Pucker up...

Passion fruit. Piles of passion fruit. Falling off the vine around our pool area. They usually just get in the way until we get around to collecting them for the trash

I collected a couple handfuls today and decided to try putting them to use.


For now I just gutted them and stored the sweet stuff in the fridge...

What do YOU do with passion fruit?

Projects, we got projects...

...posting to the blog? Not so much.

Picking away at a rifle vise in between things. Lucky if I get 15 minutes a week on it. Out of sight out of mind. Tired of working on longguns laying on a bench top. I'm hoping this will make a more orderly and secure setup: especially for mounting scopes. Yeah, there's a few of those in the project queue to mount/move. I'm putting off starting that scope dance till this wood project is finished. It's ready to drill and mount the over center clamp for the buttstock.


Outside? Yeah, this wall has been a long time in the making. Poured the footing over a year ago. Finally got it formed and poured. It didn't go as well as planned.

What that you say? Home DIY construction foul-ups? Yeah, I'll fess up. Worst ever. Pipe burst inside form. Flooded and blew out form. Down the line my forms buckled and bulged some and I lost my straight form line. Oh the shame of bad prep work cast in concrete for future generations to see and sneer. Unggghhh... There were some exciting minutes there doing damage control.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Never time to do it right. Always time to do it over.

That'll be enough outta you.

Rhubard Monopoly?

Beginning with the Greeks, dried rhubarb root has been used medicinally - primarily as a laxative - for about 4,500 years. Russia had an early state monopoly of the rhubarb trade it had with China, and by 1638 had a Department of Rhubarb.

...read the whole article at Anchorage Daily News. LINK

A Dept of Rhubarb? Were there Rhubarb Robber Barons?

Q: Can the public visit the Experiment Farm in Palmer to view the different varieties grown there?
A: The rhubarb collection is part of the Arctic and Sub-arctic Plant Genetic Resources Unit. They have more than 300 rhubarb plants encompassing 64 varieties growing there from all over the United States and Europe this year. It is maintained by the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. This is a research project to try to save our food plants for posterity. The public can't roam through the fields, so someone would have to escort visitors.

64 varieties? 64! Who knew...

I'm sure there's some tasty rhubarb puns in there. Or at least some bittersweet humor.

hey Pun'kin!

Been a lot on my mind. Was up in the wee hours last night thinking some things through -- life, church, a long time loved one who's gone astray, self examination.

Puttered in the garden today. Backfilled a bit of drain line trench. Planted some palms and a dwarf seedless Mexican lime tree by the pool. Ran drip lines to a couple beds around the pool perimeter..

Came inside mid-afternoon and puttered in the kitchen. Got hit with memories from the smells of autumn. Memories of Mom and life on Cooks Hill.
Smell links to memory stronger than our other senses...

I was past due to get the pumpkins from our patch off the porch. Tossed a couple that didn't smell as fresh as I liked. Sliced and gutted the rest and put them in the oven. Skinned them after cooking and ran the meat through the Kitchenaide shredder. 8 cups to the freezer -- enough for 4 pies at the holidays.

Daughter #1 jumped to, separated seeds, salted them and got in the hot oven after that.

Some garden and kitchen time. Refreshed. Life is good. God is better.

Regaining Opus' perspective

helpful after the last coupla days and posts...


A moment this morning with the pumpkin and rose patch.


"Perfecta" in perfect form...

God's green earth. Refreshment.

Got dill?

I'm in a pickle -- at least I will be if I don't find Grandma Moore's dill pickle recipe before this evening.

This was the morning scene in the sink after a quick trip to the garden. A couple of those larger ones about got away from me. Just this weekend they were no larger than my thumb. I'll have to make spears or chips out of some of the larger ones.

back to blogging

been away a few days -- was tied up with a wedding (rehearsal Sunday, ceremony Monday afternoon).

Woke up to this view through the living room window.
A merry mess of rose and pumpkin blossoms.

