Taste Like Chicken Wednesday 3/18

Thanks for the start, Chele. I have a tendency to share your "foot in mouth disease". Sometimes, however, I have awkward moments getting in the middle of other people's drama because I try too hard to promote everyone getting along. How are things going with Iggy's virtual office? Is everything pretty much closed down there like in other places? We haven't seen the starling since Sunday but he's been back today with a vengence. GRRRR....

Becky, this was your first post-op PT session, right? Those are usually the worst. Do you go again tomorrow? You had surgery at a good time because you have an excuse to want to stay home right now. Do you have local positive cases? We still have a few local cases, but there are large clusters around Nashville.  Numbers here are still on the climb. Your church is one of many who have made this decision. It's sad but at least you have FB to stay in touch with the ladies. Any chance you might be able to do your follow up with the surgeon via telemedicine?

Linda, stay safe at the plant nursery. I have to go to one tomorrow to pick up ProMix to use in my containers when my seeds are ready to go in. I decided I am going to solarize my garden beds this year and plant in 5 gallon buckets. My garlic and Egyptian walking onions are doing well, but I had weeds galore last year and the things I was trying to grow didn't do well. I put in fava beans as a cover crop and they aren't even coming up. Time for a soil test, too.  I haven't made hot cross buns for about 40 years. I hope yours come out well. Sorry about the bakery/cafe. Hope it will just be closed for the short term.

Sending good thoughts your way, Liz. I know it's nuts. Your governor seems to be doing a good job, or does it just seem that way to an outsider?

Kathy, are you managing to steer clear of cabin fever? It helps that I can get out in the neighborhood and only see people in passing vehicles. Is your weather conducive to walking outdoors, or are there too many neighbors doing that?

Busy morning and not necessarily good news. We got the word this morning that we were going to be required to cancel our annual Flower and Garden Show and Sale due to the coronavirus bans UT has implemented. We are working on alternatives such as a drive-thru where people could order plants online and stop by to pay (debit/credit only) and pick up. We'll have to wait until after the bans end (which will hopefully be May 1), but we'll have to see. We won't make over $5K like we did last year, but at least we'll be able to sell our plants. I also worked with my folks to develop a virtual Ask A Master Gardener hotline option and am going to try to post the gorgeous flyer my wizard did.

Chele, thanks for the start. Sometimes I think my life is an awkward moment. It's been really quiet on the pond lately, but I hear lots of interesting bird calls coming from the nearby woods. I'm going to have to go on one of the bird sites and see if I can figure out what they are. I did see a couple of ducks in the pond yesterday and I think they were Florida mottled ducks. They look kind of like mallards, but don't have the vivid colors. I'm glad you've still got activity at your feeder. They are fun to watch. I imagine a lot of people are going through some adjustments with so many people being home now. My DS's workplace at one of the county buildings refuses to let them work from home. I can't believe they're being so stupid. This is an engineering group and there is no reason for them to have to come into the office.

Karen, sorry about the plant sale and hope you can find a way to still have some kind of sale. I see the same message as Chele about the FB post being removed. It might just be security settings. I'm used to being in the house a lot, but the fact that you can't really go anywhere has a totally different feel to it. I think cabin fever is already setting in with my mom after all the activity with her sisters. The one from up north is flying back tomorrow, so I hope all goes well with that. There are a lot of rural roads around here, so I think I will take the car out for a drive tomorrow and get out of the house for a bit. It's really hot out and I do see quite a few people walking and jogging. I think that's fine as long as people keep their distance. I had two service people show up today, so the lawn and pest control industry is still going strong.

Liz, I'm thinking about you all the time. I know it has to be crazy being in the middle of everything. I also hope you're getting home at a decent hour so you can take care of yourself.

Waving to Becky and Linda.

Thanks for the links, Linda. I saw that about the frozen berries on the Eating Well site.

Kathy, I am sure your aunt’s air travel is worrisome given her age. I have been on the Cornell site Karen mentioned listening to bird calls so I could figure out who is tweeting every morning. 

Karen, I have been worried about Liz given her joint issues. The doc said tendonitis can take months to heal so icing and doing the exercises is essential to speed up the process. I made a potato mushroom casserole for lunch that required a lot of chopping and grating and, boy, were my muscles letting me know about it. Iggy loved the vegetarian casserole and said next time he will do the chopping.

Chele, Liz's knee was bothering her quite a bit earlier in the week. She said they are being told the peak won't be for another 45 days,, so I guess we all need to be planning for the long haul. I've had tendonitis in my lower extremities and it does take a while to resolve. And then one day it's just gone and it takes a couple of days to realize you are no longer in pain.

Cornell now has something called Merlin, Kathy, that is great for bird IDs. We saw one this afternoon that we didn't recognized and I was able to ID it as a female ruby crowned kinglet. The females don't actually have a ruby crown, so they kind of look like a type of finch. That was my first and Dale saw one last week.

Linda, you got quite a selection of plants. Will you grow the herbs indoors or out? My indoor herbs aren't doing particularly well right now for some reason. The dill looks ok but the Napolitano basil and the summer savory may not survive. I think I've already lost one of the rosemaries. My chard seedlings are doing well, but the peppers haven't germinated yet. Recipes look good. Hadn't seen about the berry recall. I have been getting all of mine fresh lately. I think we have the skeleton of a back-up plan for the plant sale and am trying to get some help publicizing it from the local media when we have a full plan in place, which will of course be virus contingent.

I've been messaging for a while with DB this evening. I am going to postpone my trip until September, provided things have significantly improved by then. Their grandkids are out of school and they are pretty well hunkered down like we are. They did go to the beach today but there weren't many people there so it was easy to distance. They have a freezer full and their garden is already coming up, so they're fine.