Text 13031, 216 rader
Skriven 2008-08-31 01:05:14 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
  Kommentar till text 12553 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Ärende: summer gardens in ny                                     [1]
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Hi Ruth,

> Nor do we want you climbing the trees!

Lol.. no, don't worry.. my tomboy days are gone (laugh).. I was quite a tomboy
when I was a kid.  Loved softball, hardball, football, climbing trees, catching
snakes, catching bugs.. perhaps for scientific study..Lol..I was quite a runner
too.. My legs were always too long to suit me.. worked good though for running
races (grin)

> Let your grand sons do that but
> not to deflower them.

I wish we'd had more time the last two weeks.. the two of them, Alex and Eoin
stayed here again this week.. we picked them up Tuesday night (gramma need a
day to well, recover haha). It was great really.. Alex is such a help.. Eoin,
needing to do _everything_ his older brother does (laugh) then kicks in too..
they are such great kids.

> Until you get tired of them.  We had a plum tree in our back yard in AZ.
> It 's frit was the small, red plum.  A nusiance to work with but I did
> make plum preserves a couple of times.

Oh if I had one here like they will have after this weekend, I'd be in heaven
.. they also have a granny-smith apple tree (green apples).  boy.. glad I'll be
visiting there.. no doubt Lauren will be happy with all of these kinds of
things at her fingertips.

>>> it's absolutely beautiful. If I was rich, I'd buy it (g).  The owners
>>> only want to rent it though (g).
>> > Too bad--any chance they will change their mind?
>> Doubt it.. in Ithaca, rents are astronomical compared to areas like
>> Binghamton, but to buy a house it is about the same price for the same
>> features.  So I doubt the owner will take a loss like that.

> Sigh!

yes.. Lauren showed me an add that had run a while back when the house _was_ on
the market.. they only wanted 169,000 for it.. didn't sell.. We paid 129,000
for this one and it doesn't have near the property of the one in Ithaca (2
acres there).  I would think it's because the house has retained so much of
it's original .. what shall we say.. "charm" :) :) er...old fashioned setup
that made it unsaleable to others.. I love that type of house though. The
kitchen is very classy and modernized.. the bathrooms are the old clawfoot tub
type.. the floors are all wideboard floors.. I'm sure I saw a shaker cabinet in
one of the storage rooms.. fireplaces (most blocked up) up and
downstairs...woodstove in the dining room ...it's a great house no doubt.. the
best part is, they'll have plenty of room for everyone and as Lauren mentioned,
'to maybe even have a big party' (grin).. I was glad they found it. NOW I'm
hoping that the insulation is at least adequate if we do have a bad winter..

>> True, I've had red tomatoes in September more than once.
> And I have picked green tomatoes ahead of frost in August, just 80 miles
> or so east of you.

Well the tomatoes are coming in every day.. they're not all ripening at once
which is good.. I've been using them as I pick them which is typically what I
do.. sauce or soup or ketchup or some tomato thing.. we had another seafood
pizza this week when Alex was here since he missed it when Eoin was here last
week.. I'll start canning them after this week.. by then Ron starts saying,
'what's for lunch? Lemme guess Tomato soup or tomato __??' :)

> You'll probably have lettuce; I'm not so sure about the broccoli.

Yes, the lettuce is doing really well..just checked it yesterday.. rained like
_crazy_ yesterday so I expect lots of growth tomorrow.. We were at their house
all day helping with the move so I couldn't check again.. but t the broccolli I
started indoors is a late season variety.. you have to plan what you're going
to plant. In other words, you don't plant a spring variety in the mid summer..
won't make it.. as it is, I planted it a bit late so I'll probably get a number
of smallish heads of broccoli.. but we're only two people so it works for me.

>> > So  much for the global warming theorists.
>> I wouldn't go that far.. it's been warmer overall than in past years..
>> our snow season is barely a snow season anymore.

> But you may get slammed this coming winer.

Some people are saying that.. others aren't. "The Farmer's Almanac" is saying
we'll have a tough winter, but the National Weather service says we'll have
  mild one.. no one is talking about amounts of snow naturally.. it will be
interesting to see who is right on this one  (g). One of the problems with
global warming though is erratic temperature shifts.. from what I remember at
 least.. I saw that the southern hemisphere is also losing drastic amounts of
ice, just like the north pole.. That is darn scarey. When we first moved here
about 5 years ago, the first few winters were "snowy" .. but nothing like
earlier years say maybe 20 years ago.. there was one day when we were wishing
we had a snow blower .. but nothing like I remember for weeks and months at a
time of snow-weather when I was a kid.  We always drank hot chocolate as soon
as we'd get inside and rid of our snowy clothes.. This is what I fix for
Lauren's boys (and Ron (bg)):

===Hot Carob===
2 servings

2 cups milk (dairy or non-dairy, we use enriched oat milk or rice milk). 1/4
cup carob powder
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(optional:slightest pinch of salt)

Carob is so sweet all by itself, it doesn't need much sweetening! We put in a
little molasses or Brown Sugar, natural sugars etc.  Place all the above
ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Pour into pan and heat to
desired temperature.
===

>> > Probably they will all ripen at once. (G)
>> Could be :)  Today I dug up about 13 lbs of potatoes..  that was neat.
> Red or white potatoes?