That'll do pig

Not much more to say about home grown and canned sauce. Already said 'nuff about the amazing qty of tomatoes, time, water and heat required to produce a few jars of sauce.

Just a pic of the end use.
Sweet to my taste. Literally and metaphorically.

A bit too sweet for M'lady but I liked it and the kids made short work of it.

Jack is takin' over!

Jack o' Lantern that is...

The pumpkin plant is taking over the rose bed. I planted it there on a whim and am getting a kick out of seeing it take over the world. There's at least one pumpkin under there already the size of a soccer ball.

I love to put up pumpkin in the freezer. Maybe read up on canning it this year. The Wife and Significant Other has rockin' recipes for pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread.

At the other end of the new patio we're getting some nice blooms from the little antique rose. The bell pepper plant is finally busting out and putting on a couple blooms too.


In the meantime I'm turning some tomatoes into canned juice on the stove at the moment. The weekend cook is typing this waiting for the water to get hot for spaghetti noodles and sauce made from the first tomato canning adventure. Should be close to a gallon to put up.

Ready for Romas!

This sink full plus a bag in fridge. Empty jars waiting on the back porch -- time to get busy.



Where's daughter #2 when I need her?

Morning wanderings

Wandered around before sunup with morning coffee enjoying the light coming up. Took pix of some of yesterday's work and pix of next areas to work on.

Doesn't look like much does it? /heh

Fair bit of cutting, nailing, backfilling involved in that bit of bottom fence wood and gravel


Got a drainage issue there to address. When the pool overfills it flows out through the pool cover box. I need to open the retaining wall up there and run a line out to control the runoff.


Next up is this area to pour and set posts for stairs from lower drive up to the pool.


Ready to get busy setting plants in beds around the pool. The east end next the neighbors fence is going to fun. Palms, split leaf philodendren and maybe an Australian fern tree or two!


This bank is the next "heavy lifting project. The tarps will come off shortly then get busy getting drainlines down from above and retaining wall and drainage set down below.

Came back in with mess of Romas.



Didn't realize these were going to be low bush plants. Expected taller plants I could train up the fence.
Need to figure a better way to get them up out of the dirt. Maybe I can just rig some straps off the fence to lift them a bit without damaging the vines.

Day dawns...

looking out over one of the rose beds finished this weekend...


Here's a longer view from a different aspect showing more of the recently poured patio areas. It gives some sense of what a nice area it is for entertaining large groups.


I tucked a pumpkin plant into the center of that bed on the way out the door this morning. That should be fun to watch grow. Also put a bell pepper into the smaller rose bed at the west end of the patio (off screen to the left). Hope to run drip emitters after work today from the risers I have ready to go in both beds.

Butterfly kisses

No?

Well then, would ya believe butterfly bushes?


The wife and significant other has recently taken quite a shine to "Buddleia davidii." aka Butterfly bushes. It's easy to see why.

It is reported that they root easily from cuttings -- even without any special care.
So here we go.

She brought home a baggie full of cuttings. I rustled up some leftover potting soil, picked up some rooting hormone at my toy store , dipped clipped and dipped roots and set them up in pots in a nice warm spot.


This is a new thing for me. Gotta wonder what my batting average will be and how long till I know either way.

Golleee Sgt Carter!

Look what I woke up to this morning! I wasn't paying much attention to Epiphyllum buds with all the work going on with concrete on the other side of the house. MY other plants are done blooming a bit earlier in the year. LINK This is the first bloom ever for this plant. I planted it as a cutting several years ago.



Look at that color! That's a nice addition to my red and ivory blooming plants. I'm trying to figure a way to organize them all better on this back patio. Maybe there's some attractive way to hang them between shade sail poles I've been setting up.



The cutting was a gift from an older gentleman at church. He had lost his wife of 50 plus years and was clearing out his house and the last of his Epi collection (had almost 150 at one time) before moving to an elder care facility. He was the prototypical "Tender Warrior."

