Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners #15

Boy, since I'm the new wife....I'll find somewhere else if I know you are inviting HER. We are totally conflicted about where to spend Thanksgiving. We moved out here to spend more time with the grandkids, and I fantasized that we would host Thanksgiving. They said "WE will be hosting thanksgiving....you are welcome to come. What would you like to bring?" Than DH out of nowhere says "do you want to fly to Boston on Thursday and stay 'til Saturday?" I don't KNOW. I think I'm old enough to have Thanksgiving without my mom, but without my kids? They are both going to her house. One of them lives 3 miles away, but the other lives 30 min. away from us in Texas! I was so ready to start some new traditions, but everybody is digging in!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/315/

This was among my first articles. I remember writing it. The rest, not so much, but this one, as if it were yesterday. We don't use footnotes any more. I made cranberry sauce today.

I asked Kay if she would be willing to sit down and share a meal with my former wife. She made a terrible face. Luckily, it was a clean break. There were no children whose feelings had to be considered. That’s good because I would rather eat the banana cream pie than see it dripping from my ex-wife’s face.
Even now we don’t know how many people to expect, but Nadine is coping. We do an open house buffet. That takes a lot of the pressure off. We gather for prayer, then people can fill their plates and sit wherever they want to. The weather is usually comfortable so people can spread out onto the deck and garden tables. Space allows the potentially volatile personality combinations to avoid one another. Our house is small. We pray for good weather. :-)
Kb, do you think horticultural therapy would help a recovering alcoholic? I’ve never heard of hort therapy being used for that purpose, but it is a stress reliever and it seems logical that would help. Since the person has cirrhosis, raised beds would seem like the way to go.
I’m just cleaning house and chilling today. Kay had the idea of putting planting pockets on the outside wall of the w/c ramp for thymes, sedums and the like so she is experimenting with that today. (Jim)

I think hort therapy would help anybody!

I know it works wonders for depression.Having alcoholics in the family. I would say it would. Except for my grandson who would find away to make homebrew out of anything sweetish.
OH Jim, I so hear you about the various family members hostile toward each other. We're having a battle royale about gay issues right now. I feel God made them as they are. and my nephews are loving kind people and I love them PERIOD. I also wanted to invite my check forging GS but was totally vetoed.
I would really like to know how Kay does her pockets. I'd like to do the same on my east wall in the spring.
LOL I might give up an apple pie(easy to make another one) but never a banana pie. It'd be a lot more fun to throw ice cream.
Carrie your cranberry article is on the first page. Love it. ALSO LOVE CRANBERRIES! Am going to try the orange-cranberry sauce.
I will be busy tomorrow cleaning too than cooking. I've got the dressing.And the decorating and photography. Than I can decorate for Christmas. Y-E-S-!!!!
Did I ever say my GS has a garden snake in an aquarium,(He feeds it live mice) He also has a kitten and the two seem to get along fine. I cannot accept the fact that a cat and a snake can co-habitate. I would not even go in his house if he were not my grandson.
A container garden would work for someone with a liver problem too. I've injoyed my container book. It first goes into the history of containers,than the plants that do well.Its not a complicated read. but good know how.
I'm feeling torn about a small dog next door to my Texas DD. The dog is middleaged. And has one litter after another she's skin and bones and DD is worried about her. Me too. I would like to go down there and kidnap the dog and bring her home.but I'm full up with pets and can't really afford to have her fixed. Plus my little spoiled Cricket would not take kindly to another little dog. This dog would need TLC. Oh well! decisions decisions.

Vickie, a snake and a cat both chase mice....when I put that link there, the article was on MY home page. That is strange how that works--you would think everyone's home page would look the same, at least in the same time zone. The only time I got wierded out was once when I got a comment BEFORE an article ran! The comment came from a time zone before ours (duh, um, that would be.....) I dunno? Europe? Japan? Somewhere where it hadn't even occurred to me that they would be running. I knew DG was all over the world, and even that we had authors from all over the world, but...this person commented, and I couldn't reply because their comment wouldn't show up on my page yet.

