CrabAppleLane Blog

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CrabAppleLane Tomato/Eggplant Garden - May 11, 2008

CrabAppleLane Tomatoes - May 11, 2008

First things first.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

After some early haircuts yesterday morning, we decided to stop and get some breakfast at the Abita Cafe in downtown Abita Springs, LA. Quite good. Recommended. Abita Springs is a quirky little town about 15 miles south of CrabAppleLane and we just love it. However, there was one quirk that everyone could do without and that was the traffic light. Northbound Hwy 59 traffic had to turn left in town at the light in order to continue northbound. These are all single-lane highways. The problem was that the southbound traffic was usually heavy at the light and only one or two northbound cars were able to make the turn and they were blocking all of the vehicles behind them. All of the southbound traffic was getting through but the heavier northbound traffic would get severely backed up. It was a nightmare, particularly after Katrina when all of the traffic in this area was doubled.

Cool sign - Abita Springs, LA - May 10, 2008To the rescue: A traffic circle (I believe they call them roundabouts in England). I remember when this was being built and I remember all of the talk about it. It was going to confuse people, cause accidents, and was simply not going to solve the problem. The naysayers could cite the traffic circles at the foot of both sides of the Huey P Long Bridge as evidence that Louisianians don't do well with them and it is very compelling evidence. Those were poorly designed and create as many problems as they solve. Planners in Abita Springs proceeded anyway and construction was completed. It has been thoroughly effective. I doubt anyone expected it to be as wildly successful and popular as it has been. Kudos to everyone responsible.

116 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

I'll take any free ball I can get. I'll give it to my kid. Let him go play with it somewhere.

Greg Maddux, San Diego Padres

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "But if it helps to appease the fence fetishists out there, it's less objectionable than some other options. That's the best I can say about it at this time."

GO Hornets. That young team is doing this area proud. They've got game.

Had planed to do yardwork this weekend but a torrential rain that started Friday night and ended Saturday around mid-afternoon has prevented it. It was like this last weekend, too. There is standing water everywhere here. There will be mosquitoes. The sun is out today and it’s been hot and muggy all day. I blame JazzFest. They bring this kind of weather every year. I offer one from the CrabAppleLane backyard today.

CrabAppleLane Oleander - May 4, 2008

123 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

That hustle and that decision making they had kicked our butts.

Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs Head Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Coffee Art"

Cool beans. -Rob

The first Saturday in May. First leg of the Triple Crown. Run for the Roses. The Kentucky Derby. CrabAppleLane goes for three in a row. I had Barbaro (WOW, has it really been two years already?) in 2006 and Street Sense last year. Full disclaimer: I know almost nothing about horses. I am strictly a casual fan. That said, it says here that Colonel John will cross the finish line first. Bet any house you have to lose.

Not many people giving the Hornets much of a chance against the Spurs in the playoffs. Appropriately so, I think. The Spurs are the gold standard. Go Hornets.

125 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

The Hornets have me believing, though again I am picking against them in the next round, this time against those Spurs.

Sam Smith, MSNBC.com

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "We're still cursing here. Let's get that straight right from the beginning."

So the plan was for me to pick up lunch in the McDonald's drive-thru and join Patsy in Bogue Falaya Park. All was going according to plan. There's one vehicle, a van, in front of me and he's just finished placing his order. He pulls forward, I start to pull forward, and ... crash-boom-bang ... there's a guy on the ground in front of the van. What happened? Did the van hit him? He's struggling to get up but a McDonald's employee is there asking him to stay down. I figure this might take a while to sort out so I get out of the drive-thru, park, and go inside.

Eventful lunch - April 28, 2008As I come out with our order, I see a fire truck, two fire department pickups, and an ambulance (You can't see it here but it's behind the fire truck). A co-worker of Patsy's, who happened to be there at the same time, heard the guy was an AC repairman and had actually fallen off of the roof. He seemed to be OK and I surely hope he is. Wonder what the fire truck was for.


