Gotta hang on for that 89, Kim!

I'm glad you have some pretty things, Kim, portable this year! What's the one with the big leaves? And WOW is it hot over there! Dagnab hot!

And yes, it was stifling hot here today, too. Just stifling. Yes, this is the energy-sucking stuff, Dawn, for sure. I think GDW and I were having a competition, though neither of us acknowledged it. We both just kept agreeing that we weren't too uncomfortable with the doors open and a fan circulating. That ended today. I told him I had to cave. Shut the doors and turned on the AC but set it at 79. We were both perfectly comfortable with it at 79, so I expect that's where we'll keep it this summer, and still will be able to open the doors in the late evenings for a while.

It rained (HARD) nearly an inch last night, and now I remember why I'm not gonna grow any more nicotiana. LOL The rain laid over 90% of them flat on the ground. HA! And about half the zinnias. And a couple of the amaranths and verbena bons. . . Sheesh. I staked some back up, but the nicotianas just too tangled and thick.

I SO understand your mixed feelings Paula. Isn't it just a giant PITA! But praying for good docs and wise ones. And hope you don't have to go from here to there and all over the place.

Do you all know if the deer love the crinium lilies as much as they do other lilies; well, I'm pretty sure they do. I think I've found a spot for lilies, though, so will collect a few.

Yes, Amy. You feel better, too!

Haha, just realized it's gonna be a big Swallowtail cat party in the center bed this year, with the dill, parsley and bronze fennel all growing there. I DO have dill in a couple different places. Maybe I'll move some of the parsley and fennel, too.

Uh-oh, sounds like Javiwa has a fever. . . .$$$$$ LOL

Regarding tools, I did as Amy suggested and wrapped pink duck tape around my Hori-Hori knife and hand hoe and a couple other things. I still forget sometimes to return them to their proper place and have to backtrack, but at least I can spot them with that bright pink tape.

Jacob, I DO love chile peppers. I have Big Jim Numex, jalapenos and pepperoncinis, but there a jillion fun-looking ones and will have to get adventurous. Good job on the shed. Yay for you. Hope some of your organization will inspire me to tackle my garage. (I say my garage, as I think GDW has safely moved all the stuff he needs out to his tidy shop. Smart.)

Megan, I got Heidi paste because Dawn talked me into it. How can I go wrong, right?

BTW, Jacob, good one! Writing the list, including where you put the list. So wise already. ROTFL!

Caught me red handed, Nancy RW. I just got done Googling everything I could about jatropha...someone stop me now! I noticed these today at the nursery -- yes, 50% off. Can't tell from the tag if it's the compact variety, as I don't want a tree.

Thanks for the lettuce substitute suggestions.

Is it stupid to plant trees now? Because it's so hot and dry. What if I promised to water everyday. Do you think they would make it?

The tomatoes are all weeded and mulched. Those poor things were never really cared for properly. Our weather has been so wild. They weren't properly hardened off when they went into the ground, but were covered with shade cloth and/or protective frost covers. The bed was full of weeds--I just planted around it all. Now, it's clean and mulched. Except for 4 tomatoes who were planted in random places.

They actually look pretty good.

Okay, so my list will not be completed at the end of this week. I'll put house deep cleaning/organizing aside for now. I'm on a ridiculous 'one track mind' path. And it's all about the outdoors...in this heat index of 105 weather.

If I could just get my life together, I could make my lovely teas--lemon and balm and lavender flowers. Doesn't that sound so refreshing?

LOL! You ain't gonna find no help here!

I wanted to encourage you all to get your selves out I the morning grab some mint and lemon verbena and make fresh tea. So yummy.

Will lemon balm be a satisfactory substitute, Kim?

I don't know.

I have lemon balm I will try in the morning. The chocolate mint is so awesome. I habe quit coffee and find these fresh herb teas are the best.

Now I don't understand why everyone thinks it's so hot today. For once in weeks, though we've hit 90 on Sunday, 86 yesterday, and 90 today, it's NOT excessively humid! Of course, I've been working in the afternoons because our thunderstorms have switched to early morning, so it does feel much drier. Our forecast looks better! They've been lowering it every day, from 99 on Saturday to now a proposed 93. 93 is manageable! My forecast shows, for the most part, 60's at night and low 80's to low 90's during the day. Not too bad. Still a good 10-15 degrees above average but not as bad as the originally proposed upper 90's.

I planted some sweet corn, 4 8' rows in total. I'm trying Buhl this year. Anyone else tried Buhl sweet corn before? I got sick of keeping corn held up in the wind last year, so I'm hoping the 6' tall stalks on Buhl sweet corn will help. In a couple weeks I'll plant a second batch and put in my winter squash transplants. I'm thinking starting transplants in late May may be a better idea than I'd though- it allows to me keep a much better eye on squash vine borers when they're all in pots close to each other.

I also have 120 Sierra lettuce transplants growing in flats to place in between my tomato rows in a few weeks now. It took a lot of time to prick those in their cells. The Rouge Grenobloise and Merlot lettuces are still going strong, Rouge Grenobloise producing the most. I love that variety so much.

Hazel, you mention planting trees. I'm horrible with trees! I had a nice maple tree in a pot, and I let it stay in that pot for over 3 years....Of course, I planted it last year and it is extremely healthy this year. I guess they're forgiving? Same story with our Apple and peach trees.

Kim, Oh, I don't know. Just call me crazy, but I am old-fashioned and think that May weather ought to be allowed to feel like May weather. I also think we shouldn't have June and July high temperatures in May. I feel like May isn't even May this year.

If y'all don't have a Heat Advisory out west, I'm thinking you should.

Here's the statistic from this month that bothers me when I compare it to May 2011. Y'all do remember 2011, right? I remember it well---we had over 70 days when the high temperatures were over 100 degrees, and during the worst parts we were in the 110-115 range. So, here's our Average HIgh Temperature for May 2018 based on our Mesonet station data: 87 degrees. The average for May 2011? 81 degrees. That six-degree difference is horrifying. Does this mean that this summer will be worse than 2011? Well, I don't think it guarantees that or anything, but it worries me that it could be.

Your portable garden looks nice. At least you'll be able to take the plants with you, no matter where you end up.

I'm hanging on for the Sunday-Monday cooldown too. I fed my tomato plants with a bloom booster plant food last night figuring that the Sunday-Monday cooldown is probably their last chance to set fruit.