That's very sad about that dog, too, Vickie. You can't save them all, my dear, but I can tell you want to. My uncle used to have a cat (named Butterball, and looked like one) who must have had kittens every 10 weeks until her death from exhaustion. We kept pleading for him to get her spayed but either he couldn't be bothered, was too broke, too cheap, or believed himself when he said that it was 'more natural' to keep her pregnant. And of course all her children, grandchildren, great...etc. had more and more toes! I suppose there's a limit. 7?

When I was little we used to go around and say what we were thankful for but now (at my mother's) we just tuck in. I have a feeling it will be considerably different at the DIL's in Fort Worth tomorrow. It's my step-son, so I am "my father's wife" or usually just "my father and Carrie." "Go kiss Grandpa goodnight! Don't worry about that lady in the wheelchair he always drags around." I have no idea who's going to be there. Thanksgiving was always a holiday to invite in everyone without a family, Christmas not so much. You guys are practically my family.

Get your recovering friend to plant things like beans; they grow fast. Almost instant gratification.

Carrie, my father died on Thanksgiving - many years ago. It's still difficult. He was an alcoholica and depressed and ruined many holidays. And other days. Thanksgiving was him doing his best to ruin one last holiday.

I have my Christmas thing for the kids here that helps get me through but these are difficult timesfor many of us.

My suggestion: Take some small age-appropriate toys, stuffed animals, whatever for the kids and make friends with them. Few children are as bigoted as their parents, at least when young. If nothing else, make faces at the kids. Smile and be happy. You don't have to cook and if you fall asleep in your wheelchair they probably won't notice.

Not sure I'm cheering you up.

Time for a pain killer and attempts to wake up and h elp Tony.

hugs, katie

Eh, Katie, it's all a sociological/anthropological experiment. I feel like Margaret Mead. My DIL's father died on Thanksgiving Friday 10 years ago, so it's a big deal for her too. She's had three kids since then! This 2.5 years is just one looooong Margaret Mead type trip,then we'll go back, turn the heat up and build a sun-room. Hugs to you too, and Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Another Thanksgiving dinner without any casualties. I am thankful!
Had a breakfast of sweet potato pie around 10-o-clock.. Love Black Friday! Kay is still in pajamas, drinking coffee and trying to decide which of the two kinds of cranberry nut bread we ended up with she likes best. Nadine did her pink fluffy angel thing and delivered pink fluffy fruit salad to absentees last night, but we still l have a big bowl of it. Lunch?
Thanks, Kb. T. has had her own vegetable garden and enjoys cooking. Edibles would be the way to go. I bet there are some things like miner’s lettuce that would laugh at our excuse for a winter so she can start right away. The spinach hasn’t been fazed so far, but we are expecting nighttime lows in the 30’s tomorrow night. Time to do something with the still green tomatoes. The survival of plants seems to have as much to do with how long it stays cold as the cold temperatures themselves. Lots of veggies survive our nighttime dips.
Vickie, I know what you mean. I would like to buy the neighbor’s mule, trim his hooves, and give him a proper brush and curry. But, what would we do with a mule. Nadine slips the old guy apples and that’s about all we can afford to do. Kay has been singing, “I want an orange rhinoceros for Christmas.” That means we will be decorating for Christmas tomorrow if we are all recovered enough. (I wonder if I can come up with an orange rhino somewhere.)
Carrie, someone once made plushy toys like teddy bears in w/c’s and bunnies with dark glasses and canes. You might want to check and see if those are still around. It would be a conversation starter with the child. (Maybe, I can make an orange rhino with dark glasses and a cane. Lol. I do think rhinos are near-sighted.)
Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. (Jim)

Yumm Green Tomatoes.
How do i want to save these hummm? Maybe I'll look at the recent article on them. (Jim)

