Thursday, August 8, 2013

Cool Thursday. Unfinished chores in the Garden.

We had some rain yesterday.  How much I don't really know.  It fell in a hard downpour for a while but perhaps not long enough to give us much.  I did get all my grapefruit mint, chocolate mint and spearmint in the dehydrator ground and into jars but didn't harvest anything.  Mom was busy in the kitchen doing up the turnips and zucchini we got from Brother and fixing up a big pot of beef soup.  After the veggies cooled I packaged it up for freezing but that was the extent of my time in the kitchen. I have said before that the only thing we don't like about our little townhouse is the small kitchen.  Not enough room for the two of us unless we are working on the same process and/or not moving around much.

So I still have the peppers and peppermint to harvest.  I saw some tomato and pepper branches that need to be tied up and some leaves I should cut back because they are starting to cover the bird feeder.  I need to pull the lemon verbena.  It has definitely given up the ghost.  And the new lavenders and a cutting from the peppermint should go into permanent pots.

For new chores--I need to move some plants and the chair that has the spearmint pot on it so I can get to the squash.  I know a squash fruit is maturing behind all that foliage but how far along--I have no idea.  The bees have been very busy with the cucumber vine and I can see several little cucumbers growing.  As I have said before everything is late this year.

Some dead firefighters are evidently more equal than other dead firefighters.  There are times when the distinction between "seasonal" and "full-time" shouldn't exist.  When a person dies or is injured in the performance of a dangerous and necessary job, it shouldn't matter.

Update: the smell of peppermint pervades the house.  It is drying now.  We got only two very small lemon squash.  Mom will put them with other veggies so we won't have any to freeze.  Oh well!!  I pulled the vines since I didn't see any new squash coming up.  I was surprised at the summer savory which is doing very well inspire (because?) of my neglect.  It is blooming.  I had a surprise.  One of our hummingbirds came by as I was looking over a couple of the plants.  After a moment she perched to feed.  I stood perfectly still watching till she flew away.

Mom and I have said what this story concludes often after listening another case of governmental spying, corporate data mining, or identity theft by way of computers:  there is no privacy or security in today's world; get used to it.

This is a startling though, upon reflection, not surprising consequence of the heatwave in D.C.  We don't often think about the effect of extreme heat (or cold) on our vehicles.

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