Just a place to babble for this 40+ (groan) year old guy who likes to cook, garden, be a nerd on the computer, watch too much TV and movies, and yes, still read comic books! Do ya play MMORPGs? Especially Champions Online right now? If so, lemme know!
I was working out in the garden Monday afternoon when Doogie's ears perked up - we looked up to see an odd site. Don, the medical student two doors down, was walking across our neighbor's backyard in a shirt and his "medical pajama pants" (whatever those blue things are called), holding a snow shovel out in front of him.
Odd.
Doogie got all excited and raced to meet Don, and then we saw something slide out of the shovel and onto the grass.
Turns out he found a turtle in his driveway, and was bringing it over to the pond behind our yard.
Don sounds like my mom - "I'm not picking that up! I don't want salmonella!" (Ah - so paranoid at such a young age! LOL)
Not that it would've bothered me ANYHOW (see just a week or so ago!) to pick it up barehanded, but since I had my garden gloves on, I wasn't worried about any risk of salmonella... Not sure if this is the same turtle or not... Hopefully it didn't mind being taken back to the pond - maybe it would've rather I taken it across the street? Either way, it showed it's appreciation (or lack thereof) by trying to pee on me.
Last week was a week for pizzas... I'd grilled up a bunch of chicken on the weekend, and decided to use it up in creative ways. So one night I made up a batch of pizza dough, which makes enough for two pizzas. The first night I patted out the dough, drizzled with bbq sauce, sprinkled on diced up chicken, black beans, steamed corn fresh from the cob, mozz and cheddar, some green onion and a bit more bbq. Oh yeah, and I cooked it on the grill! ;-)
The next nite I took the second blob of dough, patted it out, sprayed with Pam, pre-cooked it a bit on the grill, and then sprinkled on mozzarella and ricotta, black pepper, diced chicken, added a little more cheese, and drizzled on some olive oil before putting it back on the grill briefly. GOOD STUFF!
I had originally planned on using alfredo sauce on the crust first, and maybe crumbling on some bacon, but we were out of sauce (oops), and then I got lazy and didn't bother with the bacon. We'll obviously be trying this again soon! ;-)
Brett was amused because he was able to add enough water to the fur in Doogie's tail to weight it down and forward, which isn't how it normally bends when he's just standing there.
"I'm gonna rip yer $&%&ing face off if you don't stop taking my picture and let me out of this bath tub!!!"
(Note: Doogie's not real fond of baths!)
And then after a bath, Brett tells me pretty much all dogs go through this ecstatic period. I tell ya what - the dog can MOVE!
Have you ever tried taking a picture of a dog zooming through you house!?
I finally convinced him to stand still long enough for a picture - check out how ruffled his back fur gets!!
Wow, the sugar snap peas are suddenly LOADED with blooms AND small pods! This may be my most productive year yet for the peas... I really didn't think I was going to have much luck after some of my initial plantings (around St Patrick's Day) rotted. Granted, some of my seeds were perhaps 5 years old...so that might've been a small problem. But some of the plants came up and started off really slow, and now they're just going gangbusters!
Annnnyhow - now that I've got that little bit of bragging out of the way, I figured I'd do a follow up to this past holiday weekend, where I was out in the backyard for the most part. Talk about a dirty, sweaty weekend...
I started things off by wanting to play it extra safe with some of my Asian pears. The trees have set a handful of fruit, and I noticed one or two got munched by bugs. I'm hoping not to be constantly spraying the trees, so I decided to try something I'd heard they do in Japan (and I can afford to do this now since there are so few fruits on the tree!). I used kitchen ties to create a little bag of floating row cover around the fruits - that should protect them from critters while still allowing them to breathe. I was a bit too harsh with the first one (on the scrawny tree), and it fell off. Now that tree won't have any fruit this year. The bigger tree has maybe 6 pears formed on it that I've noticed - so I "bagged" a few of them to see how it goes...
I FINALLY completed (ALMOST!) a project I started TWO YEARS AGO when we put in the lawn. Since we had a Bobcat rented, I also got a trencher and dug a trench across the yard, and then ran a pipe underneath so that I could set up a spigot on the corner of the veggie bed. I never got back to this project - slacker!! I'm sort of glad I didn't - I've decided to have the spigot on the corner of the flower bed next to the garden instead - so I dug down, found the pipe, cut it off and attached the rebuilt/improved plumbing structure, which I attached to a posted I concreted in place. I've left the remaining piping underground - I might actually go ahead and run it off the 4-way split manifold, and have a hose attachment just coming up from underground on the corner of the garden (I can attach soaker hoses etc to it), and then fill in the hole on the corner of the veggie garden (yay!). I even hooked up a hose holder to the post - nice!! You'll notice there's signs of the big hole around the base of the post - I have to allow space for fall-drainage of the system, just so there's no risk of water freezing and rupturing the pipes over winter...that would suck!
There was also lots of tilling to be done. I have a shipment of asparagus and raspberries arriving this week, and I NEEDED to make sure I had all my final ammendments for the new asparagus bed (formerly the strawberry bed), the big in-ground veggie bed, ANNNND the new back bed (formerly the attempted/failed asparagus/raspberry bed). I've been adding manure to the asp/rasp and back beds, and the big bed had winter rye growing in it all winter after having manure added last fall.
As i was getting ready to till up the back bed (or I'm also calling it the squash/pumpkin bed for this season), I found...ASPARAGUS SPEARS coming up! WTH!? They showed NO INTEREST in coming up last year, and they're only just now coming up this year. OH well - before tilling I dug up the three clumps that survived, and will plant them in their new home this week. Brett got a pic of me doing garden work in my kick ass (aka dorky) garden hat as I was moving the asparagus out of the way. Don't laugh - I felt silly in my recycled paper-product hat (feels and looks like straw!) at first, but I've realized it's a great sun block, AND it keeps the evil biting flies off my head!
Here's the new asparagus/raspberry bed...freshly tilled! I ammended the asparagus end with a little extra cottonseed meal and blood meal (or was it bone meal?) - both of which are supposed to help acidify the soil some.
And here's me tilling the big bed. Check it out - I don't know why, but Doogie's taken a real interest to following behind me as I till. Even when I hit an end, back up, turn around, and go back in the other direction, he slowly follows, while still staying out of the way. What a good garden helper! Sometimes he gets distracted - like if he realizes Brett's watching, or if he seems I've turned up something in the dirt that might catch his interest. But otherwise, he's my little helper!
And here's the in-ground bed after it's been tilled and I've started planting. In the back left-to-center are two rows of five caged tomatoes each. To the tomatoes' right is empty space - I'll plant corn there. Near the middle, on the left is empty space (more tomatoes? beans?), and in front of that I've planted 9 eggplants and in front of those is the Maxibel bush bean patch. I'll keep planting more beans every week or so to ensure I keep us in beans all summer. To the right of the eggplants is a Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkin, and to the right of the beans are two tomatillos. Just off the right side of the picture are five more caged tomatoes. I'll put another row of tomatoes next to them shortly.
