The Stink Melon

While moving piles of composted rice hulls the other day, I looked on the back-side of the pile and saw a familiar sight.  Vines.  There were vines covering the entire pile.  I say it looked familiar because I could spot these vines in my childhood and identify them very quickly.  Even though I can identify the vine, I still don't know the official name of this plant.

As a kid, it wasn't the vines that we were interested in.  We were interested in the fruit that grew on them.  We called these things, "Stink Melons."  They got their name because if you busted them open, they would stink.  Their maturity always coincided with the soybean harvest.  They grow primarily on the fence rows, but their vines grow out into the field and had a tendency to get wrapped around the pick-up reel of the combine.  Every once in a while, you had to stop the combine, get out with a pocketknife, and cut the vines off the end of the cutter bar.

To give you proper scale, I'm holding a stink melon in my hand.  As you'll note, it is the PERFECT shape and size for throwing at your brother or cousin.  The stage of ripeness of the one below is such that it is still hard.  If you hit your brother or cousin with one like this, it is gonna hurt.  However, if you get one a little more ripe, it'll be soft and hot in the summer sun.  If you throw it and hit your brother or cousin, it will bust open, covering the recipient with a pungent odor and ooze that sent you running for the nearest water hose, if there was one.  If I sound experienced at this, it is because we had more than our fair share of 'stink melon' wars back then.

Back in my childhood, there weren't cell phones to keep us mesmerized.  Bring back the stink melons, I say.  Young people today are missing out on all the fun.

Pucker Up!

Several years ago my lovely wife introduced me to a new spice blend.  I love spice!  I'm always adding peppers, our homemade tabasco sauce, and salsa to everything.  This spice blend was new to me.  As the colors on the label might suggest, it is from Mexico.

It is called "Tajin," pronounced "ta HEEN"  As the color might suggest, it has pepper in it, but I don't think you can really call it HOT.  Tangy is the better adjective as the lime in it steals the show.  It makes you pucker up, kind of like a big juicy dill pickle does.  This stuff is delicious.  Something a little different is what this spice is used on.  The label calls it "fruit seasoning." The only seasoning I've ever eaten on fruit was to put salt on my watermelon.  You have to trust me on this.  Tajin is great on apples, pears, watermelon, mango, and citrus.  It is also great on non-fruit items like cucumbers.

The other day I was having a craving for it and so we decided to just make some ourselves.  The label ingredients are: salt, chili powder, dehydrated lime juice and silicon dioxide.  Easy enough.  We assembled our ingredients:

I cut up some pears and then got some kosher salt, lime and chili powder.  There are numerous types of chili powders and the label doesn't specify which one, so Tricia mixed it up and used half regular chili powder and half Ancho chili powder.  To make it simply use equal parts of salt and chili powder.  In our case, we used 1 Tablespoon of each.

Then, simply sprinkle on top of the fruit and cut your lime into quarters and squeeze one of the lime quarters over the top of the sprinkled fruit.

Now, we're ready to snack!  Here is the money shot before Tricia and I make them disappear!

I'm not embarrassed to say I licked the plate clean.

Riding in an Old Truck

In Sunday Night's Post I talked about working for a friend where I drove his old truck for him for a day and a half.  After I finished the post, I sat at my chair and thought about many memories I had from riding in an old truck.  Many people tell you that they ride motorcycles because it gets them "closer to the road," meaning they can feel the wind in their hair and smell nature and feel the sun on their shoulders.  That is understandable, but I can tell you that you can get many of those same perks driving an old pickup truck.

It has to be an old one, though.  One where you must physically roll down the window - not push a button to make it go down.  Then you must put your elbow out the window.  It helps if you turn the little triangle window so that it brings fresh air inside the cab!  You remember that little window, don't you?

Alright, now we're talking.  The sun beats down on your elbow and you can actually get a nice farmer's tan if you ride like this for any distance.  I always drove the trucks when we were harvesting rice and all the little pieces of rice hull would stick to my sweaty skin on my arms, causing a lot of itching, and the wind blowing through the cab helped to blow it off. 

