Monday August 6

I think I will be lazy today. Yesterday was busy and I feel the effects in every muscle and joint. I finished the embroidery on another scarf and pulled the thread I need for another--and made a list of the colors I need to buy for it. It never fails. In spite of the collection of thread I have amassed over the decades I always find the pattern calls for colors I don't have. I finished the herbs in the dehydrator--meaning I chopped them and put them in their jars on my shelf. I cut others and they are waiting in the dehydrator and will wait until I feel like standing for enough time to finish them. I also decided it was time to get some of our frozen fruit finely chopped for yogurt so I did another long stint of standing while dealing with blueberries, cherries, apples, strawberries, and peaches. That is all in small tightly covered bowls in the freezer.

The weather everywhere is simply insane--case in point. Or this long piece in the New York Times. Naomi Klein posted this one at the Intercept which takes on another New York Times Magazine article.

Tuesday August 7

It will be another lazy day. Yesterday became a bit busier than I intended because we decided to take three boxes of books to the library and while we were out also went to Michaels for the embroidery floss I wanted and to Meijer for some small jelly jars I plan to use next time I need to chop fruit. We don't have any errands left til next week.

I spent a fair bit of time looking for a book of iron-on transfer patterns I knew I had but couldn't put my hand on right away. That always happens when you have reorganized in a major way. I knew I hadn't disposed of the book but where in this new arrangement I put it was a mystery. Thankfully "was" is the operative word. I finally found it. But just in case I found a couple of similar books at Barnes&Noble and ordered on-line.

Another reason to eliminate plastic from our lives--as much as possible.

Wednesday August 8

We have had rain today so no gardening. I did get a look at things and found the Lemon Boy
tomatoes ripening. they will be ready soon. The Ox Heart tomatoes are still green. The red bell peppers aren't ripe yet or showing signs of turning red.

We had to make a quick run out to the grocery store. I found only three cans of cat food on the shelf which wouldn't last us til our normal shopping day next week. Since the Cats must be fed we dis a quick run and got a couple of other items we might have run out of over the weekend.

This is a good piece from US News on climate change. The author focuses on the heatwave that, it seems, is everywhere across the globe this year. Our temperatures have moderated somewhat though the mid-80s can still be uncomfortable. We also have had sporadic rain which is very welcome considering how dry it has been lately. This article provides a snapshot of what is happening in Europe.

I started patio gardening here about 15 years ago. My sister gave Mom a potted tomato plant for Mothers' Day. I tended it and we both enjoyed the tomatoes. One year was so cold over the summer I actually looked at adding a cold tolerant tomato variety to our garden. I didn't because the warmth came back and our usual varieties did well. Until about three years ago I always had an abundance of tomatoes. We couldn't eat them fast enough or give them away fast enough. So I took up canning tomato sauce and whole tomatoes. The harvests have gone down since then and the temperatures have gone up. Last year I canned tomatoes we bought in bulk at our local farm market. We won't can any this year because we don't have either the time or energy. Our own tomatoes are not as prolific as they should be. A heatwave early in the season that gave us a week and a bit in the 90s (with a couple of days almost hitting 100) made sure those blossoms didn't set fruit. The plants recovered slowly and though we do have tomatoes ripening they are few. I don't think I will do tomatoes next year. I think I mentioned before that our patio acts like an oven and concentrates heat. The official temperature may be in the mid to high 80s but on the patio that translates to mid to high 90s.

Thursday August 9

Finished off the chives, spearmint, peppermint, and sage in the dehydrator and loaded said machine with cinnamon basil, tarragon, and more spearmint. Then deadheaded several geraniums and took out the Vernissage tomato. We tried a couple and decided it wasn't worth keeping. The flavor is so-so and it has a very thick skin. The Lemon Boy is starting to ripen but the Ox Heart is still green. Mom insists: no fried green tomatoes this year. The rain we got was nice but the moisture didn't last very long. I plan on watering everything very well tomorrow morning.

Friday August 10

Well, I won't have to water. We got some rain late yesterday and overnight. I plan to finish off the herbs in the dehydrator but won't pick any more til tomorrow--when things will have dried out a bit.

So they have found a word for acquiring more books that you can possibly read. Sometime ago the needlework groups had a term for a similar accumulation of materials: SABLE--Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. I guess the bibliophile equivalent is BABLE--Books Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. I have both conditions.

So Repthuglicans propose shifting the money for new Coast Guard icebreakers to that piece of crap proposed wall on the border. We have ONE 42-year-old icebreaker that was reactivated in 2012 after $60million in repairs. Once upon a time we had six. Russia has...40+ according to the last report I saw. It seems to me they ask themselves which is the least useful and needful piece of "infrastructure" (and that is using the term very loosely applied to the wall) and choose to fund it first.

I hope the critics scuttle this plan. Again an unnecessary and wasteful #45-ego stroking exercise. Money that could be used to rebuild bridges, roads, etc., squandered on a redundant military expansion.

Saturday August 11

Should be a nice day to harvest some more herbs and get some clean-up I have been putting off done. I might even get some hemming on pieces I have finished the embroidery on but haven't quite finished entirely. I also have a couple that need a bit of pressing.

I wonder if the costs of lost land and revenue are calculated into the true "cost" of oil drilling. My guess--not on your life. The oil would be far too expensive to market. And the products too expensive for consumers to buy. And you can't eat oil so if enough good farming land is polluted we'll be too dead to buy petroleum products.

I picked two dehydrator trays of spearmint and four of lavender. I took out the purple bell--it simply isn't producing much and not worth the effort to keep it watered. I still have a red bell and a shishito. So far the shishito peppers are smaller than I expected based on past experience but there is a fair quantity of them. The red bell is a new variety for me and is producing a nice quantity of large peppers. Mom is in the process of freezing those and we will put the last of the purple bells in our chef salads for supper. I am taking a bit of a break before heading out to do some more cleaning.