Oh My!

One huge Hungarian Heart made into homemade pasta sauce...life doesn't get much better than that!

R.I.P. little watermelon

To my dismay, when I ventured to the garden last Saturday to harvest corn & more tomatoes, I found the largest of the two watermelon split from end to end. I took him inside where rob & I respectfully dined on his light pink flesh. Slightly reminiscent of Homer & pinchy...but sweeter.

Rest in peace, mini melon, rest in peace.

photographer Jancen

Jancen & Jentry stopped by to visit on Saturday. Jancen tried his hand at photography.
I helped with this half headed photo of Jentry & Blue.
This is his photo of the kitchen,
and the fridge,
and the table. Interesting to see the world from his point of view. How long ago was I that small?

Happy 7th Birthday Joslyn!

My Joslyn, the cow-woman (she is not a gir-la), turned 7 on Saturday. We had dinner & lots of birthday fun at Chili's.

soon

The cantaloupe are growing faster than the watermelon. We should be harvesting this guy soon!

summers guilty pleasures

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love these!

who is in charge here?

There are several rules for the dogs at the Volta house - we probably have more than most. Lately, the dogs have been breaking them left and right. The rules below are not the only house rules but those broken most recently. They are not put in any particular order.

Rule 1: no dogs on the furniture. Rob & I both know that the minute we leave the house, Annie takes up her place on the couch (see photo of Annie sprawled on couch). Usually when you come home she hops off the furniture, leaving a warm spot & a drool circle evidencing her disobedience, and gives you the “I wasn’t doing anything / who me?” look. Lately, however, she has been more brazen about her rule breaking. I was able to get into the house, put my bags down, find my camera, and take this photo before she even feigned an attempt to get off the couch. I guess at nearly 10 she thinks she is in charge.

Rule 2: dogs don’t eat veggies from the garden. Annie is an evil teacher of bad habits. Poor Blue, not a chance to learn how to live at the Volta house without a kenneling every day. Last year, we planted the back garden barrels with tomatoes. Annie, bad dog Annie, ate every last one. She would walk between the barrels and pick off those tomatoes just turning red…the one you looked at in the morning & thought “that will be perfect when I get home from work tonight”. This year, I decided to outsmart the thieving Annie & planted all 16 tomato plants in the front yard – take that, Annie. In addition, I planted peppers in the back yard – Anaheim, green bell, orange bell, lavender/lilac bell (photo below), and Poblano. I figured I would teach her (an him if he followed in her foot steps) a lesson about stealing my veggies. To no avail…they are devouring my peppers. Yesterday Blue ate all 5 cute little lavender peppers. Bad Dog! A sure fire sign that the dogs have gone a picking is their heads smell wonderfully of rosemary (another barrel is planted with herbs).

Give the dog lovin. Smell the noggin.Thump the noggin. Kennel the dog. UGHHH! I can't win - I am never going to be able to make salsa completely from my garden!!

Rule 3: no barking, there is no need. Annie barks at fireworks, neighbors in their own backyards, sounds, her shadow...she barks a lot! Blue, the non-barking dog, now follows her lead & barks when she does even though he has no clue why he is barking. July & fireworks always mean TOO much barking! No wonder I have constant headaches....

beautiful harvest

My dinner included corn, mortgage lifter tomatoes and black russian tomatoes from our garden. I love harvest time!

my babaloo

me & deputy grandma b

Every year, grandma's block has a party during Midvale Harvest Days. Lucky me, she asked me to be her date. We ate homemade ice cream, talked with neighbors, met two city council members, were visited by an ambulance & fire truck, were given deputy stickers by Vince the Crash Test Dummy, and befriended several police officers - including the chief. It was a fun night and I appreciate Melanie for doing all the work to put the gathering together for the block. Can't wait for next year - maybe the mayor will show up!

Afterwards, grandma & I split a carls jr burger & played cards. I only mention the cards because I WON this time & that hasn't happened for a while.

I am so lucky to get to spend time with my grandma and friend - she is an amazing woman! And card shark, but that is for another day.

pretty princess

mary mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With squash, pumpkin, watermelon & two (of the eight) kinds of tomatoes!

and grow and grow and grow?

With two (different from those above and of the eight kinds) tomatoes, apricots, corn and cantaloupe!

the otter & the paddle boat

The dogs had a great day swimming. The owners came home muddy & exhausted, as did the dogs. Annie swims like an otter - no splashing, graceful, the water barely moves. Blue, on the other hand, swims like a paddle boat - splashing, half standing, scared. Annie will go for the bumper with focus and determination. Blue just goes. He usually gets distracted along the way but then remembers the bumper. More practice with Blue will hopefully bring him around to the non-splashing kind of swimming - it makes for less mess on the owners!