Garden Mystery solved

Ugh! This summer I planted tomatoes and peppers and while the plants themselves grew they weren't bearing any fruit. Even though they were watered, fertilized and gently coaxed along I got nothing... Then, about two weeks ago I noticed a few little flowers and even a couple "baby" tomatoes I was so excited - I thought better late than never.
Tonight I went out to check on my plants and to my disgust I saw this:

Then this:

Then this:

These disgusting things aren't small either - they are like FOUR INCHES LONG!!! And they have a big pointy horn at one end. Can you see it? EWWWWW!
I ran in the house to see if they were dangerous or poisonous and the answer is No. They are tomato hornworms and are sometimes confused with tobacco hornworms. They turn into huge moths after a little while. Apparently one of those things can defoliate a large plant in no time at all. And guess what they like to eat besides tomatoes? Yep - peppers. So, no homegrown tomatoes or peppers for us this year but at least the hornworms were well fed.
Doug picked off about six before I got a bucket and picked off another 13 and put them in a bucket. Who knows how many more are out there that I couldn't see.
The predators of hornworms are wasps. We had tons of wasps this summer until I mulched really well and covered up all the mud. Now the wasps are gone but we have hornworms. If you ask me, I think I'll take the hornworms. At least they don't divebomb and they don't sting.
Oh the joys of gardening.

Look what I got!

I know right now she looks a little rough but I'm going to fix her up. Somewhere in blog land I saw where someone found a dress form all beat up (even worse than this) and used Rigidwrap to smooth out any imperfections. After she's looking more smooth, I may or may not cover her with either linen or burlap - I'll see how the Rigidwrap treatment turns out.
She is on a very nice, very solid pedestal that I have plans to paint to better suit my taste.
The best part is that I found her at a little thrift store for $10.00! Yep ~ $10.00! One of the employees grumbled that I should have paid alot more for her but I just smiled as I waltzed my soon to be beautiful dress form right out the door.
I've been doing some crafting and a few projects so stay tuned...

My garden needs help.

I had big plans for the backyard once the patio was finished. I dug, hauled dirt, planted, watered, fertilized, weeded and overall busted my back for these beds. I dreamed of lots of juicy tomatoes, delicious herbs, beautiful flowers and lush landscaping. Well, I ended up with NO tomatoes - the plants grew big and strong but not one single tomato. I planted peppers - no peppers. I did get some basil but what good is that with no tomatoes? Even the flowers struggled to just survive in the devastating heat we have had since the end of June.

In fact, one beautiful evergreen didn't make it and I'm doing my best to keep the other two alive. Ugh.

Once the weather cools off a little bit I'll be back out there digging up what didn't survive and replacing those things with stronger varieties.

On the bright side, we've had a bunch of hummingbirds this year and the view of these feeders from the window has been spectacular! They seem to love diving through the mist when the sprinklers are on and they are very territorial of their nectar. It's been so much fun!

Golf Tourney and Cancelled Flaming Lips...

(Karpy, Smo, Pate, Douglas)
Well the Golf Tourney went off without a hitch and was a great time for everyone despite the 115 degree heat that day. I stayed for the first half and took a bunch of pictures of everyone then I had to head home to ice down the beer and get the food ready.

(Chip, JT, Sherb & Royboy)

(Darrell, Frank, Defreese, Rice)

(Neil Shindler, Smokebelly, John Feary, Greg Cross, Humble's Boy, Adam)
Afterwards the guys came back to the house to eat and shower to get ready for the Brady District Block Party with the Flaming Lips. We have had these unbelievable temperatures and no rain for over 35 days now but on Saturday night we got a freak storm that passed through and collapsed the stage just prior to the show. According to the Flaming Lips camp, they had a ton of damage and their electronic light wall was destroyed. This is the electronic wall at last year's Flaming Lips New Years Eve Party:

Luckily no one was hurt but they lost almost a million dollars of equipment. We don't know yet if the concert will be rescheduled and the guys were so bummed out to miss the show but at least they had a great golf tournament.

What's Up?

What funny bears!
It's rare that we can capture all of them on the back of the couch at once. If we are eating, usually at least two are at our feet hoping for crumbs to drop.
From Left to right is Phoebe, Teddy, Nestle and Niles.
It's been a crazy busy week trying to get ready for Doug's golf tournament tomorrow but we did manage to cross a few more things off the list like:

Ceiling fan bought and installed in laundry room
Ceiling fan bought and installed on back porch
Mulched all the garden beds in the back yard
Bought and hung a huge mirror in the kitchen behind the table
Bought two new lamps for the living room.
Washed the windows on the back side of the house.

*and* we've had exhausting temperatures upwards of 105 degrees for the past month or so. One day it actually hit 115. That is crazy!

Busy day tomorrow - Doug's golf tournament, friends over for a party after, a "reunion" party with the people we went to the BVI with, then the Brady District for the Flaming Lips Block Party! I'd better go get some sleep...