Sigh…

Where do I go to give up on life?  

As if I didn't have trouble enough, when I went to make my oatmeal this morning, my milk was sour.  It was a brand new jug that I'd only opened on Saturday, so I was pretty upset about that.  Fortunately, I had some evaporated milk in the pantry, which worked in a pinch.  Unfortunately, I put too much into my oatmeal and made oat soup.  I ended up pouring most of it down the sink, which meant I went to work pretty hungry.  

I was planning on running in to Walmart after work anyway, because yesterday the zipper on my lunch bag broke.  I tried to fix it, but was unable to, so I figured I'd just get a new jug of milk while I was getting a new lunch bag.  Apparently, they no longer make the kind of lunch bag I've been carrying for the last 25 years.  I found one, but it's different and you know me.  I don't like different.  

I found one I think I can get used to, then ran home --OK, I drove home -- and went outside to piddle in my garden a bit, when what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Yep, my garden hose split in another spot.  At this point, I'm wondering what else in my life can fall apart.  

I'm pretty upset about this.  I've only had that hose for two years and this is the second time it has ruptured.  It was an expensive hose, too, supposed to be heavy duty.  All it is is heavy.  Heavy and stiff and hard to manipulate.  I've never really liked it anyway.  

Oh well...I'll have a few days to decide whether to keep on mending it or to buy a new one.  But I'll tell you one thing, the next one I buy will definitely be more flexible than this one. 

That's for sure. 

Every Saturday

Every Saturday, I say I'm going to get up and go to the farmer's market, and every Saturday I don't get up and go to the farmer's market...Maybe if they carried it over into the afternoon I'd go, but it ends at 11:00.  

Take yesterday morning, for example.  I wanted to get the weedeating done before it go too hot, so I did the weedeating.  I couldn't move my arms for the rest of the day, but the weedeating is done.  

Then I wanted to start a new compost pile in the black bag I emptied last week, so I tore up some cardboard for the browns, and pulled up some weeds for the greens, and got that done.  And I harvested a bunch of herbs, washed them, and hung them up to dry.  

While all of this was going on, I did a load of laundry and hung it on my clothes horse to dry.  

By the time I was finished, it was nearly 11:00 and the farmer's market was over for the week, so I just piddled around the house for the rest of the day.  And of course, you may be wondering why I'm telling you about yesterday today instead of yesterday.  Simple,  yesterday was D-Day.  It's important we remember those important dates, so I'll keep on posting about them, even though most of you skip those. 

OK, on to today.  I'm mostly rested my hands since weedeating seems to have seriously irritated my trigger finger, so much so I can't even comfortably knit.   Instead, I just watched TV.  I found a new to me show on Prime called Royal Autopsy.  A professor and forensic pathologist do an autopsy on a prosthetic body from an old English king or queen and try to determine the cause of death with the knowledge we have today.  It's pretty interesting if you're into those sorts of shows.  Unfortunately, there are only six episodes, so I've already finished bingeing it.   Now I'm re-watching Time Team, Digging For The Truth, and Lark Rise to Candleford on Prime, Pluto, and Roku Channel respectively.  

Anyway, just so this post isn't a complete waste of your time, here are some garden photos. 

My zinnia bed.

A bachelor's button.

My pepper bed.

My tomato and basil bed.

It looks like I'm going to have plenty of peppers to harvest.   Every one of my plants looks like this. 

While I was cleaning out the shed, I found this old thing.  

I'd bought it from a thrift shop ages ago, thinking I could use it as a planter.  Alas, as it has absolutely no drainage whatsoever, that didn't work out too well.  I think it was some sort of candle, since it's got what looks like wax in the bottom.  I'm going to clean it out, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with it after that.   I don't want to get rid of it, because I still like it.  I guess I'll use it for decoration or something. 

And finally, your bit of humor for the day. 

Florida never fails...

