesan cheese

6 servings
Make a roux with the butter & flour
Pour in milk & stir until it thickens
Mix in the cheese into the milk mixture.
Boil the macaroni to al dente

Drain & mix it with the cheese mixture

Sprinkle top with bread crumbs & parmesan

Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes.

276 calories

A couple tidbits

I made the most delicious dinner last night. It was a recipe for Sesame beef. We devoured it. I meant to take a few pictues while I was making it but as usual I forgot. Here are the leftovers.

One day while making breakfast I accidently hit the frying pan on the stove. It fell. Even though I'm old,  my  supersonic fast reactions set in. I caught the pan by the handle before it hit the hardwood floor. Even though it burnt the skin right off my hand and left an image of a heart on it, I never would have heard the end of it. Quote "Well another dent in the floor".

Never ending shoveling

The latest snow storm ended Wednesday. But the shoveling never ends. Bob went to a bike show, so I thought I would catch up on my new quilting project. I looked out the window and what do I notice. The sidewalk plow came by to run my lawn for the second time this winter and it's only January. So now out I go shovel the end of the driveway which now has two snow mounds, thanks to the plow. The mounds are three feet high and also hard as a rock. After that I head over to the walkway out front.to shovel two more mounds three feet tall. The only reason I do it is so I'll get my mail.

Bob returns home. Drives in with no problem like there was never any snow there. I never get a break from drudgery. Anyway back to quilting I go.

Super Bowl Noodle

Bob went to a trade show at Gillette stadium. The patriot cheerleaders were there. He got his picture taken with three of them. He really looks thrilled. He brought home some toy footballs. Noodle decided this is her new favorite toy right now.

Updates

I haven't been keeping up with any news lately. My eye isn't getting any better. In fact it's worse. Scare tissue formed on it from all the lasering. I'll know at the end of the month if the doctor can remove the scare tissue or going blind in that eye is inevitable.  The weather is horrible. It hasn't stopped snowing since Christmas. The snow has frozen on the lawn so Noodle got brave and is now venturing out to explore all her territory.