I'm doing a little container gardening this year. I have 6 tomato plants and a few herbs. I planted about a month ago. I was looking at them yesterday, they look real good so far, and I noticed there are a few tomatoes on the vine! They're small and green right now, but it's just a matter of time now.

It's been a while since I blogged. Here's what's going on with me, well, at least some of what's going on.

Everything in my house is getting old (including me, lol). Two years ago my 30 year old air cond broke down during a heat wave, so I had to scramble to get a replacement. Last month my 28 year old water heater failed. Again, I found myself scrambling to get it replaced. I'm the kind of person who prefers to get a good value when I make a large purchase but that is hard to do when I am reacting to a break down. So I decided I will start replacing my aging appliances while they still have some life in them. My fridge was 24 years old so that was first on my list. Heck, I don't want to have it fail and then have to drink warm beer while I wait for a replacement to arrive.

So I set out to research fridges. The main criteria was that (1) it be at least as large as my old one, (2) it has to fit through the narrow kitchen door. I found one that is slightly larger than the old one and by my calculations would fit. So I ordered it with the assurance that if it doesn't fit they would take it back with no penalty to me. It fit, with a 1/4 inch to spare! And it's much more energy efficient. A bonus since we are looking a huge increase in electric rates starting next month. Plus I have a clean fridge now (the old one was needing a cleaning). Yeah, that's how a man takes care of a dirty fridge...........

The next thing was my clothes washer and dryer. My old dryer was 24 years old and washer was 20. Plus I've been wanting a front loader for a long time. They are much more efficient. So I did my research and made my selections, they were delivered a week ago. It's hard to get excited about laundry, but those things are nice.

My wallet has taken a bit of a hit, so that's all for a little while. But next on the list is the over the range microwave oven (it's the kind that also serves as the range hood). My current one is 24 years old. I'm going to do that soon. And then my dishwasher is 14 years old, but I think that has a couple of years of life in it yet. That'll be last.

A few pics from my snow encrusted world.

You may remember this pumpkin from my Sept 1 blog.



Did you know that pumpkin is a super food, rich in nutrients? So what do you do with it when you're not carving Jack O Lanterns, turn it into pie or perhaps soup? Those are all good things but did you know there is something else it is good for?

First prepare it for roasting, quarter it and brush it with a little butter.



Roast that puppy until it is golden and tender.



Puree it, mix it with some flour, sugar, spices etc and dish it out into some donut pans.



Bake it to perfection.



They're a little heavy but tasty. A very good pumpkin delivery system. Especially when made with a pumpkin that was purloined from an unsuspecting neighbor!

I decided I'll be The Great Pumpkin this year (reference to the Charlie Brown Halloween show) although I won't be visiting the pumpkin patch. This is an adults only costume.

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Be sure to look at the other Halloween blog challenge participants, which are (or will be) guitartxn, KaioticEvil, hornyman1155, Tardis, Whispermyname, youaremyman, MarkandLacey, masterstoy91, d_licious_d, sidders73, Showy_Showy, nickey69

My cousin who has put himself in charge of this told me a number of years ago our uncle had some pipes put in the ground. He was out there recently and found oil as well as natural gas coming up. He found a company that is interested in drilling it. The person who currently has the controlling interest (that part is a little complicated and I'm not going into a big explanation) has signed a oil and gas lease with that company. But it needs ratification by the nieces and nephews. It's entirely possible this thing could be pumping out $$$ relatively soon. There are more than 20 of us so I'm not expecting great wealth but some pocket money is always welcome. But there is a fly in ointment. The lease needs to be ratified by the nieces and nephews and one of them decided the make himself invisible several years ago. We have no idea where he is. I hope the oil company can find a work around on that.

A number of years ago a dear uncle passed away. He owned a little spread on which he raised cattle. That wasn't his livelihood, he was a judge. But having grown up on a farm and living in Texas it was easy for him to stay close to his roots. The little ranch has oil in the ground. He tried unsuccessfully to interest oil companies in it. There is a big cost to extracting the oil and they were only interested in larger finds. When he passed he left the ranch to his nieces and nephews because he wanted the land to stay in the family in the hopes that someday someone will benefit from the oil. One of my cousins has contacted my brother and reported he has been contacted by an oil company who is interested in the mineral rights. I'm going to talk to him later today and get the details. There are a lot of us so I don't expect to get wealthy from this, but maybe some pocket change will be nice.

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The Great Pumpkin paid me a visit. I took a look at the fence in my backyard and saw something round and orange suspended above the ground. Close inspection revealed a nice sugar pumpkin. I took a look through the fence and saw my neighbor has a pumpkin patch. One of the vines made it's way through the fence and sported a small, ripe nicely shaped pumpkin.





What's on your side of the fence belongs to you, doesn't it? I didn't want a coyote, raccoon, squirrel or other rodent getting it, so I rescued it. I'm now the proud owner of a very fresh sugar pumpkin!

It's a bag that's a planter. In one version a single plant grows out of a hole in the bottom of the bag. In another, there are 3 side ports for tomatoes and 3 ports for herbs. That's the one I have.

Here it is in late May, right after I put it up and put my plants in.



Here it is today, the basil is doing very well.



Here is a closer look.



The fruit of my labor, the first installment.



After several years of not having home grown (i.e. good) tomatoes they are on my plate again!

*does happy dance*