my plant orders have arrived

I think I might have overdone it with my tree and shrub ordering this year.

When our nice big pine tree blew over a few week ago, I went online and searched for "fast growing evergreens".  One of the results was a type of holly.
That seemed like it would be a nice change from all the conifers out front, so I ordered from Evergreen plant Nursery in Tennessee.

My plants arrived in a ham box - that's a fooler!

But they are nice plants and nicely packed. Each plant was bagged and fastened to the box with twist ties to keep them from moving around during shipping.

As you can see, I ordered a few more things than a Holly.  I am putting two hollies in place of the fallen pine...and there are three of another type of holly...and on the right there are two japonicas.

The taller plant is a Ginkgo tree.  That will be planted in memory of my husband's brother, Jim, who passed away early this year. Jimmy loved trees and planted dozens of them on his property. His Ginkgo was one of his favorites.

 Later I remembered that I wanted to buy a replacement for a Damson Plum tree that fizzled out not long after I planted it a couple of years ago.

It came from ArborDay.org so I went online to order one of those. Of course, I found more stuff there too...and they give free plants with every order.

Look at the difference in size and packaging. Those sticks poking out of the plastic bag on the left are the plum tree, four privet shrubs, a free red maple and 2 free forsythias (all bare root and dormant). In the back is a small bag with four boxwood shrubs.  And the largest thing there is a Crapemyrtle.

Now I have to figure out where to put all this extra stuff!  Some of the small items can stay in flower pots until they get a bit bigger.

Unrelated...when I was driving out of the driveway Saturday morning, I glanced over at the front porch, checking for packages. 

Instead I saw one of those Black Vultures standing at the front door...just like he was waiting for someone to let him in!

I tried to back up and get a better photo of him but that made him nervous.

I can't imagine what he was doing there.  He hasn't been back that I have noticed.

Joella's Hot Chicken

Chopper has been telling us about a new fried chicken place that he tried. He thought we might like it too, and offered to bring some over.

It is Joella's Hot Chicken.
 They say their chicken is "Nashville style sweet hot chicken".
They have six levels of "heat" you can choose from...ranging from "not hot" to "inferno"!

I asked him to bring just a single dinner over so we could all have one piece to see how we liked it.

That's a half chicken dinner (and a chicken tender too) and two side dishes...broccoli slaw and black eyed pea salad.

We liked the chicken but it was definitely pretty greasy. They had two slices of white bread in the bottom of the box to absorb grease and it was saturated. One piece is okay but I think if you ate very much of it, you would get an upset stomach.

The chicken tender was good and not so greasy. The side dishes were really good. We had never had black eyed pea salad...it had a tangy vinegar base...fresh tasting and different. 

We were having Kroger fried chicken for Sunday dinner, so we had plenty more chicken to eat besides the Joella's chicken.

We also had mashed red skin potatoes, gravy, Pillsbury crescent rolls, caesar salad, and creamed corn.

It has been years since I've fried chicken at home (besides tenders).  Mine never came out very good and it made a huge greasy mess in the kitchen. I vowed never to do it again!

Well, I can't show you the dessert we had. I was doing a trial run for the chocolate dessert contest at the county fair next month.

I either need to change up some of the ingredients in the concoction I made - or switch to something different. 

 Actually, I'm not even sure if they will have the contest this year.  But, I have willing testers for the recipes I try, so might as well keep trying to come up with something yummy!

what I've been reading

"Trespass, living at the edge of the promised land" by Amy Irvine.

This book is a memoir, which are usually my favorite kind of books, but this one was depressing because of the author's insistence on being unhappy.

Her story begins a few weeks after her fathers death by suicide. She doesn't mention her age at the time but I'm guessing mid to late thirties. 

Feeling disconnected and restless she moves to Utah with her patient and understanding boyfriend.

Both work for a wilderness preservation organization, and part of her boyfriend's work includes inspecting public lands to see if it's being improperly used.

