Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Smut

For anyone who may have noticed my absence – I’m back 

There have been…. issues plaguing me as of late.  By the end of the day I’ve been just too tired for computers and blogging.  I have a LOT of catching up to do!

The one good thing I do want to mention was the fact that I went to a good friend’s wedding a couple of weeks ago.  The wedding was held at the Meridian International Center – if any of you watch Top Chef, you’ll recognize the place from a few of episodes ago – how cool is that?  laughing  The place was beautiful and the whole day was perfect for everyone – I wish I could have stayed in DC a bit longer…

So, not dwelling on any of the crap I’ve been dealing with, let’s talk about smut.

I’ve never had much luck growing corn in my garden.  I usually get a few good ears and the rest are small or some kind of wormy thing gets into them, making them un-eatable.  It usually doesn’t bother me tho’, because I still have the stalks for fall-time decorations, so it’s all good.

But this year I came across something new…

Corn Smut  

 Corn Smut

I’ve been pulling the infected ears off the stalks and burning them.

Evidently it’s called Corn Smut.  When I looked it up to find out more about it and how to get rid of it, I found out that it’s actually a delicacy for some people!  blink

If you want to get the low-down on this morsel, check out this edition of Steve, Don’t Eat It!  from The Sneeze.  Just make sure that you have a barf-bag nearby before you start reading.

So maybe I should try to sell this stuff instead of chucking it in the fire pit?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010

Stuck With Extra Zucchini?

Keep August 8th open - it's the official Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night!

Plan ahead! The more imagination you have, the more fun it can be

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Oops!

I forgot yesterday was Wednesday… not so wordless, was it?   rolleyes  laughing 

  • I also forget to mention yesterday that I had stopped in the Dollar Store this past week.  They were tearing down all the back-to-school stuff and putting up the Christmas merchandise.  I swear, it gets worse and worse every year…

 

  • I picked up my truck from the shop today.  If the Check Engine light stays off until Monday, I can get my new inspection sticker.  If it goes back on, then the real fun begins  hmm   My prediction:  the light will go back on either tomorrow on my way home from work or Sunday on my way home from church.  We’ll see…

 

  • A lady at work brought in a picture of an insect that she had in her yard that she wanted help identifying.  It looked like this:

Megarhyssa macrurus female

Pretty distinctive, isn’t it?  The only difference was that bug in her picture didn’t have wings, but still, pretty hard to mix up with something else…

I have a bunch of the Peterson Field Guides, which I use a lot and for the most part, I really love the series.  Except for the insect book.  I haven’t found it to be very useful most times I try to use it.  This wasp – or it’s entire family – wasn’t even mentioned, which is very frustrating.  It’s hard to find something that isn’t there! 

Many entries that are there aren’t very helpful, like this example:

“Some stink bugs are rather plain-colored, brownish or grayish, but many are brightly colored.  Although most of them are plant feeders, some are predaceous.”

Gee, that really narrows things down, doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I do love the Peterson books – I have a whole bookshelf full of them, most of them very well-worn – I just don’t recommend the insect book!

Oh – BTW, the insect is an Ichneumon wasp, which is a wood boring wasp.  Here’s a video of a live one – sound and everything!  She’s depositing her eggs, but the focus is kind of lost at the end…

 

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I Need a Money Tree

News sure has been slow around here and what there is, isn’t great…

  • It looks like The Ladies are starting to molt… I’m finding more and more feathers all over the place.  And Nugget has a big one hanging from her butt, but it won’t fall off yet.  I tried getting a good picture, but I think it would be easier nailing jello to a tree…  The Ladies aren’t really looking any different yet, but I’ve seen pictures of chickens that have gone through some really ugly molts.  We’ll see how nasty-looking my Ladies will get  laughing

 

  • The Jillmobile is in the shop.  So far, it’s costing me three weeks pay to get it fixed.  I can’t wait to see the total bill tomorrow  unsure   If it’s even ready tomorrow.  I guess it’s time to start thinking about looking for a new vehicle.  I don’t know how I’m going to be able to manage a car payment every month…

 

  • My tractor is broken, too.  It steers left, but not right and there’s a whole lot of fluid leaking.  I was able to replace the starter myself, but I don’t think that this is something that I can fix.  I need to find a reasonable tractor repair person somewhere - So far I haven’t had any luck…

 

  • My chainsaw is starting to act up, too – I’m hoping it’s just a bad fuel mixture  crossed fingers

 

  • Boy, it’s hot out  aaahhhhhhhh

 

Fear Itself