The Garden of Weedin'

 We are still in the monsoon season and that has given us some beautiful sunsets. You've heard it before but it is so beautiful here at the ranch.

 Isn't this stunning?  I am trying to spend  more time outside in the evening and less watching TV. There isn't anything on anyway.

 I've been wanting all the tree stumps moved out of the front yard. It wasn't high on Pa's priority list so I made a deal with Wayne. I'd do his laundry if he would get rid of the stumps. They are gone! Wayne has clean laundry and my front yard is cleared so I can plant fruit trees next spring.

 Thought I'd give you an update on the Garden of Weedin'. Here are some tomatoes. Unfortunately, they are experiencing blossom end rot. I read that it is a shortage of calcium and in a pinch you can use powdered milk. I used almost an entire box of powdered milk so I hope that helps. I've thrown so many tomatoes away.

 Oh look! A Beefmaster tomato. I will pick it tomorrow.

 The okra is kinda sparse. We don't get enough at one time to do anything with them. That's a pepperocini  next to the tin can. It is just starting to get peppers. It will be interesting to see if they are as hot as they were last year.

 Brocolli! I've gathered three stalks so far.

 More tomatoes.

 Finally some green beans. This is my 5th planting. They are starting to blossom.

 This is a red bell pepper. Sure hope I can wait long enough for them to turn red.  The plant is so heavy with peppers, it fell over so I had to prop it up with stakes.

 This is two yellow crooked neck squash. For two people, do you really need more? They don't freeze well so we are eating a lot of them.

 One zucchini which is plenty for us. There are some onions in the front.

 Grape tomatoes. The potato bugs did a lot of damage to them so they are spindly. We aren't expecting many tomatoes from them.

 In the back are yellow straight squash. The one in the front is butternut squash with cantaloupe to the left. We probably won't get any ripe cantaloupe unless they hurry up and grow more.

 Can you see the butternut squash? There are two of them all together. I've started cutting the vines back so all the nutrients will go to the squash.

 One row of asparagus. I'm going to order more and maybe plant 5 or 6 more rows. It's doing great in spite of being eaten down to the ground early in the season.

 Rhubarb. It should be big enough to eat by next year. I'm the only one who likes it.

 Little cantaloupe!

 Potatoes. This was an experiment. Supposedly you put straw on top of the greens as they grow and when you take the cover off, the potatoes will just fall out. I don't think so! I took the cover off one and there were no potatoes. I think they will all be under ground.

 One of the new grapes I planted this summer after the other one got frozen. The frozen one did come back but it is small so hopefully it will grow like crazy next year.

 My raised flower bed. I'm hoping to find some galvanized horse troughs to plant in next year. Used ones are hard to come across.

 This is my favorite piece of furniture. It is from the 50's I think and is made from sprung steel. A friend of mine had it for 30 years and I coveted it that long. He found an entire set in the dump!!! After years of badgering, he finally gave it to me. I call it a star chair because when you sit in it you can lean back and rock and see the stars. I have plans to repaint it and put a cushion in it but haven't got that far yet. I'd love an entire set of these chairs.

 We had rain all day and this is a picture during one of the lulls. We got about an inch of rain so Pa had to pump all the rain barrels empty so we would be ready for the next deluge. I love the rain.

 As I was wandering around looking for wild flowers to take pictures of, I scared this bunny out of it's hiding place. He let me get pretty close before he hopped away.

 I need to look this up. It looks like Sweet Alysum . It is sprinkled here and there around the ranch.

This hummer is named Tubby. I think it is the same one I pried off the back bird feeder earlier in the year. Last night I was wandering around just about dusk and the strangest bird flew over head. It had the shape of a Heron and landed in one of the juniper trees. As I approached to get a closer look, it flew off. I couldn't tell what color it was since it was getting dark. The closest lake is 25 miles away so I have no idea where it came from.
I dug up some wild yellow daisy plants today and replanted in the front yard. Hope they take off. My Spiderworts are thriving.
Yesterday Pa and I went to Springerville and bought a ton of London Broil. It was on sale for $2.29 a pound which is cheaper than hamburger which was on sale for $4.49 a pound for the 10% fat content. I divided it up into 2 serving sizes and froze it. I'll grind it up with my meat grinder when we use it. I could have it ground at the store but I like it the way we do it. It tastes 10 times better than store bought hamburger. Our freezer is jam packed full of chicken breasts and London broil so we are set for awhile. When ya live in the boonies, ya gotta take advantage of sales and buy in bulk and use coupons when ever possible. Actually, I did that in Vegas also. Must have something to do with those Scottish ancestors altho I am more Irish and English with a bit of Gypsy thrown in. Really, I have some Gypsy blood. My many great grandfathers in the past was a Gypsy and roamed around in one of those Gypsy wagons. He had a wooden leg and big ear rings in his ears. He became a Christian and then started preaching the Gospel.
That catches us up for now. Stay tuned for the next installment . Ohhhhh Pa just ran outside to chase cows off the property. We will be so glad to get the fence finished,