Cats and Cucumbers

We never had a cat since we prefer dogs. A friend of ours has two Burmese cats and he shared a photo of one of them that recently got clipped to look like a lion due to a coat problem. That reminded us of an article my husband saw about cats being afraid of cucumbers accompanied by several videos of cats jumping and scared when they saw a cucumber. So we asked our friend if his cats were afraid of cucumbers. He said he didn’t know but would find out. He sent us videos of both cats passing by the cucumbers without hardly noticing - more like ignoring them. That was a failed experiment. So he said he would try it with his son’s three cats and sent back videos of their reactions. They too ignored the cucumber - even when the whole family was participating in the experiment. All the while we were having a very fun back and forth over two days. It takes something as stupid as this to lift the spirits these days. In the end I don’t know why cats are afraid of cucumbers because five out of five ignored it. But it was a reminder that maybe slowly life will return back to normal. We have stayed more connected with friends over this kind of stupid stuff than ever before. It’s nice to have people around us who are as interested in pursuing weird ideas as we are. That’s what friends are for. 

The Vegetable Garden

We put the tomato plants in a few weeks ago on our tiny patio garden. The cucumbers were not yet available so we left a spot for them later. Since most of May was very cold and dreary, neither of the two tomato plants progressed very far. So finally after three weeks of dreariness, the sun came out and we headed to the nursery to pick out a couple cucumber plants. It's amazing what a couple days of heat does for the tomatoes! One of the plants is doing much better than the other, and has flowers blooming. The cucumber leaves are already sprouting. And rather than have the vines grow on the ground, we rigged up a trellis of sorts to get them to make their way towards the top of the fence. That way they won't get lost in the weeds and we can keep a better eye on them. We always had a garden in Milwaukee, but it was on the north side of the house and the growing season was more limited. The last couple of years have not been nice to the tomatoes. Our crops were stifled by extreme heat so it will be interesting to see how things go this time. Hopefully we will at least get something out of it. There's nothing better than a fresh tomato and cucumber right off the vine. We are really looking forward to it! It's nice to have a tiny space to live and plant in an urban environment. It just feels more like home. 

Cucumbers Appearing Out of NoWhere

At the start of summer we usually plant one or two cucumber vines, and this year was no exception. The only difference was rather than let them crawl around the garden floor, I made a ladder for them to climb on. The results are amazing! They eagerly grabbed on to the ladder steps and string, and reached the top of the fence in a very short time. The leaves are twice the size of my hands, and the bees are busily pollinating the myriad of yellow flowers that appeared in short order. So far we've had at least sixteen to twenty wonderful cucumbers. Every day we check the vine and have a pretty good idea about how many to expect the next day. But it never fails that we either miss one or two, or they are hiding behind we don't know what. Every day at least one appears out of nowhere. When the vines were left to their own accord crawling along the flower bed, it was more understandable to suddenly come upon a hidden delight. But these cucumbers are practically out in the wide open and they still just appear. In Milwaukee we had a vegetable garden that was much larger with a lot more vegetables. But we never had this kind of result. It's nice to know one can actually enjoy most of the things we liked about living in a full sized house and yard in a tiny condo and patio. But this has to be one of the most delicious!

The Vegetable Garden

In Wisconsin we always had a garden. There were several flower beds, pots, and window boxes. We have a nice sized patio garden here. Since we moved, we planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant. Some years have been more successful than others. Because the space was getting overwhelming to manage, we decided to put in some grass against the wall, but still maintain enough garden space for perennials, a couple pots for annuals, and a little space for vegetables. Our one tomato plant is thriving in the usual spot. Those early girls have two tomatoes in process and several buds. This year we  We attempted planting a pea vine. It started out in a pot next to a trellis but started to lose its freshness after a couple weeks. So we transplanted the vine to the fence side - in the dirt - and made a stringed trellis for it to grab on to. It doesn't matter if it grows anymore since we have at least one pea pod in sight. My husband would be devastated if it didn't do well. He's a man of few rather than many things, and each one is dearly cared for - even if it's a tiny pea pod.