Entry for February 27, 2007 - Gardener of Habit...

We are all creatures of habit, or I know that I am. I shop at the same stores, eat at the same establishments, buy the same products, I even clean the house in the same way every time. Very seldom do I vary from my routine. This past week-end as the snow and ice covered the ground and the wind was blowing, I snuggled up with my stack of new garden catalogs. As I turned the pages and made lists and circled items with my pen, I realized that I was in fact also a gardener of habit. There I was, marking the usual seed packets of veggies that I plant each year. Even though my space grows smaller from the encroaching flowers, spring is not spring unless I have turned the soil and planted a few rows of veggies.

I think all gardeners have certain favorites that they wouldn't even think about not planting every year. Whether it is from trial and error, a recommendation from another a gardener, or for me, a tradition of planting some of the same seeds my mom grew in her garden, some varieties HAVE to be grown each and every year.

As I read over the descriptions for each of the seed varieties offered in my garden catalogs, most if not all gave glowing accounts of that variety. For a new gardener it would be hard to pick from the dozens of choices. I got to thinking that I am sure there are improvements. I know that some varieties I cling to, are almost 'antique'. I should be more bold, more adventurous, try new things, new seeds. I don't know if it is because of all the work we put into growing veggies in our gardens that we are afraid of being disappointed with a different variety. It is hard enough to try and grow anything with mother nature's fickleness, the bugs, plant diseases, and a host of other unknowns.

I think I need excitement this growing season, ...yes,... I think my veggie garden deserves an adventure. Whether it be just one new seed variety or several new kinds, I think this year should be a year for something new, some change. I am not sure if it should be a new variety of vegetable that I have never tried before, or if it should in fact be a new vegetable that I have never experiemented with growing.

Now comes the hard part, what to try?

I thought and thought on it and wasn't sure, so I thought I would blog about it. Yes, I am coming to you with a semi-serious blog (gasp!). Tell me your own personal choices, your disappointments, your favorites, and if you too are a gardener of habit.


Veggie varieties grown by this habitual gardener,....


Lettuce -loose leaf: Black Seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Oakleaf

Radishes: Cherry Belle, Champion

Carrots: Danver's Half Long

Peas: Laxton's Progress #9 (have also tried Little Marvel and Wando)

Beets: Perfected Detroit Dark Red

Onions: Usually plant sets. (Have tried Texas 1015Y plants. Plants only do well if we have a decent spring with moisture.)

Green Cabbage: Coppenhagen Market, Late Flat Dutch.
Red Cabbage: Ruby Perfecta

Potatoes- white: Kennebec, Cobbler.
Potatoes- red: Pontiac

Beans: Topcrop

Sweet Corn: Honey and Cream (have also tried Iochief, Illini X-tra Sweet, 4th of July)

Tomatos: Better Boys, sometimes also planted Beefmaster, Roma, Celebrity.

Peppers: California Wonder or Big Bertha (they seem the same to me, I can't tell much difference) Also plant Hungarian Wax, Sweet Banana, Anaheim.

Cucumbers: Burpless (Also tried Straight Eight).

Pumpkins: Conneticut Field, Jack Be Little (also tried Rouge V.F. D'Flanges- Cinderella pumpkin)

Squash: Waltham Butternut, Table Ace

Cantalope/muskmelons: Hales Jumbo

Watermelon: Black Diamond, Sugar Baby

Zucchini: Black Beauty, Spineless Beauty.



Some things I have also grown are:

Sweet potatoes - when I have the space.
Salad tomatoes (but I have yet to find one with the flavor of the bigger tomatoes)
Eggplants - the bugs love them more than I do.
Collard greens.


I know all of you fellow gardeners out there must have your own personal favorite varities. Is there something new you are going to try this year? Is there something you can't live without? Is there something new you have been wanting to try for a long time?


If that is so,.....then grow with me.... Let's grow wild.

Entry for February 21, 2007 - First Impressions

I was reading Cyn's blog the other day on the different blogs she had visited. She was shocked at the amount of pics of people who displayed body parts, graphic images, and contained a lot of "adult" content. I got to thinking how our blogs are an extension of us, how they convey to the rest of the world who we are or what we are about.

