It snowed! And not just one snowflake either.......... In fact, I built my first snowman in years.

I'd had snow envy for days; tales of snowy walks and photos of snow-covered yards teased me as I looked out through the cold rain at my sodden, flooded yard.

But then last night, miracle of miracles, and with no warning or fanfare, the snow began to fall.

I guess greeting the white stuff with joy and giddiness is the true sign of a desert rat.

The other day Howard said to me, "You know, when I turn 60, I'd like to have a really nice banjo."

"Okay, honey," I replied........all the while, thinking, uh-huh........good, maybe he'll forget all about it by then......

The next thing I know, he's talking to people in music stores and visiting websites, and now, here's "our" newest banjo, three years ahead of schedule.

It's a beauty.

Well, it's official: grasses and trees are not my friends.

After complaining about my allergies for most of my life, I finally went and got the skin test done.

Easy, schmiezy.........a little poke here and there on the arm, and then...........KA-BOOM!! Major hives. Rye, Bermuda, and Johnson grasses were all off the chart......... Did I mention every one of those itched like a mother???

Good thing we live in the land of rocks and sand............

Whoa!! Hold the presses! What are those things?

They look like fish.......they smell like fish...... Is that me with a big smile on my face at LAKE ROBERTS with fish spread out before me???

Yes, our day finally arrived. We caught eight fish on Sunday, had a big fish fry up at the campground, and then caught another seven on Monday!

I guess there was a planetary alignment or something, but no matter what we threw in there, they bit.

In other news, the peanut crop is in. Good news?? The peanuts were delicious. Howard's got the boiling down perfect, with just the right amount of salt. Bad news?? Not enough peanuts....... Next year there are going to be at least two full rows of peanuts..... (sorry okra).......

Howard's going to talk to Stepheni's husband and get some peanut advice. We'll probably also call the folks in east New Mexico; they're growing peanuts over there and we want to know what kind.

There are several inevitable results of having a garden: You have a freezer filled with frozen vegetables. You have the ugliest fingernails in the city. Finding a worm is good news.

But, unfortunately, there is another side effect----you have vegetable debris laying around everywhere. Yes, of course we have a compost pile........but compost starts in the kitchen. We don't run out to the compost pile every time we shell peas or chop the ends off the okra, so it sits in the kitchen until we have a nice little mound of it.

Enter my arch enemies: About 10 billion fruit flies. I hate those little F**** but what's the solution???

Ta-dah! Wal-Mart has come through once again!

This cute little trash can has a flip top and a little lever down at the bottom. Next to it is our old compost holder-----Poor thing, it used to be a cake cover in its previous life.

No matter what I did, it was always filled with fruit flies. Where do they come from??? The despicable little creatures buzz around my face and wallow around in the peels and cuttings, busy eating, and no doubt, making more fruit flies.

I knew there had to be a better way----having that open container like that was driving me crazy!

Just to make our little compost holder even more convenient, it comes with a detachable inside "bucket" complete with handle.

I love it!!

Well, we finally went to Elephant Butte and did something really really different..........and, no, it was not catching a real fish greater than three inches long..........No, it was fishing at night.

Howard had been wanting to fish at night for some time, but I was....... (how can I say this without sounding like a wussy worry wart.....) ......scared.

Well, who wouldn't be??? It's dark. There's DEEP water everywhere. What if we get lost? How will we get the boat back on the trailer?

The BIG DAY (or NIGHT in this case) finally arrived. We had almost a full moon, a huge spotlight, a smaller night light, lights on the stern and aft, and floating lights to attract bait fish.

It was so cool!! The stars were beautiful, the water glowed in the moonlight, and the lights worked like advertised...... Were it not for the fact that the wind suddenly kicked up, I could have stayed there for hours.

We even caught fish! Howard caught a small mouth that afternoon, and I caught a small mouth, a catfish (on a lure!), and a white bass. Hooray! There really are fish in this lake!

In other news, the garden is still going strong, even as we plant the first of the winter crop.

We've got two rows of lettuce, collards, and cabbage growing nicely, and, of course, a whole section devoted strictly to turnips.

I keep waiting for the okra to stop; in fact, I went on an okra strike for a few days. When they were about a foot long I finally went out there muttering under my breath, chopped them off, and tossed them on the ground. I can't stand to cook another okra. I take a bag with me everywhere I go----Master Gardener's class, pottery class, homeless shelter.........

