What The Fish?

Today has been productive, as was yesterday. This reminds me of a quote I read: "You can be sore tomorrow or you can be sorry tomorrow. You choose." Good words, I keep reminding myself of them--among others, of course. This could have something to do with why I have been keeping some of the best bits of wisdom that I have found on yet another of my Pinterest boards, called "Quips & Quotes".

Though I have gone a few times since then, in accordance with the idea of those words I went out for a bike ride to check out more of the flooding--trust me, riding your bike on the road with minnows swarming in the shallow water all around you is a neat thing. Though I have many, many sets of pictures (picture pack rat, remember?) from just that trip, I want to share with you one of the stranger sets. Why?

Because... It's odd. ^.^

I do warn you, if you're squeamish, scroll with speed.

So I found this place called Reedman Park (one of many little ways to go by foot or bike down to the lakeside that is not private property) and peered around at all there was to see. Just before I left, I got my face out of my cellphone camera and actually did some eyeballing of the random flotsam and jetsam drifting near the shore. Some of which was now driftwood which held something... Kinda creepy. Looking down, I blinked, and literally said, "What the ---- is that?"

I moved it gently with a stick to see it better. 

Through cloudy dead eyes, it looked back at me. 

What the Fish?

(I swear I am losing my mind, it just occurred to me that I poked something dead with a stick and now I'm blogging about it. With pictures. What's next, film at eleven?)

The interesting thing is that though I am sure the flood has brought all kinds of creatures out of hiding (and potentially to their doom as was the case with this fish) I have never seen a fish of this kind before. Weird. My best guess is that it's a big bullhead.

I will be showing you more pictures from my little sojourn in the future. (Yes, these are the only ones that include something dead as the focus of the frame.)

Until then, be well--and keep your eyes open, 

you never know what you will see...

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte 

Positively Peppers and the Picture Pack Rat

No longer is it 'Potential' Peppers--it appears that I have managed to begin a small stock of Bell Peppers now in addition to my already well-established Kung Pao and Jalapeno Peppers.

So exciting!

but...

How am I sure that they are peppers and not weeds?

SPROUT POWER, that's how.

Check it out!

 So many sprouted!

 Up nice and close--you can see that they popped out of the pepper seeds!

 Wondering what was going on with the other pot, I meandered over and poked at it a little--and deep down just in the center...

You can just barely see the first sprout in the second pot (that was the one that I planted the whole pepper core in upside down) starting to come up just to the right of center between two little stick things and some old, old eggshell. Yay!

In other news, my faithful old computer finally bit the dust a few weeks ago--just after finishing transferring the last few of my pictures and songs onto my laptop. I salute it; but already I miss it--it was nice to have one that was just basically a big old brain that I could leave retarded amounts of files on.

Once I got them all transferred onto here I must admit that I felt better because I knew they were 'safer' on here--but not only did my computer begin to run slower than molasses in January, it really made me realize just how much... "STUFF" I have even in my computer, let alone in all of my physical pack rat places. Pictures from back when I got my first camera in 2008 up until literally today--36 GB spread across four 8 GB flash drives later, and I still don't have all of my pictures off this thing (didn't even touch say my Garden Chronicles or even any of my blogging folders, gigabyte help me) and now I am trying to remove hours and hours worth of video from my computer and put it on discs so it doesn't preside over my space.

And here I was thinking I could take my music off as well. Good luck with that happening any time soon, but at least I am no longer bogged down. I deleted 15.3 GB of... 'STUFF' and not only do I feel better but I think my lovely laptop is now far less burdened.

This, if naught else, is a start... 

Back to burning videos I go ^.^

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte

The Chosen Few: Secret Second Location Migration!

It is time.

As difficult as it was, the time had come for me to part with some of my plants by escorting them to the secret second location. The Tomatolets needed more soil desperately, and I knew that it was time to let them go to grow in the vast garden that I have access to but not at my home. Thus, I gathered up some of the subjects:

 Tomatolets, 

Jalapeno, 

Basil, 

Oregano, 

Parsley 

and Cilantro...

