Inkwell left me a present...

Apparently, I haven't been paying close enough attention to him, as he managed to throw up in the front window sill without me noticing. I'm not sure how long ago it happened, as I don't open the front window unless I absolutely have to. In addition, I'd built up a "cat castle" in front of the window, making it a safe space for him to get away from humans.

Well, he took advantage of it.

I just spent the last half hour scrubbing the area and vacuuming up the remaining chunks. It looks to me like it was a dinner, so it probably happened in the middle of the night sometime. It was dried enough that cleaning it wasn't too bad, it just required some scrubbing.

I have been in a major depression with some anxiety attacks for the past few months. It's been bad enough that I've been trying to stay inside and away from people. I'm going to have to break out of it soon. It's not a comfortable way to live. As a meme on Facebook said, "Depression is when you don't really care about anything. Anxiety is when you care too much about everything. And having both is just like hell."

In lieu of forcing myself to be creative, here's a summary of some of my recent Facebook posts - stuff that I found interesting enough to share.

Andy Borowitz again hits one out of the park with Nation with Crumbling Bridges and Roads Excited to Build Giant Wall. Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. We need leadership that will rebuild our infrastructure, not make stupid promises about walls on our borders.

U.S. Doctors Call for Universal Health Care. A single-payer system is the only moral system. Companies that profit from denying care, which includes most health insurance companies and many pharmaceutical companies, are basically evil. If the goal is increasing shareholder profits and not saving lives, then the companies should go away. Forever.

CharityWatch ranks lots of charities, including The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Foundation. Note the extremely low overhead of the Clinton Foundation, at only 12%. The charity gets an "A" rating because most of its money goes to help people. The numbers being used by conservative critics are not false... they simply count everything that isn't a grant as overhead. Since the Clinton Foundation assists people using other methods besides grants, the critics' numbers are misleading and basically a giant lie.

When we lived in Frankenhaus, one of the biggest problems we ran into was keeping the blackberries under control. Well, we have Luther Burbank to blame. I've spent many days at Luther Burbank Park, so I was a little surprised to read the history of the man. Kind of strikingly eye-opening, and not in a good way.

I quite liked this tweet:

So Sarkozy calls the burkini a 'provocation.' Whether women cover or uncover their bodies, seems we're always, always 'asking for it.'

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2016

In case you don't know the backstory, several seaside towns in France banned the "burkini", a full body covering suit that allows Muslim or similarly shy women to go to the beach without exposing themselves. At one beach, a woman wearing one was forced to strip by police. That's right. Police forced a woman being modest at the beach to strip. The French Supreme Court banned the laws, but they are apparently still being enforced and a disturbing percent of the population is just fine with it. On the one hand, I'm kind of relieved that another country is outdoing America for sheer stupidity, but on the other hand, really, France? Really?

Women can't win.

New DeLoreans are being built with original parts. These will reportedly have a much better engine. I'm just going to take the opportunity to note that I got to ride in a DeLorean on Back to the Future Day, something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

On a very light note, the entire British Olympics team had an unfortunate airport problem. Oops.

I don't know if you'll be able to see this if you don't have Facebook, sorry, but Dee Snider did an acoustic version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" that is just amazing and done for all the right reasons. I'm going to try to embed the YouTube version:


Moving on, Phil Plait got really excited about a new astronomical discovery. What does it mean, practically? Not a lot for the average person, but it expands and changes our knowledge and potential understanding of the universe.

A teenager in Montreal showed himself to be a true man by calmly saving a woman from a kidnapper. If that story doesn't bring happiness to your heart, you're probably dead.

