Eeek! A spider!

I know spiders are good.  They eat bad stuff in your garden and home.  But they could live LONG and HAPPY LIVES if they stayed away from me.

Spring and fall are the worst for these icky creatures.  They're either coming inside to stay warm, or coming out of the cracks on their way outside to find food after a long winter's nap.  (Except for the ones that show up in my kitchen, bedroom or office, who are immediately squished.)
If I'm outside, I usually let the spiders live.  (If they jump at me while I'm not wearing gardening gloves and working in the dirt, die sucker!)  There've been spider nests in my big rural mailbox for years.  I've turned a blind eye to them because I've never actually seen a spider in the mailbox.
Until last week.

Ooooooh! *Shudder*  This not-so-little guy was one of those squishy black ones that RUNVERYFAST!!!  When I'd open the box, he'd jump into the back seam.  I did not like the fact that he was there.  I really, REALLY did not like the fact that he was there, but figured if he stayed away from my mail AND ME, he might live.

But the other day, I got a HUGE amount of mail and packages.  The entire big mailbox was stuffed full.  And when I took everything out, there was Mr. Icky Spider.  And he didn't run very fast.  There, on the street, I whipped off my shoe and beat him to death.

Now, usually, killing a spider doesn't bother me.  But, as I said, if they live outside, they can live long and happy lives.  This spider wasn't in my house, and he'd probably survived out there in the mailbox all winter long.  And I killed him.

Gulp.

Now I'm annoyed that I feel so guilty for killing him (or her). 

Have you ever felt sorry for a bug?

With life comes loss...

Yesterday I lost a trusted friend of almost 29 years.  We'd been together through thick and thin.  In sickness and in health.  Through good times and bad.

Yesterday, my multi-speed Waring hand mixer died.

And, of course, it died in the line of duty.  It was hubby's birthday.  He prefers pie to cake, and his favorite:  lemon meringue.  I was whipping up the egg whites and my kitchen buddy suddenly died.  The pie turned out okay, perhaps out of respect for my old mixer, but the meringue didn't stand as tall as it might have if the old Waring had lived just a minute or two longer.
I knew it wasn't well.  Oh, it hadn't been coughing up blood or anything like that, but for the past couple of months, it would only give me two of its six speeds, and I would have to mess with the speed control before it would start.

Before the poor thing even had an indecent burial, hubby was on the Internet searching for its replacement.  (You see, he's quite fond of Dr. Oetker's Mousse Supreme which must be beaten for nearly five minutes.  I think that's what might have killed the Waring...all those Mousse Supremes we've had this year--the light version, to avoid excess calories.)

I loved that mixer.  My brother gave it to me when I moved into my first house. (As I've mentioned in the past, he's given me most of my small kitchen appliances.)  Now I live in fear that the toaster oven and electric fry pan of the same vintage may soon kick the bucket.  My Waring hand mixer even lived in the box it came in from the factory all those years ago.  And, of course, you can't buy Waring hand mixers anymore.  Now Waring concentrates on bar blenders.

I'll get a new hand mixer, but it won't be the same.  In these days of planned obsolescence, a new mixer will probably live a couple of years and go on to that great appliance store in the sky.
But please, let's have a moment of silence for my late, great, Waring hand mixer.

( ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...)

Thank you.

Are you inordinately attached to any of your kitchen appliances?

First Find of the Season

After I wrote about the terrible moving sale on Saturday, I found an estate sale right on my street.  I had to go to the post office, so couldn't stop.  By the time I got there a couple of hours it was pretty picked over.  But I did find one tiny yellow casserole dish.  It'll be perfect for a small chicken pot pie.  (Cost?  $1.)

It was marked FTDD, so no doubt it came as part of a dish garden.  I'd sold many of these when I had a booth at the local antiques co-op, and now I have one of my own.

I love it!

April Showers?

The snow peas are now planted.  According to the seed packet, they take between 8-12 days to germinate.  To give them a head start, I soaked them in water overnight.

Now I just need some of those April showers to happen.

According to the Doppler Radar, the rain was supposed to hit more than an hour ago.  It looked pretty evil.  But no, a few drops fell and the icky clouds moved on.

What gives?  I need that rain if my peas are going to sprout!

Maybe I should do a rain dance.

Happy Easter!

Hugs from,

First Sale of the Season

I had to make a trip to Home Depot, and on the way I saw my first yard sale sign of the season.

Whoo-hoo!

Well, not so fast.

It was actually a moving sale and most of it was kid crap (as hubby and I call it).  Children's furniture, books, and toys, most of which was in sad, sad shape and should have been remanded to the garbage pail.  The few adult (as in for kids over 12--not X-rated) stuff was overpriced and not very clean.

What a disappointment.  I've been waiting six months for a yard sale and this was just so unexciting.  Still, I'm already looking forward to next weekend and hoping the local news rag is full of people in the throes of spring cleaning.