Of course, in an old truck, the radio may not work and the air conditioning almost assuredly won't work, but that's okay.  In an old truck going at top speed of 45 mph down a gravel road, there is no need to be pretentious.  You can sing.  And sing loudly.  The possibilities on the playlist in your mind are limitless.  It could be John Denver, John Conlee, or John Cougar Mellencamp, or Jon Bon Jovi, for that matter.  You know all the words to their songs and those you don't, you just make them up as you drum your hands on the steering wheel.

In a new pickup truck, you are hermetically sealed and completely out of touch with what's going on around you.  On the other hand, in an old truck with the windows open, you can hear the engine popping and the springs bouncing.  You can smell that smell coming from the radiator letting you know that things are getting a little hot.  Who needs gauges?  You can smell those foul smells from road-kill on the side of the road or that sickening smell when you pass the dump.  They don't have to be all bad smells, though.  When you slow down in the curve where the trees form a canopy over the road, you can breathe in deeply and smell the wild honeysuckle growing on the fence row!

One more thing you have to be careful of in an old truck is when you have to get out in town in the parking lot of the parts house.  Old trucks have a way of collecting a wide assortment of items on the floorboard.  These items tend to fall out when you open the door and must be picked up quickly.  Things like tools, empty Dr. Pepper cans and honey bun wrappers, used white napkins and empty fried chicken boxes.  You have to remember one more thing when driving an old truck.  When you pull out of the parking lot, oftentimes, you'll want to get out to double-check that puddle underneath where your truck was.  Is that an oil puddle or a water puddle?  That's an important question to have answered, so you can top off the correct fluid levels.

Tick Tock... The Race Against Time

I've been experimenting with the fall tomato crop the past several years.  The spring tomato crop is okay, but I have so much stinkbug damage to the fruit that it is discouraging.  The fall crop has SO much potential, but timing it is crucial.  In This Post from January 2017 I show what happens if you miss the timing of your fall crop of tomatoes!  I had to make green tomato sauce with the entire crop.  Let's take a look at this year's fall tomato crop, shall we?

The tomatoes look really nice.  Their foliage is thick and healthy and they are supported by the Florida Weave trellising technique.  It is doing a good job of holding them upright even with all of the weight of the leaves, vines and fruit.

The fruit is picture perfect.  No blemishes or scarring from insect pressure.  I've been looking closely for tomato hornworms, but so far, all is clear.

They continue to bloom and bloom.

Hidden underneath the foliage are some nice, big fruit.  Still green, but I think we'll be able to pick red ripe tomatoes.  Now as far as the fruit from those just blooming, probably not!

All of the tomatoes I planted was heirloom varieties, with one exception.  The tomatoes in the photo below are not heirloom tomatoes.  A lady from our church brought me a napkin with dried up tomato seeds that she had just saved and gave them to me.  The seeds were from tomatoes that she had bought in the produce department at Wal Mart!  I'm not sure what the variety is, but you've probably seen them if you've been in their produce department.  These tomatoes are sold in a plastic container and are still attached to the vine.  I never thought they would germinate and grow, but they did!  They don't look too bad, do they?

Wal Mart tomatoes growing in the garden, thanks to Mrs. Linda.  You can also see the hay bale twine that is supporting the tomato vines.

The vines are absolutely loaded up with fruit!

While most are still very green, there are a few that are on the pinkish-red side of shading that we'll be picking soon.  Fresh, red-ripe homegrown tomatoes in December!

It is risky business, but it sure is nice when the timing works out so that you can enjoy tomatoes in the fall before the freeze knocks out the vines.

Moonlighting

My full time job right now is trying to find a full time job, but I did a little moonlighting from the job search job last week and helped out a friend.  My job was a simple one, but quite enjoyable.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  I had a flannel shirt on to stay warm, but had the windows rolled down to enjoy the fresh air.  I drove his truck south toward Thornwell, Louisiana.  Thornwell is known for its excellent duck and goose hunting.  I tried to capture a photo of them below.  If you enlarge it, you can make out thousands of geese funneling down and landing in the middle of a harvested rice field.

