Just call me the Okra Queen

Let me preface this by saying I haven't had a vegetable garden in 10 years. Well, I tried the first year we were here in this house, but had very little luck in the location i chose. This year, i borrowed a dear friends tiller and thought I would till a small plot for tomatoes. He also has a garden every year, but incessantly battles deer and rabbits.
I chose to plant tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, zuchinni, green beans,cucumbers, crook neck and butternut squash. While he battled deer i was blasted with butternut, bowled over by green beans and have now been overwhelmed by okra. I lost the cucumbers to a heat wave while we were confined to the hospital and my tomatoes were destroyed by the large green tomato worm.
I was, however, treated to a "volunteer" tomato plant that is just now starting to produce. Honestly, how do you get a volunteer tomato where you have NEVER had a garden in that location?? I figure it came from eating hamburgers adorned with tomatoes during many of the times we have grilled and eaten in that general area.
Back to the okra! It is quite prolific, over head high and with the frequent rain showers I have had to cut EVERY DAY, a meals worth at a time. The Mountaineer White Half Runners ( green beans) are doing the same.

We have eaten enough for the year and given away more, so the next weeks haul will go to the freezer dusted with cornmeal and ready to fry (the heart smart way, of course, in several tablespoons of olive oil) with just a little left whole for stews.

While I praise the okra, beautiful bloom, blah blah blah, I cannot NOT mention the horror of picking it. I should have included a pic of how one must dress to accomplish this task. I usually go at it right after work while still in jeans and I have a longsleeved shirt by the back door (my okra shirt) to protect the arms. Too much contact with the leaves of the plants can cause extreme itching that only a cool shower can calm. Even more of a challenge, I contend with ants swarming the unopened blooms that don't seem to be hurting the plants or production. I picked an hour ago and am still finding ants.

I understand okra originated in Africa and came to America via slave trade but is enjoyed by many cultures mostly in stews. The frying part, well that's mostly a southern thang, i reckon.


I would be glad to share!

I'm tired.......

Not that i belong to the oldest profession, unless you consider being a dedicated wife the oldest profession. Wifely duties sometimes require us to "prostitute" ourselves to get what we need. This could be as simple as as the batting of eyelashes or pushing out the chest (some of us more than others) if it will get what ever need. Doesn't work well with nurses but try it next time when the old man behind the pharmacy counter is giving you flack..........
Let's face it, I am tired......

Keep on the Sunny Side

The sunny side is that, since i have been laid off ("temporarily"), I will have plenty of time to take care of ailing hubby. Thursday night he was rushed by ambulance to Luce Heart Center with very high blood pressure and chest pains. After much consideration it has been determined that he will have a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted. Although I can TYPE "implanted", I keep saying installed, as in "We installed pipe and slope mat today."

Yes, I should be sleeping, but I am just about to search out this thing they are going to put in my husband.......



I searched these out and they made me feel much better.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY12Q-foRRc

I loved this movie for Turturro. Seriously.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlHbjEHWLek

Spontaneity Vs. Common Sense

Seeing as I am someone who has issues with putting socks on standing up, and has even been accused of being dyspraxic, you would think I would learn to say NO to the river, but I can't.
Although I did protest and rant about being the bread winner and making good decisions, all the while I was leaping from slippery rock to moss covered rock and even had to scale 6' up and down over head gates to get to the desired location of 'below the dam'. Turns out that I developed confidence on the way TO that was overwhelming on the way back. Upon trying to pull myself up the 6' concrete wall, my right shoulder gave way and I heard a simple pop. I did not make a big deal about it.

We reveled in how brave we were and young we still are and went home to sleep hard.

When I awoke Monday morning, my first thought was "who is stabbing me??". When I gained full conciousness I was overwhelmed with the thought that I might have REALLY done it this time. My right shoulder screamed for relief and no amount of pulling, twisting or movement could give me less pain. I found the boys arm sling and put it on foolishly expecting immediate relief. Not so lucky.
Commenced the ride to work, inadvertently honking the horn every time I operated the gear shift with my left hand, took off the arm sling to avoid all ribbing at the office check in, then continued to the project. I should have put a sign on my forehead to avoid retelling the story all day, and finally found a place to hide out for the rest of the day. I awoke in the same shape this morning and had to make a hard decision: tough it out at work or admit my foolishness and go get x-rays.........
I have now just returned from the doc-in-a-box who advised after x-rays that it is probably a torn rotator cuff.