June 6, 1944

 Courage

The word courage has been bandied about a lot lately, most often in regards to things that don't require courage at all. A man proclaims himself as a member of a protected class,  and we call it courage.  A woman whines that the tax payer should cover the expense of her birth control, and we call it courage.  A man mutilates his body because he is uncomfortable with who he is, and we call it courage.  A boy can't win against other boys, so he declares himself a girl, and we call it courage.  

None of this is courageous.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  We have become a nation who calls a cowardly act courageous, and viciously shouts down anyone who disagrees.  That's not courage. 

It would seem we have forgotten what courage truly is.  Let me refresh your memory...

June 6, 1944, in the misty gray light of early morning, landing craft approached the beaches of Normandy. Boats filled with frightened young men, many of them barely more than boys. 

Boys wishing they were still at home in bed. Shaking with fear. Praying. Maybe crying. Knowing that many of them would not survive the day.

 And yet, when those landing craft hit the beach, 

 when those ramps opened, 

 without hesitation, they stood and charged into the hail of bullets that would claim nearly 10,000 of them before the sun set. 

Seeing their friends, their brothers in arms, cut down beside them. 

Still they ran. Still they fought. 

In spite of their fear, and knowing that the fate of the entire world rested on their shoulders, they claimed that beach and began the long, slow slog across Europe that would eventually lead to Hitler's demise.

Now, that is courage. 

 And that is why they truly were The Greatest Generation.

When It Rains

When it rains, it pours.  

I finished a long, tiring day of work, then ran into town to drop off the piano book in the Little Free Library and see if there was anything in there that I wanted to read.  There wasn't, so I got back into my little car and drove down to Walmart. 

My shopping done, I came home and as is my custom, started a load of laundry.  The trouble started when I put them into the dryer.  Only a short time later, the breaker tripped.  What?  

I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  About ten minutes later, it tripped again.  Once more, I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  Same thing...By that time, though, the first load of jeans was dry.  I folded them and put them away, but since I didn't know what was causing the dryer to trip, I dragged out the old clothes horse and put the second load of jeans and shorts onto it, and set it out into the sunlight.  

I started a load of shirts, then did a little Googling.  Basically, what I came up with is that my dryer is old.  The most likely culprits are either that the drum rollers and bearings are worn out, or the wiring is worn out.  I can try to replace the drum bearings and rollers and see if that helps, but I don't feel confident enough to fool with the wiring.  In the mean time, I hopped onto Amazon and ordered a larger clothes horse to use for now.   

I'm considering getting a set of full sized clothesline poles as well.  Truth is, I've wanted one for a long time, even after I do fix or replace my dryer.  I love the freshness of line dried clothes. 

By the time I did all of that, the shirts were done, so I gave the dryer one more chance.  Sure enough, about ten minutes in, the breaker tripped one last time.  I gave up, put the shirts on clothes hangers, and hung them on the shower curtain rack.   I'll save the rest of the laundry for tomorrow.  Hopefully, the shorts and jeans will be dry by then, and I can use the clothes horse for the next load.  

If all else fails, I can haul it into town and dry it at a laundry mat.  Or a laundromat, if you want to use the correct spelling.  Or washateria, if you're from Texas.  

By the way, I glanced quickly through some old blog posts to try and see when I bought that dryer, but didn't see anything.  It's probably at least 20 years old, if not more.  I honestly don't remember if I've ever had to replace my dryer.  My washer, I know I've replaced twice, but not my dryer.  If that's the case, it's 30 years old.  And if that's the case, it's time to treat myself to a new one.  Alas, that will mean that my garden expansion might have to wait a bit longer.  

Speaking of my garden, while all of this was going on, my little baby 'maters were just chillin' in the sun. 

I wish I had some way of protecting them so I could leave them outside all the time.  Once they get big enough to up-pot, I can put the little cloches over them, but for now, I'm bringing them back inside every night. 

And finally, what this day needs is a little funky music...

White boy. 

