High Summer

We raised the flag on the new flagpole on Flag Day even though the cement never set properly, mostly due to the continuing rains, and the pole itself wobbles a bit in the sleeve. Also, we didn't raise the flag so much as raised the pole with the flag attached since the pole is extendable but doesn't have a lanyard and the flag snaps directly to the fixed clips. Nevertheless, it is tall, above the lowest power lines so it was a good idea to shift it back a few feet, and looks good.

Flag Day is also my brother's birthday, so we had the traditional shrimp and scallops sauteed in olive oil and garlic butter with threads of red and yellow sweet peppers served over linguine, corn on the cob and biscuits on the side and apple pie for dessert. We were halfway through the meal when my brother realized the lack of lanyard on the flag pole meant he couldn't fly the flag at half staff if necessary but the old pole had no hoist either and that was never a problem in all the previous decades. If the necessity ever arises, he can just take the flag down.

The mango harvest is slowing a bit. The squirrel and birds and insects have had more than their share and a lot of the fruits dropped too small this year but we have a dozen containers in the refrigerator half a dozen bags in the freezer and still there are another dozen on the counter waiting to be processed. And that doesn't count the ones that have been given away or made into salsa or mango bread already. I'll be making two more loaves tomorrow to give to the nurses when I go in for this month's platelet donation Thursday.

We're having to harvest the tomatoes a little before full ripeness due to the rain which is causing them to swell and burst. The peppers don't seem to have that problem.

Every week my brother cranks the air conditioning down another notch in order to sleep at night. We started the season set at 83F (28C) but now it's sometimes down to 79F (26C) which can seem downright chilly. It's the humidity that's making him uncomfortable more than the heat.

A Delicious Weekend of Neurotoxins

So it turns out tilefish is very tasty: mild, sweet, firm and flaky. Goes well with home-made mango salsa on a bed of jasmine rice, salad on the side. Or an ear of buttered sweet corn. Can be baked, broiled or fried.

It is also loaded with mercury. Right up there with swordfish.

Some of the sites I checked said limit to one serving per month. Others said don't touch it. All of them said absolutely not for children or pregnant (or potentially pregnant) women. Surprisingly, the official Florida government guide which breaks down fish contamination risks by river, lake and coastal zone by named species and even includes various types of puffer fish (fugu) doesn't so much as mention tilefish, let alone list any warning.

I maybe should have checked those sites before indulging.

As it is, my brother and I are neither children nor female and we eat so little fish as a rule that our cumulative mercury levels are most likely quite low. Any degradation in cognitive functions is just age-related. Probably. Still, I sealed up most of the fillets and stuffed them in the freezer so we can space out our consumption. I figure the risks are low enough and the fish is tasty enough to not warrant throwing them away.

On the bright side, it's raining mangoes, a new half-dozen tomatoes ripen almost every day and the peppers are getting thick. And they're all free-range organic so they counteract any effects from the fish.

Right?

The Clockwork Calendar

The weather folks announced Rainy Season is scheduled to begin this week. So far the clouds have rolled in on schedule every afternoon along with occasional thunder but no actual rain, yet.

In anticipation, the builders not only put up the under-roof on the new house across the way last week, but also managed to nail down the tar paper covering and install the windows so the interior is mostly waterproof now (although there are no doors either on the house or garage). The interior framing is installed as well but I haven't seen anyone around in close to a week now.

Meanwhile, while we're waiting for the rain:

There are butterflies everywhere. Mostly sulphurs and zebras of various shades of black and yellow. I saw a beautiful copper colored one this morning, like a small, dark Monarch, that blended in well with the dead leaves.

We have several buckets set up along the front walkway, three or four with tomatoes and a couple with peppers. We picked a couple of cherry tomatoes already and there's a nice bell pepper that'll be ready in a day or two. Others are ripening and more flowers are blooming every day. I've already chopped up a couple of ripe mangoes and there are more turning yellow-red. We have several green ones my brother brought in but I don't know if they fell or if he just picked them unripe. They're starting to soften so I'll cut them up and see if they're edible as is or if I have to cook them. So far this year, they're all on the smallish side but, if the rains do come as predicted, they could still grow more.

The bucket of sticks in water by the front door, which is just one of several scattered along the side of the house, has come to life after a couple of years and  seems to be blossoming into frangipani. As a matter of fact, they all are. The bougainvillea is in full bloom as is the desert rose and a dozen or so lilies between the house and the walkway. And the new coconut palm and banana tree have both outgrown their pots. (The banana's easy but the coconut will have to be placed far enough from where people and cars normally go so falling fruit doesn't kill or injure someone or damage a vehicle.)

