Life, Like Nature, Is Often A Double-Edged Sword, Isn't It?

I hadn't originally planned to make my Chow-Chow this year because the garden did not make it through the high temperatures we had in Spring. Yet I somehow find myself totally immersed in making and canning my ever so popular Habanero Green Tomato Chow-Chow. Friends have been clearing out their gardens before the first hard freeze, and bringing me their green tomatoes. Along with their requests for Chow-Chow.

At the same time, amazingly, my one and lonely Sweet Cherry 100's tomato plant seemed to thrive throughout the Fall, without much attention in the least. The triple digit heat killed everything else I'd planted back in May and I just did not have the energy or the fortitude to replant. I always say we should never underestimate the power of nature, but I love when it surprises me with a gift. Perhaps nature sensed that over all the years of tending my garden, with the joy of children's voices and without, I've started to move a bit slower and I don't really have the spunk I once did. Well... except inside my own mind.

I have body parts that have been creaking and making strange new noises for several years now, so I guess it has begun to sink in, while nature sensed it as well. We've become old friends now, Mother Nature and I. We don't battle one another as we did in the old days, which is mostly due to my acceptance, not hers. I suppose. I am most certainly more at peace with the cruel jokes she has played on me over the years.

I swear I only even watered this pathetic little excuse of a tomato plant a very few times and it still just seemed to survive among the already pronounced dead. So, I stripped my own lonely plant and was rewarded with this large colander full of cherry tomatoes, which will also be used in the Chow-Chow. When I'm finally finished, I will post it over on my cooking blog, just in case anyone else wants to give it a go.

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I feel compelled to tell you that it's never a very good idea to name a cat Trouble. Why? Because cats can get into enough trouble without also having to live up to a name. Our cat has had so many wild adventures in her life... that we know of.


One particular time our entire family was running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to get everything into our car and make it to the destination where we were having our daughter's 12th birthday party. Trying to get there on time, we finally all jumped into the Suburban and took off. Since it was Spring, I had my window down because the weather was still cool enough.

At my first stop sign, I heard the loudest cat fight and thought "Wow, those cats are really going to hurt each other". I went along a few more blocks before the next stop sign and when I stopped, I heard yet another cat fight, or a very pissed off cat. I thought "How weird". I continued along an additional four or five blocks or so, now only a couple more blocks away from our destination. When I stopped at the next stop sign, I heard yet a third cat fight and thought to myself "How weird is that?"

Two blocks later we were there and I quickly whipped across the street in order to park directly in front of the building. In doing so, I basically made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, rather quickly. I was literally shocked to hear yet another cat screeching and howling. I thought surely the moon must be full or the world was approaching its end. It was just too crazy. Mind you, this was all being heard above the noise of the kids we were hauling along with us. We always had extra kids in tow.

When I got out of the car, I looked up and spied the top half of the head of our cat Trouble, just barely able to see over the edge, with eyes as wild as any I had ever seen. It's possible that she went into shock during her little joy ride. She was completely freaked out and it was all I could do to get her down from the roof. She was still emitting this horrible howling/growling/screeching and every muscle in her body was tight, as were her legs. Her eyes were still as big as silver dollars and you could tell she was mentally schooling me on what she thought about her ride, with me at the wheel. Interpreted, I probably would not have liked what she was saying to me.



I get that feeling from Trouble a lot.



At that inappropriate moment, I chose to break into laughter as my family stood there staring at me like I was insane. I couldn't help it, really. Trouble was clinging to me with all of her claws, which clearly wasn't funny. It hurt. A lot. All I could picture in my mind was that crazy cat sprawled on the roof of the Suburban, holding on to the luggage rack with all fours, for everything it was worth. Screaming her lungs out while I thought it was some stray cat every time I heard the awful screaming/howling. Big Duh. Hell, it was funny and I still laugh about it when I picture poor Trouble car surfing for a whole mile... and she lived to tell the tale.



I never did check the roof of the old Suburban to see if there were deep scratches everywhere. Hmmmm... Do people ever check the roof of a used car? I'll bet her marks are still there.