The old truck was one that I've never driven before, but I have lots of experience driving trucks like this.  Anyone who's farmed in South Louisiana is familiar with driving trucks like these.  You hold your breath before starting them and are happy when the engine turns over.  It tops out at about 50 mph. Various things like turn signal blinkers, lights, and windshield wipers work intermittently.  Trucks like these are held together with duct tape, tie wire or bungee cords (like the one below that keeps the passenger door from flying open while you are driving down the road).

It was a great day for getting a little work done.  I arrived at my destination around 8:45 am.  As the photo below shows, there was a pile of stack-burned rice about 8 feet tall and 100 yards long.  It had been sitting out for a long, long time and had basically heated up, cooked and decomposed into some rich material to work into garden soil to add richness and organic matter.  My friend has some big green houses and was using this material to amend his soil.  I just had to get it back to his hoop houses.

Here is the pile that I was to work on.  Fortunately, my friend had a New Holland tractor with a front end loader on it.  This made the job a breeze.

All I had to do was scoop up a big bucketload of the stuff, lift it up, carry it to the truck, and...

Dump it into the bed.  11 scoops filled up the truck, but I had to use the bucket to spread it out and balance the load to be able to get 11 scoops on the truck.  I made little tick marks in the dust on the fender to make sure that I had 11 scoops in the truck bed.

Here's the crazy thing.  You know how compost has bacteria working in it that heats up and "cooks" the pile?  This material, even as long as it has been sitting here, was still cooking.  If you look closely at the top of the pile, you can see steam rising from the pile!

I drove the truck back to his place, peeling and eating a grocery bag of satsumas I had picked and taking in the scenery.  I unloaded the load of material and went back for more.  Overall, it was a nice day of moonlighting and a good change of pace.

Thank You, Lord, For Your Blessings On Me

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It is a time where we don't get distracted by other things and we concentrate on giving thanks to God for the blessings in our lives.  We always sit around the table and go around one by one and count our blessings.  It is a matter of perspective.  When we focus on our disappointments, areas of lack, and wants, it is easy to get discouraged.  However, when we focus on all that we have, we realize how fortunate we are and how much God has blessed us.

Image Credit

This past Sunday in church we sang a song that very simply sums up Thanksgiving to me.  Here are the lyrics:

While the world looks upon me, as I struggle alone
They say I have nothing, but they are so wrong
In my heart I'm rejoicing, how I wish they could see
Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me

There's a roof up above me
I've a good place to sleep
There's food on my table
And shoes on my feet
You gave me your love Lord
And a fine family
Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me

I know I'm not wealthy, and these clothes, they're not new
I don't have much money, but Lord I have you
That's all that matters, though the world may not see
Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me

There's a roof up above me
I've a good place to sleep
There's food on my table
And shoes on my feet
You gave me your love Lord
And a fine family
Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me

My non-exhaustive list of things I'm thankful for:
1. My Almighty God and the salvation He gave me through the Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ,
2. My loving and supportive family, (wife, kids, mother, father, brother, sister, etc.)
3. Being raised in a loving, Christian home by a loving mother and father,
4. Living in a great Country,
5. A church and church family that stands on the Solid Rock and unashamedly preaches the Gospel,
6. Family and Friends that pray for me each day,
7. Health,
8. A comfortable home,
9. Plenty of good food and never having to go to bed hungry,
10. Freedoms afforded me by the Constitution and Bill of Rights,
11. Military men and women that made sacrifices so that I can enjoy that blanket of freedom,
I could go on and on and on, but it is getting late.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Checking in on the Fall Garden

Gardening can be a risky enterprise sometimes.  In our side yard, something has been clipping my sugar snap peas and they haven't been able to grow very much.  As soon as they get any new growth, something nibbles it down to the ground.  Rabbits?  Rats?  I figured I would set one of my cage traps that I've had success eradicating all the possums in the neighborhood to catch the culprit.

