Olive oil...and it worked!

I have a confession to make.

I made brownies last weekend as a thank you for some people who had done some good deeds for me.  They were from a store-bought mix.  I did read the package to see if I needed milk, or eggs, or whatever to finish the mix.  I did need eggs and so I bought a dozen.

What I neglected to notice was that I also needed oil, preferably vegetable oil.  I didn't have any.  I didn't buy any.  I didn't want to go back out and buy any either, as it was a long day, and I just wanted to finish the brownies!

I did have olive oil, extra virgin olive oil.  High quality olive oil.  Expensive olive oil.   And it is a vegetable, isn't it? 

So I figured that I would try it, and taste sample the mix before I put it in the oven to bake.  It seemed to taste fine, so I made the brownies.  After they were cooled, and cut up, I again sampled a small piece.  Still seemed just fine, and so I delivered the brownies and went home.

I did save a couple for my husband.  I did not tell him how I made them.  Of course as soon as he saw them, he had to eat one.  I held my breath.  He pronounced them very, very good!  I then told him what I did.  He said, if anything they were not as overly sweet as usual, and he appreciated that.

I don't know as I'd do that again, as olive oil is more expensive than vegetable oil, but if I do, I'm still not going to tell anyone. 

You want hummingbirds?

Try planting this flowering vine!

This is growing on our fence.  It's native to the area.  It's known around here as Trumpet Vine.  Huge orange flowers, with deep throats for the hummingbirds.   Can become a nice woody vine, with rather large, stout stems.  I've also seen a yellow variety, but orange seems to be more prevalent.  I don't know how it propagates naturally, although I do know you can take a cutting from a more tender spot, and get it to grow from that start.  I did find these pods on the end of a branch, and so assume it may also start from some sort of seed?

It can spread by trailing branches on the ground or by discarded cuttings.  It can also be considered a pest, due to the spreading, but it is my experience that it's no where the problem that honeysuckle can be, plus it's a much more showy plant.    This particular plant also bloomed twice this year; once in June, and again in August, drought nonwithstanding!

If none of this appeals to you, you can put up the obligatory feeder, in  place that doesn't get direct, hot sun (at least that's what I think), with some trees or shrubbery closeby that they can nest in.  This picture was taken on my covered porch.  The bird was competing with a bee, which if you look closely,  you can see in the picture.    The birds are very bold, and very wary at the same time, and can be hard to photograph with just an inexpensive digital camera!

The bird won!
 

Recycling at it's best!

This is something you don't see every day.  And it makes my heart swell!  This building was in an area that is slated for a new road interchange among other things.  I watched as the contractors carefully pulled off the brick, and I was wondering what their intentions were.  I thought the building was too nice to tear down, but in this day and age of "everything's disposable", I assumed the worst.  I thought perhaps they were just saving the brick.  Then I saw the truck with the I-beams inderneath the building!  They're gonna move it!

This used to be the office of my insurance agent.  He's moved into another facility.  Don't know if he's waiting for this to reach it's new home.  But whomever is moving it, kudos to them as this was a nice building, and I assume moving is much cheaper than rebuilding from the ground up!


 

This is what a drought looks like!

 

This picture was taken from ground level, looking at the "grass" that WAS my front yard. 

 

 

The few leaves of green are some weeds that just won't die.   You may say that the grass looks like it was long and never cut, and so fell over.  Well, that's only part of the story.  It was at the length that we may have cut it, but we didn't, and it started dying before we could, and it's better to leave it a bit long in case of drought, etc.

 

Then the trees started taking a hit.  This is a picture of our cypress tree, which is a water hog, and it's even sitting on or close to a septic (we don't actually know where the septic is for that part of the property; we have 2.) 

 

Obviously turning more than a bit brown.  And this is at the end of JULY!!!  This is a close-up of one of the branches. 

 

It would appear that the tree is trying to hold on, and therefore losing all the leaves down to the tips of the branches, trying to hold on for dear life.  Since this picture, the brown leaves have all fallen off, but the green remains.  Since that time, we've also had about 2 inches of rain, although not all at the same time.  We're expecting more tomorrow, and perhaps next week. 

 

You may ask why we don't water things that are stressed, or perhaps even dying.  The truth of the matter is that we live in the country and are on a well.  If the well were to run dry, we'd have to dig a new one, and that costs thousands of dollars.  If we baby the well, we can get by, and save some money.   Save a LOT of money actually.   The grass will grow again.  The trees seem to be hanging on...we'll know more in a few months, IF we get the rain we still need.  (We're about 16 inches below normal for the year.)

 

If you live on city water, you can water your lawn, flowers, etc, but there is that cost to you.  Well water costs us electricity; city water costs you like a utillity.  And if the grass doesn't need trimming, then you can save money either on your lawn service, or your back, mower and the cost of gas.  To us, it was a no-brainer.

 

This has happened to us before, about 30 years ago.  It was not as bad.  We got through it.  We'll get through this, or adapt to a "new lifestyle."  Time will tell.