Veggie P*rn.

Hopefully that didn't get anyone's spam checker in a panic.

Yes, it is the time for the books with all those wonderful photos, luscious, primo, just out of the garden lovelies.  And the veggies, too. HA!

I received my usual bunch, and decided to go with two companies.  Unfortunately, a lot of the companies sending out veggie catalogs have devolved since I first started buying from them.  Some have changed ownership, some have less than charming customer service, some just don't have anything that will grow in this area.  Or at least outside.  (I would still love to grow a Paw Paw, though... But I would have to grow it in the house, I suppose.)

So, I have one order out to Texas, where they have a couple items that looked neat, and I couldn't find locally.  I also have an order out, to a town... Just a very short distance away.  I found out about them almost by accident, at a seed swap.

We have seed exchanges all around nearby, and they have other items, too.  This particular one had tools, and catalogs.  I looked at one tool, and asked how much.  She said, "do you need it?"  Yes.  It was a... Okay, I have no clue what the actual name of the tool is, I refer to it as a dandelion popper.  Husband says it's a weeder.  It looks like this...  She smiles, says, it's yours.  Cool! :)

I then found a table of catalogs, after raiding the seed table, and making my donations of seeds I didn't use.  I found the company, and thought they sounded familiar.  Hmm.  Looked it up, Oh My Word, it's just the next town over!  One of these days I will have to see if I can go there in person, but for now I just order from the catalog.  A LOT from the catalog... I will see if I get a response, the first time I ordered, they have a blank page on the back of the order page. It mentions that they would like to see what your garden is, or put a picture of something, just have fun.  So, I drew my garden, and put in my Buzz kitty, showed our "plant prison fencing" with ravenous deer outside of it.  I received a personal reply with the order saying it was on the wall in the packing area, 'cause it tickled everyone so!

So, when I ordered this time, I put a little cartoon of sorts, loosely based on an actual event.  One of my cats loved to sit in the shade, and had picked a spot under one of the broad leafed veggies, crookneck, I think.  Anyway, one of the chickens was exploring, before I figured out where she was getting in the garden at, and I just watched.  Obviously, the cat thought he was invisible, all that was showing, was a flicking tail.  The hen, for some reason, decided this must be a most tasty morsel.

CHOMP!

Next thing I know, the cat is going straight up through the leaves, screeching, the chicken doesn't let go immediately, and the fight is on.  No one was hurt, much, but between dignity damage, dinner let down, and general mayhem, not much was successful at that point!

The cat was not so inclined to be benign to the chickens after that, he stayed away frome them, and hissed wildly if they came anywhere close.  I covered the chicken "leak" in the garden, and so he was safe from future attacks.

So, who knows, I might give them a laugh, and then I get some goodies from the local area, that I will make into dinner at a later date!  Stickers and poppies and beans, Oh, My!!!

Sorry, Jerry Garcia...

What a long, strange day it has been.

Well, you know how I blog about volunteering for the Sheriff's Office?  Well, BOTH my bosses were laid off.  It was really abrupt, and things are crazy at the moment.  We had a meeting/pot luck to see what was going to happen.  Basically, they will be there until the end of the month, and then THEIR boss will be our boss, if we are kept on.  The Sheriff would like to keep us on, so he can keep the substations open, but the one that is going to be the 'new' boss has about 3 or four groups he is working on now, he has other things that have been added, with the cuts, and gee, he really should do the 'catching the bad guy' stuff, I suppose... (Yes, heavy snark content...)

I have so enjoyed this 'job', and it has been as near to a family atmosphere as I have ever seen with a group, and this is just tearing the absolute guts out of nearly everyone.  I have started writing letters to whomever I can think of on how this can be changed.  I don't know if it will help, but at least it will make me feel like I am doing something besides gnashing my teeth.

Okay, enough with the unhappy s***.  In other news, I know spring is coming!  Because:

First egg of the season! Yay!  I don't have to buy eggs now.  (I buy them begrudgingly, as I don't use lights in the chicken house, so for a few months in winter I get zippo in the egg department...)

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I was going to put this last section up in the morning.  Well, it is morning. Barely.  To explain.  I am signed up with a county wide notification system.  It notifies big stuff (chemical leaks, major weather events) and then it can notify in specific areas, about localized events.  This is what occurred this evening about 6ish.  I received a phone call that a woman had been lost about a half mile or so away from me, as the cliche'd crow flies.  I filed it away under "Hmm", and went on.

We went to bed a bit later, and realized we heard helicopters.  They were doing a grid search, I suspect, as I heard LOUDquietLOUDquietSORTAloudquietquietquietquiet gone.  I went to sleep.

I woke to lights in the bedroom!  

I panicked, jumped out of bed, and as always, tangled in the **** bedsheets, waking Husband.  I headed to the window.  Husband, who seems to always be a bit more clear headed right after waking up, unlike me, said, it's probably just the Search and Rescue (SAR) kids.  

Oh...  Right. 

I went to the door, while Husband went and shushed Rudee, and listened.  3 or 4 "kids" were walking up the road, shining flashlights in the ditches, on the road, across the pasture, anywhere a person might be, while talking about what direction they were going next.

Yep, SAR.  I think my heart rate slowed to less than 100 at that point.  I went back to bed.

And didn't sleep.  

Between thinking about the bosses being canned, worrying about the woman, and if she was okay in the latest weather we've had, (somewhat chilly, and heavy rain, with cooler weather to come), wondering how the deputies were doing out there, and the fear spike, I didn't go back to sleep.  I tried several things, and calmed down, but still couldn't sleep.  So, I got up, turned on my computer, (light level as low as I could get it on same) and read comics, wrote an email or two, and decided I would add to this blog.  

Sooooo, I will let you know how all this turns out, but even with cuts, it looks like the Sheriff is still going to be busy!  I might even see if I can take some water and snacks down to the group later, if the search is still going on.  

And, it's 2 am by the computer clock, so I am going to TRY to go to bed again, and see if I can at least salvage a LITTLE sleep.  

Which, the way things are going, means Husband will be up at 3ish to finish some job...  : /

(Update:  At approximately 9:30ish a.m., the woman was found, and is safe, so the end to this story was happy, if nothing else!)