Town ... It's A Dirty Word

 Uh oh .... I see clouds now, but I see CACTUS in our forecast.  Truly, I have to laugh when I see that ... it means EXTREME HEAT ... at all of 101 degrees.  Really?  Oh yes ... an ORANGE sun instead of the standard yellow, and a saguaro standing next to it.  The weather guessers around here really don't know CACTUS very well.

Mr. Cooper and I were out very early on this morning.  He's not been very active and is gaining all the weight I've lost.  We will begin taking the long route from now on.  Here's the view along the way ... the ORGANIC house.  This is a very expensive upscale residence ... in the $700,000 range.  

I wonder about the lady who lives here ... I've never seen her husband.  She wanted an organic front garden ... and this is it.  Just piles and piles of ground up trees and branches, completely rotted.  Those sunflowers in the back are all natural.  They have planted absolutely nothing in the entire front yard in the last 20 years.  I imagine their neighbors love it!

Back home, I discovered the charger had fallen off the basket.  Best money I've spent in a long time.  This thing works like a charm, even if it does scare me because I'm sure I will get shocked.

And then ... THEN ... I found THIS!  My very first ripe cherry tomato.  This is a chocolate variety, only because of the color.  I bit down with relish!!  

Well that was kind of disappointing ... it tasted just like every other cherry tomato I have eaten from the grocery store.  Maybe a tiny bit better because I grew it.  

By the way, I conveniently forgot to mention this little purchase from the fancy mall store.  I don't eat candy often, or if I do, it's a Snickers.  This Sees Bordeaux is my all time favorite.  $17.00 for a box of 12.  Oh well ... you have to try and keep some places in business.  The owner was a very nice man just trying to make a living.

I had two things in mind on this day.  Pick up this quilt from the Quilter and buy two REAL tomato plants of the BIG variety.  If my little ones are doing so well, maybe I can actually grow the big ones that have the flavor I'm looking for.  That means back to TOWN ... with terrible traffic, people running stop signs, speeding and brake checking other cars.  And that was just ME!!  Kidding ... I'm kidding.  I drive like a crazy woman, but I don't do those things!

First ... the quilt store.  They did a fabulous job and did NOT charge me for the quilting.  I think it was a mistake, but maybe she did it for free because it's for a Veteran.  Every one of the ladies in this shop are fabulous people.  However ... I paid them anyway because I'm a quilter.  AND the one who checked me out stated I could easily quilt through the heavy lettering with MY machine.  Okay then ... that's what I will do with the other five.

When I mentioned embroidery, the lady said to give this gal a call.  She was trying to get into the business and was just maybe 8 miles away.  Okay, I'll give it a shot.  I called, then drove over to her apartment.  It was the tiniest little apartment I've ever seen in a massive complex.  

She just bought an embroidery machine ... a small one.  I'm not sure how this is going to work out, so I gave her the one piece of fabric that I had more of if it turned out badly.  She is going to do a sample one first, to be sure it's what I want.  That sounded good to me.  I'm all about giving someone a chance, so I hope this works out.  

THEN ... I was off to Home Depot, but decided it was too far away.  Instead I would stop in at a little local nursery type place (at their home in the country) and see if they had any veggies.  Yes he said, and walked me over to a stand with about 12 pots on it.  Hmmm not exactly what I had in mind, but I picked out the very best of Early Girl tomatoes, found one cucumber (that's probably going to be a mistake) and a green pepper plant.  

I probably should have measured my planting spot ... way down to the far end of the fence where two other rose bushes had died.  That may not bode well for these veggies, but it was quite some time ago, so hopefully they survive.  

Let me just note there is a lot to be said for planting boxes.  You will see one in this spot NEXT year.  Good grief ... I'm way too old to be down on my hands and knees digging holes in brick hard sand.  I had to flood it just to get the shovel in.  I included a shovel full of dirt from the horse corral for good measure.  They weren't looking all that great when the sun went down.  Hopefully they have rallied this morning.

Getting healthier ... one tomato at a time.  Yup I found another one and popped it into my mouth.  This is a Bing that tasted exactly like the chocolate.  At this rate I'll never have enough at one time for a salad, but that's okay ... I GREW IT!!

Dinner was VERY disappointing.  Oh yes, there is that greasy salmon that I couldn't force myself to throw away.  SO fishy tasting ... I thought maybe getting rid of this box of Velveeta that I've had in the cupboard might help.  I was WRONG.

I read the ingredients, making note that half of them were salt of one kind or another.  I think that's to hide the flavor.  Remember, I taste these things so you don't have to.  

I'm pretty sure this will be the LAST time I taste THIS one.  It no more tasted like cheese than the man in the moon!  Either my taste has changed dramatically, or this stuff is terrible!  Note to self ... never EVER buy this again!

And so ended another day.  I'm thankful I don't have to eat this horrible Mac n cheese every day, and I'm hopeful that embroidery turns out GREAT!

One last thing ... I got a beautiful card from one sweet girl named Frances.  We went to grammar school together, how many years ago?  I don't even want to say the number out loud.  I'm so thankful she found me on the internet.  Friends forever!!!

If you need me, I'll be outside checking on my Victory Garden!!!