It was GREAT! There's one little boy, youngest of four loud kids, so he doesn't say much and he's been slow to talk and potty train. He's 2.5 now and says hi and bye-bye and has pretend names for his siblings, says Mama and Dada and nana, nono and something else for his other brother, I can't remember. Anyway, his interaction with me so far: he brings me my purse. Wherever I am, he'll bring my purse. Last night he was knocking over towers the other kids were building, not in a really determined way, just sort of bored, and I said "Colin, can you bring me my purse, please?" He spent the next 15 min searching for it. Also he likes to push my wheelchair, either with me in it or not. And last night he offered up his mouth for a kiss goodbye!!! I would never presume to demand one, but if it's offered, definitely! >>>wow

Carrie, stopping by to let you know I made your fresh cranberry sauce. Delightful!! Thanks for the recipe. I also enjoyed the article. ☺ And I see you're now a southerner. Big Grin

Hugs and Happy belated Thanksgiving to each of you ... ~Susan

Oh Susan, hooray! Whole berry cooked, or raw blender with sugar? I brought whole berry and whole wheat bread to Thanksgiving yesterday--we brought most of it back home with us. Philistines! They served jello salad and white rolls. The red food group and the starchy food group!!!

I did the whole berry cooked. It was very good. I intend to try the other suggestions. Cranberries are my fav. I absolutely love anything with them in it.

Hi, Susan. Glad you dropped in. The orange flavored cranberry sauce is the only kind Nadine will eat.
Glad things went well, Carrie. You’re lucky with the purse. My contribution to child entertainment is mostly a matter of blowing up balloons and letting the air out with a rude squeak and playing the harmonica so Fenny-dog will “sing.” It endears me to 3-year-old Jake, but doesn’t do much for my popularity with the adults present.
Ha, Kay was wrong. I can add another bit of information to my arsenal to keep her from wandering the north woodland by herself. There ARE bears in Florida and I don’t think bears respect state lines. People said there were no cougars around anymore until someone in South Georgia had a problem with a Florida cougar killing his livestock. I should have remembered about the bears. “Gentle Ben” and “Flipper” were favorite TV shows when I was a kid. (Jim)

I probably should have mentioned that the purse in question is bright safety-vest orange pleather--childish, I suppose. If you had asked me 18 months ago, I would have sworn that I would make it through the rest of me life without owning any pleather, but then I saw this bright orange one in Spain. People recognize me not by the wheelchair, or my crew cut, or my rugged good looks, but by my orange purse!

Maybe I should get Kay one of those and tell her it’s rhino hide. :-)
Spent over an hour at the doctor’s office yesterday before they thought to tell me my surgery had been re-scheduled so my pre-op appointment had been re-scheduled also. Gr-r-r-r!!!
I’m finishing up the green tomato mincemeat today. The recipe isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming since the tomatoes have to sit in a brine for 8 hours or so. I didn’t fully appreciate how many green tomatoes we had until it was time to cut them into thin slices. ;-)
Kay is moving the cotton rose. It didn’t bloom this fall and she suspects the Chinese chestnut is shading it too much. That will probably take her all day. The “rose” (actually a form of hibiscus) is over my head in height. The other “rose” (Rose of Sharon, yet another form of hibiscus) is doing okay on the other side of the chestnut. I guess RoS can tolerate more shade without the bloom being affected.
Isn’t it odd the way the names of favorite flowers like “rose” and “lily” are tacked on to plants that have nothing to do with the Rosa or Lilium family. But then, I have a hard time getting my mind around the fact that onions are in the lily family and wild blackberries are in the rose family. (Jim)

Onions act enough like lily members that I can figure that out easily enough--they have a similar fragrance, foliage (I;m thinking of daffodil or crocus foliage, not Easter lily type lilies). I guess for me it's a bigger jump that Orienpets and snowdrops are in the same family. Now blackberries and roses .....both have thorns, or SHOULD, have similar foliage, kinda, I mean they are certainly more like each other than either is like onions. The only reason you would think blackberries and onions are similar is that they are both eaten, and I think in their case that really means not poisonous. I don't think any scientist or university would spend a nickel on breeding a poisonous for food production!

We had tomatoes here last year up until Christmas, but I was lazy and didn't have a garden, but I picked 105 lemons off my Meyer night before last. I'll get a picture of them. I'm still squeezing and putting them up. Am baking things to share for the holidays, also. I'm set with plenty of lemons for a looong time. Sorta wish it was an orange. I long for a Mandarin orange tree.

