Banana Bells Are The New Zucchini!

Banana Bells! They're everywhere. I'm not sure who did the Collecting Of The Seeds From All Available Sources and then later planted all of these seeds, and then apon (upon?) all of this germination, found places to plant all of this stuff, but they need to be talked to.

I'm blaming it on Bu-Dawgh!

He doesn't even like banana bells. Actually, I guess I don't know that for sure, but he's definitely not a salad eater, so I'm guessing that anything of the "green" variety would be out.
The chickens would love them, ahhh, there's the link. Bu-Dawgh loves his chickens, so it would stand to reason that he would want them to eat well.
And they do! They're getting all kinds of weeds, weed seeds, garden leftovers, and "stuff". And, they're Staying In Their Pen! YAY!! Well, all except the mama and the 5 babies, who will be put in the pen probably this weekend.

So back to the banana bells..... if I can get past "why in the world would I someone plant so many of these things, I'm forced to find things to do with them. Already people run when they see me coming. They don't want any more of these, yet more is what I have. And tonight when I go out to the garden, even more will be there. Laughing at me. Taunting me. Daring me to come up with new and inventive ways to use these suckers.

Anyone got any ideas? Don't even suggest Google, they saw me coming too, and I got nothing from them.
Actually, I know what I can do with them. There's a small "honor system" vegie stand in my way to work, I can stash them there, however I'm thinking they'll find their way home.

Maybe I can invent some sort of fountain of youth skin cream to use them in. Yeah, that's it! I'll be rich! I'll be famous, and I'll forever be known as "That Crazy Lady Who Assaults Her Victims With Banana Bells But Who Found A Way To Make It Work!"

Yeah, I can live with that.

Hey, I have a new blog. Check me out at knitting.craftgossip.com ! And I'd love it if you'd actually leave me a comment!

Cukes, Peppers and the Mystery of Life.

Wow!
Absolutely nothing happened last night.
Well, except that a bunch of people stopped over. It was like everyone decided that they were gonna come see us. All on the same night. Well, ok, they actually came to see hubby, but I kinda went along for the ride. I'm like that.

Strange!

My garden has seen fit to produce about 368 tons of cukes, all at the same time. I know what you're thinking. Pickles. Me too, except I've never successfully made pickles. I make them all the time, but they are usually soggy.

I have a new recipe that I want to try, it's called Sun Pickles. True to it's name you need to stuff everything in a big jar and leave it out in the sun for 3 days. That's the trick, finding 3 days worth of hot sun this time of year. I can put it out on my black bar-b-que grill, which will provide the heat, if the sun is out. Which, again, is questionable.
Then there's the time involved. First I have to actually nail down the recipe. And I mean, nail it down. Since I have a hurricane and a tropical storm living in my house, everything that isn't nailed down gets lost in the flurry. I have to find it. Then nail it down.
Then I have to decide what I don't have and what I need to get and what can be creatively substituted.
How hard can it be? I need onions, garlic, dill, and a piece of bread and salt. I have the garlic. Guess I need to make a food run. Maybe I'll stuff a banana bell or jalapeno in there just for kicks.

And peppers! Whoda thunk they'd get mixed up?

I started all of mine from seeds. Planted green, yellow and red sweet bells, banana bells, jalapenos and habaneros. (I don't know how to make the little squiggly thing that goes above the n's, hang in here with me though, I'm sure you'll figure out what I mean.)

So I started all these from seeds, and then planted them when the weather was appropriate. And forgot what I planted where.
So now I have a plethora o peppers in every imaginable shape, color and size. Gonna have to figure out which is the sweet bells and which are the jalapenos. Seriously, I do know the difference, but the difference between the jalapenos and habaneros is a bit fuzzy. Since both of them are for the salsa the my Texas friend makes I guess it doesn't matter. I like it hot enough to make my ears water.

What to do about this? I googled it, and now I'm in trouble. I figured habaneros and jalapenos looked similar. But guess what? Habaneros, as it turns out, look like baby sweet bells. uh oh! This might not be good! This could be epic. And it might be a real problem.

I don't want sweet bells in my Hot Enough To Make My Ears Water salsa, nor do I want to stuff hamburger and rice into a habanero, take a big bite out of it expecting the sweetness of a bell only to find a few real angry seeds wanting to make the next 20 mins of my live miserable!

Guess I better have some milk ready. Where did that cow go? And why is my spell check having a fit over the word "habanero"? Life's mysteries...

Baby Bovines!

I got new babies! Hubby did a motor in exchange for a couple of bull calves. They are 5 weeks old. One is almost all white and we named him Pepper. The other is almost all black and we named him Salt. CUTE!!!! And, I was gonna take pictures but I couldn't find the Awesome Camera That I Bought Myself For My Birthday Last Year so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see them. And.... instead of going fishing.... you might have to sit down here..... are you ready? Are you sure?

Instead of going fishing yesterday, Hubby build me a chicken coop!!!! Not just any chicken coop, this one has LOTS O Room! It's not done yet, but should be tonight and I'll get pics of that too.

He's feeling guilty I think. Next weekend is our anniversary and he's going up north to our cabin. My "Project For The Weekend When Hubby Is Away" is to put in my new sink and faucet. The countertop will have to wait, being as how I had to spend money on milk replacer and calf food. That's ok, I love new farm babies!

Didn't get much gardening in, we're still having frosts and freezes regularly, it's just not a good idea yet. I did have to go and buy a bunch of tomato and pepper plants, this was the weekend to do that and if it's not done now, they are pretty well picked over. So I'll just cover them and keep them well watered for another week or so.

Got the pool almost all cleaned out. After feeding calves and other chores, being in the cool water feels pretty good, plus pretty much eliminates the need for a shower, at least until morning. It works, get my water fix, get halfway clean, get my pool cleaned all in one fell swoop.

Life is good!

My brother and I had another Ride of a Lifetime on Sunday. He rides Hubby's bike when he's here. It was beautiful, about 70, bright sun and of course the scenery is beautiful. Any time of year, the scenery just rocks around here. And you always notice a lot more wildlife, scents, sounds... when you're on a bike. There's no beating it!

Almost got the baby booties done, just finishing up, so they'll be done for the baby shower this weekend. Got a lot of knitting done while my Red Wings tromped the Penguins again last night. Best 4 out of 7 series and we're so far 2 and 0. Tomorrow night is game three, this one is in Penguin territory, so there will be a home ice advantage for those boys. Will be another good game.

That's all for today, feeling very tired, like I tried to accomplish a lot this weekend.

Life Is Good! Life Is Great!! Life Rocks!! And, it's better than the alternative!!