Planting "Pickles" on Memorial Day

Al does not like cucumbers but he is a big fan of pickles. He bought some cucumber seeds a few weeks ago, but whenever he talks about planting them, he calls them pickles. Today was the day he planted his pickles.

We also planted a few row's of Okra. We like Clemson Spinless. We are late getting them planted this year but they thrive in hot dry climate so they should be fine. Earlier this spring Al got 3 or 4 yards of mushroom compost. He dumped it in a spot in the old garden. That is where we planted the okra. The remains of the compost was there, so the okra should do well.

Our peaches are getting real pretty, but some little varmit keeps sampling them. We are finding partially eaten peaches all over. They are small this year. I don't think I thinned them properly. I've noticed since I have been picking them, that some are getting bigger.

We picked a few small bell peppers last night and noticed we have a bunch of Jalapenos. I have a secret recipe for Jalapeno Mustard. I'll be making some very soon.

We have had rain and cloudy weather every day for about the last 10 days. I finally got some mowing in yesterday and today. With 11 acres, it is an ongoing project. With our wonderful Grasshopper zero turn mower, it goes pretty fast. I do 95% of the riding mowing. Al gets to do the hand mowing, weeding, killing red ants, and rounding up the weeds! I like to ride the zero turn mower and he lets me!

Our resident Brown Thrashers (Tina's) seem to be multiplying like crazy. We have found 2 separate nests and the nest in the arbor has been used twice this year so far. There is another on in the Wisteria. We are wondering if it is the baby from the first nest in the arbor. I don't know how old they are before they find a mate...? Today I caught Tina having a nice bath. She had been fluttering around with another Tina up by the garage earlier.

Brown Thrasher (Tina) having her bath

One of the first birds we found when we moved up here was a House Finch. We had never seem them before. They are colorful birds. We have not been able to see any of their nests. They come for dinner and that's about all we see of them. There are a lot of them though

House Finch