Rain

[George Shirley]

Some good came into our world this afternoon, headed out to the grocery store to pick up a few items and the bottom fell out of the sky. Managed to get to the store with all that rain following and then got back home. Early the rain was a veritable deluge and now it has slowed down a bit, it is still welcome. Free water on the gardens and fruit trees is always welcome. Weather heads say may be on and off for next few days, doesn't bother me at all, we live on high ground.

Found out a day or two ago that an old classmate from high school had her house flood up to three feet inside from Harvey passing by. Luckily she has flood insurance and she and her eldest son made out okay. Will call her tomorrow and see if any of our other friends got hit and how hard. She's lived 100 feet from Cow Bayou in Orangefield, TX most of our lives and she's my age and a little more. Glad she had the proper insurance though. We are the last two of our 32 members of our graduating class. Largest class ever was our 1957 graduation. Many more years have brought on very large classes but we're the last of ours. Time flies faster than anything when you get old.

Found out today that my kids, grands, and great grands are holding a birthday party for me on the 23rd. It's a nice gesture but I would prefer something quieter than the whole crew coming to see me. That's about eighteen people including myself and the wife, makes a big noise in a small house but it will be nice with all our off spring here for a bit. Who ever thought 57 years ago how many of us there would be!

George

[songbird]

envious of anyone getting rains recently. we had a little bit the other day, but are far behind normal (3 inches per month) the past few months.

hope the party is a quiet riot. :)

songbird

[George Shirley]

We received a nice rain this morning and it brought cooler weather too. Fall garden perked right up and the kumquat tree needed some water. The kumquats are starting to ripen so we're checking twice a day to get the ripe ones into the house. A bit later they will all turn from deep green to orange and we can make something of them.

Probably will get some more rain this week as my weather app says so, maybe right too, as I watch the sky.

Put up several vac bags of chopped okra from the other garden for the winter. I do like deep fried okra on occasion with a little catsup, and they're a must do in gumbo, which we also like. I guess it was the 20 odd years in Louisiana where we got hooked on all types of gumbo. I prefer shrimp gumbo but we eat almost as much chicken gumbo too.

The nights are starting to get cooler here so Ma Winter is not far away, I hope. Hit a home run on the Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine I like, got to get a free year for two of my grandson's as the like it too. Reckon Texas Parks & Wildlife is trying to hook two more junkies. Of course the two still hunt and I don't but that means I will probably get some of the venison, ducks, or geese they will shoot this winter, not to mention a few fish they catch.

My right leg is getting worse so I scheduled an appointment with the doctor next week. We will see what he says, or rather, what they say since our doc brought in a few more.

George

[Boron]

In your experience, how long do they last once picked? This is the first year I have had a significant amount of fruit.

I got a first harvest from my (2'5", growing in a 12 inch pot) tree and made some lovely kumquat marmalade, and I have more ripe now, but there are more green ones that are not ready. I don't want to do a batch with less than ~3 lbs to start. Happy to add some big citrus to it, of course, to bring it up to a minimum batch. Hard to get kumquats around here.

As a friend once said to me, it isn't the getting old that's a bother, it's the maintenance.

[George Shirley]

In an air conditioned house (Texas) they go bad pretty quick so we eat them out of hand. A later crop comes in all at once and we make other things with that.

DO NOT MAKE ANYTHING WITH GREEN QUATS. It won't kill you but it sure tastes weird, take it from me and my first time.