Journey11's Garden Journal 2014

marshallsmyth said:

Beauty Pod, @journey11 are true italian heirlooms, what I think is a mix of several italian family's heirloom borlotti pole beans, from sonoma county california

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Thanks, Marshall. I love knowing a little more about their background.

Less than 3 days until I go on vacation! I'm really going to need one after this. I am in a frantic push to get all of the produce under control. Really bad timing on my part. Good time of year to get a discount on your cottage. BAD time of year when you need to be at home canning! I'm partly through my second bushel of tomatoes today. Still have beans to pick. I don't know if I'll have time to can them or maybe I'll just take some of them with me to eat there and let my mom come pick the rest. She could freeze them. I've got cantaloupe to give away and maybe take some of it with me too. I've got dry beans to harvest too, but of course it is raining.

To top it all off, one of my cats has come down with a UTI or bladder infection or something. I've got a vet appt for him tomorrow. If he needs antibiotics, I'm going to have to pay someone to board him and give him his meds. I don't have anyone else who can or will take him while I'm away.

Back to work for me!

Journey, if you are going on vacation to Cal. , any and all fruit and vegetable that is in your possession will be confiscated at the border. Pest control of foreign species you know !

bobm said:

Journey, if you are going on vacation to Cal. , any and all fruit and vegetable that is in your possession will be confiscated at the border. Pest control of foreign species you know !

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It would be an act of desperation, a cry for help... Take my cantaloupe, please!!

Kitty cat's health gets top priority.

Hi Marshall, long time no see!

I bought me a little backup generator. Trying it for the first time right now. Super cheap, 129 clams, 800 to 900 watts, 2 stroke 63cc motor. Figure if I baby it and only use it to add power to the batteries, and use power only off the inverter from the batteries, maybe it'll last as long as the one year warranty I purchased for an extra 25 clams.

It ought to hold me over until I get more solar panels. Kind of a rough sounding little 2 stroke motor, but a pretty little generator, all shiny red and black.

It's charging easily at about 45 DC amps which will reduce as the batteries fill. Already down to 10 DC amps after 30 minutes. No fuel saving eco setting on this one.

Hopefully if it works right I'll be on much more!

journey11 said:

My 10-day weather forecast. Just.about.to.lose.my.MIND.

High /
Low (°F) Precip. %

Today
Aug 02

PM T-Storms 82°/61° 50 %
Sun
Aug 03

PM T-Storms 83°/61° 40 %
Mon
Aug 04

Partly Cloudy 87°/61° 0 %
Tue
Aug 05

Mostly Sunny 88°/63° 10 %
Wed
Aug 06

Scattered T-Storms 85°/61° 40 %
Thu
Aug 07

Scattered T-Storms 83°/60° 60 %
Fri
Aug 08

Isolated T-Storms 85°/65° 30 %
Sat
Aug 09

T-Storms 83°/63° 80 %
Sun
Aug 10

Showers 83°/64° 60 %
Mon
Aug 11

T-Showers 84°/64° 60 %
Last Updated Aug 2 03:05 a.m. ET

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SEND US THE RAIN.

catjac1975 said:

SEND US THE RAIN.

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Yeah, that was from this time last month...yep, still raining! I would gladly share if I could.

It is a little worrisome now that my beans are trying to come to dry seed. I think I'm going to have to pull and hang some of them as was mentioned on the bean thread. Don't want them germinating in the pod...I've seen it happen before. I'm nervous to leave for 9 days. It's really hard for me to get away when I've got so much that needs attending to.

Yea! @marshallsmyth is back! Glad you found a good deal on a generator. I am sure with you running it so often, it will help keep it in good working order. If they sit around unused for too long, that's when they get crudded up and won't run when you do need them. We try to remember to start ours up at least once a month.

Yeah, I hope ol' Milo (the kitty) gets a good report tomorrow. There's a mild type of UTI that they say will clear up on its own if you change their food and with time. There's another that may require surgery and a worst type that will kill them in 24-48 hours if they can't go at all (pretty sure he doesn't have that). I hate to leave him in that state, but I know of a good place to board him that I trust will give him his antibiotics. They're good people, I've met them before. I'm also sad to leave my old dog behind. She's doing well with her cancer, but she'll hate having to stay outside for that week. She's a pampered indoor dog and is always by my side most of the day. I wanted to take her with me, but the house I finally got everyone to agree on didn't allow pets. I've got a neighbor girl checking in on everything for me while I'm gone.

I pureed 13 gallons of tomatoes today and put them in the freezer to mess with when I get back. Tried to hurry and ended up wearing a lot of it. I'm pretty sure there are tomato seeds in my hair.

Well, the cat fared well today. No obstruction, just needs antibiotics twice a day for a week 'til it clears up. The dog has to be boarded now too. One of her cancer spots is ulcerated and looks like it's getting infected. A week outside in this humidity would not be a good thing; it could get much worse. So she has to be boarded too. At least she will be glad for the A/C.

Everything in the world seems to be against me getting any r&r. I never go anywhere. Now I remember why!