It's Like Magic, but Really It's Just Nature

This flower...



turned into this okra pod:

Corn Fail

Well *sigh* my corn never came in. Despite my best attempts at plant husbandry, I don't think it ever pollinated. The plants themselves never reached full size, either... I pulled 'em and tossed them in the compost. I put in Fall tomatoes in their place a couple of weeks ago...

Not Peter Cotton Tail, More Like Jack Rabbit

Tonight, as I was in the process of cooking breakfast for dinner, A. called me to the garage very emphatically. It sounded like something cool was going on. Turns out, a jack rabbit was in our driveway. I grabbed my camera and moved in for a closer shot. I sat a few feet away for a few minutes before I tired of it all (and remembered my bacon in the frying pan...!)

Jack better keep away from my carrots!

This is the Biggest Garage Sale. Ever.

The lady across the street owns a shop on the square in downtown McKinney. They started setting up for this sale early yesterday. This pic does not do this sale justice. This was snapped at 8am and already there was a line at the cash register. Drive down Newberry Dr. - You'll see what I'm talking about!

This is Chicken Shit!

http://eastdallasblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/city-chickens-flap.html

North Haven Gardens, which earlier this month took the unusual step of adding henkeeping supplies, housing and even juvenile hens to its gardening and landscaping inventory, has been told by the city the chicks must go.

North Haven Gardens is THE place for plants, garden supplies, books and inspiration. And Christmas Gifts for me. If Ms. Halleck says she got thenecessary permits and permissions, then she did. Anyone giving her and NHG shit for selling chicks ought to be tarred and feathered.

Return of Some Old Friends

My little buddy is back. This time he's got a travelling companion. They let me get awfully close. I think they both had they're eyes on my drying onions.








Watching an owl fly is one of the coolest things. They don't make a sound.

Hey, Food, Inc. - Way Ahead of Ya!

No, seriously, the books that inspired the movie inspired us as well... So, let's all go see it soon, ok?





I've got enough wood in the garage that I've plucked out of dumpsters to make a new garden. Maybe I will this weekend...

It's All Kinda Circular

Visit Bona Fide Darling - http://bonafidedarling.blogspot.com to check out a nice little, low-fi cover of one of my songs by Travis... Then you can go to http://www.myspace.com/jdw to hear the original.

Good friend to BFD Travis Hopper, from local band Elkhart recorded his own take of local musician J.D. Whittenburg's "Secrets That You Keep." That song is one of my favorites off of J.D.'s album. Travis gives the song an more intimate more...

Bushes, Alleys, City Code and a Trash Truck Driver, Continued...

Go here for the explanation. At some point, common sense should prevail. Unfortunately for my bushes, Richardson City Code prevails.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Porch Makeover

For the last two weekends, we've been working on making our porch a nice place where we might actually want to hang out. Short of replacing the roof, we're there.

BEFORE:

(I forgot to take actual "before" pics the way we had it set up...)



DURING:





AFTER











Pete loves it!

Though it Took Some Coddling, Battered Corn and 'Maters Rebounded

After much agonizing the other night, all garden inhabitants are doing better than ever. Mademe realize I needed to stake my tomatoes better.



And thanks to a little advice from GrowLively, my corn is back to standing straight and tall. I even see the beginnings of ears!





p.s. - the onions surrounding the corn are supposed to be falling over... that's what they do!

My Corn : (

My corn before tonight's storm...

...and after:



It's now at about a 45° angle. Hopefully, if I stake them they'll straighten up...?

Burbia: "Living on the Edge... of the Patio"

Maybe one day, Life on Newberry Drive will be this amusing... doubt it, though!

Check out http://www.burbia.com/, expecially the "Safari" section.

Today's offering kills me.

My Corn

It's getting up there in size. It is called 'Early Sunglow Hybrid':

"You'll love this extra early, yellow corn's classic sweet corn flavor and texture. Early Sunglow's cold weather vigor (?) makes it ideal for the first planting of the season. It's ready to pick in 63 deays, yielding 7-inch ears from each 4-foot plant".

We'll see soon enough...

