Peaches were great this year. The spring was long and cold and the end of summer was dry, for me. I have one tree with peach bore. I will probably remove that tree. All the peach trees set fruit so I was eating peaches a long time this summer. The nectarine tree set two fruit and the japanese beetles ate so much of them I threw them away. I need to start training the trees to the stakes I will be tying them to. It looks like a long fall for me here so I will have a lot of time to do all this. Just hope I can find some cheap cover hay this year. I will spray more for the beetles next year as I think we will be overwhelmed with them. I tried to take picture of the covering process but the trees were small and it was hard to see the procedure. Maybe this year (if I think of it) I'll try to take pictures again.

Wow so many with the same situation, although mine is not because of him losing a job in this economy. I always seemed to find the really nice guys that lacked motivation - I married two of them. My first husband was in finance, and figured that he could work fewer hours and manage to make enough. I was working and had two young children and he did not think that his free time was for housework or watching the kids even when I went to the gym - I had to get a sitter so that he would not have to commit to being home. No matter how much counseling or discussion between us could make him see how it felt to have him sitting on the front porch reading the paper while I was going crazy in the house getting lunches ready and the kids and me out of the house every morning. The neighbors even noticed! I felt if I was going to live like a single parent, I might as well be able to date, so I divorced him. And then I did the same thing again! What the heck was wrong with me?? When I met my second husband, he had a job, but all of his jobs were not long-term or careers -- he was also an under-employed carpenter. He was an awesome person, and a great step-father to my kids, but the housework was not even on his radar. However, with his more "flexible schedule", he was the one that could get a sick kid at school or be home if needed, so he was a bit of a house husband and that allowed me to concentrate on my job. But once the kids were off at college, I joked that he was my oldest child, but it really wasn't a joke. Unfortunately he died suddenly a little over a year ago, and although I miss him terribly, I am not going to make the same mistake again. I'm fortunate that I can support myself as I've been doing it for years anyway. If there is a next guy he will have to be at least where I am financially (which is not much!) and be interested in a true partnership. We all have to put up with stupid bosses and policies, but how can these men think it's OK to put their pride before their employment because they won't tolerate whatever they don't agree with? You can't be an employee and do things any way you want - we all have to suck it up for a job. If these guys didn't have a wife, I wonder what would they do? Please understand, I'm not knocking your hubbies - especially after the men I married! Many of you seem to be adapting to the new normal in your households. What makes it work is a sense of teamwork between the two of you, each doing what needs to be done. A wife can't be the breadwinner and then come home to housework & cooking while the husband plays - that situation won't last long without resentment.

Vapor, cheese? Coffee ice cream sounds great--I haven't had any in years because there is so much competition in luscious flavors nowadays. Tillamook has a great strawberry and Oregon blackberry. It's Oregon ice cream, as is Umpqua. Don't you like the names of these companies? Native American names. Western Oregon is a place of Great roses and great ice cream. Sheila you must try some of the Tillamook and Umpqua flavors. Another favorite of mine, also Tillamook, is Udderly Chocolate. The name sounds like a bad joke. I got so desperate a while ago, I made some Orville Dead and Buried Kettle corn (name is a family joke; sorry to offend). It's pretty yummy with an ice cold Coke. Now I'm wide awake. Diane

Dee, one time on Facebook I saw a short video of a black swan who was weeding a garden. It was amazing. Yes, it would make more sense to have a division of gleaners. In fact, I was wishing the second gleaner who is a student minoring in ecogastronomy had spent her required semester abroad in Turkey instead of Italy. I have an internet friend who lives in Turkey who loves purslane. The second gleaner didn't want any to take home. The next day I pulled two 5-gallon buckets full from what should have been my pole bean patch. The good news is two days ago I saw a deer run by my window. I decided to get up for more coffee and to see if the deer was headed to the garden. I saw two adult wild turkey hens with 15 big babies heading in the opposite direction so I holler to dh to look out the window thinking he was in the bathroom which also has a backyard window. But he looked out a front window and saw an Eastern coyotee hunting near the garden. I watched and saw him pounce several times before bringing up what looked like a vole (also known as meadow mouse). They are darker and longer than a house mouse. The coyote gave it a good shake and looked like he gobbled it right down like a pelican would. I cheered loudly. Potato beetle larvae have appeared but not many. The plants looked beautiful when they were blossoming but now they are doing their downhill droop. We've had one dinner of early potatoes but I'm hoping for some good big keepers. I have both fingerling and bakers planted. Spiderwort that I thought I had dug out of the garden last year grew back and is now collapsing and making the border look awful. Time to dig it out again and also to cut back some yellow daisy like flowers. My husband thinks every thing looks nice but he doesn't see the weeds or poor design. Shastas are blooming and taking up at least 1/4 of the circle garden. Tall yellow day lilies look great at the end of the narrow border. The shallow handing baskets of annual begonias loved all the rain but the geraniums in two planters look terrible. I did not put a tall plant in the whiskey barrel planter and somehow the sweet potato filler plants have taken over. Enjoy the recent cooler and sunnier weather!