Because of this they do lots of hiking and camping...in beautiful and unspoiled red rock canyon country.

The author describes the scenery without one iota of joy or enthusiasm.

She can't be happy there because surely it will eventually be ruined by humans.

She can't be happy camping at Lake Powell because she was with her grandmother the first time she saw the lake and now her grandmother is dead.

She can't be happy with any social activity, because they are in Mormon country and she is no longer a practicing Mormon.  She wants to be accepted but is rude and defensive when others inquire about her beliefs.

She gets pregnant, and though it's what she wanted, she spends her days in a dark cellar, sleeping and not answering the phone.

She and her boyfriend get married and that seems to make her unhappy too.

So why did I continue reading this book? There were just enough interesting parts to get me through it. 

 Ms Irvine wrote some interesting history about the original natives that once lived in the area.

Also about her own family history - an ancestor who was with the original group of Mormons who made their way to Utah and started a community there.

She described the struggles of the wilderness preservation organization...trying to protect land and artifacts from being plundered and misused.

I have to say Ms Irvine is a good writer...but a little too far "out there" sometimes.

I know people get depressed, but her story would have been so much better if she didn't drag the reader into her depression as well.

where have all the flowers gone?

Remember that song by Peter, Paul and Mary?

Where have all the flowers gone?
The deer have ate them, every one...

Oh wait, that's not how it goes.

And he didn't really eat very much - just a bite or two here and there.

Here's what he was snacking on, the Weigela there on the left. In the middle is a Nishiki Willow and my large purple Iris on the right.

Earlier this week, it was raining while the sun was shining.  I was watching for a rainbow - the conditions were right.

Suddenly one just materialized out of nowhere!  

While I was watching, a second rainbow started taking shape above the first one...but it disappeared  without becoming really bright. Can you make it out in the photo?

I zoomed in a bit to show how bright the first one was near the bottom.   Really remarkable, and much better to see in person than these dinky camera images. 

Within a few minutes it faded away nearly as fast as it showed up.

I started wondering if anyone can ever see both ends of a rainbow, so I Googled it, and yes, it happens...and furthermore, pilots can sometimes, but rarely, see a full circle rainbow from the sky.

Amazing.

show and tell at Quilting Bees

It was meeting day for Mt. Washington Quilting Bees and a lot of the ladies had projects to show off.

First, let me show you Linda's Sunbonnet Sue and Sam quilt.  She wasn't bringing it for show and tell...she brought it so she could thread-baste the layers together, using a few tables pushed together in our meeting room.  

All the Sues and Sams have different fabrics for their outfits - so cute!

Linda has sort of a funny story about this quilt.

She started it as a gift for her daughter's high school graduation...and, let's see...her daughter is now (ahem) 35!

Sometimes it just takes awhile to get around to things.  And Linda has been busy sewing, and hand quilting, baby quilts for all her grandchildren in the meantime.

She had that big quilt basted quickly. It's like her hands just know what to do automatically, while she is chatting with the rest of us.  She will be hand quilting this one too.

Bernadette brought in a quilt top she has finished  - piecing and applique.  Fresh spring time colors!

Benita brought in a quilt top she found for $5 at a yard sale. Sort of a rescue really. She has been re-stitching parts of it and getting seams straightened and reinforced.

Judy brought in her "America the Beautiful" quilt. Several of us (including me) started making one of these about two years ago. Judy is only about the second or third one to finish. She said it's her most favorite of all the quilts that she's ever made.

Lois showed this bright and cheerful quilt. She has a business as a long-arm quilter, so a lot of her sewing time is taken up with quilting other people's quilts.  She was happy that she was able to finish up a quilt of her own!

Diane's quilt is adorable! You have to see it in person to see all the special touches she has added...wool applique, button eyes for the frog and the bird, sparkly beads and more.

