backyard wildlife

Three little deer came into the backyard one morning, and cleaned up the apples that the small apple tree had dropped. By the time I got my camera, one of them was already leaving. I am not sure if they are adults or not fully grown yet.

For the past few days we have had a single turkey coming up around the bird feeder.  A couple of years ago there was one that would hang around the yard and got to where she wasn't afraid when we would be out there (as long as we didn't walk toward her). Then we had some workmen around here for a few days and Miss Turkey stopped coming into the yard...someone must have scared her.

I wonder if this is the same one?

Sometimes the squirrels are afraid of turkeys and sometimes it's the other way around. That's a young squirrel in the photo below and he isn't confident enough to challenge the turkey just yet...he is keeping a respectable distance away!

 Below is a photo of Monarda that I planted new this year.  I was trying and trying to get a decent photo of a Hummingbird Moth sipping nectar from them...but of course it kept moving around and my camera was trying to focus on the flowers or rocks.  This is the best photo of the seven that I took.  I've drawn a red arrow pointing at the Hummingbird Moth.

Just to show you what it is, I snagged this photo off the internet...

not my photo

Have you ever seen one of these? They really do look like a tiny hummingbird flying around the flowers!

Here is more information about them if you're interested...click here

There are different kinds of them but I have only ever seen this kind in my garden. It's a Snowberry Clearwing.   Their larvae are big green hornworms...not the ones that eat your tomato plants, though.

Scalloped Tomatoes

This is a dish that we have more often in the cooler months, but I wanted to make it one more time before we start getting fresh tomatoes, hopefully in a few weeks.

Scalloped Tomatoes
1  28 oz. can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup diced onions (or more if you like)
3 or 4 slices bread, cubed
1 heaping Tbsp. sugar
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a skillet and saute diced onions until they are soft.

 Meanwhile, add sugar, salt and pepper to tomatoes.  I just stir it in to the opened can.  You can use a little more sugar if you want.

Add the cubed bread to the skillet with the softened onions. Toss and stir until butter is absorbed. Remove from heat.

(I had some leftover hotdog buns that I used this time.)

Spoon half the tomato mixture into a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with half the bread cube mixture...and repeat.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 40 to 50 minutes...until the top layer of bread cubes is lightly toasted.

We had this for Sunday dinner, along with gravy burgers, mashed red skinned potatoes, broccoli salad, peas, and Grands biscuits.

Oatmeal Scotchies for dessert.

I've never tried making scalloped tomatoes using fresh tomatoes. Of course they would need to be peeled and seeded.

Hmm, maybe better to just enjoy fresh tomatoes as they are, and open up a can to make this dish.

what I've been sewing

When I finished that Shimmering Stars crib quilt, I had every intention of working through my pile of stuff to be mended.
There is a pair of my husbands pants, included in that pile, that need to be re-hemmed. They have cuffs, so I keep putting it off.  He hasn't asked me about them, so I think maybe he has forgotten he bought them.
Oh well, it will be a nice surprise for him when I finally get them done!

But before I started on the mending, I wanted to catch up with this 2015 "block of the month".  My group that meets at the extension office is doing this one.
I had missed a meeting last month, so I had two month's blocks to sew (two per month).

Here are the blocks..

 And now here they are with the frames on them and laid out with all the previous month's blocks.

These aren't colors I would have normally put together...I was matching colors in that black floral fabric that I wanted to use up. 

I like it so far, though. Probably because it's bright.

Now, I will put this stuff away for another month and then get to work hemming those pants (yeah, right)

Quilting Bees summer pot luck

The Mt Washington Quilting Bees gathered earlier this week for our annual summer pot luck meal.
No meeting...just fun and games and a lot of food!
We invited another quilting group," Northeast Quilting Friends", to come and spend the day with us and share our meal.

The first event was a "yard sale". Not the usual kind of yard sale. We all brought in any quilting or sewing items we no longer wanted - marked with our name and a price - and spread them around on tables, where we could shop each other's stuff.

Looks like there were some good deals to be had...the cashiers were collecting lots of cash! (later turned over to the sellers)

Next, three of the ladies from our group performed a funny little song and skit. 

Then it was meal time. Take a look at all this food!

Here's the other end of the table... 

 But wait! Here are the desserts...

Notice that Bee striped tablecloth above?   My friend, Sandy, brought that in. (she's closest to the camera...or her arm and forehead, anyway) .. She is always busy as a bee, getting things set up and made nice for everyone.

After the meal we played a game to win fabric strips from each other.  It's called "Right, Left, Center" and it's played with special dice. When you roll, you find out if you pass a fabric strip to the person on your right, or to the left, keep it, or put it in the center (or kitty). You keep taking turns until all the strips end up in the center...the last one with fabric left, wins it all!

