Garden Fresh Salsa

The hot, sticky weather this past week has really kicked my tomatoes into gear. I'm crossing my fingers that most of the fruit will ripen on the vine this year. More than once in years past, I've had to pull them in green because they still hadn't turned red by hard freeze time.

That little guy on top is a paprika pepper. That was the first pepper on the plant and it turned red even though it is so small. All the other ones on the plant are bigger, but they are still yellow. I haven't grown paprika before, so I'm learning as I go along.

Another new veggie for me this year has been onions. I finally have all the veggies to make salsa, and I made my first bowl today. Boy, freshly picked onions sure have a lot more flavor than ones that have been sitting around in the grocery store for awhile! Needless to say, the bowl of salsa didn't last long.

Ahhhhhhhh

That's what my flowers and veggies and trees are saying after the 2 1/4 inches of rain we got last night. Add that to the additional inch we got the night before, and everybody should be happy for awhile.

Don't Follow This Car

We went to Cabelas this past Saturday, and they were having a tent sale. Almost all of it was heavily used and broken junk, but we still saw some people running around gleefully filling up their baskets.

As we were getting ready to leave, my husband pointed out this spectacle. I think these guys need a few more ropes and straps. I'm skeptical that this jerry-rigged load is going to make it all the way back to Wisconsin in one piece. But then, considering the quality of the merchandise in the tent sale, maybe a few bounces off the highway won't make much of a difference.

Petroglyphs

Last Saturday we went on another 9+ hour motorcycle ride. The main attraction on this ride was the Jeffers Petroglyphs historic site. The site is littered with Sioux quartzite stone that was exposed when the glaciers rolled through Minnesota many moons ago. American Indians used the stone as their canvas for carving pictures of sacred images.

Here is one of the carvings. Most of the carvings didn't really jump out at me. This was one of the more distinct ones. (After I enhanced it greatly in Photoshop.) It's a picture of an upside-down hand. The field guide assured me that if the sun would make an appearance through the cloud cover, the shadows would make the images pop. I dunno. With each thing he pointed out, the phrase "cloud art" kept coming to mind.

It was a very nice day. Here is a view from the other side of the site. Hard to tell it's anything but a field from here.


I personally think the rocks are the star of the show. I've always loved rocks. This particular outcropping has been nicknamed "Buffalo Rub." Supposedly when the buffalo roamed here, they used this area as their scratching post and rubbed the stone smooth. We were kinda skeptical at first when the field guide talked about it, but when we finally got to the other side of the site and looked at it, the stone is only smooth in areas and heights where a buffalo would be interested in rubbing. It's extremely pretty, however it got that way.

Baby Melon

I went out to check how my garden was doing today, and I found a 3 inch long cantaloupe! Isn't it cute? I have never tried growing them before, so this is very exciting for me. I'm hoping the numerous bunnies that forage through our yard will leave it alone.