She gets more and more  creative and artistic all the time.  I didn't ask her if she would be entering this one in the state fair this year...but it looks like a winner to me!

It's always so inspiring to see such talent and skill.  It makes me want to go home and start sewing right away.

Lucky for me it was a cool rainy afternoon - so that's exactly what I did!

got the arbor up

I did get my arbor put into place.

I had mentioned these anchors that had to be pounded into the ground, The corner posts of the arbor slide over the angled metal anchors and are held in place with screws.

Be careful measuring where to place the anchors!

Hammer them in to the ground...using a piece of wood in between to prevent the metal from getting smashed and bent.

Then you set the arbor in place. If you did a good job measuring - all the corner posts will slide right down on to the anchors.   

No photos of that step...I was holding an arbor, man!

Now you lift and push and check for level - front to back...

and side to side...Then put a few screws in to hold it in place.  

(I will be removing those fence boards too...when I get around to it.)

We can see it from the pool area....

The whole reason I started thinking about buying an arbor was so my hops vine would have some support.

I tied some twine from bottom to top and looped the longest part of the vine around it. We'll see how it does.   I had mentioned here before that the hops vine would not climb that plastic mesh I had stapled to the fence post.

  If it doesn't like this arrangement, it's just out of luck.

Now, here's the rest of the story on that arbor....

When I ordered from Amazon I chose the arbor in a "mocha" color. It was a light grayish tan and I thought it would look better with our old ugly rustic fence boards.

When I first opened the box with the arbor pieces in it, it was late afternoon. The pieces were lighter than I expected but I thought it was just the angle of the sun making them look light.

Well, as I got more of it put together I realized it wasn't "mocha" at all.  It was white....like "is someone getting married over there" white.

I contacted Amazon, and they apologized and wanted to exchange it for me.

I told them I wasn't sure if it would come back apart and fit back in the box. I also said I would be satisfied with credit for the price difference (mocha was more expensive)...and also an additional discount since I was saving them the expense of shipping this one back and sending another one...and I pointed out that this white one probably couldn't be resold anyway.

Well guess what?  They refunded all of my money.    A free arbor.

Amazon is a top notch company.

I still wish I had the "mocha" color, though. I even thought about buying some of that spray paint for plastic. The white is just too bright.  Maybe once the vines grow over it, it will look more natural.

German potato salad

I haven't made German Potato Salad in years.  The last time I made it, was using my husband's mother's recipe.
Hers was always so good, but when I made it, it just didn't taste the same.

This time I looked around online and found several recipes that were all pretty much alike - all with good reviews.
This is my version...

German Potato Salad
8 - 10 medium red potatoes
7 - 8 slices bacon
1 large onion, finely diced
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
pepper
1 tsp. celery seed
parsley flakes

Slice potatoes about 1/4 inch thick. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer  until potatoes are tender but not breaking apart.  This won't take long so keep an eye on them. Drain and set aside.

Fry bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.

Keeping bacon grease hot in the skillet, add diced onions and cook until onions are slightly brown.

Add vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper, celery seed, and parsley to the onions. Stir and simmer until sugar is dissolved.

Pour this mixture over potatoes. It will look like it's too much liquid - but the potatoes will gradually absorb it.

Toss gently.   This potato salad is best prepared a day ahead and refrigerated overnight...then reheated just until warm. 

I like to wait until just before serving to crumble the bacon and stir it in - so it doesn't get soggy.

We had this for Sunday dinner, along with Sadler's beef brisket, Sister Schubert's dinner rolls, cauliflower casserole and deviled eggs.   Not a green vegetable in sight!

Only 3 of us for dinner this week.    Later, cookies for dessert (no photo, and they were all sent home with Chopper and Sasquatch.

Rainy weekend. I went to a plant sale in the extension office parking lot on Saturday morning.

Lots of flowers, tomato plants and other bedding plants. Also garden art and so forth.

I didn't buy any thing but enjoyed looking at all the goods.