A post by a Fort Worth mother of a note from her child's teacher has gone viral. Basically, the teacher was informing parents that the children would not be assigned any homework - only work they didn't finish in class - and urged parents to do evening activities with their children that are proven to correlate with student success. Activities like reading together, eating as a family, playing outside and getting to bed on time. My response is positive. I didn't do homework. I always asked myself if I could pass it if it were on a test. If the answer was yes, I ignored any homework assignments. If the answer was no, I went to the teacher to get it fully explained to me so I could pass it on a test. Homework never figured into my understanding. It was all just busy work. Pointless and useless. If I understood it, why would I want to waste time and energy doing another 50 problems? If I didn't understand it, I couldn't see how struggling through 50 problems would help me in any way.

If you haven't read the Hugo-winning Short Story "Cat Pictures Please", go check it out now. It makes me want to take photos of Inkwell and post them. If only I weren't so upset at him at the moment for his present he left in the windowsill...

Sunflowers

The flowers are coming out!

And another one!

The plants are pretty big... but not as big as the tomatoes.

Sunflowers

Hey look, flowers are forming!

Following the sun.

Sunflowers

With the lovely weather we've been having, the sunflowers have been doing particularly well.

They're springing up...

More photos below the fold, including some of the plum stick.

Sunflowers

This year, almost on a whim, I decided to try to grow sunflowers. My mother-in-law graciously supplied me with some seedlings, which are in the back row of the following photo. I had already bought a packet of mixed seeds, and those are growing in the front row. I've been going out and weeding a little every day... not a lot, mind you. I don't mind the weeds as long as they aren't as tall as the sunflowers.

As you can see, they aren't very tall yet. I'm not entirely sure which ones I planted where, nor am I sure how tall they will get. What I do know for sure is that this spot is in the sunlight almost all day during the summer. And the tomatoes I grew here a few years ago thrived. Some year I will manage to build a raised bed along this wall of the house, and do actual planting with a purpose. But for now, let's see how the sunflower experiment works out.

There's fungus among us...

Our backyard has been invaded by a number of very large mushrooms, some of them quite impressive in size. Apparently, these are edible when they are first popping up out of the ground, but I'm not inclined to try them, personally.

They also dissolve into black goo if you pick them or kick them over. It takes a couple of hours, but they are actually pretty easy to get rid of. I'm informed that they are very good for the ecosystem, so I should just let 'em grow when they aren't in the way. Ok. Sure.

Plum stick

Jack Be Little...

The tiny pumpkins growing in my garden are "Jack Be Little" pumpkins, and they are both decorative and good eating. I decided to try one today, following a "recipe" found on this page.

Basically, I cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin, scooped out more insides than it could possibly have held (transcendentally dimensional pumpkin goop!), put in some butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F in a pan with a little water in the bottom.

Didn't work. Well, sorta worked. It needed another good 15 minutes, and maybe I should have poked around the edges to let it bake better. The bits that were cooked were REALLY good, but the bits that were not cooked... ug. Let's just say it needs to cook until tender, not just until it appears to be tender.

There are a ton of recipes for the little guys all around the web, and they were fun to grow, if heart-breaking when one vine died off suddenly and possibly early (a massive windstorm followed by heavy rain hit and killed half my garden, right after I posted the last update). So I think I'll try them again next year and hopefully I'll have enough on the other vine this year to give this a try again. I think they would make fantastic desserts if they were properly cooked all the way through.

I also learned that this type of pumpkin can be taught to grow up a trellis, like a tomato plant, so next year I might try that so I can get the plant growing up as well as out. I have big plans for my garden next year, but I need to sit down and actually plan it out along with what I need to do and when. My biggest goal is to get proper irrigation in place for next year. I hope I'll have the time and the money to do it.

Oh yeah, one more thing I learned about these. Do NOT grab them by the stem until they've been properly cleaned and scoured. They have needle-sharp tiny thorns and they will get you and they will hurt. Wear gloves and cut them three inches from the fruit, and pick up by the fruit. Ouch ouch ouch.

Stepford Plants Report

I really haven't got a lot to say about the garden right now. It's overgrown, ripening, and I have harvested plenty of zucchini to make lots of bread. And tomatoes. I haven't gotten a usable pepper yet, but I might. And there are pumpkins spreading out across the yard, although some seem to be dying for no reason, and I'm not sure what type of pumpkin they are...