The days are growing shorter, but wonderfully cool in the mornings. Howard and I are ending our third year in this, our home. My children are healthy and happy, and I have a wonderful life with a man I'm crazy about.

Life is good.

Well, we have a new addition to our family.......and I'm already deeply enamored.

Isn't it beautiful?

This freezer is twice as big as our old one. The only fly in the ointment is, of course, that the presence of this leviathan could imply that I'm anxious to have more veggies to put in there........nothing could be further from the truth.

I love the fact that everything is wonderfully organized and user-friendly now that the bags are not crammed on top of each other and into half the space. All of which makes it all too obvious that we've got enough food in there to last through two nuclear winters.

What am I going to do with all this stuff?? Take in boarders? Cook for the neighbors?

Not only that, but the winter garden awaits me. Howard's already planning how many turnips he'll be planting...............

On other fronts, we just returned from a quick trip to Lake Roberts. We hadn't been there in ages and the good and bad news are that nothing's changed.

The lake was just as pretty as ever----this time there were cormorants noisily calling out throughout the day. We saw two water snakes----one of them swimming across the lake! There were millions of tadpoles, and I have no doubt that some of them are destined to be snake food.

We fished ALL day Wednesday and received not a bite except for the bass who were eager to jump on a hook. In fact, they jumped immediately---over and over again. The bad news??

Hint: the thing Howard is holding is NOT a lure...........

Yes, this is the face of desperation.

Between not catching anything and catching and releasing these infants, Howard chose the latter.

As we motored in for lunch, we happened to pass Lou and Mom. There they were, sitting on shore, looking happy as clams. And why is that??

Well, they had a stringer of FIVE trout. What??? How is that possible? We fished all day and didn't even get a bite. They cleaned them right in front of us, babbling the entire time about how the worms were the ticket and how they were going to fry them up in cornmeal and blah.....blah.....blah.

I'm not sure, but I think I saw Howard wipe away a tear.

Later that night, after a few beers, Howard decided that Lou's fish were part of a larger, dark conspiracy. He decided that Lou kept the fish in the freezer, on a stringer, and then whipped them out with a flourish when we appeared.

"But, Honey," I reasoned, "why would he do this?"

"How would he know we were coming?"

"Who keeps fish on a stringer in their freezer?"

Howard and his beers had no answers to these questions.................

Well everything is growing like crazy. The green beans have finally started producing----they've been a solid wall of green for some time but with few green beans. I think (as opposed to Howard thinks) that the plants just weren't mature yet.

The okra have gone nuts (of course) and are producing giants every day. Ironically, bigger is not better in the world of okra, so we have to keep a close eye on them since they easily can grow an inch a day.

As you can see, the cantaloupe are now ripe. Okay, I'll admit it.............there's a little wishful thinking going on there.............

They were absolutely delicious! Nothing you buy in a store can rival the taste of stuff fresh from the garden. The cantaloupe vine has taken over the area next to the small flower bed and, as with last year, I know those #$%@ weeds are busy spreading under the cantaloupe vines, but I guess I'll

pull a Scarlett O'Hara and worry about it tomorrow..........

FYI: That bag next to me was full of okra, green beans, limas, and tomatoes.

Although it was a weekend, we decided to take a quickie trip to Elephant Butte. The lake was wall-to-wall people but our little cove behind the butte was not as bad.

Surprisingly, the carp were only seen here and there---not like the previous visit where monsters casually swam by every few minutes. However, we soon discovered that they were replaced by beautiful brim (green perch) that were everywhere. They were hungry too----no sooner would I put my line in the water with even just a tiny nub of a worm, that they would chase it and snatch it hungrily.

What??? Have we been teleported to a REAL lake?? Is this like the answer to all our fishing prayers??

Alas, as in all things, there are good news and bad news..........the good news is yes, they were everywhere. They were biting like crazy. All day. The bad news? The big ones----the GIANTS---were about three inches long.

July 18

We've discovered that when you have about 300 peaches inside your refrigerator, there's not much room for anything else.

So there's no putting it off----we've got to get those peaches in bags and in the freezer.

We got all our supplies ready and set up an assembly line: Howard boiled and peeled the peaches, and then I chopped and packed them in bags.