The only downside right now is that the clouds have brought humidity to go with the heat and so we've had to close up the house again after a couple of glorious weeks and turn on the A/C.

Update: Right after posting this the clouds rolled in, the lightning struck and thunder roared and the rain came pelting down in sheets so thick you can't see the road out front. Rainy Season, right on time.

Miscellanea, Garden Variety

My brother brought home a huge semi-ripe papaya yesterday. It was a gift. It's sitting on the kitchen counter on the theory and expectation that it, like mangoes, will continue to ripen on its own. When he deems it ready, he intends to plant the seeds. I have no idea what his criteria are, but if he manages it, we'll have fresh papaya.

Meanwhile, our inconsistent lawn mowing has paid off in the sprouting of three new mango trees. Unfortunately, they are either directly under the current mango or off in the property line and need to be transplanted. Neighbor Mike, who ran out and bought his own mango based on how good ours taste only to discover he had gotten a different, and not nearly as sweet, species, has already claimed one sapling. My brother intends to give one of the others away. The third will be transplanted to an appropriate spot.

Meanwhile, the coconut palm has had a good year. A full dozen and a half have dropped so far with at least that many more still tucked up under the fronds. Of those that have fallen maybe seven are basically dead. Most of the rest slosh when shaken, meaning they are full of milk, and will be harvested for both milk and meat as soon as I can find where my brother hid the machete. The remaining two have sprouted. One will be planted as soon as we can find an open space far enough away from power lines so the electric crews wont feel threatened and trim it to death. The other will be given away.

The orange tree has grown at least a foot since planting and its top has opened up. My brother continues to feed and water it.

The last of the cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers are long gone. The banana tree is still in its tub and needs to be planted.

If we ever decide to go full Fruitarian, we could be pretty well self-sufficient. (Ain't gonna happen. My brother's a full-bore carnivore and I'll never survive without bacon.)

Saturation Point

Yesterday's thunderstorm may have put us over the edge.

It came on very strong with violent, close lightning (the power went out--briefly--before the thunder hammered through) but didn't last all that long. Nevertheless, it poured while it was here and, for the first time, we have some semi-serious flooding.

Our property does not abut a canal, but there is one at the end of the street. That end of our street was flooded and the entire next street over was as well. I don't know how deep because I had already driven through an intersection which I had never believed to be in a depression of any sort but which was covered by a 50 foot wide temporary lake that rose over my axles and I wasn't about to tempt fate again.

A couple of the canals near us were topping their walls and flooding onto the lawns of the houses backing up to them. The swale around the front two sides of our property has become a moat and the low spot in back is now a pond of sorts. Virtually all of our cherry tomatoes are splitting due to all the water being taken up after the fruit sets. (They still taste better than anything in the store.)

This morning, the streets were clear and dry again although low-lying grassy areas are still covered in standing water. The canals are back within their banks, barely. The ground is squishy to walk on.

One thunderstorm has rolled through already this afternoon but it was a light one. Another one like yesterday's just might be one too many.

Miscellania

The kittens (a term not to be used much longer considering their sizes) insist on pushing their toys under doors then doing various gymnastic moves in vain attempts to retrieve them. Considering the typical Florida open plan layout of this house, I am surprised how many closed doors there actually are around here (my room, my bathroom, the front closet, the laundry room,  . . .). No matter how many times I rescue the catnip mouse or stuffed fish and place them in the middle of the living room, the cats inevitably end up playing right next to a door, with predictable results. The next round of toys will have to be bigger than the gap between floor and door.

Paribanour has darkened up some and her chipmunk stripe has blended in to the point of near invisibility. It's now noticeable primarily as a glossy line down her back as opposed to the matte gray of the rest of her fur. She has, however, developed a raccoon ring tail in the meantime.

There's some sort of bug I have yet to see that bites (or stings) without warning leaving a swollen spot similar to a mosquito bite that turns into a red patch the size of a thumbnail and lasts the better part of a week itching like hell the entire time. It's gotten me four times now, three of them either through or under clothing.

Our sweet red peppers and cherry tomatoes are coming along nicely although my brother tends to pick the tomatoes before they're fully ripe in an effort to keep local varmints from getting at them. It works but we're missing out on some juicy ripeness as a result.

