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Philly steak quesadillas.

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We had breakfast sausages and blueberry pancakes with maple syrup for our dinner.

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Burgers

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That deer looks like she is checking out what's on today's menu, Len!! Your plants look really healthy!

BakerAunt, I use fishing line (invisible) wrapped around the posts of my garden fence to deter deer. I put mine at at about 2, 4, and 7 feet off the ground. When they run into it, they are spooked because they can't see it. It has to be put up early, before anything is transplanted or seeds sprout. Once the deer get a taste of the menu, they will return. I think you could also run some kind of line across the top of your fenced garden area; but maybe not invisible fishing line, maybe something more visible? Like, that dark green gardening twine, or hot pink crochet cotton?

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A nice, easy, cold meal: leftover chicken salad, Black Bean Confetti Salad from SmittenKitten's email today, and pickled red onions.

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Dinner tonight was steak, roasted potatoes and green salad. I went out on the deck to cut the lettuce in the planter, and it was dead! Looked awful - flattened. And most of the spinach, too. I cut what I could, even the leaves just laying flat on the dirt. I washed and trimmed them, sprinkled with water, and put in a colander in the fridge to chill. Two hours later, they were recovering and we had a decent salad. I also watered all the plants on the deck, as I had planned, and two hours later everything looked pretty good. Whew!

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Len, I'm wondering what you are doing for gardening this summer. I remember some interesting photos you posted last year?

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Mike, the filling was identical. The flavor is the same. The cobbler topping is more cake-like, and soaks up some of the juices, to make a soft, wet, almost pudding-like texture that is sweet-tart. The crisp is hard and crunchy, and did not soak up any liquid. Neither of us likes the crunchy.

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Despite the h 90* temps and lack of rain, our in-ground garden and the plants on the deck are doing great. The garden is small, 18' x 18', only 6 tomatoes, 6 bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cukes, zukes, summer squash and winter squash. We water deeply a couple times a week now that they are beyond the 2-leaf stage. On the deck are 2 waist-high planters that are 4 ft by 15 inches, 2 planters on the railing that are 3 ft by 15 inches, and some large, 15 inch diameter pots. I'm trying a mix of garden dirt, composted horse manure, and compost from our bins; that seems to be a good combination, but I'll supplement by side-dressing with more compost if things start lagging. We have all the lettuce and spinach we can eat; I cut it off about an inch above the roots, and it regrows. The beans that I planted almost 4 weeks ago have flowered. Beets are slow, but coming along. I have 2 huge zucchini plants in one pot and 2 cucumbers plants in another. I also have a variety of herbs, in the rock garden and in 2 planters. I have planted a 2nd planter with another crop of lettuce, and will start another crop of beans in the other railing planter. Of course, I also have several barrels and planters of flowers on the deck too. I water everything once a day, early morning, when it is hot and no rain. I'm adapting nicely to this new style of gardening, after 35 years of maintaining a 50 x 100 foot garden. And it looks like we'll have plenty to eat with a little left over for the freezer.

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I made a rhubarb cobbler. Much preferred over the rhubarb crisp I made last week.

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I'm glad you've found a reasonable solution, BakerAunt, and hope it does work out. I'm sorry I've not been able to follow through with getting you some comments from my husband, but I think you didn't end up needing his input. We've been busy with a grand-daughter's graduation, another's birthday, and medical appointments and a lot of things fell by the wayside.

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Weather not cooperating here! We've had 2 rains of less than .25 inches each, so less than half an inch in 6 weeks. Finally, they are calling it a drought. And it was 91* again today. So we had tuna fish sandwiches and refrigerator pickles that I made yesterday.

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Dinner tonight was chicken-grape-Swiss salad, broccoli salad, green garden salad with maple vinaigrette, and Butterflake Herb bread. Perfect with the temp at 91*.

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Ribs, roasted potatoes, asparagus, and broccoli salad.

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We had turkey soup - using up an assortment of leftovers from the freezer and the refrigerator.

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