Both :)  I bought potato starters for both types and they came out great. The
plants are still in the bed so I'm hoping they keep producing.. they should. I
had a friend who told me that their potato plants were still producing in
November.. :)  She lives in Jersey, so there's a hope there.  I noticed when I
dug up these guys that there were some little ones with spuds starting to
sprout into the dirt .. :)

>> since Eoin is coming to stay with us for  week now.. Alex went home
>> last Sunday, and Eoin couldn't wait to get his turn at grandma's :)
> And then you'll have the baby?  He was so cute with his popper toy. (G)

He is a living doll, really :) Those blond curls!  He reminds me of my baby
brother.. same curly blond hair - we girls coulda killed him Lol He's still
blond, MOF.. somewhere I have a picture of my brother wearing his new cowboy
suit with those curls pouring out under the cowboy hat :) but when drew talks,
it too much.. "the baby saw a truck today" or, like today, "baby wants to eat
lunch" (g). just too cute and the same thing my brother used to do :) But no,
we won't take the baby.. not that I haven't asked haha... Lauren just knows
that this guy is beyond my keeping up with him as far as chasing goes. Maybe
when he's 4 or 5.. I don't think his 3rd birthday (in april) will change much
of that (grin). He's one of those boys you have to keep almost tethered, and
keep your doors to outside locked at all times... seriously, he runs like the
wind, and more than once has been 'scooped' up at the last second when he might
have been in a dangerous position.  When he wasn't walking yet, we had him here
plenty of times as the "resident baby-sitters", but now.. ooh.. I don't mind
waiting :)

>>> paper bags (lunch bag size, not big grocery size) and they ripen
>>> without rotting _most_ of the time :) :) Jim Crockett's book
>> > He lets them ripen naturally but we've tried that idea with other
[...]
> That's how my dad does it; I guess he doesn't want bugs either.

Yes, defintitely  ... but I forgot.. Crockett tells you to put an apple in the
paper bag .. it's the gases the apple emits that causes the tomotoes to ripen.
 :)  Really works :)

>>> > Catskills. They got more of the hippies,
>>> Umm.. I resemble that remark Lol..
>> > I would have at the time if I could have.
>> You were probably just a tad younger too.
> I as in my mid teens.

Let's see.. in 1969 when the woodstock festival was held, I was about to be a
senior in high school :)  I graduated in 1970.  I was one of those
January-February kids who had to wait a whole darn year to go to school (at
least in our town).  So I graduated when I was 18, since my birthday is in Feb.

>> > I was working too--keeping house for my family.  Mom was in summer
>> > school; that was the year she spent 9 weeks in Geneseo.  I couldn't

Even though I worked, I was still expected to keep up the house as well.. I was
the 'senior' kid at the time.. Mom was working as a pediatric nurse and dad was
a radiologist. (funny that both of Alana's parents are radiologists (g)). My
oldest sister was off at college at the jamaica campus of St. John's
University.. my second oldest sister had eloped with her boyfriend (g).. after
me, there were a number of scroungy siblings (grin).. well, my brother was
next, then my last two sisters.. who were a complete embarrasment time after
time when you didn't want them around (g). And I think they enjoyed getting me
up at dawn, embarrassing me in front of boyfriends, etc.. haha  well it's funny
now (g). When Mom would get home at 3pm in the summer, she'd be scrutinizing
every aspect of the house ..

>> I've seen the movie several times, but no, never recognized anyone in
>> the 'woodstock population' in the film that I knew :)

> There were so many people---still, it would have been fun to see someone
> you knew.

I knew plenty of people LIKE the ones in the film :)  but no, no one that I
knew got photographed or filmed there.  I did see Jefferson Airplane once, up
close and personel at New Paltz college though ..And Joplin in NYC at the
Filmore East..

>>> take blood, run blood tests, etc. Probably because of my Dad and his
>> > Vampire in training?
>> I guess so (grin).  I loved it though.
> Sounds like you did.

Yes, I did.. so much so that I decided to carry a second major of medical
technology.. I figured all I'd have to do is acclimate myself with the latest
greatest equipment.  It was really interesting to see how easy things became
once equipment improved.... like counting white cells.. way back we were
counting per sq. inch, the actual number of cells in the microscope's field of
vision with your eye to the microscope, and a clicker/counter in your hand...
once computers came out though, boom.. slide that in and let the computer
figure the whole slide.

> I've got a good one out here but will have to find another one after
> next April.  The one the military system wanted me to see when we first
> got here didn't want to see me

That doesn't sound good :( :(

> so I got the better end of the
> deal--getting a doctor that welcomed me.

boy.. that is good.

Take care,
Janis

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