After two hours, we were both positive that we hated peaches, but we finally finished.

There were two options----pack them in juice or in sugar syrup. Online sources recommended sugar because it kept them "plump" but personally I think this method would also keep me plump, so I sprinkled Fruit Fresh on them to keep them from browning and then packed them in their own juice plus some apple juice.

I hope they're okay!! If this works, we can do the same next year, but we won't know until we defrost them and taste them.

I already made a cobbler with some of the reject peaches that didn't get frozen, and it was delicious!

July 15

Julie's here visiting, but the garden takes no prisoners, so I went outside a while ago to see how everything was doing.

As I passed the peach tree, what should I find but two finches trapped inside the net around the tree. They'd obviously figured out how to get INSIDE the net to eat the peaches, but I guess their escape plan was still a work in progress....

They were panic-stricken but I managed to grab them and get them out. I went back inside, then came out a while later. Guess what??? Yes, another set of finches......also panic-stricken.

Did I want to do this all day long??? No............. So Julie and I went out, took off the net, and started picking peaches. Did I mention there were millions?? Did I mention it was already 100 degrees in the shade??

We brought them inside and put them on the counter under the telescope.

I knew I was just postponing the inevitable, but I didn't even want to think about the boiling and the peeling and the chopping that was awaiting me............

July 12

The Brewington Chile Festival was a big success! Those chiles have been a big pain in the butt all along, but our efforts finally paid off. We picked all the good-sized ones and then Howard roasted them outside.

We bagged them afterwards and froze them.

We got six quart bags of fresh, home-grown chiles.......Yah!

July 17

Today is Dionne’s birthday. How is it possible that 27 years have gone by since that early morning when I gave birth to my daughter?

I suppose all lives have life-changing moments but I can’t imagine a mother on earth that doesn’t count the birth of her children as the greatest of them all.

I was just an ordinary person but I did something miraculous----I created two human beings. And in doing so, it’s a toss-up who received the greatest gift. I may have given my children life, but they, in turn, are the treasures of my life.

Happy birthday Dionne.

Jul 3

Although I’ve been grabbing onions from the garden for a couple of weeks, today we harvested the rest of the onions and we still managed to have 90 onions!

We were thinking of going to Wal-Mart and looking for more onions, but instead Howard decided to plant more limas.  Good----the onions are good but I can always buy them at any store.  However, fresh limas are impossible to find and absolutely delicious.

Limas take a long while so this may work out perfectly----we’ve got a whole row that is just now making blossoms and small limas, and now we’ve planted a new row.  

For the first time, we’re eating green bell peppers from the garden, however, once again the poblanos have gone bad on us.  Howard says that if we wait, the bell peppers will turn red, but so far I’ve been picking them.

June 19

The peas are dying.  It’s gotten too hot for them.  I think we probably picked the last of them tonight.

We went fishing at Elephant Butte and the fishing report said (of course) that the fish were biting.  We went and (of course) they weren’t ....... at least not anything we put in the water.

Okay, we did get a couple of bites and both Howard and I got fish on the line and then lost them, but that was it.

Oh well, we still had a nice time.  The motor had a little bit of oil ---- it had better not still be leaking!

June 3

Just spotted our first squash blossom. Just ate my first strawberry.  Ate our first peas yesterday.  All very yummy.

May 22

I’m sitting here waiting for my tea water to boil and listening to the rain.

It rained last night and it’s raining a good bit again today. The front pond is filling but not yet overflowing. In the backyard, the pond on the north side is also filling, but not overflowed either.  The two in front of the grass sure are weird----they’re connected by a PVC pipe but you’d never know it.  The pond on the left is filling, the one on the right is empty.  Who knows..............

Good.  Maybe the summer rains have started.

May 19

This seems as good as any time to post the news:  I’m officially a senior citizen.  I went to Color My World and when the kid rang me up he gave me the total and then said, “.....and minus your discount it’s $5.47!”  

My discount??? Ohhhhhhh........it’s Tuesday.......Tuesdays are old fart 10% off day.  

He gave me a sly, little wink and said, “You know, experienced people...”  Experienced???  Is that what they’re calling senior citizens nowadays??  That kid is on my permanent shit list........

The worse part is, he didn’t even look at my ID.  He just took one look at me and it was enough.

