Garden Tomatoes

In November?  Yes.  Would I rather have them in July?  Yes.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to start eating them until August.  I may have planted later than I had hoped, so, next year I will remember to plant earlier.  Plus, we have this nice frame Jacob built since they were growing so well.

In the middle of October we knew that we were looking at a night freeze, so I sewed some blankets together to make covers for the tomato cages.  We knew we would have a night, maybe two of freezes, and then multiple days of warmer temperatures.  So, it was nice to extend the time for the tomatoes to grow.

October 26th, we knew we were looking at hard freezes.  We made an attempt to save as many tomatoes as possible.  In the middle of my “harvest” it began snowing on me, and kept going well into the day.  I cut long vines and spread them out on the counter.

In a moment of brilliance, as an attempt to make them last even longer, I filled flower water tubes and put them on the ends of the vines, and refill them as needed.

We have been able to snack on the smaller ones, and I have been able to fill two  2-quart sized bowls from tomatoes off the counter.  Here is the “harvest” from this morning.

I really wish we had had lots of the bigger beefy tomatoes.  When I purchased the plants (we did not start our own from seed this year) I was under the impression that I had grabbed two plants of bigger tomatoes, and two cherry tomatoes (one yellow and one red).  as the plants grew it became obvious that they were all small.  So, back to the store I went to purchase a couple bigger-tomato plants.  That time I made sure to only get pots with the label still attached.

I wonder just how long we will be able to see them turn before we have to give up and return the remains to the earth….

Not All Excitement is Good

When you live in small town USA you have to drive a ways to get places.  Today took me out of town. On the drive back my dashcam caught some excitement that was not so fun, but I am glad the view was not more exciting.






Frames 2 through 6 all happened in the same second. While I did see something moving in my peripheral vision, I didn’t realize what I was seeing until somewhere between frames 4 and 5.  By frame 6 I could see the deer, that is off-screen, next to my window.

Keep in mind, the view from the camera looks smaller/farther away than my eyes see. (Remember the warning on the side mirrors, “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”? That applies here, too.)

I just hope the car behind me escaped the deer as well.

All is well that ends well. Or something like that.

Highlights of the Day

Since March Marcia and Hinckley have been attending Jiu Jitsu classes over Zoom. Today they had their third (from home) belt testing online. They’ve earned their blue belts! It is a lot of work and they are learning great things.

While they were doing that Corban watched a video in the dining room on an iPad and played with his Mr. Potato Head.  When I checked in on him, I found that he had stuffed his remaining candy from Halloween in the trunk.

Never Gonna Give You Up

There may be a global pandemic disrupting our normal plans, but we don’t have to give up everything we love to do.

For Halloween, which is likely my favorite holiday, we still celebrated with the kids.

Kids dressed up as Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron. I told them I was Mrs. Dursley on wash day, and Jacob said he was the coronavirus and fake coughed at them every time they asked where our costumes are.

We used dry ice in pink lemonade to make “potion” to drink with supper, sent the kids on a scavenger hunt on the property to gather candy and snacks to enjoy, while we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

I made us some dairy-free nut free candy bars. We were pleased that they taste good.

I hope you were all able to make the most of such a strange time to have Halloween.

Copyright 2016: Who, What, When, Where, How?

So, here is where people can make guesses on Copyright 2016’s birth stats.

Categories are Time, Date, Weight, and Length.  We already know the sex of the baby.  He was cooperative when we went searching.  Though I suppose you are entitled to make a prediction if you think he will surprise us and be a she…

Anyone may make a guess in a comment on this here page (this is better for record keeping than facebook), so that we will know a winner, or as close to a winner as possible.

For some background info that may make this as “informed” of a guess as possible:

Marcia the elder was born July 12th was due on August 12 (but my mom said she knew I would be born in July), born at 4:55 pm, 7 pounds 3 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long, girl.

Jacob was born July 18th was due on July 5th, born at 11:39 am, 7 pounds 5 ounces, 20 inches long, boy.

Mar©ia the younger was born December 3rd was due on December 7th, born at 7:17 am, 6 pounds 7 ounces, 20 inches long, girl.

Hin©kley was born November 20th was due November 22nd, born at 5:56 pm, 8 pounds 4 ounces, 19 3/4 inches long, boy.

Copyright2016 due April 9th.

Oh, and the most recent belly picture.  At 37 weeks then again at 39 weeks:

37weeksbelly big belly

What say you?

(There will be a prize for the person who guesses closest without going over.)