I already have a plan in place for this summer's garden and it involves quickly removing plants when they become diseased, pest-ridden or non-productive. It is going to be too hot to nurse anything along hoping for improvement.

Nancy, What is rain?

Deer sometimes eat crinum lilies. It depends on what other plants are available and it depends on how dry and hot the summer is. They don't eat mine because they're in the fenced garden. Everything is in the fenced garden or it doesn't survive the hot, hungry deer summers here. All our landscaping around the house is just shrubs and vines that deer don't eat, with no flowering perennials or annuals at all because the deer eat them all. It took me a few years to learn I couldn't win that battle.

I wish the swallowtail cats had started out on the big parsley instead of the tiny dill, but at least they then saw the error of their ways and moved to the parsley. Hopefully the dill will recover. With it being a cool season plant, I don't know how it will do this summer, but the parsley should keep the swallowtail cats fed, at least for now.

Jennifer, It isn't stupid to plant trees now, but if you're doing it, they will need constant monitoring and frequent watering. Often, trees planted in the summer seem to be fine. That's because they have about a year's worth of stored energy to run off of. Then, they inexplicably die of transplant shock six months or a year down the road. I don't plant trees in summer. Never have. Never will. I've just seen too many of them die in other people's yards. I prefer to plant trees between October and January so their roots can settle in and they can get established a little bit before the heat arrives. If I found a tree that I just had to have and I wanted it now, I'd buy it, pot it up into a larger container and keep it well watered this summer and put it in the ground this fall. Remember my constant references to how this summer is feeling like another 2011? Well, in 2011's constant heat and drought, even well-established and older (decades old!) native trees, like the usually very hardy oak trees, died right and left, both in people's landscapes and out in the wild, all over the state. If a well-established native tree like an oak has trouble surviving a very hot summer, then imagine how much harder this sort of summer weather will be on a young tree. With very careful attention to watering, you ought to be able to keep alive any tree you've planted recently or plant now, but it will take careful attention---forget about the tree for a week or go out of town for a week, and it might not make it.

Jacob, The humidity (or lack of such) is the thing that really matters in hot weather. I can stay out all day in the heat if it is a dry heat, but when it is hot, muggy and the heat index soars well above the actual temperature, I fold like a cheap umbrella and seek shelter indoors.

You're so fortunate to have your lettuce. All the lettuce here has bolted and turned too bitter to eat.

The sun's about to come up and I need to get outside as soon as it does. With any luck at all, maybe I'll be able to last until 9 or 10 a.m. today. We have an unfortunate combination of high temperatures, plentiful humidity and lots of wind. It is hard on the plants, and almost as hard on the people.

Dawn

Dawn: I'm new to dill and didn't realize it's a cool season plant. Does this mean I should grow it in part shade? Same question about fennel, too. (I've read this is what folks also do with rue to protect from the Texas sun, and am ready to pot that and keep it in partial shade.)

Well, 1/2" of POUNDING rain beat down those gorgeous Red River onions. Maybe they'll stand back up. We have a patio umbrella that fell night before last and took out a potato. At least I shouldn't have to water today.

I'm thinking about growing herbs indoors this summer.

Lemon balm is recommended as a night time, put you to sleep tea.

Knock wood, I seem to feel better today, or I've gotten used to it and function better.

120 Lettuce starts Jacob? Oh my!

I have bloombooster somewhere, I should use it.

I am reevaluating what to grow this summer. But I already use okra and cowpeas as my main summer crops. I'm just not sure it's worth it to plant cucumbers. Or any kind of squash. Ron will be sad if I don't plant cukes, but all that work and bitter cukes would be even more disappointing. I'm thinking various cover crops until fall. Egyptian spinach, maybe, buckwheat, sorghum, southern peas. The question is, will we have fall?

Amy, I'd read somewhere that it helps to remove male flowers on cukes keeps them from turning bitter? Don't know if that's true.

120 will be thinned to 60 eventually as they grow....Baby lettuce salads!

I hope we have a fall. We've been cheated too much this year weather-wise....guess we'll just have to wait and see.

If I remember right, keeping cukes consistently watered is the trick to non bitter cukes. But I think that is going to be hard this year.

I ordered some Iron and Clay cowpeas, more Sunn Hemp, sorghum and hairy vetch (and yeah, some coreopsis, just because). For cover crops.

My garlic has 2 dead leaves on the bottom. I have tried to plant cowpeas before garlic in the past. A no till method I've read about uses a winter killing cover crop like buckwheat and oats. Planting garlic cloves right in the cover crop. This guy lives further north, his cover crop would kill sooner than mine, but I'm thinking about it. Could plant it in the growing cowpeas, too. I don't feel like cowpeas would make as much mulch as buckwheat. Need to grow hairy vetch before tomatoes.

javiwa, Pretty much anything the swallowtail cats like to eat that we can grow for them is a cool-season type plant. Planting in shade will help somewhat, but at some point the plants are going to bolt and then die. I planted six parsley plants for the swallowtails in late February or early March. Those are the ones the swallowtail cats are feeding on right now, but they're also trying to bolt. I cut off the flower stalks they were sending up and that may keep the plants growing a bit longer, but it isn't any sort of a permanent fix. Then, in April I planted 3 more parsley plants, and in May I planted 6 more. The later ones are further behind and should provide some food after the original six plants die. Normally I have tons and tons of dill and fennel reseed and pop up all over the garden, but this year, there's only been a handful. WIth those, you can sow new seed every couple of weeks so you always have new, smaller plants coming along as the older ones either get devoured or bolt and die in the heat. For what it is worth, Florence fennel (the one that forms the edible bulb) last longer for me without bolting than regular fennel (green or bronze) and it is easy to grow from seed. Dill and fennel both are easy from seed, and parsley is easy as well except it sometimes takes it a long time to germinate.

Amy, As long as the Red Rivers' necks weren't broken, they ought to stand back up on their own. It might take a few days, just like it sometimes does when corn lodges during a thunderstorm or some other wind event.

Cucumbers can get bitter for any of three reasons that I think of: 1) some varieties just naturally produce more cucurbitacin (the compound that causes the bitter flavor), but nowadays you can get around that by growing some of the cukes bred to produce less cucurbitacins (Marketmore 97 is one, I think, and the old heirloom Lemon cukes naturally produce less cucurbitacins too); 2) moisture stress---if you can keep the soil in which they're growing evenly moist throughout the time they're producing, they will be less bitter; and 3) heat stress, which is harder to control but heavy mulching can help.