A plankowner in the 10th Mountain Division, he fought his way through Italy, was at Monte Casino and then went on to father two fine sons, and had a distinguished career as a marine biologist and Elder in our church. He was a Tuna expert professionally and a lover of God, people and flowers (esp. Epi's) personally.

But for his encouragement and example of temperate gracious manliness I wouldn't have become the man I am.

They're baaack!

The epi's that is...


The bud of a blood red about to bloom is visible at the left edge of the photo.

Last year...

Busy day in the yard yesterday. Mostly occupied with pressure washing pool deck and coping in prep for plasterer on Tuesday. Took the washer up top and tried it on the front patio's old flagstone. It's mostly Arizona Pink which is a soft, porous stone. It's been neglected many years and looking quite dull. The pressure washer cleaned it up really nice. Had to be careful though. That Arizona Pink is actually a sandstone and can exfoliate a lot under high pressure wash.

O' course once that got started we had to try washing some adjacent concrete areas and the paved ramp down to the pool. Now I've got to looking at the granite face of the large retaining wall. Hmm... I hadn't noticed how much staining and dirt there is from runoff from the upper yard and patio area.

Yeah, pressure washing. Can't stop once you've got started. Like pickin' a scab.

Pucker Power

Well let's give this a try...


Now that's a Potful of Pure Pucker Power


It's Friday! Somebody KISS ME!

Spring planting & pruning

Busy morning in the yard left us with piles and trash cans full of weeds, branches and clippings ready to haul off. The citrus trees got sprayed with insecticidal soap in anticipation of warmer weather and white flies. While I was at it I cleaned up a older navel orange on the lower lot that's had some tough years and accumulated some deadwood. It's recovering nicely since I modified our water run off -- it was too consistently damp most of the year. Citrus likes to go dry between watering.

It was a treat to collect some nice fruit off the young lemon I planted just a couple years ago...


The tomatoes I started inside this winter (a bit early) were getting a bit tight in the potting cups. This spot is getting plenty of light now that the sun is moving back up in elevation as we start spring. The bermuda is all coming out for a complete makeover of this lawn area into a patio garden area. Nuked it with Roundup a couple months ago and it's time to start getting it out. For starters I just spaded up a planting strip for the tomatoes. My bride and I made a date of it (romantic, eh?) -- got down on our knees and went through it by hand picking out all the grass roots we could.


And there they sit. 11 soldiers in a row. All Romas. Let's see how many make it.


I still puckered up for pickles. That's next up. Plenty warm to get those seeds in the ground now.

Monday morning, cold steel

There's a cold wet weather front coming on. The shotcrete crew showed up at first light to make final prep for shooting the pool. Jackets and gloves are necessary this morning. Not the SoCal experience most folks imagine. The concrete is due any minute now...


Elsewhere on the lot it's apple blossom time already. My phone camera doesn't do the buds delicate form and vibrant color justice. If I think of it I'll try getting down there later for a shot with a proper camera.

Doin' the (Saturday) hustle

Off to another wedding today. Gotta be there -- minor part in the opening...

Meantime we hustled up and got something going with the bareroot fruit trees I picked up.


We got them stripped of the packaging and started soaking them. We should have time (D.V.) to get them in the ground after the wedding reception and before nightfall.

Bosco supervised.

Also, transplanted the tomatoes from peat starter plugs up a notch to small pots/cups.


Got the holes dug and waiting on the lower 40 for the trees. More pix to follow.

Man it that soil sweet. It's as nice as you'll ever see out here on the coast. It's got 40-50 years of organic buildup from being an avocado grove. If you haven't seen 'em avocados lay down a heavy mulch of leaves the just builds and builds over the years. It keeps the weeds down and holds moisture for their network of shallow roots. Should make for nice soil for the next generation -- these stone fruit and apples.