I don’t understand.  Wasn’t it just last week that Julie and I were washing our cars in her mom’s driveway, wearing our bikinis???

May 14

Went to the cove behind Elephant Butte and had a great time!  Very private, lots of fish, and camped right next to the water.  Howard caught about 12 carp----one a six pounder!  I caught a couple of carp, a catfish, and a white bass. The water looked beautiful.

May 7

Sprouts everywhere.  The corn grows overnight, the peas are growing like crazy.  Of the three species planted, the Kentucky Wonder green beans sprouted first, but the others are now making an appearance as well.  The chiles still look pukey half the time----they seem to need LOTS of water.

Howard had to pull up all the cucumbers----the blackberries had invaded and were popping up instead of cucumbers.

We went fishing overnight at Elephant Butte.  One bite, one fish.  Very hot---the water was 70 degrees.

May 4

Everything’s sprouting.  The eggplant looks awful. The chiles look somewhere between crappy and kindof okay.....

Today I looked in the freezer and saw about two dozen bags of frozen okra still sitting in there looking at me and all the while, we’ve got NEW okra popping out of the ground out in the garden........so, I made an executive decision:  I got a Wal-Mart bag, filled it up w/ bags of frozen okra, and took it to the homeless shelter on Amador.

They didn’t care that it was homegrown and home frozen, they took it.  I hope they really really like okra.........

May 3

First lizard sighting!!  Son of Larry?  Grandson?  Not a real big guy, but very nice looking......

Third planting of chiles---they keep wilting and then dying.......

5:38 pm....... Just went out to look at chiles.  They look wilted (again).  I told Howard maybe they’re pond chiles.

May 2

First official sprouts sighted!!  Corn mostly and one yellow squash.........

The eggplant looks terrible and so do many of the chiles.  However, the peas are growing nicely and so are the onions.  The leeks are still in the barrel nursery.  We may shortly have two barrel nurseries----the blueberry seems to have discovered that it’s west of the Mississippi and it’s PISSED.  If this one dies, I give up.  I’ll just buy a big bag at Sam’s of frozen blueberries.

April 25 and April 26

After rereading the last sentence in the April 13 posting, “Howard’s downrigger worked well, but he suspects there may be something wrong w/ the switch,”  I have to stop a moment and solve the mystery of the switch........One of us never bothered reading the directions........ Evidently, the switch turns off automatically and does not need to be depressed the entire time the ball is rising.

Anyway, this weekend, we finally planted the summer garden.  On Saturday the 25th Howard put in the plants:  tomatoes (early girl, husky cherry, celebrity, grape), one eggplant, new chiles, bell pepper, poblano, and dill.

The next day came the seeds that had soaked all night:  limas, black-eyed peas, green beans (blue lake and Kentucky wanderer), corn, cucumber, squash (two yellow and one Mexican), okra, and peanuts.

The onions are huge and the leeks are growing nicely in the barrel. The peas are also good size, but there’s no telling how they’ll react to the hotter temperatures quickly approaching.

The big bed is looking spectacular; it finally looks the way I wanted it to.  I’ve got lots of dianthus in lots of colors, caryopsis, mums, red-hot poker (getting ready to flower), strawberries, salvia (COVERED in bees), and lots of marigolds springing up everywhere. Portulaca has also invited itself over there but I don’t mind---it’ll fill in the spaces without taking over.

The bed should fill out nicely this summer, but next year when the plants return, should be awesome. I also planted two lantanas in the front yard: one next to the driveway and another next to the rock closest to the other driveway.  The third lantana replaced the sweet broom that died in the backyard; that was the second one we killed so that’s it for that plant.

The Mexican broom has been in full bloom for about a week.  UNBELIEVABLE scent coming from those flowers; the plant has doubled in size in the past year.

The small bed is a total disaster.  I’ve dug up the entire right side, searching for Mexican Primrose.  I hate that @#$% plant.  I’m going to let it sit there all summer----no water.  It kills me because the caryopsis is huge and making flowers. I’m going to try and keep the primrose away from it.

April 20 and 21

Went fishing at Elephant Butte. Water temp was a balmy 68 degrees.  Got the grand total (maybe) of two bites, no fish.

Very tired of that stupid lake..........at least Lake Roberts is pretty.

April 13

Another action-packed fishing trip to Elephant Butte..........grand total of fish caught....... one.

