Pioneer Woman at Heart

  After spending the hottest days here planting over 80 different hot pepper plants a few weeks ago, I went out to hoe the tomatoes and my heart sank.   To be honest, I wanted to throw up.  Gardeners would understand. Something got thru, or over the fence, and chewed the tops off of all the hot pepper plants.   Just chewed off the top and left it lay. I could sit and wonder all day (in anger, despair and frustration), but we don't know if it was a very small baby rabbit (never had this happen with the fence), or a squirrel or even rats (according to our google search inquiry).  Our fence on that garden is meant to keep rabbits and squirrels out.  However, our property butts up to woods that surround a tributary to a river, so it could be anything coming out of that area as well.  It's not deer.  We even have solar alarms around it, but not every single section is covered with an alarm. We now have two rolls of bendable  (very small ...

  We have not had a day without rain.  It rained all day yesterday, and all night and it's raining this morning.  In fact, I went out to pick asparagus yesterday when I saw we got a slight break, but the rain poured down as I walked to the asparagus patch.  Three stalks of asparagus got picked anyway. The garden tilling was not done as we were planning yesterday.  May is finicky, so I'm not going to guess.  I'll just keep making back up plans and get other "stuff" done around here.   I have enjoyed the little bit of porch time (most days have been on the chilly side), sitting and listening to the rain.  The flowers are enjoying the rain too, as well as the herb garden.  I'm just glad we have not planted the vegetable garden yet, although seeds would have been a blessing to have gotten in before this rain.  The evenings are still in the low 40's, and too cold for tomato plants or other vegetable plants. Right now, it's just a saturat...

I apologize in advance for the length of this post.  I honestly, didn't think I'd be back so quickly with a post at all. The home project list continues.  The master bath is not checked off the list just quite yet.  We have made progress, but the shower tile floor is dragging on. My husband hired a brother of a friend to replace the tile floor to the shower.  First, good luck getting the guy to come on the day he says.  He canceled three times.  I was about to google YouTube and install the floor myself.  He showed up (after canceling again, after coming out for a quote), and literally asked me if I had a trowel for the grout.  Literally! Sigh.  He came and gave us a quote, and said he had the "tools" for the job, and he had experience.  My husband even told him that we know nothing about installing tile.  He also mentioned he didn't bring his tool to cut the tile.  Huh?  He knew full well what the job was - install a tile...

  The weather is much to be desired this garden year.  We should have been picking weeks ago, canning and enjoying by now.  We literally just picked (yesterday) our first heirloom Shintokiwa cucumber (English variety).  One plant already died, the other two types of cucumbers are are not looking good. I picked two pickling cucumbers, and have put them in my vegetable storage containers, that keep them fresh longer.  In hopes to get more, and possible just get some relish canned this year. The humidity has been at it's worst , and with the lack of rain, the garden suffers.  The weather these next two days will be in the upper 90's, and the humidity at it's worst yet.  This morning the humidity is 92% already.   We have only gotten green beans from two plants so far, as we had to replant twice (after we finally fenced them). The tomatoes are at their worst ever.  They are very small, lack any production good enough to do any canning, and t...