Tomatoes, Tomatoes, and More Tomatoes

Yippee! almost ripe tomatoes. Yesterday morning these guys were mostly green, with a hint of red. As a checked them throughout they day, they got redder, and redder, and I'm thinking that tomorrow I will have my first taste of container grown tomatoes.














Now, this picture is of the whole plant. No spider mites here. Take a look at all the green tomatoes, and the top of the plant has a whole slew of flowers. My quick, not scientific estimate says I have about thirty green tomatoes, and three red ones. Yum! As for why its staked with a clothshanger, well, It blew over in the last storm that happened, and I didn't have anything to stake it up with, so using my improvisational skill, I used a coat hanger, and some crappy yarn.

Oh Where are my Comments!

Here I thought that nobody loved me, and then, thanks to a question in an email, I realized that I had the "Moderate Comments" box checked in my account. When I originally turned on the word verification thingy, It either checked all the options as default, or I just went down and checked them all. So, I went into my account, and there they were, something like 15 comments, ready to be moderated. I didn't even know the screen existed. Well, I okayed all of them, and unchecked the previously checked box, and now, you should all be able to comment to your hearts content.

As apology, I give you pictures of the kitties.

My TV is Naked!

Three days ago, This plant was Healthy.


You may be wondering what it used to be. Well, it was a rosemary plant. It was just getting to the point of happy eatings, and then it was horrifically attacked by:

SPIDER MITES!!!

I think what happened was that I started to lay back on watering the rosemary plant, and the spider mites took advantage of drier soil and killed my plant, and the plant next to it. As to why is my TV naked? Well, these plants were sitting on top of it, and now my TV looks so bare. I think I'm going to do a Wilmar run on Saturday and see if I can find a new Rosemary plant to sit on my TV. The Colorado State University Extention has a good overview of Spider Mites, and Spider Mite control. As for the plants themselves, they are now in a dumpster, awaiting horrible horrible death at the mandibles of almost invisible bugs (well, arachnids).

YouTube Oddities

After the Storm

On Thursday, a big storm rolled through the area, and than continued easterly covering parts of Minnesota with much needed rain (although we still need much much more). Besides giving my car a wash, it watered the grass, and gave some nice lightening shows. The wind it produced also tipped my large tomato plant onto its side, along with knocking down all sorts of branches. No harm was done, and the lawn is starting to turn green again, and the fields of corn, beans, and alfalfa I pass everyday to and from work don't have such a beleagered, sad look to them.

After the storm passed through, the sun came out, and the colors in the sky are of the colors only seen after a storm passed through. I pulled out the camera, stood in the parking lot, and took pictures. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy, but it was all worth it.

Here are a few of them.

View from the North West













View through my Window. I think the screen adds an intersting effect.

















This is of the parking lot. I really like the way the puddle reflects the clouds, and because the black top is wet, its reflecting that light, giving it a red hue.

101st Post !

This is my 101st Post. It was suppose to be on the 4th of July, but alas, my internet connection timed out just as I hit "Publish" and I lost it. I really think I need a new cable TV provider.

Anyway, in celebration of my 101st post, I give you pictures of the 2nd, and 3rd strawberries from my strawberry plant, green tomatoes, and a picture of my dinner from Monday.

I made grilled chicken, and had a salad that I grew from seeds in a wide pot. It's a beautiful arrangement, and I really like the way the colors complement each other. Also, the chicken was good, the salad was good, and bread was some organic bread I bought from the grocery store. It smelled just like bread you bake at home. I also added some sun dried tomatoes to add a nice intense tomato flavor to my salad. Yum!


These are the second and third strawberry from my strawberry plant. I had already eaten the first and second berries on Friday. Eating homegrown strawberries right off the plant is so much better than those incredibly large strawberries you can get at the grocery store, that have been sitting in containers for weeks, and have too much pesticides on them. Unfortunately, for me to get any amount of strawberries for things like strawberry pies, I would need a lot more strawberry plants.

This is my tomato plant. As you can see, my tomatoes are large, although still green. I think they are close to being the right size (of about an inch, inch and a half), but they don't seem to be turning red yet. I know, I'm just impatient, and that sometimes all the fun is in the anticipation.

Newsworthy Thursday

Guess What! I got on MPR! said in a sing- songy annoying type voice. Go Me! It was only a question submitted by internet, but it was good enough to be on Midday with Gary Eichten! Go Me Again! It made my morning.

For those of you who are interested in hearing the MN Education Commissioner, Alice Seagren speak about her recent trip to China, and what my question was: Go here. My question can be found a little after the 34 Min and 40 seconds mark, for those who don't want to listen to the whole interview. There's not much to it, but they mentioned my name, so it most definitely counts!

Other news worthy topics includes someone actually buying my Sega for 30 bucks using the "Buy it Now" option on eBay. I was expecting, 10, maybe 15 dollars for it after the end of the auction, especially since I indicated that parts of the Sega was untested, and that it is sold as is. I feel like I kind of cheated the person who bought it, but I did warn it was untested, and he could have asked all the questions he wanted. To see my auction, or what is left of it, go here.

What else, I have strawberries! I have tomatoes, although those aren't red yet. I have Salad! It's really a wonderful day!