Living a little cheaper.

It’s unavoidable, today’s economy has touched everyone in some way or another. You turn on the news and the signs of the times is evident. While I walk my dogs I see so many houses empty and for sale. I all I can think is how scary it all is. Me and my husband have decided to cut costs along with the many others affected by this recession.

At the beginning of April he was told his hours would be cut drastically. He was supposed to go down from a full week to about two days. We have been very blessed that as of now we have only had one or two three day work weeks. It’s unnerving though, to have such instability.

Feeling that crunch has caused us to seek out cheaper options. We have limited our use of air conditioning. We originally decided  not to use it at all but the first couple of 90 degree days caused us to cave. Our entertainment has taken a big turn to things that are free or nearly free. We have stopped most of our frivolous purchases, boy do I miss that. We are also seeking out cheaper recipes every day. It has been a challenge but it is worth it.

One of our luxuries that we have chosen to eliminate is our satellite tv. We have all the things needed for digital tv but in order to get any channels we need a much better (and more expensive) antenna. For now, we are without tv entirely, but we did find a way to watch some of our shows plus shows we had never heard through a site online. It is called hulu. It is completely free. We are also able to hook up our computer to our tv and watch it through our television screen. I am beginning to wonder why we were even paying for tv when this is so easy.

Hope this helps some of you. I will be back with more cheap short cuts soon.

Enjoying the first yield from our garden!

Me and my husband enjoyed a great salad with dinner this evening. It was full of mixed greens an olive oil vinaigrette and lots of little salad toppings. What made this salad great for us is that it came out of our own garden. It is the first fruits of our labor and it was greatly enjoyed. There is nothing like eating fresh produce out of your own garden. I can’t wait for the rest. My peas and the broccoli really didn’t make it do to the local rabbits, but the rest of the veggies look great.  My tomatoes have not only tripled in size this week but there are sprouting flowers all over. My cantaloupe is also sprouting flowers. I am really looking forward to a big juicy cantaloupe right out of the garden. My beans and zucchini were the last things planted and they are absolutely gigantic.  I am said that it didn’t all turn out but I am happy with how well the rest are doing.

Zuppa Tuscana

Me and my husband love the Zuppa Tuscana at Olive Garden. That soup, along with the bread sticks, is a meal in itself for us. I have decided I am going to try my hand at making it at home. Here is the recipe if anyone is interested. I typed the soup into google and this is what I found. Wish me luck!

Makes: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground Italian sausage

1½ tsp crushed red peppers

 1 large diced white onion

4 Tbsp bacon pieces

2 tsp garlic puree

10 cups water

5 cubes of chicken bouillon

1 cup heavy cream

1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes

¼ of a bunch of kale

 Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in the sausage. Add kale just before serving.

The Garden Keeper’s First Day

News is bleak in these parts. The Garden Keeper had his work cut out for him. He fought a good fight but I am sorry to say that we lost several seedlings as of this morning. There are signs that The Birds brought reinforcements, their allies The Rabbits. Needless to say, it was a sad and frustrating morning. I  have replanted peppers and I am about to plant more pea seeds. I am not sure if the existing peas can make a comeback. They were about 2-3inches tall yesterday but this morning we would be lucky if they are even an inch.  The broccoli took the hardest hit. I do not have high hopes for any broccoli crop this year. I planted two rosemary plants in place of my two greatest broccoli plants in memory of their fallen comrades.

  My next plan is to build a fortress of fencing around the garden. Between the fencing, The Garden Keeper, and the trickery of reflection I am hoping to keep the pesky enemies at bay.More tales from the Garden keeper to come.

Tales from the Garden Keeper

I would like to introduce you toThe Garden Keeper. He watches over the little seedlings that are making the journey to planthood. He protects them from their sworn enemies, THE BIRDS. The journey has been treacherous for my seedling friends. Some have even fallen at the beaks of the enemy. The Garden Keeper heard my cries and came to the rescue yesterday. I am hoping that he is up for the challenge.

I had previously tried to defend the seedlings with a CD tree. The idea behind it’s creation was to hang CD’s like a wind chime in order to catch and deflect sun rays. This would cause the illusion of movement in the garden to The Birds. While it worked in the beginning, The Birds have caught on to my trickery and have now been making tactical maneuvers to rid the garden all seedlings. My seedlings are in desperate need of a hero. Let’s hope the Garden Keeper can live up to his name. To aid him in his endeavours I have also placed a large mirror in the garden. There is talk of a secret fear among the birds.  It is said that they fear there own reflection. We will see.