In other news, sports fans, the water temp is up to 59 and in some spots, a balmy 61 degrees!

Yesterday was horrible---windy and cold, but today was beautiful.

Howard’s downrigger worked well, but he suspects there may be something wrong w/ the switch.

March 28

Howard planted peas on March 22.  But so far we haven’t seen any sign of life from them.  He also planted onion and various chili plants, however, last night we had a weird cold spell go through here and the temp dropped to 28 degrees!  He put plastic bags over the chili plants but this morning it looked like about a 50% casualty rate. The onions looked fine.  Patty gave us some squash plants which I planted in the large bed and they look pretty bad.  The peach tree is covered w/ little peaches, so we put a big plastic tarp over it w/ a ladder to hold it up.  Just for extra insurance, Howard put a light in there for just a little bit of heat.  It must have worked because it looked pretty good this morning.

According to the fishing reports for both Roberts and Elephant Butte, fishing is good.  But we were busy all week on the bimini from hell instead of fishing.  Actually even if we hadn’t, it was probably too windy to be out on the water anyway.  Gusts hit 50 mph a few days ago!

The vine to the south of the big bed is looking very happy nowadays.  It’s making big red flowers that are getting ready to open any day now. Howard’s small cactus in the front of his cactus garden is making flowers and so is the ocotillo.  The little pink thing is doing something but we’re not sure what.  It’s got little buds, but what are they??  All three of the remaining sages got a good pruning and the big one by the sidewalk is now gone.  The front yard looks good!

I’ve completely torn up the small bed, especially the right side, trying to get rid of the Mexican primrose.  What a dope I was!!  I know it’s not gone---every time I dig down a ways, no matter where it is, I find those crummy little roots.  I’m not watering that side at all---maybe lack of water will ultimately kill it.

Apr 3

The hummingbirds are here!!!

I planted six pink dianthias in the large bed.  They’re perennials, so I hope they make it! I also chopped up the soil w/ the hoe and tomorrow I’m going to drop more marigold seeds in there.  I’m also going to build up a dirt dam around the perimeter of the bed and flood it.

Unbelievably, I found several pennywort. The plant from the bowels of hell!

The fish are biting everywhere and here we are.  The winds are at about 35 mph---too windy for the boat.  Good news!!!  We finished the #$% bimini top.  It looks wonderful!

March 20

The Carolina Jasmine have been in full bloom for about a week.  They stayed green all winter and now look gorgeous.  The bees love the flowers too and today we also saw a hummingbird moth poking around in them as well.

We had 13.5 TONS of dirt delivered today. We have been shoveling and wheelbarrowing into the garden for hours. This better pay off!!  

Speaking of, it cost $300 so I figure we’re eating $20 tomatoes.........

Mar 5

Since the weather was beautiful, we decided that it would be a perfect day for fishing.  Surely the fish would be dying (get it??) to jump on our hooks on such a lovely day.....

When we arrived at Elephant Butte the sun was shining and the water was calm.  We set off for the Bluffs and when we arrived, the water temperature was up to 60 degrees!  According to the fish finder there were lots of fish (can you tell what’s coming??) ........ Sadly, none of them were biting.  However, Howard is convinced that they will start any day now since the water temp is slowly, but surely, rising.  We’ll see.

On another front, our peach tree is in full bloom.  The bees are loving it!

The willow is covered in little leaves that are beginning to open and even the mesquite is showing some leaf buds.  Spring is here!! None of the lantana have made an appearance, but the orange tecoma is already growing. The yellow tecoma has not sprouted yet either.  I’m watering these guys and crossing my fingers.........

February 20

Howard pulled out everything that was left in the garden last week and then he tilled and tilled and tilled.  When it was all full and stirred up, he started dumping water in there.  He’s been flooding for three days now and it’s a swamp.  He’s thinking he might have it tested after it dries out.  He’s also thinking of planting the peas as soon as it dries out.  It’ll probably take a week...........if he ever stops flooding it, that is.

We went to Elephant Butte today.  It was a perfect day for fishing---not a cloud in the sky, not even the slightest breeze, and it was in the mid 60s. The water by the bluffs was a balmy 55 degrees. There were LOTS of fish.  What’s wrong with this picture??? Well, they elected to stay on the bottom talking or smoking or screwing or whatever else they were doing, and we never did get even one bite.