The chosen few.

....and into the truck they go.

 ...To arrive at the new home for the herbs,

 ...and free room to grow for the two lucky Tomatolets! They even have spiffy wire cages...

 Tomatolet # 1

Tomatolet # 2

Happy growing to my infamous subjects 

in the 'Secret Second Location.' ^.^

Meanwhile, back in potted plant country, I received a new 'Other Plant' from where the chosen few went to. It is lurking outside with its friends, and it looks like this:

If you're familiar with my garden, you will see it immediately because it is... 

Odd. 

If not, it is the pale plant on the right.

What's it called? I have no idea.

What am I calling it?

I dub thee...

The Rubber Plant.

Why? Because the leaves feel... 

Odd. ^.^

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte 

Potential Peppers

I'm really becoming a goofball when it comes to growing things.

Case in point:

The other day I was making stir fry (which was awesome, and yes I will eventually post that recipe for you in Rice Is My Friend for you) and chopping up a red bell pepper.

Simple enough, right?

 Not for me apparently. The seeds of an idea were sown...

Did I Google it to see if seeds like this even grow when planted? Nope.

Have I yet, even though I did this back on the 26th of June? Nope.

Did I remember the top of the pepper I had cored and retrieve it from from the compost?

...Yes. Yes I did. 

Did I take pictures of it? 

Yep, but something tells me that you don't want to see what the contents of my compost looked like at that time. 

Not pretty.

And so,

...into the sink with it.

There was another picture of this strange thing that I took that looked like psycho plucked poultry pretending to pirouette. This is not that picture.

 And thus, I washed the coffee grounds off and made a home for it in one of the pots of soil I had hanging around the table. The rest of the seeds that I harvested I put into one of my brown pots and covered them lightly, promptly watering them both.

After I covered my potential peppers with some of that soil in the container and watered them, I brought them outside.

So what has happened, today being the 6th of July and I planted these on the 26th of June?

Basically, I think I have created a great environment for weeds to grow and for the top of that pepper to decompose under the soil.

 See what I mean?

 Da Red Weed.

 Da Green Weed.

 Le shoot du Grass

...And the Shriveling Stalk.

Either way, seeing the fact that I did mention before that I kind of like seeing the mistakes as well as the miracles in other people's work, I figured I would show you mine. Who knows--maybe something legit will sprout. My problem now is that I have no idea if any of those weeds are actually peppers or just trolling me like my first sprout did back in the day. 

In the mean time, those are some pretty lucky weeds...

...For now...

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte

Easy, Gluten Free Any Flavor Taters Recipe!

BEHOLD:

THE EASY ANY FLAVOR TATERS!

Pictured above are the SPICY version of my homemade hash browns.

These marvelous things are something I create until there are no more potatoes in the house, at which time I make a pilgrimage to get more. The best thing about these is that they are easy to make and are much better for you than purchasing some frozen greasy things in a plastic bag from your local grocery store (don't get me wrong, every once and a while...) but this versatile recipe is well worth trying out at least once no matter what meal of the day you want to enjoy them as.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it is, as I mentioned, versatile: not only could you create your own flavor taters, but I have posted how to make them original or:

• Spicy 
• Salt & Vinegar 
• Onion & Garlic.

CHECK OUT THE RECIPE HERE!

Let me know if you try something else that works really well, 

I am always willing to explore new tastes on my taters!

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte

Cheers To The Plants

Updates... Updates everywhere!

First off, I added the new set of permissions to Dropbox in my Ghost of Android Market page--in case you did not know, Ghost of Android Market is a list I made of worthwhile Android Applications--and they are all FREE! ^.^

Next up, I added the last few days in my Operation Grow-A-Garden Chronicles, which is (again, if you did not know ^.~) a log of my no-longer-indoor garden that I started back in May. 