Speaking of cherries (the real kind), the cats love them. They're perfect for batting around and playing kitten football. Even in season and on sale, they're expensive enough down here for me to take them away and rewash them. At least the tooth and claw marks are merely indentations and not punctures. The show no interest in the grapes or tomatoes even though they all share space on the counter.

Our mango tree is generating a second crop for us. The new mangoes are limited to the eastern quadrant of the tree but there are maybe a couple dozen decent size ripening up there. Neighbor Mike's mango tree is full. He likes ours better. When we first gave him some of ours a few years ago, he enjoyed them so much he ran right out and bought his own tree, but it's a different species he doesn't think is as sweet.

Sign of the Times

Stenciled on the back window of the bed cap of a pick-up truck driving down one of our major thoroughfares:

99c   tomatoes

                                                                                     per pound

No name. No address. No phone number. No web address.

Nevertheless, I presume it's some sort of (ineffective) promotion for locally grown produce and not a political manifesto calling for reduced prices along the lines of "The rent's too high!" Unfortunately, I have neither the time, gasoline nor inclination to follow him around hoping he'll lead me to a bargain.

But, Hey, Free Potatoes!

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home yesterday and picked up a few things: onions, scallions, peppers, tomatoes . . . and red potatoes that were on sale. When I got home I realized the cashier had charged me the full price for the potatoes.

Now, this is not a big thing. It's happened before and I just let it go because occasionally they'll make a mistake in my favor and I figure it all balances out in the end. Besides, I'd spend more in gasoline than I'd recoup by going back to the store to fix it.

Today, however, I realized I had to go right past the store on another errand anyway, so I stopped in at the service desk. The young woman behind the counter was very pleasant, checked my receipt, and proceeded to refund the full purchase price of the potatoes. At first I thought she'd misheard me and I explained again that I had indeed bought the spuds in question and was only interested in the difference between the advertised price and the actual charge. And she explained that, yes, she understood but it was company policy: if they screw up the item is free. I was not aware of this policy.

So I got triple back what I expected (or, in my opinion, deserved) plus the potatoes.

I realize someone at corporate made an explicit, hard-nosed calculation and decided the good will and loyalty generated by this policy is worth the expense (and they're right. It works!), but I still feel kind of bad about even bringing it up with them and a little guilty now about the times I never said anything when the mistakes worked to my advantage.

Nicely played, Publix.

Miscellanea

A brand new amaryllis has bloomed by the front door. This one is a deep garnet or ruby red.

The mockingbirds nesting out back have had to fight off an attack of crows. Three or four of the raiders swooped in, probably to steal eggs, but, as far as I can tell, were unsuccessful.

The mango tree, covered with blossoms earlier this spring, has lost most of its fruit, partially due to the high winds we've been having for the past week and partially to birds. We may end up with only a couple dozen mangoes this year. My brother already picked two smallish unripe ones off the ground. At least we still have bags of frozen mango from last year's bumper crop.

My brother kept saying he was going to cover the blueberry bush but never did so now the birds have had all of them, too. (I think this should be filed under the last Redneck Studies post.)

We joked about the inch long $3.00 plum tomato he "harvested" last week but another one just ripened so they're down to $1.50 apiece now.

The Coming Flood

It's kind of like being downstream from a burst dam. You can see the waters coming, rising inexorably, and know there is no way to escape them. Best thing to do is just climb onto the roof and hope the foundations hold.

The political advertising has started.

We watched it start in Iowa, flow to New Hampshire, grow in intensity in South Carolina and now we're next. Florida's Republican primary is at the end of the month, barely two weeks after SC and the ads (mostly from Romney and Romney's "totally uncoordinated" super-PAC) are increasing accordingly.

The super-PAC is mostly bashing Gingrich. There's a judo ad warning how Gingrich's negative attacks are beyond the pale and then proceeding to negatively attack Gingrich. The pro-Romney ad has him claiming he will determine the worth of a federal program by whether or not the Chinese are willing to finance it. Might it not make more sense to find out if the American people are willing to pay for it?

It's only going to get worse before the month is over. I see no recourse put to take refuge on the metaphorical roof of my local NPR station. And admire the orchids which continue to bloom. And the roses, which have started again. And the tomatoes which are ripening one by one in perfect sequence.

January, Florida Style

Our "cold spell" seems to be ending without too much damage. The weather people have been giving us frost warnings and the counties to the north freeze warnings for the past few days but the only damage I could find has been to one tomato. It and another one were pretty ripe so I picked them. (Another three or four will be ready by the weekend.) And another lemon has fallen from its tree.

