FAT CAT

What a difference a few months can make in a cat's life. Ragu has fattened up, so much so that she is now in line for a visit to the vet. We hope Ragu is not prego, if you know what I mean. She sure has an appetite, though, and it's not quite clear to us if she is or isn't. No doubt we will find out soon enough, whether she goes to the vet or not. At this point, I'd rather find out we've been feeding a tape worm, disgusting as the thought may be.

FROM RAGS TO RICHES

She wandered into our back yard in July, weak, sick, and apparently homeless. I made ten copies of this picture and posted them in strategic places all over the neighborhood.

I called her Esperanza, a reflection of my high hopes that she would soon be reunited with her owners.

Several weeks went by, and it became apparent that no one was going to claim the waif. I scratched the name Esperanza and named her Ragu instead. I sometimes call her Rags.

The haunted look in Ragu's eyes is gone. No more bony ribs or rickety legs to tell the story of her journey before she found a sucker, namely me. Now she is fat and round, and full of vim and vigor. Not even the dogs will have much to do with her.

IT'S ABOUT TIME

Last post: July 10, 2008.
Heavens, where does time go? Has it been that long? Have I nothing to say in my defense? I have answers to all the above querries.
Time flies. Though it may seem like only a few weeks, it has actually been almost two months since my last entry. I've been busy elsewhere, doing a little of this and a little of that, none of it making me a penny richer, but keeping me well occupied.
I've heard that time is worth its weight in gold. It weighs heavily on me, time does, so I hope it's as valuable as they claim it to be. Time is an investment in the future, and as an aspiring writer, I must believe this or I am doomed. I have to believe that the time I spend writing is time that will eventually pay off. Whether it will or not is beside the point. Thing is, I have to believe it will, otherwise I'm wasting my time.

ABOUT NOSES

Who knows? This flower nose. Please enlarge the picture by clicking on the image and see for yourself what I'm talking about. I mean, did you ever see a flower with a nose like this? Ever see a flower with a nose at all? I took this picture while Carlos and I were in Brownsville, navigating through cousin Rupert's amazing garden.

SALSA TIME

Apparently you weren't impressed by the size of our zucchini. I figure I would've heard at least a peep out of someone had the case been otherwise.
Maybe this piece of tomato art on our windowsill will impress you. If you could ignore the window splatters in the background and concentrate on the size and variety of our prolific crop this year, you would be impressed. Nearby, in a large stainless steel colander, are the rest of the tomatoes, too many to stack up.
The largest tomato so far weighed in at fifteen ounces. If that doesn't impress you, let me put it another way: it is one ounce shy of a pound. I'm telling you, it's impressive!

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING

This photo hardly does justice to the size and girth of this squash. I swear it happened overnight, while we were sleeping. It's too big to bring home and cook, so I'll let it grow to maturation and harvest the seeds for next year's planting. No telling how big it'll be when that time arrives, but you can bet I'll keep you posted.

Bountiful Earth

This is what spring planting is all about. Even though we gripe about the endless work a vegetable garden requires, we come home with big smiles and even bigger plans for a feast when harvest time arrives. Now we can sit back and watch our veggies grow, pull a stray weed or two out of the ground, and enjoy the fruits of our hard labor.