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!