Jim, y'all have the most interesting gardens. It would be a fun place to see.

Carrie, I'm no good with the children. I think I have managed to win some favor with 1 of my grt nieces this year. I've heard her say something she wanted for Christmas and went straight to Amazon and ordered it. She's 3, so that will be fun. I love Amazon!

Yes, I guess I can see the similarity between wild blackberries and some of the species roses when I really think about it.
Stop by if you find yourself in this neck of the woods, Susan. (Now there is a southern phrase I’d like to know the origin of. Woods have necks?) Yum, fresh lemonade and a source of fresh lemon zest you don’t have to worry about. I always wonder when I zest a lemon what has been used on the peel to make it last in shipping and storage. We are going to have to add a Meyer’s lemon to the garden somewhere. (That is one you can grow, Carrie. I’m almost certain it is hardy in Zone 8a.) I’ll keep my eyes open for an Owari Satsuma mandarin, Susan, if you have the space for one. They are called “zipper-peel mandarins” because they are so easy to peel. There is an Owari orange orchard nearby. It is a grafted variety, but the best tasting I’ve seen for the northerly reaches of citrus country.
13 jars of vegetarian mincemeat! We will probably have to include recipes on how to use it if we give any as gifts. I think I will try the mincemeat cookie recipe I saw.
Kay is getting smart in her old age. She separated a few rooted stems from the cotton rose’s root ball, wrapped a tow strap around the remaining root, saturated the area with water, then pulled the root out of the ground with the lawn tractor. The whole process took about an hour. She included me in Amargia because she thinks people who are successful despite a lazy streak have learned to use their brain power instead of their muscle power. It’s nice to see my influence at work. Lol.
We are still putting up Christmas decorations. I suppose you are already sipping eggnog and admiring your handiwork, Vickie. What’s the angel count up to? :-) Jim
picture #1 The canned mincemeat.

Susan, THAT'S the 21st century way of being good with kids. That and I think, not insisting that they call you certain ways or feel certain ways or kiss and hug you if they don't want to.

My father (40 years ago or more) insisted that we kiss his new girlfriend. UGH!! No way! That was a sure way to get me not only to dislike the girlfriend but also my father. My kids' father did the exact same thing...first mother's day with new step-mother, he encouraged "step-mothers" day in place of mothers day. Let me just say, they currently abhor BOTH step-mother and birth father, and adore step-father MORE than me! Meanwhile, on the other side, DSS and his wife, whom I consider DDIL, and their 4 kids (all of whom call me "Carrie"), whom I consider my DGC, had a HUGE fight with the ex-wife, DM of DSS, got that? The actual grandmother by blood of these four kids. Her name is "Grandma F," although she last met them when the oldest was 3 and the two youngest didn't exist. None of them remember her, and she has never met half of her grandkids. She wanted them to call her boyfriend "Grandpa." (Not that they'll ever meet him.) But DDIL's father died 10 years ago, when the oldest grandchild was 2. He was Grandpa, my DH is Grandpa, not some newly acquired boyfriend. I even see why they don't want to call me anything but Carrie. At first, it didn't make sense to me, because to the kids, I've always been there. But I realize now (writing about it) that pet names (granny, mommy) are as much for the parents as for the child. Just don't draw a line on the sand "either call me auntie Susan-love or you're no child of mine!"

Anyway, Susan, just divorce yourself from caring what the outcome is and think of something you CAN do to make a connection with a kid. Buying something on Amazon is an excellent start. Even better if it's something you can associate with yourself, play with when you see the kid, help name it together or figure out how it works together. I'm always afraid of saying "where's the helicopter we sent?" and hearing "oh, were you the idiots who sent that? It fell apart in the first hour." But little kids do like grownups who are willing to make car noises for a long time.