My friend the pine warbler Northern Parula - April 28, 2008This little pine warbler Northern Parula entertained us throughout lunch flitting and flying back and forth between my truck mirror and the door glass. He was seeing his reflection in both. He would repeat this cycle a few times, fly up into the trees, and then come back and try the other side. He was cheerily singing the whole time ... trying to impress that handsome fella in the mirror, I suppose.

Not much of an NBA fan but I'm enjoying the New Orleans Hornets playoff run right now. I think they'll close out the Mavericks tonight. Judging by the few columns I've read in the Dallas Morning News, I think most of Dallas agrees.

128 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Well, Pargo used to be a no-name. Now he's a well known Mavs killer.

Tim McMahon, Dallas Morning News

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "You know the Mavs are in trouble when Sherrington, who pumped some serious sunshine (and took a hurtful shot at a certain blogger) before the series, waves the white flag."

Happy Birthday, Dad.

We watched Midnight this morning mainly because there was not much else to do. It’s been a miserable weekend here. Rained most of the day yesterday and all day today. Unlike my dad and my wife, I’m not an old movie fan. There are some classics that I still enjoy but most old movies distract me with their technical shortcomings. Midnight had a few of those but they were forgivable mainly because Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore are film treasures. They were delightful. Don Ameche put forth a good effort but was simply overmatched. Colbert is certainly one of the best film comediennes of her generation, up there with Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy, and Katharine Hepburn. It was introduced on Turner Classic Movies by Robert Osborne and he compared it to classic screwball comedies, It Happened One Night and Bringing Up Baby. Not so sure about that. It didn't have that kind of frenetic pace. For what it's worth, I think Bringing Up Baby overdid the zany. Midnight doesn't quite rise to the level of It Happened One Night (How many do?) but it gave a good effort.

I offer one from the CrabAppleLane backyard.

CrabAppleLane tomatoes on a dark, dreary Sunday - April 27, 2008

130 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

From the moment you looked at me, I had an idea you had an idea.

Eve Peabody, Midnight

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Red Bull in Hungary makes you wish you had never seen this image. Scrubbing your eyeballs doesn't work, I tried."

The name of the blog tells you everything you need to know. -Rob

I just finished watching the final episode of HBO’s John Adams last night. It featured stirring music, breathtaking period scenery, great performances, and compelling subject matter. I didn't read the David McCullough book that the mini-series is based on so I don't know how true they are to it but I think the filmmakers did justice to the history. John and Abigail Adams were a team in every sense of the word and that was conveyed appropriately here by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Tom Wilkinson's Ben Franklin and David Morse's George Washington are wonderful. Stephen Dillane's Thomas Jefferson was a bit too reticent, I think, but that's a minor quibble. Although I found it very slow at times, it is very much worth seeing. The final episode was excellent. The portrayal of an early 1800s mastectomy was grueling to watch ... or think about for that matter. See it if you can.

135 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Half-fed slaves building our nation's Capitol. What possible good can come from such a place?

Abigail Adams, John Adams

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Maybe the rest of you aren't reading the same economic news that I am. Because Festivus will say that the Federal Reserve is just a conspiracy theory and that we're really spending Confidence-backed Audacity Notes (hoping for change). And Harsh will say this is just a cyclical downturn, an extended correction, not a recession, and certainly not what we used to call an inflationary depression."

Congrats to brother-in-law, Phil of Phil's Grill, who got a ringing endorsement from New Orleans Hornets center, Tyson Chandler, in a recent Times-Picayune article. I second that endorsement. The burgers there are excellent. Phil is an owner in one of the CrabAppleLane Fantasy Football Leagues. He's got some game.

The backyard is hustling and bustling this gorgeous Sunday at CrabAppleLane. The feeders are being overrun by beautiful songbirds. I have at least two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in the area right now. They have a very high-pitched, very sweet song. I think they're just passing through like they did last year but they're not particularly camera-shy as you can see. They take full advantage of all of the CrabAppleLane Backyard amenities, too. One of them was splashing a cardinal in the birdbath yesterday. I was not quick enough to the camera for that bit of mischief, though. I have a few noisy, cantankerous birds in the area as well. The ruby-throated hummingbirds are busy as are the red-bellied woodpeckers, tufted titmouses (titmice?), and black-capped chickadees but the noisiest & most cantankerous title goes to the Carolina wrens. They've been badgering me to get off of THEIR deck all morning. I also have a few Indigo Buntings hanging around. They're very shy. I haven't seen them this morning (Update: 11:54AM ... spotted) ... and, finally, the CrabAppleLane Bluebirds are feeding some very noisy, very hungry babies. I offer three four today.

