I think of my yard as "The Garden of the Good Intentions." Another gardener friend says it more bluntly - "my intentions are good but my execution stinks." Photos are terrible at showing the hoses, scattered pots, weeds, whatever. The heart sees the beauty that is there, or is dreamed of. Your garden looks good to me! Who cares about the trash bag, or tarp??? Out here, where it doesn't rain from May - Oct, every bit of lushness is a treat. People would kill for those hostas. My "Rooguci" clematis is a spindly little thing, and yours is so lovely - I've finally figured out that clematis wants way more moisture than I'm ever going to give them! Anita

I have ate whole habs. Numerous times, but even with my high tolerance they can be painful. The caribbean reds and chocolate habs are really gnarly. My whole head feels hot except my tongue that feels numb/ on fire (if that makes any sense). IMHO if you truly want the enjoy the flavor of the habs (which is fantastic) cooking is your best bet. I use them in anything you would put peppers in/on. Spaghetti sauce, burritos, on pizza after it's cooked (great use), chili, burgers, etc. I love hab burgers, either topped with habs, or cut into strips and mixed with the ground beef. Mmmmmmm. Just make sure to wash your hands!!! I did a lazy job of washing my hands after chopping some chocolate habs and went to take a leak 20 minutes later. Holy s--t. BAD IDEA. -HabBob

Hummingbird moths are also sphinx moths, but the ones generally called that are the dayflying sphinx moths that nectar on flowers (or rotting fruit if available), like the Snowberry Clearwing that resembles a large bumblebee, and the Nessus sphinx that is a beautiful reddish brown with two cream colored stripes across the lower abdomen. Few of the sphinx fly during the day, and most are nocturnal, as is the Tomato and Tobacco Hornworm moths. You can generally spot them at dusk, just as light is beginning to wane, or in the early morning just before sunrise. The adult moths have 5 yellow spots on either side of their abdomen in the case of the Tomato Hornworm, and 6 spots of yellow in the case of the Tobacco Hornworm moth. Their wings move just as a Hummingbirds, too, and they hover at flowers like them also. They are fascinating to watch because no other moth family does this. Moths outnumber butterflies by 10 to 1. The tomato and tobacco hornworms use Solanaceous plants for larval food, e.g., tomato, tobacco, pepper, potatoe, Datura, Brugmansia and many more. However, tomato is generally the favored food. The Tobacco and Tomato Hornworms are large sphinx moths as indicated by the size of the caterpillars. The Hummingbird moths, like the Snowberry and the Nessus, are much smaller. I find larvae of the Snowberry Clearwing on my large honeysuckle vine, and the Nessus on my Virginia Creeper, which hosts a wide variety of various species of sphinx caterpillars. They are very cool to raise. Hope this may inspire some of you to observe them in the garden. They aren't all bad. Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Tobacco and Tomato Hornworms and Adult Moths

Thanks all! I let little man read all your comments this morning. He was blushing and saying to himself, "I didn't cook this all by myself and I am not that good looking..." but I saw the sparks in his eyes and knew he secretly enjoyed the nice compliments. LOL I want to take advantage of his new found interest and run with it. We have decided that he would continue to make breakfast for his dad when he feels like it then dinner once a week, mostly Sunday. If he's up to it, maybe one easy dessert during the week. I got hubby hooked on bread making and now little man cooking, think I am ready to retire! LOL Pat, I guess the Xpress is sort of like a grill with much less capacity. We like it because it's small and very portable, just about the right size for a 7-year-old to handle. Karen, thanks for the link again. We have it bookmarked and have been checking it from time to time. We haven't tried out any of their recipes yet but I am sure we soon will. Rusty, I believe you're right about soda crackers = saltine crackers. Here in Canada (at least the part where we live) soda cracker is an ethnic food that has a different look and taste. They are bigger, fluffier and have no salt on the surface. The recipe definitely calls for saltine crackers because when little man finished crushing the crumbs, it turned out just the right amount. If we had used the "soda crackers" found in the Asian store, we would end up having way too much crumbs. Chase, I noticed the difference too! LOL Thanks again everyone. Your comments definitely reassure his positive experience at first attempt. I greatly appreciate it.