Allergic to Friends

I miss blogging almost as much as not knowing I have become allergic to one of my favorite things in the whole world.

My eyes have been on fire lately. They itch and burn, swell and look bloodshot and glazy. Sometimes they feel so dry they are scratchy and my vision blurrs.  I thought for a while that it was the many hours I am on the computer, or perhaps my poor sleeping habits as a result of stress and age.

I went to the doc a long time ago and he ran all the panel of tests. Everything came back fine and so I headed to an optometrist for glasses, thinking my eyes were strained from several years of neglect. He thought the new glasses would do the trick and recommended rehydrating eye drops sold over the counter.

What I had noticed but had not paid particular attention to was the fact they got better through the mid part of the week and got worse on the weekend.  On Tuesday, my eyes hurt so bad I couldn't take it anymore and went to see a new optometrist who nailed it down with some simple questions.

When did I first notice it? A couple of years ago, subtle at first, getting worse over time.
What was going on at that time? We were living in the city, swimming, working, playing, normal life stuff. What else?  We got a puppy ...

Oh no. My heart dropped. Quickly I suggested it might be due to the shift to the country with lots of outside work in the grit and dust, a whole new ecology of eye irritants. Maybe it hasn't been a problem that long. Maybe it's from all these forest fires, or a food allergy.

But I knew she was right. She explained the time spent around the dogs (weekends, vacations) was triggering my reaction, so it would make sense Mondays & Tuesdays were worst after a long weekend with them. 

 

I don't just spend time with dogs, I'm on the floor with them and let them crawl all over me. I cuddle them while watching a movie, and play chase with them in the yard. They travel with us whenever we can.

We talked general interventions, like washing with soap and water after playing with them, changing the pillow cases every night, and training Sam to sleep on the floor. She thought oral allergy medications could dry the eyes, and the general over the counter products weren't good, so gave a couple of samples to start on Tuesday night.

Almost right away, things improved. The orangy redness started to clear up, the puffiness started to recede, the sandpaper scratchiness and glazy film began to disappear. Like magic! I am so encouraged. I take Pataday drops for daytime and at night a product called Systane. 

Thank God that with a few modifications and the right meds, a compromise can be reached. Our sweet dog people are here to stay.

Fig Season

The girls had a guest over, a beagle named Angler, and the families set up a little play area for them. We had some of the fencing and they brought some, and it was such a hit it was decided to leave it up permanently. Now current and future guests can safely romp away from the road in a 10x20 under the pines and watch the farmers do their thing.

We've had a few concerning exchanges with our dogs and the road. I witnessed for the first time on Saturday how Lil lights out after a quad tooling down the road in a dead-on run.  No whistling, calling, yelling even slowed her down. (I did get to meet the neighbor we've been meaning to meet, but still ....) 

Angler taking a Siesta

That squelches the invisible fence idea after seeing her run. She would just muscle through a few seconds of jolt from the collar and keep going. So, short of leashing them both 24/7 and having a play pen, which we thought of more as a diversion than a mainstay, it looks like a fence is needed. Sam kept far from the road before having a chum to play and run with and chase. Not anymore.

Big fig news: the boys had fun up in the trees filling a 3 gallon bucket with Mission figs, everything they could reach with their ladder. Sunday night I dried some and canned some and froze some. I took some to work on Monday and gave some to friends. And there's a ton more on the counter.

It was the first time we got enough figs after the birds took their share (thanks to the shiny mylar tags we hung up in June). I made fig syrup which can be used for basting hams and drizzling over ice cream and goat cheese appetizers and probably a million other things. I'm going to use the rest for fig newton cookie filling for the Hubs.

Fig Syrup: 4 cups figs, 2 cups sugar, a pinch of salt, a whole lemon including zest, and 1/4 c brandy, cooked down.  You add the first 4 ingredients (wash the figs, trim the ends, but otherwise toss them in whole) and cook over low to medium heat, it needs to be higher and then turn it down to bubble away for an hour or so, food process the big chunks that are left so it is mostly smooth, add the brandy and cook until it is thick and bubbly and the alcohol burns off, probably another 10 min or so. Process and store in the pantry, if it lasts that long. My yield was 6 8-oz jars.


We clean the veggies and fruit we grow before storing or eating it.  Even though we're organic, we are flanked by farms that need to occasionally spray their crops, and the mosquito abatement folks are spraying for West Nile Virus. We use 1 cup of vinegar in a sink full of water, toss in the veggies, turn them a couple of times, soak for 10 minutes, and lay out on the counter on towels to dry. You can mix fruits and veggies. No scrubbing needed. You'll be amazed what is left in the sink. There is no vinegary residue, and it makes a pretty picture. :)

Thistle a Happy Tune

The garden's doing pretty well.

That big cucumber in the foreground, that's an Armenia cucumber and is very prolific. It has variegated skin that is tender and doesn't need to be peeled. It looks beautiful sliced in salads or tossed in rice vinegar with a little sugar and cayenne pepper.

The yellow round fruit is a lemon cucumber and is so delicious we slice and eat them as a snack. We get about one a week from the vine.

Acorn squash have been growing nicely, and we harvested three this morning.  There are a couple of zucchini that are growing so fast, we'll be stuffing them before long. We've had at least a dozen in the last couple of weeks.

The second round of figs have ripened nicely on the tree and the fruit is meatier and sweeter later in the season. We've also been watering it a lot during the fruiting season. We've cut a deal with the birds: they get the top ones, - we get the others. There is a very happy squirrel hanging out in the tree that we haven't negotiated terms with ...

 We have a honeydew that is about 5" in diameter and we are waiting for it to ripen. We enjoyed the first five Japanese eggplants and there are 10 more flowers and 1 new fruit. The three artichoke plants are thriving. The largest plant is thistling / flowering / fruiting (whatever) in the first year - and one is ready to harvest tomorrow!

We tossed a sprouted onion in the soil and its growing great guns, next to the Mexican hot pepper plant with more peppers coming out. We've got 3 new 3x6 planters ready to set for the winter planting, to let these play out as far into the fall as they can go.

Thanks to this beautiful growing soil and weather, what seemed like tons of room at the time we set the garden boundary now seems a little cramped.

The only thing we are waiting on are tomatoes. They are huge and loaded with fruit, but they were planted late and so the fruit is still green. I'll be reading up on canning because, even though we have 4 different varieties (heirloom, a cherry, a plum and a better boy) we bet they're going to ripen all at the same time.

The biggest surprises are the overachieving Armenian cukes and the first year artichokes doing so well.  But honestly, it's all a surprise and a delight. My happy place, to be sure.

Becoming Bonafide

News continues to come in about the insect repellent.  We were encouraged by local interest, and are sending sample bottles to outlying areas of Yolo County.  A few people are asking for more bottles for their friends and family to try.

Another article was published yesterday in a Vacaville newspaper and the Hubs responded by contacting UC Davis to speak to the Head Fred entomologist. He was referred to a testing group and had a lengthy conversation with them.  UC Davis was very supportive of the process, had a lot of great tips about testing and shelf life assessments, and offered some assistance.

Their recommendation? Patent it and get it out there.

After that heart-to-heart, it was decided to speed up our (my) slow-and-steady approach.  So today marks the true shift to full steam ahead, coming up with a final Final FINAL revision to the formula and applying for a patent. What a step.

Speaking of steps, our Fictitious Business License completed its newspaper notifications and we are all systems go. The website software company was found, we have a domain name, and now all that's left is about 1,000 hours of scaling Mount Everest to learn about what it takes to do what we dream of doing.

Thanks to all who supported the process, as guinea pigs or cheerleaders. We couldn't have done it without you.