Bye Bye Garden

Over the last two months we have witnessed the demise of our garden. The extreme heat and draught were definitely challenges this summer. However, we still managed to have a full supply of veggies through August. The squash and zucchini finally bit the dust about August 20 which left us a few puny tomato plants and our okra.

Okra is amazing (not so much amazing tasting, but amazing in what a hardy plant it is...) Our okra is still producing, although I anticipate it will be done in the next week. Due to the fruitfulness of our okra, I do not want to eat okra until next year!

Overall our inaugural gardening experience was a huge success and I definitely learned how to improve for next year. Primary lessons learned include:
-Plant the bell peppers behind a tomato plant so they get a little bit of shade. With the direct sun the bell peppers burn before they are ready to pick. :(
-Plant the tomato plants a little further apart, they get really big.
-Hand in hand with this, we must stake the tomato cages on all sides because we get wind from every which way on our property and were continually picking up tomato plants.
-Do not plant moose neck squash. Half the yield was hard gourd type warty squash. Summer squash was MUCH better.
-Plant more red potatoes. By far the easiest thing to grow!

And here's my last big batch of okra....slimy goodness! MMM....

Dog Days of Summer, Reading List

I suppose summer is almost over (yippee for this small cool front in Fort Worth, TX!)

SMU did not offer any courses this summer, which allowed me some time to catch up on the stack of books my mom provided. Most recently, I finished Dog On It by Spencer Quinn. The story is narrated by Chet, a mixed breed K-9 police dog drop out with one crooked ear (it adds character right...?) Chet is the partner to a private investigator who didn't quite make it as a detective with the police agency, but who has a successful track record to fight crime, just like Chet. The story is fun, suspenseful in parts, and Chet's quips and observations of human behaviour will make you chuckle throughout the book.



However, Dog On It does not hold a candle to my all time favorite 'doggy' book, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. The story of Enzo the dog and the Swift family is endearing and uplifting, witty, and reflective. Like Chet, Enzo draws many observations about humans, life, and relationships. If you are looking for a novel to add to your list, I highly recommend you add The Art of Racing in the Rain.

New Addition

As if we didn't already have enough furry family members, we added 1 more to the brood. Meet Josie, our newest addition, and our first canine.



Two weeks ago, a past co-worker sent an email to me and several other people advising his daughter's dog had a 9 puppy litter. The mom is a 55 lbs. yellow lab mix, and he suspected the father was a heeler/pit mix. I ended up meeting him and his wife at our work parking lot, and felt pretty sad for the pups. They were all bound for the Lancaster animal shelter the following day.

So, that's the story of how Josie entered our lives. I knew I wanted a female, she was the cutest, and had a full tail (some of the others had bull dog or half tails.) :)

When I took her to the vet, he advised she was a Black Mouth Cur Dog

...Glad we have 7 acres for her to roam as the info states they aren't ideal for apartment life. Geesh!

Reflection

After 40 + days of no rain and soaring temperatures, we received a bit of a respite last night and this morning. I woke up early just to sit and watch the rain (from the comfort of my favorite couch that my mom sometimes hints I should have re stuffed...)

Our hummingbird feeder hangs on our back porch and I've already seen 3 hummingbirds come for breakfast this morning...note to self...refill this weekend. Note to everyone else, sugar and water works better than the store bought food and is basically free. :)

When we were in Wyoming last month, we were able to spend time animal watching. This behavior is very normal for the Armstrong family. Derek is used to spending hours at a time watching deer, and we both like to observe our horse and 3 cats play outside in the evenings. However, our normal observations are fairly uneventful in comparison to what we saw in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

Moose calf and Momma Moose (to the right) along the banks of the Snake River




And, just for good measure, the driving dog has to be included!

What a Read!

The only book I packed for our vacation turned out to be a great read and I wanted to share. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford will be a great addition to your reading list this summer.

This book is a well developed tale of friendship, love, loss, and independence. The characters are so easy to relate to, with great dialogue and insight to their internal struggles. Henry is a 12 year old boy struggling to gain independence from his rigid traditional Chinese father. Keiko is a second generation Japanese American citizen from a family who believes in the American dream and whose father is an American educated attorney. The characters paths cross when they are the only two non-white students at Ranier Intermediate in Seattle. The author writes from Henry's perspective and the book shifts between the 1940's and current day (set as 1980's.)

While the author clearly states the book is fiction, he based the story around the events during WWII when Japanese American citizens were 'relocated' to "safety camps" in inland portions of the country.

This book peaked my interest and I followed up with some research about these events during the 1940's.

I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in an incredible story of strength, and friendship, with a realistic taste of bitterness and loss as well.

Grand Indeed

I just returned to Fort Worth after spending 7 nights in Wyoming. We enjoyed a vacation to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. It was an amazing vacation with the perfect mix of adventure/exploring and relaxation.

Needless to say, I took A LOT of pictures and hope to get my "Top 50" list compiled tomorrow for a coffee table book, but in the mean time, here's a few sneak PEAKS.

That was easy!

When we planted the garden in mid March, I took a chance on red potato bulbs. I only had about 8 bulbs and planted them along a two and a half foot space that remained at the edge of the garden. The potatoes sprouted quickly, and the plant tops grew to almost a foot and a half tall, but began to die about 2 months after I planted the bulbs. I decided to cut the dead parts away and realized that the entire 'plant portion' was basically dead.

I googled potatoes online, and of course read about a hundred different methods to grow potatoes. I decided we mine should start digging and see what happened underground over the last 2 months.

Low and behold, A LOT happened! We had about 20 potatoes! It was extra fun because my mother in law and 2 year old niece were over the day we decided to dig. My sweet niece Baylee had a lot of fun and may now think that when she digs in the ground, she will find potatoes (everywhere)! "Diggin for potatoes??..." (phrased as a question) was the quote of the day!