Ice Cream and...What Was That Again?

Something about a hot July day that makes a perfect setting to have a bowl of ice cream set in the middle of it, like a cool gemstone set in the middle of warm, sunny gold. That's apparently what my grandmother had in mind when she sent my father, aged 8 years old, to fetch an icy quart for the family's lunch dessert. At the store, he hitched the ice cream container's handle over the handle bar of his bike and took off for home. He hit a hard bump right in front of a cowbarn, which broke the handle on the ice cream box,sending it sailing into a small pile of manure. (As an adult, he says, "I don't know what I was thinking, but I CAREfully scooped up the ice cream, making SURE I didn't get any straw or manure in it, and put it back in the carton.") When he got home, he just put it in the freezer and forgot about it til lunch. As his mother was dishing up the ice cream for the family, she was puzzled and kept asking, "Bruce, are you sure you don't want any vanilla ice cream??" His Dad, fiddling with the spoon in his own bowl and peering closely at it's contents, raised one eyebrow, looked at my father and said, "Yessss, he wants ice cream...you want ice cream don't you, hmmmm?"

Cappy's Murmurings at 3 a.m. :

...Oh, I get it...
...I've got the picture now...
...You have pulled off all the blankets and sheets...
...To use me as Mosquito bait...
...I am layin' here completely exposed to the world...
...Three hundred pounds of nekked white flesh,
...Glistening in the moonlight...
...And that dawg of yours, who is in cahoots...
...Who could care less...
...(inaudible)...
...ZZzzz

Doggy pool party

Nothing like a dip in the pool on a hot July day. Sparky and Marky sure seem to enjoy it. On hot summer days they can often be found cooling off in their pool. Its fun to watch them play together. For more pics of their antics click on the title.

Well as the fourth of July aproaches heres a friendly reminder always remember to practice fire work safety> Here's an example of how not to do it. 

Home-Sweet-Home and Tugboat-Sweet-Tugboat are not the same thing.

We 'weathered' the first tropical storm of the year, Arlene. We didn't get a drop of rain, but as I speak, New York State is getting drenched by her. As usual, I always worry about Cappy out on 'da boat' in storms. Even tho he didn't get any rain, either, the guys out on the boats always have to worry about wind that can kick up dangerously high waves. They usually put the tugboat and barge 'holed up' in some narrow 'slip' where they can tie up, if to nothing else, than to some strong trees, and wait til things get calm enough to continue their jouney.
When Cappy first gets on dry land, it takes him about two days to get rid of his 'sea legs' and begin walking normally. I guess nothing on the boat is stable, with it's constantly bobbing up and down, so he has to walk with his feet kinda spread out to keep his balance. In their galley, they have to have these, for lack of a better word, pipes laid out on their stove to keep pots from moving around while they are cooking. Lately, at home, I've noticed that he's always commented on my having a sink "so full of water"...I've never questioned him about it, but last week I got curious. I've seen him warily eye my sink many times, so finally I asked, "Am I wasting water? I just like a nice full sink of suds." He said, "Oh I was just thinking you wouldn't like it so much if a big wave suddenly hit the side of the house and.....uh....oh...never mind, I guess you don't have to worry about that here."
I should hope not.

Peg and I stepped out side this afternoon after our daily thundershower. This time of yr it rains most every day in bayou country. We were greeted by our first amerillis of the year. 

The patio has taken on its Spring glory. You can barely see the bbq pit peeking out from the foliage, but be assured that as I'm writing this, the pit is smoking up the whole neighborhood and the blues are blasting on the outdoor speakers.

Folks have been asking us about our Cajun Long-horn okra and how to grow them. Well, here is a picture of a young okra plant. Notice the bottom leaf. It was left intentionally and chosen 'cause of its angle towards the outside of the garden. (Having it grow to the outside of the garden means that it won't crowd the other plants in the garden.) It will thicken and become a secondary stalk and grow okra as well. So, we will have 2 stalks on one plant. The next okra, above it is ready to pick, and when we do, we will remove the leaf growing with it. Further up ya can see a small okra growing and a bloom above it that will become an okra. As we harvest the okra, we take off the leaf that is growing with it. This makes the plant grow tall and produce more okra. I'll post more on the same plant later as it grows to show its progress. Peg asks that I mention the marigold flowers in our garden. They keep cats bunnies and other pesky critters outa our garden. These marigolds smell awful in my opinion and it seems the local wild life agrees with me.

cappy is back

Well as you can tell from todays flood of pictures I am back from 15 days on "da boat". It was a long hitch and I missed Peg terribly. I'm on a different boat now and as always it takes a while to adjust. This tug is old and a little run down but bigger and more comfortable. It needs lots of work but we have a good start already. Its nice working with a crew that gets along and gets the work done. Now that im home we are relaxing, playing in the yard, and just generally reveling in each others company.

I'll post some pictures from around the house later. Our square foot garden is in full bloom. Peg has been suplying the neighbors with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, snap beans , and assorted peppers for weeks now. It's amazing how much produce ya can get from a small area if ya follow the square foot gardening technique.

These three pelicans have learned that if they sit on the lock walls the "pickings" are easy. They sit there waiting for the boats in the lock chamber to stir up little fish with their props. Then pounce on them from the wall.