Way off in the back right you can see part of the squash/pumpkin bed. Oh, and there's room off to the left of the beans and eggplants for stuff like okra and I'm not sure what else. More beans!
Freshly planted tomatoes never look like much - so much of them gets buried underground!! Each tomato whole got two aspirin, some crushed eggshells, a scoop of compost or rotted manure, some bonemeal, and some also got some worm castings. Unfortunately, I had no fish heads... I'm also out of tomato cages, but still have more concrete mesh, so I'll be busy making those this weekend.
Also constructed from concrete reinforcement mesh is my new-and-improved cucumber trellis! Last year it was just from a short scrap of leftover mesh, held up by wood posts. When stong winds came, it blew over. This year the new version is a zig-zag shape, and has metal posts that are buried deeper. The combination of the stronger/deeper posts and the zig-zag should help it withstand the winds better - PLUS the zig-zag gives me a little more surface area for plants to grow up. After loving all the homemade pickles, and enjoying slicing cukes so much, I'm growing more varieties, plus I've added gourds on one end of the trellis! Oh, and the horizontally-running pieces of wood are to keep the mesh from trying to coil back up... ;-)
This weekend I also finally mastered drip irrigation. Last year I tried having one looooong piece of 1/4" soaker hose just strung around a bed (think 36' of hose!) - and it just didn't have the pressure to force the water out of all that hose. This year I've learned how to do it right. Run 1/2" hose down the length of a bed, then run 1/4" soaker off that every foot or so. I set up the three 4'x12' beds with this system this year - still have the 3'x12' bed to do...but no rush on that. You can barely see some of the soaker hose in amongst the lettuce and onions here...
And here's the drip irrigation in with the peppers I planted this weekend. LOOOOTS of peppers - sweet, hot and SUUUUPER hot. Many are still kind of runty - peppers always seem to start out this way for me, but then something like a heat wave hits and they really take off. Hopefully with the drip irrigation added, they'll do even better this year! (I've also tucked in some small marigolds here and there - to help attract beneficial insects and/or confuse the bad ones that might want to eat my pepper plants!)
Annnnnd here's the drip irrigation with the leeks - which are still small, but I've noticed they're starting to grow a bit. Does anywhere here have recommendations on leeks? Do you start them in the fall and overwinter? Do you just buy them?
I mentioned wanting to grow corn this year. That's because I have this pack of Mirai seeds that are like 2 or 3 years old, and I didn't want to just throw them away. Awhile back I tested viability - wrapping ten in a wet paper towel, and a few days later 7 sprouted. Not bad! So I figure I'll do the same trick with all the rest, plant only those that seem healthy, and then can change how much space I spare for corn based on that - and fill the rest of the saved space with tomatoes!! ;-) I started them Sunday, and here's how they looked Tuesday afternoon...
That's plenty for this garden update!! I got plenty of other stuff done during the holiday weekend as well - and am TIIIIRED this week!
Here's a calendar view of the garden accomplishments:
I'm so glad I don't have to wear a tie/business attire for MY job. I have in the past, and I know that when you get home from a long, hard day at work there's nothing more you want to do than get that damn, sexist, suffocating tie OFF!
Which is just what Brett did the other day - and decided to give Doogie the experience of being a professional. Professional CUTIE!!!
And what's crazier is it was a plant!! That just feels too risky!
But I'd been tempted to find some way to get some apple trees in our yard - I love Gala apples, and am willing to try other types. Brett loves Granny Smiths, but from what I've read in books lately, they have a much loooonger time to harvest in our area, and so aren't recommended for the home garden.
To save space, I definitely needed a dwarf tree (like with the asian pears and sweet cherries I've put in), and I was hoping to find a tree that had Gala grafted with something else it could cross pollinate with that we'd also really like. Not an easy list of priorities. I love the idea of graftings - where you can combine different kinds of a fruit into one tree. Grafting is already really common - to make a large apple tree with really good tasting apples into a darf or semi-dwarf tree, the immature top of a good tasting tree is grafted onto the rootstock of a smaller tree type - one whose apples probably don't taste good, but has smaller tree-size (and better resistance/hardiness properties!).
I believe roses are often grafted onto the rootstock of a different type of rose - one that is more resistant to diseases?
And I think grapes are often grafted as well.
For all you know, you might have something growing in your yard that is really a grafted combination of two plants!
Add to this that some plants can have their upper parts grafted together, and you can have some cool combos. For example, here's Stark Bro's 2-N-1 offerings of grafted plants - Japanese plums, pears, cherries and more.
Anyhow - while I think it'd be fun to do my own grafting sometime, that won't be happening anytime soon. And Stark Bros didn't have anything that was quite what I wanted. Instead I found a lady on ebay who, in addition to selling lots of tropical plants, grafts Red Delicious, Yellow Delicious, Red Rome, Fuji, and - ta daaaa! - Gala together into one tree! They're really not expensive, and she's very fair in the shipping - actually REFUNDING you money if the shipping costs her less than what was estimated from the USPO's web site!
Before I placed my order I exchanged several emails with her, asking a ton of questions, expressing concerns, etc. She was very friendly, very informative, and very educational....I felt like I could really trust her.
My new apple tree arrived just a couple days after I completed the order, with explicit instructions on how to take care of the newly unpacked plant. The apple tree was very well packaged, and the packing material was all still damp.
I'm a bit bummed that each branch wasn't tagged, but it'll be fun to see what's what in future years. The tree is fully self-pollinating (thanks to the different varieties). Mary's warned me it could look odd with blooms on different branches at different times. Right now that doesn't sound like something that would bother me.
Here's a close up of one of the grafted-on branches.
That's the lowest branch - here's the rest of the grafts.
This next picture could've turned out a bit better...it was so bright out I couldn't see the final picture on the screen. This is after I've planted the tree and decided to put a tomato cage over it to protect it from Freakazoid pup as he's racing around the yard, chasing frisbees, etc. I'll extend the area around the tree with mulch soon. I dug out the hole, working in only a little compost to lighten the clay a little, and digging the shovel into the surrounding areas to open up the heavy clay soil some without actually turning it over - hopefully providing some weak spots for the initial new roots.
I have to remember to water it 2-3 times a week while it's getting established this first year. I've made sure to use some diluated fish emulsion to help it out a little, and will provide some diluted worm pee before too long.
Here's what things were looking like last Wednesday when I took the last round of pictures in the garden... (Before planting new stuff!)
