"Victory is Mine," Sayeth Ribbit.

Victory is sweet, indeed. It's seldom that hobbies we pick on a whim, let alone the whim of a 4 yr. old come to fruition. When they don't things can turn into a personal vendetta...I mean mission.

Case in point...cucumbers.

As I've said several times in these last few posts, I've never successfully grown a cucumber. I've never had the female to make it grow, so that threw a wrench in the mix you could say.

Today, my friends, I harvested this:

Seriously, and all drama aside, I could have been in tears as I was slicing this cucumber. I did what I set out to do, and by God that was the sweetest, most delectable cucumber I have ever eaten, even more so given that this was my ultimate goal. Seriously. I'd be happy if the season ended now. OK, so that's a lie being that I've got three more maturing on the vine, a zucchini to pick tomorrow and three tomatoes about to ripen, but you understand my point. Yes, I'm feeling a smidgen bit prideful; not to worry, I'm feeling guilty enough about that, but I've been able to put aside two decanters of pepper sauce for the two recipes that have been given to me, one of which I'm giving to a girlfriend for her birthday tomorrow, and then I picked a mess of beans yesterday and another today which I gave to my neighbor since they're growing in the side yard which is against the HOA and he has to look at them, and I'm just stupidly giddy.

And humble.

You know, it's not a given things will grow. You see pictures all of the time of growth, harvest dates and failures, but when you've been doing it for a span you roll with the punches. Coming off the first year of nothing, it's an oasis, the crystal clear beauty, in the desert.

The boy still wouldn't eat that cucumber and the girl snubbed her nose as well. We did, however, get two blueberries off of a bush which the boy devoured in .10 seconds. We picked them this morning but held them until after school lest he die of God only knows what contaminant there might be.

He seems to be doing fine, so far. :)

Like I said, I picked more purple beans after I put the others in a coleslaw/pasta salad for a play-date tomorrow (that terminology still makes me laugh).

Two tomatoes seem to be turning red which is exciting and, again, I have that zucchini to pick tomorrow along with a squash and male opening.

Sadly, or should I say oddly, we had a rain storm come in last night and this happened:

The mammoth zucchini bush fell straight over on its side. This picture is from where I propped it back on end. All of the leaves are curled at the stems now, which where it lends me a distinctive view of the undersides of the leaves which where it is good for squash bug egg detecting, makes me sad. Should I keep it on its side or do you think it will prop itself back when the leaves strain for the sun. Keep in mind, the picture is when I lifted it up; it was lying on its side which is evident by it's curled stems. Any advice whether it is to leave it flopped to the side or prop it up would be helpful.

Also of note, I picked off one squash bug today with total bravado, being that I squealed while doing so, but if EG can hold them with his bare hands while he takes pictures (for goodness sakes, EG, don't you have an ounce of fear of bugs in you) I can flop one into a cup of soapy water. I also did some research and realized that the wasp I chased around the entire garden two days ago was not a wasp and indeed a squash vine borer moth.

Nice.

This morning when I went to the garden and found that squash bug I also found an almost clear wormish thing skulking its way through a leaf stem. It wasn't an inch worm or a cabbage worm. I can only assume it was a minuscule SVB. I extracted that bugger buy it's tail end and squished him with all of the malice I could muster.

Point in short, I can do this. I WILL do this.

For years to come.

Man, if you're reading this, I've picked out places to expand next year. I know you've humored me unto this point, but I honestly think I've found a purpose.

The morning comes early, but that's quite alright when you've got squash blossoms to pollinate in the morning.

Sweet gardening dreams, my friends. Sweet gardening dreams.