the thing right by a gutter...

This is a video I've been wanting to post for a while now. It was taken about a month ago at a local Mexican restaurant, Sol De Jalisco, that we go to a lot.

Because the volume is kind of low, I thought it was hard to make out what we are saying at times. So, below the video is a narration ~ just in case you need it ~ of what is being said.

Just as I turned on the camera, this is the conversation that took place...

Jack: "Is it just me or is it a little unnecessary the anatomical correctness of the bulls?"

Jack: "is that a little like...maybe more then we need?" "..maybe like less dangling?"

Meanwhile Madi and Jason are looking all around - confused.

Jack: "...like one less each?"

Jason says: "What?"

I say: "those bulls up there."

Then I say to Jack: "they have no idea." and just then Jason gets it and starts laughing.

Jack says: "Could you imagine if you were the little craftsman that had to put it together...make sure that piece was just property so?"

I say: "Madi is still trying to figure it out."

Jason says: "It really looks like their tail."

Jack: "yeah...unfortunately it's not hanging from their bottom"

I turn the camera toward Jack and he says "Gordita" (I had ordered an avocado gordita for dinner and he had been calling me that - which, by the way, he tells me means "little fatty")

Jason then says to Madi: "you can't figure it out, can you?"

Madi says: "Where?"

Jack says: "No, just, just leave it"

Jason: "You're too young" (too funny!)

I say to Madi: "Madi, just...it's fine." I was feeling sorry for her because she wanted to be in on it too! So, I say "They are talking about their parts."

Madi says: "OH, the part of the cow?"

Jack: "it's not a cow...it's not a cow."

Jason: "it's a Brahma Bull."

Madi: "the little thing that's hangin' out of it's legs?" (so innocent!)

Jason: "it's not little"

Jack: "not if it was real life it wouldn't be."

and then Madison says: "the thing right by a gutter?" (HILARIOUS)

Jack: "huh?" and I tell him, "she thinks it's right by it's gutter" and he says: "I don't get it." and I say: "she thinks it's the UTTER!"

We all laugh a good laugh and Jack says, "Oh Madi, it's a good thing we don't have a ranch." and then he asks me if I'm taking a video and asks me to turn it off - boo.

But, seriously, this is a day in our life. It's always laughs when Jack is around!

unwelcome visitor

We recently had another unexpected and fairly unwelcome visitor to our backyard garden. I was at work at the time and got a "what should I do?" type phone call from Olivia. This came at an extremely busy and stressful time in my job (there have been an awful lot of those lately) and I was probably less helpful with how to deal with another weird worm in the garden. I was told that he was really "cute".

I was pretty sure from the start that this was not a friend no matter his appearance and when Olivia described the suspect, we discovered that we had a tomato hornworm. These are the larva of the beneficial Five Spotted Hawk Moth but, they are destructive to our tomatoes so, they had to go. As we are now squash-less and zucchini-less thanks to the S.V.B.s (Squash Vine Borers), we don't need to lose any more of our produce. This is especially true considering all the time and energy that have gone into the garden to this point. What I was probably unprepared for was the sheer size of this worm. I am not real squeamish when it comes to squishing bugs and apparently, I am also less likely to make friends with them than Olivia. All told, we were less ready to handle this visitor than we could have been.

My poor wife "dealt" with the tomato hornworm as best as she could by throwing a large rock down onto it and then nearly vomited. I might have been able to be a little more casual about it than that but, no such luck. I have since done some follow up research and found that as already stated, the adult moth is a valuable pollinator for a variety of plants and if you can find a neighbor to unwittingly harbor the hornworm until metamorphosis takes place(thanks 5th grade science!) not a bad backyard visitor. But, the larval form...the worm is not beneficial as it will slowly devastate your tomato or pepper plants. The worms are huge, move slowly and blend in to the foliage of your plants very well. One tip I've read is that under black light, these worms fluoresce or glow and can be easily spotted and picked off. They are also apparently irresistible to ducks so, in the interest of continuing to be a green "weirdo", the next time we find tomato hornworms in our garden, I'll be in the yard, at night, with a black light, picking huge glowing worms off the plants, and then feeding them to the nearest group of ducks I can find.

just before the smashing In the meantime, it has been pretty cool to enjoy what we have been growing made into a couple of varieties of home-made salsa, tomato sauces and other fresh spices and seasonings to help feed our growing "Food Network" habit.

our three tomato plants worked overtime last week these were all picked within three days ~so, we are constantly playing with tomato recipes.

working on our homemade Crema Sauce

our guacamole, salsa & Crema Sauce

our first try at Salsa ~ a fire roasted salsa our second try at salsa. this one is more of a fresh salsa - no cooking involved. a Mint & Cilantro dip. the red flakes are Serrano peppers (some of our Serrano peppers turned out red). for a snack ~ Triscuit crackers topped with tomatoes (of course!) feta cheese & fresh basil.

tomato mozzarella salad with fresh basil and oregano

Essential

I wanted to take just a few minutes to talk about someone who has no idea how special she is. This person, has no idea that she is wonderful and the quote that adorns the side of our blog is meaningful to us because I came across it several years ago and emailed it to her because it was more true for her than anyone I had ever known. You see, she doesn't know that she is beautiful, she can't see the way she can light up a room or hear the music that we do when she laughs. She has no idea how much joy her smile brings to all around her or how much darker our lives are without her. She lives in some strange parallel world where she doesn't really matter, where she is easily forgotten and where the things that matter to her don't count for much. In her world, she isn't photogenic or pretty at all. In her world, no one really even notices that she's there except maybe to call her once in a while and complain about other, more important things going on in their lives. Her distance from the world that the rest of us live in causes her to hang out on the outside of things most of the time and she regrets that someday, there won't be any pictures with her actually in them, instead of behind the camera. If I had it in my power, I'd give her one gift...the ability to see herself through my eyes or any one's eyes other than her own. You see, she has no idea what she means to this world. If you know someone like her, please take the time today to let her know that she is beautiful and interesting and more than anything, that she is essential. I love you, Olivia.