OT: Our peaceful but potentially deadly Southern Pacific Rattlesnake
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
6 years ago
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O/T but..do you do 'Thanksgiving'...?
Comments (88)In my family, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States the Thanksgiving meal always included: A big plate of crudites with onion dip. a crystal platter with black olives, enough for every child to slide a big black olive over each of her fingers. a big roast Turkey, when Grandma was alive it would be a 24 pound bird. with stuffing made with toasted bread cubes, onions, celery and sage and other herbs and chicken broth. gravy made with giblets. Mashed white potatoes made with butter and cream. Sweet potato sliced and baked with lots of butter and with small marshmallows baked on top. Cranberry sauce. One puts this on the turkey. I saw a movie set in England where someone very kindly tried to reproduce a Thanksgiving meal for his American wife and he served raspberry jam with the turkey. a heartfelt sentiment which is more important than food. If I were in England and couldn't find cranberries I'd look for lingonbery jam, for they are a bit closer to cranberries in taste, though the berries are smaller. Brussels Sprouts Rolls or biscuits and butter. and for dessert pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. Now that I've lived in California for 30 years I've seen many Thanksgivings that had all of the above foods but also had in addition to pumpkin pie, a very rich pie made of pecans. Most of , no- all of the African Americans I've known always have sweet potato pie in lieu of pumpkin pie and in my opinion it is a far superior pie. Nowadays we usually start with a big salad often a Caesar salad as it is simple and the rest of the food is so rich. I love Thanksgiving, it is such a heartwarming holiday with none of the commercial stress of Christmas when one is rushing around trying to find a parking space and then the right gift for every one. Although it takes a large effort to cook a large Thanksgiving meal. I often feel closer to God on Thanksgiving for God is Love, and love is a familiar feeling on that day along with gratitude. Most Thanksgivings I've been at have always had one or two persons who were invited at the last minute when someone found out they had no family locally to go to . I have been that person myself several times when new to an area. Thanks for asking, Lux....See MoreOT - 5:30AM in the garden
Comments (10)Ah, early morning gardening is the best. It is cool outside (only about 75 degrees) and it gives me a chance to cool off the garage which was 95 degrees last night at 9 pm when I finally got home. This morning it cooled off (the garage) from 85 degrees to 82 degrees. Downright balmy. I have to open both the garage door and the door from the garage to the back yard to get a nice cooling. I now know why people have ceiling fans in their garages here, to help them cool off in the summertime. I get to water today (one of the 2 days of the week I can water) so it was time to fill up the fountain to start the hummingbird wars for the day. Those little critters are so territorial. I think they are constantly chasing each other off until they wear out and then they can live with each other for a nice drink and bath and then the wars start all over again. Roses are looking good this morning for the middle of our long summer here. My Peppermint Parfait is blooming up a storm. Nothing beats a Ralph Moore rose for taking the long, hot summer. My Candice is also taking the heat nicely as is my Wedding Cake. Crickets are chirping up a storm this week as well. Shewed one of them out of the garage into the yard and I hope to do the same for his partner. Don't want them in the house. I don't care if they are good luck or not. Outside is just fine. OK, the internet just ate up the last two paragraphs I wrote, so it is time to sign off, obviously. Stay cool folks....See MoreOT: Hurray! the snakes are back
Comments (7)I had a green tree snake who lived in my last garden. He was quite beautiful, and harmless to humans. Here, unfortunately, my daughter had a brown snake in her flat (downstairs). She was certain it was the deadly one, and as she has worked with a wildlife service, I'm sure she was right. They used to be very common in these parts, and in the past I have had a few encounters I'd rather not think about. They actually chase you! The other day, when I was digging out a giant marauding salvia, I saw a baby brown snake (didn't rear at me, so maybe not the deadly kind) and a giant ant with a bright green head - both at the same moment, and scurrying in opposite directions! There used to be snake skins everywhere on roads, but you never see one now. Instead we have an exploding population of bush turkeys, so I was quite happy to see the baby snake. I just hope he's not a deadly one! The builder's son caught a funnel web behind my garage a few days ago (also deadly). He took it to the local hospital so they could extract the venom, as they're short of the anti-venom at the moment. This is a prime spot for funnel webs, as there are a lot of sunny drystone walls in this garden, and I'm told that's their favourite hangout. Carol, when we came to Australia 50 years ago, all I'd heard about were sharks, snakes and spiders. My parents bought a house in Palm Beach, a northern suburb of Sydney, which in those days had a lot of native bush, including our 'garden'. There were loads of brown snakes and spiders, and sharks in the water! I got used to it, and was later amazed to learn that most other Australians were quite alarmed by them! I never saw a bush turkey in those days, but did see koalas and wallabies - sadly long gone. Trish...See MoreOT: Our peaceful but potentially deadly Southern Pacific Rattlesnake
Comments (26)I think you did the right thing, albeit taking some risk... I'm amazed that you're able to tackle them if need be.. I know Native American Indian women used to use a stick and a knife to finish the job, and of course they ate them... My view is that everything has a right to live, besides myself, and I would struggle to kill anything, even aphids have a free hand - house flies? I try hard to get them out... [whilst liberally conservative, I struggle with abortion except in extreme cases].... and fortunately for us here we don't have to garden with anything that might be dangerously threatening like that.. Being somewhat ophidophobic,, with your scenario, I'd have dropped dead on the spot... Murderers, terrorists and other low life... I might take a different view... It goes without saying that I hope you keep safe in your garden Ingrid.......See Moreingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
6 years agoingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
6 years ago
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