A Saturday Morning Walk

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IT’S SATURDAY MORNING!!!!

After a great nights sleep, something I haven’t had in a while, I woke up brushing the sleep from my eyes and was feeling ready to get this day going. I did the normal things.. the normal routines of letting Molly out, feeding her and giving her her meds. After that I got myself some coffee and decided to head out toward the garden and maybe take a walk by the lake.

Molly was having no part of it. I asked her if she wanted to go but she ran over near the family room and hid behind our breakfast area table. If you look near the half wall just below the orchids, you’ll see her waiting they’re saying “please don’t make me go.” I did not and just I let her be. After the squash incident yesterday how could I make her go? LOL.

OK, so Molly stays inside. I grab my coffee and head out toward the garden to see what’s growing, what’s not growing, what I have neglected for too long, and what has surprised me making me think that I have a greener thumb than I actually do.

First I need to find a spot to rest my coffee cup. Over here will work! Right on one of these rocks will help keep the coffee warm while I poke around the garden a bit. I had to set these rocks just at the edge of the shed to keep that groundhog out from under it. It has worked so far. Fingers crossed!

Turning our attention to the garden, what do we have here? Well we have a patch of watermelon that I’m quite disappointed in. They’ve grown nicely don’t get me wrong. Heck, they even taste pretty good. Only thing is they’re full of seeds! I hate seeds. And the seeds are crazy big, crazy hard, and practically make up 20% of what’s on the inside of the watermelon. OK so it was a fail this year on the watermelon. At least the birds are enjoying them when I break them open and let them sit upside down or right side up or whatever, on top of the mulch pile. Within a few hours they’re picked pretty much clean.

As you read in my previous post, the squash are doing pretty well. We’ve gotten tons of veggies off of these plants and it looks like they’re ready to be picked again.

Take a look! Looks like we have a genetic mishap. We have a double yellow squash occurring. I doubt it will grow to maturity but we’ll see. Looks like it’s got a pretty good start so far. It’s sort of like those double yoked eggs that you get.. What a surprise!

The peppers are still looking pretty good. We got quite a few off of there and enjoyed several meals with them. I cooked some up the other night by slicing then adding cheese on top and grilling them. They turned out better than expected actually. The first few peppers that we ate, earlier in the season, had a very strong taste. They’re a bit smaller and pointier than bell peppers I have gotten in the past. It may have been a miss label by the nursery I bought them from.

The string bean plants are starting to go the other way. The plants look like they’ve been over exposed to the severe summer heat.. which they have. They are starting to look sort of wilted and dried out and some of the beans have become almost spongy and hollow. I might be able to get a few more off of here before the seasons over.

We are just now starting to get tomatoes off of the tomato plant. I sliced some up and grilled them the other night and to our surprise they were a bit sour. I ate them, but they almost needed a sprinkling of sugar to be bearable in my mouth. I’ll pick a few more and let them sit on the counter for a few days and see if that changes the taste. If not another fail and disappointment. Maybe I’ll get my garden veggie plants somewhere else next year!

A Walk To The Lake ..

I’m done poking around in the garden and I’ve decided to spend a little time down by the lake this morning. There’s a slight breeze picking up and it doesn’t look like anybody is out there yet. Usually I’ll see one or two fisherman or a kayak or two cruising the edges of the lake looking for wildlife and beauty. For the first time this year, I have also seen a few people on those paddle boards. Do you know what I am talking about? They look like an oversized surfboard that one stands on and uses a paddle to move themselves around the water. None today though. Maybe later on when they need a break from the heat.

The tiny ripples are dancing across the top of the water, and I can hear the slapping of tiny little waves at the waters edge. It’s quite a steep incline down to the water so I don’t typically walk down there. My neighbor cut a path down to the water for his boat, so I think I’ll take a walk down that today and stick my feet in the water. The green fence stuff is to keep the Canada Geese from making there way up into the yard. Talk about an animal that can poop! Oh My Gosh is all I have to say. The fence does the trick for the most part.

Flip-flops off! Please don’t mind my flip-flop tanned feet. It’s a terrible tan line I know. Hee hee.

The water is a lot warmer than I thought it was going to be. It’s pretty clear today too. I can see a decent distance before it gets sort of cloudy. After I get done stirring up things I’m sure it won’t look as nice for a while.

Just like the upper dry part of the bank, after you make it into the water it continues to drop off rather quickly. There’s a little bit of shelf here because of the amount of dirt that my neighbor allowed to runoff into the lake, but on either side it really drops off quickly. The deepest spot in this lake or close to 100 to 150 feet deep. I know this because I put 200 feet of fishing line on my real and dropped a heavy weight down to the bottom and estimated it.. close enough.

It’s very pretty down here. Very quiet as well. I feel pretty alone and enjoyed about 10 minutes standing here staring out at the peacefulness. The wind has died down a little bit and the water is starting to smooth over.

As I turn around and head back up the ramp to go sit down for a while, I noticed some blackberries growing at the waters edge.

Hmmmmmm.. I think I see a few that the birds haven’t found. I wonder how they taste? Maybe I should pick a few and sample them. I haven’t eaten fresh, natural blackberries in a while. These appear to be pretty small but I bet they still taste as good as the large ones you can find at the store.

Here goes nothin! Down the hatch it goes.

Well… It wasn’t all that bad. Just as I expected it to be. They were a little bit sweet and a little bit tart. A nice combination. The only problem is those seeds of darkness get stuck in your teeth and make you look like a pirate!

Arrrrr!!!

All joking aside, it was a nice experience enjoying those natural blackberries by the waters edge. Sort of brought me back to my childhood when I remember picking them and eating them right off the vines. You better be careful though!, Those plat stems have a lot of thorns on them, are really sharp and could poke the heck out of your hands and arms.

Lake Side Selfie!

I guess it’s time for a selfie. I HATE selfies! But I will give you one this time. Don’t expect them that often.

I made my way back up the ramp to the top of the embankment next to the lake. I found a nice shady spot to sit down and enjoy the view. The waters of this lake sometimes appear Caribbean-ish. The colors of the water change throughout the day as the sun changes its position. The sand that lies on the bottom reflects the sun back to the surface of the water, and since it is spring-fed, it appears bluer than most other lakes.

OK, one more selfie. Not my thing but I can’t resist since it is so pretty out here today. Really the only thing missing from this beautiful, relaxing scene is my pretty face… Ha ha ha ha. Here I am enjoying the view and enjoying my coffee.

I think the coffee mug deserves that time in the spotlight. So here it goes…

Time For Breakfast! ..

It’s time to head back inside. After spending about an hour out by the water, my coffee is gone and the day is beginning to heat up. I can feel the warmth of the sun shining through the tree leaves. I’m thinking it’s getting close to breakfast and Molly is now missing me. I’ll head in take a look at what we have to cook up and get working on that.

looks like we have bacon!

I’ll throw together some eggs, toast, cook up the bacon, and get started on the rest of my day. I don’t know what’s in store yet but I’m sure I’ll figure something out and will have a good time doing that. For now Molly is anticipating this breakfast as much as I am. I’m pretty sure she is since she was waiting for me as I came back to the house and watched every move I made while preparing our Saturday morning feast.