First impressions say a lot. I began to wonder what was the impression I was giving to other bloggers that stopped by my page. Once they saw my avatar pics, would they go so far as to read my blog and comments or would they blog on to other pages?. Would they automatically form an opinion just on what little they saw? Granted, a pic of a toothless kid with pink hair and freckles isn't that scarey, but it might lead some to believe I am crazy.... Just plain nuts. First impressions color our outlook, whether it be an individual or situation. I know at times I am guilty of it as well. I have blogged to other pages, seen a pic or avatar and then left not bothering to read any further on their page or leave a comment. First impressions leave lasting impressions that are hard to get past sometimes.

A couple of weeks ago I was spending the day shopping with my mom. We had breakfast out and planned our day of attack. We were going to visit a new store that had opened up in town. I am sure it is the same all over when you live in a smaller town, any new business that opens, causes a buzz. People flock in droves to that new business when it first opens for a couple of weeks, and then the excitement dies down and things go back to normal. So when that huge shopping giant Walmart came to town, my mom and I waited to shop there, we wanted to shop when it wasn't so crowded and busy.

We grabbed our carts and were off. I looked over the housewares, the furniture, music, and then headed over to the paint section. I want to repaint the kitchen but after 20 minutes of looking at paint samples I gave up. I wasn't in the mood to start painting yet so I shopped on. I looked and looked and compared prices and there was a time or two I put something in my cart and then put it back on the shelf. I wasn't going to be tempted to buy something I didn't need at the moment, so my shopping cart was empty as I headed out the store. The Walmart greeter had a huge smile on her face as I was headed towards the exit ...until.....she saw my empty shopping cart. Her smile faded, how could I be leaving Walmart empty handed? She didn't say anything to me, but her frown spoke volumes. I snickered to myself on the way out to the car and to wait on my mother.

I saw mom walking towards the vehicle, shopping bag in hand, and a big frown on her face....uhoh. I winced, she wasn't happy, she was mad. She opened the door and threw her package in, and exclaimed she had never been so humiliated in her life. I asked what was wrong and she told me of her experience. She had gotten a few groceries, just a few dollars worth, she didn't need much and was at the check out stand. When the total was rung up for her purchases, she handed over to the clerk a crisp new twenty dollar bill she had just gotten at the bank. The clerk eyed the new looking bill, then eyed my mother. She called over another person, they looked over the money. She waited in line as other people were waiting to make their purchases as well. The clerk said nothing, but ran the numbers to check them, to see if it was fake, her new twenty dollar bill. My mom got redder as more people were waiting. There was no apology, there was no explanation from the clerks,.... there was just a purchase being made by a senior citizen for some eggs, milk, and dish soap.

I looked at my mother, trying to see what the clerk must have seen in her...sixty-eight years old, just barely over five foot in height,.... yes...definite criminal material in the making. Being the good daughter that I am, I smiled sweetly and said, "So how long have you been making the counterfeit money Ma Barker ?".... She was not amused. Her shopping day was spoiled. She was ready to go home.

Walmart hadn't made a good impression on my mom... Just the opposite in fact. Trying to make a purchase and pay in cash evidently was frowned upon. I told her that it had finally happened, money wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

She was just trying to be practical. She didn't want to write a check for such a small amount or put it on her credit card, but instead she was made to feel like a criminal on her very first shopping visit.


Mom is still ticked at Walmart,...she hasn't gone back to shop, and I have a feeling it is going to be a very, very, long time when... or if.... she ever does again.


Sometimes, those first impressions go both ways....

Entry for February 14, 2007 - Valentine Cards

Well it has arrived, that holiday for the eternal romantics...Valentines day. It's a day second only to April 15th, on being dreaded by so many. If you start to think long enough, there are many parallels to tax day and Valentine's day,.... but I won't go there, for which I am sure you are all thankful. I have to admit I was on tenderhooks, biting my nails,..... leery..... encase Vero was going to proclaim this past week as romance week,... I didn't want to be caught left holding the bag again in the produce aisle.

