#61: Eight years of freakishly fun tours...and yes, he's still the one!

[luckiest1]

Well we had our BBQ no problem, food was good, everyone loved it. Didn't start to storm until near 8 pm and then it stormed like crazy. Scary wind, thunder and lightening. Luckiestdaugher and her friends had been camping and they had left their site set up when they came to dinner, so they rushed back when the clouds came in, trying to beat the storm and tear things down. Unfortunately they didn't make it so they will need to set all the wet stuff up in the yard today to let it dry out.

[aikim]

14 Days (two weeks!) until the DDD Discussion Panel!

21 Days (3 weeks) until Clay is on DDD!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[aikim]

Hope everyone is having a nice relaxing day! Hubby has been working on his truck today..he has a 1970 Chevy pick-up truck and that is his baby...nothing he likes better than tinkering with it!

Fear You might want to scroll through the next part..might not be good for your diet!

Just took a fresh blueberry pie out of the oven. Went to the Farmer's Market this morning and the blueberries were just calling to be made into a pie. I love making fruit pies in the summer.

Hint for any of you pie makers..I always had a problem with my pies being runny..the filling just never seemed to thicken up no matter how much corn starch or flour I used..I decided to try cooking the filling ahead of time and that did the trick. I put the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and a little water in a pan and cook until bubbly and then add my corn starch to thicken. Let it cool and then put in a piecrust..end up with a very thick filling and no soggy bottom crust. Have done this with apple pie filling too and filling for rhubarb/strawberry pie.

My Happy Homemaker tip of the day!

Kim

[FearofH2O]

Sounds yummy Kim! Have no fear I made fresh peach ice cream today. I'll probably have some tonight. The peaches I got in my local produce box were calling out to be made into something. Mr. Fear made some gazpacho with the jalapenos, green peppers and tomatoes also. Yesterday I made some zucchini bread but froze it.

[aikim]

Sounds yummy Kim! Have no fear I made fresh peach ice cream today. I'll probably have some tonight. The peaches I got in my local produce box were calling out to be made into something. Mr. Fear made some gazpacho with the jalapenos, green peppers and tomatoes also. Yesterday I made some zucchini bread but froze it.

Don't you just love summer time..I love being able to go out into the garden and pick fresh greens for supper...can't wait until I have some beans to pick. Tomatoes are coming in and I have been picking basil like crazy!

Kim

[Carolina Clay]

Happy July 4 Weekend!

The new Carolina On My Mind blog is celebrating July 4 with rewinds of Clay's Capitol 4th performance ( Yollie950's montage), recollections (xxx4clay plus six others) of the Frisco festivities that launched the 2007 SRHP Tour, with graphics by AmazingCA, A Beautiful Mind, Ashes, CLAYPERFECT, and Fountaindawg.

Enjoy the blog, but also be sure to read the comments. This one posted earlier today is what it's all about:

Thank you so much for posting this! I haven't seen this yet and it has me in tears. My children and I are celebrating alone this year since my husband is in Afghanistan and all 3 of the songs on this were spot on as for the way we feel. My kiddos go around singing Measure of a Man all the time b/c they say it is "daddy's song". Just thought I'd say thanks and have an awesome 4th!

The blueberry pie sounds yummy, aikim! Reckon you could post some slices for everyone?

Wishing all a very special July 4!

Caro

[aikim]

Caro That comment sounds like it came from the fan that I posted about. Very touching!

Kim

[luckiest1]

Ok maybe this doen't elicit the same response as the pies, but I made a batch of beet ketchup this weekend. I have to stay away from dairy and anything that is not low fat, so pies are not in the cards for me anymore. But my garden is going crazy and I've been eating swiss chard almost every day. The zucchini is starting to grow and will be ready to pick any day now, as well. The herbs are doing so well, and I love going out the door to grab mint, oregano, parsley, cilantro, thyme, sage or rosemary whenever I need it.

Happy July 4th to all who celebrate! For me, it's back to work.

[FearofH2O]

luckiest and aikim, I would love to read some gardening info and tips from the both of you. More than half my yard is wooded and the remaining part has many trees, therefore I can only plant a small vegetable garden in my front yard (raised bed). Had lots of varmint problems this year and I think the soil is getting worn out.

Happy Fourth of July

[aikim]

Happy 4th of July!

