A berry good day

Alchemy waiting outside the cupboard,

the cupboard where the DOG treats are kept!

He's a sneaky one, that cat!

This week's CSA box:

Romaine lettuce, celery, leeks, carrots, a double bunch of asparagus,

onions, potatoes, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, red peppers,

kiwi, oranges, tangelos, apples, Asian pears, and strawberries.

And speaking of strawberries, here's a pic of the strawberry patch,

a raised bed we planted today with 17 strawberry plants.

We used 3 types; an everbearing, an early bearing and a late bearing.

If all goes well (and not well for the birds and slugs),

we should have strawberries well into July! Yum!

Later we'll be adding some bush beans and spinach to this box

as they are good companion plants to strawberries.

We also planted our raspberry plant today.

Tomorrow, it's time to stick those onion starts into some dirt!

And finally to those who have been asking about the gardening resources,

I add them as the books of the week:

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Sucessful Gardening by Louise Riotte and The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan

Fantastic Fuscias and Dinner by David

Today, Anni and I had a go through the garden. We pulled up the remains of the old plants and added them to the large compostables. Then, we put away the tomato cages and the garden stakes. And then we had a beautiful surprise, the fuscias are reblooming! It was on our list to deadhead them and put them away for the winter, but they decided to rebloom! Gorgeous! (I think they did it just to show off the beautiful blue sky of our sunny November day.)

It was the cat's turn for a trip to the vet today. They were considerably less than thrilled! Let them tell you about them. "Meow, meow, meow, meow, purr." Translation: We hate riding in our cat carriers. We don't want to leave our cat carriers. We don't like these shots. We don't like our cat carriers. Thank goodness we're home!"

David made dinner tonight! It was a salmon with three toppings, red potatoes, carrots, asparagus, and fresh bread. Tasty!

Cats demand equal time

The cats are demanding equal photo time. They feel the dog has been getting all the attention. See the prissy, jealous poses they are pulling as they occupy all the chairs in the computer center. So here are the felines, Alchemy and Dusty.

Today was another beautiful sunny day. It's like summer has finally arrived in September! We took a long walk with the dog (sorry kitties). We picked blackberries along the way and were purple by the time we arrived at the park. We saw lots of blue jays and a garter snake among the bushes.

We had a fun cooking afternoon. We made two kinds of bread, Oaty oatmeal and salsa-cheese-corn bread, in the bread machine. We're venturing beyond wholewheat! We made a veggie chili in the crockpot for dinner. It had 11 veggies in it. The kids ate it all! Not a single bean left!

Definitely not claustrophobic

Ferocious Alchemy Kitty defends against equally ferocious toy snake.

Today the sun came out for an hour or two. The tomatoes smiled, and the slugs retreated. The kids are also smiling at the thought of less green tomato dishes.

I had the MRI's on my wrist and shoulder today. I didn't look at the needle going into my shoulder which is probably a good thing because the hole it left was really big! I spent a total of nearly two hours in the MRI! So, I know for 100% certain that I am NOT claustrophobic. What was the result? I'm not quite sure. The tech wanted to know when I was seeing my doc again and then suggested I make it sooner. The he said I shouldn't use, put any weight on, or pressure my wrist in any way. I asked if it was broken. He said, "I'm not allowed to say, but don't use it." Guess I'll find out next week??? He didn't say a word about the shoulder which is what has been bothering me the most. Go figure!