There have been a few blogs on love poems, songs, and different things on the history of valentines. I thought of doing a blog on all kinds of chocolate and then I talked myself out of it. I was going to post recipes of decadent chocolate delights and then I got to thinking....It was bad enough that some of you are feeling down, or feeling alone on this day, and to post on chocolate (if you didn't have any in the house) was like rubbing salt in the wounds. It's bad enough with all this mushy valentine stuff, but to be without chocolate as well....it was going too far,... it was too much,.... it just wasn't fair! So I will save you the chocolate blog for another time. .....I know...it's shocking isn't it?

When people mention Valentine's Day, a lot of people think chocolate, flowers, jewelry, lingerie, all kinds of things that are exchanged. When I think of Valentine's Day,...I think of cards. No, not those fancy overpriced Hallmark cards, but those cheap boxes of colored bits of paper with the corny sayings. The kind of cards you gave out as a kid.

I grew up in a rural area and went to a small country school. Valentine's day meant bringing an old shoe box or kleenex box to school for your valentines. It was colored and covered in paper and a slot cut in the top of the box for cards from the other students. The boxes would be placed along the windowsill in a long line, like a train. You couldn't help but notice the bright colors when you went to sharpen your pencil and daydream out the window.

I remember my mom getting us boxes of cards to hand out to our schoolmates. At night, I would lay out all of the cards and carefully look each of them over. I had to give the right card to the right person. I couldn't give just anyone a card that said on it..."I like you"... or "Be Mine"...I sorted out the bigger and best cards to give to my closest friends. If I had my choice, there was always a couple of kids, boys... in fact,.... that I didn't want to give a mushy card to. After all I didn't want the recipient to actually think I LIKED them.... Boys were icky back then.... But my mom would insist that I send a card to everyone in my class. So I would pick out some non-descript card with the least sentimental note on it, and painstakenly scrawl my name on the back of the card. The week before Valentines' Day we would stuff those boxes at school with our cards. Early in the morning, we would shake our boxes to see if there was anything in them, and on Feb. 14th we were allowed to take our boxes to our desks and open them up and look at all of our cards.

Some cards would have glitter on them, or they would be mushy, or be silly. A few of the cards in the white paper envelopes would contain red suckers or boxes of the hard conversation heart candy. How lucky you felt to have so many cards and some with candy! ...You would also find that you got a card from everyone in your class. I guess those kids heard the same lecture from their moms on card giving as well, or maybe moms just knew back then, that everyone should get a card... Everyone deserves a card.

Once in a great while, you would find a card that was too big to fit in the box, so it was tucked under your box or behind it. Everyone knew when you got a big card, it was out of the ordinary, big cards cost extra. As you carefully opened your big card, there would be a small crowd around you, they were almost as anxious as you were to find out who the card came from. Your face would be beet red and burning when you found out the card was from that shrimpy, tow-headed guy, who was as loud and cocky as a banty rooster. Oh how you felt like crawling inside your desk, wishing the school bell would ring as you were ....as well as the giver, being teased.

I always took my box of cards home and I kept them for the longest time. The candy would have been eaten long ago, but the cards remained. The cards would be brought out to be looked at and admired, and then tucked back in the box, only to be forgotten and tossed out later. They were after all, just silly bits of colored paper.

One year our teacher decided we needed to send our parents a homemade card as well. We had to draw and write our own special poem on the inside of the card. I can't remember what I wrote on my card but I remember the paper doily stuck on the back of the red construction paper heart and carefully coloring and drawing on my Valentine card for my parents. My brothers were also each making cards and my youngest brother wrote a poem on the inside of his card for our parents....

"Roses are red
Violets are blue,
That lunch that you sent me
Simply won't do!"

Our teacher was mortified,...how we snickered and giggled reading his poem. Later my mom opened each of the cards from us. The pretty cards,... the solemn cards,... and my brother's card. She chuckled so much. What can I say? I come from a wacky family.

