I Like Thursday #117

Happy Thursday, hope you are all surviving.  I missed everyone last week, it had been one of those weeks that things just went south from the get go, and I struggled all week long.  This week has been much better.

I like that I am now considered a full time employee after being considered "part-time" for the past 7 1/2 months.  I am not a huge union fan, but per our contract if you average over 36 hours of scheduled work per week for 2 consecutive fiscal quarters you can force full time.  I just squeaked under the wire for the first quarter with like 36.67 hours per week average.  The difference between full time and part time?  Insurance cost...about $50 a week for full time, for part time it was almost $160 a week.  Time off accrual, and holiday pay. 

Last week I spent a lot of time working in the yard and in the pool.  I have a shirt that I love the sentiment,

And into the Garden I go to love my mind and find my soul.

The kids knocked down all the thistle and made sure to leave what flowers I had intact, which weren't many. 

Look at the difference in the grow bags, these cucumbers I started from seed!  I then bought what were supposed to be 2 zucchini from the nursery, but upon further inspection it looks like one zucchini and another cucumber.  You can see how much my plants have grown in a short couple of weeks. Before.  I have one lone coneflower up at the top of the hill.  I planted some sedum which is a ground cover, I have more to plant, but I have to pull roots first and it has been a wee bit too hot to work in the garden by the time I get home in the afternoon.   I have also been trying to grow some wooly thyme and prep some more chamomile, and I think perhaps some hollyhocks. 

The tomatoes.  Beefsteak is over 6 feet tall. 

Beefsteak and one of the tomatoes so far.

Grape isn't as tall as beefsteak, but is kind of getting leggy and spreading all over the deck. 

I am amazed that these are orange, there was not a hint of color yesterday evening when I was watering.  Perhaps tomorrow there will be fresh grape tomatoes off the vine.

My coneflowers are huge!  I found the small orange coneflowers at work.  There is also some Anise Hyssop in this bed, and a couple of lavender plants. 

What is it you love the most about your yard/garden?  Mine are the scents.  I have honeysuckle, heliotrope (vanillay scent), and anise hyssop (licorice scent)  all mixing together, especially when it is hot, it makes a heady scent that is a gift to the nose. 

My petunias and lettuce are growing nicely too. 

My Zinnias took a hit one day when it was really hot and supposed to rain, and it didn't, but they are struggling back, and some blooms are appearing.  Bobbin and Girl cat like to pop the dead heads off the flowers and flick them back and forth across the deck.

I love the yarrow in my bed by the house.  It sometimes get this gorgeous dark rust, but other times it is mustard yellow. 

Something has taken to laying in it, and there is a resident snake that like to hang out there too, so I kind of avoid the area.

The animals are always fun to watch.  Boy cat playing sneaky coming over the roof of the woodshed, onto the chicken house roof, and across the fence. 

Bobbin enjoying the sunshine.

With her bestie girl cat.

And if you need a smile, walk next door to visit the kittens.

If you look close all 4 are there.  On top of the box is Haze, on the very bottom is Tangiers, upside down with the white chin is Ashes, an on top of the pile is Wookie.  Can you believe they are almost 3 months old already?

There are also the new chicks that the kids incubated.  I ended up with 4.  Using an incubator is a learning curve. 

Then there is a chicken, which I have named Rogue.  I told the kids one day there was a chicken out.  When I went looking for her I couldn't locate her.  The kids looked and couldn't locate her either.  They told me obviously I was crazy. 

Here was the picture I took of her as proof, that is my garage door.  She is very brazen and will fly to the top of the gate, jump over, explore, and hop back over in the evening.  Sigh!  There is always one in the flock.

We had a day where we got almost 2 inches of rain.  After the rain this sweet little bunny came hopping out to feed.

My mom ordered mother's day gifts, but they didn't show up until about 4 months after she ordered them.  I will say I had seen them and couldn't wait to try it out.  It is a garlic press.

This is what the press looks like.  I was making what my daughter calls avocado crack. 

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1-2 cups of diced tomatoes I used Romas, but at times I use grape

1/2 cup Feta cheese

1 TBS olive oil

2 TBS red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste.

I know you are asking where is the avocado?  Well I will spoon about a cup of the mixture out and then toss my 1 chopped avocado into it.  Eat it as a salad, or with some tortilla chips it is awesome!  That way I can have it for a couple of days. 

Oh back to the garlic press. I sliced my garlic a little.

Then you just rock the press back and forth over it.  You get a great size for garlic pieces, and clean up is relatively simple.  So far I would give the gadget a two thumbs up!

Some other things that caught my eye this week.

A ginormous metal coffee cup.  I considered buying it and putting a hole in it to use as a planter. 

These cute little planters with fake succulents.  Hedgehog.

Another hedgehog.

And a unicorn.

Finally these are the books I enjoyed the past couple of weeks.

Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose, this is a 2nd reading for me, I read it in 2017, but that year was kind of a blur for me so I reread it. 

In Regency London, an unconventional scientist and a fearless female artist form an unlikely alliance to expose unspeakable evil . . .I enjoyed my 2nd reading and am currently reading Murder at Halfmoon Gate with these same two characters. 

Curse of the Poppy by Emily Organ which is the 5th installment of the Penny Green series. 

The Skeletons of Birkbury by Diana Febry.  Per Goodreads:

When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in Birkbury, the villagers close ranks. Gossip turns to fear and suspicion as they realize the killer is one of them and is prepared to kill again.

DCI Peter Hatherall must fight his past and class divisions to find the killer.

All must decide which secrets are worth dying for.  I enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to catch up on the other I like Thursday posts.