Here's the six rows of leeks, which take up about 1/3 of the length of one of the 4'x12' raised beds.
Hm....they don't look like much, eh? Here's a hint - DON'T add grass clippings to your bed and then stir them in shortly before you plant REALLY TINY leek seedlings. It's really hard to tell grassy little leek seedlings from grass clippings, and so after you water them and accidentally cover some of the seedlings and then go to fish them out, sometimes you're pulling out grass clippings. Oops! ;-)
Here's a leek seedling. I hope they start to take off soon!
The strawberry beds are going GANGBUSTERS! Vanessa from work gave me some spare plants last year, and then I combined them with the babies from my previously in-ground strawberry bed. Her plants are MONSTROUS compared to the variety I had!!
Here's my attempt at a little square foot gardening I guess. The top two squares are bok choy, and the bottom four squares are each a different variety of beets. This might be the last year I try beets - and I didn't want to dedicate too much space to them if I decide they're just not my thing. Brett won't eat them, and if I'm not super enthusiastic about them, I'll give up. The seeds are from 2007 and 2008, and it seems like they're sprouting just fine.
This is an Asian pear. Looks yummy, doesn't it!?
These are broccolatoes, interplanted with radishes and carrots.
What's a broccolato you ask? That's what you get when your store-bought broccoli plants are doing just fine, but seem to keep having weeds come up from underneath them...and then later you remember this is where you had potatoes growing last year, and no matter how thorough you thought you were in getting all the potatoes out, AND you turned the soil over a bunch this spring, it seems there were STILL some potatoes volunteering to come up now.
Nice.
I wonder how this is going to play out...
A close up (but blurry) pic of the broccoli head developing. This could also be the last year I do broccoli - it might just be one of those things that's easier to buy. The stuff takes up a lot of space for how little we get. And then there's the cabbage moth worms...
The shallots and radishes are doing nicely.
As are the snow peas, lettuce and onions...
And more lettuce. The seed tapes I set up did a nice job!
So the other day the weather had warmed up, it was nice and sunny out, and I let Doogie out with me while I was getting ready to gnosh on a grilled cheese afternoon snack. Tucker was beeeegging to come out, and I could only resist him so many times. Honestly, he wasn't out FIVE MINUTES before he started being obnoxious and trying to wander around to the front, so I put him back inside. I'm trying to remember if he even set foot off the deck? If he starts wandering off the side steps, I bring him back in.
Anyhow, I put him in, went back out, ate the sandwich, played with Doogie a couple minutes, and then we came back inside.
Tucker was being all flirty, trying to convince me he neeeeeeeded to go back outside. What bothered me more was he had a fleck of dirt or something on his nose. I couldn't believe he'd gotten dirty that fast while out with me, and REALLY couldn't believe he would've have had it cleaned off already.
And on his nose?
Waitasec....
Ok, how creepy is that? I grabbed the camera, snapped some quick pics because I knew no one would believe me, and then flicked it off onto my hand (it held on at first), and then ran it to the toilet and flicked it in (again, it held on). I gave that sucker a double flush, putting a few pieces of toilet paper on it to make sure it couldn't easily float back up (it didn't want to go down the first time).
Talk about getting the heeby jeebies!!
Since then, no more ticks. That we know of. (Ok, now I need to go check myself!)
And sure, they may look like weak little things, but they really know how to dance!
Here's the baby robins a week or so ago, with the last one hatching. And here's one of them from just the last few days.
Wanna know what's extra creepy about that picture? The baby birds' motion!
They do that alot - whether or not the mom's there. I actually worry they're overheating - she has that nest wide open to all the afternoon sun. I've tried moving the tree branches around a little to provide some shade, and have even twist-tied a couple together. We'll see if that makes a difference - and hopefully doesn't scare off the mother bird.
I tell ya - these little birds are uuuuuggggly! Their beaks are HUGE compared to their heads. The eyes are pretty darn big too. And then they have those tiny little bodies...
Since those pictures were taken, one of the babies has disappeared. Now we were awoken in the middle of the night Wednesday night/Thursday morning to animals screeching outside...possums or raccoons or something. I wondered if maybe they got into the nest, took a baby, and were fighting over it. But that's really imaginative. I couldn't find the baby under the tree anywhere - who knows what happened to it.
I've noticed an odd, high-pitched squeak/wheez noise lately, and I think that's actually the mother robin. Maybe she does this for the babies? Maybe all robins do it and I've just never noticed?
Speaking of birds, the last of the house finches (and cowbirds?) left the nest last weekend. I was really looking forward to getting those trees washed and packed away, only before the first birds were all gone, there was a SECOND nest in the tree with two eggs! ARGH! Here's the babies the day before they left - there were two females and male flying all around, chirping up a storm, etc - perhaps trying to lure them from the nest?
I got home from work the other day, let Doogie out to do his thing, and I was standing there taking in all the warm, sunny beauty (now that we're past our frosty weather!). I saw something in the yard and figured it was just another stick, rock, scrap or something that Doogie found and left in the middle of the yard. Just as I was walking over to see what it was, I realized Doogie was also following the scent of something in the yard...
I realized what it was and went to grab the camera. Doogie did NOT know what to think of it...
It was definitely something new that had to be investigated!
Sniff sniff...
Well hello there little friend! (What you don't see here is the steady stream of pee coming out the back of the turtle!)
It wasn't easy convincing Doogie to leave it alone. Since I had wanted to get more horse manure for the gardens anyhow, I tucked the turtle out of the way (next to the bird bath!), distracted Doogie for the short bit we were still there, and then got ready to leave.
Within a few minutes of being set down, the turtle was on it's way again...
I think it's giving me the stink eye?
We were gone for an hour, and by the time we got back, there was no sign of the turtle anywhere.
In addition to the pond behind us, there's also a small bit of wetlands across the street and down a short ways. I figure it was heading over there to get some lovin'.... The good news was I haven't seen any dead turtles in the street!
The forecast for this past Sunday night and Monday night were for frost. Yup, middle of May, and we're still having frost warnings. This really isn't all that odd. Sure, we gardeners bitch and moan and act all surprised, but hello - it's Ohio. This is how it goes...
The coldframe is PACKED with stuff just itching to get into the garden. The coldframe is also SURROUNDED in stuff that's already spent some time hardening off in the coldframe, or stuff that's been purchased. When it gets frosty, I crowd everything together, close the coldframe lid, put patio chairs around the stuff that's croweded around the coldframe, and drape blankets over it.
As you can see from this picture, most of my peppers are still pretty scrawny. Hopefully with the weather warming up, they'll start to show some speedy growth.
Over the last few weeks I lost most of my tomatoes and even some of my peppers. First I thought it was the swarm of aphids that must've hatched from something in the basement and sucked the life from the tomatoes. Now I think the plants were stressed from something else (cold, non-moving air? potted up in too heavy a soil?), and their stress weakened them enough for the aphids to kill 'em off.
