What's outside of your picture window today?

I’m watching a few caterpillars munch on two of my young trees. At this point, I am willing to sacrifice some leaves for these caterpillars to transform into sphinx moths and swallow tail butterflies.

@loribmt We finally got a cucumber when my daughter was visiting and when she got home she had three. I think they are a late blooming variety. They're lemon cucumbers, have you ever heard of them? They are yellow and about the size of a lemon, round not long, and milder tasting than most cucumbers. So far still just one though.
JK

Oh, I saw one of those in the garden once! I was talking to my mother and saw a tiny 'bird' close to a plant. It was too small though to be a bird I knew of here, so it had to be something else. I even took a picture; it was one of those sphinx ones, it was enormous for a butterfly and really looked like a small bird, but once I got closer I could see it was a massive butterfly.

I’ve never heard of that variety but they sound yummy! It’s actually nice to get some later in the season because the other, traditional cukes seem to fizzle out late summer. We’ve been eating so many this year…mostly just raw with a little ranch dressing, or in salads. I also make a lot of “quickles” as our family calls them. Cukes, onions, sometimes tomatoes in a vinaigrette.
What’s your favorite way to eat ‘em?

I just spent 4 days working at the Minnesota State Fair, listening to dozens of people from Minnesota & surrounding states telling us about "strange vegetable tales." Like cucumbers now, but not earlier (early heat! wimpy male flowers closed prematurely, so no fertilization), pumpkin, zucchini & other squash vines with little or no fruit (same story), small late tomatoes (the early ones aborted due to drought - now we got some rain), apple trees with little fruit (late freeze got some of the buds)...
I have been doing this for 20 years, and these are the worst weather-related Veggie Tales I ever remember.

Just a reminder to all nature lovers - if you have valued trees and shrubs in your yard, be sure to give them a deep, weekly drink of water (at the drip line) if we don't get rain. Continue until the soil freezes, or if your in a more temperate zone, until Thanksgiving.

Heading out to pick my tomatoes before the squirrels use more of them to play basketball!
Sue

Cukes & onions in vinegar/sugar dressing is Jerry's favorite - mine is a bit less healthy, I like mine in sour cream with fresh dill...

@loribmt What you refer to as "quickles" sounds similar to my old family recipe for summer salad.

It's fresh, native tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion in a vinaigrette. Best made a bit before eating so the flavors can develop and even good the next day unlike more typical salads with greens in them. I like to add avocados now too, something that my mother did not do. I doubt that avocados were that common way back then.

I also LOVE fresh tomatoes with mayo on homemade toasted oatmeal bread but it's been a long time since I've made bread. When my son and daughter were young I made all of our bread. Now I rarely eat bread so I don't bother, and I'm not about to add a bread machine to my arsenal of kitchen equipment.
JK

JK, It was good to read everyone's garden stories good or bad, and the views looking outside their window. It has been a while since anyone wrote something.
I can finally say that did get hay cut and put in the barn and the pastures are not brown and dying. But there are a lot of trees dying in people's yards and along the highway. This is so sad to see. We almost lost trees in our yard but now are coming back since for several weeks I was out watering in the late afternoon. This was the best I could manage since I got home in May after 3 months in the hospital. The worst part was no gardening for me. My garden still is under my silage tarp which is so sad to see. I love reading about everyone's successes. Hopefully, next year will be better with more moisture for some of us.
Thanks to all for sharing and love reading about what is happening in other parts of the country.
PS forget it is now fall calving time and fun to watch the new little calves run and play. Take care. KLH

@loribmt, @contentandwell, @callahoo, and all...My work, Lori, you have a wonderful garden! When were your pics taken? Your seasons are so different from ours, I have to work a bit to stay up with what's happening in the beautiful Nothern woods.

My outside plants have done fairly well this year, on their own. I've not done much outside due to our Florida heat and humidity, and my body. But, doing pretty well. We've had good daily afternoon showers, and storms for the last month and a bit. It's been great, except for the occasional flooding into my den from the patio after a heavy storm, with full gutters! The condo folks need to clean the gutter of leaves/pine straw and whatever. I'm in a flood zone so before the large gutter was added for my place, I flooded inside several times, and definitely when we had hurricanes and several days of heavy rain. No hurricane this way yet...September is usually when they come our way. Goody....

I'm finished potting and repotting my rescue inside plants. I got the succulents healthy and happy, planted some in a pot I thought was good for his office decor and gave one of my Mayo docs a gift! A rescue! We had talked about his one money tree that's doing well. He said his mother gave it to him tells him when to water it...After that discussion, I fixed the litle pot for him and he really likes it. Told him to ignore it for a week and water a bit , then only once weekly and don't drown. It's happy...I felt so good saing a dying plant, making a pretty little gift for a special doc who's really helped me tremendously. Made all 3 of us happy!

I have a few pics for you. I did rust, scrape and clean, then spray with a clear Rustoleum protectant, the 3 cordon steel planters for my patio, on the storage wall. Sending them now. That's the first time in many years I've been able to complete such a project due to health limitations. That's what Mayo has done for me. I have a life again, still limited, with restrictions but enough energy and desire and ability to follow through. I'm also helping my son reorganize his home for his life in pain and limited movement. It's a good thing I can do it. Slowly, carefully, but it's getting done.

I've cleaned out 3 bedroom closets, filled bags for donations, have a car of clothing to sell, and thrown away a bunch of stuff. Wow! that's really an accomplishment! Tossing is so therapeutic and I love the feeling of space I'm getting. Goody! I'm doing what I can and resting when I need to rest. Finally, learning! It's been years since I've been able to do these little, important things to improve life. My Mayo doctors have given me this ability with the diagnoses and treatment and rehab and I'm soooo thankful. This is really an improvement in quality of life. I don't have my life back as it was, but that's ok. I have a life again.

Hope you enjoy the little additions and pics. These are my rescue plants, all recovered but one bird's-nest fern with root-rot and I couldn't help it, my favorite of all these plants. But, all others are thriving! Several new orchids, succulents, money trees, and others. Still need to report figleaf and some patio plants that have overgrown the pots. Love the new pots these days. Updating my look is fun.

Love all your pictures. Keep it up. Lori, you're looking good, Lady. Remarkable recovery!
Blessings to all, Elizabeth.
Pooh! I have to send from my phone gallery. I'll do that now and figure out how to get them to the laptop so I don't have this problem! Pooh...

@loribmt, @callahoo, @contentandwell, and all....here are the pics...
Elizabeth...