My really weird Asian beans taste like a combination of asparagus and green beans....very good.

Word of the Day

The ness - A series of positive or complimenting words that all end in "ness" like greatness, coolness, awesomeness, sweetness, sexiness, etc.

Rebates. My Mom called me yesterday to remind me that I needed to fill out my rebate forms for the things that "free" items that I bought at the store on Thursday. Once I get my rebates back, the items I bought will have been "free"...except for postage. So, I filled out all my rebates and then got a couple of birthday cards ready to mail out. GI Joe and Mr. T both have birthdays coming up. And then, I put all the coupons that my Mom gave me to give to Sarge in an envelope and got that all ready to mail out. Lots of mail, ready to go out and I couldn't go anywhere because I needed to stay home because I was expecting the glass guy to come out to replace the windshield on The Gator. So, I called my folks and my Dad came over, on his way to the post office, to pick up my mail to bring to the post office. Done. My rebates are in the mail but they'll be sent to my Arizona house. These rebates all have to be used as money at a local store here in Wisconsin but I can save them all up to use next summer.

Meanwhile, while I was still waiting for the glass guy to come, I canned four quarts of ripe tomatoes and canned the two quarts of blackberry juice that I'd got on Thursday night. The glass guy didn't get here to replace my windshield until around 2:30 PM and it took him over an hour to do what he needed to do. Not too shabby, he vacuumed out my car and washed ALL my car windows, inside and out. Nice.

#1 Son and his girlfriend...who I think I'll call Truffles (in my blog) because she makes really awesome truffles, yummy, are going to be coming late/later tonight. I spent most of the morning clearing and cleaning up all my canning stuff. I've really spread all that stuff out so it's handy when I need it but with company coming, I had to unspread it so we can at least sit down for meals. When it's just me, I don't bother sitting at the kitchen table so the kitchen table has become fair came for canning spread. Besides, I've invited my folks to join us on Sunday for dinner and cards. Maybe I can talk #1 Son and Truffles into helping me pick blackberries again so we can have them for dessert on Sunday night. We'll see. If not, I'll just make rootbeer floats. I may do that anyway and just steam juice the blackberries for next summer's wine.

So, then I get a call from Sis, who is in Washington (the state), and she wants me to pick her beans, cukes, and tomatoes because when she called Mom, Mom told her that Dad was having a hard time remembering to take care of it for her and she didn't want any overly ripe cukes left in the garden. Dad isn't messing up but...I agreed to go check on Sis' garden tomorrow and again on Tuesday. Then, I was reminded that I should go out and check my own garden but my Mom called to tell me she had LOTS of beans and so I offered to can them for her and that I'd pick them up when I go over to check on Sis' garden. Then, coating my arms with bug repellent (organic), I went out and picked a colander full of beans (I'm going to have to do some canning on Monday), a few zucchini (I'm thinking Ratatouille for dinner on Sunday), and the first of my sweet corn. I've got sweet corn!

I cooked up my seven tiny ears of sweet corn for lunch. Yummy! Of course, a couple of the ears were kind of starchy...I should have picked earlier....but they were really tasty. I've never grown corn before so I didn't know when to pick it. I still have more corn out in the garden that I suspect is ready to pick. Maybe I'll pick it and serve it while #1 Son and Truffles are here. I think that would be a fair reward for them helping me bring in and store the rowboat for the winter...and for the box of jam that I made for them.

Random Thought of the Day

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.

- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Baby Thornless Blackberry Bush

Word of the Day

Tentaculating - The act of waving one's arms about and talking complete nonsense.

It's going to be hot and HUMID today. I'm already gathering the things that I need to bring over to my folks' place today when I go over there. We're going to be driving into the city today for my Mom's appointment with her eye doctor. After we get back, I need to be prepared for berry picking. Despite the heat and humidity, I'm wearing long jeans. Real jeans. You can't go out picking blackberries without the armor of real, honest to goodness, jeans....or maybe chaps. The spines on those bushes are vicious. So are the mosquitoes. I've also got an old long sleeve denim shirt set on the pile of things to bring with me to protect me from spines and mosquitoes. Of course, a hat is necessary as well. The berry bushes normally grab hold of my hat several times while berry picking but there's no way I go out berry picking without my hat to protect me from the deerflies which tend to circle around my head when I'm outside....especially when it's hot and humid outside. Last, but not least, I'll bring along some heavy duty mosquito spray.

With all the rain we've been getting, I expect a whole new hatch of mosquitoes to join the clouds of the mosquitoes that are already out there. I do remember years that the mosquitoes have been just as bad but I can say truthfully that I haven't seen them this bad since I was a kid and I've never seen the really tiny mosquitoes that I'm seeing out there this year. Clouds of tiny mosquitoes, joining up with the bigger mosquitoes that we're used to seeing. Where did they come from? I don't react from the bites from the bigger mosquitoes anymore...though I'm not to fond of sitting still while anything bites me, but, these tiny mosquitoes are making me welt up and itch. These new mosquitoes seem to be more resistant to mosquito spray as well. Not good.

Mosquitoes, blackberry thorns, deerflies, heat and humidity....all reasons why I'm really not looking forward to getting out there to pick blackberries today. There is a reason why I planted some thornless blackberry bushes by my driveway this spring. Too bad that they're just baby bushes right now and unlikely to produce for at least a couple more years....if the deer don't eat them. Oh well...something to look forward to. Until then, it's been several years since we've had any blackberries worth picking. The last time I had enough berries to can in order to make blackberry wine was 2004. One can never take the gifts from Mother Nature for granted. So, I'll go out and pick while the picking is good. I've been wanting to make a batch of blackberry wine. There haven't been enough blackberries out in the woods...not even enough to make jam. Finally, we've got a really good year for blackberries. Lots of berries. So, I'll get out there to pick on my folks' side of The Lake today and then come back here to pick the berries on my side of The Lake. If I get enough berries, I can juice them, can the juice, and bring that canned juice back to Arizona with me so I can make BlackBearry Wine.

Tonight will be a perfect night for cleaning and steam-juicing blackberries. Big Bang Theory is on tonight and Ancient Aliens.

Random Thought of the Day

What does PU stand for (as in "PU, that stinks!")?

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

If you have the creative urge, it isn't going to go away. But sometimes it takes a while before you accept the fact.

- Hugh Macleod