Who knows if we'll have fall? Well, we'll have the autumn months, but will they have traditional autumn weather? My gut feeling is that we'll be hotter than usual from now until the first freeze. The question that remains is how much hotter than usual? And, for folks like me that the rain keeps missing most of the time lately, I think we'll remain drier than usual throughout the summer, but not as dry as 2011.

Jacob, You must be reading or hearing about how the British grow greenhouse cucumbers. In the olden days, they did remove the male flowers (I don't even know if this was necessary or not) from greenhouse cucumbers to get less bitter fruit. I am not positive how this works. I guess they remove the male flowers after the females have been pollinated, but my plants keep producing female flowers all summer, so they need the males to keep producing cukes. I file this 'remove the male flower' thing away in the category of Old Garden Myths. Removing the male flowers never has been necessary for cucumbers grown outdoors in the normal way.

Plain and simple, it is stress that causes the plants to produce bitter fruit. Keep your plants from being stressed and the cukes shouldn't get bitter.

Amy, I don't know how we'll be able to water enough to keep our plants from being stressed this summer. Even if we could, the heat alone could stress them. It is just back to all the basics---well-prepared soil with a good level of organic matter, planting at the right time, mulching well, and keeping the plants well-watered. We can't really do much about the heat, but that's always a problem with summer cucumbers anyway. Well, in fact, how will we keep ourselves from feeling stressed by the garden-unfriendly weather? I think it is going to be a horrible summer.

I worked outside today until noon. It is just so danged hot---not so much the temperature, but the heat index. We have lots of wind here, and they were spraying at a nearby ranch (which always stresses me out since we get herbicide drift here so often). Our dogs were barking their hysterical coyote bark all morning and all afternoon until the sprayer left. I saw no coyotes. I finally figured out they were barking at the sound of the spray rig. Maybe the dogs pick up on how nervous it makes me when chemicals are being sprayed, but I did find it hysterical they were barking at the spray rig.

Dawn

Thanks so much, Dawn. I was just messaging my youngest son, saying if I run out of dill/parsley/fennel in my yard, I could always make an emergency run to the grocery store. With milkweed/monarchs, not so much. I've got all my plants sitting in full sun right now, so I'll need to move them. The notion of 'bolting' is completely new to me (thanks again for educating me). I did have a pretty funny 'aha' moment today: realized I have fennel seed in my pantry! I've got some seeds soaking, so we'll see if I can get another rotation of plants in. Any idea what type of fennel that might be?

Fascinating about the cucumbers Dawn. Now that I recall, I think it was a British website that gave that tip. They do single-stem their cucumbers in greenhouses as well, so I imagine it's easier when fruit production is fairly limited. 3 stress factors...Good info. I imagine heavy mulch helps with all of those except variety- moisture and heat.

I keep seeing this reference to the Heidi tomato. I'm going to have to try this tomato next year.

I harvested 3 gallon bags of lettuce from probably 10ish lettuce plants today. That was from the lettuce in full sun....I am thoroughly impressed with the Rouge Grenobloise this year. I'm saving seed. It's too bad I'm out!!! I'm excited to try the Sierra.

Also noticing a comeback in aphids...and also a comeback in ladybugs. I'll let them handle it this time around.

Wow! I did some more looking at my tomato plants and I'm seeing not only ladybugs, but primarily a little fly/wasp type creature. Upon google searches it looks like parasitic wasps! There are so many. I am seeing no ants. I've been taking care of them....Finding their nests and covering it with Sevin dust! I hate to use Sevin but I've found no other way. Hitting the ant nests only doesn't seem to be harming anything, but it's allowing these beneficial predators to make some headway. Improvement! I will share a picture of the bugs tomorrow if I get the chance.

and by the way, ladybugs eating an aphid is a really cool thing to watch!

Dawn, I'm growing Red Celosia, marigolds, columbines, clematis, and zinnias as well as our holly hox, lavender, yarrow, and petunias. What other flowers would you recommend to get? Most of these are not in the garden yet but are in flats. Soon they will be in the garden.

Javiwa, I don't know what sort of fennel is the source of seeds grown in the store, but assume it is just the regular fennel. Some people have had success growing fennel and dill from spice jars and others haven't. I suspect it depends on the age of the seeds and whether they were heat treated during processing or not.

Jacob, Isn't it amazing how closely the ladybugs follow the aphids? Mother Nature is amazing.

Flowers that bloom well in our summer heat (and I assume would do well in yours as well) include verbena bonariensis (butterflies adore it), cosmos, nicotiana, datura and Laura Bush petunias. The Laura Bush petunias are more heat-tolerant and drought-tolerant than regular petunias, which is important in our hot summers. I also like to grow lots of celosias in different colors. Salvia coccinea is a great one and it is easy and fast from seed. I have a solid red one this year, and just started seeds of a salmon and white bi-color one called Coral Nymph. Have you ever grown Gophrena? It comes in great colors, and I especially like the red one called Strawberry Fields. If you like Hollyhocks, check out Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina'. It blooms a lot longer, reblooms if cut back, and reseeds well. It is nicknamed French Hollyhock.

I'm going to go to bed early tonight so I can get outside extra early to beat the heat tomorrow. Oh, and I have voles in the front garden, tunneling underground so you don't know where they are, eating about two flowering plants per night. Just this week, they've eaten 3 balsams, 2 or 3 violas and 1 malva sylvestris. The front garden is much too large to make it practical to use one of the castor oil repellants, so I guess I'll just start more flats of seeds so I have new plants to plug into the empty spaces after the voles devour existing plants. Between the excessive heat and the voles, it is likely to be a tough summer.

Our local TV met said that May 2018 was the hottest May ever for the Texoma region, not that we even needed for him to tell us that as we already knew it ourselves. It sure makes me dread June. Meteorological summer officially starts tomorrow. Yay. Lucky us.

Dawn

Got busy watching NBA finals, calling Windstream whining about our constant everyday connection problems. . . I'm over even being upset about it. Now it's become a matter of calling them every single time we can't get a connection. . . with humor. Apparently now we're gonna be fixed up like new Saturday. I almost choked, laughing. I've called them twice today. It really has just become too funny for words.

I yanked out about half our onions today, cleaned em, chopped them up and threw them in the freezer. I was so happy knowing that for quite a while, I won't have to be cutting up an onion nearly every single day and crying. Cried today for 3 hours, and now I am good. I hope to see the other half come out next week before I leave for a week. (Those are the bigger ones, and ones I may cure.) (Or not.)

