I'm throwing a beer party ...

... and you're not invited. Now, don't be insulted. The party is for slugs only. I've read many times that slugs can be trapped in a saucer of beer. I have never seen so many slugs as I have this year in the garden. Ghack! They're everywhere! I find them very repulsive, and would like it very much if they'd just go away. But they won't. So I thought I'd try the beer trick. So far, it's a bust. The only slugs in that beer are the ones I've tossed in. And even those manage to slither back out alive. Now what???


I planted a lot of eggplant this year. GS2 was paid to pick potato bugs off the plants for me during a recent visit. He finds potato bugs as appealing as I find slugs. He wore surgical gloves to pluck 'em, but did a thorough job and the plants are thriving. Being the studious sort that he is, he had to come in the house and look them up in a book about insect management and then on the computer just to be sure we were correctly identifying them. The other night I harvested the first few fruits to make eggplant parm. The first piece I bit into was as yummy as I expected. The next piece? Blech ... it was so bitter it was downright nasty! So I looked it up and found I should salt them to draw the bitter liquid out. Anybody ever tried that? Does it work?

Here's a little cutie I finished up for Jane D - it's going to get a lime green ruffle and then the purple will be the binding. I like it so much I want to make one just like it.

My oldest grandson went home a few weeks ago, having spent about a month here. He was taking care of the lawns while he was here. Now that we've had some (LOTS!) of rain and the grass is growing again, I've had to enlist another lawn mowing service:

You know what they say ... "Many hands make light work!" (or in this case, many hooves ...