Melon Petit Gris de Rennes

This morning I went to the garden and saw a melon that had turned colors. I brought my bride out to show her and now we had a problem. We didn't know when you pick the melon. So we looked it up and found out when you see the stem cracking around the base and you move it a little, the melon should just fall off. Well you know we did just that and the melon did just that.
We left it in the house an hour or so. It smelled so wonderful. It weighed two & half pounds. We sliced it open and ate it all in one sitting. We found out a couple of things today about the
" Melon Petit Gris de Rennes."
First of all, I read that if a person can grow this melon they are a Master Gardener. I know that isn't true because we grew this one and four more are on the vine. Second of all, the grocery store melons have a green line in between the skin and edible part of the fruit. Ours doesn't because we do not have to pick it early for market. We get to pick and eat at just the right time. Last, I spotted this melon when it was little bigger than a golf ball on June 26th, so I think it takes about 29 - 34 days after the flower fruits for this kind of melon to mature.
Here is a pumpkin pie. Well maybe not yet but that's where this pumpkin we harvested is off to.
Boo Boo admiring the table flowers this morning. He likes watermelon and Petit Gris de Rennes as well.

What came from the garden today.

The other day we cut that monster Tennessee Sweet Potato. I was wondering why we were not getting any female flower and only male flowers on this plant. We also were only getting one giant fruit. So we cut the monster and now I am glad to say we have at least 8 fruits growing on the 30 plus foot vine, plus female and male flowers. Who knew that a single female could keep all those male flowers to herself? Well we cleared her dance card didn't we.
Part of today's haul from the garden.
The French Melons are starting to scab over. We are so close to completion.

Three Tennessee Sweet Potatoes growing on this 3' run.

I was squishing cucumber beetles, grass hoppers and Japanese beetles between my fingers about an hour ago and I saw one corn cob ready to eat. We started the water boiling and dropped it in for seven minutes. My bride put a little butter on it and we sat saying mmmmm mmmm good. Boo Boo heard us and wanted what we had so bad. Since it was our first cob I was cheap and gave him only one kernel.

Boo Boo vs Watermelon

This evening we harvested the first watermelon of the season. It is only 5lbs. We have it in the fridge so it is going to be dessert tonight. I was hoping for the melon to get 10-15lbs but my bride found one split open from the rain we had. So now I will have to go through the patch and harvest all the ones with the yellow bottoms before they crack open too.

Boo Boo vs Tennessee Sweet Potato

Today we harvested the first of our Tennessee Sweet Potatoes. It was 18.25lbs, which weighed in more than Boo Boo. He thinks all melons, pumpkins and the like are new toys for him to play with so we let him be in the picture of our first fruit from the vine.

Our Christmas Story

Christmas Eve my wife pulled out her sewing machine to make Boo Boo a present. Using left over red fleece from a jacket she made she created a "Mo Mo."
At least that is what we are calling him.
Boo Boo did leaps for Mo Mo. (Say that five times fast.) I think I even heard him say, "all I want for Christmas is a Mo Mo. If I could have a Mo Mo I would never want for anything ever again. I won't chew his eye out, I promise."
So we gave him Mo Mo and if I were you I wouldn't stick my hand under that desk and try to take it away.
Growing up in California I never saw a real white Christmas. (Living up North snow was on the ground already when Christmas arrived.) On Christmas Eve we dropped from 50 to 27 degrees and this white stuff fell from the sky. Christmas morning our garden was covered. I have storm windows over the spinach however so it is still providing food for us under that snow. One of the nice things about Missouri is, all that snow will be gone in a few days.

Big Screen

Boo Boo is a big screen nut now. Of course this being Sunday I am sure there are more than a few guys out there who have the same problem.

Growing Garden & Offical Member of the Clean Plate Club

Here is Boo Boo wishing that plate wasn't so clean.

Our Garden this morning. The first crop of potatoes are almost ready. Corn should be knee high by the 4th of July...we might be there now. Maybe that is only a Wisconsin saying.

Studio

The last few days I have been using the last of the floor boards to create a studio desk, printer table and framing table for myself. When we first arrived here I just pulled the mouldings off the wall and turned them into the tables I was using. There hasn't been much posted about this room as I wasn't to happy with the old tables that were slapped together looked. This is what the studio looked like in April 2008.
This is the studio a few weeks ago. It worked but......

