Gardening

[Murfreesboro]

McDonald's fries have always been primo. I actually prefer baked or mashed potatoes, but I won't turn down a good French fry.

[Andybev01]

I like Wendy's fries the most, but In-n-out Burger is a close second.

[Murfreesboro]

It's been a long time since I frequented any of those places, but I always thought Wendy's had the best burgers. Nowadays, if I go there, I tend to get their apple pecan salad. Not sure if we have In & Out Burgers around here. I think I've seen them mostly out West. But all the chains seem to get everywhere eventually.

My favorite fast food is probably Chick Filet (and I know I spelled it wrong; I can never recall their cutesy spelling). I also love Panera but can't really afford it, save as the rarest of treats. The men in my family don't like Panera because the portions are too small for them. I think their Autumn Squash soup is to die for.

There are certain fast food treats I go for seasonally. At Chick Filet it's their peach shakes in the summer. At Panera it's their Autumn Squash soup, and of course at Starbucks their PSL. I love Arby's Market Fresh menu, and above all their chicken salad sandwich, but they have that only in the summertime.

[Andybev01]

Arby's crunchy chicken club wrap is my new favorite drive-thru meal. It's less expensive than their bread based fare, but large enough to make 2 satisfying meals.

[Murfreesboro]

I haven't tried that. What makes it crunchy?

[Andybev01]

The chicken is deep fried.

[Murfreesboro]

Ah. I expect that is tasty, though I try to avoid fried chicken when I'm out. I usually go with grilled.

[MauEvig]

I found that I really like Arby's crispy chicken sandwiches. Made with lettuce and tomato like they should be, and not pickles. Yuck!
Don't get me wrong, I like pickles. Just not on fried chicken.
I don't know, there's nothing like McDonald's fries to me, their chicken nuggets, their McDoubles or their Big Mac's.
But I also like Burger King now and then. I like the Whoppers, and they make some good chicken sandwiches too. But Arby's kind of takes the cake for chicken. The curly fries are good too.
At Wendy's I tend to go for a baconator.
Not too long ago I tried KFC's "Chizza" and I thought it was good. Tasted more like chicken parmesan with pepperoni though. I used to like their potato wedges, but they don't do those anymore. Chicken tenders and potato wedges go great together.
But then again, so does chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Hardee's actually has some really good chicken tenders. They're called Carl's Jr on the west coast.

[Andybev01]

Yesterday saw seeds go into soil!!

Corn
Snap peas
Pole beans
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Celery (rooted from a store-bought bunch)
Jack-o-lantern
Jack be little
Sunflowers for the pollinators.

Last year's potatoe plants came back too.

[Murfreesboro]

Wow, what a great garden!

Something got to my tomato seedlings, which I'd had germinating under a plastic cover in the carport. It nibbled every leaf off all but two of them. The lid was undisturbed, so it must have been some type of insect. Of course I planted the two seedlings I had left, which so far have been ok in the yard. I never knew anything would eat tomato leaves. The plant is related to nightshade, and the leaves are toxic.

We've had an onslaught of cicadas this spring, although I doubt those large, noisy bugs are guilty of eating my tomatoes. But we've had two cycles emerge at once, the 13-year cicadas and the 17-year ones. It's the first time they've coincided in 221 years. Growing up in Mississippi, I was familiar with annual cicadas, but not these. They are unbelievably loud and are everywhere. Big, winged, red-eyed bugs. If they were human size they'd be monstrous.

[Andybev01]

I heard about that on the news and it sounds awful.

Where I used to live in california there is a springtime migration of tarantulas from one side of Mount Hamiltons main road to the other side, and if you had to use that road for work it was unspeakably disgusting.

[Murfreesboro]

Omg, tarantulas in the move on herds! Did you ever get any pictures?

The cicadas are a phenomenon, for sure. They are maybe 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, with dark bodies, translucent orange-ish wings, and red eyes. They are harmless to people; you can hold them. But the eggs they lay will kill young trees, so you see people's saplings covered in net for protection. We did that with our redbuds 13 yrs ago, but we don't have any young trees this year. The cicadas are loudest in the mid to late afternoon. They are a very loud chorus at that time of day.

[Andybev01]

Oh no, I have a pretty touchy gag reflex.

Here is probably more info than you want on the subject.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/t ... a/3321864/

[Murfreesboro]

Thanks for the link. I had no idea tarantulas were such a big deal in the Bay area.

[Andybev01]

Skunks are also a huge problem.

Luckily I was born with almost no ability to discern aromas.

I worked near a landfill and in the springtime the roads were a veritable landmine of unfortunate skunk carcasses.

My coworkers couldn't believe my lucky anomaly.

The bay area infringes on the natural habitats of a lot of critters.

I recall several times on the news of alerts that, due to mountain lion sightings on playgrounds, that students couldn't go outside during recess and lunch time..