Since then I've been tracking down heirloom tomatoes, and have even had some help from friends! I EVEN have some new tomato seedlings started. It's REEEEALLY late, but we'll see how it goes.
Here's how things looked Monday morning...
You can see the sun was quickly melting any frost not in the shadows.
That doesn't look like something you'd see in May, does it!?
Now things are warming up, and I think this will be the weekend for planting veggies in the garden. Some might say it's a bit early, but our highs have jumped up to the 70s/80s, our lows are in the mid-50s, and I've even checked the soil temps - 50F minimum! And that was right after we'd had frosty weather. So, yeah, I think it's time to get this party started!!! I'll be careful - holding off on some things that prefer not to go in the ground until the soil's more like 70F....but I think some stuff can get planted. Yay!
Sometimes it's hard to get the yard work done without distraction. Either Doogie's racing off after someone who's walking down the sidewalk, or a neighbor dog or kid is coming over for a visit, or the birds are doing something crazy, or I get lost in "this would make a cool picture...and so would this...and so would this..." mode, and sometimes it's not just the birds flying overhead.
I wonder what it'd be like to be up there, flying overhead, watching us down here working, walking, riding bikes, walking dogs, etc. I'm guessing we're just dots to them.
Maybe next time sirens and flashing lights should go off, and they should drop a million dollars to float down from the sky! Now THAT would be cool!
Big time congratulations to my cousin Lawna, who graduated from pharmacy school at the University of Kansas! (They spelled her name wrong on that link)
That's her with the really hip '2009' glasses....looks like she's happy about graduation, hunh?
Here's the dappled willow I got when Mary and I went to the auction awhile back. I have to say it's become the most feel-good plant I got out of the batch so far!! Seriously - it's incredibly dynamic, attractive, peaceful looking....all at the same time.
I had thought about putting it off the edge of the deck, by the side steps. Brett didn't think it would look so great there, so I extended a bed off the back of the living room window, and now I find myself just watching it blow in the wind sometimes.
Apparently it's going to be a vigorous grower, and I'll need to trim it back a few times a season. I'm fine with that. I guess this is both to control it's size, AND to promote the new growth, which has the most interesting colors. Check it out - older leaves are green, newer ones (the ones it had when I bought it) are creamy white, and the newest growth is a shrimpy-pink color.
And these pictures were taken out of the living room window, which seriously need a cleaning! I swear it looks like a little cocktail shrimp is growing out of the end of each branch. YUM - how cool would that be!?
Hm....Tucker's looking really relaxed out in the yard.
Waaaaaitasec! Tucker's looking really relaxed in the yard - RIGHT NEXT to the bird feeder and bird bath! Ok mister, I'm on to you now - and I'm pretty certain the birds are too!
Not too long after this, 4 cowbirds and a coupe of doves landed on the far side of the bail of straw temporarily sitting by the new 'Sensation' lilac and the serviceberry. Tucker got up reeeeal slow to watch them, trying to peek around without spooking them. He seemed to be content with just sitting and staring rather than chasing after them... Probably just figured he'd never get to them in time. Smart cat. ;-)
While at Sharon and Andy's for tilling/dinner recently, we also got to play with their cats, Charlie Brown (aka Chuckles) and Linus... They're so cute, plus it helps that they don't run away when company comes over (like our Moxie and Simon do).
Here's Chuckles- he obviously has something very important to say!
Time for a close up?
Oh, maybe that was too close? How's this - better? (MY what a big nose you have!)
And here's Linus. He always looks worried, but that's just because of his fur coloring. He actually looks like he has mascara on. After we came back inside from using the firepit and making s'mores, we learned something interesting about Linus. Apparently he loooooves the smell of smoke? Or maybe it's specifically burnt wood? Or maybe that combination with grass/yard smells? Whatever - he was wrapping himself around our feet after we came back inside, licking and sniffing and attacking. Kinda like how ours do with catnip...
With the recent warm weather, it seems all sorts of things are waking up out in the yard...including the ticks. In less than two weeks, we had SIX! I found one on Doogie while out in the yard, unattached, and killed it (NOT easy to do). Brett found a couple on the dog in the house, unattached, after a flea bath (Doogie got the flea bath, not Brett) (Doogie was REALLY dirty after "helping me" with landscaping). Brett found one on himself crawling around! And we plucked some off the dog that had attached - one was EXTREMELY plump with blood!
Doogie has since been to the vet, who assured us this area really doesn't have to worry about Lyme disease, and he's on a flea-and-tick treatment (the little squirty stuff between the shoulder blades).
Here's two of the live ones that hadn't attached to anyone... They can REALLY move - up until the point they're over something warm - then they slow down and start figuring out where to lock on.
Are you having a party and need a really good, fresh tasting, healthy appetizer or snack? Are you the guest at someone's dinner and you've been asked to bring something along - perhaps dessert or maybe an appetizer or finger food? Here's something that goes over great everytime!
First you want to get a good pineapple. There are some fruits I find incredibly intimidating to buy - melons in particular. I feel silly sniffing the stem end of the fruit in the store to see if it smells ripe, and to be honest, I don't feel that's always the most accurate test. Especially if the fruit's cold - it doesn't seem to give off as much scent.
Pineapples are the same - I'll sniff them, squeeze them a little, etc and just hope I'm getting a good one. These days you can pick up a "golden pineapple", which tends to be sweeter and have a better, more reliable flavor than just regular pineapples (I have to say - I don't think I've seen stores selling a choice where you have to pick one variety or the other). Maybe more stores are just selling golden pineapples? Anyhow - so far we've had really good luck we these, and at Walmart we can usually get them for under $4.
We were recently going to Sharon and Andy's for dinner and Sharon tasked me with bringing pineapple, saying "I LOVE when you bring pineapple pieces sliced all cool?!" (It's actually a technique dad showed me...and it's really easy!) So I picked up a pineapple, not bothering to chill it or anything, and got to work on it in their under-renovation kitchen just before we sat down to eat. As you can see here, the kitchen counter's not quite done...
It really helps to have a good sturdy knife, or even better, I like two separate knives. A big sturdy heavy duty one for quartering the pineapple, and then a long, slender, serrated one for cutting the individual slices. Mom and dad actually have a special pineapple knife, which is serrated on both sides, and bent - easier for working your way around the curved husk. I might have one floating around somewhere, but I made do just fine with Sharon's knives.
First you want to halve your pineapple lengthwise - from tip to tail...
And then halve each of those portions, so now you're quartering your pineapple - again, do this lengthwise.