Feb 8

Ahhhhhhh.......... Lake Roberts.  

Words fail me.

We left on Wednesday the 4th right after tutoring because I just had to get to Lake Roberts while the fish were biting.  We got up bright and early on Thursday, put the boat on the water, and away we went.  I thought it would just be a matter of minutes before I’d land a 15-inch trout.

As we found out, the hardest part of the day turned out to be finding a fish.....anywhere.  We scoured the lake from one side to the other and every once in a while would see a little blip on the fish finder that maybe was a fish.  Never mind catching a fish or even getting a bite, just find a F@#$% fish!

Howard says he was ready to leave the next day, but I guess hope springs eternal, because there I was ready to get in the boat again on Friday.  But Mother Nature (the bitch) wasn’t done w/ us:  now the wind picked up.  The wind was fierce all day and w/ the water being only 41 degrees, it was cold.

One good piece of news:  we did find a hidey hole on the other side where some fish were congregated AND we figured out how to throw the anchor into the weeds so that we could stay put, but we never caught anything.

We came home, cleaned the RV, and cursed the lake once more.

February 1

Today we took a little one day fishing trip to Elephant Butte.  Good news:  we saw LOTS of fish.  Bad news:  you know.....not one bite.

BUT we did some exploring and ended up at the north end of the lake by the Narrows.  We found the other boat launch and Black Bluff, which Rick told us about.  Just as advertised, the fish finder saw lots of fish but also, we discovered as we got closer, that the water temp went from 48 degrees to 50 and then up to 53 degrees!  We think the vertical wall which faces west warms up the water.  According to Rick, this is where the fish start biting first in the new season.  We’ll see..........

We’re hoping to go to Lake Roberts later this week.  According to the fishing report, the trout are biting.  When it comes to Lake Roberts, the reports are strictly day to day.

2009

January 9

Yesterday we went to Elephant Butte just to do a little fishing and run the boat around the lake for a while.  It was a beautiful day----slight breeze, warm w/ lots of sun.  The water temp was 48-49 degrees.  We went out to a cove right next to Kettle Top.  We picked one spot first between the mainland and a small island, but even after about 45 minutes, hadn’t had any luck at all.  So one of us (I’m not mentioning names) who advocates moving when THERE AREN’T ANY FISH, suggested moving along the shore. Howard was trolling w/ some poor worm and casting w/ various lures.  I was trolling w/ the small broke-back minnow by Rapela that’s a medium diver.  We’d just pulled up next to a roped off area w/ some water-circulating type gizmo when I started to reel in.........wait......Howard, am I hung on something??

Well, as it turned out, I had a white bass on the end of my line.  God only knows how long he’d been hanging there.....He was nice size and made for a good Kodak moment, then we tossed him back.

The boat ran beautifully, but on the way back we heard a beeping.  It was the oil injection tank running low. Howard added a little oil and everything was fine again.

The fireplace project is done! It looks beautiful!  Picking the color was a bit of a bitch----i couldn’t make up my mind.  But we (I) finally settled on the chocolate brown that’s in the chairs---it looks warm and rich.  I had to paint the middle section twice because I accidentally put some watered down paint sections, but a double coat was good anyway.

January 20

We got back yesterday after a two day trip to Elephant Butte.  The weather was beautiful---sunny and warm.  The water temperature was around 47 degrees; it was evidently too cold for the fish because we spent four hours on the water with nary a nibble to show for it.

We have discovered a very nice cove next to Kettle Top that SEEMS to have fish---at least the fish finder indicates they’re somewhere under us.  All we need now is a fish getter.......

Howard’s banjo arrived today and it’s a beauty.

December 15

Asia has now been with us abut three weeks.  Considering she’s only a dog, it’s amazing what she’s managed to accomplish in that time.  I guess if she were a person, she could probably take over the world.  

Since she chewed up our door frame after only being left outside for a short while so she could pee, we’re now afraid to put her out at all.  Anytime she goes outside, one of the two of us is with her.  

We tried to tie her up and she slipped out of two different harnesses, including a $24.99 American Kennel leather harness.  The only thing that’s worked has been locking her in the garden.

