March 14, 2008
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The Beast Returns and Upside Down Tomatoes
The Beast came home on Tuesday evening. He didn’t leave early in the morning like he usually does and he even stopped at the TyTy Nursery to buy a couple more fruit trees (yes, more trees that grow stuff you can eat). Yet he was home at a fairly decent time (around 8:30pm or so, I think). I know he was burning rubber to get home in that short a time from Titusville. He ran into some heavy traffic around Atlanta (of course) so, when he was past all that congestion, I know he was speeding WAY over the limit. He probably overworked his guardian angel to not get a ticket or two or three. I know him.
What surprises me is the fact that he STILL managed to get 38 miles to the gallon on the Corolla. He had been writing down the mileage and the amount of gas from the time he left here with a full tank to when we filled it up on Thursday. He did 39 mpg on his way down to Titusville so I know he was feeling smug inside that he didn’t get worse gas mileage even with speeding and eating up that gas. But I am very impressed by the Corolla. As much as it lacks in luxury compared to the Camry, it sure makes up for it in gas mileage. With gas prices being so high lately, it all helps when you are on a limited budget.
He spent yesterday digging holes to plant his trees (and the ones he bought at Lowes when he got home). He finally found the pollinator for the Bartlett pear trees. And he got his Black Tarterian that is a pollinator for the Bing cherries I believe.
The peach trees have all gone crazy with blooms and so has the nectarines. It looks like the cold snap we had just gave them something they needed to burst into bloom. I am praying that we end up with a lot of peaches this year. I think we got only three or four last year but that was more from an April frost and an attack of Japanese beetles. We are prepared for them this year. The Beast found the perfect spray to use to keep them off the trees yet not harm the fruit at all. I’m all for that because it means it’s a *friendly*, non-polluting spray. He’ll be preparing the sprayers in another week or so to be ready for any assault by *the Japs* as he calls them.
I’m sure you’ve seen the ads for the planters that enable you to grow tomatoes and other plants (the kind you usually have to cage or stake to grow) in an upside down position. I sent for one and ended up with two (buy one, get one free). They came on Wednesday and we got a tomato plant in one of them yesterday. The Beast had bought two and we thought we would plant two-in-one as their brochure recommended for constant availability but we discovered they mean smaller seedlings. What we had wasn’t small enough and both already had an incredible root system. So one is in the *Topsy-Turvy* planter as it says on the box and the other is in our Earth box. We are going to put a green pepper plant in the second one as soon as they are available. We use a lot of green peppers here at Beast Haven in most of the favorite dishes we like to eat. Plus I will be using a lot on some of the things I plan to can later this summer. We are also going to give those vacuum bags that Glad is advertising to see how that works for us. The Beast family has been using those to keep peaches used for pies or just eating rather than canning them. I figure I will give it a try but I will also can some if we are blessed with enough this year.
I will report on how the Topsy-Turvy planters do as time goes along.
It’s overcast and rainy today but that’s a good thing for our area. We have been suffering from a drought here in Alabama and all the rain we have had since the beginning of the year has helped. What’s funny is that our grass has been pretty green all winter but, since we have had a lot of rain recently, large sections of the lawn has turned yellow and looks dried out. I can’t figure out this grass here. The Beast says he remembers it doing the same thing last year but I was still recuperating from my surgery during that time and didn’t pay attention to it. We shall see what happens. It WAS looking nice. Looks awful right now. If the rain continues through the night as the weatherman (and weatherbug) says, I will be outside tomorrow pulling some of the wild onions that are clogging some of the plants along the front of the house. It’s so much easier when the ground is soft. After I do that, I can place some of the figurines that we bought (and I painted) for outside in place. I’m looking forward to seeing them and how they actually look. If I like it, I’ll have the Beast take a few pictures to send along to my family.
We have to go to Wally World and Lowes to see if we can buy a replacement umbrella for the deck table. During one bad windstorm last year, the one we had got wrecked even though it was down and secured. Sometimes you should just bring the darn things into the garage we’ve learned.
I got the NOAA radio plugged in and left on finally. I kept having to argue with the Beast that it didn’t do us any good unless it was ON….and if something develops unexpectedly, we would be caught totally by surprise (probably as the roof lifted off over us with OUR luck). I’ve had the roof lifted off over me in bed, thankyouverymuch, and I don’t care for the experience AGAIN. This area is more likely to have tornadoes than where we lived in Florida so the radio is a must. It gives off the most awful sounds when a tornado is sighted in the area so you can’t sleep through it. I hope we never have one hit us again because these frame homes in Alabama don’t seem much more stable than a trailer. Especially since they all seem to have crawlspaces underneath. It’s like an invitation to heavy winds making toothpicks out of your home and a tornado is wind incredible! When you see a HUGE roof section from an apartment building just floating in the air like a feather, it boggles the mind. I think I would rather go through a hurricane in an area where homes are made from cement blocks with cement poured down them and on a concrete slab. Nothing underneath to catch the wind and, even if the roof or part of it goes blowing off, you still have walls around you that offer some protection. I’m not sure if there is really any *safe* part of our house in the event of a tornado. I may just run outside and duct tape myself to one of the big oaks or magnolias and hang on.
Duct tape is for EVERYTHING!Well, time to start dindin. Love you all and remember to tell those you love that you DO love them. Say it like it might be the last time because shit happens. It just might be!
