Duck Hunting and Tragedy in the Garden

One of the things I have enjoyed about COVID is all the time I get to spend with my kids.  Just this morning the three of us went duck hunting on San Francisco Bay.  Much fun.  Also very important since Anselm is leaving for the Navy in 4 months.   Last night after dinner (They spent the night since we had to leave the house before dawn this morning.) we talked about stewardship and the importance of planning giving and not just handing out money to everyone who asks for it.  (Because they are inexperienced and have very few financial needs, young sailors and soldiers are often targeted by various charities.) So I told him about the OCMC and FOCUS:NA, and encouraged him to talk with our priest about other giving opportunities before he leaves to go to be a submariner.  I also made sure the boys saw me write 3 checks to our parish for various things.  I explained to them what the checks were for, and told them about Malachi 3:8-10.  And I talked with them about God's mercy because when we give money to the poor r to the Church, or do charities we will often do it then think of ourselves as good men for doing it, or how we've done it hoping someone will see us do it and thing highly of us  - that even the good things we do are polluted by sin.  Thus we ask God to show us His mercy.  As for ducks there were none, and the geese were flying too high to shoot.  But it was a good time boating around on the bay.

A few days ago Kathleen and I started a bunch more seeds in little pots.  Most of them have sprouted.  Altogether we have almost two hundred little seedlings of various kinds.  But now we have a problem:  I wrote the names of each kind and variety we planted on the outside of each of the little bio-degradable pots. Why is that a problem?  Because when watered the pots begin to decompose and I can no longer read what I wrote on more than 70% of the pots.  I planted six varieties of squash in about 25 pots but have no idea exactly which variety is in which pot.  I have the same situation with cukes, melons, zukes, peas, and tomatoes.  The only things I know for sure are black beauty eggplants and burley tobacco because those are the only varieties we planted of eggplant and tobacco. We'll just have to wait a few months to see what grows on all the other plants.

Christmas and After

On Christmas morning we went to church.  Because of Covid the service was held outside.  And because of a forecast of rain only a dozen people were there.  But that worked out perfectly because I only had a dozen fruit cakes to giveaway.  The boys had gone to Confession a few days before so they were able to go to Communion.

After church we went home an I cooked the Christmas sausage while every one opened presents.  That evening we had a crown pork roast for dinner.

On the third day of Christmas I baked three French hens.  It's noting too fancy, just chickens covered in butter and herbs du Provence. 

Kathleen and I wend duck hunting at Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge.  (I know it sounds weird to hunt at a wildlife refuge but the refuge was created to protect only two species, neither of which is a duck.)  We were only out for an hour because I didn't feel well (I hurt my neck and, as a result, had horrible pain in my shoulder and arm.  Had to get and MRI and then drugs.  The drugs made me sick and I spent 5 days mostly in bed. Only yesterday afternoon did I start to feel better.) but we still managed to shoot one pintail.  We could have had two but I missed a shot.

Kathleen got us a green house to start seeds in.  Remember a few weeks ago when we started seeds indoors?  Well of those 32 little seed starting cells eleven germinated.  We transplanted those eleven in to cow pots and moved them into the little green house.  We also sewed a bunch of seeds in cow pots and put them in the little green house. 

Tomatoes:  Paul Robeson, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Wood's Famous Brimmer, and Bush Goliath

Cucumber: Solly Beiler and Yamato Sanjaku

Squash: Hybrid Gold Rush

In the ground where we grew radishes in the fall we planted a row of purple kohlrabi, and along the fence where we have poppies and lots of bulbs, we transplanted milkweed (a gift from a friend), and sewed seeds for bee balm and butterfly weed.

The kale we planted a couple of months ago is doing amazing.  I just used a basket full of it, together with the last of the Christmas sausage, to make a very yummy soup.