Meanwhile, the inside of the house has a film of particles and dog hair on most surfaces.  Our living room decor now includes three towels spread out in Asia’s favorite sleeping spots.  In addition to this, since we’re now living with a dog full-time, Howard’s head feels like “a solid ball of snot.” I know, it doesn’t paint a very pretty picture.  He had to get a steroid shot AND antibiotics but didn’t really feel better until he got to work.

Not only did she destroy the door frame, which who knows how we’ll fix it, or how much it will cost, but she also destroyed the screens last time she lived here.  Howard was able to fix all but one; after searching high and low for that color in vinyl, I finally found it but it has not yet been priced.  Then Asia had to go to the vet.  That cost $180. Brian can not get here fast enough to take her back to Austin.  That dog does not know how close she came to HAMMER TIME.

In garden news, last night I harvested our second cabbage.  It was huge, so, especially since Howard’s not here, I only ate a small portion of it.  It tastes just like any cabbage, but looks a little different.  Instead of all the leaves being tightly wrapped together, instead there’s a space between all of them. As a result, these cabbages are huge but not as heavy as the other variety. Tonight I think I’ll pick some broccoli to go with my cabbage; the broccoli is huge but as of yet, we have not tasted it.

Dec 10

Last night the temperature went down to about 27 degrees and our sprinkler system pipe froze and cracked.  There goes about $30.......  Dionne and Brian both reported snow and ice in the San Marcos/ Austin area---- that’s unusual!

Nov 21

If I choose to trust the weather website, then we have had freezing temps for the past 2 nights.  Last year it didn’t freeze until past Thanksgiving so this year was just a tad sooner.  It’s obvious that the lantana, tecoma, and various other plants are now officially pissed.

November 12

We left for Lake Roberts on Monday and got back tonight, Wednesday, at about 6 pm.  We caught three fish late Tuesday so I guess we were still excited about it today and decided to fish a little before we left. So we ended up leaving at 2 pm and it was dark by the time we got home which made putting stuff away a little more complicated.

Anyway, we had a good time.  Fished all day Tuesday all over the lake---we were probably out in the boat 6-7 hours.  We started out trolling, then we put down the anchors and bottom fished with salmon eggs and night crawlers.  Howard also cast out various lures.  Nothing worked until the very end; we caught three trout at dusk and then went back to the RV. 

It was dark by the time we got to the campsite and we were having a heck of a time backing the RV into the site, but our neighbor and his buddies helped us out.  He was very nice, although he decided to tell us his life story the night before around the campfire and we were practically comatose. 

Then after dinner, Howard decided to move the RV a little because he had to refill the water tanks. He moved it with the windshield cover still on and then walked back into our “hallway” but all of a sudden we heard a horrible sound and felt a rocking and jarring----the RV was rolling down the driveway of the campsite!!  He vaulted back and jumped in the driver’s seat and put on the brakes---everything was okay, but I practically had a heart attack.  Very scary!

Today we again started with trolling but then went back to the same spot we had fished yesterday over by the pier on the dam side of the lake.  We’re sitting there calmly and all of a sudden, Howard got a bite.  As soon as he started reeling in he could tell it was something big.  Well, it turned out to be another big catfish.  By coincidence, that was more or less where he caught the other catfish last year.

We saw a very nice variety of birds.  There were some common mergansers, buffleheads, a cormorant, and, unbelievably, a brown pelican.  Some of those weren’t even supposed to be there, but we looked them up in our bird book and there they were.  There was no doubt about the pelican---that bill is one of a kind.

Howard was so excited because among Regina’s brother’s stuff he’d found some bumpers to put on the small trailer.  They were a pain to put on, but he got them on a couple of days ago.  Well, we stopped at Wal-Mart for a few things and to see Lorenzo the Mental Midget at Subway.  

Poor Lorenzo.  We know his name because it's tattooed on his neck.......or maybe he looks in the mirror in the mornings and thinks his name is Oznerol???  He has trouble remembering if he's making your sandwich or not......

Anyway, we got out of the RV and realized that one of the bumpers had fallen off on the freeway somewhere between our house and Deming.  We panicked for a moment imagining that it could have bounced and hit a car, or worse,  impaled someone through the windshield, but I’m sure they would have caught up with us and flagged us down.  The bumpers were heavy and sturdy, but we didn’t notice that they weren’t even bolted in place.  We’re going to try and order replacements.

