Making Squash from Watermelons

I noticed my "watermelon" plants were not viney.  I thought maybe I go some type of hybrid, well, really hoping that is the case.  I began researching and comparing pictures.  I have learned that I was sold the wrong seeds at the feed store. 

WWWWWAAAAAHHHHH! WWWWWAAAAHHHH!!!  :(

The seeds turned out to be squash seeds and now I have two beautiful non-watermelon squash plants. I bought the seeds at our local feed store and the seeds were coated in a blue coating which is some chemical that encourages germination.  I did not question the seeds, I mean, why would I?  The seeds had the same shape and size as the watermelon seeds.

Dammit.

Here are the pictures of my squash plants.

So now, I am going to go to Home Depot and purchase some watermelon seeds.  It may be a bit late to plant them but by George I am going to plant those babies!

I am wondering how many other people in Cooke county are growing squash instead of watermelon...

Hunnybun The Snake Slayer

In case you missed the story about my rescuing a rat snake tangled in some vegetable netting, click here.  While my experince with the snake was not frightening, Hunnybun had a much more dramatic experience.

Note:  About 25 years ago he was bitten on the leg by a copperhead and is understandably jumpy when it comes to the slithering reptiles.

It was Saturday morning and he went out to his shop to begin working on his next project. He discovered he needed a fitting to make an adjustment on whatever he was working on and opened his tool chest.  For informational purposes, Hunnybun is extremely organized and has all his tools, hoses and whatnots in proper order. 

Ok, now we get to the exciting part. Are you ready?   Have you been to the bathroom recently? Seriously, if not, you may want to go drain your radiator for this is quite intense.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...



He opened the top drawer of the tool chest and suddenly is struck at by not one but three copper head vipers!  With the drawer open and the snakes coming out of the drawer, the exit is blocked. He reaches for an axe and takes a swing. Missed!  Swings again and misses! Snake strikes and misses! 

Copperhead Photo

Hunnybun swears and notices his propane blow torch 8 feet away. He backs away, grabs the propane torch and lights it. Keep in mind this propane torch is like a mini flame thrower, typically used to burn weeds or light the barbeque grill depending on the circumstances.  He is now armed with an axe in his right hand  and the torch in the other.

He lights the torch, turns the flame all the way up and. WHOOOOSSSH one snake down!  Keep in mind there are three at this point.  The second snake had slithered behind the work bench and around the the wood burning stove. He pivots and WHOOOSSSH french fried copper head! 

Two down, one to go.  Hunnybun spins back to the left and the third copper head is eye to eye with him. The snake strikes nearly hitting hunnybun in the chest. Hunnybun swings the axe, nicks the snake and then finished him off with the torch. 

Whew!!!! 

Hunnybun gathers his composer and makes his way to exit the shop when he is confronted again by another copper head!  HOLY @%&_*#!   He grabs the rake and WHAP, the snake gets it!  So now, the count is up to four copper heads in his shop!  Hunnybun takes another deep breath and steps outside his shop door still armed with the rake.  He is then stopped cold by one more snake and this time it is a water mocassin!  He backs into the shop, lights the torch and WHHHOOOSH!  The snake lurches forward, hisses and strikes while on fire, fortunately it perished quickly.

The excitement is not over, ohhhh nooo, that would be too simple.  Sniff, sniff, that's and odd smell, and no it is not the charred flesh of the snake, it is the shop! The shop is on fire in about six different places including the curtain over the window.  Hunnybun rushed to the water faucet, turned it on and extinguished the fire before it got out of hand. Thank goodness! 

After regaling me in the story Hunnybun took the day off and opted to take a long nap. 

We have lived on our little piece of heaven for nearly ten years.  We have seen snakes on occasion but never like this.  I guess it was our lucky day... (yes, there is sarcasm in my tone) Why the copperheads were nesting in the shop is beyond me...

That evening Hunnybun went through every inch of his shop and did not find anymore snakes. Hopefully this does not happen ever again but I can assure you that we will all be on our guard when entering the workshop and opening the storage compartments or simply reaching for a tool.

Something that may be noteworthy is a local farmer told me that snakes are going to be "bad this year". Admittedly, I have not researched his claim but as of right now, I am taking his word for it...

Slither, Be Free

As most of my friends and family know, I am an animal lover. Some I do not care for, such as ferrets but I respect and appreciate them nonetheless because they too are living creatures, a part of the universe such as you and I.  That being said, I helped out a fellow creature today.  My husband was going to kill it because of its species and the fact that he had a close encounter with a cousin of the said species the other day and has been bitten by a poisonous one in years past.   You see, he has ophidiophobia , which is a fear of snakes.  Admittedly they startle me but unless they are poisonous and threaten me, I let them go on their way.  

Growing up in NW Oklahoma I instinctively know to keep a watchful eye out for the little buggers and only terminate them if they are poisonous, in my living area, and a threat to me.

That being said, last night I was awaken by my husband speaking of a snake caught in some vegetable netting in near out backyard fence.  Since it was dark I decided to wait until this morning to assess the situation.  My husband spoke of killing it but said where the snake was he could not get it with the shovel and did not want to shoot the gun so close to the house. Bless him...  Anyway, my heart ached. Seriously, I felt a pang of sorrow for the reptile lying trapped in the netting.  I really thought I had disposed of all the netting because I no longer use it to protect my vegetables from the Mockingbird.. That is another story entirely. 

