The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Do we qualify as farmers?

We are a family of three; myself, Faye (my lovely and gracious spouse) and Frannie, my sister-in-law. This makes life interesting here. Frannie is the only one with an actual job, she works at a supermarket cooking those sample meals. I am, of course, retired and Faye is not exactly retired but let's just say she chooses not to work anymore. Faye has been a telephone employee, a bank teller, and a tax preparer. She is much happier now. Which means that I am happier, of course.

But this isn't about our employment status. It's about vegetables. Specifically tomatoes.

Frannie and I decided there's not much point to a lot of empty space in the Florida Room. Let me digress and explain that term to those of you who have never been to Florida. Most people would call these "screened porches" or "sun rooms", or something like that. In Florida, we call them Florida Rooms. So far as I know, no other state does such a thing. There are no California Rooms, or Minnesota Rooms, or... well, you get the picture. We, Frannie and I, decided we should grow some things there. So, we did. I bought a little Key Lime tree, Frannie started an avocado tree from the seed of one of the many avocados we sacrifice to guacamole. Faye even got intrigued enough to plant some pepper seeds. We are talking jalapeno peppers here.

Everything has done well. The Key Lime tree started producing 3 months after being transplanted into a large planter pot. Faye's peppers are prolific. Frannie's avocado trees are growing but won't produce for another 4 years. If then. There is also an unproductive but healthy pineapple plant which doubles as a home for Chester, the lizard who lives in the Florida Room.

But Frannie also brought home 3 tomato plants in a pot. They died. Never to be daunted, she brought home 3 more in another pot. We transplanted them into another pot and put them on the front porch. So far, we have harvested one tomato. But there are more growing. The problem is that it is taking over the porch.

It now has a name... The Tomato Plant That Ate The Porch. Or, Harvey. I am not quite sure which. In either case, it doesn't seem to answer when we call.

The weather here in Paradise, while generally beautiful to incredibly hot and muggy has been quite cold. This morning it was maybe 28 degrees when we got up. This is not good for the plants. They think Florida is supposed to be tropical, just as we residents do.

I am not happy that I cannot walk around barefoot and in shorts and T-shirt. I am thinking of suing the state chamber of commerce.

6 comments:

Charlotte Ann said...

lol...suing the Chamber of Commerce? can a class action lawsuit cover more then one southern state?
The only other state I know of that names a room after themselves is Arizona. Yep..and Arizona room ....ie. sunroom.

Pearl said...

FEED ME, SEYMOUR!

Sorry. The tomato plant that ate the Florida room looks like he should be in the off-off-off-broadway production of "Little Shop of Horrors"!

Re: the temperature, whilst sympathizing, of course, all I can do is offer you an extended weekend at my house, whereupon anything above 10 degrees will seem like manna.

Pearl

Neo said...

was going to say one plant does not farmer make thee... but seeing as you have multiple plants I will say here in Ohio a basement full of clutter and unwanted refuse is called an Ohio Room.

Douglas said...

Charlotte Ann, I like Arizona. That may be because I have never spent more than a couple of days there. Still, it has such interesting terrain. I didn't know they had "Arizona Rooms"... probably stole the idea from us.

Pearl, I love that movie. I'll drop by Minnesota... sometime in July.

Neo, we have no basements in South Florida. If you dig down more than 3 feet, you have a pond. Instead, we fill our garages up with all that stuff we can't seem to throw away and park our cars outside.

Douglas said...

Charlotte Ann, I like Arizona. That may be because I have never spent more than a couple of days there. Still, it has such interesting terrain. I didn't know they had "Arizona Rooms"... probably stole the idea from us.

Pearl, I love that movie. I'll drop by Minnesota... sometime in July.

Neo, we have no basements in South Florida. If you dig down more than 3 feet, you have a pond. Instead, we fill our garages up with all that stuff we can't seem to throw away and park our cars outside.

Pearl said...

FEED ME, SEYMOUR!

Sorry. The tomato plant that ate the Florida room looks like he should be in the off-off-off-broadway production of "Little Shop of Horrors"!

Re: the temperature, whilst sympathizing, of course, all I can do is offer you an extended weekend at my house, whereupon anything above 10 degrees will seem like manna.

Pearl