Random Thoughts for Friday

Well, my blog list seems to have disappeared from Blogger... this has happened several times, but I have logged in twice now and it is gone, so I am not able to catch up on people's blogs right now... this is the list on the layout page, not the sidebar. 

 

The weatherman warned us of drive-time rains today, but we have sadly not had even a sprinkle, and at this point, there is a sunny afternoon outside.  I am going to go out and pick up black walnuts from the yard, both for excercise and for a friend who wants to take them for processing.  I did not know that Kansas had at least ten hulling stations for black walnut sales... I would have been giving her the walnuts for the last eight years!

 

I don't know how many of you have the Kindle readers, either of them.  I have toyed with getting one off and on, but I love the feel of a good book in my hands.  However, I became aware that you could download "Kindle for PC", and my goodness... there are literally hundreds of books that are free or of low cost that are downloadable.  I subscribe to several blogs in my email, and daily receive offers of these books.  They are not the American novel... but there are books with LOTS of good gardening information, and information about other subjects, as well as cooking, homeschooling, etc... and many children's books.  Once you get used to navigating the book sideways.... it is easy to read them.  It takes, even with my slow connection, maybe 50 seconds to download.  I also paid 4.99 for the Pioneer Woman Cooks Kindle version, after picking it up and putting it down for 26.95 many times.

Here are two of the sites where I get the free book offers, and, as the authors say, you must look at their emails daily, because what is free today may be 19.95 tomorrow!  One site is The Prudent Pantry, and it's sister site The Prudent Reader, and these also offer free apps, too.   Another one is www.moneysavingmom.com, which is actually the one that turned me on to the free books. 

 

This little guy fell off the tomato plant yesterday when I picked the green tomatos.  He's beautiful, isn't he?

 

He's a tomato hornworm.  I would be concerned but we are so clearly at the end of our gardening cycle... I had to cycle the furnace on today because the house was so dank.

 

Here's what the net has to say about him:

 

The adult moths, sometimes referred to as a "sphinx", "hawk", or "hummingbird" moths, are large, heavy-bodied insects with narrow front wings. The tomato hornworm moth is a mottled gray-brown color with yellow spots on the sides of the abdomen and a wingspread of four to five inches. The hindwings have alternating light and dark bands.

 

Crazy, crazy gardening year.  As I cut weeds yesterday, I came across this out in the middle of the yard... and it wasn't the only one...

 

 

Notice how the weeds are still growing?  We need to re-seed the entire yard, I admit it.

 

 

What IS it about the D'Uccles that makes them want to walk the fences?  The Naughty Girls, who are the Mille Fleur version, did this, too.  These two little guys are likely trying to stay out of the way of the sparring roosters, however, pretty soon they are going to be living the batchelor life.  They are also going to find their own little white house closed tonight, so they have to go in the red henhouse behind them so everyone can snuggle together.   It didn't get any warmer today than 52, right now... and was considerably cooler this morning.

 

Right now, I'm going out to do chores and pick up walnuts! 

There's a big pot of chili on the stove to warm me when I come in.