Fried

Yes, I am totally fried. Tired and thinking I am glad to be done for the day.

We started, as usual, around 7:30 this morning. Have cleaned, power-washed, cleaned, waxed, cleaned, washed... well, you get the idea.

I have cayenne peppers in the dehydrator right now. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning while the dew is still on, plan on going out and cutting the top half from the sage plants by the watercourse. They will go into the dryer next. Then there is the Greek oregano that is ready to be taken care of, plus the spearmint. Then there will be the purple sage and tri-color sage, the parsley, chives and thyme.

I didn't grow any rosemary this year since the Herd seems to have decided, for no reason that is obvious to me, that they don't like it anymore. Have totally given up on growing basil, too. I just can't seem to get it to go. There seem to be hordes of people around who have Monster Basil Plants growing out of every spot that isn't already inhabited by something else but I just can't get it to live. This is kind of a pain as I use a lot of basil. Thyme is no problem, nor is spearmint. The only problem those 2 present is keeping them from taking over the world.

3 of my 4 roma plants are producing lovely, large fruit but that 4th one has the blight, or something similar. It has produced fruit that is about the size of a shooter marble but does taste good. Not much use for canning but tasty to munch on. The other hybrid plants down on the terrace are loaded with fruit and some of them are starting to show some color. That's a good thing and I hope we have enough summer left to allow them to ripen fully. If the weather turns, I will have to bring whole plants in and hang them upside down in the laundry room or somewhere to allow the fruit to ripen. That is a messy and cumbersome operation so would rather not have to fool with it.

Since I only have about 1/3 of the amount of tomatoes that I would have under normal circumstances, I am seriously considering slicing them and just putting them in the food dryer. Dried tomatoes are great for a lot of things and can be reconstituted for marinara, paste, and sauces.

The hot banana pepper plants have done a nice job of producing fruit, too. Since I don't use many of those, I only have 2 plants but they have some nice yields. Those will go into the freezer since they don't dry well. The jalapenos are doing well but not producing like I expected. The peppers are very nice but there aren't many of them, maybe a dozen and a half total, right now. I still have some in the freezer from last summer so this won't be a real problem. Unless someone decides they are going on a jalapena jag and then we're in trouble.

That gross of onions are doing nicely, too. There were actually more than 144 of them but some died and some haven't grown. Went out this morning and thinned the ones in the long container. Last weened I thinned the ones in the pots and the remaining onions are now growing a lot larger and may produce some nice winter tastiness.

We planted several dozen onions down on the terraces but the rabbits ate the whole blasted lot of them, dammit. The radishes down there didn't get eaten but Himself never went down and thinned them so he doesn't have any radishes. He kept saying that he would "do it pretty soon" but he ended up distracted by other issues and never got to it. They were too close together and, since they had no room to grow, went to seed rather than making radishes. I figured, since I don't eat radishes, I would leave the thinning to the Radish-Lover and it didn't turn out well. Not my loss and I don't suppose not having radishes will make much difference for him, either.

I broke down a couple of weeks ago and used a chemical spray to kill that blasted crabgrass around the front of the house and down along the driveway. I really hate using that stuff but, even with weeding like crazy, it came up so fast and thick that we couldn't keep up with it. Now there are big brown and dead patches around the place that have to be plowed up and reseeded.

Also having a weed problem down around the watercourse and ponds. This spring was so wet that the things that could grow the best seemed to be the weeds. Some of our ferns came back but most of the stuff down there just died. That's a p.i.t.a. because we spent a lot of cash and a lot of sweat on preparing the ground and planting stuff. DS1 came up one day last summer and spent the whole day, scooting around on his butt, planting ferns. I am hoping that his labors will pay off next spring but who knows?

The river is so low that the kayakers who came by last weekend had to paddle right under the cliffs at the bottom of the yard. I miss having boaters, canoeists, and kayakers come by in the afternoon. The fishermen aren't even bothering to go out on the river. The only fish up here are carp and they might migrate further upstream. Still have soft-shell turtles coming out to sun themselves but the Canada geese, herons, and egrets are gone. It is also starting to smell. It doesn't smell nice. Dead fish, river bottom, mold... ick. The city says it has a "study" ongoing to figure out how to fixthe levee with the least expenditure of money and the best results but it may be years before we see any results. I estimate that the river level is about 10 feet down and, now it's late August and dry, it will go lower. This pretty much puts paid to the water trail project for the foreseeable future, too. That's a shame as it would have brought money to this town and shown folks that it isn't a total shithole place to live.*

We had planned on going to visit some friends at their acreage this afternoon but ended up not doing that. I had to take some allergy medicine, which I abhor and avoid like the plague, which had made me shaky and short of breath. We will most likely go out to see them tomorrow afternoon, as long as they are available then. It's kind of a weird situation, too. He has been our friend for many years but she avoided any contact with us until a couple of years ago. Not sure what changed her mind but we now can sit and talk for hours about all kinds of subjects. Both of us are having problems with adolescents, she with a girl, me with a boy. Gives all kinds of room for discussion. And then there are the men... LOL!

DS3 has retreated downstairs, DS2 is going to a friend's for the night, SS is, well... who knows where and Himself is at the bar. This leaves me free to do absolutely nothing. YeeeHA! Of course, since it isn't 6 p.m. I can't in good conscience put on my jammies but sure would like to do just that. Rats.

OK, since Himself is at the bar I suppose I should get my butt in gear and go have a drink with him and make sure he doesn't get out of hand. He has been behaving strangely of late. It isn't just him, it is a number of males. I have heard from several women that their husbands, boyfriends, or SOs, have been acting weird. Since there isn't a full moon I don't know what's going on but I sure wish I did. Maybe I could help. Maybe not. Don't think most males have the self-awareness to figure out that something is bothering them, what it is, and how to deal with it. Ah, yes, men...






* Granted, I want to get the hell out of here but not because I hate my house or whatever, just because there is nothing to do unless you like hunting, fishing, golf, or sitting at the bar getting stupid. I don't care much for any of those things and would like a variety of food options, museums, libraries that have books other than fiction or romances, and people who have a few thoughts about how things are and why.