Back from my brief hiatus!

I am back. I took a brief hiatus from blogging for a while due to bloggers block and a very emotional week. Last week, my husband and I decided to put one of our dogs down. She was about 12 years old and had been dealing with a very troublesome tumor for years. It was about the size of a pea when she was only a couple years old. In the past couple years it completely took over her side. For the past year we watched as it took over her body. She aged more in the last year then she should have. It was a difficult choice to make and I am still pretty emotional about it. I am not sure if I could make that decision again. We miss her very much.

We miss you Belle!

Empty Nest.

I wrote to you a couple posts ago about the nest that was made on a meter in the back of my house. It made the past month very interesting. We originally found the nest while working on the back door. They were featherless, just hatched babies at that point . Mamma bird was not particularly fond of me. I never bothered the nest or babies but I was always a little to close for comfort.

Babies first picture!

My next project was gardening. Most of the work was done on the other side of the yard but when it came time to water the garden I had to make my way back to the faucet which just so happens to be under the meter that the nest was built on. My first attempt at turning on the hose was not successful. Mamma bird was more determined then ever to keep me away from her young. I decided to back away and approach her from another side. It worked! The next week or so was challenging but I think we came to an understanding that I was not going to harm her babies.

Second set of pictures taken a week after finding them.

A couple days ago they left the nest. I so enjoyed watching there progression. I won’t miss the challenges I faced with them in such a prime location but I will miss watching them.

A couple days ago I had my dogs out in the yard. Me and my husband heard a lot of loud bird noises coming from where the dogs were. We came around the side of the house just in time to see one of my dogs catch one of the babies  and hold it in it’s mouth. Needless to say there was a lot of screaming going on, both from my husband and I and from Mamma Bird. Sadie, the dog who caught the bird, immediately spit it out. I was so worried that Sadie had broken this little ones back. It didn’t move at all. It just sat there breathing very heavy. We decided to give it a couple minutes, hoping that Mamma Bird would come to it’s rescue. I watched very impatiently from inside the house. Mom never came. My husband and I decided to go back out and check on it and it was still breathing so we gently moved it onto it’s belly(using a pair of branches to avoid our scent transfering to it). We were trying to get it to move or do something. Eventually it did move on it’s own. It hopped right out of the yard to the sound of it’s mother’s chirping. It made it. What a relief. Hopefully that little guy is taking to the air like a fish to water.

Last set of pictures we were able to get.

A different kind of flower!

No what shall I name this flower?

 This is the current home of my butterfly garden. Faith decided to make herself at home in it before I filled it with soil.

Return Of Mix It Up Monday

I know it’s been a while since I have done a Mix It Up Monday but I am back. I have been completely involved in my gardening lately but I took a break and captured some different pictures. Here is my favorite shot of the day. Hope you enjoy.

Sadie giving raspberries!

The Garden!

I am almost finished planting my garden for this year. I was able to get most of it in before the rain started back up again. It is that time of year. My husband was kind enough to till the entire garden area for me a couple days ago.  I am not sure if his arms have stopped shaking since.  I have found that gardening is a great exercise routine. You are able to work muscles you never knew you had. The first day I put in about 10 hours of hard labor in the garden. The next day I could barely move my back. It was worth it though.

I was able to get in two different garden sections. The front section has peas and cantaloupe. The back section, as of right now, has loose leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, broccoli, peppers, and tomatoes. I have two rows left for zucchini and beans. I am waiting until the night temperature stays above 50°. Here are some shots of what I have already.

Shot from the back of the garden.

 The front rows in this picture is where the zucchini and beans are going once the weather warms up a bit.

Front garden section.

 The branches with string is what I am using to allow the peas to climb. The straw is to keep weeds out as well as making it easier to walk in.

This is just my vegetable garden. I have also planted raspberry and blueberry bushes. I already have several blueberries popping up on my two bushes. My raspberry bushes, on the other hand, have done nothing. In fact, one of my dogs broke one by running through them. I am hoping that it will come back though.

I also have a butterfly garden this year. I only have two flowers in there right now but as soon as the rain stops for a couple of days I will be planting the rest. There will be more pictures to come soon.