We had to open the door later today to air the place out. I LOVE onions and use SO many. I might love onions even more than tomatoes and peppers. And garlic. The garlic is awesome now that I know when to put them in. LOL And LEEKS! Got a fine big bunch of leeks. I took some of those out today, too.

Tomatoes aren't done setting fruit yet and my fingers are crossed. Peppers are finally actually really taking off.

Our friend Scott came by today in his golf cart and we traveled nearby to a neighbor to get cholla cactus cuttings. I'm not sure which variety it is, but has pretty kinda dark pink blooms. I have only 3 distinct places in this property to put it. . . gotta decide. It's an awesome cactus, kind of a specimen plant.

Then we came back and GDW and Scotty and I sat out and visited, wasting the rest of the morning. GDW got bored with us, of course, as it was all about gardening or food. . . . So he finally left us. He's just coming back from an infection he got from the colonoscopy, with antibiotics, so he's taking it easy, as he should. It hasn't been a great 3 months for him, bless his heart. Nearly as bad as that, 7 different dear friends of ours, from here and up north, ranging in ages from 32 to 96, are having critical care issues. Kind of a good thing, though, in one way, as now flowers and veggies are fun and good and a real love; Windstream problems all of a sudden aren't upsetting me. . . ball games, fun to watch, but not invested. Kind of puts things into their proper perspective.

I am loving the peony poppies, that are just beginning to bloom. I decided here on this property, we need sturdy flowering things that can take the brutal rainstorms and occasional brutal windstorms. So am now watching the things in the yard that are sturdy enough to withstand both. The clematis are fine, the hollyhock zebrinas, the new poppies, lilies and daylilies, iris were great; hydrangeas are great--Jacob, I think hydrangeas would like your property. Hyacinth beans are TOUGH and pretty and seem to be immune from most insect pests. Chrysanthemums, tough, unless they get the currently rampant mum virus. We've got others in the yard that do fine, too. . . so that's where my mind is right now with flowers. And lots of new experiments with them in the yard this year. I can't do roses because of the temptation to the deer. Toughest heavily flowering annuals are undoubtedly the marigolds. The Mexican sunflowers (tithonia) were spectacular last year and managed to survive the heavy strong rains. Zinnias succumbed to mildew, but they seed so easily, one just keeps planting them, and they will reward. Echinacea, solid. Daturas, out of control---LOL. But love their scent. Four o'clocks, easiest ever and love THEIR scent. Profuse flowering, and yes, they ARE reseeding monsters, Dawn, but I love em. The 4 o'clocks are my replacement for northern phlox. At any rate, I am interviewing many flowering plants this year to see which pass the deluge/wind test.

I am a happy cook, knowing I have 12 quart bags of frozen onions in the freezer! Blessings to you all,

I am already over the heat. I was standing over my flowers tonight, wondering why they aren't all blooming yet. Then my brain recalibrated. Its JUNE 1, not July 1. It's still early in the season. Of course not everything is blooming yet. The weather is making my brain think it's later in the season. I hope I can keep things alive.

I know you can pull beets and use them as soon as they're big enough for you, but should I pull now because of the heat? How long is long enough to give them to bulb up?

The foliage from my daffodils has pretty much died all the way back, even though it's barely been a month since bloom. Safe to cut them back? I'd always been told to leave them at least 3 months.

My jonquils leaves are dead meat. I weeded their area a couple days ago and their leaves were so dead they were actually disintegrating, Rebecca. That's dead enough. LOL If the "leaves" are all lying on the ground yellow and clearly not living, that's dead enough in my book. And the jonquils multiply mightily each of the 3, going into 4 years now, here.

Pretty, Rebecca!

I just glanced above and will read everything tomorrow at some point..

I'm awful with trees too, Jacob.

Today in the garden: I got outside around 7:30. Noticed that it had rained just a tiny bit and the sky was cloudy. Yay! Then, the sun came out about the time I started on the onion bed. I put on a long-sleeved shirt and just stuck with it. It was sweaty work, but I got that entire bed weeded. It was like a yard in there. So thick, probably contributed to my "bad" onion year. Other than that, got the beans half weeded/mulched. Moved the tansy to a giant pot. Planted the sole survivor of the tomatoes I stated at the beginning of April. A tomatillo mysteriously broke at the base. The tomato went there. I can't even remember what variety of tomato it is. It will be a surprise. Oh, also pulled out most of the greens and cleaned out the yarrow. I have to get better at pulling yarrow when it's small. I just love it so much that it's hard to "abort". It's gotten way out of control, though.

Planted a couple of small shrubs in the front bed. Made a new "poop" tarp for the hens roost bar.

Honestly, I have never been so physically tired. My poor fingers are a mess from all the weeding. And my cuticles stained. it's really gross. I should get a manicure once all the heavy weeding is complete.

Part of the problem this year is that I didn't have most of the beds prepared before planting. I just cleared a hole and planted. So, now I'm dealing with all the weeds/grass. It was a time thing, though, it wasn't being lazy.

I consider it a blessing that the sun stayed behind the clouds for half of the day--it made outdoor work bearable. The humidity tonight is awful. Truly awful. I took a shower around 3 so I could go to the store. Had to bathe again tonight after doing a bit more work (in the shade) and walking the dogs. My hens have a fan. Broody Dolly is still broody. She's not eating or drinking enough. I worry about her in this heat. I remove her from the nesting box in the morning and she has briefly eaten and drank--but not enough, especially with the heat/humidity. I take her off the nest at night and make her roost with a fan pointed at her (and the others) and the window behind the roost bar open. I hear stories of how chickens die of heat stroke in the hen house.

So, if I can get the beans finished tomorrow and the cucumbers, that will be good. I really need to plant the southern peas and melons and okra soon. Hoping to get all that done before Monday. I must MUST clean house on Monday and Tuesday. Then, it's back to work.

I really have to arrange my gardening around the shade.

Anyway...I look forward to reading y'all's posts tomorrow.

Good night. Keep cool and stay hydrated.

