Only a thousand words

Today was busy, so I only managed about 1000 words. Only a thousand words? Only? I never would have thought I would call that was a low count.

More words

Another 2500 words hit me today, so I’m busy sorting out what the heck I’m getting into. And that’s all I have to say here.

More coneflowers, more bees

More coneflowers have answered the first coneflower‘s call. This is one of the great bee flowers. My trinity of bees — honeybees, bumblebees, and Agapostemon — visit them, methodically going through the spikes of pollen in the centers. When the Halictus bees are done with the sunflowers, they’ll come to the coneflowers too. Together they […]

At last, the deluge

Two deluges I’ve been waiting for arrived today. First there was all the frantic writing I was at a few weeks ago. It seemed to dry up for a while, and now today I got hit with a deluge of words today: 5,000 words of dubious quality. The other I’ve been expecting ever since I […]

A buffet for bees in the catmint

The mound of catmint, Nepeta “Walker’s Low“, has bloomed all May and June, attracting an amazing array of bees.

Sunflower weather

Now that the heat has hit, I can barely keep up with the flowers. This sunflower bloomed a few days ago, and today already the flowerhead is busy making seeds. The bees have done their work. Traditional varieties of sunflowers are great bee flowers. They give so generously of their pollen, that bees get covered […]

First sign of tomato

In other news, my tomato plant set fruit while I was busy smoking a chicken. Somebody’s enjoying the heat!

Very small fireworks

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday. We’re enjoying the smoked chicken, and the little pink explosions of colors called flowers. Like the Pinks!

My first pass at a Smokenator chicken

I couldn’t wait for the Fourth, so I smokenatored a chicken today. I spatchcocked the chicken, and covered it with a simple dry rub. While it rested on a rack in a cheap foil pan, I filled the smokenator compartment with charcoal and lit a few chunks separately in the chimney.

My new barbeque toy

Just in time for the Fourth, I got a new toy. It’s a Smokenator, a metal baffle that fits into your Weber kettle grill and turns it into a smoker. The grill works great for steaks, but sometimes I want to make ribs or pulled pork, and that means barbeque smoke.