How about you?  Been to any good yard sales?

Heaven knows, I'm not the most successful gardener, but despite the tomato blight (and Mr. Groundhog eating 90% of my Brussels sprouts), I had a good year last year.  And this year I've decided to jump the gun on gardening season by planting snow peas.

Long ago, in a neighborhood far, far away, my parents were organic gardeners and they grew snow peas.  I must admit, in those days, I didn't pay much attention, but I did enjoy the bounty.  (All except asparagus, which they told us kids was "an adult vegetable that you won't like."  So I didn't.  Until my husband introduced me to it.  Now I realize there was a limited crop and my folks just wanted to keep it for themselves!)

I live along the shore of Lake Ontario and it isn't unknown for there to be frosts in late may, let alone early April, so the idea of planting now seems pretty foreign to me.  But the package (and Google) insists that these are a cold weather crop and into the ground they can go.

So, if the sun continues to shine, I will be out today with my little hoe and rake and plant my seeds.  

I can't wait to reap my harvest.

April Fool's Day!

Ugly fence

Now that spring is officially here, I've got a hankering to go out and play in the garden.  But the thing I see the minute I walk out the door is my fence. 

It's the world's ugliest fence.  It's chain link and about 40 years old and it's rusty.  I've thought about spray painting it silver, but thought that wouldn't be so kind the the environment and waste a lot of cans of spray paint.  I was wondering if I should just get a roller and go over it.  At least that might use less paint.

Anybody ever have this problem?

My lack of success as a gardener

I’ve always wanted a green thumb. Both my parents could produce flowers and vegetables by barely lifting a
finger (okay, hauling 50 lb sacks of manure might help them out a bit). They planted things and they flourished for years. I plant something and it shrivels and dies in days. (Or it’s eaten by bunnies, ground hogs or …
something mysterious we haven’t been able to identify. Probably an alien species sent to Earth to thwart my gardening abilities.)

Take for instance the once-lovely primrose I’ve had for a little over a month. The day it arrived home it was flourishing with big purple and yellow flowers. Now it looks like this. Did I water it enough? Too much?

Mind you, I have had a few successes, but I really can’t take credit for them. I inherited a rubber tree when a friend at work retired. It existed (you can’t call what my plants do “living”) in our dining room until all but four leaves had dropped off. With nothing left to lose, I tossed it out on the deck and forgot about it. It thrived on neglect and natural rain and humidity, thinking it had landed back in its homeland. I bring it in for the winter and it goes back to existing until late spring rolls around and the threat of frost is minimized.
Then it goes back to its happy lifestyle for another three to five months (depending on when fall arrives) until I have to bring it in once again.


My Christmas cactus never bloomed and looked ill when I tossed it, too, out on the deck last May. This year it’ll bloom twice. (Although this second blooming won’t be as magnificent as last fall’s.)  I find it amazing that I haven't killed it since it came in last  October.

On this first day of spring, I’m hoping the primrose survives. If it makes it, it’ll go outside (I’m having a novena said for it). I’ve also got another cactus that can go out on the deck. So far, it has a much better gardening success rate than me.

Happy First Day of Spring

Hugs from,

The fun of the planning

Wednesday was shopping day.  Here we are only days from spring and the "seasonal" section of the supermarket was all decked out for summer.  Excuse me, but we still have an entire season to go before we get to summer.

But the one thing I was eager to investigate was the seed rack.  For several years, I've been trying to find Kentucky blue (pole) beans.  I've only been able to find Kentucky wonder, which were good, but not as good as the Kentucky Blue.  Yup, the store had them, and I bought three packages.

I usually grow potatoes in a bin, but this year I think I'm going to put them back in the ground.  Instead, I'm going to try to grow leeks in the bin.  It's the same principal, you cover them up as they grow, so they'll grow taller.  This should be fun.

But the most exciting thing is snow pea seeds.  I've never grown them before, and they're a "cold" weather crop, so I can plant them in the next couple of weeks.  (And hope the rabbits don't get them.)

Meanwhile, Sunday I'll be talking about some other plants.  Stay tuned.

CONTEST UPDATE:  t was a very tough choice for who would get the giveaway pictures -- Hubby picked Gert's name out of the hat.  Congratulations!  Please contact me at ivybend2@gmail.com and give me your address so I can mail them out.  Thanks!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

A nice, BIG pot of soup

For a month or so, I've been saving the carcasses from our roast chicken dinners.  So much, so, that they were beginning to fall out of the freezer and bonk me on the head every time I opened it.  Today I figured, TIME TO MAKE THE SOUP.  I filled the big kettle with water and have been boiling the bones for hours now.

The whole house smells lovely.  The only problem?  There'll be far too much soup for our tiny freezer.  Mother to the rescue!  She has a full-sized freezer in her garage.

I am I the only one who makes enough soup to feed an Army?