Nancy, We had a tough couple of years like that with our wireless internet. They'd come out, fiddle with things and nothing would change. Our internet would be out for days and no one really could explain why. Everyone just seemed baffled or dazed and confused. Finally we got a great technician who looked at the cable that connected our receiver on the roof to our modem, told us it was an 'antique' form of wiring that they hadn't used in years, and replaced it. I think that piece of the system had been in place since we first signed up with this internet service in 2005, and he probably replaced it in 2015 or 2016. Maybe early 2017. After that, service was very much improved but not perfect. Then, because this is a heavily wooded neighborhood and all of us had internet connection issues constantly and they still had line-of-sight equipment.....they decided to put up a new tower about 2 miles from us that is not line-of-sight. Oh wow, that made all the difference in the world! We finally have reliable internet service. I'm not saying it is perfect, but now when it goes out, it is only because they have an equipment outage on their end, repair it quickly and we have the internet back again. After spending so many years with unreliable service and often having it go out for days at a time, especially in summer, I'm still kind of shocked that we have service pretty much every day now. I hope y'all end up with a solution that fixes things for you.

May is one of my favorite months for flowers, and then the heat/drought arrives and things go downhill rapidly. From that point forward, it becomes a battle to keep things alive. We have not had a bad summer here since 2014 and I think a lot of people probably have forgotten how bad it can get after we were able to enjoy the above average rainfall and cooler summer weather we had for a few years, especially in 2015, but also in 2016 and the first half of 2017. I know I have not forgotten. In bad summers, gardening is about the equivalent of warfare----you fight the heat, you fight the heat-related diseases, you fight the pests.......I wish that everything didn't have to be such a battle in hot summers, but know that it is.

One thing I have noticed that really bothers me is the wildflowers in the pastures. They usually follow a real predictable pattern. This year they are a mess. A lot of the cool-season ones never bloomed at all, or bloomed very late, were very sparse and promptly burned up in the heat. Then, in May when it got so hot, suddenly the few typical May wildflowers we had were surrounded by June/July wildflowers in full bloom, and lots of them. So, if the heat-loving wildflowers of mid-summer are blooming now, what does that leave for mid-summer? What will the butterflies have blooming for them then? I cannot imagine the autumn wildflowers would bloom in mid-summer, but then I guess you never really know.

Rebecca, My brain is acting just like yours---being tricked by the early heat into thinking that it is later in the season than it is.

Having experienced record-setting May temperatures here in our region (and I think the same is true for the rest of the state of Oklahoma), my expectations are that we will have to fight tooth and nail to keep our plants hydrated and happy. Even then, I expect there will be a huge onslaught of grasshoppers (Bruce had them earlier than I did and warned me, so I felt pretty ready for them when they showed up, which they did this month) and probably blister beetles. In my garden, the spider mites already are as bad now as they normally are in late June or early July.

In a way, the early heat is a good thing---it prepared us for what summer will be like. I'd rather make the really tough decisions, like choosing to not plant the back garden at all, in May than to get it all planted and then discover we are in for a brutal summer and find myself unable to keep it all watered. So, in that sense, I guess I am grateful we got hot so very early as it made me think hard about my summertime gardening priorities. Having only one garden plot to worry and fret over did, at least, cut my summer stress in half. I still have an urge every day to run out back, rototill the whole garden plot and plant it, but I know in my head that it would be foolish to do so. Since looking at that mess in the back garden plot makes me want to clean it all up and plant it, my solution is to just avoid going west of the garage so that I never have to look at it.

With your beets, have you harvested any yet? Mine usually are done long before May. I'd pull one and see if it is still tender and good to eat. Usually the heat affects beets in a couple of ways---it can make they hard/woody and it can make them sprout tiny hairy roots all over because they are struggling to find more water to help them survive the heat. You can harvest and use beets any time they reach a usable size, and I find we like them best after they've only been in the ground about 6 to 8 weeks. Other than potatoes and onions, there really shouldn't be many, if any, cool-season crops left in the ground now that we're in the 90s every day. The cool season is long gone.

I am not worried about the onions as they always are maturing in heat at this time of the year, but I'm wondering what effect this heat will have on our potatoes. Usually the early onset of heat keeps the potatoes smaller and there's fewer of them. I guess we'll find out at harvest time. The worst thing for potatoes is heat of the type we're having now accompanied by lots of moisture as it often makes them rot underground. You start digging and find a potato and it looks fine, and then you touch it and it dissolves into a watery mess in your hands. I'm tempted to dig up one plant just to see how the potatoes are doing. I've got six inches of mulch on my potato bed trying to keep the plants cooler underground, but since the whole bed is raised well above grade level in a vole-proof bed, I'm worried that they still are not staying cool enough. There's only so much you can do to keep a tall raised bed cooler in the heat.

If your daffodil foliage has died back, you can cut it. The usual rules don't apply when we are this hot this early.

Jennifer, It sounds like you've gotten a lot accomplished. I was telling Tim last night that it feels great out into the garden until about 8:15 a.m., and then the sun is high enough in the sky to hit the garden directly and it no longer feels great at all.

For shade, I have a beach umbrella that I can carry around the garden with me. I'm pretty sure that I originally bought it either at Sam's Club or CostCo, but I imagine a sporting goods store like Academy would have them too. It is a lifesaver. You just put it where it will shade you while you're working and create your own little shady spot. The bottom of the umbrella pole has a screw-type end so that you can screw it into the soil to hold it in place. Even on relatively windy days it mostly stays where I put it, though sometimes it leans sideways in strong wind a bit more than I'd like. I couldn't stay outdoors in the heat as long as I do without that umbrella.

It barely cooled off last night. It was still 84 degrees around 11 p.m. and when I woke up at 4 a.m. it was still 79 degrees. Our plants sure aren't getting much of a break at night, and it is so very early for this kind of eat.

I have resigned myself to the fact that this summer is going to be brutal. I have tried to make all the changes necessary to make it tolerable, including making the melon crop our last succession crop. Usually I succession plant edible things all summer long, but this year I just am not going to do it. Only heat-loving flowers will be planted as succession crops when current crops finish up and are removed. At least that way, maybe I'll be able to provide blooms all summer for the bees, butterflies and other miscellaneous pollinators.