Fear We live in a mobile home so have very little yard space so all of my gardening is done in raised beds. You do have to replace the soil often and add fertilizer. I try to rotate the crops in my beds every year so I am not planting the same thing in the same spot. Biggest key with raised beds is to water often..they dry out pretty quick. I usually plant marigolds around the perimeter of my beds, because they do deter bugs and critters because of their smell and they do look pretty. Only problem I have been having this year is with rabbits eating my lettuce. But I figure they have to eat too, so we share, LOL.

13 Days until The DDD Discussion Panel!

20 Days until Clay is on DDD!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

Fear, I don't really have a lot of gardening knowledge...I try to rotate my gardens so that I don't plant the same thing in the same spot twice. I have 5 different areas that I plant, three very narrow areas up by the house and then two larger areas in the yard that I have just dug up by hand and added black earth and fertilizer to. I have a lot of weeds out there, it's almost impossible to keep up with them. I should edge the gardens properly but I haven't got around to it yet. I've had a lot of trouble with birds eating leaves off my peppers, and bunnies eating everything but the stem off my bush beans. The peppers seem to be recovering and growing again but the beans are pretty much dead. Zucchini have to be the easiest thing to grow, you just plant seeds and they get huge, really quickly. Last year I grew butternut squash (same deal) but they took over my entire patio so I decided just to buy them this year. Did you know that the flowers from both zucchini and squash are edible? So are the leaves. Cucumbers are supposed to be easy too, but last year mine didn't produce much...my fingers are crossed this year, as there are lots of flowers right now. They like to climb so I gave them a spare tomato cage to cling on to.

I am experimenting with leeks this year; I planted them in April inside, transplanted them outside in May, and figure I won't pull them until September or October. At this point they are like my babies, and I worry about them with every storm we have....especially when we get hail. We got about 30 seconds of hail this weekend at the beginning of a thunderstorm, but not enough to do any damage, thank goodness. Let's see, what else is growing well? My seven different varieties of tomatoes seem to be doing good, there are lots of little green tomatoes already....I got them from the farmer's market, plunked them in the ground, put tomato cages around them, and I water them every evening. My beets are ok, I didn't allot as much garden space to them as last year, but I have maybe 8 golden plants and 6 red plants. The greens from them are also tasty, either in a salad (when young and tender) or wilted down, like spinach, when more mature. You don't need to do anything special to grow them either, they are easy peasy. I'm most pleased with my rainbow chard this year, it's so pretty and colourful to look at in the garden, and I love it in stir fries or just wilted down as a green on the plate. Herbs are hit or miss, I just plant them and hope for the best. They tend to bolt pretty quickly though, so I planted a few more seeds last week in the house, so I won't end up with no herbs by August.

[ldyjocelyn]

I'm very "hit and miss" regarding gardening. My husband made some raised beds for me a few years ago. I mostly grow tomatoes, squash, and basil. I put a pepper plant into a container this year, and it's taken off. The rest, they will still need some time, I'm afraid. I usually kill things, so I'm thinking I've done pretty good this year. (In the meantime, I love the Farmer's Market...)

Happy Independence Day!

[shortyjill]

Happy Independence Day!! (pretend that grey is white)

Went out visiting with family yesterday, a welcoming home for a cousin of mine who's been living out in London, England. I guess it was sort of a holiday celebration too since the cake had little American flags in it. LOL

All the gardening talk makes me dizzy. I haven't got the first clue on how to do any of that... I'll leave it up to landscapers to make yards pretty and the grocery stores to get my food.

[FearofH2O]

Thanks for the info guys. I have 2 composters so I always have some nice soil to mix in but I didn't have time this year. Maybe I'll do it in the fall. Don't know whether it's living in the South but I had no luck last year with Swiss Chard and it's one of the few greens we eat. Already lost one tomato plant and have another going from fungus or blight. I had to do three plantings of zucchini and cukes because of the critters. I think it's chipmunks. But after caging them as well as the tomatoes, they have started up finally. It'll probably be September before I get any crops other than the cherry tomatoes I put in a pot. Meanwhile, IU'm still working on the landscaping project I started last year.

We picked blueberries this morning before I went to the gym. Good thing they don't weigh you before and after. They are so yummy. Now I'm tempted to make a pie a la aikim.

[aikim]

12 Days until The DDD Discussion Panel!

19 Days until Clay is on DDD!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

Ah, Fear, I wish you lived closer! I have more swiss chard than I can eat. And I will soon be overrun by zucchini and tomatoes.

