August 1, 2021- a new beginning

August-it seems like the season has slipped away. But a new month always brings a chance for...something new.

Look at this wonderful combination. Phlox are suppose to do well in a time without much rain. They are showing that.

It is Saturday morning and I am up ridiculously early again. (4:30) It will not be light enough to go outside for an hour. 

I pronounce my back "better". It really is better. I said goodbye to the chiropractor on Thursday. No more appointments. I have ended my weight restrictions and am ready to garden. The weeds will have to find someplace else for a while. I have a bucket ready to fill in both the front yard and back yard.

If only it would rain. We are at 16 days of no rain and counting. It actually is sprinkling at the moment. But the radar shows the significant rain going south of us. At least someplace is getting some relief. But we should not complain. Mostly the grass is green. That is certainly different from some years on August 1. (update- there was not enough rain to pour out of a bucket.)

It has cooled off. The windows are open which is why I can hear the occasional drip. There were days earlier this week when the windows  stayed shut. Of course when the windows are open that just means the pollen will come in. It seems like ragweed season has begun.

But August is a new month. We will actually travel for the first time since 2019 this month. Remember travel. When I had the car serviced I explained that in 18 months I could remember going to Cedar Rapids once. (25 miles) We did go to Dubuque last summer. (90 miles) But in two weeks we will be in Maine, attending Maisy's baptism, and seeing Christopher, Katie and Elizabeth too. Of course that means leaving our bubble. There is that whole virus variant resurgence thing. One of these days I will have to think about elections and bad governors. Not today.

Pictures- Flowers-

The star at the moment is the hibiscus Starry Starry Night. If you had to identify plants in August it would be the hardy  hibiscus.

We got SSN two years ago. I saw it at a local nursery. I took its picture along with the tag with information. I went home, and had a short cooling off period.  I went back and bought it within 24 hours. The cooling off period gave me a chance to think about where I would put it.

This plant, named for the Don McLean song, has come back each of the last two years. It seems to get bigger each year. 

This next picture of SSN shows once cluster of buds, showing the cycle, from bud to flower to spent flower. The individual flower lasts one day. There are perhaps 6-8 buds per cluster, with 8 clusters. I write that down so I can compare it to next year.

And yes, that is a Japanese beetle on the flower. Neem oil seems to keep them away. Maybe their season is ending. I really did not have much damage.

The first flower was on Wednesday. We will see how long the plant blooms. My guess is about two weeks. The hibiscus are one of the primary August flowers. Name two others. It is kind of hard. Annuals and carryovers do not count.

There were 4 flowers on Friday.

There were 7 flowers on Saturday.

Other Pictures

This is the flower of the sansevieria plant, or snake plant, or mother-in-law tongue. This particular plant is ancient. It is a low light plant when it comes inside. It is great for a corner of a room.

5:35 am- I hear more of what could now be described as drizzle. I could actually get wet if I tried to go outside now. 

You can just begin to see some light. Speaking of light, yesterday was strange. It was gray out, apparently from wildfires. That could get me back to elections and bad governors but I will stop that. I will get to how else yesterday was strange later.

I have been watering, with the wand and the watering can. I have not yet just turning on the  sprinklers. (That will probably be this week. There is no rain in the forecast.) 

Water on flowers can be so attractive, even if it is from the wand.  This is Tiger Kitten again.

The tillandsia bloomed this past week. Before that it was just turning red. I completely endorse these little globes of plants, if you can find them.

More pictures

This is a dendrobium orchid. It bloomed despite taking some abuse. Most orchids really are tough.

Mary- this is Sue's geranium. Too many flowers to count.

The not hardy hibiscus was doing well this week.

Yellow Pinwheel was quite ...yellow this week. This could be thought of as a focal point plant. 

                                                                Julia's recipe

Vaguely Asian noodles

This is an adaptation of a recipe from the NYTimes cooking website. It's fast and tasty. The original recipe was fussier than this, but my version is very good and does not require either a wok or any especially exotic ingredients. 

The ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground pork;

1 pkg. soba noodles;

3 heads (is that the term?) baby bok choy;

4 tablespoons soy sauce (divided);

1-1/2 teaspoon rice wine (or sherry);

1 teaspoon cornstarch;

2 tablespoons regular oil;

2 tablespoons chicken stock (made with "better than bouillon" concentrate); 

a bit of salt and pepper. 

First I mixed up the 2 sauces, one for the pork and one for the end when the dish comes together. 

The sauce for the pork was 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1-1/2 teaspoon of rice wine, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water. I stirred them up and added the ground pork. I let that sit while I did the rest of the prep. 

The other sauce was 3 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons chicken stock, which I stirred together in a separate bowl. One good thing about better than bouillon is that it dissolves pretty readily even in cold water. Then I prepped the bok choy by washing it, cutting the bottoms off and slicing the leaves and stems into strips/slices.

I put a pot of water on for the noodles (with some salt in the water). Then I poured 1 tablespoon of oil into a skillet. I dumped in the pork (marinade and all) and cooked the pork on medium heat until it was done (no longer pink), then put it in a bowl. 

When the water came to a boil, I added the soba noodles. The pork is seen in the skillet, almost done. 

An action video of soba noodles boiling in the pot of water in a remarkable way. 

When the noodles were done, I drained them, heated 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet (that the pork had been in) and dumped the noodles in, followed by the soy sauce mixture. Again I used medium heat. I stirred it up.

Then I added the bok choy and stirred that around for a bit to let the bok choy wilt a little. I sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper over the bok choy which needed some seasoning.

Lastly I added the pork back to the pan and stirred it around for a few minutes.  

Here it is in the serving dish. It was a pleasant contrast of colors and textures and flavors. And it took less than 30 minutes to get to the table. 

I changed the recipe up, making it simpler and using what I had. How so? 

The original recipe called for a 1/2 lb. piece of pork to be cut into matchsticks. Ground pork was great, and no cutting into pieces. The original recipe called for two different kinds of soy sauce - light and dark. I looked at both the co-op and Hy-Vee, but no dice. So I used regular soy sauce. The original recipe called for a particular kind of Chinese wine. I had rice wine (mirin). And the original recipe called for Shanghai or udon noodles. I had soba, which I liked the color and taste of. Not to mention the amazing show they put on in the boiling water. 

Odds and Ends

Let me tell you about the news from the neighborhood. Two doors down from us is a house without a lot of yard care. The people who live there have some health problems so the condition of the yard is understandable.

Well, on Thursday we saw a truck parked in front with a sign saying something like "goats on the go." Friday morning we noticed that a temporary fence had been constructed, which was electrified. Maybe you know what is coming.

When I came home for lunch there must have been 25 goats in the yard. Needless to say it was quite the attraction. Those goats did quite a job on the plants in that yard.

The goats stayed until late in the day Saturday.

It really was a neighborhood attraction.

Stay cool.

Philip