One thing I find vastly amusing.....I told Tim last summer that I was through making salsa for the whole world. When he gave everyone at work their Christmas salsa, he told them that the Christmas salsa tradition was ending. They all agreed with one another that maybe I'd change my mind. Well, it wouldn't really matter if I wanted to change my mind and make Christmas salsa one more year, now would it? There's no way the tomato plants are going to produce tomatoes all summer long in this heat, so the no-Christmas-salsa decision stands firm, aided and abetted by Mother Nature. We're already at the point where new fruitset is only occurring on the bite-sized tomatoes, and spider mites are moving onto the plants big time. I'll be surprised if we have many tomato plants left in the ground by the end of June. I'm okay with that. We cannot control the weather, and I am not going to fight like a crazy woman to keep plants going in this heat. You have to pick your battles, and I've already got my heat wave priorities all lined up in my brain. There's no point in fighting to keep tomato plants going if they aren't setting new fruit.

Now, I need to head out. The sun will be up shortly and I want to be outside to greet it because the time between now and about 8:15 to 8:30 a.m. is the best part of the day outdoors here.

Y'all have a good day. I bet I'll be in well before noon today, and probably by 9 a.m. This is not a day to play around and push the limits in the heat.

Dawn

NOT a day to push the limits in the heat!

I mowed my little yard washed the car and ran errands. It is too hot y'all.

I've caught up now. (until someone posts as I'm typing. lol)

The only cucumber I'm growing this year is armenian. It is supposed to do well in the heat. Does anyone have personal experience they would like to share?

I still have the edamame to plant, but read somewhere that stink bugs like them. That is the only pest I've seen the in garden...and I didn't remember if it was bad or good or neutral. There were at least 4 of the green little ones in the front garden in the onion bed. I thought they were sorta cute and reminded me of a turtle, so I didn't smash them. THEN looked it up once I came in. WHY? Why did they have to look cute like a turtle and I just let them go? Then I saw a brown one in the back garden and killed it.

So...anyway I still need to plant the cow peas, melons, okra and edamame...and any heat tolerant greens I can find. Is Egyptian spinach tasty, Amy?

Jacob, I'm going to try Heidi next year too! I'm hoping to can next summer. Ethan (sob) will be graduated and I will have extra time and will no longer have the title (and the duties) of Band Mom. Oh, and be careful with the yarrow. I LOVE yarrow. Really love it. BUT, I had to pull out many plants yesterday. It's everywhere because I have refused to thin it in the past, so it's out of control. It's strange that I don't see it in any of our neighbors' yards or properties. It's abundant on ours. And I've never planted it.

All the plant gifts from SF are doing well. Thank you, Everyone, for sharing with me. Only one thing died...it was some type of ground cover. :( Oh! And did someone bring mallow? It didn't make it. Does it like shade? I'm very disappointed about this.

I love the idea of an umbrella to carry around in the garden. We have one, but it's a different kind, I think. It fits through a hole in our patio table and attaches to thing under the table.

I have a headache. Wonder if I got too hot yesterday. I only stayed outside until a little before noon today. Got a few more tomato cages made. Just need 5 more. The tomatoes are doing great really. I'm surprised. If they could just hurry and set a bit more fruit. So far the green beans look okay. They are just now getting blossoms.

I should go check all the animals' waters. Make sure they are full and out of the sun. I don't like warm water, but maybe it doesn't matter to dogs and chickens.

I don't think you'd like Egyptian spinach raw, H/J. You might not like it cooked. The only warm weather greens I like raw are purslane and Jewels of Opar.

Not a lot to report but I'll update on the few things I have going.

I have what I believe to be grey leaf spot on a tomato plant. It is barely producing and if it spreads to another plant I stand to lose more than what this one is producing. I cut the most damaged stem from the ground yesterday but I've decided to pull the whole thing and spray the other plants with a baking soda and water solution to hopefully prevent the spread to others. I'm also going to follow with sea weed or garett's juice spray a day or two later. I counted the fruit set on my slicers and I'm pleased. I noticed I'm going to lose one to BER but I have more than 10 and considering when I got them in the ground and when this weather set, that's dang good especially given the lack of success I've had with slicers in past years. Changing containers has done wonders.

Thanks to heat and spider mites, I'll have to pull my green beans before they produce a single bean. I haven't had space for southern peas before, but I'm going to try replacing the green beans with them. I ordered zipper cream seeds so we'll see what happens.

I keep getting mixed up on what should be blooming and producing too because of the weather. Speaking of. I'm very fascinated with comparing what we're seeing to past heat waves and I see some similarities between May 1998 to this year. It was a steady climb, not a lot of bouncing around like we typically see in spring and did see in May 2011. The nice thing about if this summer turns out to be more 1998 than 2011 is that we didn't have as many days above 100 or 105. The downside - it stayed hot into mid-October whereas 2011 seems to have broken by mid-Sept. In 1998 the first freeze wasn't until mid-Dec so at least there was still a fall. March 1998 looks similar to March this year, but April throws everything off.

Anywho - I'm off to try Bollywood dancing at the Myriad later this evening, but I'm running late for my dinner reservations beforehand.

I forgot a couple of things...

Bolted onions. Can these be chopped and frozen? Half of my onions are in the state.

And I wanted to share my experience with lemon balm/lavender tea. I finally made some fresh lemon balm tea! After all these years. So...I picked and lightly rinsed the herbs (lemon balm leaves and lavender flowers). They were then placed in a glass jar. I let them steep in the hot sun late yesterday afternoon and through the (mostly) full moon night. It was strained this morning. The tea is a light amber color and has a pleasant taste. If you wanted it sweet, you could always add honey or sugar, but I like the light taste. It didn't' make me sleepy, but pretty relaxed all morning. I mean...lavender and lemon balm? Of course, it's relaxing. I can see how it could be relaxing for bedtime. I drank it iced.

The ones I did yesterday were all bolted ones and small ones that were too crowded, HJ. And they still made a lot of frozen ones, as I including inches of their stems, too. Lemon balm. Believe I'll got put on some tea! Thank you for the reminder. I hope my chamomile hurries up and grows!

https://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/what-to-do-if-your-onions-and-shallots-bolt-ggid142.html

Dawn, thank you SO much for your internet story. Bet anything that is exactly the case with ours. Made SO much sense!

Same same with all the rest of you. I am thinking everything should be in full bloom and that potatoes should be dug. Yes, Rebecca, need brain to recalibrate.

I hesitate to breathe what bad insects we're NOT seeing for fear they'll be here tomorrow. But we have more than our share of leaf footed bugs. And whatever's eating the heck out of the ipomoea family (the tortoise beetles, for sure, what about flea beetles?) are back this year. I never spotted the tortoise beetles in the past, though looked the vines over carefully. But surely they had to be there. Meanwhile, I now know that ground beetles are good, right? We had hundreds last summer, if not thousands in the lawn. And I would think this year many beneficials WILL be drawn in. Hoping.

