My new baby...

Hi all. Meet Thelma. She is a Mazda 3 and I love her.

She was so shiny at the dealership. She has a 2.0L engine, power doors and windows, a roofrack, a/c and cruise control, chemical protective coating, and nice mazda rubber floor mats and a cargo tray in the trunk.

Here she is at home. We have to clear out the garage so we can fit a second car in. I love her. What a profile.

She is a standard. I bought booster cables, a flashlight, and ice scraper, and microfiber cloth for cleaning her. Which is good because the first thing Rigel did was run his jowls along the side in a bit wet, slimy arc. He is never allowed inside.

The dashboard is pretty, and I have an auxiliary input for my ipod. Sigh. love love love. My dad suggested Thelma, and I like it. Think Thelma and Louise. She is going to be my partner on some awesome adventures that hopefully don't end in flying off cliffs. Ever.

Next paycheque: 3M tape on the front, and rubber covers put on the rear trunk lip.... whatever those things are called.

It Is Almost July And The Radishes Are All Gone

It has been a while since I have posted picture of my garden. the radishes are all gone and I planted new ones. The peas are flowering and everything is looking dandy. Well, the garlic looks like crap. the garlic should have been planted last Fall. Oh Well, Ill know for next year.

My garden, Jun27th

 

 

Below I have a couple pictures of my herbs. Next year I will start the rosemary indoors. Only a few seedlings have come up. the basil and thyme are doing great though.  

purple and green basil

My thyme is doing well

Some food stuff

The force is strong with this one.....

I am 25 and living in my parents basement. This basically makes me a loser. So, the last time I was such a big loser I was a teenager, and I did some pretty cool stuff. So, taking my cues from my teenagehood, I am going to pick up on a project that I abandoned 7 years ago.

That's right. It's a fiber optic star destroyer. I started it years ago but never finished it because I needed a soldering gun. So, my poopap and me will tackle this beaut and provide riveting details as we progress.

Like a German mooman

Arcly is going to make jam, and I will also do preserving. Today I began making saurkraut. Apparently saurkraut does not get botulism because botulism in anaerobic, and the salt in saurkraut is a preservative. Anyhoo, saurkraut is apparently stupidly easy to make and you can make huge batches and never need to 'recycle' another glass jar again. Directions: Go to weirdmart, buy big glass container, take 1 cabbage, 1tbsp salt and 1 cup water and combine in big glass container. Squish down and put a weight on top. The end. In two weeks, eat saurkraut.

I took my big glass container outside to try and make it an artsy shot, but I think that either my camera is not as good as I thought or I am a terrible photographer.

And I still can't figure out how to put captions on pictures. So, until two weeks from now that is the end of my saurkraut adventure. I would like to take this opportunity to thank kitchen dog who supervises everything and apparently likes cabbage.

Red Stuff

The Garden

yummy radishes from my garden

My radishes are almost gone. They are so much spicier then the ones you get at the grocery store. Both the family and some insect have been eating them.  For every six I pull out there is one that has been half chomped to death by a bug.

red currants, safe from birds.

The currants are starting to turn red. Botchulism is apparently not possible in acidic canned stuff. So this means, jams are a safe bet. Well, safer perhapse. Beets have a ph higher then 4.6, so they are not a safe bet (Elo!).

More Wild Berries

A sneaky white spider on what I hope is a blackberry vine

Technically, none of these berries are wild. The blueberry bushes were purchased this year and the currants, blackberries and gooseberries were bought maybe ten years ago and spread throughout our property independently. So, as long as you don't mind waiting ten years, you too can have "wild" berries grow all around your place. nanner nanner nanner...


I am not even sure what I have is a blackberry vine (although I am hoping). It might just be a weed. But, for sure I can recognize the currants and gooseberries. The gooseberries and currants look very similar to one another. They must be closely related, no?

Flowers on a blueberry bush.

Blueberries on my blueberry bush

 

Currants (red or black? We will see). under a net to keep the birds from eating them all.

I have decided I want to make jam. So, I covered my favorite berry plants with bird proof netting today. However, I am terrified of canning. I will probably seal, into my jam, a resistant strain of bacteria which will further mutate. Eventually after I eat my jam, the bacteria will engulf my brains and turn me into a zombie. I have seen this thing happen before with Elo. She was normal before she ate those canned beets.

Gooseberry

Humans vs Birds. Who will get to the gooseberries first? I am pretty sure I don't even like gooseberries. One day the bushes are full of plumb berries and the next day, basket in hand, ready to harvest, they are all gone. There is just that last one on the bush that even the birds did not want. So you pick it, pop it in your mouth, and spit it right back out. Not only are gooseberries sour, the are also kind of furry. Regardless, picking something that you can eat makes me feel like I am fending for myself. Like, you could drop me off in a forest and I could survive for days, weeks, even months.

Garden Update

Some New Growth

I think I am on week 4 right now. My peas have sprouted and are growing like crazy. The shallots and radishes are also doing well. Actually, everything is up except the carrots. Why are you not growing carrots?