Yes, I know one swallow does not a summer make, but we've had our regulation 24 hours of spring already so that's the only thing this could mean.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Outdoors -- sounds of summer
I hear swallows!!
Yes, I know one swallow does not a summer make, but we've had our regulation 24 hours of spring already so that's the only thing this could mean.
Yes, I know one swallow does not a summer make, but we've had our regulation 24 hours of spring already so that's the only thing this could mean.
Bit at a time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:16
Genesis 1:16
טז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים
אֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה
וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים:
Transliteration: va-yaas elohim et-shney ha-m’orot ha-g’dolim,
et-ha-maor ha-gadol l-memshelet ha-yom v-et ha-maor ha-qaton l-memshelet
ha-laylah v-et ha-kokavim
Translation: Gd made the two
great lights, the great light to govern the day and the small light to govern
the night, and the stars.
Vocabulary in this lesson:
שְׁנֵי
|
two
|
לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת
|
To govern
|
כּוֹכָבִים:
|
stars
|
There is verse 16 in case you were
compiling them.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
This is why I garden
So the forecast said it was safe to plant my summer seeds.
It was a beautiful morning, perfectly cool, with white clouds and a promise of sun later.
I went out with shovel and rake and put 3 bags of compost in the planter where the tomatoes and herbs will go. Put up my tomato towers, too.
Then I turned to digging out dandelions and scraping off grass and clover for the other stuff near the fence.
Well, you know how it is, you start a big project and guests show up.
Mr. and Mrs. Flicker Jee (the catbirds) decided to pay a visit.
So I pulled back and rested a little.
They got their morning baths and a drink and preened themselves in the bushes.
I went back to work. Soon I heard little catbird clucks and there was the Mr. hunting bugs where I had scraped the top off, not two yards from me.
I put out two more bags of compost and went in to rehydrate.
The robin came to get his share.
I went back out and finished the job.
Put away my tools and put the compost bags where the trash haulers will pick them up tomorrow.
Scrubbed compost and dirt off my legs. I always get dirty when I garden.
It's supposed to be good for you.
Then the sun came out and the robin started warbling.
This is how it should be.
I don't mind guests like this. It was nice to have the wild creatures around me.
A young relative keeps asking me why I don't get a dog or cat.
I keep saying that I have pets. But they live outside.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
It was a beautiful morning, perfectly cool, with white clouds and a promise of sun later.
I went out with shovel and rake and put 3 bags of compost in the planter where the tomatoes and herbs will go. Put up my tomato towers, too.
Then I turned to digging out dandelions and scraping off grass and clover for the other stuff near the fence.
Well, you know how it is, you start a big project and guests show up.
Mr. and Mrs. Flicker Jee (the catbirds) decided to pay a visit.
So I pulled back and rested a little.
They got their morning baths and a drink and preened themselves in the bushes.
I went back to work. Soon I heard little catbird clucks and there was the Mr. hunting bugs where I had scraped the top off, not two yards from me.
I put out two more bags of compost and went in to rehydrate.
The robin came to get his share.
I went back out and finished the job.
Put away my tools and put the compost bags where the trash haulers will pick them up tomorrow.
Scrubbed compost and dirt off my legs. I always get dirty when I garden.
It's supposed to be good for you.
Then the sun came out and the robin started warbling.
This is how it should be.
I don't mind guests like this. It was nice to have the wild creatures around me.
A young relative keeps asking me why I don't get a dog or cat.
I keep saying that I have pets. But they live outside.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Garden -- slugs
You can either prevent slugs or get them drunk.
The first way to deal with slugs in your garden is never, never, NEVER water at night.
You have to put a lot of water on your garden each time you water. I lay down 2 gallons in a 6 square foot area and I should probably use more.
DON'T DO THAT AT NIGHT.
Do it in the morning before 8 a.m., especially when you plant tomatoes.
You're saying, but it rains at night sometimes.
When you figure out a way to keep that from happening, let me know how you did it.
In the meantime, don't you do it.
And if you have a spate of nighttime rain or a hurricane, here's what you do.
You get a shallow dish and you put it where you saw the slugs.
Then you pour in part of a can or bottle of beer.
The next morning, you pour the beer and the dead slugs into the trash.
And you thought it was an urban legend that slugs loved beer!
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
The first way to deal with slugs in your garden is never, never, NEVER water at night.
You have to put a lot of water on your garden each time you water. I lay down 2 gallons in a 6 square foot area and I should probably use more.
DON'T DO THAT AT NIGHT.
Do it in the morning before 8 a.m., especially when you plant tomatoes.
You're saying, but it rains at night sometimes.
When you figure out a way to keep that from happening, let me know how you did it.
In the meantime, don't you do it.
And if you have a spate of nighttime rain or a hurricane, here's what you do.
You get a shallow dish and you put it where you saw the slugs.
Then you pour in part of a can or bottle of beer.
The next morning, you pour the beer and the dead slugs into the trash.
And you thought it was an urban legend that slugs loved beer!
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Monday, May 5, 2014
Outdoors -- do we have chicks?
I think I hear baby birds calling for food.
Somebody got off the mark pretty fast!