Yeah...  No.  Cage traps are indiscriminate.  This cat is NOT the culprit, but boy was he mad.  I think it is the neighbor's cat.  With much hissing and discontent by the trapped feline, I was fortunately able to let him out of the trap without him scratching me to ribbons.  I hope my neighbor doesn't notice the cat's scratched up head that he got trying to escape from the cage.  Anyway, we have sugar snap peas trying to grow.

Here is my spinach.  It is young, but I have a 30 foot row of it and it appears to have all germinated.  Spinach is one of those things that is fantastic eaten fresh.  It doesn't even compare to the canned Popeye spinach.

I have two rows of carrots popping up.  There are three varieties planted: Danvers Orange, Cosmic Purple, and Atomic Red.  Our carrots always flat-out produce.  We still have bags of blanched carrots in the freezer from last year's crop.

Several varieties of lettuce are planted.  Here is a red romaine.

Here is a black seeded Simpson:

I like the fall garden because you can pretty much count on less bug pressure.  That isn't always the case.  Worms are eating my chioggia beets, bull's blood beets, and swiss chard like nobody's business!

Not to worry, though.  After we get a cool snap, the beets will put on new leaves and they'll be okay.  We need cool weather.  The bok choy is bolting.  They are wanting to flower and go to seed.  We find this makes the leaves bitter.  Cool weather would slow this down.  It appears to be cooling now, so maybe that will save the bok choy crop.  Otherwise, we'll feed all this to the milk cows.

Finally, we have some red Russian kale.  We only planted a third of a row this year as it is always so prolific.  We find that even though we eat it several times a week, we cannot possibly eat it all.  We give some away and we end up feeding a bunch to the cows.

Next week, perhaps we'll take a look at the tomatoes, okra, radishes, and cole crops. 

Back in The Saddle After a Brief Hiatus

On Sunday and Monday I was in Lafayette, Louisiana at the Cajundome with our Youth Group from church along with 6,000 other students from across Louisiana.  It is an event that we always attend called YEC (Youth Evangelism Conference).  The Garden Baptist Church once again allowed us to spend the night at their church to save money on lodging and we appreciate them!

A gentleman by the name of Clayton King was the primary speaker and he kept the attendees on the edge of their seats with captivating preaching.  The theme of his talks was about deception.  He discussed the lies that we all believe.  He went on to say that, "the lies that you believe are leading you somewhere."

He listed 9 lies that the enemy uses to keep us distracted and away from God:
1. God is mad at me,
2. I can't forgive or be forgiven,
3. Money will solve all of my problems,
4. I'll always be alone and unloved,
5. Sex is no big deal,
6. Good people don't suffer,
7. I can't resist temptation,
8. I can't change,
9. I'll never be happy

As I thought about the list, I think I've believed every single one of them at one point or another.  He told the students that they can overcome and the way we overcome is from 1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Although this blog is normally about some form of agriculture, this post is not.  Or is it?  There was definitely a harvest at YEC!  There were invitations for the youth to come forward after each of four sessions and numerous students responded to the call.  Here are some of the statistics from the conference:

Totals for YEC 2017
Students saved - 325
Rededication - 463
Call to Ministry - 212
Other decisions - 81
TOTAL DECISIONS—1081

I was a counselor during the conference and was able to pray with 4 young men.  Two were wishing to commit their lives to ministry and two were inspired and convicted by the preaching and wished to re-dedicate their lives to Christ.  What a blessing!

At the end of YEC, a Christian group named Building 429 put on a concert.  The kids really enjoyed it.  A high point of the night was when Building 429 played one of their biggest hits called, "Where I Belong."  6,000 kids, while shining the flashlights on their phones, sang the following to the top of their lungs:

All I know is I'm not home yet,

This is not where I belong.

Take this world and give me Jesus,

This is not where I belong.

Seeing the next generation excited about their faith in Christ gives me new found hope for the future!

Running Cross Country

One positive thing about being unemployed is that you are suddenly able to attend all of your kids' events!  This past Monday I was able to make the trip with Tricia to Natchitoches, Louisiana to watch Benjamin run in the State Cross Country Meet.  Natchitoches is the oldest town in Louisiana and was settled in 1714.  It is 144 miles away or 2 1/2 hours by car.  Tricia and I enjoyed the drive up I-49.  We live in very flat terrain and there are actually hills around Natchitoches.

