Return of 'The Blob'

 

Do you remember the old horror movie from 1958 called The Blob? It's an alien life form that consumes everything in its path, and nearly does in Steve McQueen.

Well, I came upon something in my vegetable garden that reminds me of that kind of twisted, uncontrolled growth:

Behold, the homely acorn squash.

Look at all that life, all the potential that awaits in the furled up future foliage and that massive, flattened out stem, the tendrils seeking something to clasp onto. Isn't that a bit twisted, grotesque and wonderful at the same time?

Fruit formation is no less amazing.

In other news, I caught a bobcat photo in last week's Voices, the free weekly covering the Southbury area. It was in someone's backyard, and it sounds like it wasn't the first time. What interested me was the fact that while it did indeed have the patterned coat I knew bobcats had, those markings were more visible on the underside. From the top, it appeared to be a solid tan.

Since I only really saw the animal crouching, and it was mostly its head, tail and backside I saw as it leapt into the woods, perhaps it WAS a bobcat. Ahh, save for that pesky fact that I saw a long, curved tail.

The mystery at Owl Hollow continues.

....as does the vegetable pickins'. I am faithfully recording the weight and number of all harvested produce. At season's end, I'll also record the going price of corresponding organic produce at Shop Rite, so I'll be able to come up with a grand tally of the total value of this year's garden. What will be most fun is comparing this year's winners and losers to the previous two years' vegetable gardens.