The Plant Shade

If I can get my chicken thawed by late this afternoon, I think I'm going to have to rev up that bad old green gal in the back yard, my Big Green Egg, and commence a smokin'.  I love the thought of some smoked chicken for dinner, and what we don't eat, I can freezer bag up and throw in the freezer, for another night when I don't want to cook.  I might even go get some trout and smoke us a little trout, too.  Since it takes a whopping ten whole minutes to smoke those teeny little fillets, I think that's going to be my plan.  But, if they don't have fillets, that could be an issue.  I know how to fillet a whole fish cooked, I just don't know how easy it is to do, raw.  Cooked is a breeze.  Raw sounds like w-a-y too much trouble....maybe not.  I might actually get into it.  Yes, I could smoke the whole fish, but I just don't think I want to.  By the time I'm finished filleting all of those whole fish, there'll be a string of cats lined up on the driveway, ready to eat. I am not going there.

I also have a new backyard invention.  Because we get loads of late afternoon west sun, some of our backyard plants get scorched every summer.   By August, some of their leaves are burned to a crisp (black) and it takes them months to recover.  So, I went and bought our plants their very own beach umbrella.  Genius, no?  I think so.  I call it The Plant Shade.  I stuck it in the bed, and other than maybe needing a guy wire for wind, so far, so good.  They had lots of color choices, but I went with a subdued turquoise, because you can see it from the den, and it blended right in, with just a dash of color.  The sprinklers can still sprinkle and when the summer sun is over, I can put my umbrella back in it's little turquoise carrying bag, for next year.  Fred thinks I'm nuts.  I think I'm brilliant.  :)