[Mike Nolan]

I think it'll be another week before we get the fruit fly population under control enough for me to do much baking, and I will need to get some apple cider, but it's the season for it.

The apple orchard I usually get winesaps at doesn't have any again this year. They suffered a lot of damage to their trees in a 2022 storm and the winesaps need at least another year. There might be some in Nebraska City, but that's 50 miles away and their u-pick hours are limited to weekends.

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, I tried to put up a 'down for maintenance' intercept, that wasn't working right, either. :sigh:

[Mike Nolan]

We had tuna fish in tomatoes today.

[Mike Nolan]

We had chili for supper.

[Mike Nolan]

Picked too early?

Do they ripen bananas in ethylene gas? Maybe these didn't get the gas.

[Mike Nolan]

I may have to try your sourdough whole wheat crackers some time. Maybe Diane will eat them.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm having mac and cheese, Diane is having oatmeal, both mild dishes.

[Mike Nolan]

It appears fruit flies really like the smell of bread dough, probably the fermentation odors.

They also like my rye and wheat sourdough starters, I've had to start double-covering them.

They don't seem nearly as interested in bread after it has baked.

[Mike Nolan]

I remember looking at the index of that book and not seeing a lot of recipes that sounded interesting to me, I'll be interested to find out which ones you try and how you like them.

[Mike Nolan]

As you may know, I run sites for both Northwestern and Nebraska sports fans. (See https://nu-sports.tssi.com for the Northwestern site.)

A while back someone asked what the biggest difference was between the schools.

One answer was that at Nebraska they close the library at 5PM on Friday on football weekends. At Northwestern they keep it open 24 hours a day on football weekends. (Not sure if that policy survived COVID, though.)

The last time I was on campus I barely recognized the place, there have been so many new buildings put up since I graduated in 1972. Our younger son applied there, but didn't get in. Because of the surge of applicants, their acceptance rate is really low, around 8-10% these days.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a big pot of chili and we had that for supper. Probably half of it will go in the freezer.

[Mike Nolan]

You probably don't want the dog too close to where you're zapping anyway. But for under $15, it's the best investment I've made in weeks.

[Mike Nolan]

Looking at Northwestern? I met my wife there! I was a techie, she was a technical theatre major (lighting, scenery, costume design.)

Our granddaughter is a junior this year and I don't know what her college plans are. She's been talking about studying in Germany with a friend who has lived there on and off for several years.

[Mike Nolan]

Yes, it makes a snap and you'll see a flash of light.

I think I got 3 dozen of them first thing this morning. I think we're making a dent in them, but what we really need to make sure is that we don't have any produce out or other places where they can breed the next generation. Adult fruit flies can live 3-4 weeks, so it won't be an overnight cure.

[Mike Nolan]

My tomatoes sort of got away from me during the heavy heat. The First Ladies never really took off, I need to get a different seed supplier for them. I've been hesitant to pick more than one or two tomatoes for eating the last day or two because of the fruit flies invasion we're trying to beat down, processing them would probably attract them all. So I probably won't get as many quarts of tomato juice canned this year as I did last year.

And the Porter variety that I planted is one I won't do again. It's sort of a grape tomato for size and not the best flavor. It did do well in the hot summer, so it meets that challenge. And I did a full row of 5 of them. :sigh:

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