The plants are all fine, I'm ignoring them until the weekend because I kind of blew out my right knee with all the lifting and hauling and bending and hunkering down to put in the stuff on Wed. nite. So I'm babying it a bit and letting Mom Nature do a bit of the work for a while.
Need to buy a watering can with the dribble-rain spout on it anyhow. Back to topic:
I've lately seen a rather disturbing thing happening on blogs that I've visited. Seems that there are a lot of people who are incensed that other people have beliefs/ideas that are counter to their own. Now, I don't mind watching a good flame war from time to time, and I've even been known to engage in some myself, but when it gets to the point where some unknown bitch starts sending me e-mails to try and discredit someone I consider a friend, then there's a serious problem.
The problem seems to be that an awful lot of women have gotten into blogging and like to make controversial posts - but don't want to have to deal with any controversy. And I don't mean the way I deal with it - which is just to delete comments that offend me - but they want to PUNISH the commenters! They want to harass their friends, flood those friends' e-mail with "reports" from their little clique about how horrible the commenters are!
What is amusing in this (to the extent that I find such pathetic action amusing) is that they will go to such great lengths to "rid themselves" of unwanted commenters. They put their blogs on "Comment Moderation". They post repeatedly about the problem commenter. They make poorly-executed caricature cartoons. They go into spasms...
Grow a pair, you pathetic wimpy bitches. Grow a pair and learn to deal with it. Get over yourself and realize that this is a GAME for many people. If you don't like someone "playing" in your sandbox, then delete their comments. After a while it becomes pretty boring to keep typing things that nobody will get to read, that disappear after a few minutes or hours. Every time you respond to the "Troll", you just show how much power the troll has over you - you dance to his/her tune... and you look stupid.
They're words. Just words. If you're stupid enough to put your real name and address et al out there, then you're stupid women and deserve whatever you get. Smart women don't give out that much personal information online until they know someone VERY well... and then they cover themselves by not giving the info out publicly, but in a private e-mail.
Some of us even are smart enough to have a PO Box or an alternate address and not let our home information be known. That's called living smart - but the stupid women dont' get that.
A while back on one of many incarnations of a friend's blog, she posted about a female (lawyer or law student, I believe) who had been harassed online. Granted, the harassment went a bit further than just a comment or 2 in a blogspot box - but... SHE GAVE OUT HER REAL IDENTITY... DUH!!! Then she got all frazzled when people knew who she was and started in with some nasty sophmoric antics in comments and posts on other sites. Waaaahhhh!!! Now she won't do lectures because she's AFRAID. She's cowering in her house.
Grow a pair. Get a tough enough skin to handle the idiots. Read their comments if you must, fume a while, then delete them. Better still, just delete them unread. Really, it's a LOT easier to just delete one or two comments from a percieved troll than it is to have to "moderate" everyone's comments so no trolls are able to comment.
They really should figure out some way to keep the rich-bitch stay-home-mommies off the internet. (Not you, Jules)
This concludes todays segment of "As the Mouse Rants". Tune in another day for gardening updates.
626 days
"Sit up, join up, stir it up, get online, get in touch, find out who's raising hell and join them." Molly Ivins
Friday, May 04, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
More Gardening and "Stuff"
Oh the joys of Springtime.
The peony bush that I thought had been stolen last year has made a miraculous come-back and is about knee-high now. Its small red leaf clusters have unfurled into red & green leaves and there are BUDS on some of the stalks!! I know it's early yet, and it is possible that these buds will just dry up and fall off, but they're a good 3/8" diameter and nicely green, so I have some hope! If it blossoms, I may just post a picture.
The coreopsis has still not broken ground. I fear for its survival, although Jim here keeps yelling at me that it's a warm-weather plant and won't come up until the ground gets warm. My inherent negative skepticism refuses to accept this. (Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be working on that...)
Last night I finished potting in the last 2 pots for the plant stands. I stuck a trellis into the pot with the cucumbers. Hopefully I can train them up the trellis and have non-dirty cukes this summer.
The zucchini pot fell over while I was moving things around, however, which is a bitch, because the seeds fell out too. I repotted it up, but couldn't find the seeds, so I put in new ones.