Finally, the rain has let up in this area--and now the forecast says it is going to get hot outside (37 degrees Celsius, 98.6 Fahrenheit) which I am quite okay with because not only will it help to dry up some of the roadsides (unless all of the snow up high melts, which means the floods will get worse and there will be droughts in the future--but they always threaten that every year) and help my garden grow with some sunlight that it needs.

The 'new infection' that I was worried about (which has spread to the Bumbershoot as well, pictured behind the other 'Other Plants' in the white pot) seems to have slowed right down with the reconfiguration of the other subjects, which suits me just fine. My significant other has also taken to playing 'Seek & Destroy' with every bug on my plants. The ants themselves--already dominant in chewing on the deck pillar behind the plants pictured above and... well, everything else and climbing up trees just to fall off again like a bunch of suicidal six-legged super bugs--have been playing carnivore and overtaking the earwigs now that they have nowhere to hide. I have also noted that nothing--and I mean NOTHING--eats the Broad Leaf Thing. Perhaps it's poisonous?

Other than that, I was actually able to remove two of my shower-ring-come-tomato-holder clips because of the direct switch in the angle and amount of sunlight (and therefore the growth) of some of the tomato stalks. These clips are hanging on the edge, waiting just in case of more rainfall--but all in all, I am quite pleased with my 'Hybrids' and all of the other 'subjects.'

Stay tuned, and cheers to the plants!

 ©reated by ŊetHerŊøte

Rain, Minor Migration & Tomato Acclimatization

With a lot of help from my significant other, the plants all migrated around some today in an effort to deter these munching pests. The tomatoes, all having drainage and reaching one heck of a height already, I deemed ready to move out into the full wrath of the weather. Of course, just an hour or so after this was all accomplished, the wind blew like crazy and the torrents began to pour from the heavens. I kept getting up and checking on my tomatoes (being the worry wort that I am) and sure enough after a good two hours of heavy rain one leaned towards the earth.

...I must admit that it figures that the day that I decided it was time to get all of the plants moved and finish truly acclimatizing the Tomatoes that it pours like crazy. Again.

I must also admit I did not take any pictures of all of the times that my newly moved tomatoes flopped over thanks to the heavy rain pouring down from the sky--no, I decided that saving them was much more important. They are still tethered together, but some of the stems that were not (and even one of the batches that was) flopped over. Struggling and failing to find string, I dashed around the house like a mad woman trying to think of something that would work to hold them up besides fishing line. Sure, fishing line may work but I don't trust it not to cut right through the tomato stalks rather than support them.

What I found was the shower curtain rungs that belonged to my old shower curtain--yes, same one with that waterfall pattern that has been serving as a 'dirt shield' and potentially harboring numerous pests beneath its fold. And yes--the pack rat strikes again. Seeking to cause as little harm or movement as possible, I hooked the hanging ones up to the lattice that is nailed to the side of the stairs. They are all now looking much better than they did during the beginning of the rain storm, let me tell you. Later on as the rain continued to fall, I meandered back outside and changed some of the positions of my 'tomato holders' and spun one of the pots that had some of the most troublesome tippers. Feeling better and seeing that the tomatoes themselves looked much better, then I took some pictures for you. ^.^

All in all, despite the fact they were not intended for this purpose those shower curtain rings are working like a charm. The best part is the fact that I am finally using them for something and that they are easy to change and clip whenever needed. Despite the fact this rain is beating up the shores of every lake and stream in the area, the world is bright and green and the drops of rain allow for shots like this:

...And that is hard to complain about. Other than that, weather like this reminds people that they should be enjoying the sun when it's here, not complaining about it--but as usual, it seems people are impossible to please and as variable as the weather itself. At least it gives us something to small talk about, I suppose. Either way, enjoy the earth for what it is: fascinating--you just need to learn to slow down and take a look. If you don't like what you see, change it. ^.^

©reated by ŊetHerŊøte