If you have it, you now want to switch to a more slender, serrated knife. A steak knife does the job just fine here. You want to cut between the outer skin of the pineapple and the inner flesh (the part you eat). If you don't have a fancy curved pineapple knife, you'll definitely have to go at this from both sides of the quartered piece. Rather than cutting out rounded off pieces, you just cut in a straight line halfway into the quartered pineapple, then flip it around and do the same thing - from the top (leafy-end) to the bottom (base). With a serrated knife you can use some sawing action here, which really seems to help.
Here's a video of the same action. You'll see I had to make a couple passes to get even halfway through the wedge of pineapple - that's ok.
Oh, and don't cut SUPER close to the outer skin of the pineapple - if you do, you'll get more of the bumpy parts of the skin in the parts you want to eat. Since the skin has all those ripples or "eyes" all over it, and those are tough, you want to avoid them.
Once you've done that you want to make a cut across the top of the part you want to eat, separating the core from the good juicy and tender part. BUT - make sure you DON'T cut the core loose. You actually want the core to sort of create a bridge from the leafy-end to the base of the pineapple. I wish I had a better picture here. You're basically cutting along the top of the curved part you just finished cutting, making sure you can free it from the body of the pineapple.
Once you've done that, make sure you've got the big chunk of pineapple freed from the husk of the fruit. Just poke it with your fingers and see if it's got wiggle. If not, do a little more cutting just to get it loose.
I don't have any pictures of the next part, but I think you'll be able to tell what was done from the completed picture that follows. You want to make a bunch of vertical cuts all the way through the chunk of pineapple you've freed - make them about 1/2" wide each. In the picture below, I made about 8 or 9 vertical cuts, creating the slices of pineapple that were still held in place between the core and the outer husk. Once you've done that, just push each piece of pineapple out from it's original position just a short ways - probably no more than a 1/2". the trick is to alternate which direction you push them - so push one left, the next one right, the next one left, the next one right, etc...
And then put tooth picks in them. Either all of them if you have a big party, or just a few for a small group (and people can reuse their toothpicks). Or don't put any in now - and just make them available off to the side. Don't forget to ALSO provide something for your guest to put used toothpicks in...maybe a small dish, or just let them know they can drop them under the shell of the pineapple if you don't mind. whatever I do, I like to taste test the pineapple first AND put my toothpick where ever guests should - that sorta says to them "oh hey - look, here's what someone else did, so it must be ok." ;-)
Here's a close up of the final product (with a small piece of black husk fleck sitting there on the core. Not pretty. Ignore that.) This should give you a better idea of what the alternate-pushing-out effect has...
Ever feel like you're just too pooped to move? You've been busy with lots of yard work, or the weather's got you down, or you're just flat out TIRED?
Here's some recent pics showing just how pooped one can get! One day while working at home I was sitting at the computer and had been aware Doogie was curled up down at my feet. I looked down to find him passed out with the hurley toy mom and dad got him. (Btw - he LOVES his hurley, and that sucker is INDESTRUCTABLE! I HIGHLY recommend it if you've got a dog that likes to destroy his toys! It's rubbery and has give to it, so he likes to chew on it, but is also VERY tough.)
And then this past weekend I actually got up EARLY both days! Saturday I woke up by 8am feeling wide awake and refreshed! Sunday I woke up by 9am, feeling NOT so refreshed, and just flopped back down on the sofa... (Note: Brett is ALWAYS up early on the weekends - I don't know how he does it!) Doogie wanted to be a part of the laying around...
Brett got this goofy picture of him - I guess he wants us to get deeper sofas?
Anyhow, part of the deal was we were getting treated to a nice homecooked meal - we just had to bring some fruit to have along with it. Sharon loves howI cut pineapple, using my dad's style (which he picked up somewhere while we were in Hawaii). Rather than cut the pineapple at home, releasing all those juices, and then having Brett be a sticky mess from holding it en route, I just figured I'd cut it there. Check back later for a brief tutorial on how to put your pineapple out on display! (And it helps to have an assistant, like Andy here!) (Ok, you don't really need an assistant)
Here's the feast! Check out Sharon's yummy "marinated" sandwiches - a recipe her sister Denise passed along. These ROCKED! Sharon used two different meats and two different cheese, totalling four possible combinations of fillings in any sandwich. They were seriously good!
The (super tasty) pineapple and (lackluster) strawberries for our "veggie course"...
It didn't take too long before the pan-o-sandwiches looked more like this...
Cutie Brett!
Andy looking smug!
Sharon not wanting her picture taken...
After dinner Sharon wanted to try out her new old Food Saver on the leftovers (she just got it from Craig's list, so it's new. it'd never been opened, but as far as we can tell, it's several versions older than MY several years old Food Saver - so it's old). Voila - shrinkwrapped mac n cheese!
Thanks for such a good dinner! Oh, and dessert - Sharon and I had smores over the firepit, plus we all had some of her homemade choc chip mint ice cream! MMM!
Here's a follow up to yesterday's post, with more current pictures/developments in the yard.
I've been trying to make sure we'll have plenty to eat from our own yard...it's both fun as a hobby, AND in the long run it could be quite economical. (No, there aren't going to be any cows, pigs or chickens running around back there...) I'm honestly not sure how much luck I'll have with grapes, nor how long it'll take to get ANYTHING fruitful (no pun intended) from them... I put this in last spring I think, and it's still probably less than 2 ft tall. I was honestly worried it wasn't coming back - up until a week ago, there were barely signs it had buds! In the last few days, it's really started to take off. I need to do some reading - it probably wants some fertilizer right about now, and I wouldn't be surprised if I should be pruning off at least one of those vines! Check back in a few years - I'm sure we'll have some white seedless grapes. Maybe. And THIS shows real promise, doesn't it? Really has your mouth watering, right? Ok, here's a different one for a better clue. They're strawberry blossoms!! Yum! Here's where the serviceberry was covered in blooms just a week ago. I've commented before on how last year we didn't even get blooms because the deer snacked on the top of the tree... This time I sprayed the tree with an egg/water mix earlier in the spring, plus Doogie's out there leaving his scent - so perhaps those both helped. You can almost see the berries forming! And that's just one branch. Here's another one of the clusters it's covered in! This is one of the more exciting things happening in the yard. I'm really, honestly, truly trying NOT to hold my breath. It seems a year or two too early for anything really productive to be happening - but there they are. Where there were blooms a week ago, now there's signs of possible swelling - and PERHAPS there'll even be Asian pears!? This is happening on the smaller/wimpier looking of the two trees. Since I have two (had three) varieties for cross pollenation, I actually took a bloom from one and rubbed it all over the blooms of the other a week ago - just to do my part to help out. Who knows, maybe it made a difference? The other, bigger tree doesn't seem to be as far along...maybe it'll show signs of fruiting, or maybe it's just not gonna happen this year. I wonder if I should nip off all the attempts to fruit this year? Just so it doesn't use up too much energy? That would really suck.
