Peach Harvest

When we moved into our house a few years ago, we found out we had a peach tree. The first year, we got a few hundred rotten worm ridden tiny fruits. That year I pruned it and the following season we got none. The next year, we got a few, but they were still very worm eaten. Then the next year, I used an oil on them to keep the bugs off them. We got a bunch, but they were all small, and still pretty buggy. A golf-ball-sized one with only one worm was a good one! The next year we had a baby and I didn't have time to deal with them. This year I fertilized and oiled and we started out with hundreds of tiny peaches on the tree. By late summer though, most had rotted on the tree and fallen off. I'm guessing the early cold and rain caused the rot. We did get a few that made it though and they had some good size. Still, even though I oiled, I got the bugs in most, but I did get about 5 or 6 nice billiard-ball sized fruits, and they tasted very good. NEXT year, I will try thinning out the middle of the tree, fertilizing twice during the growing season, culling a lot of the fruit early and spraying the tree more often. (I use a non-chemical insecticide oil.)

What a Difference a Day (and a half) Makes!

Max and I went to the Sox vs. Rays game on Friday night to watch Lester load the bases in the pouring rain before the game was put on delay. Two and a half hours and a few hot dogs later, they called the game. Our tickets would be good for the day game on Sunday... which turned out to be PERFECT weather for baseball (even a bit on the hot side). Sox won 3-1 in fine fashion.

(click images to see them larger)



Buchholz piched a gem. Kotsay, gathering up an overthrow to first, threw out the go-ahead run at the plate, and Oki came in to hold 'em in the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, Poppi pinch-hit for Bay and blasted a double into right field. He was in turn, pinch-run by Joey Gathright. Elsbury bunted him to 3rd (and almost beat the throw to first himself). Then, Pedroia tried to sac-fly Gathright home and ended up hitting himself a 2-run homer. Papelbon came on in the 9th to close it out and the Sox had 2 out of 3 from the Rays. Later they would win the 2nd game of the Double header to complete the sweep.

Great Whites off Chatham

There are seven different confirmed Great White sharks off the Atlantic side Cape Cod Beaches. This is pretty cool, having some visiting top predators to our area, especially since they can't get out of the water to come eat us.

We went looking for them today, but didn't see any. We did see their buffet table though - a few hundred seals, blobbing about in the water of Chatham. We watched the seals for a good part of the afternoon, but the sharks never showed. Later that afternoon, Chanel 5 News nabbed Amy and the kids for a few quick questions... Amy made the news! Check out the spot here: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/20764973/index.html