Waiting All Summer for This!!

What have I been awaiting?  Why my first decent cantaloupe of the summer(only the third overall) of course!.  Here is the picture and the cantaloupe is now sliced and chilling.  There are about 20 more out there that will ripen over the next week.  When it rains it pours.  Unless it really is rain and the year is 2011 in Oklahoma.  So, there is not a lot new to post today, but here is some of what I have done in the past week'

We mowed!  It rained last week and so what little grass there is left decided to shoot up.  I will say, there was a silver lining to the drought/heat wave.  No grass burrs.  They need water just like everything else.  The problem now is that they are sprouting up in a fury.  For two hours Monday night, Elijah and I dug up grass burrs.  I saw them in my sleep.

I am usually so sick of harvesting by this time of year that I just start pulling plants.  Instead, we have made it through the heatwave (probably not the drought, thanks for the encouragement local weathermen) and I am just now starting to get production from the garden.  My peppers are still going crazy, but the tomatoes are just driving me crazy.  I am going to go out and trim them up today and see what they do before the feast.  After that, they will probably be pulled.  i did make some salsa the other day.  I had to use canned tomatoes from the store.  Tastes fine and is a much richer color, but it is still just not the same.

Jalapenos, garlic and onions

Same thing after grilling

Sam's contribution to my salsa

Easy way to chop

Just need jars now

Something else I waited all summer for, my morning glories to bloom.  I was a little surprised when they finally did  I was expecting a purple and white striped flower instead they are solid white.  That is at least the third thing I planted this year that is not what the labeling said it was.  Just a little annoying.  Well, they are still pretty.

I should have rotated this shot, but too late!  Okay, really just too lazy.

Lots of Things

With the heat and drought, there is not a lot going in the garden.  And what is going, is going crazy!  The jalapeno plants are loaded, but of course the tomatoes are not.  The okra is rearing is prickly head as well.  I picked a five gallon bucket of it today.  Some of it I was cooking up for lunch when the power failed.  I had to improvise at that point.  Good thing we like to camp.
Tomorrow I will turn the jalapenos into salsa!  Yes, it is supposed to be very cool over the next few days, so I can open the windows and turn on the canners.  Hopefully it will have rained and cut down the dust.  Last week I smoked a few for chipotles.  Jeff likes them so, I guess they turned out well.

With all the busy of Elijah's school work and mine (finally taking an AC online class!), I made time to help out Mrs. T. by showing the sophomores how to make marshmallows.  It was a lot of fun.  The mess may be the best part of the fun.