Opened the last jar of fig jam from our Louisiana tree this morning.
Made it with sliced lemon from out old lemon tree there too, excellent
stuff. Reckon we might, maybe, hopefully, get a decent crop from the new
fig tree here next year. Danged mockingbirds got the crop this year but
the little tree has about a dozen figs on it as we are going into
winter, don't reckon they will make it though. I found the bird netting
in a box in the garage so am prepared to fight the birds off the tree
next year.

Got the gate built on the back fence line yesterday evening. Cut out an
eight-foot wide span of the wooden fence, seven feet tall. Then cut that
in half to make the two swinging parts. Took three days, part-time, to
finish it but now we can drive the truck around back and bring in heavy
loads of whatever we need to improve vegetable gardens, flower plots,
and just stuff we need back there. Another advantage for us is the back
of our home is to a drainage pond and surrounding area and we can walk
the path there if we so desire. Another advantage is I am hearing lots
of bull frogs singing back there, might have to buy a frog gig soon. <G>

Watching the sky here is a good hobby, we are on the flight path of two
airports, Hooks, the private one is pretty busy during daylight hours
and George H. W. Bush Intercontinental (formerly Houston
Intercontinental, aka IAH) is busy 24-7. I like to watch the planes go
over, particularly since Hooks houses a WWII B-17 bomber. The largest
group of flying things around here seems to be turkey vultures, aka
Buzzards, there's always 20 or 30 circling in the area. Since we are
ringed by a multitude of roads, highways, and byways I suspect they are
the road kill clean up crew. As long as they don't roost on my fence I'm
happy.

We're still picking sweet chiles and chopping and freezing them, crowder
peas and green beans are still making enough for a meal of one or the
other every week. The lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, beets,
carrots, and chard are producing enough to keep us happy and will do
more for us as they get bigger. Radishes are pretty much done, I may
pickle a pint or two of radishes and sweet chiles today or tomorrow.

Our children and grandchildren will be here for turkey day on the Friday
after Thanksgiving. We so many grown-up families that most of them will
have Thanksgiving dinner with in-laws and out-laws then come here the
next day. The scary part is that we nineteen people, not counting the
two of us, that may possibly here that day. And that doesn't count the
dogs in the family. I just hope one big ham feeds the crew, our eldest
three grandkids are all well over six feet tall and over 200 lbs. It's
scary watching them eat, we're thankful we were out of the country for
their teen years. <G>

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

George

George Shirley wrote:
....
> We're still picking sweet chiles and chopping and freezing them, crowder
> peas and green beans are still making enough for a meal of one or the
> other every week. The lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, beets,
> carrots, and chard are producing enough to keep us happy and will do
> more for us as they get bigger. Radishes are pretty much done, I may
> pickle a pint or two of radishes and sweet chiles today or tomorrow.

it's the frozen north here now, tonight will be
below freezing and tomorrow all day isn't going to get
above freezing. if the forecast is right...

all the gardens are pretty well put up for the winter.
not much else going on outside, just cleaning up odds
and ends and puttering around. fixing things after the
storms we had last week. mostly wind-chimes blown off
their hooks or ones that disintegrate in the winds. it
being so open here we get pretty strong winds. still
they weren't above 60-80mph cuz the house didn't shake
much.


> Our children and grandchildren will be here for turkey day on the Friday
> after Thanksgiving. We so many grown-up families that most of them will
> have Thanksgiving dinner with in-laws and out-laws then come here the
> next day. The scary part is that we nineteen people, not counting the
> two of us, that may possibly here that day. And that doesn't count the
> dogs in the family. I just hope one big ham feeds the crew, our eldest
> three grandkids are all well over six feet tall and over 200 lbs. It's
> scary watching them eat, we're thankful we were out of the country for
> their teen years. <G>
>
> Happy Thanksgiving to all.

you too George!


songbird

On 11/22/2013 7:51 PM, songbird wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
> ...
>> We're still picking sweet chiles and chopping and freezing them, crowder
>> peas and green beans are still making enough for a meal of one or the
>> other every week. The lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, beets,
>> carrots, and chard are producing enough to keep us happy and will do
>> more for us as they get bigger. Radishes are pretty much done, I may
>> pickle a pint or two of radishes and sweet chiles today or tomorrow.
>
> it's the frozen north here now, tonight will be
> below freezing and tomorrow all day isn't going to get
> above freezing. if the forecast is right...
>
> all the gardens are pretty well put up for the winter.
> not much else going on outside, just cleaning up odds
> and ends and puttering around. fixing things after the
> storms we had last week. mostly wind-chimes blown off
> their hooks or ones that disintegrate in the winds. it
> being so open here we get pretty strong winds. still
> they weren't above 60-80mph cuz the house didn't shake
> much.

>>
>> Happy Thanksgiving to all.
>
> you too George!
>
>
> songbird
>
It's 72F here on the outskirts of Houston, TX but we're expecting
weather down into the low to mid thirties by the weekend plus more rain.
We've cleaned out the summer garden and are watching the winter garden
ripen. The leaf lettuce is beautiful so we're eating lots of salads.
Sweet peppers are gone as are the tomatoes, crowder peas were frost bit
a week ago but the green pole beans are still producing well. Basil,
dill, and other tender herbs have gone to the great garden in the sky
but the kumquats are starting to turn orange. We're happy,

George