Things are one way to connect to kids, but it can get you into hot water with the parents. A visiting child got a kick out of my harmonica and he seemed to have a natural aptitude for music so I gave him an extra harmonica I had. I bet his mothers were ready to strangle me before they reached the Mississippi line on their road trip back to Texas. Lol. My SD would give me an eye roll when I gave her daughters toys that had lots of pieces like Leggo blocks. The GD’s loved them, but scattered them everywhere.
I’ve never been a biological parent and my SD’s were teenagers before I became a permanent fixture in their lives. Small children are still a bit of a mystery to me. My SGSs call me Grump-pa. Since they tease me about my grumpiness, I guess it is safe to say I don’t intimidate them very much. I growl at them like a bear and they give me their best bear growls back. They accept me as is so I do likewise
I wonder about the way doctors diagnose children with diseases when their development varies from average. Little Jake is supposed to have Asperger’s because he’s never liked cuddling or any kind of physical contact and he doesn’t look at people when he talks to them. But, he was climbing on me like a tree within the first hour he was here. He just seemed selective about who he would touch and he wanted to initiate the contact.
He actually seemed more intelligent and aware than most children that age. Some of his behavior seemed odd until I realized what was going on in his head. He would run over and touch his fingers to Kay’s lips, do the same to his mother and then touch his own mouth. It took me a while to get it. Skin and hair color can vary wildly in Kay’s family, but most members of the family share a distinctive mouth. (Kay, Jake and his mother all have the distinctive mouth.) Kay’s coloring is what you would expect in northern Europe and Jake’s is more African, yet he worked out on his own that Kay was family. They say children with Asperger’s syndrome don’t make personal connections. It looked like tracing his connections to people was exactly what he was doing.
Kay is setting up the mini greenhouse today. We don’t heat it, but it keeps things warm enough at night that we can keep lettuce going all year. I’m running a slight fever so I think I will just clean house today. (Jim)

Okay, here's the lemon picture. So far I have 10 8 oz bottles of lemon juice in the freezer along with lemon slices in a gallon zip for my water. I'm still baking ... LOL

Oh, Susan, YUM! Too bad you can't save them fresh.

Wow, and all of those are from a single tree? We wouldn't need more than one then.
(Jim)

Yep, I couldn't believe it! Last year we got all of 15 to 18. Can't remember exactly. I'm not even a good plant Mommy. It hasn't been cared for properly, but I'll do better now! ☺ I didn't have to pick them. I'm afraid I was an alarmest the other night. They would have been fine on the tree and would have lasted longer ... sigh

How wonderful to have real and fresh lemons! Of course AM SO jealous!
My Christmas tree is up and angels and Nativity scenes scattered all around.
My nephew was up today and brought me venison. Have started an afghan for him.
Packed up some Christmas ornaments to send to Texas DD.and some for my grandson. I give and give Christmas ornaments than after Christmas I start collecting again.
Jim, I've never grown up. I played games with my Gkids. We went hiking, raked leaves and jumped in the middle of them. fished, camped, I went to soccer and softball games,Painted our faces with water colors. I never get to see my G grandson. They're divorced so my fun days are over,and I don't know him. The saddest thing tho is my DD and her husband never see this child because their son, his father told them not to see him. I plan on working on that problem next year. I never got to see my father or his family and know what a sad loss that is.
I've started saving coupons. Have decided it's hard work but worth it. I used to save them years ago.
Vickie

I’ve seen people in the stores with those coupon wallets that are like little filing cabinets. I’m afraid I could never be that organized. I’ve even had these people give me coupons in the aisles or at the check-out when they have a coupon for something I have in MY basket. Lol. How can they remember what they have with all those coupons?
I’ve done that with blueberries, Susan. I know they can stay on the bush long after the berries turn to blue, but they just look so good.
I chose the new chrysanthemum this year. I loved the color of this one. It mirrors the sunset colors. And, it is a hardy perennial type. (Jim)

The coupons I find are usually for things I would not otherwise buy. Jim, that is a GORGEOUS chrysanthemum! In Boston, they would sell ones as "hardy mums" which may have been hardy but they were NOT perennial. Or maybe if you plant them in July so they get a head start, they would perennialize but not if you stick them out in November! I'm just grouchy and grinchy because it's too close to Christmas.

