The harvest is almost done. That is the third load of tomatoes. With pepper and Scallion on top. I am chopping, bagging and freezing like Depression Era grandmother.

Read the label carefully. It this some advance in cleaning technology? Does the bucket add a high electrical charge to the solution that tases bacteria? Is it super effective?

Tags: NJ

Able to leap tall sofas in a single nap.

I felt like I was playing Q*bert in real life at work today. We were preparing briefing books for the agency that included several drawings. Each drawing was mostly a white page. Each drawing got a yellow title sheet. Eileen was turning little cubes of paper white while I tried to turn them yellow.

Seen here ferociously guarded by a bird, the tomato plants have fulfilled there assigned destiny and filled all 7 levels of the cage. I really did not think this would happen. Now if we could just get one tomato I might feel it was worth the expense. I might.

The first ear of corn pushed silk out today. Karen counted 4 ears. Might get a dozen out of this crop.

The first fruit of the tomato vines has made an appearance. These are on the Roma vine. Hopefully more will appear soon. The flowers are abundant, just no fruit yet.

This is the critical level! The smaller cages stop here at Level 4. If the tomato plant gets larger than this (it will) then the taller cage was the wise investment.

This is the bulk of the harvest from the raspberry bushes. I took two early harvests, each of them was half this size. They are really sweet.

I had to fight the birds for every berry. Netting, posts, dogs chasing them, unshielded bush on the side yard, nothing seemed to stop the attempts to steal my berries. All that effort for maybe $8 worth of berries. I have to rethink my gardening strategy.

We have reached level 3. We have now passed the extension joints. Wise decision, Jim, wise despite your doubts.

The tomato plant has reached level 2 (of 7). Maybe the cages were not so optimistic.

The Raspberries have burst, summer can now begin.

We have cultivated several square yards of our little lake lot. Mostly herbs and vegetables, but I managed to squeeze a few fruit bushes in the less sunny spots. This is a native ( it was growing on the lot when I got here) berry bush. I created a nice spot for it, raised a bed for it, put some weed cover down and placed a bird net around it. I might get to eat one or two of these berries before the wildlife gets them all.

So, the big dead hemlock is gone. We called for an ESTIMATE and liked the price. The service came out while we were in Negril and took it down. I never said, “Yes” to the service, but it is done now.

I am not sad it is gone, just surprised. I will have to call them Monday and pay up.

The week in Negril is concluded. It is a very nice Sandals property. I have tried many and this one is very good.

The beach is better than described. The service level exceeded all the Jamaica resorts. It has that nice mix of party places and quiet spots like LaToc on St. Lucia.

We bought the expandable tomato cages online. In reality I think this was an optimistic choice.

75 Red Cedar Planks
50 1x3 boards
12 cubic feet of pea gravel
8 cubic yards of top soil
7 pounds of weight loss
50 wheel barrow trips to the driveway and back

She finally has her garden. I placed the last wheel barrow full of top soil in the last box this morning. We set up irrigation, planted and set up cages this morning.

There is a Mojito Mint garden, Herb garden, Pepper and Onion garden, Tomato and Basil garden, Cucumber garden, Watermelon patch and Corn field. Who is coming to the lake this summer?

Inspiration: Oakville
Photos: Construction

These two were parked across from me at the grocery store. They moved to the front seat while the humans were in the store. I bet they are thinking, “I hope they remember the milk bones!”

Tags: NJ

My keyboard stopped working in the middle of a document today. E and R were the worst, but the entire QWERTY row was flaky. Tried it on other machines, same result. That mean this one hits the chopping block.

After the fir whack the keycaps flew all over the place. It was explosive! The “board” part took the hit quite well, though. I flipped it over to try the second whack, but the Dell technology survived this swing as well. I see why Lizzie Borden felt 40 whacks was necessary. Two was enough fun for me.