Hole in One!

Phil Mickelson got a Hole in One at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond!

A Walk in My Neighborhood

A pretty walk in my neighborhood, flowers in bloom, with my nieces.

The Garden in Early July

Perfect weather continues--sunny skies, mild temperatures, rain just when we need it, then sun again. We haven't had hail here, yet, although I probably just hexed us by saying it. The garden, naturally, is running rampant. Here's a picture update of where we are in early July. Poppies were harvested, leaving this bare patch, so I sowed soybeans as a cover crop to control weeds and enrich the soil for next year. Aren't they cute!?

Here's a beauty, a lovely hibiscus-like okra blossom.

Jalapenos! Yes for hot pepper jam and for salsa, I say.

Not really part of the garden, but the frequent rains scheduled right on time to water my garden continues to produce this rotating crop of mushrooms, which is living off a dead stump. I finally remembered to take a pic.

Morning glories are a weed for me, but they're lovely in bloom.

Here's what I mean by a weed. The tendrils you see in this pic are morning glories reaching from the fence to engulf my okra. I have to cut them back every day. I don't know the growth rate, but it's FAST.

One of my snake gourd vines trained up onto the marked post. Now that I have it where I want it, I can determine at a glance, roughly, how many inches it grows each day. Notice the painted stripes? Years ago, we marked this post in one foot intervals before we set it in place.

This area isn't in the veggie garden, but thought I should get a pic up now in case I forget later. The garden phlox are juuuust beginning to bloom, and the tigerlilies are starting. They make a crazy-lady, purple and orange combo in the front yard when they get going. In a couple weeks, scarlet hibiscus will bloom next to this clump, and it gets pretty wild as far as color goes. This year (and last) I planted hot pink petunias nearby. Something wrong with my head, I guess.

Also not in the veggie garden, but these luxuriant clumps of bittersweet berries are indicative of the fantastic, gardening weather we've had and a promise that autumn will be beautiful. I'll post these again when they turn to a luscious, burnt orange.

Renewable Energy II

If you're still campaigning for exploration of oil in Alaska, for off-shore drilling and for coal, then you're behind the times, a dinosaur, and you're, frankly, bringing the rest of us down. Our future and independence is in renewable, energy resources. No more of this archaic, messy, expensive, wasteful, poisonous gunk. From now on, America will use geothermal, wind, wave, solar and biomass resources to generate energy.
The Pickens Plan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Montana, Solar Energy International, North Carolina, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey
There are just a few of the news articles I found in a quick search. Americans are getting with the program! We can do it!

Renewable Energy

The only thing slowing down our conversion to renewable energy in the U.S. is the whining. Conversion is happening in Europe RIGHT NOW. Read Scottish Links on Energy I-V in the column to the right. These are articles about how Scotland and other British Isle nations are already setting up their grids for renewable energy.