Just got back from major first neuro appt in Dallas. Biggest news to me: I am colorblind in my left eye. I LOVE color....but maybe that's why I like such crazy combinations, and can't read in dim light, and have trouble if there's not enough contrast and keep closing one eye.

Carrie, have you already personalized your computer screen for high contrast? I didn’t know color blindness could only affect one eye.
Yellow and white are showing up more and more in the garden. Kay says the majority of fragrant flowers are one of those colors. That may be true, but I also suspect the colors are showing up more frequently because those are colors Kay can still see a little. The “wind horses” she attaches to her guidelines also prominently feature yellow and white giving her some visual input in addition to the snapping and jingling of the wind horses.
After scheduling me for surgery, my doctor suddenly realized he hadn’t tried treating me with medication first. He realized this after the expense of the entire pre-op test. I think a new doctor is in order.
The purchase of the van, increases in insurance and unanticipated medical bills are making for a lean Christmas this year. Fortunately, I buy toys for the kids whenever I come across one I think they might like so the children won’t notice. The adults on our list will receive gifts from the garden and kitchen. I think I will dig in my jewelry making supplies and see if I can create something for the ornament exchange at Kay’s family get-together. (Jim)

Jim, this is all in the optic nerve or the brain. I didn't know anything about it; no-one has given me one of these tests with the little colored dots since I was elementary school age, that I can remember.
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.asp
It looks (to me) like I have red-green color blindness. But I see colors! It's not just all grey! The dots just don't form a pattern of numbers.

Carrie, NOW you tell me there aren’t necessarily any figs in figgy pudding! We planted 8 fair sized fig trees Friday and put a few little ones aside for trade. Oh well, I guess we will have to find other uses for all the figs. Lol. Seriously, excellent article. Loved the caroling song. I’ve always heard old English Christmas celebrations were rowdy affairs. I remember reading somewhere the British government once went so far as to try and outlaw Yuletide celebrations.
I discovered a downside to listening in to Kay’s audio books. She just read “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Fore. I turned the book off open air so I couldn’t hear it after the section on the factory farming of chickens, but it was too late. I had Greek pizza for dinner ( thick crust with feta sauce and tomatoes with spinach and feta topping) and okonomiyaki (cabbage pancakes) for breakfast. I’m sure I’ll be able to stomach meat again SOMEDAY! Since I can’t imagine going without meat forever, chickens are in Amargia’s near future. (I’ve had a design for a chicken tractor bouncing around in my head for some time. Now I feel inspired to build it. Nadine is teasing me because I had her buy kosher beef, but I’m assuming kosher meats have a second round of quality monitoring. I’m keeping my ears out of Kay’s books from now on. (Jim)

You can put figs in figgy pudding! You may put all the figs in you wish, Jim, dear. I'm not sure what fresh figs would have been doing in England, but I tend to forget that the UK is not equivalent to the US in terms of climate range. I mean, no way could you have fresh figs in Boston in winter, but now I've forgotten if that was the one that was made a year ahead of time? I confuse myself with these articles.

I'm putting together vision troubles the neuro found with the trouble filling out the tax form when the printer was low on black ink and printed it in orange or something and I COULD NOT SEE THE flipping little boxes to put the numbers in....no wonder. That cost me a few bucks. What was a boring annoyance a few years ago was IMPOSSIBLE this spring. The numbers would not line up with the boxes. Yeeesh. No wonder.

I hope the doctors keep a close eye on that, Carrie. One of the first symptoms Kay exhibited before her vision took this last dive was an inability to tell blue from purple. You know how on a search a clicked link turns from blue to purple. She wasn’t able to tell what she had clicked on and what she hadn’t. They should probably come up with something other than blue to purple for the color blind. Discerning those two colors seems to be fairly common. Nadine’s father was color blind. He had a bright purple polo shirt he always swore was blue. After it was pointed out to him the shirt was purple, I think he wore it just to be contrary. lol.

It has been rainy and cold (by our standards) the last few days. Days in the high 50’s. Nights in the high 30’s. Hope the new fig trees survive this.

