It just goes to show you..... You meet some of the Wildest.... Craziest....Silliest.... M O S T >>>> FUN !!!!! People on this Garden Web... You guys are sooooooo much fun to read... and talk to!!! I guess the picture in my mind... Of a reality show.... Secret Santa... Adult humans... out of control , waiting for the name of the person they will shop for, or make a gift for... getting the name.. then... of decisions, decisions, the stress of the alllllll!!!!!! the pressure of the time to mail the package... should I wrap the gift.. should I put the tag and reveal who I am on the outside of the gift or the inside! > ? !? ??? Then... will the person like it.. will they open it before Christmas !!!! Then..... the silly recipient... receiving the............. P A C K A G E !!!! The S H A K I N G>>>.. the pushing, pulling... indecision... Unwrapping... R E ~~ Wrapping !!! will anyone know if I open it NOW !!!.... Should I !???? Shouldn't I.... ??? Oh I can't wait... I must... know.. Yes, Yes , Yes !!!! Oh me, Oh My.... the little child is still A L I V E !!! OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE >>>> In a one horse open sleigh!!!! Hey !!! Dashing thru the Gifts... Happy as a Child Oh what fun it is to play.... Secret Santa Claus....!!!! HO !!!! HO!!!! HO!!!! HO!!!!! HO!!!! Gift, Galore, Fun somemore... over the packages we go..... Have Fun Everyone !!!!!! M E R R Y + C H R I S T MAS !!! To All.... and to ALLLLLLLL A Good.... night !!!!!! TTFN you little ELFS !!!! susiesunshine PS PICTURES ON Christmas Eve?????who's got my name ?????

Moni, I love the aroma of pineapple sage. I bet your house smells delicious! i noticed yesterday that we still had lots of different herbs still growing and I hate it that tonight's cold temperatures will kill the ones, like basil, that aren't winter-hardy. I spent most of yesterday harvesting what was left of the garden, which had rebounded nicely from the summer drought conditions with above-average (finally!) rain falling here in October. We still are in drought, but everything had greened up so much that it didn't really look like we still have drought conditions, at least until you noticed the cracks still in the ground beneath the green plants. I spent most of my time harvesting hot and sweet peppers....roughly 15 gallons of them, so I will spend the day, and likely the rest of the week, in the kitchen processing peppers. Many will be blanched and frozen for use in cooking all winter long, but I have a lot of poblano peppers that I'm going to cut up and put in the dehydrator. I'll also be making a lot of pepper jelly, but today I may just wash and chop up the peppers for pepper jelly, and then freeze them and make the jelly on another day. I thought my canning season had ended back in late July or early August, but apparently it hadn't. It might take all day just to get that much of the prep work done, and I think I'll have to buy pectin before I can make jelly because I have only a few packages of it stashed in the pantry. I also harvested dozens of winter squash, but they don't have to be processed quickly like the peppers, so I left them in Rubbermaid storage bins out in the garage. We moved about 35 or 40 molasses feed tubs filled with plants to the greenhouse, and that included some tomato plants with quite a few tomatoes on them. I ran out of time and daylight yesterday before I had harvested any herbs or cut any flowers for bouquets, but will have a chance, I hope, to do that today since we shouldn't have freezing temperatures here until sometime tonight. We had an onslaught of honey bees and ladybugs congregating near the doors to any and every building yesterday afternoon, looking for a warm place to shelter from the cold. We always have ladybugs swarming near the doors right before the first hard freeze, but this is the first time the honeybees have congregated around the back door to the house that way. Every time I came into the house, I had to sort of swat them away from the door because the bees were trying to come inside the house with me. The bees and lady bugs made it into the greenhouse, garage and sunroom, and I hope those places keep them warm during this little cold spell. Some ladybugs may have made it into the house, but if they did, I'll vacuum them up with the hand vac today and release them into the greenhouse. I hate seeing the growing season come to an end when everything was looking so good, but it happens every year, and it is nice to have a bit of a break from all the yard work for a few months. Dawn

chase, I ate that exact dish for dinner last week, when DH was out of town, except I had a blob of yellow mustard to dip my weiner pieces in. I sat down in front of the tv with my bowl; quick and easy dinner.

Oh, thats what they call them now....catnip brownies. OK. LOL I've never seen a recipe for rhubarb bread. Since our DDIL passed away, we don't get rhubarb any more but I only used it for Hubs fave, Rhubarb custard pie, and I only made that for his B'day. As for Buster starving..don't think so. The Vet keeps telling me to cut back on his food, but how can I refuse that sweet face and demanding meow. LOL