Idle Irrigator

With all the rain we've had recently, this metal monster has taken a break.

Corn and Sunflowers

Wish my zoom was better. Please click to enlarge.

A Hot Mess

In the south, a "mess" is a portion size. For instance, you might catch a few fish, just enough for a "mess of fish" to serve a few people. Or, you'll buy a "mess of squash," just a few for supper. Here's a mess of hot peppers. It's time to make pepper jelly and pepper sauce!

Summer Colors

Chilton county peaches to be frozen for smoothies. Home grown tomatoes for salsa and gazpacho. Cukes, red onion, lemons and limes from the grocery - ingredients for aforementioned salsa and gazpacho. Not pictured - peppers. I love summer.

Blackberries

Here are the ones we left to ripen.


These got picked, washed, cobblered, and eaten.

Mushrooms After Rain

After all the recent rain we've had, lots of mushrooms have sprung up.

These were in the woods, but there are several in yards as well.

Muscadines are Ripe!

Remember the green muscadines from July? They're deep purple/black ripe and sweet now.

These are all wild. The cultivated varieties are larger. Ison's Nursery and Vineyard in Georgia sells them roadside and online now through October 15 (my birthday, by the way)

But there's just something special about a walk through the woods to gather your own.

Evacuating for Gustav

Bumper to bumper in both northbound lanes of I-59.

I-59 at the 359 junction Tuscaloosa, Alabama. These folks are from points south, probably the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. They're traveling to and through Tuscaloosa headed north, away from Hurricane Gustav. I wonder if they know where they're going to spend the night. Do they have relatives, or reservations? Or are they just going from exit to exit, town to town, looking for a place to wait. I wish I owned a hotel. They could all stay free.

Edited to add for anyone who may need to know:

There's a Red Cross Shelter at Shelton State Community College- take the 359 Moundville exit and go south on Hwy 69 - you can't miss it.

There's also a Red Cross Shelter at Belk Activity Center - take exit onto Skyland Blvd, I hope there are signs!

Rain Gauge

Tropical Depression Fay has gifted us with rain for four days now. Slow, steady drizzle with intermittent showers.
We're so grateful! Tuscaloosa has been in severe drought for a couple of years. This is my rain gauge in the backyard. It's registering at about 7 1/4 inches. Subtract about an inch to account for the rain already in the tube before Saturday. So, Fay has bestowed over six inches of rainfall.

Orange & Yellow

End of Summer Susans

Kudzu Ravine

I posted about kudzu here a few weeks ago. This is a ravine off the side of a country road. The kudzu has all the vegetation completely covered and makes the ravine look shallow. But I bet if you walked off in there, it's deeper than it looks.

Produce Stand

This produce stand is at the corner of a busy intersection in Cottondale. Note the American flag proudly displayed in front. They had plenty of watermelons, onions, tomatoes, and peaches, though I'm not sure they're homegrown. It looks like they also sell canned items, which is interesting because the local farmer's market had to stop selling homemade items due to health department rules. That has been a source of contention in town all summer, complete with signed petitions. Happy Friday everyone!

Tiny hands, tiny harvest

The cherry tomato plants are nearly burned to a crisp, but they're still producing.
The pickins are slim, but sweet. This is my three-year-old niece's harvest.

Powder Rocks

This is a powder rock or paint rock. I'm sure some geologist or rock hound could give me the correct term. It's probably some sort of sandstone form. You break them open and beautiful powder or sand is inside. Most of the time it is red or purple. Sometimes, you'll find orange or even blue. The one at bottom right actually had two colors in the same rock. The outer layer was dark purple, the inner layer was tan.

When we were kids we would mix the powder with water and paint our faces like Indians. (Back then we didn't know to say "Native Americans") But woe to us if we got it on our clothes. It didn't wash out very easily, if at all. Now, it is a tradition on my walks with my niece & nephew to pick these up and bring them home. We usually find more after a good rain.

Some folks told us about throwing them into a campfire. Apparently they EXPLODE! So, they called them pop rocks.

Powder, paint or pop...they're free fun in the great outdoors.

Hot Pepper Jelly

Hot Pepper Jelly

Yes, you read that correctly. We even add ridiculous amounts of sugar to hot peppers.

Hot Pepper Jelly is really delicious with other veggies, especially peas or beans. It warms them up and gives them a little kick! It's also great poured over cream cheese and served with wheat crackers.

Fig Strawberry Preserves

Fig on fig tree, gathered into basket, mashed with sugar added and cooked down, added strawberry jello (yes, that's even more sugar), and poured into pretty jars.

Here in the Deep South, we cook and add enough sugar to fruit to completely extract any nutritional benefit. We call it making preserves. Delicious!

Health conscious people, close your eyes.

Butterfly & Lantana

I wasn't quick enough to get him with wings spread. But I thought this was pretty anyway.

Sunset Stripes

Summer sunset sky as seen from a marina on Holt Lake-Black Warrior River.

Little Blue Egg

On one of our walks this week, my niece and I found this little blue egg. The picture doesn't do the color justice. It was about 6-8 feet from a bluebird house and was just lying in the grass. So I'm assuming it's a bluebird egg. It was a little larger than a dime. It wasn't cracked or broken at all. I wonder how it got out of the nest and into the grass without any damage?