April 3, 2010

  • Crying Over Dropped Blossoms


    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    The Beast came in from his morning inspection of all his fruit trees almost in tears over the fact that the three youngest plum trees had all dropped their blossoms.  I told him they probably only blossomed to assure YOU that they were, indeed, alive after that cold winter weather but they are too young to bear fruit.  He kind of laughed and said I might be right.  <<THUD>>

    After that, he went outside and reinspected all the other trees to make sure they hadn't dropped a lot of blossoms he hadn't noticed.  He came in calmer but still a bit upset.  If the rest of the spring and summer finds him as obsessed, my life is going to be miserable.  He takes every fruit that some insect gets at as a personal attack.   When the fruit rotted last summer because of all the rain (most of it before it even ripened), he was beside himself in frustration and disappointment.  I am just hoping (for my own reasons) that we get some decent fruit this year.  I would love some nice apples, peaches, cherries,  plums, nectarines, and pears.  I think I have them all but, who knows?  I might have left something out.   

    All told, he has about 32 various trees on our property which is just a little under an acre.   You would laugh to watch him measuring between the trees to make sure that they won't crowd each other as they mature.  He has a lot of things right except for the need to CUT BACK THE TREES SO THEY WILL STRENGTHEN.  He has no patience and wants to see them grow tall as soon as possible.  I get so frustrated with him at times because then....then!....he is reluctant to thin down the blossoms (he will do the plum tree now because of the original one that got bent over branches and now looks like a weeping willow) on these slender branches.    I don't even want to HEAR about them breaking because HE ASKED FOR IT!  Sheesh! 

    Even when it comes to his trees, it's all about HIM. 

    I made up my list today of things I need to get for our Easter dinner.  The Princess wants green bean casserole so I have to get French Fried Onions.  I have everything else, thankfully.  I forgot dinner rolls...duh!  The Beast and the Princess insist I must chop up some pecans and put them in a dish for the ones that want some nuts on their sweet potatoes with homemade cinnamon butter.  I couldn't believe the Princess actually wanted sweet potato casserole.  I asked her, *Don't you get tired of the same thing every holiday?*  She just shot me this look and said, *No!*  But I am making what *I* want this time.  Now, if they don't go over big, I'll save what's left and make a casserole after that.    It goes with any meal and sweet potatoes are good for you.  Better than white potatoes anyway.

    I'm debating on whether or not I want to make mashed cauliflower with cream cheese.  It's delicious and healthy.  I would have to explain to everyone that it's NOT mashed potatoes but, hey, not a problem.   I'm going to make a big salad with some cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, too.   I'll use a couple different types of greens and include some spring mix in it, too.  I love it and can keep the cucumbers separate so I can save any leftover salad without worrying about it getting mushy.  I do that with cherry tomatoes, too.  I don't know about everyone else but I get salad hungry around this time of year.

    I just may pick up a couple baskets for the two little ones.  Tara's baby is walking now and he's such a cutie.  They have some with balls, dolls, teddy bears, trucks...all kinds of neat things I noticed and not a tremendous amount of candy.  I figure most of them will get some from their parents.  I don't like to see them get too much and end up making themselves sick over it one way or another.  Either begging for it or eating it like a pig.   Been there, saw that. 

    Did the pick up Chewlee, bring her home and watch Sponge Bob today.  She told me as we were driving home that she was *a little tired*.  She gets so dramatic when she tells me that.  She wipes her hand over her forehead and kind of flops her head back and onto her shoulder like she's going to fall asleep as she tells me that.  It's just so funny.  She then proceeded to pull off her shoes to empty them of some of the mulch bits from her shoes and then puts them back on while she's chatting away about some little boy that was pushing her and made her get it all in her shoes.

    When we got here, I opened up her sucker (another good potty day at school) and we watched Sponge Bob while she sat in her Dora chair.  She really did seem tired to me but not tired enough to go to sleep.  Later on, she crawled in my lap and I rocked her.  After 6, we went outside on the deck for a while until the Princess got here to pick her up.  She had run over to K-Mart before coming to get her to pick her up some things while they were having a big sale there (and before everything got picked through).  She got several cute outfits for Chewlee.  One cute dress she bought  Chewlee wanted to put on and got upset that she couldn't.  She started crying and I meant to tell the Princess that she was tired but I think she will figure that out on her own. 

    The Beast went to open the side gate out to the lot we own next to the house and found out that both hinges on it broke.  He was like, *WTF!!!*  He says that's the second time it's happened.  I don't remember the first time but it's not really a surprise since part of the fence shifted during all the rain we got last year.  The gates, which are oversized to allow for the John Deere to get through, sagged down and were tough to open.  I'll bet the Beast forced the gate there open instead of digging out what should have been to make it easier.  So, he's run over to Lowe's to find two new hinges for it.  I'll probably be helping him replace them tomorrow.  I don't think he can manage that by himself but he might surprise me. 

    Time to get this posted and then jump in the shower.  It was too cool to do that this morning and then I had to get dressed to get a few outside chores done.  I'm kind of glad because it was a bit windier today and I ended up getting some dirt in my hair.  Now it feels itchy. 

    Love you all and wish you only the best of weather wherever you may be.  We are supposed to get rain tomorrow even though it will still be fairly warm (low to mid-70's).  I will get my shopping done and then prepare some things for our dinner on Sunday.  That way I will have time to visit and won't kill my back.  It really IS a bitch to get old.