Either I'll have one pot of zucchini, or I'll have a pot full and a darn "weed" one in the flowerbed. Hopefully I can catch any "weed" ones before they become an issue.
I was going to pot up the tomatoes tonite, but it was kind of chilly last night, so I may wait another couple days on those. No rush, really. The plants are strong and healthy looking. I'm a bit worried about a few of those mail-order ones, they've gotten kind of squirrely since they arrived, but I'll get them in this weekend and hopefully a little bit of miracle gro and some tlc and they'll perk back up.
I made "Stuff" last night. "Stuff" is a family recipie that probably originated during the depression. It's not "health food" by any means (especially since you never drain the bacon!), but it is tasty, it fills one up, and it costs almost nothing to make. Mom never had a name for it, so one day as a teenager I declared that its official name would forevermore be "Stuff". "Mom - can we have "Stuff" for dinner this week?" worked from then on, so "Stuff" it is!!
"Stuff"©
1 lb. low-salt sliced bacon cut into 1" pieces
2 small onions - diced
1 large sweet green pepper diced (if you like "zip", add 1/2 a jalapeno pepper)
1 very large can diced tomatoes (the can that is larger than soup cans - 28 oz, I think)
1 package "shell" macaroni
Salt & pepper to taste
Prepare macaroni shells per package directions. Drain, set aside.
While macaroni is cooking, put the bacon pieces in a large skillet and brown well. Add onions and green peppers to the bacon & drippings, saute until JUST cooked. Pour in entire can of tomatoes (DO NOT drain!) simmer until heated through. Add salt & pepper to taste.
In a VERY large bowl, place 1/2 the macaroni shells, then pour 1/2 the bacon & veggie mixture over the shells. Repeat with 2nd half of macaroni and bacon/veggies. Stir well.
This makes enough "Stuff" to feed 4 very hungry people, with a bit of leftover usually.
Serve with a green salad and fresh fruit.
627 days
The peony bush that I thought had been stolen last year has made a miraculous come-back and is about knee-high now. Its small red leaf clusters have unfurled into red & green leaves and there are BUDS on some of the stalks!! I know it's early yet, and it is possible that these buds will just dry up and fall off, but they're a good 3/8" diameter and nicely green, so I have some hope! If it blossoms, I may just post a picture.
The coreopsis has still not broken ground. I fear for its survival, although Jim here keeps yelling at me that it's a warm-weather plant and won't come up until the ground gets warm. My inherent negative skepticism refuses to accept this. (Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be working on that...)
Last night I finished potting in the last 2 pots for the plant stands. I stuck a trellis into the pot with the cucumbers. Hopefully I can train them up the trellis and have non-dirty cukes this summer.
The zucchini pot fell over while I was moving things around, however, which is a bitch, because the seeds fell out too. I repotted it up, but couldn't find the seeds, so I put in new ones.
Either I'll have one pot of zucchini, or I'll have a pot full and a darn "weed" one in the flowerbed. Hopefully I can catch any "weed" ones before they become an issue.
I was going to pot up the tomatoes tonite, but it was kind of chilly last night, so I may wait another couple days on those. No rush, really. The plants are strong and healthy looking. I'm a bit worried about a few of those mail-order ones, they've gotten kind of squirrely since they arrived, but I'll get them in this weekend and hopefully a little bit of miracle gro and some tlc and they'll perk back up.
I made "Stuff" last night. "Stuff" is a family recipie that probably originated during the depression. It's not "health food" by any means (especially since you never drain the bacon!), but it is tasty, it fills one up, and it costs almost nothing to make. Mom never had a name for it, so one day as a teenager I declared that its official name would forevermore be "Stuff". "Mom - can we have "Stuff" for dinner this week?" worked from then on, so "Stuff" it is!!
"Stuff"©
1 lb. low-salt sliced bacon cut into 1" pieces
2 small onions - diced
1 large sweet green pepper diced (if you like "zip", add 1/2 a jalapeno pepper)
1 very large can diced tomatoes (the can that is larger than soup cans - 28 oz, I think)
1 package "shell" macaroni
Salt & pepper to taste
Prepare macaroni shells per package directions. Drain, set aside.
