Squirrels and Carbon Monoxide

My sister's comment on yesterday's post reminded me of something I meant to tell you all. Michele and I do have a carbon monoxide detector in our home, but just one and it's upstairs. Our furnace guy advised, and I advise you all, that there should be one near EVERY fuel burning appliance or at least one on every level of the home, including the basement. Ones on the living level, like ours, are great for detecting CO coming through the ductwork, but not much else.

And, on a lighter note, Sara shared this link with me to support my intense dislike of those cute fuzzy-tailed rodents. This post rocks and I join with the author in saying "Game on!"

Mysterious Burns

The strangest thing happened earlier in the week: I discovered a small burn on my hand. Now that, in and of itself is not really very strange. The thing is that I don't remembered getting burned. Now, even stranger than that, this morning, upon waking, I found two more small burns on the same hand! Very strange. I have the oddest feeling that some noisome villain, perhaps a mischievous squirrel or bunny, sneaks into my bedroom at night and burns me with some miniature cigarettes. OK, OK, I know it's a lot more likely that I burnt myself on the stove or iron a few days ago without noticing and it just took some time to color up. But, admit it, the image of a villainous smoking squirrel is a lot more interesting, right?

Reaping and Sewing

I have finally reaped the rewards of my tomato patience. I ate my first red tomatoes: one each from the Sweet 100's cherry tomato and the Juliet grape tomato plants. I have to admit that, since I ate them the moment they turned red, and not exactly the moment when they were fully ripe, their flavor was a bit underwhelming. However, compared to store-bought tomatoes at the same stage of not-quite-ripeness, they were quite amazing! It just tickled me to be eating something else from my garden - and to have beaten the squirrels to it!!

I have also gotten a lot done on my sewing projects. Though I cannot show you Kym's project, I am nearly done with the background. During the multiple breaks I've needed to take while working on the background - it is quite complex and labor intensive (I'm really earning my commission!!) - I have completed the background and applique of my swap quilt. Pieced backgrounds behind applique, especially small squares or postage stamps, are my new favorite thing. I also must point out that the grass you see was individually appliqued, blade by blade, 42 blades of grass in all. I wanted to point that so that my mother, with whom I recently had a conversion about why I am unable to keep my house clean, would understand that I HAVE been busy, not just watching Star Trek. Between reaping and sewing, I am definitely keeping myself out of trouble and NOT keeping the kitchen in order.

Beet-y Delight

This morning, I noticed that two of my beets were showing their shoulders above the soil (I've been ready a lot of gardening message boards and blogs to find out when my beets and carrots will be ready and they say that you'll see their "shoulders" above the soil level.) Well, one of them looked pretty tiny, so I decided to leave them both in the ground. When I got home this afternoon, a pesky squirrel had picked the tiny one and eaten half of it! I was steamed and decided that I would pluck up the larger one for myself before he got to it!

So, I had a beautiful beet for dinner tonight. Yum!! I, unlike Squirrel Nutkin, ate every bit of that beet, too. I baked the beet itself in a little casserole dish with a couple tablespoons of water. My vegetable book said to leave 1 inch of stems and the root end and to not peel it before baking, so I didn't. When it came out of the oven the peel rubbed right off and the shoots were really tender and yummy. I also steamed the greens, then ate both the beet and greens with a little pat of butter. Oh, so good! Now, I didn't waste the stems - I ate them raw - they were good, too and reminded me of very thin celery. And then, to top it all off, I poured the baking liquid into a glass and drank that really fast, like a wheatgrass shot. It was not very good at all, but I've convinced myself that what it lacked in taste, it made up for in healthfulness. All in all, I had a beet-y good time!

And, by the way, the reddening tomatoes were fine when I got home and I decided I will leave them where they are for one more day. I'm taking this one day at a time.

Secret - Keep it Hush Hush!!

OK, I've been whispering to Michele about this for a couple days now and I thought I would share it with the rest of you, but you have to keep it on the down low - I don't want the squirrels to find out!! I have two nearly red tomatoes!! One is very orange red and the other is a bit lighter - more of a yellow-orange-red. Gloria has encouraged me to pick them and let them ripen inside - away from the squirrels - but I decided to take a risk and let them ripen on the vine. So far, so good. Oh boy, I hope Squirrel Nutkin doesn't read my blog! OK, never mind letting them ripen on the vine, I think I will pick these two when I get home. I just can't live with this kind of pressure!!

Animal Lover

Being a vegetarian, most people assume I am an animal lover. Now, while I do not hate animals, I'm not an animal lover, per se. I was never around a lot of animals as a kid. I developed a healthy respect for them from afar. I would say I am more an animal tolerator and respector (with the exception of my three cats, of course, who I love to pieces, even when they meow and meow and meow and. . . but I digress.) So, all that being said, since becoming a gardener, I am developing a marked dislike for animals - squirrels and bunnies especially! Now, I gave up on my lettuce weeks ago. I just wrote that off as a sacrifice. I had in the back of my mind the statement from the man who sold me the Juliet tomato that squirrels like tomatoes, but I hadn't been thinking about it. Well, not only do they like tomatoes, they also like green peppers and hot peppers. They keep picking my tomatoes and habanero, kung pao, and cayenne peppers and - no, not eating them - nibbling on them and then leaving them in the garden or up on the fence or in the yard or wherever they can leave them to taunt me!! I swear they are taunting me with their fluffy little tails in the air. Now, I don't promote violence and I don't like hunting, but I am sorely tempted to get a dog - a big, extremely territorial dog who has a healthy taste for squirrel and bunny.