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Summer simmering
Sep. 24th, 2018 06:54 pmStill working hard to keep up with everything on my plate.
A couple weekends ago, my neighbor invited me to go with her to a pet convention in San Jose. The convention invited people to bring their own pets, and I thought about bringing just Benny, because Rei is terrified of cars. But when I tried to put the leash on Benny while shutting Rei out in the back yard, Rei was so full of anguish at the thought of being left behind, I decided to make the attempt to bring both of them.
It was rough at first. Benny has no trouble with cars; he rode back and forth on the highway five days a week for the five years he was working. Getting Rei into the neighbor's minivan was a bit of a struggle. In the end I had to pick him up and put him inside. He was mostly okay during the drive, as long as the road was smooth. It probably helped that it was an electric vehicle that didn't make much noise. When the road got bumpy, he started to stress out, but he didn't completely panic.
Both of the dogs did fine at the event. They had a couple agility yards set up, and I took them both in and tried a couple of the obstacles. Rei jumped a hurdle, but it was only a few inches off the ground, so it wasn't a huge feat. Benny went through the tunnel and over the A-frame (he'll do anything for treats), while Rei balked at both of those. (What kind of border collie are you, silly boy? You're supposed to be good at that kind of thing!) After we finished and went to get back in the car, Rei actually jumped in on his own (though he wasn't happy about it). He was thrilled when we finally got home.
Other than that, I've been working on a bunch of projects. I've got a board game design in the works that I want to get done in the next few weeks. I'm also trying to knit a Halloween costume for Brooke at work, and of course that has to be finished by the end of October.
I'm currently dealing with the peak of fig season. I've made jam, and pie, and gave a bunch to neighbors, and now I'm drying them all as fast as I can pick them. It's still a struggle to keep the wildlife from eating them. I tried a bunch of things, including sparkly reflective tape, devices that strobe red lights at night, and a motion-sensitive mechanism that projects an ultrasound blast. Nothing really had any effect.
In the end, the only thing that seems to be working is this protective plastic shell that I rigged up by cutting the top and sides off some grapefruit juice bottles. I slide it over a fruit and the branch that it hangs from, then fasten the top flaps shut with binder clips. So far the animals haven't figured out how to get through the bottles. This method does have some drawbacks--I can't protect a fig if there's another fruit on the opposite side of the branch, it's awkward to place on high branches, and it's difficult to attach the clips because of the curves in the plastic--but it has saved more fruit from the squirrels and raccoons than anything else.
It's also the peak of passion fruit season. I have frozen several quarts of pulp, and I've made batches of passion fruit ice cream, passion fruit curd, and passion fruit pudding, which I share with neighbors and co-workers. I still have a ton of fruit left. Next I'm going to try making passion fruit lassi and passion fruit/coconut sticky rice. (My one attempt at making a passion fruit colada was a dismal failure, because I forgot the sugar. Maybe I'll try again, if the sticky rice goes well.)
I made a bunch of pints of tomato sauce. Hopefully it's enough, because I don't want to buy any more jars. I will be dehydrating my tomatoes from now on. The tomato season is starting to wane, though my plants usually produce at least a few tomatoes through November.
I planted out my fall crop of peas, which are sprouting well. I'm going to attempt a fall crop of cauliflower this year, just to see what happens. (I never used to like cauliflower, because I always encountered it either raw in a veggie tray or steamed, both of which are blah. Recently, though, I've had it roasted, and it is MUCH better that way.) In addition, it looks like my hot pepper plant is going to give me a second harvest, so that's fun.
The persimmons are starting to turn more orange, which means the squirrels will be after them soon. Some are already starting to show bite damage. Maybe fig season will conclude in time for me to use the bottle cages on the persimmons before the squirrels get the ones the beagle couldn't reach.
A couple weekends ago, my neighbor invited me to go with her to a pet convention in San Jose. The convention invited people to bring their own pets, and I thought about bringing just Benny, because Rei is terrified of cars. But when I tried to put the leash on Benny while shutting Rei out in the back yard, Rei was so full of anguish at the thought of being left behind, I decided to make the attempt to bring both of them.
It was rough at first. Benny has no trouble with cars; he rode back and forth on the highway five days a week for the five years he was working. Getting Rei into the neighbor's minivan was a bit of a struggle. In the end I had to pick him up and put him inside. He was mostly okay during the drive, as long as the road was smooth. It probably helped that it was an electric vehicle that didn't make much noise. When the road got bumpy, he started to stress out, but he didn't completely panic.
Both of the dogs did fine at the event. They had a couple agility yards set up, and I took them both in and tried a couple of the obstacles. Rei jumped a hurdle, but it was only a few inches off the ground, so it wasn't a huge feat. Benny went through the tunnel and over the A-frame (he'll do anything for treats), while Rei balked at both of those. (What kind of border collie are you, silly boy? You're supposed to be good at that kind of thing!) After we finished and went to get back in the car, Rei actually jumped in on his own (though he wasn't happy about it). He was thrilled when we finally got home.
Other than that, I've been working on a bunch of projects. I've got a board game design in the works that I want to get done in the next few weeks. I'm also trying to knit a Halloween costume for Brooke at work, and of course that has to be finished by the end of October.
I'm currently dealing with the peak of fig season. I've made jam, and pie, and gave a bunch to neighbors, and now I'm drying them all as fast as I can pick them. It's still a struggle to keep the wildlife from eating them. I tried a bunch of things, including sparkly reflective tape, devices that strobe red lights at night, and a motion-sensitive mechanism that projects an ultrasound blast. Nothing really had any effect.
In the end, the only thing that seems to be working is this protective plastic shell that I rigged up by cutting the top and sides off some grapefruit juice bottles. I slide it over a fruit and the branch that it hangs from, then fasten the top flaps shut with binder clips. So far the animals haven't figured out how to get through the bottles. This method does have some drawbacks--I can't protect a fig if there's another fruit on the opposite side of the branch, it's awkward to place on high branches, and it's difficult to attach the clips because of the curves in the plastic--but it has saved more fruit from the squirrels and raccoons than anything else.
It's also the peak of passion fruit season. I have frozen several quarts of pulp, and I've made batches of passion fruit ice cream, passion fruit curd, and passion fruit pudding, which I share with neighbors and co-workers. I still have a ton of fruit left. Next I'm going to try making passion fruit lassi and passion fruit/coconut sticky rice. (My one attempt at making a passion fruit colada was a dismal failure, because I forgot the sugar. Maybe I'll try again, if the sticky rice goes well.)
I made a bunch of pints of tomato sauce. Hopefully it's enough, because I don't want to buy any more jars. I will be dehydrating my tomatoes from now on. The tomato season is starting to wane, though my plants usually produce at least a few tomatoes through November.
I planted out my fall crop of peas, which are sprouting well. I'm going to attempt a fall crop of cauliflower this year, just to see what happens. (I never used to like cauliflower, because I always encountered it either raw in a veggie tray or steamed, both of which are blah. Recently, though, I've had it roasted, and it is MUCH better that way.) In addition, it looks like my hot pepper plant is going to give me a second harvest, so that's fun.
The persimmons are starting to turn more orange, which means the squirrels will be after them soon. Some are already starting to show bite damage. Maybe fig season will conclude in time for me to use the bottle cages on the persimmons before the squirrels get the ones the beagle couldn't reach.
