Good Fences Make Good Neighbors - So do BBQs

We gave a rather spontaneous BBQ on Saturday for the neighbors of our valley.  We began calling on Wednesday, and put everything together by Saturday afternoon.  Each neighbor brought a dish of beans, or salad, or fruit. Jay manned the grill for hamburgers and hot dogs and provided ample beer and pop (what we call soft drinks out here in the west).

Fiona and Neala (on left) brought their new blue heeler puppy, Blue. It was carefully passed from child to child. Esperanza (in blue), last year's baby, whom everyone worried about because she didn't start breathing as soon as she was born, is now over a year old, walking, flirty, and as bright as a pin, and we're all relieved and happy for her.

Carlos brought the elk antlers he'd discovered way up on our property while horseback riding.  Yes, he asked first before retrieving them and taking them home to clean.

Neighborly news was exchanged now that everyone is out and about after the long winter.


 Joe (with wife Jacqueline in photo) spent 6 weeks working in the Williston gas fields of North Dakota earlier this spring, vowing never to return to its bleakness and wind and the prospect of no hook-ups for his camper.

Randi recounted his honey bee stories to Davy and Theresa. We're pleased to have bee hives in the valley to pollinate all the wild apple trees - good for us and for the deer, too.

                                       John and Fran, originally from Texas, spun yarns of being in the Air Force during the early Cold War days, when 10 loaded nuclear warheads were kept aloft 24 hours a day.

Pat (with his girlfriend Cheryl in photo) and his daughter Meagan and her husband Matt (on right) recounted their trip to their ancestral Ireland.

We think about 31 of us were there, but I forgot to count. Left behind were a child's purse with small dog leashes and collars, a salad bowl with a delicious spinach salad (owner unknown), and memories of a valley gathering.

Right You Are, Guy!

Funny thing about Texas. It produces some

unbelievable politicians. And, it produces some

UNBELIEVABLE songwriters. Think Townes Van Zant, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, or Guy Clark.

Back when we lived in Laramie, we went to see Keen and Clark in concert. One of Clark's most popular songs was Homegrown Tomatoes:

"Only two things that money can't buy

That's true love & homegrown tomatoes"

Well, I've got both. Later this month, Kerry and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary. And the four tomato plants in the back yard are really producing this summer. Last year, not so much. After a lot of care, filling the bottom of Home Depot buckets with gravel and mixing dried cow pies into the soil, they produced three tomatoes.

We took a different approach this year. No gravel, no manure. Just soil and water, with grass clippings to shade the soil and a sprinkle of Miracle Gro once a week. Tomato production is booming. Four Early Girls have already made their sweet, juicy way into salads and sandwiches, and the plants have dozens of fruits growing and more blossoms ready to produce.

If frost holds off - nights are in the 50s - we should be eating homegrown tomatoes well into fall. and that's gastronomic true love.