How to tell Scouts live at your house

You run an errand and come back to find a dead fall trap in your parking spot.

Time to check on the sleeping tomatoes

I took some pictures so you could see how it's going.  They are actually getting ripe much quicker than I expected them to.  The last few days we've had a small heat wave and we've been about 10 degrees higher than normal for this time of year, so I think that might have something to do with it.

I'm happy to report, though, that it's working!  I took some pictures so you could see how even in the same 'package,' they don't all get ripe at the same time.  You just take out the ripe/almost ripe ones and rewrap the others and put them back in the box.

I ended up with enough to do a small batch of something, now I just have to decide what the something will be!  lol

Confused the satellite guy

I got a phone call from a satellite TV company.  It went like this:

Him:  I'm calling from XYZ, I want to ask you about your TV service and tell you about our offers.
Me:  I can save you some time.  We don't have cable or any other TV service and aren't going to get it.
Him:  ...........
Him:  You don't have cable?
Me:  No
Him:  You don't have satellite TV?
Me:  No
Him:  Why not?
Me:  Never turned it on when we moved years ago because we were too busy and no one missed it, so it's stayed off ever since.  It's been over three years now.
Him:  (I can picture him quickly scanning script looking for ANYTHING that might apply to me) So, what are your favorite TV shows?  What would you do if you wanted to watch a show that used to be your favorite?
Me:  I do have a few favorites.  I watch them online, for free.
Him:  Online?
Me:  Yes.
Him:  For free?
Me: Yes, everything I want to watch, I can watch online.
Him:  Well, we have packages starting at $24.99 per month that include the major networks plus extras.
Me:  That's $25 more a month than I pay now.  Why would I do that?
Him:  Thanks for your time.


That was actually fun to blow his mind that way.  Not that I like junk calls, but if they were all cable and satellite folks, it would at least raise my entertainment level around here!

lol

Four and twenty black birds.....

Otherwise titled:

We have you surrounded!


The other morning the black birds descended on the area.  It was crazy.  This is the side yard.

Sorry the picture isn't too great, my camera kept trying to focus on the window screen.  All those black dots are birds.  They were in the side yard, back yard and front yard solid.  The other side of the house is the neighbor's driveway and I didn't get to check it before a car drove by and scared them off.

I was heading to get a picture of the front yard when the car drove by, so this is all I got a picture of:

It was pretty funny to see them all around the house like that.  Silly birds!

Oh! What do YOU do with turnips?

I forgot!  My friend gave me some turnips she had left at the end of the day yesterday (and some okra, but I know what I'm going to do with that!).  I don't think I've ever eaten a turnip.    ???????

She said I could slice them and batter them and fry them or she said I could boil them and combine them with some boiled potatoes and make a soup, which is what she usually does.  I'm guessing like a potato soup?

Help!

lol.

What do I do with these things?

Thanks!

Weekend

I'm sure you'll be SO surprised to know that I forgot to take a picture of the jerky after it was done.  lol.  Here's one I took after it had been in the dehydrator for a couple of hours.  I tried a new marinade 'recipe' (meaning I made it up as I went along) and it turned out pretty good.  Next time I'll add more red pepper flakes, though.

There was a small local celebration going on here yesterday and a friend asked if she could set up stuff from her fruit/veggie stand in the yard to try and take advantage of the people coming and going to the event and I said yes because it would be fun to hang out with her for the day and I know they are having a pretty rough time financially right now, so hopefully she'd make some money.

Then I decided, well, if I'm going to be out there, anyway, I might as well throw some yard sale stuff in out there and see how it goes.  I got up early Saturday morning and gathered up some stuff and this guy was on of the things I put out there. He was left in the house by the previous tenants and the landlord said to do whatever we wanted with him.  He's about five feet tall and in the morning I kept turning around and wondering who was walking down the hall towards me.  lol   He was about the 5th thing that sold, too!  

In the end, I made about $60 and my friend sold over $100 worth of stuff, so not bad for a last minute thrown together thing and considering the only sign we had was the one in the yard.

Small batch canning

I put up five pints of tomatoes today to use for soups and stews this winter.

I have some jerky drying but will have to show you that after it's done.