Catching up.

Well it's Easter. Happy Easter everyone!

Just sitting around after stuffing my self with ham and the fixings. Mmm.. It was good. We ate early this year because Chris had to work later. First coarse, candy. Then, the food. Than for dessert we had home made rum cake that I made. Gramme brought pink champagne so we tried that. Then for more dessert we ate more candy. Isn't that awful. Now we are all fat and full. Oh yeah, we also ate easter eggs that me and Veronica colored.

 I tried to recreate a  rum cake that I had gotten for Christmas. I was unsuccessful. The cake I did make, was quite good. I think the one I got for Christmas must have been aged a little. It was insanely good. Do you age cakes? I don't know. Anyway, I used a yellow cake mix and a box of pudding. I used a cup of rum. It was suppose to be dark Tortuga rum but I was unable to get some in Florida and didn't want to wait for mail order so I tried to improvise by using two diffrent types of rum. Tortuga rum is from the Caribbean and I used Jamaican (Myers dark) and Puerto Rican (Captain Morgan Private Stock).

  

No it wasn't a from scratch cake but... the recipe sounded really good. The cake tasted really rummy. Really rummy. After a couple of bites though it was a lot better tasting. The sauce I poured over the cake was delicious. I could have just ate the sauce but I guess that wouldn't have been right. I think the problem was that I didn't achieve an even distribution of the sauce in the cake.Some parts were really soaked with the rum sauce and some parts had none. I think this is a recipe I'll have to perfect a little more. Maybe I'll have to start from scratch.

I've started my garden that is in the front yard but first I had to get the weeds out of the bed. 

The garden and my grass out front is full of this stuff.

What is it? I was told it is called stinging nettle. But the pictures of stinging nettle on the internet look nothing like this plant. It's a ground cover. I would have to say its the most horrible evil plant I've ever came across. It literally feels like you've been stung by a bee when it gets you. Only thing is it keeps stinging for hours. There is no visible thorns on this plant. Weed killer doesn't seem to kill it. Not that I've tried a lot. I don't like the idea of poisoning my land. There's so many problems caused by people spraying chemicals on plants around here that we have fish die offs from it. I'll get rid of it some how.

So far in the front I've planted herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, dill, and lavender), strawberries, a daisy, tomatoes, bell peppers, viola's, and petunias. I got the viola's and petunias on the clearance rack at the hardware store and they are growing better than any thing else I planted. 

Chris planted some trees. The orange, and a fig tree. He also planted a gardenia bush. For some reason he is hesitating on the blue berries that I protected all winter long. I might have to plant them myself. I can't hardly stand the fact that there are no significant plants in our yard. Well there is the cypress tree we planted when we moved in but it's under water and still dead from winter. I don't know when they wake up hopefully soon.

We haven't really been doing a lot lately just trying to spend time with Erica before she is off to basic training. She will be leaving at the end of the month. Mom is planing a big fish boil (no fish. It has crab and shrimp)

  

I miss her already but I know it is what she has to do to make a better life for herself. Plus I think she will be a really good soldier. Look out Army here she comes.

Gardens and Hermit crabs.

Garden

We finally got some veggies planted. Not the main garden but some green beans and a tomato in our front planter. Some of our herbs died so we will be replacing them soon. While we were cleaning out the bed and getting it ready to plant this dragon fly kept landing on Veronica. She would shake him off but he kept coming back. Finally he decided to stay on her foot. You can see her toes are all crunched up in this picture because he tickled. I think maybe he liked the color of her toe nail polish.

Me and Veronica made the green bean fence and then Chris came by and said that it wasn't deep enough and pushed the poles down for us. I think it came out pretty good. I hope we get some tasty beans from it.

Hermit Crabs

Veronica's hermit crabs have out grown their shells again. So we had to make a trip to the crabage patch for some new one's. She's taken very good care of them so far. She's had them for about two years now. They live to be 20 to 30 years old. The expert at the crabbage patch told us we will be needing a new tank to keep them in soon because they are getting pretty big. You have to have three time the largest crabs shell size in the depth of the substrate (dirt) in their crabitat (cage). So we will be looking for a 29 inch fish tank soon. She also had to get new water dishes because they have to be able to get inside and fill up their shells. They like salt water and fresh so we had to buy two new dishes.
She loves holding these creepy little creatures and actually thinks they are cute. When her friends come over she enjoys having crab races. The crabs seem to love her just as much because they are thriving.
As soon as the new shells are introduced the crabs check them out. They roll them over and poke their heads inside for a look. Some times they take a test try and then go back to the original shell. It's truly an amazing thing to witness, the choosing process.

Not a lot is really known about these creatures and they have been unsuccessful at breading them in captivity so... I think the more we can learn about them the better and there is no better way to do that than by children observing them. As long as they are given the best possible care. They can not with stand cold temperatures for long and need constant vigilant attention. So that they don't run out of water, salt water, or food. You can learn more about them at the crab patch site. http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/Keys-To-Hermit-Crab-Survival-a/139.htm

Well, Veronica loves them so I guess that's what matters.