And speaking of snacks in the yard...I found this little critter on one of the 'Diablo' ninebarks out back. Check him out - just a cute little caterpillar - probably couldn't do much damage, right? But wait. What's that angular thing behind the leaves in the upper right of the photo?
Flipping the leaves over and you get a closer look...
Between the colors of the plant and the overcast skies - the colors here really kept changing. But check him out - this spider really blends in well with the ninebark. I'm wondering if he's going to be treating himself to a tasty snack on my shrubs? Eh, that's what I grow the stuff for, right? ;-)
Rumor's been going around today...and I noticed mention of it on other sites, but not on weather.com, which I've been checking every hour or two. Here's the update since I last checked - so I guess now it's official:
Issued by The National Weather Service Cleveland, OH 3:21 pm EDT, Mon., May. 11, 2009
... FROST ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT TUESDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A FROST ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT TUESDAY.
TEMPERATURES WILL DROP INTO THE MID 30S TONIGHT AS LIGHT WINDS AND CLEAR SKIES MOVE INTO OHIO AND PENNSYLVANIA. AREAS OF FROST WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR SEVERAL HOURS LATE TONIGHT AS A RESULT OF THESE CONDITIONS. SOME OF THE PROTECTED AND LOW LYING LOCATIONS ACROSS INLAND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA MAY SEE TEMPERATURES DROP INTO THE LOWER 30S FOR A BRIEF TIME AROUND DAYBREAK.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A FROST ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN FROST IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE GROWING SEASON. THOSE WITH AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS IN THE WARNED AREA ARE ADVISED TO HARVEST OR PROTECT TENDER VEGETATION. ALSO... POTTED PLANTS NORMALLY LEFT OUTDOORS SHOULD BE COVERED OR BROUGHT INSIDE AWAY FROM THE COLD.
Looks like I'll be doing some covering up of some of the more tender growies tonite. Bummer... I really truly thought we were done with this!
With a recent warm spell we had, it seems like many things bloomed earlier than expected, while some other plants actually finished up their bloom cycle earlier... Whatever the case, it sure is making things look real pretty out in the yard! Here's some pics from the last couple of weeks, and tomorrow's post will include more recent pictures/developments!
Here's a close up on one of the two Asian pear trees in bloom. I don't recall if they bloomed at all last year. I actually picked a bloom off've one and rubbed it around in the flowers of the other tree - they're supposed to have the best fruit production from cross-pollination. I would've also reversed this, but the one tree only has a handful of blooms, and I didn't want to risk losing any. Hm...I wonder if I'll actually have any fruit this year!?
Here's the serviceberry, in front of the freshly-tilled in-ground garden bed. Last year the deer ate the tips off the serviceberry just as it was forming it's buds. It survived just fine, but there were no pretty blooms, berries, etc. This year we lucked out - I haven't seen the deer around in quite awhile.
Here's a close up of the serviceberry. Serviceberries are supposed to have really good tasting fruit...but birds are also supposed to love them. I'm not holding my breath, thinking I'll get to eat any of the berries that might form. I'm sure the birds will beat me to it!
The tulips are doing their thing. I really wish I had more, but with our heavy clay soils that don't drain very well, I also don't figure they'll all survive - most likely a good portion of them will rot out. I'll have to wait and see from year-to-year which tulips come back.
And speaking of pretty/smelly things, Tucker's checking out the pretty looking catnip for it's good smell. Well, HE seems to think it smells good...
Peter and Conrad got back from a trip to New Zealand recently. Now *I* say when they're there they should be enjoying themselves fully and not be worrying about the rest of us back here, but instead, because they're such wonderful, considerate guys, they actually thought of me and sent a package when they got back!
That's real New Zealand wool there!! Feels NICE AND SOFT!! Not sure what I'll make with it yet - Brett suggested the hat that I still haven't made for him! ;-)
The Holdermans are leaving for a vacation this week. That means a full work week without Sharon to chat or email with at some point each day! Do you know what this is comparable to?!
Uncontrollable weeds in the flower beds. I've tried removing so many and they just keep coming back! MUST GET MORE MULCH!
Having critters. These little wormy guys are DEVOURING the leaves of one if the two viburnums I put in last summer... They're not as gross as the hundreds of black aphids covering a weed on the side of the house, but they're making a mess of a potentially very decorative plant. It's not one that produces edibles...so I might have to get series and nuke 'em with something seriously toxic!
Bird schizzle. That's what my Grandma Dorothy calls it. And man, the birds got my car GOOOOOD yesterday while I was at work. I mean, c'mon - hasn't word gotten to the Kent birds that I'm taking seriously good care of the Rootstown birds? I'm on their side! Target someone else's car. (Please note - this is NOT the only place they hit my car - it's just the worst one)
Finding this on your front porch. Seriously - we all knew something bad might come of leaving those two brown-headed cowbird eggs in the nest out front.
Now, after seeing all that, you feel pretty down, and maybe a bit grossed out, right? That's how my next week's gonna be! Allllll because Sharon and Andy feel they deserve a little vacation.
I've recently been doing A LOT of digging in the yard. With all the trees/shrubs I got at the auction, plus some more taking advantage of a Lowes coupon mom and dad sent (thanks mom and dad!), PLUS taking advantage of some specials at Donzells, I've really had a lot to plant! I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to seeing how all the trees (more info later) mature, and hope all will survive.
I'm wrapping up planting the big stuff, and after work the other day I had just finished planting the pink-blooming dogwood, and decided I still had time before dinner to slightly extend the corner of the bed off the front of the garage to plant the Cherokee Pride hydrangea from the auction... There's multiple reasons for this particular project/location - it's the north-east corner of the house - it'll get sun til about noon, but shade the rest of the day, and both the hydrangea and the dogwood prefer some shade. This area of the landscaping is really blah. The bed I put in with hostas, ivy and yarrows has a bunch of grass growing in it (so I've been thinking of redoing the bed, and mulching with newspaper under wood mulch). Annnnd I've realized that there's an awkward corner of the lawn when it comes to mowing, so I'm going to follow what the neighbors did and bring the flower bed around the corner to meet the driveway a little - which means no awkward corner of grass to mow up agains the house!
One small problem.
I was digging where I wanted to put the hydrangea, with the neighbor kids announcing all the play-by-play bits ("Ooh, look at that worm!" "Yeah, this'll make your mowing easier..." "I think you're hitting a rock with the shovel").
That last bit was the issue. I knew I was hitting something - and it wasn't a rock. It didn't sound right, and it didn't feel right.
After some more digging I came up with the piece of wood you see behind me here - the one propped up against the garden cart.
