Monday, April 12, 2010
Its tomato time.....
For those that have read this any length of time they know that I like tomatoes, a lot. Since moving to Schooner Creek I have had a running battle with mother nature in growing them. Last year I tried to raise them upside down. The concept was great, they always work on TV. I can honestly say that I did not do so well. Watering was an issue, to much sun was an issue. And squireels were a major factor. My Judy warned me this year that if I put one tomato plant along the main walk, I would need to learn to sleep in the garage. Since I figure that I'm way to old to learn to rest on concrete I decided to builds raised beds for my palnts this year. Wish me luck, read down and see how I did it.
Tomato Time
Pick an area that gets lots of sun. Most gardens like the sun. Measure your placement area then cut your 2x6's accordingly. In my bed because I was using a full 8 foot board I cut a center support to help hold the 8 footers together.
tomato time
It's easy to figure out how much dirt you need, just measure the square footage of the raised bed, then remember that on each bag of dirt there is a scale that tells you how much each bag will cover. In my case, I needed 40 bags of dirt. They weighted 40 pounds each and I had to move them by hand 3 times. Do that math and it will tell you to not let your teenage son get away.
To get square footage just multiply length of the bed by the width. If you are using inches remember to covert it back to feet. If that creates a mind warp, find a fifth grader and get your answers.
To get square footage just multiply length of the bed by the width. If you are using inches remember to covert it back to feet. If that creates a mind warp, find a fifth grader and get your answers.Tomato Time
The finished product looks something ike this, or exactly like this. I can only hope that the pursuit of the tomatoe is a lot more successful than last years run.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
From the Journal of Zeke McNamara #7
Or a wet rat, it was a toss up. She crept into the cave and stopped just out of the drip from the opening.
"Well, can you talk" Zeke asked
She just stood there looking around as if she was making sure there was no one else in the cave, Zeke put away his revolver and stirred the fire. He pulled the coffee pot a little closer to the fire to let it warm a little. She just stood there, she was wearing an old wide brimmed beaver hat with a squared off crown. It had a piece of the brim tore off the front right where she could duck her head and by moving her eyes still see. Her hair was red, not the brassy kind, the almost brown kind and it looked like a bird had been living in it below the crown of the hat. She was a little over five feet tall, she wore a red flannel shirt with bib overalls and miners boots that were three sizes to big. She was dirty, her face was smudged with black and her fingernails were caked with dirt. She was carrying an old cap and ball rifle like Yankees used in the beginning of the war.
"You hungry?" Zeke asked. Again trying to get her to say something. She stood at the cave entrance, watching every move Zeke made. Her eyes darted over her shoulder and she seemed to buzz with energy. Just at the minute lightning flashed and thunder rolled overhead. She jumped inside the cave and immediately crouched and pointed the old rifle out into the darkness. Zeke chuckled and said " Might jumpy are you?" She turned on him, her face strained in anger. her first words were, " You stay out yonder in a nuff o'these storms your chances of getting hit by lightning gets greater and greater. You'd be jumpy to if'n you ever seen a body after lightning hits it. My pa had an old sway back mare that he left tied to a plow, lighting hit that ole mare and took every bit of the hair off'n her. She was as pink as a newborns bottom, dead too." Zeke laughed out loud and ask again if she was hungry. She looked off into the night and said " I can eat if'n you got extry."
Zeke put the fry pan back on the fire, cut off several pieces of bacon into the pan. He reached over and poured a cup of coffee and handed it to her. She put her old rifle down, leaving it close, and sipped on the coffee. She made a face and swallowed. Zeke smiled again and reached into his pack and tossed her a sack of sugar. She added a heaping hand full to the cup and sat back to drink it.
"You got a name?" Zeke asked?
" My daddy called me Jude most of the time, my momma called me Judy Carol till she died. Snake bit her down in Arkansas, Daddy said it was the biggest cottonmouth moccasin he'd ever kilt, Momma lived two, three days. She told me to watch out for snakes, that was the last thing she said to me."
"Good advise," Zeke commented.
The rain outside increased in volume and the entrance was now behind a thin wall of water, most of it ran off towards the river. One small rivulet came in towards where Judy Carol had sat down, she got up and moved toward Zeke. Lightning flash and thundered rolled then echoed. Each time Zeke noticed that Judy flinched when it flashed. Zeke handed her the fry pan and she took the bacon out. He reached back into his pack again to produce a sack of left over biscuits from breakfast. She placed the bacon in the biscuits . Zeke noticed that she ate with the style folks do that have not had much to eat in a while, slowly enjoying every bite. When she finished the bacon she sopped up the grease with a biscuit and ate that too. Zeke let her eat with out much conversation. When she was finished Zeke asked " You live around here?"
" I live where I want" she answered" got me a good gun and I know how to eat off the land. Momma taught me a lot about what plants you could eat and what ones you could use for medicine. I get by, Pa is gonna find them diamonds then we will move out to California and eat high off'n the hog"
"So your here treasure hunting?" Zeke inquired.
"Never thought of it as that, I reckon we are, Pa he took off last week to get more supplies, he favors his coffee."
