Pictures of the Courtyard Monday, Sep 29 2008

A couple of months ago, Aunt Judy (Mom’s sister) came to visit. While she was here she was astounded to discover that out of our extensive garden tool collection, we did not own a hoe.  This fact so disturbed her that during a routine trip to Wal Mart, she snuck away from us; returning with a hoe.
The next morning we woke up to the sight of Aunt Judy hoeing (don’t know if that’s a word) up every last weed in the courtyard!  It was wonderful. Inspirational. Divine. She left the hoe behind and we are hoping that she will be pleased to know that we have put it to good use! Weeds everywhere fear for their lives when they see us coming!  Here are some of the pictures of the courtyard (before and after). Please remember this is only the beginning of a big project. We will be filling in with TONS of plants over the next few years (hopefully things will grow a bunch and be very pretty by next spring).

Above is the before and after of the entrance to the courtyard.
Next year we should have some beautiful blue hydrangeas (these have already doubled in size since we planted them).

This is from 2007…a before shot of the courtyard area.

150 bags of pea gravel later….
Don’t worry! We are not going for a gravel driveway look!
We promise it will be totally filled in with plants within the next few years.
The pea gravel simply helps with drainage and weed control.

Above is one of our favorite plants – an Oak Leaf Hydrangea.
Next to it is a $2 yard sale find (a Victorian iron garden chair that weighs a TON).

One of 3 Elephant Ear plants (this variety is a perennial) planted in the courtyard.

A few weeks ago Dad bought us two of these vintage concrete planters at a yard sale.

This is not a weed coming up but rather a Grape Hyacinth.
We planted about 100 of these bulbs a few months ago, not expecting to see them grow this year.
Within two days of putting down the pea gravel they all started popping up!

This is another picture from 2007.
There were Galiath size Hostas taking over the patio walkway by the back door.
We transplanted those monstrous puppies (they weighed a zillion pounds each! We had to roll them across the driveway because they were so heavy!) to the cottage garden.
Within the next year we are planning on replacing the plastic white fence (that doesn’t clean easily!) with black iron fencing to match the backyard fence.

This is another “in progress” picture.
Dad hopes to eventually put down sod.
We planted some Knock Out Roses along the fence.
They have more than tripled in size since we planted them last year.
We found this heavy as lead concrete picnic table on Ebay for only $35 in Roanoke.
When Dad said we could bid on it and that he would go pick it up for us…he underestimated just how heavy it is! Somehow he fit all those pieces into his minivan and hauled them home for us.
It took the whole family (except of course Grandma!)  to unload the set and get it into place.

Hopefully, we will have many more pictures to  post of the courtyard next spring.
Special thanks goes to Aunt Judy for teaching us how to use a hoe!

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Don’t Use Sergeants Pet Care Products on Your Pets! Wednesday, Sep 3 2008

A couple of days ago, Dad gave our dog Dixie a bath and he noticed that she had a few fleas (for the first time ever).
He put some Sergeants brand Flea and Tick repellent on the back of her neck; carefully following the box instructions.
Shortly after applying the medicine, we noticed that she seemed very upset and would do things like bite at nothing and was very restless. We thought that it was just the fleas bothering her.
Later that day,  she became frantic; running into the furniture, yelping, muscle spasms and just acting really distressed.
Dad felt badly for her and decided that maybe it was the medicine and not the fleas that were bothering her, so he gave her another bath.
She calmed down for a few hours, but was still not herself.
About 11 that night all of the above “symptoms” returned.
Dad called a 24 hour vet (that is an hour away), to see if they had any recommendation.
The vet instantly recognized the problem, saying that this common problem when people put Sergeants Flea killer on their pets. In fact, she said an hour before Dad called, another person had called her with the same problem!
The vet said all you can do is wash the dog (cats can have reaction to this product as well) with Dawn dish detergent and give the animal baby asprin.
So, Owen bathed Dixie in the Dawn at about midnight and gave her some asprin.  None of that helped too much though; the symptoms were still there. About 2 am, she curled up in Ariel’s lap begging to be held and petted. 
After about an hour, she fell asleep on Ariel.
Dixie started throwing up (not on Ariel…) about 6 am. After that she spent the rest of the day sleeping.
She seems to be getting better.

While all this was going on, Mom did a google search on the effects of Sergeants Flea and Tick products, and was shocked to find hundreds (if not thousands) of people who have used this product and their pets had similar reactions like Dixie did.  A lot of people’s pets suffered even more than Dixie. Apparently, many animals have DIED from being treated with this product or have permenant problems (retardation, spasms, etc).
We are so thankful that Dixie seems to be on the mend!
We just thought we’d warn others about this awful product!
Here is a link to just one site full of similar horror stories.

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Fauxtatoes & Pork Rind Pizza Wednesday, Sep 3 2008

Lately our family (minus Owen & Grandma), have been going low carb; Dr Atkins style.
Oh how we love carbs! This is a terrible time in our family’s food history!
Although, we can’t complain since it really does work.
We realllllly miss potatoes and so we were very excited to find a recipe for “fauxtatoes” (Adri loves saying that word over and over).  This is a VERY good recipe whether you are on a diet or not.

Fauxtatoes
1 large head of cauliflower
1/3 c. cream
4 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp butter
S & P to taste

1. Simmer the cauliflower in water with the cream added to it.
This keeps the cauliflower sweet and prevents it from turning a nasty color.
When the cauliflower is soft; drain thoroughly.

2. Put the still warm cauliflower in a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
Optional: We have added things like sauteed onions, cheeses, garlic, etc and give it a quick bake.

Yields: 6 generous servings.

The thought and smell of pork rinds makes us sick! We read something online that people use pork rinds in all kinds of low carb cooking. One suggestion was to eat them like you would cereal covered in cream (can’t have milk).  We don’t live that dangerously. That is foul sounding!
We know that ya’ll probably won’t trust us and try this next recipe for pork rind pizza crust, but it really is good (even Ariel couldn’t believe she liked it!).

Pork Rind Pizza Crust

8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 c. pork rinds, finely crushed (food processor is great for this)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
8 oz mozzerella cheese, shredded
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
Pizza toppings of choice

Preheat over to 425 degrees.
Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit a 14″ pizza pan (make it go slightly up the sides of the pan).
Spray the pizza pan with cooking spray to help the parchment stay put.

Whisk the cream cheese and egg until smooth.
Add remaining ingredients, except the mozzerella. Mix thoroughly. Add the mozzerella.
Drop the dough by large spoonfuls all over the pizza pan.
Press it into the shape of the pan with your fingers. Make sure the dough goes up the sides of the pan a little.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Let stand 10 minutes.
Add the toppings you like and bake at 375 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes longer (or until toppings are bubbly and lightly browned).

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