April 12, 2019 · Filed under Plant Suggestions, plants · Tagged amaryllis at the base
If you look carefully at the photo above you can see that two of my amaryllis bulbs have flowered at the base (the one on the far left and the one in the center). The buds seem normal but they have failed to put up a normal stem. I searched the internet for a reason to explain this behavior and found an answer telling me it might be because of uneven watering, but these same bulbs put out normal stems for the second flowering and the watering for all is pretty much the same, so far as I can tell. Do any of you have any ideas about why this is happening?
March 16, 2019 · Filed under Creative stuff, Food Suggestions
Green tomato mince”meat” pie (the meat is in quotes for Carla and Rick who insist mincemeat be made with meat).
March 12, 2019 · Filed under cold frame uses, Food Suggestions, Garden Experience, Plant Suggestions · Tagged lettuce in cold frame, overwintering lettuce
I’ve been nursing these seedlings all winter in the cold frame and at last they are beginning to take off. I planted them too late last fall to have the winter harvest I had hoped for but soon we’ll have early spring lettuce to enjoy. I lost two plants over the winter but we’ve had some pretty cold spells, temps in the single digits, so I’m very happy with them. On those extremely cold nights I put in a gallon jug of hot water and on nights below 20º, I covered the cold frame with a movers quilt.
December 23, 2018 · Filed under Food Suggestions, Recipes · Tagged Ponderosa lemon cake, Ponderosa lemon curd, Ponderosa Lemon Marmalade, What to do with your Ponderosa lemons
This little tree has given me two lemons this year! I’ve set a normal sized lemon in the pot so you can appreciate the size of these behemoths. I haven’t quite decided what to do with this bounty. I could make lemon curd as I did in 2014. Here’s the link to that post for full directions. Here’s the link to the lemon cake I made to accompany that lemon curd. Or I could make lemon marmalade as I describe fully in this post from 2012. The 2012 post shows my little tree in its youth, just a stick and yet it gave me one big lemon that year. It has continued to bless me each year and it’s always fun to make something special to celebrate its effort. (I’m leaning toward the marmalade…)
December 13, 2018 · Filed under animals, fox with mange, Mange in Red Fox, Medicating red fox for mange · Tagged ivermectin for mange in red fox
I’ve decided that our fox is cured of mange. Here’s the fox getting the hot dog and looking just as fluffy as the other fox with the exception of the tip of its tail. I’ve decided that it is probably permanently damaged. I ended up successfully administering six doses of Ivermectin, falling between the veterinarian’s recommended three doses and the eight doses recommended by a British Fox Preservation Association on line. I’ll continue putting out hot dogs for a while at least.
Here’s my first shot of our mangy fox taken on September 20th. I feel so good!
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November 25, 2018 · Filed under animals, fox with mange, Medicating red fox for mange · Tagged Ivermectin for red fox, nature
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Well, last night was the night for the 6th dose. As you can see, a fox got the hot dog (left), but not the fox I wanted to get the hot dog (right). This does, however, give me a useful comparison for how far “my” fox needs to go before he is truly recovered. I’m beginning to wonder if the end of his tail is permanently damaged as it’s still just the bony end I see. He is looking a lot better now. I thought of him in his den, snugly wrapped in his new tail during these past two frigid nights. I’ll try again tonight with the medication. If the other fox has any mange, I suppose it’s a good thing he got the dose.
November 22, 2018 · Filed under Food Suggestions, Recipe · Tagged cranberry tart, lemon curd using cranberries
This is my adaptation of the recipe in the NY Times cooking section, Cranberry Curd Tart
I changed it in several respects. I used almond meal instead of doing all the stuff with hazelnuts and I didn’t strain it (but I did use my immersion blender and pureed the heck out of it). I found it took a little longer to cook than they recommend. I made one on Tuesday just to be sure it worked out OK and it was delicious. I even had enough ingredients left over to make 2 dozen tartlets! These along with our squash rolls will be my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner at our middle son and daughter-in-law’s house (plus I am to make the gravy). Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
November 14, 2018 · Filed under animals, fox with mange, Mange in Red Fox · Tagged ivermectin for mange in red fox
I was finally successful in getting the 5th dose to the fox and look how much better he looks! It’s very gratifying. The Ivermectin seems to have been very effective. I still have enough in the bottle for about 250 more doses…
November 2, 2018 · Filed under animals, fox with mange, Mange in Red Fox, Medicating red fox for mange
Here is the fox getting the fourth dose of Ivermectin and looking ever so much better. My issue now is whether or not to buy another package of hot dogs to keep going on the dosage every ten days. I have five left from the latest package but it is a challenge to get the hot dog to the fox with all the other critters that have discovered the nightly bounty. We now have an extremely healthy looking cat coming regularly in addition to the rats and raccoons. On first glance I thought this might be another fox because of the bushy tail but the coloration is wrong.
I’m not sure what to do. The way mange works is that the adults lay the eggs under the skin and eggs hatch out in about 10 days. The Ivermectin taken by mouth apparently kills only the adults. This is why you wait and give the medication at 10 to 14 day intervals, so all the egg stages are killed. I just don’t know if I’ve killed all the adults and there are no remaining eggs to hatch.
October 27, 2018 · Filed under animals, fox with mange, Mange in Red Fox · Tagged Medicating a wild fox
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We have not been able to get a fourth dose into the fox as other animals have beaten it to the hot dog (last night the rat again). When I compare the first dose picture (left) with last night, I do think I see improvement. The vet told me that the three doses he has received would be enough but other sources on the internet say as many as eight are needed since it isn’t a subcutaneous application. I’ll keep trying. I guess the worst that can happen is that the rats and raccoons won’t have mange.
A Naturalist's Table 