This is the new studio, with a new layout, desk and tables. Mostly all made from the floor boards from the back porch.
Boo Boo has found his spot on the rug, I think.

Free Grass (not that kind of grass)

While mowing the yard I have come up against the fact that I need more grass for the compost pile as well as laying down mulch between the rows. So I mow the neighbors yard with my eco mower, making sure everyone knows I really do have a screw loose. (It's only two and a half neighbors and it makes me feel like Forrest Gump.) One such neighbor thought it was so nice of me, that she went to the big city to visit her family. While there her son in law mowed his perfectly grromed, chemically treated lawn and bagged the clippings for curb side pick up. A light bulb went off in my neighbors head and she snapped those grass clippings up for me as a thank you for mowing her yard. She stuck them inside her car and there they sat for a few days. The temp. outside was a nice & warm 75 degrees. We she left her family she drove two hours home with the windows down as it was little smelly in the car. She did bring me those clippings as she set out to do. The only problem in an organic garden, is chemically treated lawn clippings do not work out so well. I put them in the corner of the yard where they proceeded to stink up the neighborhood. Everyone thought my compost pile was bad. I was afraid someone would call the city on me and I wouldn't be allowed to make compost anymore. So I dug them into the ground to stop the stench. My neighbors car still stinks however. While at the Farmers Market on Friday, it became apparent that we have everything in our own backyard. Well except for a bunch of people for Boo Boo to meet and greet.

Right from the garden. Yum Yum.

Boo Boo lives up to his name

Yesterday my Bride and I were walking around the garden and I thought I would show her what the back porch looks like in real life since she hasn't been back there because it is sealed off currently from the rest of the house. So I opened up the door and before we know it Boo Boo runs in like he always has. He had no idea the floor was missing. Before he could stop he went right through the joist landing spread eagle and froze there. I thought he was hurt but he was just scared stiff. We picked him up and dusted him off and he was no worse for the wear. He probably would like to forget the whole event but we laughed so much about it I just had to blog about it.

Directions

So here is where everything sits this morning. It will be so nice to get the porch done into the 2nd bedroom. We are use to the redneck wind sock hanging in the door way however. The back room has no insulation at all so the pink blanket puffs up depending which way the wind blows. Last summer it was like an oven in there, so we hung the blanket to keep the cold out this winter.

Remember when you were a kid

My wife has to work today and yesterday it took me a lot longer than expected to get a light hung in the studio, so I never was able to knock a hole in the wall. Well today with my bride working away I decided to draw a bit on the walls. Now I know taking a marker and drawing on the walls isn't something you are suppose to do but I wanted you to see which way things are in relation to the dining room. Plus all you kids out there while Mom & Dad are away let your creative juices flow and draw a bit on the walls. Perhaps copy what I did, or make a sign that points to your bedroom, because when you are finished you will be spending a bit of time there I imagine. :)

Fix this old house

Just for fun. It's a movie, click on the little arrow below the foot to play.

Flooring too!

We just put the floor down. So nice.

Franklin TN

Last night we returned from a visit to Franklin, TN. Pictured here is my wife and her awesome children, granddaughter, Boo Boo and me. It was a nice break in our Summer Vacation in Missouri to get to see everyone.

Bathroom colors

Today we found the flooring, tile and paint color for the bathroom. It is a bummer that I cannot get the color right in the photograph but it is white, sorta light green and brown. Also this past weekend my bride was huggin Boo Boo so I just had to share this photograph.

Boo Boo turns 2 & gets a haircut

This past weekend Boo Boo turned two and he got a haircut on the kitchen table. It is the second time I have done the home haircut thing on him. The difference between a good & bad haircut is a few weeks.

Started on the living room

So this weekend we started demo on the living room. Check out this window temp however. It will be 101 today but in the sun, in the window it is 115. I wonder if it gets to be 114 actual temp will the thermometer explode in the window. We have remained inside as much as possible during this part of our Missouri Summer Vacation. Here is the living room before the hammer has been swung. We painted the old #1 wood that was down for the sub floor to block the smell from old pet stains. Blitz 123 is the best stuff I found for this problem. Kilz only amplified the stench.

Boo Boo has become my supervisor on this project. He is always right there to lick me in the face whenever I am fixing something close to the ground. His slobber in my face really doesn't help the project but I don't want to tell him that and risk hurting his feelings.

The old moldings are really in bad shape and would take too much effort and time to repair, so next weeks posting will not be featuring them. lol