ARGHHHHHHHH!

He advised that to save money, I wait a week to do the MRI. judging the need on pain levels(which are now diminished thanks to NSAIDS, a butt shot and small doses of narcotics-wheeeeee!).


Is it at all worth it to get a crummy cell phone shot like the one in which i am pictured below?

I'll let you know in a week.



On the up side, work has slowed since northbound and southbound traffic have been shifted the final mainline configuration, with 1 1/2 lanes left to construct on the outside of traffic.
I will be transitioning to my next bridge project which will mean a lot of paper work and file set up. Small miracles, since I would be hard pressed to test a load of concrete right now.

Please send common sense, prayer and happy thoughts my way!

RIP Cory

I believe I have just realized the basis of my fascination with the Hispanic culture.
Corazon "Tita Cory" Aquino died this morning of colon cancer.


Even though the Philippines are technically considered as Asian they have a rich Hispanic culture, being ruled until the 1800's by Spain and I guess, as a child, I believed it was a Hispanic country from hearing the Spanish sounding monikers.

I can remember when we lived without television (6 yrs, the formative ones) I would listen to much news and even local channels on my stereo. I followed from the assassination through the coup and knew that this was major history. A woman could do this??

I can also recall finally seeing her on tv somewhere and being surprised. I had envisioned a large stern looking woman, but she seemed more slight and bright in her yellow dresses.

Already daddy was hard at work toughening me up for this world and making me believe anything was possible but here was proof. Add the Ferraro selection by Mondale and, man, I was certain that soon the chauvinism crap would soon be over.
Then for some stupid reason I joined the cause and strove to change attitudes. It has been a long hard, bruising, exhausting, enlightening and bumpy road.
I had a contractor once ( 'bout my grandaddy's age) threaten to put me in that concrete truck if I did not approve the load.
I have trained individuals only to encounter them 2 yrs later as my boss.
It has been assumed that I could not push a wheelbarrow full of concrete to it's desired destination.
I have been shadowed while inspecting steel 3 stories up since i would surely fall. And so on and so on.......
Of course none of this compares to the suffragettes, I would not even BE in a hard hat if not for them and women like Corazon Aquino.

Rest in peace Cory.

Pick a happy adjective...

..... and it would describe our mountain getaway with parents and sibling & family. I think that mountian getaways should be required for yearly soul cleansing. I just THOUGHT the ocean was revitalizing, and it is in it's own way, but the Appalachian mountians just do something special.

The cool, sweet smell of of the trails was overwhelming and brought flooding memories of hiking these mountains as a child. Our parents dragged us up Blood Mountain and down Standing Indian, through Rabun Gap and under Anna Ruby Falls. Back then a family of four could easily hitchhike back to the car after tackling a mountain. Living for days off of reconstituted meals, berries & mountain water, we explored those trails in every weather imaginable. We would log in at check-in stations at various points along the trails. At some point my brother and I received a letter from our then-governor Jimmy Carter commending us as the youngest to have hiked the Appalachian trials in Georgia. Kinda cool.

While there was very little roughing it this past weekend in the 5BR 3 BA cabin we stayed in, we did try to spend a lot of time in the woods along the Chatahoochee River. We fished, floated the river and picnicked along the river.

On a sad note, Nikki (my D-70) may be terminal as she took a plunge with the mister who was trying for a daring shot on Dick's Creek.

Here he is seconds before, snapped by one of the kids who was, at that moment, verbalizing the thought that he might fall. She raced in to him, not knowing how badly he may be hurt. I was being taunted by trout up creek and thought the hooting was all about someone finally finding a fish hungry enough to bite. Imagine my surprise when i emerge from the bushes to see wet-headed husband and lens off of camera (*gasp).

What was he thinking?

