Two cups of uncooked rice DOES NOT equal 2 cups of cooked rice.

Guess how I figured this out?

Huny wanted stuffed bell peppers. Well, I've never cooked this before, so I looked up a recipie and it said it needed 2 cups of cooked rice. Sure. No problem. So, I took two cups of uncooked rice and cooked it. I figured that if you take 2 cups of uncooked you will get 2 cups of cooked. No, not really.

I ended up with mountains of cooked rice. Good grief.

I took the cups of cooked rice I needed and wondered, what am I going to do with the rest? I ended up making some Atole de Arroz (Spanish Rice Pudding or Rice with Milk). Yum. Haven't had that in a while. How to make this? I put the rice back into the pot with just enough water to cover. Added cinnamon and sugar to taste and then added milk. I just let this simmer to let the flavors blend. and Voila! It is done. This was my evening snack before bed. But, since I had all this rice and Huny doesn't like it, I'll be eating a lot of Atole to Arroz.

By the way - the stuffed bell peppers? Huny liked them and they are on the menu. He gave me a two-thumbs up. I have to admit that I wasn't all that crazy about them. They were okay, just not my thing. I figure they'll be on the menu with the first Spring bell pepper harvest and then the fall harvest. That's enough for me.

Rain and more rain.

Well, as ususal, we either have no rain or we have a bunch of rain. Right now we have a bunch of rain. The ground is soggy and makes squishy noises as you walk on it. I'm thinking that snow shoes would probably work to keep your weight distributed on the ground because otherwise you sink into it up to your knees, or almost anyway.

Aside from that, I love the rain! I love the grey skies and the sound of the rain on the ground. I have my windows open so that I can hear the wind going through the leaves and pushing the rain every which way. A while back I wanted to move to the Northwest because of their rainy weather, but ended up in the Northeast. Bummer. Well, now I'm back home and here to stay and I'm okay with that. One day though I hope to take an extended vacation to the Northwest.

In the meantime, our seeds that we planted seem to be taking the rain in stride. The radishes are coming up. I noticed that the carrots are sprouting as well. I didn't check the other side of the yard because it's tooooo squishy over there so I don't know how that is doing. I have lettuce seeds over there.

The flower garden is loving the cooler weather and have bloomed like crazy. I planted some surprise morning glory seeds in the spring and told Huny, just wait this will be covered in blue blooms. Well, they are pink.

We have a baby! I've been watching the parsley to see if we would get a caterpillar and we did! Here she is, and she is just about an inch long. I am a little concerned because I haven't seen her since the rain started. I don't know anything about caterpillars, so I'm hoping that she's just tucked in someplace that I can't see.

The end of Summer.

Hello to all of you! It has certainly been a busy summer for me here at home and about. We have done a lot of work on the house this summer and not so much on the garden. But now that Fall is here that is about to change.

When we came back from our Florida vacation it was so hot there was not much we could do outside. The peppers, though, kept on producing and are still producing. I have Sweet Banana Peppers and Cayennes coming from everywhere. I've given away quite a bit of it and still have tons more coming on the plants. I'm about to get peppered out.

Our cucumber plant just fizzled but we never got around to pulling it out and now we have one cucumber on it that we need to harvest today. After that we will be pulling it out for sure. Next year we'll find another place for the cucumbers.

We have a ton of bumblebees that are loving the yard. In the front planter we have some obedient plant and a salvia that a friend gave me that they just love. It's fun to watch them make their rounds from flower to flower in the front and then they head to the side planter and from there to the vege garden and then back to the obedient plant to start all over again. Huny and I get a kick out of watching the pollen sacks get bigger and bigger on their hind legs.

I've started a hummingbird and butterfly garden and as I sat in the shade for a bit of a rest, I listened to the leaves of the mulberry tree next door. There is a different sound to the rustle of the leaves at this time of year. It is almost like a lazy rustle with the leaves a little heavier than in the spring. Every now and then you'll hear the fall of a leaf as makes its way to the ground.

It is quite enjoyable to listen to the trees, watching the hummingbirds at the feeders and seeing the butterflies drinking from my garden. Yesterday, a black swallowtail found my parsley and laid some eggs. I rushed to find my camera, but she didn't come back. As soon as I see some babies, I'll take some pictures.

In the front yard by the street is another garden we built around all the city stuff that we all have in our yards. In it is a coral colored salvia and a fuchsia pink phlox. While I was watering the cucumber yesterday, I noticed a hummingbird feeding off of the salvia then he would sit on a bit of fencing I have there as support for the phlox. He did that several times before he flew off.

Well, now that I'm done with vacations and house stuff, it's time to get back to the garden. I'll be harvesting more of the peppers today. I'll be getting some compost for the hummingbird and butterfly garden and for the vege garden where I need to get some seeds in the ground.

OMG! The strawberries are taking over the world! I don't know what I'm going to do about that yet. I moved some under the rose bush, but there are several yet to move. Strawberry Hill?

Well, I'd better get a move on. Day's a wastin'!