Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day Weekend Garden Update

Saturday:

Weeded.

Planted beans (green and yellow), summer squash, and winter squash.
Had something pull up about 18 plants -- didn't eat them, just pull up and leave them. I seemed to save them in time. Sunday morning found one more, not sure if I missed it before or not.

Hauled lots of grass from the dump, plus I met a guy dumping a truck load of bags full of grass who offered to come over and dump them at my place :) Hopefully he'll make regular drop offs this summer!









Cheesy Asparagus and Flounder, with Strawberries.

Was based on a Facebook post by Janet about Aunt Eleanor making asparagus with cheese (she uses cheddar soup):


Sunday, May 18, 2014

Garden Update

Tomato, Eggplant, and Sweet Pepper six-packs went in today. Potatoes got their first hilling.



My kale and lettuce from seed is still quite small (so need to finish the cold frame for next spring!) so I sprung for some six packs of those too as a supplement:


Onions are looking absolutely fabulous!


Prepped the bed for the beans along the fence. Later this week or next I'll plant the bean and squash seeds.

Not exactly my skinny jeans but...

Well, the couple year old pair of jeans I was using for yard work finally blew out a seam from overwork yesterday.

Went into a bureau drawer and pulled out an older pair -- just a smidge tight, enough if buying new I might bump up a size to be safe, by they fit. The pair that finally wore out were 54/30. The ones I'm wearing right now, 50/30.

Edited to add: And I tore a massive rip in them. I'm going to have to check the mower, I'm wondering if there is something sharp by the seat I'm catching the pants on?!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

About flirting...

A mid-May picture dump...

I'm in the process of a garage re-organization. I rolled Papu's old work bench out, painted it with Rustoleum (brush on, not can...well spray can for the vise), got it back in and put an exercise mat on top to help protect it.


Didn't that little bread come out great? Remembered to mix in Carraway seed this time, 2 cups bread flour, 1 cup rye.


Vegetarian dinner -- my asparagus.


The Tulips I bought last May down in North Stonington:


And I went and got some more (also stopped at Agway for some more plants; I bought my main batch of Tomatoes at a little stand on the Pomfret/Putnam town line; looks like the person I went to last year in Plainfield is no longer starting their own :( )


Made a rhubarb-strawberry crumble. I think the sauce I did a real good job on -- cooking it on low-medium on the stove top let me use a sieve to drain out the water so there was no need for thickening. I think cooked a little more and drained like that it will make great pie filling.




Before the topping...I managed to eat half of that last night. Unfortunately I remembered this morning Rhubarb is a great laxative :D

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Sunday, May 11, 2014

First Big Asparagus Harvest! (5/7)

Delayed post...actually picked this on 5/7 at 6:30 and gave to Mom...and she and Ed ate them all for dinner that night!

I like asparagus, but in moderation (like 1/4th of this in a sitting!)


Thursday, May 8, 2014

Providence & Danielson Railway through East Killingly

The news today mentioned a sinkhole forming by the Acme Pond dam, and looking at the area on Google Maps it suddenly dawned on me the old "road" through the woods between the Acme and Whetstone Mills was most likely the trolley, as well as the causeway that crosses the pond between Acme and Bog Meadow Ponds:



This routing help shave the peak elevation of the line compared to having it run over present day Route 101. As it was they trolley operated with reduced capacity from Elmville (Route 12) to it's highest point here in East Killingly due to elevation gain the line had to make combined the voltage drop from their generators located in Rockland, RI (now under the Scituate Reservoir).

I believe the structure north of Bear Hill Road along Bog Meadow Pond is not the trolley line, but instead a dam to form another pond to the southwest of Bog Meadow Pond. I believe the trolley ran over Bear Hill & East Killingly Roads to present day RI Route 94 where it headed south to Foster Center (and on to Providence).

Saturday, May 3, 2014

And the first herbs of '14

Since I put in the herb garden last year -- was able to pick Oregano and Thyme to add to the chicken soup this morning!

The carcass was in the crock pot overnight. I bought this chicken at Wegmans and knew as soon as I picked it up they had injected it with water, looks like it made really nice stock, but I definitely like the Big Y chickens better (which aren't pumped up).