New Fruit

New growth on the Isis Black Muscadine

Last weekend, we went to Jene's Tropicals and bought some fruit and berries for our garden. We already had an idea as to what we wanted, and good thing too, because my brain went into overload from all the cool plants she had. Thankfully, Hubs was there to act as my voice of reason (he totally denies this, and says he just does what he's told and keeps his mouth shut) and we ended up with just the right amount to start with.

Granny Val Muscadine

Isis Black Muscadine

Ice Cream (Blue Java) Banana
Jewel Blueberries

Heritage Raspberry
Blackberry (don't remember the name)

Jewel Blueberry blossoms

Atamasco Lily

Zephyranthes Atamasca

Aack! It's Cold!

It's official, it's cold, and I'm not happy. One of the downsides of life with Dystrophy is the lack of muscles to keep my body warm when the cold hits. As Stephen can tell you, a lot of time is spent indoors with lots of layers on and the heat cranking. And don't even think about touching the thermostat! So, I thought for today I'd combat my painful, icky mood with some nice cheery flowers. And really, it's kinda hard not to smile when looking at a bunch of flowers, well and some chicken photos too, cause they're just down right adorable.

Silky rockin' her winter coat.

A Seed Planting Frenzy

Lotion, Dani, use Lotion!


Seeds planted so far:

Isis Candy Cherry Tomato

Riesentraube Tomato

Bi-Color Cherry Tomato

Black Cherry Tomato

Black Pearl Tomato

I'm wasting my time planting tomatos, they'll just end up getting Tomato Mosaic Virus again, but a girl can dream.

Graffiti Cauliflower (looks so cool in the catalogs)

Brocoverde Cauliflower



Mystery beans from Costa Rica (Thanks Em!)



Purple Hull Pinkeye Cowpea

Rattlesnake Cowpea

Ozark Razorback Cowpea

Kentucky Black Crowder Cowpea

Golden Beet

Detroit Dark Red Beet

Watermelon Radish

Extra Dwarf Pak Choy

Okay, I'm tired now.

We Know You're Up There

We hear you.

There you are!

Sadness

Sadness, because my sweet friend has found out that her cancer has returned.

Oystercatchers Rock!

American Oystercatcher

Morning at the Beach

Taking pictures of each other

Solitude

Happy feet

Dead crab and little girl fingers

Cold water!!!

Sea Grape

Underside of an urchin

DUANE'S ICE CREAM

This is a recipe for a GALLON of ice cream, so you'll need to vary the amounts to fit your freezer.

3 eggs
3 cups, sugar
1 teaspoon, vanilla extract
Milk (I use Half & Half)
Fruit - to taste
Pinch of Salt

(For Vanilla Ice cream, use 1/2 as much Lemon Extract as Vanilla Extract.

Mix the eggs a little, add the sugar, and "beat the thunder" (Mom's words) out of the mixture. After everything is beaten, then add the fruit (if desired) and also the vanilla, and just mix together.

Pour the mixture into the freezer and add milk till the can is between 1/2 and 2/3 full. As the freezer works, the paddles incorporate air into the mixture. If you fill it up much more than 1/2, it will simply fill the can, and then start pushing its way out around the top and around the paddle. Won't hurt the ice cream. Just messy.

Put in a layer of ice a couple of inches thick and then add a liberal layer of Rock salt. More ice, and then more salt, more ice and more salt. It wouldn't be too much to expect using at least a cup of salt. I even stack ice over the top of the can. I just don't put any salt up there, trying to make sure the salt doesn't find it's way into the ice cream. Also have ice handy, to add to the top, as the ice melts down into the bucket. Also keep the drain hole clear, so the brine doesn't get so high it gets into the ice cream around the lid. The most common mistake is using too little salt with the ice. The ice depends on the salt to lower the freezing point of the water, so the brine is cold enough to freeze the mixture.

Also, once the ice cream begins to freeze, don't stop the freezer to check it.
When the freezer stalls out and stops, it's as good as it'll get. Just be there to unplug the freezer when it does stall out.

When you're ready to get the ice cream out, Clear the ice back from around the top, below the lid. Ease the paddles out, cleaning with a spatula as you do. Whatever is left on the paddles goes to whoever gets the honor of licking the paddles. :-)

If there is ice cream left in the freezer, use a piece of wax paper over the top of the can, put the lid back on. Put some clean ice over the can, and it'll help keep it frozen.

Sounds like a lot of work, and complicated, but once you've done it, all becomes clear

Yummy

Male and Female Great Horned Owls

Sitting in the nest (click on the pic)Keeping watch

These pictures were taken Saturday at Honeymoon Island. We've been lucky every year to see the owls and this time was even better seeing them nesting.

Some cool Great Horned Owl facts I found on the web:

Size: 18- 24 in.

Wingspan: 40-57 in.

GHOs mate for life, beginning at two years of age.

The female typically lays a clutch of 2 to 3 eggs each year in the spring.

Both male and female take turns sitting on the eggs for about a month.

The Great Horned Owl will take large prey, even other raptorial birds. It will also regularly kill and eat other owls.

Dolphin

Just so everyone knows, I'm a BIG DOPE!! I was so busy jumping up and down and yelling in my excitement, that it didn't dawn on me to start snapping pictures until they were quite far from us. Thankfully, Hubs had the little pocket Nikon and got some video of them.

American Kestrel

Yesterday, we piled into the car and headed out to Fort Desoto. It is such a beautiful place to be, I often remark that when the time comes, I hope that my heaven will be like this (but maybe without all the snowbirds). Even with the extra people in the winter, you can still hike and play in the water and have the feeling of being alone. It's a great feeling to have in this land of concrete. But our mission yesterday was simple, Birds..Birds..Birds..and we were not disappointed. Our first sighting was this little female American Kestrel. I sometimes wish I was born with the ability to write, but I wasn't, so I can only say that she was pure beauty up on that wire signing her little song and scanning out over the land. Thank you, Big Guy for giving us this day and plenty more birds which I will share in the next few days (I have family and friends that have dial up, so I try to keep it short).