Oh yeah, I ALSO dug out the piece of wood you see me holding, AND this other piece of wood in the following picture! It's quite possible there's more wood buried by the builders under there, but I haven't found it, and I give up. If there's more it's not interfering with any of my planned landscaping, and isn't so close to the surface that it's killing off the grass.
Well, I guess it's time to get back to work.... I pulled out the rest of the wood - Sharon had the great suggestion of using it in the in-ground garden bed for a walking path!
Now I've got a huuuge long strip about a foot deep where I've dug up the grass and some of the landscaping. Gee - I might as well go ahead and re-do the bed afterall, hunh? I think I'll save it for later...maybe this weekend if the weather cooperates. By the time I got all that out of there, I was tired and it was time to think about dinner...
Here's the latest updates on the bird situations... Something tells me this is gonna go on alllll year - hope you like birds! ;-)
This picture was taken about two weeks ago... This is the first of the two fake trees on the front porch (both with housefinch nests). This is the nest that had 5 small blue speckled eggs, 3 of which hatched. Brett says the baby birds look like old men.
Then early last week there was a day where we had REALLY strong winds, and in addition to blowing stuff around, sending the patio umbrella up and over the house from the back yard to the front yard (and breaking a spindle), etc, it also blew over the first of the two fake trees. I panicked when I saw the tree was over, but was happy to see one of the baby birds was sitting on the toppled over tree. He took off when I put the tree back up, and wasn't too hard to catch to put back in the nest, where I found another bird hunkered in for dear life. The third bird was missing, and I couldn't find it anywhere... I figured two out of three would have to do.
A few hours later, Doogie and I were out in the yard when something in the shrubs caught his attention. He started to lunge towards the baby bird just as I saw it, but before I could do anything, the bird made such a fuss that Doogie took off in the opposite direction! I ran inside with the dog, grabbed a milk crate, and caught this little guy to put him back in the nest.
Then late this past week they must've decided it was time to leave the nest...
They'd already been getting more brave and peeking out. One had actually flown up onto the roof when I went to get the mail. Later he was back in the nest - but obviously had a taste for adventure, and was the first to leave.
Here's one thinking maybe it's time to move out...
Not sure if you can make them all out here. Two to the lower left, and one is higher up on the right. This was the last day I saw them - they all took off and haven't come back. I need to get the nest out of the tree, hose off that area, and get it down to the basement before someone else comes along and moves in!
And then there's the second nest that I polled everyone about awhile back. The one that had five housefinch eggs plus two brown-headed cowbird eggs (a bit bigger, and much more heavily speckled with brown spots). It seemed to take longer before any of the eggs started hatching, but now there's a number of baby birds in the nest plus two were kicked out and dried up on the front porch. Sounds like this is what happens when we leave the brown-headed cowbirds in the housefinch nest. Ah well - I guess this is nature taking it's course. Trust me, I'm not broken-hearted or anything like that, but I DO feel like I really should have gotten those cowbird eggs out of the nest, especially with seeing so many more cowbirds showing up at the feeder this year!
There are a lot of geese in the area now - it's nesting time! This picture's from the pond out back, but they're visible in many of the fields, near ponds, etc on the drive in to work. There's even one pair that already has a small squad of goslings following them around - I guess they had an early hatching compared to all the others?
And just as our own house finches and cowbirds are maturing and moving out, it looks like we'll have a new round of babies before long. This picture is in one of the two new arborvitaes I just put in a few weeks ago out back...to replace the ones that died over winter. This robin looks a bit spooked - I'm not sure why she felt the need to put her nest in such a high traffic area. Sometimes she takes off squawking when Doogie or I go by, and sometimes she just hunkers down and tries to stay out of site.
And here's what's going on in her nest... One day there were two eggs, and the next day there were three! Haven't checked it in a couple of days - not sure if she's working on cranking out more, or just keeping these three warm.
Oh, and since taking those pics, I've found ANOTHER robin's nest in the Norway spruce in the front yard! I think it had two eggs last I checked?
And here's more bird excitement! Last year I had a couple sightings of a flashy new, but very shy, bird in the backyard. All I had to do was move around inside and it would take off.
Well this year it seems the rose-breasted grosbeaks are getting a little more brave. I've seen up to two males at a time, plus there's a female that's occasionally hanging out with them. They seem to prefer the feeder back in the middle of the yard, rather than this one up close to the house... But ooooonce in awhile they'll get brave, and I just need to make sure I have the camera ready!
From the All About Birds link, it looks like they've probably just gotten up here from South America. Wow, after a trip like that, I better make sure I play the part of a good host and keep them well fed!
Here's some pictures of the gardens from this past weekend...
This end of raised bed #3 has broccoli and cabbage, with little radish and carrot seedlings coming up between them. The white puffy stuff along the one edge is rolled up floating row cover, which gets supported by the black plastic tube "hoops" stuffed down into the dirt, and homemade "yard staples" (which I'm finding it's easier and cheaper to make my own from coarse metal wire rather than buy 'em already made!). I had the floating row cover on during the heatwave a week and a half ago, and will put it up again when I start seeing the cabbage moths flitting around. I'm guessing something green-and-wormy is already snacking on the brassicas - I've seen chew holes!
Oh, and there's some napa cabbage that's tucked in along the one edge - a little crowded by the floating row cover at the moment.
Moving over a little bit in the same bed, you can see from right-to-left (where we left off) are shallots and then onions, all with lettuce interplanted. Along the edge of the bed closest to me I also tucked in the occasional swiss chard seed.
And over a little more are sugar snap and snow peas, interplanted with lettuce. Since there was a row of peas or lettuce that didn't come up, just this week I tucked in kale 'nero di toscana' seedlings that I'd started in the basement. This is my first year trying this kale.
Here's the strawberry patch in raised bed #2. I saw the first signs of bloom-buds this week! The other half of this bed is most likely going to be the cucumber patch.
Raised bed #1 - the only 3ft wide bed (the other three are 4 ft wide). The garlic I planted last fall from grocery store garlic, interplanted with lettuce, and then spinach to the left. There's a couple spinach plants bigger than the seedlings - those are the ones that returned from last fall. Since I took this picture I've finished planting this bed. To the far left are beets, bok choi and swiss chard, and to the right is another batch of lettuce. I think we should be all set on lettuce!
This long area WAS supposed to be the asparagus/raspberry patch last year - but I didn't have it anywhere near ready by the time the asparagus arrived, and NOTHING did well in it once I finally tilled it up and planted it. I take that back. The weeds did GREAT in it! So - change of plans this year! The strawberries got moved out of their in-ground bed into a raised bed. The former strawberry bed continues to be ammended (it's already had 4 tubs of composted manure and a ton of old leaves tilled in!), and will have asparagus and raspberries planted it in later this month. So the old failed bed needs new residents! What could battle it out with the weeds at the back of our property!? As you can see I've started adding some ammendments (I'll spread out the rotting bales of straw from last fall), and will add more manure, and give the thing a couple tillings. I'm hoping to mound it up a bit actually. And then this is where I'm going to plant squash and pumpkins this year! They'll smother out any weeds!