HJ, I went out and snatched some lemon balm up. I've got a goulash tea right now, of cinnamon, star anise, lemon, and ginger. Tasty.

This "no more salsa for the world" declaration turned out pretty well this year, Dawn! Me, I'm so bummed that the tomatoes may quit, as they are great plants this year! I wasn't too bothered with the bolting onions because I planted so many of them (so many for US, anyway, 9-10 dozen, AND leeks. And your curiosity about the potatoes has ME mighty curious, too. I'm going to have to cave, and go pull one up. LOL

Ah. I love salmon. Pasta salad was a great pair for dinner tonight.

Just so y'all know, due to your recommendations I tried dill with my eggs. I almost puked.

All this talk of health that I've seen earlier in the thread....I don't know! I'm kind of enjoying my ice cream.

Hazel, I'm hoping I'll be able to can this summer. I've got 2 dozen very healthy tomato plants, so fingers crossed. Then there's likely going to be beans, sweet corn, sauerkraut, etc. It'll be a good learning experience. Our neighbor grows Edemame beans every year. They do really well for him, but I've never grown them. I don't like to eat soy much, but the beans are tasty.

My green beans are actually doing really well. Peppers are loving the heat! It wound up getting to 93 today with a heat index in the 100's. It wasn't a nice day at all and felt more like our usual July temps....Anyways I didn't do anything. I notice some weather forecasters (Weather Channel) are calling for hot June, then cool and rainy end of summer like last year. They've been wrong all summer so far, so I don't have hope. One can wish.

The sculpit and verbena bonarenisis are blooming. I love the sculpit flowers! Hopefully it'll make seed so I can frow more than one next year.

As for the verbena, is there a way to make it bushy? Right now it's a single stalk about 3ft high.

Jen, I could ask the same question. About the Verbena. Also, my sculpit hasn't bloomed yet, but it's close.

Jacob, do other people in your family can? I did a little 3 years ago and it was a scary process. lol. All the hissing and such. I remember older family members canning, but they didn't teach us. I can't believe it's been 3 years. It was before our kitchen remodel...which is 2 years ago this summer.

What?!

Time flies.

There is the biggest fly I've ever seen in my life in our house. It just buzzed through my hair. Of course, Finbar is on it. Only he is a klutz and will break several things. Maybe I should just shut the lights off. What's a fly's life span?

Enjoy your tea, Nancy, and thank you for the onion link.

I'm concerned. How would a fly get so big? It's not normal. I'm looking at it now. It's over an inch long.

So, all of you friends who are on the "older" side. How do you get all of your nutrition in and stay thin. It's becoming harder each year. I like being thin, but I can't seem to eat much at all and lose weight. BUT, nutrition is important to me now. More important than when I could live on diet sodas in my late teens and early 20's. But even 10 years ago, I could eat healthy and stay thin. I want my bones to be healthy. BUT I want to be skinny too. Ugh. And, I don't sit around. I'm up and busy, so it's not that. Maybe a more focused exercise. Maybe I need to run. I hate running. I stopped eating breakfast AND taking my protein shake. I just do the protein shake now. There's something that I'm missing...

In the time I've written this, I've flown from my seat twice, one table and a lamp has been tipped over. He--Finbar-- caught the fly and injured it. It's somewhere on the floor now..only he's still looking up.

Okay, back to gardening, instead of fly perusing and missing my youthful body (oh, the things we take for granted when we are young). Tomorrow I will finish mulching the cucumbers and plant melons, southern peas, and edamame. I ran out of time tonight. Also, need to cage the uncaged tomatoes. They are getting big. They look healthy despite the small fruit set. Maybe they'll hold on for fall...and be productive then? That happened my first year...

There's basil and tomatillos volunteers popping up near the green beans and cucumbers. Is that a bad combo? I can't remember.

The fly just "came back". GO AWAY!

Times like now, I think I should have stayed in my old house...and figured out a way to do a city garden (and sneak in chickens) , but maybe it's just me feeling weird. I actually like everything we've done out here. I enjoy it so much. It's just nostalgia. And thinking it would be better for Ethan if we were closer to his school and friends. We should have moved earlier...before his friends were set. But there was the Mason factor then. WHY didn't we do this when we moved back from Arkansas City in 98?! We were in SUCH a hurry to get settled because Mason needed to start kindergarten in a couple of weeks. If we had just gone more slowly and If I had listened to my heart. But we had a 5 year old and a 3 month old Lane...and were just so rushed.

And Finn just caught the fly but refuses to eat it. So, it's dead and I will clean it up now. If I had my phone handy, I would take a pic.

You would never believe how big it is.

Anyway...happy gardening. Be careful in the heat (heat index!)

LOLOL, HJ--that was the BEST post. Will reply tomorrow. Sweet dreams, the fly is gone.

Wish we could have seen the fly.

Would haves, could haves, should haves. . . Live the present, learn from it and do a little planning for the future. (Knowing the future may take an unexpected turn at any moment--flexibility.) Easier said than done. Laughter. Lots of laughter. I love a good joke, but can't tell them.

Regarding older folks who stay slim. If ever I saw a family who comes by tall and slim genetically, it was Garry's. His Mom, two sisters and brother. All tall, and slim bordering on skinny. (GDW crossed the skinny line. LOL) His 82 yr old sister, still just tall and slim. I've been spending a lot of time the past 3 months on food and nutrition, with Garry's issues. It's a fascinating subject, and yet not all that complicated. Eat only good stuff. Don't eat too much.

My DIL has me talked into getting a juicer, which I've considered a lot over the past 3 years. It'd be preferable to actually EAT all the things good for us, but not possible, as there's only so much a person can eat. So it will be a nice thing for us to have. DIL, Steph, got so creative with hers; she was always concocting some new exotic power-packed drink. Although she doesn't have a garden, she lives at the excellent farmers' markets while they're going.

It is NOT too hot here today, so I'm going to spend the day weeding and mulching. (And then entertaining the new internet tech who will be here later. LOL.)

Only have a minute. Sculpit reseeds. First pic is last year, in July. It is the little plant to the left of the calendula (yellow) flowers. The tall plant to the far left is a parsnip I let go to seed.

This year, May 17 the walking onions and the sculpit will have to slug it out.

Awesome. . . they are happy plants!

