CSA Booty, FO, and one down

The first tomatoes of the season! And a bag of FRESH green beans. We had catfish last night using Barbara's recipe last night along with the green beans. I'm a convert now too. This is a terrific and easy recipe.

Today, I made a vegetarian cabbage Borscht soup using the cabbage from this week and the beets from the previous weeks. Tonight, I will make the very first BLT's of the season. It's hard to beat BLT's with vine-ripened tomatoes.

The Peacock Cowl is done.

Cowls are a terrific short project. Perfect for gift giving. I highly recommend them. They are also good because nothing is hanging down. Nothing gets in the way when you are picking up dog poop or riding your motorcycle.

I've completed the first British Columbia sock and I'm about 5 1.2 inches on the cuff of #2. Thanks to the craptastic picture, my foot looks like a tree stump, oui?

Please cast your vote for the next sock or I might be forced to draw numbers!

Tomatoes!

The tomatoes we planted by the patio are the ones that seem to be undisturbed by the rabbits and squirrels. I think we can thank the trusty Beagle for that. We planted Italian plums in this area. But, one of the plants turned out to be a cherry tomato plant and the other just a plain tomato. Fine with me. So, I'm making tomato soup. It's nice to have the homegrown tomatoes for this. The ones you buy in the store are always waxed, which is disgusting.

I also made more of the multi grain bread. I added ground flax seed to the grain mixture this time. This loaf turned out huge! I also worked on the sour dough. After reading the recipe a little more carefully, it has to ferment at room temp today and spend the night in the fridge before baking day. I also check out "Beard on Bread' from the library and plan on making a whole grain recipe using whole wheat kernels. Probably later in the week when I have my time off.

Our air conditioner stopped working lat night around 7 p.m. It's amazing how these things ALWAYS break after business hours. We couldn't get anyone out until this morning, so we had to tough it out last night. Fortunately, it was about 78 degrees last night an only around 80 in the house. I was a little hacked off because I replaced the air conditioner around three years ago. I was hoping to avoid having the damn thing break during Kansas August weather. As it turns out, one little piece had worn out and it was a quick and inexpensive fix. Here I was thinking it was going to be hundreds and hundreds of dollars but it was just a little over $100 because of the service call.

Nell (aka The Piddler) was up a lot last night. Man, I was tired this morning. I've figured out it was because of the heat. All of the pets have slept peacefully all day long.

After winding the Bonkers yarn last night, I really wanted to cast on for a new project. I even had Sam choose the next one. But, I stuck to my guns and worked on the KP&S Cardigan today. The Addi Turbo has helped tremendously and the knitting is much easier. I'm a little nervous about the yarn yardage.

Tomatoes

One of my greatest pleasures of summer is fresh, ripe tomatoes. I love having a sliced tomato for breakfast. Sometimes with a poached egg and toast.

This year, we planted 12 plants. Several of which are heirloom varieties. To date, I have only had one of my tomatoes as the squirrels have made off with the rest. The area I live in has quite a squirrel problem. I had heard that human hair deters the squirrels. While I have a bag of Sam's hair from his last haircut, I didn't have the nerve to go into a Great Cuts with a bag and ask for their hair clippings. Especially after Sam got the heeby-jeebies about it.

So, I have been forced to buy my tomatoes. One specialty store had home grown tomatoes and some Heirlooms this weekend. They were sold out on Monday, so I went to my usual grocery store. Arkansas tomatoes. Not that whippy either.

I sliced one for breakfast today and took a few bites. Absolutely no flavor. I threw out the rest of my plate. Barf.

And so, I must declare war on the squirrels. I didn't want to use a chemical deterrent. Last night, I read that squirrels are deterred by pepper smell. So, I boiled some water and soaked three habeneros that I cut up. Today, after the peppers had steeped overnight, I strained the water and added a couple of drops of dish washing liquid. Then I sprayed my plants with glee.
We'll see if I fixed those bastards or not.

The Nikko wrap is coming along swimmingly. I have about 15 inches done. When I brought it to my parents' house on Sunday, Tate admired it. That's a good sign.

I went back to the specialty store and got some homegrown tomatoes and a few heirlooms. Tonight, we will have BLTs on pumpernickel. I also smash an avocado in the Veganaise. A super easy summer dinner.