One Lone Cucumber Becomes Refrigerator Pickles

Three tomatoes and a cucumber came my way. I ate one of the tomatoes grown in a local field. It tasted like a supermarket tomato in the winter. It won't be so exciting slicing the other two, knowing there will be no fresh tomato sweetness and summer freshness.

On to the cucumber. I sliced it into a pint jar, added strips of bell pepper and slices of yellow squash, added a clove of garlic, and red pepper flakes, dash of salt. Then, I almost covered it with vinegar and filled it with water to cover the cucumber.  There is no way I will eat these, but they will last until exbf gets here to enjoy them. (Actually, I cannot eat vinegar--doctor's orders.) He won't eat them in one sitting, so they will probably be around for a month or more.

On a whim, I used some of the vinegar to "wash out" a small jar of sweet pickle relish. That vinegar was part of the vinegar used in the refrigerator pickles. Plus, there is a half jar of pimiento that I won't use because I cannot put it in cheese or chicken a la king.

When you slice the cucumbers for pickles, make sure you trim off about a quarter of an inch on the blossom end. In the blossom end is an enzyme that makes the pickles soft to eat. If you leave it in the cucumber, the pickles won't be crisp. I forgot where I read this, but I will always do this and put a grape leaf in the jar. Maybe I will put a Vidalia onion, sliced in with this.

Tomorrow, I will get a grape leaf from my grape vine and put it into the jar. It is supposed to keep the pickles crisp.

Using this "recipe" or method, veggies I cannot or won't eat are saved. Plus, I can add other vegetables as I get them. I have never canned pickles, but I have done this for about 40 years with some variations.

He may take them home if he wants. Otherwise, they will live in my refrigerator.

Today, I feel so wobbly and weak and feeble minded! Plus, I have a headache. I ran the electric cart into too many things and almost hit people in Walmart. Thankfully, I kept the car under better control. I am still famished and shaky.

Your turn
Do you ever just put stuff in a jar with vinegar and other stuff and call it pickles?

Busy, HOT Day and NO MORE ANTS

prickles on free cucumber

Cucumbers
A friend offered me tomatoes and the lone cucumber on his volunteer cucumber vine. I accepted. He told me to just go pick it. It had little spiny things all over it that made me afraid to pick it. I did, but hated doing so. He said all cucumbers had these. Do they? At any rate, I tried to wipe off enough of them to carry it with two fingers. Today, they look a little less spiny and more just bumpy. I wonder why this cucumber shrunk so much in less than 24 hours.

Temperature
Today, it was 101 degrees here. The humidity was stifling. I have not checked the humidity, but it was high. My four tomato plants desperately needed attention. Exbf and I spent the day outdoors. We were both drained. Okay, I come in often to catch the ac and was washing clothes, dishes, and cooking. He did stay out for four hours. We both drank lots of water.

Cutting limbs=No more ants
Rather than either of us having to climb a ten-foot ladder, I figured out how to cut limbs 12 feet over our heads. I took a garden rake, stretched to get any portion of the limb. He grabbed it and pulled it down. I used my loppers to cut it. Yes, these were all small limbs, luckily. The ants are no more! GONE! I can clean off the counters and put down new Terro. I had Terro all over the backs of the counters. Now, I can just use one spot of it.

Lunch
I have these whole wheat, no hfcs, no preservative little bread rounds. I made pizzas on those from free spaghetti sauce, and cheese left from before the tornado in April. Obviously, I just grab a bag of the shredded cheese, toss it back into the freezer, and next time open another. I used up three bags of ends of shredded cheese.  I had a banana and milk afterwards. Exbf wanted nothing else.

Fence for my garden
The four by four raised garden had huge tomato plants lying all over the ground. It was surrounded by chicken wire, sort of a half-done effort to keep the hens out. Today was the day I got a larger "fence." It is pathetic looking, all falling down, but I used what I had. Now, I can take the twist ties off the lapped chicken wire, go inside and tend to it.

Garden
There are four tomato plants. At least one is Roma. Then, there is a jalapeno pepper plant. Pathetic to call a garden? LOL I have not had one bug-bitten plant, no slugs. It is really weird. And, I have not used any pesticide. Watch! In the morning, after my sort of bragging, everything will be bitten off at the ground or have leaves laced with holes. Beside the hens, I have rabbits in my yard, so I do have to take a little care for the plants' safety.

Hanging out clothes
Despite feeling faint in the heat and feeling my skin was burning off my arms, I got two loads of clothes hung on the line. Actually, half the first load was hung. When dry, I hung the rest of that load. Then, I hung the second load. The third load never made it to the clothes line. Tomorrow....  I actually got all I washed and dried folded and put away....rare for me to do it so soon.

Dinner
Pork tenderloin cut into rounds and cooked in an iron skillet saved using the oven if I had cooked it whole. I took the rest of the potatoes meant for the hens and boiled them with the remaining skins on. I was so tired that mashing potatoes (sorta) with a fork and throwing on a dollop of real butter took all my energy. I am still using the Romaine from July 16, and sending it home with exbf, also.  He had a salad of Romaine, cucumber, and banana pepper. There were tomatoes I packed for him to take home, along with more mashed potatoes. He opted for the salad I made for dinner.

Fancy in the Swing
Exbf went to sit in the swing and rest after he used the weed eater on my "rock garden." He cannot stand to come into a cool house when he sweats. I prefer to come into the ac when I get sweaty, throw a blanket on a chair, rest and cool off.

After a bit, I went out and joined him. I did not sit on the end of the swing because wisteria would touch me. Fancy became very interested when I sat down. She came over, talking all the way, stood looking at the six inches of swing seat that was between us. She backed off, looked right at me and came around to the end of the swing where there was more room. I patted the seat and told her to come sit with me. She jumped right up, looked at me, looked around at exbf, and just started chattering away.

Then, she jumped down, came right over  and looked at the swing seat between us. We both scooted outward on the seat. She jumped right up! She was so vocal. She just wanted to get in on the conversation. Maybe she did not want anyone else  sitting under the apple tree with me. (okay, it was a cherry tree)

Ex bf is the only person other than me that she will allow to come near her. She has never wanted to sit with him before.

Your turn
Hot where you are? How is everyone faring with this horrendous heat wave we are having? (at least most of us) Are you still hanging clothes out? Working a bit in the yard? Do your hens like to come around when you have company and join in?