So, enjoy the pics, after the break.

Stepford Plants Report

A couple of things have happened since I last wrote about the garden. I got a few more pictures of the shed cats and I also took a picture of freshly harvested zucchini that became my lunch. I also finally cut the fence around the plum stick in half and put half around the grafted plum in back. But today, today I harvested some zucchini:

The gigantic one in the middle was under the stalk, about as hidden as it could be. Only its enormous girth gave it away enough for me to find it and, with hubby-Eric's vital help, cut it loose and pull it out. Yikes! In any case, I still have one and a half loaves of zucchini bread from my first bread effort to eat, so these will be grated, drained, and frozen.

Stepford Plants Report

I've become a common enough sight for two of the cats who hang out under my shed that they no longer automatically run and hide when I appear. One, a tawny gold cat, still is skittish and will hide if I move toward it. The other, a black and white cat, is now willing to sit still while I check the plants each morning and afternoon, and only gets worried if I go around the shed and out of sight.

The usual view of the black and white cat is legs and head sticking out from under the shed, lazily watching me as I go about my business in the garden plot. The golden cat usually is sitting next to the shed, between the shed and fence. Since the plants really started to grow I haven't caught any in my garden plot. I'll try to capture pictures of both of them, instead of just the one's legs.

I did manage to catch the black and white cat being a cat the other day when my family was visiting. As I helped load the car for them to leave, I glanced over and spotted the cat frolicking in the yard, chasing some bug. As soon as it noticed I was there, it hunkered down and watched me. But for a brief moment I saw joy.

Stepford Plants Report

So, I've been away and haven't updated the plants report for way too long, so now we're going to see the most dramatic changes so far. First off, I have already got two fruits off the Tiny Tim Tomatoes, and one that was overripe. They are small and cute and nicely tart for tomato.

While I was gone, my housesitter watered the plants and kept the Rotweiller away from them. On Monday she called me in a mild panic, as the water wouldn't turn on. Turned out that the irrigation water pipe that serves my neighborhood was under service, and the water didn't turn back on until this morning. In the meantime, because of the awesome job she did watering, the weeds in the yard started to climb to the sky and for the first time my garden plot became under siege by more weeds. So my first job once I got home was to mow the yard down to manageable levels again. My second job was to start weeding the garden plot... and for the first time I really wish I had a spade to dig the things out.

Stepford Plants Report

Not a lot to say this time, I guess. Well, yes, there is some news. New plants and such. But for the most part everything is going along the way I hoped. My soaker hoses are actually soaking instead of spraying randomly, and even the plants I thought weren't growing appear to be growing if I compare them with last week's pictures. So I guess I just need a little faith and a little patience.

The big news for us, I guess, is that I'm getting ready to go to the Winkie Convention down in California the first weekend in July. My house-sitter and her Rotweiller "Snuffy" will be monitoring the place while I'm gone. No pictures of Snuffy, I'm told he ate the last person who tried to take a picture of him. I'm sure that was a joke. I think. Anyway, with the soaker hoses apparently working, I hope to make it dead easy for my house-sitter to water the plants that aren't covered by those hoses. We'll have to see if I succeed.

Stepford Plants Report

I have managed the impossible. I killed a zucchini plant before its time. I'm sure it was a combination of the location, the watering, and the cats. But it's dead, Jim. You grab its tricorder and I'll get its wallet. In the meantime, the Plum Stick continues to grow.

I was actually on the road last week, and I took these pictures on Wednesday but I'm only getting around to posting them now. Sorry.

Stepford Plants Report

Well, the zombie zucchini continues to make me wonder. Will it survive? Will it die? Have I succeeded in the impossible: killing a zucchini plant before it produces too much fruit for a family of 9 to eat in a summer? I'm not sure, and I'm sure I won't know for a few more days yet. In the meantime I'll keep watering it and see what happens.