Today there are going to be some of you who are going to get big pretty fancy cards. Some of you will get boxes of chocolates, and gifts of perfume, jewelry, perhaps some pretty frilly lingerie or even a gag gift or two. Some of you are going to be alone. Some of you are going to come home exhausted from just another day at work. Some of you will find yourself at the stove cooking a dinner after a long day and grumbling under your breath...'happy valentine's day' while your significant other is propped in front of the tv. For some of you the day is going to be an ordinary day, and for some of you the day will be something special and shared by someone special in your life.

I wish the day could be everything you expect or want it to be.

If I could, I would slip into your blog box some brightly colored bits of paper...



Be My Valentine.


Love,
Vic

Entry for February 08, 2007 - Giving

Blogging late last night I stumbled upon Teddy's humorous blog on telemarketers. We have all been barraged with unwanted phone calls and solicitators. There are numerous worthwhile charities and organizations that request our hard earned dollars. You can give and give till it hurts and still they are back for more. It's hard to know where to draw the line on giving and if you should even give at all. It's easier to give when we can see the results of our giving.

Oprah Winfrey has been in the news for the past month for her huge contribution and building of a school for girls in South Africa. When I heard the story in the news I was in awe. Such a huge contribution and one that will change the lives of those girls in South Africa. I started to read a bit more about Oprah's new school. It is a 28 building campus that will have computer and science laboratories, a library, a theatre, and a wellness center. At the moment there are 152 girls, chosen to attend, and eventually it will house 450 girls.... What an extrodinary gift.

But for Oprah's giving, there also comes some criticism by others. Criticism that she should concentrate or use the money here for students in the U.S. I don't have a problem with her spending money overseas. Children here have the opportunity to go to school, in fact it's a requirement. If Oprah wants to spend her money to see that girls in an impoverished country get an education they might not otherwise have,... more power to her. It's her money. I read more about Oprah's new school on-line, how she personally chose the girls from all the applications. Chose girls who she felt had a spark or special something.... and then I started to have a little twinge....something not feeling quite right.
I began to wonder about 450 girls having an opportunity of everything at their fingertips and so many things available to them, when you could have a wider scope and reach more girls. Granted they wouldn't have all of the things that an elite academy would, but wouldn't it give more kids an opportunity? I then started to feel guilty about my thoughts.... It wasn't my money, it wasn't my gift. I was not changing and making a difference in 450 girl's lives. Who was I to judge how the money was used? Thinking more and more on it, I can see how Oprah would be able to monitor more closely the education of those select girls than if it were in a broader dispersing of educational materials and supplies. I guess my thoughts were drifting to those girls (and boys) left behind. I don't know that when I was 11 or 12 years of age, if anyone would have seen a spark in that shy girl in the back of the room who kept doodling on her desk. There is a good reason why they say not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Be thankful for the gift.

It's hard to be polite when you are asked to give or donate. Many give or tithe to their local home church. Most consider tithing at 10 percent of your earnings. I heard a woman once say that tithing just doesn't mean money. It also means giving 10 percent of yourself. I thought she was a wise woman, she knew that giving meant more than just money. Lately it seems that my giving has been less than it use to be. My excuse being that money doesn't stretch as far as it use to. I do give what I can when asked,to what I think are worthwhile causes.

There was a new library built a few years ago not far from me. I think it is the wisest investment that could have ever been made by the community. It serves not just the people in that town but in the whole county. There is no age limit, no gender preference, no cost for a card. It teaches, it reaches, it is for everyone. The community/school system also had a new stadium and track built at the high school. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were pumped into it's creation. It's empty at the moment, and will be for awhile. There are no kids on the field, no people in the stands...... There are also no music classes or art classes being offered at the school. There are cut backs in home ec, shop, foreign language classes and teacher positions too. I start to have those "Oprah thoughts" again....For everything gained, what is sacrificed or lost? We all want to get the most bang for our buck.

The other day I got a phone call.... a small voice on the other end said, "hello Aunt Vickie". It was one of my nieces, selling stuff. It was a requirement that she and all of the other kids had to do....sell stuff to the public. It's not an easy thing to do, going door to door and raise money.

I am a firm believer in that charity begins at home.

That is my reasoning behind why I have FOUR boxes of Girl Scout cookies headed my way soon....