What I'm Really Into At This Moment in Time

Sometimes you get an album, listen to it, like it, put it on your iPod and then kinda forget about it except for when a song comes on shuffle (even then, you know the artist, but not necessarily the album). A. and I go see Salim perform often enough, I think it's fair and safe to admit that I get my Salim fix without necessarily listening to the recordings as often as I should. Which is dumb, because he's a freaking great producer... So, of course, he's going to pull out all of the stops on his own records.

Anyway, Beautiful Noise on headphones is perfect.



After hearing him perform his new material on Wed., I need his new record, Constellation, stat...

Garden Update

In case you weren't aware, I provide daily updates on my okra at http://twitter.com/dailyokra.

That said, check out the garden. I pulled all radishes and thus have 4 sq. feet with which to plant something. I just haven't decided what, yet. A lot of that may depend on those gigantic tomatoes. I intentionally planted them on the east side and have been pruning the bottoms and tying them to the stakes to make sure okra and others get sun.

Bushes, Alleys, City Code and a Trash Truck Driver

UPDATE: new pics to illustrate the matter...

Photo taken on 06/04/09:


I receive periodic notices from our very nice code enforcement office to trim our bushes that line the back alley in our back yard. Unlike everyone else, we have these ancient bushes instead of a fence. I'm guessing that they were planted when the house was built 50 years ago. I go out and I trim them - while not completely one foot from the alley, as code requires. They always pass the inspection because our code enforcement officer realizes that to trim them back that much will mean removing all of the vegetation from that side of the plant. Below, you can see what they look like when are unruly (due to a couple of weeks of rain). The right has been trimmed, the left has not yet...



Apparently, the trash truck driver is too lazy or incompetent to make a turn in the back alley without going into our back neighbor's yard (see damage and an attempt at repair by the City, below). The driver blames our bushes. So now, they must get chopped. I will do the butchering, as paying someone else to do so will add insult to injury. Stay tuned for the before and after photos - they will be interesting. I fear this will shock and possibly have a devastating effect on the bushes. An ugly fence may be in our future... 4+ years in our house and this has never been an issue... so why now?!?!

It's Easy to Dump on Dallas, But Sometimes "They" Get It Right...

...like the City of Dallas' Office of Cultural Affairs and Parks and Recreation's partnership with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to produce the (free!) 2009 Parks Concert Series.

"The Dallas Symphony Orchestra Community Parks Concert Series is a series of free outdoor performances by the Symphony in Dallas-area parks held throughout the spring. Produced in conjunction with the City of Dallas' Office of Cultural Affairs and Parks and Recreation, these concerts attract more than 35,000 music enthusiasts."

As I was coming home from work on Wednesday, I noticed a handmade sign next to one of the Fretz Library/Park parking lots that said "Musician Parking Only". (Not knowing what it was for, I thought about pulling in a parking for a while, 'cause, well, you know...) Then I caught a glimpse of a banner that said something about the DSO.

When I got home, I had her do her fancy InterWebsGoogling Research and discovered a free concert was to occur later that night. So we went. And had a nice time. Looking around, it seemed we were the only ones who didn't know to bring our pooch and some hooch (wine, along with actual wine glasses, was a big player...).

There are three similar concerts scheduled in June:

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Kidd Springs Park 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Dallas Arboretum 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Exall Park 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.



p.s. I'm pretty proud of this photo!

He Was Coming to Shore to Check Out...

One of today's stories featured on the CNN homepage made me miss Maui, whence we recently returned. Several items in the story illustrate why it's so 'missable' (aside from the obvious.)

1. "Well intended bystanders pushed it back into the sea."

2. "After a Hawaiian prayer, the whale was euthanized..."

3. and this quote from a NOAA scientist in Maui: "So, we think this was just a very old man whale and it was his time and he was coming to shore to check out," said Schofield.

The whales that 'Winter' off the coasts of Maui had left shortly before we arrived, though there was some word here and there of sitings and I'm almost certain I saw one in the bay driving from the airport on our first day there. I even mentioned it to A. at the time, saying, "I'm pretty sure aI see a whale or two out there." I hear they're a common sight in the Winter.

Congrats to Loop & Lil

Loop & Lil was chosen to participate in Renegade Los Angeles!

She goes into more detail here.