Upon waking up, I habitually check my messages. To my surprise, I found a message from BZ, who is currently in Gibraltar and had made a new best friend also named Bob. BZ is visible on the left of the photo.
They were having a great conversation! I didn’t know Bob speaks fluent Monkey!
Mary and I were up at 6:00 a.m., sipping our coffee and getting ready to head to the field to work. We invited Scout, The Wonder Dog, to join us, but he completely ignored our request. Perhaps he was thinking, “What are these crazy humans doing up so early?”
He chose to rest while we worked.
After working for around three hours, we could harvest tomatoes and remove the branches that would not grow anymore. Additionally, we spent some time pulling weeds from the cactus garden in the house’s side yard. Yes, we do have a cactus garden, and it’s located at the east end of the house!
Tomatoes keep coming. These guys will be in a tomato pie tomorrow!
While trimming, we stumbled upon an orange spider hidden among the grape leaves. We accidentally disturbed his web, ruining hours of work! He is not poisonous, and he is fantastic in his own way. We could watch him spin his web for hours. I wish he would bombinate so he would be easier to find!
Another Mr. Spidey is hard at work!
I never want to stop making memories with you, Dr. Mary!
The Z’s attended a Flamingo Dance Class and dressed up for the occasion. I could hear Bob’s feet stomping from here. It seems like they’re having a lot of fun! The dance lessons made Donna about 12″ taller than when she started!
Bob & Donna in flamingo costumes; I think of it as Beauty and the Beast!
We departed for the Elks Lodge at 10:30 a.m. because we needed to go by the dry cleaners to drop off the bedroom quilt. From there, we went VFR to the Elks and arrived at 11:30 a.m., hoping to see Vicky. Alas, she got tied up, so we just visited with each other and Dr. Capps, PhD (Pile it Higher and Deeper).
When the gang showed up, Mary ordered soup and salad, and I went for the burger. We regaled the gang with tales from the Hawaiian adventure. We gave them the website where they could see the photos.
Girls Night Out
Linda was curious about the iPhone camera. I showed her some impressive tricks, including the black-and-white effect with a black background.
Lookin’ Good!!
After arriving home, Mary took her usual Thursday afternoon siesta while I headed to CVS to pick up some prescriptions and Ralph Market to grab some last-minute supplies for tonight’s dinner. We needed a few ingredients for the corn chowder we planned to make. If you’re unfamiliar, chowder is a thick soup typically made with seafood or vegetables, a roux, and milk or cream.
When Sleeping Beauty arose, she headed for the kitchen and began to prepare corn chowder. The big black cauldron was soon out, and Mary pulled open the Book Of Magic. She had the needed supplies well hidden in the pantry, you know, eye of neut, bat wings, rattlesnake rattles, and shark teeth.
We have yellow corn from our garden and light-colored corn from Ralphs. We use a handy tool to strip the kernels off the cob easily. It took me only four minutes to strip these cobs. The device cost us $9.99 on Amazon, which we have used for many years. Having the right tools makes a difference!
Corn chowder at work!
We thought it might be a gimmick, but it works every time, making the peeling child play.
Mary added potatoes, onions, garlic, cream, and chicken to the mix, and voila! We had a delicious dinner. She is pretty impressive as she uses recipes as a guide and then goes off-roading, making the meal even better. For this picture, Mary took off her witch’s rubber nose and put away the witch’s hat; she did not want to scare Scout!
Chief chef at work
After simmering for about 45 minutes, it was ready to go. The bay leaf was fresh from our Bay Leat plant.
Ready to go!
While the chowder was cooking, we prepared a batch of sea salt and peanut butter chocolate cookies. Our kind neighbors knew we were unwell, so they brought over a delicious Cambodian soup made from vines grown in their backyard. The soup came in a glass container, which we washed and filled with the cookies for their two little girls, aged approximately six and eight.
We brought our neighbor Jeff some corn chowder and some cheesecake we got at the Elks earlier. We spent some time chatting with him on his porch until the sun went down.
We watched the last Suits episode and hit the sack at 10:00 p.m. Tomorrow; we may attempt to get Halloween out and up! Who knows?
There is not a day that goes by that I feel so special to have found Dr. Mary and that we decided to join together as man and wife. These past three years have been amazing, The days are full of joy working side by side in the garden or doing things around the house. Many times a day, we look at each other and are thinking the same thoughts. The Good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, I am hoping we can celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary in 2046!
