Garden, Outdoors and other useless thoughts

It's been almost 3 months since we started the garden stuff.  Thought I'd give you an update, along with photos.  MMMMMMM!  Photos.  Ahhgggg. (All said in a Homer Simpson voice).......
First, Tomatoes.  I planted two plants in a big plastic contained in the driveway.  Nice concrete heat and it works wonders:

Then, there's the three plants in the Greenhouse.  The plants from hell.  Here's 3 photos taken today:

The Greenhouse is 6 feet wide on each side, 7 feet tall on one side, 6 feet on the other.  As you can see, these are the plants from hell.

 
Yea, that's right, they're trying to escape.  I have to jump and wade to get inside the greenhouse.

About this time of the season, the White Flies come to visit and move in.  In the past, I've tried all sorts of chemical insect control to no avail.  Even tried Malathion.  Not only is that stuff strong but it's deadly, too.  Except on White Flies.  They love it and beg for more to feed their young.  This year, a new approach:  Flypaper.  The big yellow card hanging in the middle of the greenhouse is a White Fly trap.  Hopefully, it works.  I've got more of them to put up and will add to the 'art hangings' this weekend.

Green Beans anyone?  They're planted next to the driveway tomatoes.  Yummy fresh picked Green Beans.

Oh, don't forget the giant Green Onions I planted in the 5 gallon paint buckets.  They're big as horse's legs now and mild.  We're using them as fast as we can as they'll soon go to seed.

Then, there's the Sweet corn in the backyard.  Close to being eaten now.

We have sunflowers along the front sidewalk.  No flower heads yet as they're only 4 1/2 feet tall.

Here's a view of our front yard.  Our own little Crackerbox Palace.









Simply the best thing is that Charlene can sand, prep, paint, caulk anything better than any guy.  Very handy to have around.  And, she has the coolest tools, too.  MMMM!  Chicks with Tools!  AAAGGG! (Again, said in a Homer Simpson voice).  We got a new heavy duty desk for Nic and Trav's room but the top was kind of funky scarred.  Enter Chicks with Tools.

With Sister Pat coming in a few weeks along with Cuz'n Kent, Charlene wanted to spruce up the back deck furniture.  Again, Chicks with Artist's brains, Tools from Hell and Talent unbeaten.

She's handy, talented and, with Tools in Hand, Sexy!  I told her about neighbors I had 20 years ago that had a bathtub jacuzzi.  One of those inverted 'U' shaped things that you hung on the bathtub, filled the tub with hot water and laid back and enjoyed the bubbles and jets.  They took it outside and hung it on their kid's 8 foot wide metal walled pool after filling it with hot water from their hot water tank - just hooked a hose to it and filled the pool.  Party city that night.  Mixed drinks, hamburgers and redneck hot tub.  It was a lot of fun.  So, I came home a few days ago and found her carrying buckets of hot water from sink to the backyard.  Oh, m'God!  She didn't.... yep, she did.  No jacuzzi, just a big thrift store kind of blow up pool.  Since the hose outlet on our hot water heater wasn't working, we all took turns filling the pool with hot water.  Then, the Chick with Tools grabbed her latest Carl Hiaasen book and got in.  I got her a cheap pool solar blanket to keep the heat in.  As the sun was getting lower in the sky, the wind picked up and she just pulled the 'blanket' up as if she was reading in bed.  Loverly, ain't she!

 Tonight, Nic and Trav invited their friends, Jake and Zack.  They did the 'add hot water and stir' thing and jumped into the redneck hot tub.

Charlene had picked up some firewood at the store so we had a fire in the official Firebowl for them to get warm after getting out.  I just love non-flash pictures of fire.