Here is Shirley, our president , about to lose some strips!

I lost all of mine,too...but it was fun to play!   Maybe I'll win them back next year.

what's in the garden

I don't think I have talked about our little vegetable gardens at all this year.

We have two 4' x 8' raised beds...one for each of us, although my husband is the official water-er for both.

This year Lonnie is sticking with his favorites - Better Boy tomatoes and some green pepper plants. He also planted two jalapeno plants.

We like to sit out there and watch things grow!

His tomato plants are big and healthy looking.  He did add a couple of bags of fresh garden soil this year...that's probably the reason.  I have some cherry tomato plants that aren't nearly as big.

We are a little competitive. He may have bigger tomato plants but I have harvested the first vegetable!

It's a Japanese eggplant. I hadn't even noticed it was forming.

 These eggplants are smaller and nearly seedless. Supposedly you can even eat the skin. I took a bite of this one - raw - the skin was tough but probably would be edible if cooked.

I also planted zucchini and cucumbers...some of the seeds either didn't sprout or were eaten right away. I replanted after a couple of weeks.

On the flower gardening front...I had picked up a six pack of Portucula (moss roses) at Lowes. They are such tireless bloomers and will re-seed and come back the next spring some times.

Apparently, bunnies really like them too....

I have had Portucula before and the rabbits never bothered with them.   

Is there any use in even planting these?

On a more positive note this Physocarpus, or Ninebark, is really looking good this year.

I have two of these wine colored ones (Summer Wine) and another that is supposed to be copper colored (Coppertina)  but I can't tell a huge difference in the leaf color. 

A close up of the flowers...

Those photos were taken before this rainy spell we have had. All the rain is good for the plants, but it makes the blooms soggy and rotten.

a little vent

It really is a little vent...the heating and cooling kind of vent. It's here in my kitchen, beside the stove.
 (I will explain these other things in the photo)

It has been a problem vent and I'll tell you why.  Years ago, when I got new kitchen cabinets installed, the kitchen was reconfigured and that vent was re-routed.

The installer confidently told me there was no need for duct work leading all the way to the vent...the cabinet bottom would serve to channel the warm or cool air on out.

WRONG!

The warm or cool air seeped on up into the cabinet above and even the one next to it.  We should have called the company back out...but time passed and we didn't.

I looked around the home stores for something I could use to channel the air without having to remove the trim and kick plate. I knew if I took it off, I would never get it back together, looking as good as before.

Finally, I just filled up the area under there with this squashy foam...except for a path to the vent.
That helped out quite a bit, but I wasn't really happy with it.

Here's what it looked like inside that vent opening  That's some of the foam still under there...and a bit of 1970's wall paper showing,

When I noticed a sheet of  stiff foam "project board" at Lowes recently, I thought I might be able to rig up something more effective. 

I had to cut it in strips small enough to pass through that opening...

First I made a top section and then cut strips for the sides...which wedged the top up tightly to the bottom of the cabinet.  It took a whole lot longer than what it sounds like!

The operation was a success. The air doesn't seem to be leaking out into the cabinets and these smooth boards won't collect dust and dirt like the squishy foam.

Of course, I put the vent back over the opening too.

Sunday dessert

This is an older dessert recipe and the real name of it is, "The Next Best Thing To Robert Redford".
That ought to give you an idea as to what decade it's from.

It's pretty good, though. Richer that you would expect.  My older son said it should be known as "Fatty Fat Fat Pie"...this was after he had eaten the nice big chunk I served him.

Lonnie requested that I make this again for his bible class pot luck dinner that's coming up this week.


The Next Best Thing To Robert Redford
1 cup flour
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
8 oz. cool whip
1 large box chocolate instant pudding
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
3 cups milk

In a small deep bowl, cut butter into flour. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Press this mixture into a lightly greased 13" x 9" baking dish.

use your butter wrapper to press mixture into dish

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Allow the crust and dish to cool completely.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and blend. Fold in about a third of the cool whip. Spread this mixture over cooled crust.

Next prepare chocolate pudding using 1 1/2 cups milk. Gently spread over cream cheese layer.

Prepare vanilla pudding using 1 1/2 cups milk. Spread this over the chocolate pudding layer.

Top with a layer of the remaining cool whip.

This is a "prepare ahead" dessert and it is better after being in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

Well, I didn't get a very good photo of a serving...I had to hurry because my family wanted to eat dessert!

For Sunday dinner we had Anniversary Chicken, jasmine rice, Caesar salad, green beans and rolls.