While macaroni is cooking, put the bacon pieces in a large skillet and brown well. Add onions and green peppers to the bacon & drippings, saute until JUST cooked. Pour in entire can of tomatoes (DO NOT drain!) simmer until heated through. Add salt & pepper to taste.
In a VERY large bowl, place 1/2 the macaroni shells, then pour 1/2 the bacon & veggie mixture over the shells. Repeat with 2nd half of macaroni and bacon/veggies. Stir well.
This makes enough "Stuff" to feed 4 very hungry people, with a bit of leftover usually.
Serve with a green salad and fresh fruit.
627 days
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
I demand a shrubbery!
Last nite I got home to find a box on my doorstep - full of little seedlings. My order from the plant house came through! No energy to put them all out, but I now have a sweet little planter full of brightly pink and white dianthus, a large white pot with a tiny little "patio blueberry bush" in it and a pot of chives out in the garden.
I've decided to do a little "vertical gardening" this year - instead of having all the planter wire holders all over my patio, I've put them in the back of the garden bed on top of some of the iris foliage. Then I put pots on them, and will fill them with nasturtium seeds and summer squash seeds. With some luck, I'll get veggies above and iris below (I think this will work - the iris can poke their flower stalks through the holes in the wire holders.)
I also have a new houseplant. It is a miniature lime tree. Right now it is in a small pot on what I hope is an inaccessible (to cats) shelf in the livingroom. The cats are rather angry at me that I have put it there. They seem to have some sort of delusion that all my plants are belong to them. I really want this little lime tree to do well, so I am going to pamper the lil' thing and keep the kitty paws away!
629 days!
I've decided to do a little "vertical gardening" this year - instead of having all the planter wire holders all over my patio, I've put them in the back of the garden bed on top of some of the iris foliage. Then I put pots on them, and will fill them with nasturtium seeds and summer squash seeds. With some luck, I'll get veggies above and iris below (I think this will work - the iris can poke their flower stalks through the holes in the wire holders.)
I also have a new houseplant. It is a miniature lime tree. Right now it is in a small pot on what I hope is an inaccessible (to cats) shelf in the livingroom. The cats are rather angry at me that I have put it there. They seem to have some sort of delusion that all my plants are belong to them. I really want this little lime tree to do well, so I am going to pamper the lil' thing and keep the kitty paws away!
629 days!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Good Weekend Things
I went to the garden shop and got 6 geraniums, 3 tomato plants, 1 cucumber plant, 2 Astilbe, 3 dwarf lavendar, 2 daylillies, a package of squash seeds, a package of nasturtium seeds, a package of zuccini seeds, a chives plant and a tiny dianthus plant. My feet hurt all day afterward, but I was happy to have them. I will slowly plant them out into the garden and into the pots in the back over the course of the week.
I found my good quilt cutting ruler, and got a start on some more bits and pieces for BBC's quilt.
Leandra sent me a "Bush Countdown Timer", and I got it in the mail. It's about the height and width of a credit card, about 1/8" thick, on a keychain. I have it on my desk here at work right now - but I'll probably take it home or something because I think it might tick off too many of the Conservabots here.
I got the "cooking" bug and made a cajun-style scampi thing with chicken and a nice faux peach cobbler for "Sunday Dinner". I also made a cheese & egg strata for breakfast that will reheat nicely for a couple of days. Cheap and yummy. I hope your day is a good one, with many positive things to think about!
630 days
I found my good quilt cutting ruler, and got a start on some more bits and pieces for BBC's quilt.
Leandra sent me a "Bush Countdown Timer", and I got it in the mail. It's about the height and width of a credit card, about 1/8" thick, on a keychain. I have it on my desk here at work right now - but I'll probably take it home or something because I think it might tick off too many of the Conservabots here.
I got the "cooking" bug and made a cajun-style scampi thing with chicken and a nice faux peach cobbler for "Sunday Dinner". I also made a cheese & egg strata for breakfast that will reheat nicely for a couple of days. Cheap and yummy. I hope your day is a good one, with many positive things to think about!
630 days