The State Cross Country Meet is held on the pretty campus of Northwestern Louisiana University.  We watched Benjamin and his Hathaway teammates line up.  They are the team in blue in the center of the photo below.

On your mark, get set...

Go!  Ils Sont Partis!  That's French for "They're Off!"

In no time they were out of sight.  We hurried to the edge of the course so we could cheer them on as they ran by again.

Here they came running by.  Benjamin is in the far left of the photo with black socks and blue shirt.  He was looking tired, but determined as he ran past us.

The race follows a course that (true to its name) goes across the countryside before ending in the track stadium.  Benjamin and his teammates did a pretty good job.

It was nice getting a chance to see Benjamin run and cheer him on, showing him our support.  It was nice to also pick up a special treat on our way out of town that afternoon - Natchitoches Meat Pies!!  (Or perhaps in honor of the Cross Country Meet, you could call them 'Meet' Pies?) Ba dum bum...

Delicious!  We bought a box of 10 (6 spicy and 4 mild) and they were all gone the very next day!

Patricia's Pesky Possum

A few nights ago we had separated Clarabelle from her baby calf, Astro, for the first time so that we would get the milk in the morning before Astro drank it all.  Clarabelle woke Tricia up at 1:30 am moo-ing incessantly.  I did not hear her.  An m1a1 Abrams tank could bust through the wall of our bedroom and I would sleep right through it.  Tricia was worried that Clarabelle's hollering would make all of our neighbors hate us so she walked out to the barn at 1:30 am to put the momma and baby together. 

She told me about this the next morning and then told me that while she was out there, she saw a possum in the hen house.  I put traps out to catch the possum, but for the next two consecutive nights we caught nothing in the trap and a possum killed two chickens!  This morning, however, we tasted victory - a big fat possum was caught in the trap!  He was "playing possum," pretending to be asleep.

Ah, but he was not asleep.  As I got closer, he hissed and bared his teeth at me.  I noticed that he had thrashed around in the trap and bent it up and broke the 'flapper' off, but that can be fixed.

I carried the trap with the live possum in it to the garden, which will be the place of interment.  We find that possums add fertility to the soil.  I prepared a shallow grave with a shovel and then had an idea.

I went inside the house and asked Tricia if she'd like to humanely put down 'her' possum.  She's always up for adventure and said, "Sure, why not?"  I got my Marlin .22 rifle down and showed her how to pull the hammer back and fire it and she took care of business.

Tricia's possum will no longer visit the hen house in the middle of the night, striking fear in the hearts of our hens.  The time of death was 8:43 am.

As the dirt was covering the possum, I noticed that the grave was between some Red Romaine lettuce and Bull's Blood Beets and it reminded me of something.

In elementary school we read a very sad novel called "Where the Red Fern Grows."  At the end of the tear-jerker, Billy's dog, 'Old Dan' was killed by a mountain lion and was buried and a red fern grew right near it.  It was a very sad book and the red romaine near the possum's grave reminded me.  One big difference though - I'm not really sad about losing yet another chicken-killer.  Just to be safe, I have the traps set again tonight!

Polishing Up The Resume and Looking For Work

I've been working at a Restoration Company in Lafayette for a little over a year.  My role was General Manager and we were General Contractors that specialized in Water Mitigation and Mold Mitigation.  We also did reconstruction projects involving remodels, fire damage, flood damage, roofing, etc.

My boss owned the franchise that had locations in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.  Three weeks ago I received a call from the owner telling me that he was about to go into a meeting with his staff in Baton Rouge and wanted me to hear the news from him.  He had decided to close the doors of the business in both Baton Rouge and Lafayette.  Therefore, all of us were losing our jobs effective October 31st.  Trick or Treat?  It was not a treat.  I had to let all my employees know the bad news. 