Kay has been inspecting the pasture behind the house to see if it is fit to graze hair sheep on. They will happily eat Japanese honeysuckle. Sheep might be worth it just to get rid of those. The only problem I see, is their access to the pasture would have to be limited in July when they might gorge themselves on too many blackberry fruit. I sure wouldn’t mind seeing fewer blackberry brambles. (Jim)

Me too, Jim! I think they think it is "just" part of MS. I know it's possible to be legally blind, severely visually impaired, from neural damage, but I always felt grateful that I didn't fall in that category. DH and I have had a long-standing dispute about a room I swore was orange and he considered pink. Heh, I'm supposed to have good eyes, he doesn't.

Good luck on your fig trees....have I ever had a fig (not in a Fig Newton)? Not sure.

I LOVE FIGS!! I do have a fig tree.My only problem the blue Jays also know I have a fig tree. We have war till the figs are gone.The Jays usually win. I've threatened to get a large net to throw over the tree.
Jim, the problem with sheep is they eat everything down to the literal ground. I'd like to have a couple of goats and your chicken lawnmower. Good luck with your sheep.
Got the afghan finished and to my nephew. Am making scarves and houseshoes for the DD and friends. The house will just have to wait till after Christmas.
Wont be long till seed catalogs come. Thats as big a thrill as Christmas.
One of my nephews is colorblind with blues,greens and reds. He has to note if the signal lights are on at the top or bottom of the signal.
I am so very thankful I can see in color.Hearing gets worse everyday tho.Sometimes I wonder if thats not a good thing. LOL

Hi, Vickie. Glad to see you are still hangin’ with us. It will be just a few sheep in a large, highline field. I think sheep will be better than the herbicides the power company uses. I wanted to ask. How close are you to Fayetteville? Kay wants African hair sheep because they can handle our humid climate. I would like to avoid the wicked horns of the original breed, however, with a cross like Katahdins. The Katahdin parent stock originally came from the Virgin Isles and they are named after Mt. Katahdin in Maine, but, today, the largest number are found in Arkansas, especially around Fayetteville. That may be where I end up going for good breeding stock. Kay’s family party was yesterday. They played Dirty Santa instead of having a straight ornament exchange. Kay ended up with a lovely dill pickle ornament. ROFL. Yep, I’ve married into a very…INTERESTING family. (Jim)
Photo #1: See, I’m not putting you on. Kay with her dill pickle ornament and Tatter/dog going, “Huh?”
Photo #2,3: Don’t you love those people in your neighborhood who go all out at Christmas! We are so far off the beaten path we don’t do much outdoor decorating.

Vickie, that is why we are dividing up and multiplying our fig trees. The blue jays appear to be as competent as humans at determining the peak of ripeness and they rise earlier than we do. The early birds not only get the worm, they get the figs too.
We received our Camellia Farm catalog. I’ve put it aside for Christmas day. Kay and I can go through it then and choose our spring additions.
Carrie, put the word out you are interested, and you can try fresh figs this summer. I would bet someone in your area grows them. I’ve never seen them in the store even in this area where they are common, but I have seen ads by growers in the local classified papers. I mean those little newspapers that are all classifieds that are found at the checkout counters of convenience stores for free. (Is there an official name for those kinds of papers? Locally, they have names like “The Thrifty Nickel” or “American Classifieds.)
Amazingly, most of Kay’s basil plants are still alive. The Genovese is the only one that has died so far. But, she is going to extremes to keep them. They are in a south facing window and also have artificial light. Personally, I’m just as happy with our summer harvest from the freezer. Now that Kay has proven she can do what most say can’t be done, she will probably be happy with our frozen summer harvest too. Telling my dearly beloved she can’t do something is the easiest way to get her to do it. ;-)
It has been overcast and rainy the last few days. I’m going out to enjoy some winter sunshine. Then, I guess I’ll start a new thread. (Jim)
Photos: I would never do this kind of elaborate Christmas decorating, but I’m glad someone does Kay Loves Tigger.

Lol. I stayed outside all day.
This thread is continued at: Lol. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1291474/