Thin mint anyone?

Entry for February 01, 2007 - Tippy Toes

I wrote a blog the other day on pets and for a moment I thought it might have put me in the doghouse. I had been at another blogger's page and it prompted an idea for a blog for my page so I scurried back to my 360 home to write my blog. After posting it and rereading it in the light of day I was worried that I might have offended that blogger. So I sent off a note to her to explain my warped sense of humor and that I in no way was calling her a sex kitten or her blog. She wrote me back that she knew I was warped and was use to it.......but she was miffed that I had NOT called her a sex kitten. You just can't win for blogging....

Many years ago when chat rooms were invented or at least it seemed like it, I was a regular visitor to Yahoo garden chat. Room 1 to be specific, back when it was the ONLY room to be in, till everyone migrated over to room 2, and points further west. There was a guy I chatted with on gardening. His chat alias was of a particular wildflower species and he was a very serious individual. We had serious chats on plants and compost and all things related to gardening. Now anyone that knows me from chat also knows that I am a bit of a cut-up. I can be silly, and outrageous, and I am always up for a good chuckle or two. But my friend of the gardening flower name wasn't. In fact, when I wasn't being serious, I rubbed him the wrong way. He told me so, very bluntly....I got under his skin. I thought to myself....what a stick in the mud. But later on I got to thinking all people are different. Everyone has a different sense of humor. Some people are just serious. They might have the smallest of smiles on their faces, or fail to see the humor in some things like other people do,.... but they are not to be blamed. That is just how they are, everyone is different. Myself included. Not everyone likes to laugh or has the same warped sense of humor that I have. It can be frustrating though, when you aren't on the same wave length or humor meter.

The other day in my e-mail I got a Valentine from a blogging friend. When I first saw it, I had to laugh, I thought it was hysterical. He had placed my pink head on top of a beautiful figure. I thought to myself if only he had put two zigzagging lighting strikes on each side of my hairdo I would look exactly like the bride of Frankenstein. It was a hoot. Who knew that I was the perfect match for Frankenstein? Pucker up baby.....I wrote my blogging friend back immediately that he was a nut. I am sure he thought it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. I think he knows, or at least I hope he does, that nothing he could do or make in his graphics or blog would offend me. I feel I know him well enough to know his sense of humor and his character. I hope he can say the same of me.

My blog is an expression of me, just as each and everyone of you that has a blog can say the same. Each of us is so very different in our views and the things that matter most to us. At times I think we feel like we have to tiptoe around some people or issues or blogs. We are never going to agree on everything, and that's okay.

Some things I think everyone should know about my blog, if you don't know already:

I have my blog listed as "public". I figure that if I can write a blog or express an opinion in a public forum that everyone else should have the ability to comment on my blog whether they agree with me or not. I won't censor you, I won't delete your comment if it is different from my viewpoint. You can call me a dork, a nut, whatever you wish....

There is an invisible line though that I have in my blog. Certain language, certain words I won't allow. Anything that others might see as offensive or unsuitable I will delete, and I will e-mail and tell you why too.

I like humor, I might have too much of it. It's a fault that comes from trying to see the humor in everything. I don't expect everyone to "get" my humor. It can be off the wall sometimes, and if ever it bugs you or you think I have over stepped in a comment or post on your blog, you are more than welcome to call me on it. I will go back and reread what I wrote and try to see your view point. If I have made a comment in public, I will apologize in public...it's only right.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I don't expect everyone to be as crazy or silly as me. At times I know I might have to reel myself in a bit. I ask that if I ever cross the invisible line you have set yourself in your own blog that you tell me. Sometimes I need reminding.

People are different,... it's the beauty of the blogging world. Sometimes we feel like we have to tiptoe, and sometimes we feel like we can race ahead, giggling and posting, and commenting. But one very important thing is, that if you ever feel slighted, tell me. If I go to far, tell me. That is what friends do,...and that is why you are on my friend's list. Because you are....my friend.




Now if you have any free time after reading and posting on this blog could you go over to Suzi's blog and tell her what a sex kitten she is? ......(wink)......