"Where did he go?"
Said he was going to Galena, I figure he went down towards Blue-eye, cause the trader down there will take pelts for supplies, fella up in Galena he prefers cash or gold. We ain't got any of that."
Zeke thought back, there had been a stranger reported to have been seen around the trading post. About that time Zeke began to notice a foul smell filling the air. He looked around for its source. It did not take him long to figure out it was the young lady. As she dried out it was easy to tell it had been some time since she had had a bath. The odor was as nauseous as a skunk he sniffed and scrunched his nose. The motion was not lost on Judy Carol.
" Alright Mister, I know your sniffing me and I'm fixin to leave, been a while since I had me a creek bath with soap. Thanks for the meal, I'll be leaving. She got up and took her rifle and started toward the entrance. She took two steps and the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. She ducked her head and stepped out into the rain.
"Well, can you talk" Zeke asked
She just stood there looking around as if she was making sure there was no one else in the cave, Zeke put away his revolver and stirred the fire. He pulled the coffee pot a little closer to the fire to let it warm a little. She just stood there, she was wearing an old wide brimmed beaver hat with a squared off crown. It had a piece of the brim tore off the front right where she could duck her head and by moving her eyes still see. Her hair was red, not the brassy kind, the almost brown kind and it looked like a bird had been living in it below the crown of the hat. She was a little over five feet tall, she wore a red flannel shirt with bib overalls and miners boots that were three sizes to big. She was dirty, her face was smudged with black and her fingernails were caked with dirt. She was carrying an old cap and ball rifle like Yankees used in the beginning of the war.
"You hungry?" Zeke asked. Again trying to get her to say something. She stood at the cave entrance, watching every move Zeke made. Her eyes darted over her shoulder and she seemed to buzz with energy. Just at the minute lightning flashed and thunder rolled overhead. She jumped inside the cave and immediately crouched and pointed the old rifle out into the darkness. Zeke chuckled and said " Might jumpy are you?" She turned on him, her face strained in anger. her first words were, " You stay out yonder in a nuff o'these storms your chances of getting hit by lightning gets greater and greater. You'd be jumpy to if'n you ever seen a body after lightning hits it. My pa had an old sway back mare that he left tied to a plow, lighting hit that ole mare and took every bit of the hair off'n her. She was as pink as a newborns bottom, dead too." Zeke laughed out loud and ask again if she was hungry. She looked off into the night and said " I can eat if'n you got extry."
Zeke put the fry pan back on the fire, cut off several pieces of bacon into the pan. He reached over and poured a cup of coffee and handed it to her. She put her old rifle down, leaving it close, and sipped on the coffee. She made a face and swallowed. Zeke smiled again and reached into his pack and tossed her a sack of sugar. She added a heaping hand full to the cup and sat back to drink it.
"You got a name?" Zeke asked?
" My daddy called me Jude most of the time, my momma called me Judy Carol till she died. Snake bit her down in Arkansas, Daddy said it was the biggest cottonmouth moccasin he'd ever kilt, Momma lived two, three days. She told me to watch out for snakes, that was the last thing she said to me."
"Good advise," Zeke commented.
The rain outside increased in volume and the entrance was now behind a thin wall of water, most of it ran off towards the river. One small rivulet came in towards where Judy Carol had sat down, she got up and moved toward Zeke. Lightning flash and thundered rolled then echoed. Each time Zeke noticed that Judy flinched when it flashed. Zeke handed her the fry pan and she took the bacon out. He reached back into his pack again to produce a sack of left over biscuits from breakfast. She placed the bacon in the biscuits . Zeke noticed that she ate with the style folks do that have not had much to eat in a while, slowly enjoying every bite. When she finished the bacon she sopped up the grease with a biscuit and ate that too. Zeke let her eat with out much conversation. When she was finished Zeke asked " You live around here?"
" I live where I want" she answered" got me a good gun and I know how to eat off the land. Momma taught me a lot about what plants you could eat and what ones you could use for medicine. I get by, Pa is gonna find them diamonds then we will move out to California and eat high off'n the hog"
"So your here treasure hunting?" Zeke inquired.
"Never thought of it as that, I reckon we are, Pa he took off last week to get more supplies, he favors his coffee."
"Where did he go?"
Said he was going to Galena, I figure he went down towards Blue-eye, cause the trader down there will take pelts for supplies, fella up in Galena he prefers cash or gold. We ain't got any of that."
Zeke thought back, there had been a stranger reported to have been seen around the trading post. About that time Zeke began to notice a foul smell filling the air. He looked around for its source. It did not take him long to figure out it was the young lady. As she dried out it was easy to tell it had been some time since she had had a bath. The odor was as nauseous as a skunk he sniffed and scrunched his nose. The motion was not lost on Judy Carol.
" Alright Mister, I know your sniffing me and I'm fixin to leave, been a while since I had me a creek bath with soap. Thanks for the meal, I'll be leaving. She got up and took her rifle and started toward the entrance. She took two steps and the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. She ducked her head and stepped out into the rain.
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