Puppy’s got a brand new bag

7-2-2016-toolpupyMy husband brought home a new tool bag. When he set it on the floor, Sheli climbed in it like he was staking claim to the new bag.
My husband couldn’t resist picking the bag up to see if Sheli would stay in and I couldn’t resist taking a photo.
Sheli was quite content to stay in the bag, but quickly hopped out of when my husband set it back on the floor.

Pets gotta love ’em.

7-1-2016 Garden Update & Misc

P1030246The asparagus beans have done well so far this year growing/running up the decorative corn and the twine. However, next year we plan to plant the asparagus beans in a row of their own and make a trellis for them to run on. It’s awfully crowded in the corn rows now that both are maturing and fully leafed out.
P1030402Our decorative corn stalks are getting their-ears-on. We’re hoping the deer doesn’t decide to sample the ears before they mature and we can harvest some.P1030450We’ve been getting only a few regular green beans compliments of the deer. There’s wasn’t enough for a mess to cook or freeze, so we broke them up with the asparagus beans and froze them all together. We froze 4 1/2 quarts of asparagus/green beans. I think that’s pretty good. We’re already looking forward to cooking them. 😉

P1030375My 50+ bell pepper plants are beginning to put on fruit. I figure by the end of the month we’ll be covered in colorful bell peppers. I’ll be freezing them for soups, stir fries and other tasty dishes. If most of the plants put on fruit, I’ll probably be giving oodles of them away.

00I added a much needed set of new screwdrivers to my tool collection. My husband is enjoying helping me fill my toolbox with new tools. I like having my toolbox of tools here in the house ready to use anytime day or night. I don’t know why I didn’t think to get my own set of tools decades ago.

P1030394aI made a stacked tuna salad and it was so pretty I thought I’d share a photo of it.
A stacked tuna salad is layers as follows:
crushed corn chips,
tuna salad
chopped tomatoes
shredded mix cheese
with a cherry tomato on the top

P1030279The walnut tree is loaded heavy this year. My husband had to cut some of the heavily ladened limbs off. They were hanging low over the driveway and could do damage to our vehicles when they dropped walnuts or if the wind caused them to break.
I’ve always heard that a bountiful season for the nut trees means an extra cold winter. I truly hope not…

P1020348t09017Just in case the walnut tree is predicting some bad winter weather,
I got busy and made me a new hat on my green Boye knitting loom. Hey, it never hurts to be prepared.

Happy July 1st to you all!
It’s hard to believe half of 2016 has passed already.
Have a safe and fun filled weekend!
I wish you all a wonderful July full of blogging & smiles.ec-sunny

Random Friday 5 +1

P1020947One of my favorite ways to cook squash is Parmesan Squash sticks baked in the oven. We like them room temperature and dip them in ranch dressing. The yellow squash are really tasty baked this way.

P1030089I cooked a mess of asparagus beans and also a mess of regular green beans to compare the taste. I used the same herbs/spices and cooked them the same length of time… all day long.
My husband and I agree we like the asparagus beans best. They had a richer sweeter flavor and delicious. It was a small amount of them that I’d picked and there wasn’t much of them so it was good that I also had the regular beans cooked too.
We’re anxiously awaiting some more asparagus beans to mature so we can enjoy another cooking of them. We’re also hoping to have enough to freeze some too.

P1030102There was 2 dozen of our green onions left in the garden and they were getting nice size. However, if a big enough rain comes, they’d take a second growth and ruin. So my husband harvested them and we cleaned/chopped/bagged and froze them.
I know, I know, folks think onions should be dried out and kept in a cool place… Unfortunately, everytime I’ve tried drying onions in their skins/stalks about 3/4 of them rot. So, this year we decided to freeze them. I like them frozen. I open the bag and take out what I need and return the rest to the freezer. The frozen onions are handier for cooking since they’re already cleaned and chopped.

P1030051I got a few more new tools. I used some of my husbands pliars and they were too awkward for my hands. I got a couple blisters from struggling with them. So, I bought me a set of pliars that ought to be more comfortably for me to use.

P1010262Do you know what this strange looking plug is for?  A couple of my cameras came with one of these. I looked it up and discovered that it’s a travel converter plug in for 110 to 220 Voltage.  It’s handy for it to come with a camera that has a battery charger, in case one decides to travel to other countries that have different voltage electrical outlets.

P1030062And as an added bonus, I wanted to post this photo of my harvest from the other day. Seeing freshly harvested veggies makes me happy. 🙂

Wishing you all a great weekend
of pleasant weather & happy harvests.
gardeningcouple

Fun Surprise Gift

IMG_7140Rarely does my husband and I do anything for Valentine’s Day. We enjoy just being together and celebrate it fairly quietly. We share the day going for a ride and/or cooking. However, This year my husband decided to surprise me with a gift he said he had been thinking about buying me for awhile; my own drill and drill bits. What a wonderful surprise it was too. It’s a super fun gift. I love the tools and the handy box to tote it in. I’ve had a little dremel for years. It does well for light-duty small stuff, but sometimes it’s too light weight for some of my projects. My husband’s drill is big and awkward and too heavy for me to use very successfully. I usually have him to do that part of a project if need be. I’m glad to finally have a drill that’s more my size. I adore my husband for getting me such a thoughtful useful gift.
He’s a peach, that man of mine. hugs

I hope your weekend was an enjoyable one &
your week is filled with good cheer & creativity.
timmermannen11

spgrnbgln