Caught in Netting:

I stepped outside this morning to find the snake still tangled in the netting and still alive.  I took my time approaching the snake and locating the head. After all, poisonous or not, I do not want to get bitten.  I realized he is not only tangled in the netting but it is cutting into him in several places and without human intervention, he will die.  I took photos of the situation and then proceeded to gather my tools for freeing the snake.  I determined, with research that the snake is a Elaphe obsoleta, otherwise known as a rat snake.    I used a scrubbing brush on a broom stick to hold the snakes head down while I began removing the netting with scissors.  I did not touch the snake with my hands, only the brush and the scissors.  With each snip I remove the netting thread..

Most of Netting Removed:

Eventually, I set him free of the netting. Ahhh, a rush of relief came over me as the rat snake began to slither. Except he was coming towards me. I kept trying to get him to slither away from me, but he kept coming my way. I finally encouraged him to go under the porch. He literally looked up at me, made a left turn and slithered under the porch. He seemed to be happy. I do not know if snakes can show gratitude but he seemed to really appreciate my act.  

 

Then, like a fool, I cried.   Yes I cried big ol fat tears. I felt like an idiot, for I was crying tears of joy for the snake that will life to see another day and hopefully eat any rats that try to steal food from my grain bins.

You see, I have a love for life that goes beyond words and even snakes need love and kindness.

Now to call Hunnybun and inform him that his quarry has escaped!

The Cat's in the Dryer...

The Cat's in the dryer

And the silver spoon...

I could not resist the temptation.  

Sure, go ahead, don't smile.  :)

After I empty the dryer, and this is a regular routine, our cat, Patches gets in the dryer and waits until I am ready to load more clothes before she exits...

Copper Tea Pot and Other Details...

While a fellow blogger Marilyn has upgraded her computer, I have taken a quantum leap into the past and purchased a tea pot to go with my copper cookware...


Speaking of which, have any of you ever watch the show 'Quantum Leap' with Scott Bakula?  I used to watch it when I visited my grandparents in Texas for when I lived in Oklahoma, my father and stepmother would not spring for satellite television and we had to either watch VCR recordings my grandparents sent us OR the 'Gospel of Luke' originally in Hebrew but translated by a narrator into English. No wonder I was so good at Bible trivia! ( I really, really hated this because I always wanted to watch 90210 and the other shows my classmates were discussing...)   My point is,that for its time, Quantum Leap was a great show and I quite enjoyed it - when I was able to watch it...  

Now, back to the cookware.

I love copper cookware. I decided I needed a tea pot to go with my copper pots and copper strainer; so, I hopped on Ebay.  I really agree with Andi and her comments about my having a 'Green Acres' house! { Love it!!!}



And guess what??



Are you guessing??



Do you know what I am about to show you?! Oh, of course you do, for it is in the title and I have mentioned it three times previously.



Here it is! A copper tea pot! I mentioned it a quantum leap into the past because I am quite sure it is older than I.  It has a lovely ceramic handle and knob on the lid. Once I polished the pot and lid, as it was quite tarnished when it arrived, it turned out quite nice...



My Copper Tea Pot! (And no, I did not break into song, although I did clap when it whistled!)  :)

Thyme, Thyme, Who's Got The Thyme???

I have the thyme, and sage, and lavender and rosemary!

My Garden...

Thyme

Sage

Lavender - It looks a bit unhappy because I accidently stepped on it. 
:(  It will come back.

Rosemary

Onions - At this point they are a bit larger than a golf ball.

First - The first tomato of the season:

First - Potato's

Potato Plants

Watermelon Plants

 

Baby Corn Plants

Baby Green Bean Plants

Baby Okra Plants ( I had to 'weed' them out because so many were growing together.)

Pumpkin Plants

Strawberries!

Grapes - Assorted Green and Purple

Apricots!

Peaches!

More green beans that I planted around one of my ash trees...

The Tub

One thing I enjoy doing is bringing seemingly deceased items back to life.  This can be cleaning up an old pot to dragging cast iron bath tub out of a pasture, sand blasting it and then having it recoated. Hence the subject of this post; the blue bathtub.

Below is photos of the bathtub I pulled out of a pasture; yes, I had permission.

The bathub was buried in bermuda grass and literally full of fire ants!  Yikes!  I hate, hate, hate ants and take great pleasure in upsetting their homes and extinguishing their miserable hate filled lives.  Heh hum, sorry...

Anyway, I loaded the tub into the pick up bed and happily returned home. 

Since the legs were broken and I decided to be different (really, are you surprised) and design a cradle for the bathtub.  My design was feasible and thus I contacted a local engineer to build the contraption.  It worked!

I then had the tub sand blasted and recoated, blue.  The color of blue is called 'bon voyage' by Behr to be exact.  I then sold the tub and made back my expenses plus a bit.

The first photos are the before and the second set, after...

Before:

Inside the tub

Outside of tub

and Again...

After:

View 1

View 2

Final View

I was literally laughed at when I took on this project.

Now I ask, who is laughing??  I think it turned out splendidly, and so did the buyer. :)

Wonder Woman!!!!

A story referencing the Wonder Woman wrist watch can be reviewed here. 

My Wonder Woman Coffee Mug - (I found this a few months ago when patroning a comic/super hero shop with our daughter. )

Wonder Woman Belt Buckle - Yes, I wear it on occasion...

 

Wonder Woman Mechanical Watch - Love It. 

 

Do any of you enjoy super-hero movies?  Are you looking forward to Iron Man 2?  

Admittedly, I was skeptical about the first Iron Man, but once I swallowed my skepticism and sat down to watch the movie, I loved it!  I am looking forward to the sequel.