HJ - I agree with Nancy that was the best post EVER! Only since I live close - I got to almost live it in real time!!! I've seen those huge flies here also. Remember - we live where LOTS of city people have moved so they can have animals like horses....(and chickens!) and those Horse Flies are flippin' ANNOYING!!!! I did the simplest thing this year....and it's working. I planted a quart size lemongrass about 4 ft from both the front and back doors. Also planted a citronella in a pretty pot about the same proximity in another direction. I've misted my door jams every couple of days with peppermint water. Now I've got to go knock on wood because I've not had a single fly in my house since ......

What Is this sculpit of which you speak?!?

And Jacob - I'm with you....I'm doing what I'm supposed to do to take care of myself and as a reward each night I have frozen yogurt!!!!! It's the Little Things!

Paula, I brought sculpit/stroidolo seedlings to Spring Fling. The flowers are little.

So, heck, Smashed Thumb is having an end of season sale.

HJ, you were from Arkansas City? I have (or had) kin there. My great aunt had a farm close to town until her death. I know she had a couole children, I'd spend a week there in the summer with my cousins.

I have not been pushing any limits in the heat the last couple of days. In fact, it is sort of the opposite. I watered the plants well on Thursday and only did minor work for an hour or two yesterday and have stayed away from the garden ever since.

As I am typing this, it is 99 here and the heat index is 112 so y'all had better believe I'm smart enough to not be out there in this heat. We did the whole CostCo-Sam's Club run down to the metroplex today and stocked up on everything, so we're good for a couple of weeks. It is terrible when Saturday morning feels too hot to even run errands and shop, but it did....and we went out and did everything we needed to do anyway. Now the game plan is to stay indoors, stay cool and hydrated, and enjoy having our oldest granddaughter here for what is left of this weekend.

Jennifer, Armenian cukes love the heat and are very disease-tolerant. They actually are melons and not cucumbers, but if harvested while on the small side, they are very cucumber-like and even can be used to make pickles. The larger they get, the more melon-like they become, but not a sweet melon---sort of bland. I harvest them small for us and let them get as big as possible for the chickens. On hot days, I cut an Armenian Cucumber in half and put it on the ground and the chickens peck away at the flesh until there's nothing left. They love them, and it helps to hydrate the chickens as well as just entertaining them. As soon as something else finishes up in my garden, probably pole beans or squash, I'll plant Armenian cukes so I will have them for the chickens when the real (ha ha, that's a joke) summer heat arrives in July and August. I would have planted them in the back garden this year, if I'd planted the back garden.

Megan, I'm sorry to hear that about your beans. If I hadn't planted mine ridiculously early (March), I would be in the same boat. I've pulled one variety because of the spider mites, but the other three are still chugging along. I am watching to see if the blooms form new beans tomorrow and Monday during the cooler weather they say is coming. (I can't see it or feel it here yet, but a lot of y'all who are north of us are cooler today, so I just hope the cold front comes this far south as predicted and doesn't stall somewhere north of us.)

That's unfortunate about the gray leaf spot. I hate diseases. I am going to have very low tolerance for anything/everything this summer and won't hesitate to yank out the plants that start looking pitiful or stop producing. I am not foolish enough to think I can baby these plants through a long, extra-hot and likely extra-dry summer. It is just easier to plant fresh plants in late June or early July for fall production.

This year does bear some unfortunate similarities to 1998. We lived in Texas then, but already had purchased this land and were up here clearing the woods and working on fencing in our 14.4 acres every weekend. Sometimes we didn't get much done in one weekend between the heat and the dense jungle that was our woodland. I thought we'd die in the heat before we got the fencing done. I remember it was a horrific grasshopper year, and Bruce and I both are seeing signs of that already too.

Jen, As the plant gets older it will put out more tall stems. Its' nature is to have a low bushy growth of foliage at the ground level and to send up the tall blooming stems. Just deadhead each one back after it blooms and it will make more. One of the nicknames for verbena bonariensis is verbena-on-a-stick and now y'all see why. Butterflies absolutely adore the blooms.

Jennifer, We have those gigantic flies here. They are horrifyingly huge. Back when Chris was in school and they had to do that insect collection in Biology, our place was incredibly popular because the kids could come here and collect enough different insects in one day to have enough for their collection. Until we moved here, I'd never seen those gigantic flies either.

Bolted onions can be chopped and frozen.

Paula, I have found lemon grass works as well as anything else to repel flies.

I agree too, it is the little things that matter.

Amy, It looks like you hit Smashed Thumb at an awesome time!

Have y'all noticed that on the FB gardening pages this week, there's tons and tons of tomato problems? It is mind-boggling, and I simply cannot believe how many photos we're seeing with herbicide damage, though we also are seeing plenty with plain old physiological leaf roll. I should get off this computer and go sweep and mop my floors. I just don't want to. Heat makes me lazy.

Dawn

Jen, my husband is from Ark City. We lived there for awhile when he got is A and P degree/license from Cowley. His father/family owned a jewelry store there for many years. His brother's wife is a veterinarian. She is the last of the family who lives there because his brother died 3 or 4 years ago. And the jewelry store is sitting empty.

Nancy, I don't juice, but maybe I should. I've done 10 day raw fruits/vegetables only "fasts", along with green and herbal teas. I, too, like to eat the entire vegetable/fruit rather than just the juice. It's a great way to "reset". But...I'm sure I won't have the same results as a few years ago....it's becoming less extreme each time.

Thinking about it...I might do this in between my BD and Summer Solstice. That would be a perfect 10 days. I host a party on the solstice, so that would be a great day to "break" the fast.

Dawn, I haven't had a chance to look at FB as much as normal, but I have seen a lot of tomato pics. My tomatoes look a little stressed with a little bit of minor leaf curl, but I think it's just stress from the weather. Really, they look pretty good.

I'm pleased with my progress from my week off. I had hoped to accomplish more, but I got a lot done.

Today was spent mulching the beans/cucumbers, planting the edamame, caging a few more tomatoes, and watering. OH, and I pulled the bolted onions, chopped and froze them. AND grocery shopping.

Talking about juicing... There's a documentary called "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead" about a guy who did juicing for a year. I tend to be a sceptic, but it was interesting.

Oh, my DIL convinced me, Jen. Yes, juicing is not THE answer. But for people like me (Hahaha, HJ, those of us who are older), who can't eat as much, a juicer cocktail would be a fine fine cocktail.