Cool, but no more rain - A couple of roses - Random thoughts

Let's get the weather out of the way. It is much cooler this week but, so far, no more rain. We are down 5 inches so far.

I milked yesterday and Willow is limping again. Usually one shot of LA 200 takes care of foot problems. I just had Oxy-tet 100 (half the strength) so gave her another shot. I think we need to make a town run and get the stronger solution....or load her and take her to the vet.

We neither have allergies to oxytetracycline so I won't hesitate to use her milk, but I don't think it will clabber with the antibiotic. I will try a quart to see....be interesting.

I checked the garden after milking and picked okra again and a few other things. I am appalled at the tomatoes. Lots of damage from the stink bugs (white scarring under the skins) but I am canning them anyway.

The cherry tomatoes are all volunteers from years past. The little pear shaped ones are from the yellow tub tomatoes I get at the local market. They are very sweet. The black cherries are from a tomato a neighbor gave me and the larger pink ones may be pink ping pong from last year.





The large tomato needs to ripen more. It is Anais Noire/Black Pineapple, a greenish black marbled tomato, very tasty. The cucumbers were still good. I did a couple of jars to put in the fridge just to test the Pickle Crisp. I wonder how long I need to let them set to detect the crispness?

Roses

This rose, Belinda's Dream, is a very good one for me. She has survived the onslaught of the killer J. Beetles and is returning to bloom. Actually she has been in bloom all summer. Now I must tell you she is planted at the base of a compost pile (behind the fence). There were still 1 or 2 beetles on the blooms.


and a single bloom up close,


The two tricky heirloom roses are bouncing back too. There was one perfect bloom on Baronne Prevost,


Random Thoughts

Yesterday morning was the first morning in a while that I stayed outside to do some gardening. I did weed the corner bed by the back door, trimmed back the spent hesperis and hoed up the bare ground.....thinking it might be a good spot to plant some fall lettuce.....right by the back door.

I didn't work long but realized that I finished feeling invigorated physically and mentally. That is what gardening does for me........so I am not quitting. I just need to get things to a manageable size. That will be the hard part. I feel so good when I complete a little project like that one. It has to be good for you.

I have several things I want to talk about, but this is way too long. I will list them to remind myself.

The two jars of trial Pickle Crisp Pickles
The Aloha Rose
The raccoon
Freezing okra
my self seeded trees (for Ilene to see)
My piggyback eggplant
Maybe the little backdoor area for lettuce??