Other family members who were set up across the creek with heavy duty glass and tripods seemed to have blinked and missed it, but are comparing their shots and sending me the 'after' shots. He was somewhat injured; trying to protect the camera, he says. Even though most of the creek is ankle deep , it seemed to have no bottom where he went in at the falls. Nikki was under for probably a second and a half and he had the sense (since everyone was screaming it) to snatch out the battery.

The body has a better chance of survival than the telephoto lens that was on it but we shall see. I will be purchasing 10lbs of rice and some panty hose tomorrow for the prescribed re-hab. Card compartment was dry and dad will try to recover the days shots.

Other than that, we had a great time and the only way to decribe the view is to show you.

Weekend Shenanigans

Weekends must be the exact balance of fun, work and rest. A good Satuday morning house or yard cleaning, followed by (insert fun here) with the required rest on Sun. Too much rest fills one with guilt that nothing got done. Too much fun, the same. Too much work, well you get it.
It is just this balance, that when upset, can send you careening into Monday unprotected from the eye daggers, back stabbing, mind f******, leg pulling, knee jerking, gut wrenching, heart breaking assholes.

I thought I had planned for the correct balance this past weekend with out-of-town friends visiting and the monthly Sat night jam. I raced throught the work to get straight to the fun, keeping rest in the back of my mind as something i would get to later on Sun.

Saturday went great with the invention of 'splash dye' in the yard. The stage backdrop had become faded in the sun and needed rejuvenation. We were determined not to have to take the sheets off of the frame so my friend and

I grabbed the ketchup bottles (regrettably no gloves) and went to town "splashing" the dye, working from the outside in. We gained some form (?!) halfway through and started rolling the frame around to direct the flow of dye. Looked great in the 100 degree heat between blender breaks. As I look at it now it kinda looks like first grade artwork, but who doesn't love that?? It rises proudly from the cow pasture.

The squiggly dark lines were some rit dye that did not fare well when rediluted after concentration in dry back room for a year, for some reason it doesn't like reconstitution like Dylon.
That night produced great music and reconnecting with old friends.

It was that night that evidently I agreed to float the river ("c'mon we'll just do the ONE HOUR float") with another friend and his niece/nephew and their friends the next day (mostly 20 somethings, note this).

Mister begs off with the expected bad heart, can't stand the heat, are you kidding me answer.

Something about losing 5 pounds makes you feel unbeatable and able to conquer the world, so I was ready. Packed a cooler in an available baby float (guaranteed not to flip, note this) grabbed my raft with a bottom and headed out around noon.

Spent 2 hours in the heat waiting on teenagers. Thoughts like, why am i here and not on the sofa balancing my weekend? Surely i will be home by 4. Somehow I was talked into giving my raft up for coolers sake and taking a standard river tube with no bottom.

The ride started innocuous enough, vaguely thought about calling dad to take pictures of the huge crowd having the same thoughts of cooling off. I thought he would be tickled to know I was reliving childhood (note this). As a child I remember thinking the river belonged to us since we seemed to be the only ones that ever used it. With subdivisions nearby now, those days are long gone.

The subdivision located on this river is appropriately called Tumbling Shoals. As I heard the hoots and hollers behind me, because i was inadvertently traveling backwards, I did not see the 5' drop to strong current and separated from my ride.

I came away with this, and more.

My elbow turned out to be the worst with a large hematoma that wasn't as impressive to the teenagers as the strawberry on my back.

These are the massive shoals that did me in.

I realized I should have used the baby float.

Dad pointed out I am not 20 something any more with out even knowing I was hanging out with 20 somethings. I was kinda insulted.

I was deposited at home sometime around 6 and I collapsed to be doctored by my smirking husband.

By this time i realize I have mucked up. Not only did I not rest, I seriously put at risk my ability to work and take care of family. WHAT A DOWNER! I wasn't really sure until Mon morning that I did not break anything. Carrying that weight and my wounded pride I went to work to make the best of it, and was faced with...... more crap. After debating for some time how to word what I am going through, I reread my post and realized I covdered that in the first paragraph.

Trying to be thankful I have a workplace to go to even if it is with fraught with degradation, discrimination and favoritism.

This weekend there shall be no problem balancing the equation. With an extra day off I will be able to store enough energy, willpower, superpowers and the motivation I will need to return to enslavement on Monday.