Nov 9

I don’t think it hit freezing last night, but I think it went down into the 30s.  The tomatoes look dark and shriveled.  The lima beans died---the pods that were still there are wilted and soft.  The okra finally went to the big garden in the sky.

On the other hand, the broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, turnips all look happy as hell.  We’ve got more lettuce than we can eat and the swiss chard and kale are also outpacing me.

We dug up the pond and made it about 30 inches deep.  The fish are in the garage but I guess that at some point are going to get kicked outside.  The pond was only out of commission about a day, but the birds were walking around trying to figure out what in the world happened.  We get a crowd of at least 10-15 birds every morning---bathing and socializing.

Oct 24

The maiden voyage was a success!!  Yes, the boat floats ........ The motor was a little slow to start but after a mere dozen or so tries, it took off....  This time, Howard let the motor run till all the excess fuel was gone.  The trolling motor worked well and was in the water at a sufficient depth as well.  The electric anchors worked beautifully and the small Mercury motor was a good trolling motor as thought.  The only sour note in the entire excursion were the fish----for some reason they weren’t interested in any of our lures........  According to the fish finder they were everywhere, but they were a fickle bunch.

Oct 23

The nights are definitely getting colder.  Tonight’s supposed to go down to 38 but the rest of the week will be in the mid 40s.  I moved in my mom’s plant, as well as my ancient mystery plant.  That thing goes crazy outside so I’m going to try and transplant it   to a bigger pot in the spring when it goes back out on the front porch.  It’s huge so we’ll have to think about what to put it in that’ll transport easily in fall of 2009.

In other news, the watermelon is gone.  We brought in 4-5 little watermelon that were out there still on the vine, but who knows how they look inside.  Howard cut one open about the size of a cantaloupe, but it was not ripe.  The ruellia took advantage of the camouflage and had several nice size shoots growing among the watermelon.

The turnips are growing like crazy and so is the lettuce.  We have a mueslix (sp?) mix and some of it tastes like lettuce and some of it tastes like something you’d feed a cow.

Unbelievably, the okra is still producing, however, the plants look pretty bare and spindly.  We’re getting about a pound every couple of days. I’ve had some of the swiss chard but it got mixed up w/ a bunch of veggies so who knows how it’ll taste alone.  The cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower are all growing nicely, but still don’t have any obvious vegetable among its leaves.

We’re going to take the boat out to Caballo Lake today to test it........does it float when you put it in the water???  That’s the question......  :)

The boat still smells a lot like gasoline and we’re going to replace some of the carpeting to see if that helps, but first we want to see if we’re keeping it.  If it passes its test, we’ll start pulling out some of that smelly carpeting.  We’ll put some of the extra blue stuff from the Tracker in the back where it doesn’t show, but we’ll buy something beige for the top and middle storage compartment.

October 9

Well, the first thing I want to write is a correction:  the hummingbirds are not gone.  There is one little guy here who I guess waited all summer to have the feeder all to himself.  I don’t know if he’s noticed, but the days are shorter and the nights are colder. And Mexico is very far away...............  

We got back yesterday after spending two nights at Roberts.  What a surprise-----we didn’t catch any fish.....well, that’s not true.....Howard caught a small bass the first day on a Panther Martin and another one (maybe the SAME ONE) on a spinner the next day.

The water was about 64 degrees and the nighttime temperatures were in the upper 40s.    Howard thinks maybe another couple of weeks......I think maybe a miracle.

In spite of no fish, we had a very nice day on the water.  The water was like glass, it was so calm.  We saw a family of javelinas grazing in the shade of the other side.  We fished by the big rock and although we didn’t catch a thing, I remembered the photo of Brian as a little boy sitting on that rock, fishing.  The rock still sits there, looking the same, and meanwhile my little boy is now a married man.

Unfortunately, while searching for catfish on that side, Howard dropped the anchor over board and literally DROPPED the anchor overboard.  It slipped right through the rope and went to the bottom.  Howard insists it’s not lost----he knows exactly where it is.....

I’ve heard several salvaging theories so far........ including a family legend involving an outboard motor and a giant magnet..........

Huge okra was waiting for us, which I fixed differently last night:  I drizzled olive oil and Knorr Suiza on it and fried it up in the cast iron pan.  It was good!!

The cabbages, broccoli, et al are all happily growing.  I collected two Swiss Chard recipes from the NY Times this morning.......