Let me rewind a bit to tell you how things got to this point.  Back in August of 2016, the Baton Rouge/Denham Springs area experienced disastrous flooding.  This flooding caused thousands of people to lose their homes.  It was a catastrophe, to say the least.  For a company that specializes in water damage restoration and repair, you would think that this would be great for business!  In actuality, the opposite is true.  Since we are General Contractors, all of our subcontractors left us and immediately found work directly from the homeowner.  I really can't blame them.  There was more work than workers.

This necessitated us in having to hire new, untested subcontractors and we quickly found that there was a reason that they were unable to find work on their own.  They did shoddy work.  Their poor craftsmanship resulted in us having to hire other subcontractors to come in and fix the work and the materials (paint, drywall, etc.) had to be purchased a second time.  This slowed down the ability to finish work which slowed down payment and all of this resulted in cash flow problems which became insurmountable.

At 51 years of age, this isn't where I thought I'd be - filing for unemployment and looking on Indeed.com and the Louisiana Workforce Commission for work.  I'm also getting my resume out to as many friends that I can.  First and foremost, I'm praying that God directs me to the right job and that I'll have wisdom to hear His voice.  I know He's in control and I know we are going to be okay.

At times like this, I like to do a post-mortem and see if I can learn anything from this.  I learned that I like jobs where you rise or fall based on your own merits.  I am definitely a team player.  However, our "team" consisted of people that did not live by the Golden Rule, they did not have integrity or a commitment to quality.  This forced me to constantly try to go behind them and do my best to 'clean up their messes.'  In the end, the subcontractors were our undoing and it cost all of us our jobs.  I am very far from being anywhere near perfect, but I do have a strong customer service focus, and I had to repeatedly apologize to our customers.  This was very uncomfortable.  I don't regret the last year.  I have grown as a person.  I've learned about construction.  I definitely have thicker skin than I did a year ago! I've learned to ensure that your team is committed to quality and customer service and the bottom line of the company.   I'll keep you posted as my employment situation changes. 

Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum

In a state with quite a few, let's say "colorful" governors, Huey P. Long is right up there at the top.  I can still remember vividly being a small child and going on a field trip to the State Capitol and seeing a bullet hole in the wall from when Huey P. Long was assassinated.

THIS LINK gives some interesting information about the old governor.  Here are some of the more interesting ones:

As part of his state modernization program, Huey Long tripled the size of Louisiana State University (LSU), opening enrollment to all able poor students and building it into one of the finest universities in the South.

In 1928, LSU was a small-time country school that generated little interest or attention in the state. Labeled a “third-rate” institution by the Association of State Universities, the school had only 1800 students, 168 faculty members, and an annual operating budget of $800,000.

In 1930, Huey Long initiated a massive building program on campus to expand the physical plant and add departments. By 1936, LSU had the finest facilities in the South, a top-notch faculty of 394 professors, a new medical school, more than 6,000 students, and a winning football team. In only eight years, it had risen in size from 88th in the nation to 20th, and it was the 11th largest state university in the nation.

To generate excitement for LSU, Long’s first step was to quadruple the size of the marching band (from 28 to 125) and develop a first-rate football team. He became the state’s most prominent ‘Tiger fan’ – coaching plays, giving locker room pep talks and personally recruiting top talent for the team. LSU fever swept the state, as reduced tuition and need-based scholarships allowed students from all regions to flock to Baton Rouge to study.

The photo below shows the governor marching with the band!  If you click the link above, you can read an interesting story about what he did about a circus train and also how he got the entire student body to go to Nashville to cheer the Tigers on to victory against Vanderbilt University in 1934.

Image Credit

A few weeks ago I took Benjamin and a friend of his to an LSU football game.  It was Homecoming and the Tigers really stunk up the place, losing to a team that they shouldn't have lost to.  Many of the fans exited early, but we didn't.  On the bright side, the Golden Band from Tigerland put on the best performance on the field that night, complete with a marching Tiger...

The State of Louisiana with a star marking where Baton Rouge is...

And finally spelling out Louisiana in cursive.  (I thought they don't teach cursive anymore?)...

The band was the bright spot on the night, although I didn't see the current governor marching with the band!