I mean besides the mockingbirds.
They might be starlings. Starling chicks are pretty noisy.
I know from sad experience, there was a pair of starlings who used to always build a nest under my old through-the-wall AC machine.
Their chicks would wake me up every morning.
Every year when AC season came, all the chicks would die because it was just a bad environment for them.
The starlings never learned.
I replaced that old thing with an Energy Star machine and the builders made it impossible for starlings to next under it.
Now all I gotta do is make sure my trash closet door stays shut.
I've seen male starlings scope the place out.
They've even had prospective mates come for a look, sitting on the phone or power wires.
The females were too smart to accept.
Anyway, it's good to know that the horrible winter won't put that much of a crimp in the bird population.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Somebody got off the mark pretty fast!
I mean besides the mockingbirds.
They might be starlings. Starling chicks are pretty noisy.
I know from sad experience, there was a pair of starlings who used to always build a nest under my old through-the-wall AC machine.
Their chicks would wake me up every morning.
Every year when AC season came, all the chicks would die because it was just a bad environment for them.
The starlings never learned.
I replaced that old thing with an Energy Star machine and the builders made it impossible for starlings to next under it.
Now all I gotta do is make sure my trash closet door stays shut.
I've seen male starlings scope the place out.
They've even had prospective mates come for a look, sitting on the phone or power wires.
The females were too smart to accept.
Anyway, it's good to know that the horrible winter won't put that much of a crimp in the bird population.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
DIY -- bean salad plus
I had an interesting conversation with a stocker at my grocery store once.
He wanted me to buy four cans of mixed beans at $1.69 a pound.
I wanted to buy four cans of single beans at $1.39 a pound.
I saved over a dollar in that conversation.
What's more, I got 60 ounces of bean salad (once I added diced bell pepper and onion) for $4.
You will get 16 ounces for $8 on Amazon.
What's more, this week's DIY is a three-fer.
This is my mother's bean salad dressing.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
pinch basil
1/4 tsp oregano
Bring to a boil very briefly and pour over the drained canned beans and other vegetables. Eat the next day.
You can add garlic powder if you want, and also a pinch of sugar.
How this is a three-fer is that this dressing also works with artichokes. Buy a box of frozen artichoke hearts. Thaw them. Add diced red bell pepper and sliced black olives. Pour the dressing over and put in a jar or plastic keeper. This is half the unit price of those tiny jars you see in the grocery story and makes a great ante-pasto for a dinner with guests and everything.
The same dressing works on pasta salad with olives, bell pepper, onion, cooked macaroni or shells, and grated cheese. Again at half price or less.
Mangia!
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
He wanted me to buy four cans of mixed beans at $1.69 a pound.
I wanted to buy four cans of single beans at $1.39 a pound.
I saved over a dollar in that conversation.
What's more, I got 60 ounces of bean salad (once I added diced bell pepper and onion) for $4.
You will get 16 ounces for $8 on Amazon.
What's more, this week's DIY is a three-fer.
This is my mother's bean salad dressing.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
pinch basil
1/4 tsp oregano
Bring to a boil very briefly and pour over the drained canned beans and other vegetables. Eat the next day.
You can add garlic powder if you want, and also a pinch of sugar.
How this is a three-fer is that this dressing also works with artichokes. Buy a box of frozen artichoke hearts. Thaw them. Add diced red bell pepper and sliced black olives. Pour the dressing over and put in a jar or plastic keeper. This is half the unit price of those tiny jars you see in the grocery story and makes a great ante-pasto for a dinner with guests and everything.
The same dressing works on pasta salad with olives, bell pepper, onion, cooked macaroni or shells, and grated cheese. Again at half price or less.
Mangia!
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Outdoors -- after the storm
I believe my town got 6 inches of rain in 2 days last week.
That may not sound like much to some of you, but here, 2 inches of rain in 2 days is a lot.
Thursday morning there were peeks of blue sky from time to time.
I took my morning tea out onto the back porch to enjoy the warm air, now just moist instead of soggy wet.
A rabbit came to sample supplies in my neighbor's yard.
He's big and fat, probably from eating crocuses in somebody else's yard.
He ate, I sipped, and after a while he went away.
I closed the gate of the yard. I think he's too fat to squeeze under it, and I think he's also too fat to use the slide the squirrels created.
And he looks too fat to jump onto the porch beside the hydrangeas, even if he figured out he could get onto the porch that way.
So I think my sprouting veggies are safe this week.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
That may not sound like much to some of you, but here, 2 inches of rain in 2 days is a lot.
Thursday morning there were peeks of blue sky from time to time.
I took my morning tea out onto the back porch to enjoy the warm air, now just moist instead of soggy wet.
A rabbit came to sample supplies in my neighbor's yard.
He's big and fat, probably from eating crocuses in somebody else's yard.
He ate, I sipped, and after a while he went away.
I closed the gate of the yard. I think he's too fat to squeeze under it, and I think he's also too fat to use the slide the squirrels created.
And he looks too fat to jump onto the porch beside the hydrangeas, even if he figured out he could get onto the porch that way.
So I think my sprouting veggies are safe this week.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
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