Hurricanes Can Be Good

We've had cooler tempatures lately thanks to the current crop of storms. It's not common for us to have a real fall so I've been enjoying it. I love this time of year, the smell in the air and cool breezes. The bell peppers and jalapenoes have been flourishing and I have been taking advantage of this. I 've frozen the bells and used the japs for salsa. The extra jalapenoes I am attempting to pickle. I've never canned before so my initial effort appears to not be great.
I'm planning to can some batches of salsa in the next day or two and since I've learned a lot from the internet I'm sure it will turn out better.
Other than that nothing's going down around here.
Hope everyone else is doing well.

Lack of Interest

As you can tell I have not been posting lately. Conditions around here went from drought to heavy rain overnight. As a result all of my tomatoes split open and are to differing degrees ruined. My few melons did the same and the pillbugs came in and chewed them up. The only plus this season has been squash and a few bell peppers. There may be some jalepenoes, but I'm not going to bank on those yet.
I'm working on getting a new job and focusing on getting out of the hole I've been in the last few years. I'm not going to give up all together, but right now I could care less about most anything but money.
I'm off to join the sheeple. I'll keep ya'll updated.

Relief

We've been getting rain the last couple of days. I love the smell of the air right after a storm. As a result it's been a little cooler. Last week I got borderline heat stroke and couldn't get out of bed for three days.
I finally switched over to a prepay cell phone. I couldn't justify paying so much for something I use so little. Also, the way home phones are made these days if you lose power your phone doesn't work. I can make 20 dollars of time last a couple of months plus I got to get a phone with a cool camera.
On the garden front everything is plodding along slowly. The bell peppers are finally producing well and the squash, although slowing down, are still giving about 5 pounds a week. The tomato plants are full of big green fruit unwilling to turn red. I'm actually just impatient for the amazing flavor of a home grown tomato. The jalapenoes have yet to produce anything but the plants are beautiful.
There will be corn on the cob by the end of the month. I used cotton burr compost for fertilizer and worked wonderfully. I may even try one more planting this year since I don't see it getting cold until Christmas.
The best surprise this year is the return of the pecans. I had a bumper crop last year and I was under the impression that it would be another year before my tree produced any fruit. I have coddled my tree and as a result it's given a lot of good pies and fudge.
Well that's about it. I hope everyone else is doing well.

Finally!

We finally got about an inch of rain the other day. It was sorely needed after a couple of rainless months. I had one watermelon double in size overnight because of it.
The day before I invested in soaker hoses. I had intended on doing this last year but the floods made irrigating needless. I highly recommend them. I had been using a regular lawn sprinkler and it was not doing the job. I believe the majority of the water was evaporating before hitting the grass which is easy when it's 100 degrees at 8 p.m.
The strawberries didn't make it, unfortunately.
Hope everyone else's gardens are going strong.

I feel like one of those creatures that live under the desert sand

The strawberry plants and Black Pearl peppers have fallen to the pitiless sun. The squash plants however are thriving and as is the corn. I have had a hard time keeping the garden watered. It requires watering at least twice a week for three hours at a time. Everything is growing, but a very slow rate except for Buddy. He is getting his adult teeth and has suddenly become very stubborn. I'm going to lie under the fan. Good harvest to you all.

Business as usual

Things are growing well except for the Black Pearl peppers. I guess they couldn't stand the heat. There are two tomatoes on one of the plants, so I'm hoping this is a sign of more to come. Jalapenoes are blooming as are the christmas colored peppers and squash is still going strong. The corn is starting to tassel but the strawberry plants looked stepped on. Oh well.
I added a new link on the bottom for a local radio host that also writes for several national magazines. His specialty is automobiles but his knowledge goes much further. I encourage everyone to read his BusinessWeek articles as well as listen to his show online on Saturday mornings KLIF.
Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Same old thing

I haven't made an entry lately because things continue as normal. I'm still harvesting a couple of pounds of squash a day and it's still hot. I get up at dawn and do what I need to before the sun breaks over the trees. Buddy (my stray puppy ) is growing fast. He went from skin and bones to chubby pretty quick and is almost 100 % housebroken.
Thanks to Ron and his advice about the newspapers under straw mulch, I think I've finally defeated the grass and weeds.
There are three baseball sized cantaloupe on the vines and my lone watermelon plant is beginning to flower. My tomato plants are full of blooms but still refuse to set fruit. The bell peppers will be ready to start picking next week (finally).
Now that I look back on this after I've written it I guess plenty of new things have happened.