[FearofH2O]

And I would take you up on that luckiest. I can cook, sort of, but the growing is the hard part. Even my oldest son, who just planted his garden last week, says his going to town. He does live in Oregon, where most vegetables do grow well. But he must have the growing gene I lack.

[ldyjocelyn]

Y'all can keep talking about gardens; my husband and I are going to be remodeling my office/spare bedroom beginning tomorrow! I've got the paint color picked, so the first step is to take up the carpeting and paint. I've also got flooring picked out and purchased, so that will be later in the week. I need to get a new futon and maybe a new computer desk. I hope we survive!

[aikim]

I love remodeling too; so nice to see everything come together; we are still working on our living room, but lack of funds right now has put a temporary halt on any more remodeling. So in the meantime we are cleaning...i.e. decluttering. I have cleaned my bookshelves and taken two bags of books to the library and now we are working on the living room closet which has become a catch-all when you don't where to put something.

11 Days until The DDD Discussion Panel!

18 Days until Clay is on DDD!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

Fear, I can't keep a houseplant alive to save my life. Something about planting things outside, where the sun and the rain kind of do it for you.....well I do remember to water in the evening if it hasn't rained. That's about the extent of it. Maybe it's the good soil.

ldyj, good for you for remodeling. I haven't done much of that lately, although the house surely could use it. I tend to save those kind of projects for the winter months. It's amazing how life change with the seasons....I spend a lot of time outdoors right now, but once the cold weather sets in, the only time I step outside is the obligatory dog walk.

So some good news, for those who know me and my family situation.....my youngest son (Stuart) got a job! It is in the shipping and receiving department of a brand new store that is just setting up, called Tag. This is huge for him, and he starts this morning. Please keep your fingers crossed that it goes well.

[FearofH2O]

So some good news, for those who know me and my family situation.....my youngest son (Stuart) got a job! It is in the shipping and receiving department of a brand new store that is just setting up, called Tag. This is huge for him, and he starts this morning. Please keep your fingers crossed that it goes well.

Congratulations to Stuart. Is he really old enough to work?

Have some of us been Clay fans for eight years? Yikes! No wonder he thinks we are "enthusiastic".

I hear you about remodeling. We have a list we have kept for 20 years of future projects. We update it every five years or so. Of course I just thought of some major projects that will involve a lot of work which we can't do. I call these dream projects and they will never get done. It'd be a lot easier to move.

[luckiest1]

Yes, even though he doesn't look it, he will be 20 in a couple of weeks. He's been out of school for almost 2 years now.

[aikim]

New Clay Appearance!

According to a poster at the CB, Clay will be on The Talk on July 18th and there are tickets available. This poster is apparently a staffer on the show and joined the CB yesterday. Possible promotion for DDD!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

Woohoo!!!!!! I'll be looking forward to it!

Well, we got the carpet up, but it was a struggle. TONS of staples in the flooring -- that took almost 2 hours to deal with. We also got the walls prepped for painting. We just finished dinner, and hopefully, we have enough sunlight for us to finish at least half of the painting. I'll post pictures when we get finished....

Congrats to Stuart! It's been so much fun to watch him grow over these years luckiest...

[shortyjill]

Woohoo! I'm marking that down on my calendar soon as I finish writing this post!

Luckiest, congrats to your son on a job!

ldyj, good luck on your remodel.

I had a GREAT day! I ended up getting a text from my boss saying the building's A/C was going to have some maintenance today, so maybe I shouldn't come in. I reminded him that my friend (and one of his former students!) was going to come downtown with me. We ended up making plans that we'd go down anyway and she can see the space since I have keys, and just make a day out of it. We did pretty awesome, I'd say! We saw the gallery, stopped in at the Welcome Center, went to Campus Martius park twice, Compuware 3 times (LOL), the Spirit of Detroit statue, checked out the Guardian Building (it's sooo pretty inside, I don't think pictures can do it justice) and ended up meeting a friend of ours for a Thai food lunch. We met up with my boss to get my parking validated at the end of our downtown adventure and headed up Woodward to the Detroit Institute of Arts where we easily killed almost an hour and a half before they told us they were closing! And we still had over 30 minutes on our meter! But oh well... we definitely want to do it again. We didn't get to Hart Plaza or the Riverwalk, which should be next on our list along with the Science Center and the zoo. And yes I got a nice rosy burn on my cheeks and shoulders, since we thought it was going to rain. It ended up being a gorgeous day!