It was dark and stormy today, which is one of the problems I'm having in figuring out how much to water my plants. It seems like it must be rainy, but it's not. The storms mostly just pass over the valley. But being a Seattle gal, I see the clouds and somewhere deep inside I have the sense that it's going to rain or it has rained, and I don't have to worry about watering. Which is totally wrong. It's very strange to go outside with grumpy clouds hovering over town and still water my plants, but it's what I have to do. If I can get that into my head, perhaps my more picky plants will survive.

Stepford Plants Report

I'm not feeling very well about my plants this week. I think I'm messing up. I need to get on the ball and deal with the problems of the plants... I need to get back to watering them regularly. And I have a little terror of the plants that I put outside. I think they will die, but then I remember last year, and... Argh. Ok, let's start at the top, right?

The plum stick is surviving nicely, but is beginning to look a little droopy. Again, watering issues. The biggest problem is that it keep raining, and it's really hard for me to judge how much rain is enough. If I had an automatic system like almost every neighbor around here, they would just get watered. But since I have to do it manually, I keep second-guessing myself. Well, judging by this picture compared to last week's, I need to water more, rather than less.

Stepford Plants Report

I really should have gotten up and gone out to mow the yard the instant I was fully awake this morning. We've got brilliant weather out there, and it's supposed to get into the upper 70s and low 80s over the next couple of days. A nice change from the series of storms that have been hitting us the last few months. And the yard needs a mow. But I waited, and when I went out to get my pictures I could tell it was already too warm for me to successfully do any mowing. If I get some energy, I may try to clean up the garden plot, but no mowing today.

There have been a handful of developments in the plant life over the last week. Two plants have made their way to a friend's house, where they have already been transplanted outside, shaming me a little. One of the zucchini and one of the Moneymaker tomatoes are gone and shall provide fruit for someone else. I also finally repotted one of the peppers yesterday, and if I'm lucky both will survive long enough to bear fruit. But why don't I go into detail after the cut?

Stepford Plants Report

Eric had an unexpected day off on Monday, and it was clear and sunny, so we mowed the yard and trimmed as much as possible. It's still not too bad today, though if it's dry over the weekend I ought to mow again. I think mowing is one of those jobs that will never be done.

Before the cut today let's have another dramatic picture of the Plum Stick. Sadly, I moved as I took the picture, so it's a little distorted. But it's still a very cool image, I think.

Stepford Plants Report

Well, I was going to mow today, but it's looking pretty unlikely now. The weather report said clear skies and sun for the rest of the week, so I watered the trees yesterday with a deep watering, figuring that the ground would dry out enough for me to mow today... then this morning it rained for two solid hours. The ground is soaked. The grass is too wet to mow now, and I'm not sure it'll dry out before this evening. Oh well, at least I can still get a few pictures, right?

I'll start today off with a before-the-cut picture of the grafted plum, which shows the leaves on the Santa Rosa bit. The other two grafts look rather barren until you get a nice close up, which I'll put after the cut.

Stepford Plants Report

Today was an outside chores day for Eric and I, and so I got the mowing done and he got the trimming done despite both of us suffering from a long-lasting and incredibly annoying cold that is keeping us from being at 100%. I wanted to mow the yard and then go prep more of the garden plot area, but after I finished mowing my chest hurt and my heart was racing and I realized I had to stop for the day. An hour and change later I still don't feel quite right. No more cold medicine and then outside work for me, I think.

Today's mow at least made our yard look respectable, which is apparently a good thing for the neighbors. A neighbor even offered Eric the use of his gas-powered trimmer when he saw my poor hubby using the wimpy electric one we have. We felt a little rushed because although our yard was in sunlight, a dramatic dark storm seemed to be moving in, as you can possibly see in the dramatic image of the plum stick above. However, it appears that the storm was going past us, not actually moving in, as we still have sunlight on the west side of our house even now, while the east side continues to look like a storm.

More after the cut...