CrabAppleLane Rose-breasted Grosbeak - April 20, 2008

CrabAppleLane Cardinal & Rose-breasted Grosbeak - April 20, 2008These two have been squabbling over feeder rights all morning.


CrabAppleLane Rose-breasted Grosbeak - April 20, 2008

CrabAppleLane Cardinal and Indigo Buntings - April 20, 2008

137 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Danica, when are you going to win again?

Jack Arute, ESPN

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I love this picture, it reminds me of the Blue Dog paintings"

The NFL announced their schedule the other day and it went mostly unnoticed here at CrabAppleLane. Last year’s disappointing Saints season still lingers here and the team hasn’t done much in my eyes to rectify their deficiencies. The Redskins play the Giants in New York on Thursday, September 4 to kickoff the season. The Saints played in the opening game last season and had high expectations going in. That loss took some of the luster off of things and was the beginning of an 0-4 start. They recovered briefly and got to 4-4 but went back into their funk by season’s end. All said, I think I prefer they stay out of the spotlight for a while. They open the season against NFC South rival, Tampa Bay, in the SuperDome, the site of the dumbest play call of the entire 2007 NFL season. It was a double reverse pitch that was fumbled and recovered by Tampa Bay, allowing the Bucs to go in for the winning score. The NFL has deemed that the Saints are worthy of four showcase games. They have Monday night home games with the Packers and Vikings, a Thursday night tilt with the Bears in Chicago, and a home game with the Chargers in London.

I'm liking the NFC this year. The AFC still has more star power, particularly at QB, but the young, rising stars of the league, like Adrian Peterson, Ryan Grant, Marques Colston, Ernest Graham, Brandon Jacobs, etc ... they're in the NFC. It’s a cliché but in the NFL, probably more than any other professional sport, youth will be served. There’s no escaping it.

140 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

I think it's the best job in the world. Where else can you go to play with such big toys?

Harrison Ford

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "A lot of people criticized the draft of the Bucs last April but no one is now."

So far this spring, the weather has been ideal for growing tomatoes and other delicate plants here at CrabAppleLane. That might change overnight although you'd never know it by the current gorgeous weather we're having. A light freeze is possible tomorrow. Not sure what I'm going to do except hope that the forecast is wrong. Figures they'll probably get this one right. It would be impossible for me to protect everything I've planted in the last few weeks since I thought the danger of a freeze passed. I offer a few from the CrabAppleLane backyard today.

Crispin - April 13, 2008We grow three or four catnip plants every year because two of our three cats love it. I put one in a flowerpot and brought it inside yesterday for the first time. Crispin (11) loves it but our other indoor cat, Casey (14), is not wild about this new development for two reasons. 1) She's pretty indifferent to the catnip and 2) she thinks Crispin is getting a tad overstimulated. He had jumped on her minutes prior to attacking the pictured rugs and falling asleep in the bright sunshine coming through our window.


About forgetting to prune - April 13, 2008I usually prune the bottle brush to my height (6ft) because I was always worried they'd block the sun from my tomatoes. I forgot to do so this year. The shadow doesn't quite reach them THIS season but it looks like I won't be able to get away with it next season.


Experimenting with text - April 13, 2008CrabAppleLane kitchen garden - Click here for a larger view


CrabAppleLane Irises - April 13, 2008OK, all of the red ones on my left and the purples ones on my right. I threw these things in the pond randomly. No idea how they became separated so uniformly.

Quote of the Day

Lost on a wave
Then after
Dream on
On to the heart of the sunrise

Yes, Heart of the Sunrise

Blogs of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Shell Holtz writes a great article on “When is a Link Not a Link” that is worth reading if you are worried about fair use of content and link citations of web page content:"