Mom has a space heater in her room (along with her electric blanket) and has not complained of the cold at all, yet.

Today is sunny, a literally cloudless sky, no humidity, a slight breeze and temps in the mid 60s. A far cry from this time last year.

Sub-tropical December

I finally found out the name of the small pale purple star-shaped flowers that are growing wild across lawns and highway medians all over town. They're a weed, growing in low mats of hundreds and thousands of blooms as only big as a thumbnail and two inches (at most) tall. They look like nothing so much as a light dusting of snow, the kind of early flurries common up north that occur while the grass is still green.

It's a pusley, of which there are three varieties. The one we have here, I believe, is also known as Mexican clover. They stay low enough that the mowers tend to go over them. Anyway, that's as close to snow as we're going to get. All of our windows are open and the fans are on.

On a semi-related note, the tomatoes look to be producing a very healthy second crop. There are several large fruits ripening even now.

Aquae Vitae

It's amazing how quickly the plants have responded to the rain. The tomatoes, which were all brown and shrivelly and looking ready to fall over, are now green and tall and blossoming again. So: homegrown tomatoes second crop coming up!

The peppers, which never looked as bad as the tomatoes, are coming back in again, too. More peppers and more blossoms, both.

The mangoes are about done for the season. It's finally gotten to the point where there are fewer falling each night (even after a storm) than the number I can peel and cube in a day. There is one very large bag in the freezer freezer (sort of a strategic reserve), three small bags in the refrigerator freezer, a bowl of fresh cubed in the refrigerator for immediate access along with a large bowl of mango salsa. There are still about three dozen on the counter waiting to be peeled and chopped. And none of this counts the dozens we have given away already. There's maybe a dozen or two left on the tree.

The funny thing is, we're about a month early. The next door neighbor's mango is just starting to ripen. Ditto for other trees in town. We have no idea what makes our little 20 x 20 micro-climate different.

We're just enjoying the results.

. . . And The Livin' Is Easy

Hard to believe it's only the end of April. Feels like high summer has been with us for awhile already. We had the air conditioning on after it hit 90 in the house. Mom likes it that way (she wears her sweater for anything under 80 or if a breeze is blowing) but my brother nearly passed out so he turned it on (I was out at the time).

The tomatoes are coming along fine. In fact we picked a few of the cherry ones a couple of days ago. The peppers are looking good, too. No idea what the onions are up to.

The exterminators never came for the opossums but we haven't heard or seen them since so maybe they took the hint.

Status Report

I must say Mom is doing quite well recently. She has a lot of energy (almost too much. She wants to help out around the house and gets frustrated when she can't (or when we object)). Sometimes, she can't sleep and gets up in the middle of the night, thinking it's morning but, when I point out that it's still dark, she either goes back to bed or sits up for an hour or two reading. She's been reading a lot and she also has a book of large print find-the-word puzzles which she's been working on with some success. The current puzzle is African capital cities and the answers can be found forward, backward, vertical up and down, and diagonal up and down which I think is a fair challenge for a soon-to-be-91 year old. (After all, when she was a kid there were only three or four African national capitals: Cairo(?), Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Monrovia.)

She hasn't had any difficulty finding the right words to communicate either, recently, and has been pretty good at remembering which day it is (with a margin of error of one either way) although despite remembering on Saturday that it was Saturday and tomorrow would be Sunday and therefore French toast day when she woke early on Sunday she forgot it was Sunday and fixed herself a bowl of cereal which didn't stop her from having French toast when I reminded her it was Sunday.

She knows who everyone is (although she still thinks someone else must be around helping out) and watches the news every night and understands what's happening in Japan and Libya.

In other news, something/someone ate two of the nearly ripe plum tomatoes last night and my brother is pissed.

A Good Year for Mangoes

This looks like it might turn out to be a good year for fruits and veggies. The mango tree is loaded, the lemon tree has been generous as has the grapefruit tree. The only disappointment in the citrus department is the oranges which are tough, fibrous and juiceless. The winter cold snap must have gotten to them.

In the vegetable section, we have three different kinds of tomatoes in. The plants are doing well although one seems to have a caterpillar or other infestation. Almost all the blossoms have been very neatly cut off right at their bases. The tomatoes are in tubs so my brother moved that one away from the others which are looking good. He'll inspect it later today.

We also have sweet peppers (in tubs) and onions (in the ground). The local "soil" is a thin layer of sandy dirt over a limestone bedrock and is not good for things like potatoes. Carrots, maybe, if a patch can be developed properly.