That's all for now! There'll be plenty more gardening pics coming before long, I'm sure!
Sometimes when Doogie's out in the yard with me, he can be racing around just for fun, or chasing frisbees, or snooting around in the mulch (or compost!), and then suddenly some scent gets his attention. He becomes so focused, and will follow that nose where ever it takes him. If Jake, the golden retriever 4 houses down is in the backyard and even THINKING of heading our way, Doogie smells him before he sees him, and goes tearing off to greet him.
This weekend it was something different... I figured he was after a mouse or vole, and didn't even see the camouflaged critter at first. Doogie sure did!
Of course, you know what happens when cats or dogs go after toads, right? They come back with that awful taste that has them smacking their lips or shaking their head, sometimes drooling. Doogie didn't even try to pick this guy up. I don't know if he licked the toad (he's heard about that on the internets!), or just brushed it with his nose - whatever he did, it was enough to turn him off. He just did a little little of the lips and shaking his head.
I guess the toad didn't think he tasted bad enough - he made sure to puff up and put on a little show to try and intimidate us...
We just left him alone after that. He's been hiding out around the white flowering weeping cherry, where I still have some straw bales from last fall. I figure when I finish this bed with some mulch, maybe I'll move over a busted terra cotta pot that I half bury - sort of a toad home if you will. Maybe this guy will like the new home since I'll be removing the straw...
Ok, gardening folks - I need your help!!! These things are popping up all over the place - in the landscaping, in the raised veggie beds, etc...
As you can see from the pics, they have very odd, thick, fleshy feeling first leaves that first open (the ones in the pic above are a little torn), and then out come the true leaves.
My guess is they're from one of the trees in the woods.... While we have a bunch of whirlybirds that come down in the fall, I figure those were maples...and this doesn't look like maple to me. Any ideas?
ADDENDUM: I realized the pics didn't really show the sprout very well - I should've given a better angle. Once the true leaves have started to develop some, I've realized they look familar, did a little searching, and am 99% certain they're beech sprouts. Hm. Beech. I wonder if I should see if it'd be worth saving one, potting it up, and see if it'll go nicely in the yard somewhere in future years?
As the shows we regularly watch are wrapping up their seasons, and just as the summer movie season is beginning, we had a chance to watch THREE movies this weekend! That's quite a bit for us! Ok, two of them were Netflix movies that Brett wasn't too excited about, so rather than us watching our Netflix stuff within a couple days of their arrival (so we can get them back out in the mail ASAP to get the best deal for our money!), these two have been sitting here for perhaps a week or more?
So Friday nite we settled down with one I've really wanted to see since it came out, but due to all the bad reviews, I just hadn't been too eager to get it. Sometimes, if you know pulling off the bandaid's gonna hurt, you leave it alone a little longer to put it off... (at least that's the theory)
Unfortunately, The X-Files: I Want To Believe lived up to the lack of hype. It pretty much sucked. Now I was an X-Files fanatic - I had a ballcap and a t-shirt, I had people over on Friday nights to watch the show and do dinner when the series was at it's height, etc... LOOOOOVED it!!
So it's quite a few years later, and the writers figured they couldn't go back to the big alien conspiracy storyline. Either it had been wrapped up enough, or it'd been too long, or there was no way you could make a good story for a single movie without dredging up all that old content...I don't know, but I kinda get it.
But even when they weren't dealing with the alien conspiracy storylines, they still had some great freak-of-the-week episodes. I still remember Tooms - the guy who could stretch a bit, becoming disjointed, and would eat human livers. That was some seriously good stuff - and nice and creepy!
Instead we had a very vague storyline about some sort of Frankenstein experiment to save some Russian guy's life, while Mulder and Scully had to deal with the lack of excitement in their lives these days. Sure, they touched on whatever happened to their kid, and whether or not they're in a relationship now, but even those answers weren't really all that clear.
If you loved X-Files, and yet you still haven't seen this movie, I'd honestly say pass - keep the good memories and don't let them be tainted by this movie.
Saturday we popped the X-Files DVD in the mail to send it back to Netflix and headed out for some errands and to see the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. Now I have to say 1) Brett wasn't super enthusiastic about the movie, and 2) online reviews were TANKING it (thanks to a leaked copy weeks ago!). The fanboys just weren't liking it. In fact, for the most part they haaaaaated it!
Now I have to admit I really only know Wolverine's history from reading X-Men on and off over the years (going waaaaay back), and also from working in a comic shop years ago - so I was in on the introduction of the Weapon X plot line, etc. But I don't know all the backstory that's been introduced for the character, I don't know all of his love interests, former team mates that aren't in the X-Men, etc. From what I've read online about the various characters he's interacted with, and seeing how they were changed for the movie, I honestly get why many folks might be disappointed because they're not the same. But hello, this movie takes place in the X-universe set up in the other movies, NOT the universe of the comic books. It's BASED on those, but it's different.
To be honest, we both REALLY enjoyed the movie. Yeah, sure, it would've been nice to have some of the secondary characters fleshed out a bit more, but what we did see, we really liked! The action scenes were great, as were the special effects. The acting wasn't all that bad. Hugh Jackman's done some seriously amazing work on his body (and did you know he's running around butt-naked for a bit of the movie?! Bonus!) (I haven't checked to see if he had a naked-butt double...who cares).
Was this movie as action-packed AND as funny as Iron Man? Nah, not really. But it was a different movie for a different kind of character. I definitely recommend seeing it - it's a good one!!!
And then, after the long weekend of yard work, gardening, errands, getting in a bit of a date for just the two of us Saturday, etc...it was time to settle down Sunday evening with our other Netflix movie - one I'd heard a lot of good things about, and was interested in seeing, but one Brett admitted he wasn't excited about. Oh well - we gave it a shot...
We both REALLLLLLY enjoyed Juno! What a fun movie!! Ellen Page, the girl who played Juno (and, since we're talking about X-Men, she played Kitty Pryde in those movies!), is an amazing actress! Very talented and very amusing!!! Jason Bateman's character seemed really cool but then got a tad creepy, but I think that was intended... All the fun witty comments kept us laughing, and appreciating all the cultural references - "Thundercats GOOOOOOOO!". LOL
I don't have as much to say about Juno. I kinda figure we're the last people on the planet to have seen it. I DEFINITELY recommend you check it out if you haven't - what a great movie about a touchy subject!
