On 7/22/2017 4:15 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:

>>>>>
>>>>> At least you have a well stocked pantry, George, crop failure
>>>>> or not. It's too bad about the things that didn't work out.
>>>>>
>>>>> I made a dozen quarts of Corn and Okra Soup to put in the
>>>>> freezer, one of my favorite uses of okra. I do love okra
>>>>> pickles, but so far this year have not made any. As you know,
>>>>> I have to buy all my produce. The okra I got for the soup was
>>>>> perfect. I hope the next batch I buy is just as nice and I can
>>>>> put up a few jars of pickles.
>>>>>
>>>>> When I shop tomorrow I may pick up a small amount of okra just
>>>>> for frying up, to go along with chicken fried steak, fried
>>>>> corn, and mashd potatoes.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Kirbys I can get will do nicely for my bread and butter
>>>>> pickles, but I'll not get to that for another couple of weeks.
>>>>>
>>>>> We've had almost two weeks of nightly rains which is unusual
>>>>> for Phoenix, but all it does for is water down our brick patio
>>>>> and our large plants. :-)
>>>>>
>>>> Miz Anne handles the garden at her church and has had a
>>>> humongous gift of okra, cow horn variety, very big around and
>>>> very long. As our part we put up pickled okra, cut okra frozen,
>>>> and have fried a few batches. I'm getting tired of okra.
>> My favorite dish with okra is Cajun style shrimp gumbo, going to
>> make some next week. Had to buy store bought shrimp but that works
>> too.
>>>
>>> SInce I have to buy our produce I always have just the amount I
>>> want for any given purpose. I always buy fresh okra when I want
>>> it for any specific purpose. So now I have the soup. And I
>>> bought some to fry tomorrow. I don't ever bother with canning or
>>> freezing it, other than in my soup.
>>>
>>> I grew up on what I guess you'd call yellow field corn and that's
>>> what I prefer, but it's almost impossible to find in stores these
>>> days. I'm really disappointed about that. All I can find is
>>> sweet corn, usually white. I don't bother. I buy frozen hellow
>>> corn kernels when I want corn, or on the off chance that I find
>>> some at a roaside stand.
>> Don't feel bad about field corn, we grew six acres of corn, white
>> and yello, 12 inch or longer ears. Cows, the mule, the pigs, and
>> the chickens got a lot of it but we ate it in the early stages
>> and, sometimes, the whole family had to stand in line to the only
>> bathroom. <B>
>>>
>>>> Our sweet peppers have outdone themselves this year and we have
>>>> harvested a few large buckets of them so far. Now the heat is
>>>> starting to slow them down. A few tomatoes are still working but
>>>> most of everything in the garden is starting to wilt. Might have
>>>> gotten lucky there as we need to refurbish the artificial "dirt"
>>>> in the raised beds. I'm looking at rental small cement mixers as
>>>> we are getting a bit to old to sling a tarp with "dirt" in it.
>>>> If you garden there are many ways to get things done without
>>>> breaking our old backs and arms.
>>>
>>> It sounds as though you have a glut of sweet peppers. I love
>>> peppers, but again, I only buy the few that I need. I use them
>>> diced in chili or sloppy joes, along with red ones. I also make
>>> stuffed peppers every so ofen. I don't much care for them in in
>>> preserved way, not even in pickles.
>> We grow six to ten sweet peppers each season if we can get the
>> right plants or seeds. I still grow our own plants with a heat pad
>> with the planting soil in rows of cups in my home office and a
>> sunlight lamp above it 24/7. We do buy tomato plants, etc. but I
>> like to grow our heirloom peppers regularly. I can't do any
>> outside gardening anymore as I can only walk on flat surfaces
>> anymore and the lawn is lumpy. As I age the partial paralysis
>> seems to get worse. I have a walker too, but seldom use it. Miz
>> Anne is still almost as spry as when we married in 1960. Her mom
>> lived to be slightly over 100 years old, and her Mom's close
>> cousin lived to be a 101, several of her aunts, etc. lived over a
>> hundred. I don't think I want to go out that old, I'm getting more
>> tired and useless as I age. Thank goodness we lived in three
>> foreign countries and five US states so we got to see the world
>> while we were young. I just redid my will and had it covered by
>> our sometime lawyer. I should have become a lawyer when I look at
>> his bills. Sheesh!
>>
>
> It's a wonder that you're able to do as much as you do, considering
> the health issues you've had. David and I both have health issues,
> but nothing we consider too serious and all are well managed. I am
> 72 and he is 68. My dad passed at 81 and my mother at 84. My dad's
> mother passed at 101, and all my other relatives have lived at least
> into their 80's except fort one aunt. No one knows how long they'll
> live unless they've been given a death sentencce, but neither of us
> wish to reach as old as 100. Strength and health always seems to
> decline as the years pass. I know I can't do today what I could do 5
> years ago, but it doesn't worry me. I take it fairly easy, and I
> know what my limits are. At least we both still have our minds. :-)
>
> We had our wills redrawn a few years ago when we moved to this co-op.
> I have no relatives to leave anything to, and David chooses not leave
> anything to any of his relatives. The admistrator of our wills is a
> very close friend who is nearly 20 years younger.
>
> When I was a teenager my parents bought burial plots for themselves
> and for me, but they're back in Ohio. David and I decided on
> cremation and have prepaid the Neptune Society to handle every aspect
> from cremation to arranging for our ashes to be buried in the plot in
> Ohio. We don't have to think about any of it anymore.

My parents are buried about three miles from where they lived most of
their lives. One aunt, three cousins, my elder sister and her husband
are all buried no more than 20 feet from them. I'm going to be cremated
and my dashes tossed into the Gulf of Mexico. A friend says he will take
care of it, he will flush me down a toilet and I will eventually get to
the Golfo de Mexico. He jokes about it and my wife gets upset, old
sailors have seen to many burials at sea to worry about it
>
> I have lived in the UK, France, and Germany, and travelled to many
> other places. David hasn't travelled abroad, but we plan to travel
> to some local areas that David would like to see. Our cat family of
> 4 would miss us terribly if we were gone for any length of time, but
> making our last trip to Ohio for two weeks last year, we had a really
> wonderful cat sitter and they all seemed to fare well with her care.

I've visited those countries and several dozen more but have only lived
in the US, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Got a call the other day to go back
to Saudi and told the guy I don't run so fast anymore so don't call
back. <G> Oddly, I still get Christmas and birthday cards from some
Saudi and Yemeni friends and it has been years since we worked and
fished together.
>
> I may have told you before, but I have serious spinal stenosis.
> However, with treatment from my pain management doctor, I am 99% pain
> free. I can walk perfectly well, but not for long distances.

Welcome to pain city, I am eat up with arthritis and my doctor's say
there's nothing they can do for it. I use some over the counter stuff
that holds down the pain but now my fingers are getting stiff in cold
weather.
>
> David just had major surgery on his righrt shoulder including a badly
> torn rotator cuff, torn ligaments and torn bicep muscle. The surgery
> went extremely well and he is still having physical therapy for that,
> but it will be 100% in a couple more months.
>
> We boght a new car yesterday to replace our 10 year old Ford. The
> new one is a fullly loaded Honda Accord sedan. I doubt we'll ever
> have to buy another car again. :-) Either it will outlive us, or
> we'll be declared too old to drive. :-)
>
> Such is what comes with age!
>
>
>
George