Three Things

First Observation:    It's been very hot and humid the past few days, but walking around the back yard I got to thinking about the very cold winter that we've had that killed all of our tangerine trees, our lemon tree and a satsuma tree.  It really played a number on our citrus.  Only one of our citrus trees survived.  It is a naval orange.  Although the orange tree survived, it was so injured by the freeze last year that it didn't blossom or fruit.  But early this spring, the fragrant blossoms filled the tree and fruit filled the branches.

We have a long ways to go until the naval oranges are ripe and a lot can happen between then and now, but it looks like we'll have a good orange crop for a change.  We did buy some replacement fruit trees to make up for the ones we lost.  Earlier this spring I planted a Satsuma, a Meyer Lemon and a Blood Orange.

Observation #2:    Speaking of blood oranges, Tricia was making something in the kitchen that was red like blood.  She's making a red velvet cake made with the last of the beets from the fall crop.  No food coloring in this cake.  It gets its color from the beets!  It tastes nothing like beets - just moist, delicious chocolate.  If your kids don't like vegetables, this is how you sneak some in!  They'll never know.

Final Observation:    I had a critter follow me home the other night when I was out walking.  It wasn't a raccoon.  It was this:

She's kind of cute.  We already have a cat named Ginger.  This kitten and Ginger don't get along very well.  There's been some hissing going on.  Tricia thinks we need a "barn cat" to keep the rate population under control.  We'll see how this goes.  We're going to wait a few days to see if she sticks around before we name her.  So far, we call her, "Kitty Kitty," but Matilda is probably on the top of the list of potential names.

She follows us around everywhere, even trying to come indoors.  We don't do indoor pets.  Kitty Kitty is not potty trained and has the garage smelling quite... aromatic, you might say.  Tricia got a box and filled it with dirt to see if she'd figure out it is her bathroom.  Like I said, this is a probationary period for Kitty Kitty.  She needs to work harder at making a good first impression.