Guess Who

Guess who decided to mow after work today.  Yep, this girl. 

Why?  Well, because the grass in the front yard was getting close to knee high.  I'd done the back yard Saturday, but the front was still too mushy from the recent rains.  You know, that's what I hired the landscammer to do.  To fill in the low spots and improve the drainage so it wouldn't be like that.  We all know how that went.  

Anyway, I was looking at the forecast and saw that we were supposed to be getting more rain on Saturday, so I figured it would be best to get that chore out of the way before the yard got mushy again.   Wouldn't you know it, I checked again after I'd finished, and they've pushed the rain back to Sunday.  Oh well, at least it's done and I won't have to worry about it.  

The only problem is that now I can't see.  Because I'm allergic to grass and all...

Fortunately, it wasn't that hot out, so I got it done with only a little bit of sweating.  The weedeating will have to wait until tomorrow or Saturday, though, because I'm plumb tuckered. 

In fact, I'm so tuckered I'm going to bed.  After I practice my piano that is.  Which ought to be fun, seeing as I can't see...

Goodnight.

It’s A Start

Today is one of those days, I just don't know where to start, so I'm just going to jump right in there.  

As you all know, I've been getting this herb garden going so I'll have something to do when I'm retired.   Since I don't really cook, I'm thinking I might start selling stuff at the Farmer's Market.  This isn't news to anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time.  

If I'm going to sell the stuff, I figured I'd need some fancy jars to put it into.  I've been looking at some on Amazon, and finally broke down and bought a set.  That is what arrived on my doorstep today.  They're really nice.  Heavyweight glass, square shape, with fancy wood -look lids.  

And they've got sprinkle lids inside.  They also come with pre-printed labels, and the little green thing is a collapsable funnel. 

The other thing I ordered was some desiccant packs.  

I won't put those into the bottles to sell, but I'll put on into each jar just to make sure there's no errant moisture that would cause the herbs to mold.  Eh, it's a start. 

In other news, I've been meaning to clean out my shed for ages now, but I haven't.  I walk in, look around, get overwhelmed, then walk right back out. Today, I decided I'd do just one thing, and that one thing was to move this blue shelf from the shed to the back near my potting bench. 

I got it cleaned off and moved, and now I need to get the stuff that was on it organized and put back on to it.  It was all gardening stuff anyway.  I've still got a long way to go before that shed is clean, but it's a start.  

Speaking of starts, look at this!  All four of my cells have a tomato seedling germinating.   

I put them straight out into the sun as soon as I got home from work, and will bring it back inside before I go to bed.  I think that putting them outside as soon as the break ground, they'll be hardened from the get go.  It worked with the zinnias, so I'm hoping it'll work with tomatoes.  

Also, I'm finally getting some bachelor's button blooms!  

And finally, I managed to get a picture of another toad.  

 I bought that little pond to put into my toad garden when I finally get it going.   It's not very deep, plus it has a ramp so even tiny frogs should have no problem getting out. 

I guess that's about all I have for today.  Oh, I should probably mention that I started my Alfred's All-In-One Piano level 3 book yesterday.  I've only just started learning the first song, so there's really not much to report. 

When I do have something to report, I'll be sure to let you know. 

The Rumors

Turns out, the rumors were true.  I found out this morning that they did indeed shut down second shift Friday afternoon.  They didn't even work their shift that night.  I'm sure they laid some of them off, but a lot came back to day shift.  And suddenly, we have two more sub brazers competing for what little work we do have. 

I have no idea what's going on out there, if it's just a few slow weeks or what.  They never tell us anything anymore.  At one point today, seven of the twelve brazers were down waiting on work from tubing.   Heh, I had walked over to get a broom from where we keep them under the stairs to the production office, and I just stood there for a moment, heaving a great sigh. 

One of the other brazers saw me and asked, "You hiding under the stairs, Becky?"  I replied, "Yep.  I was hiding in the jig racks, but I got bored, so now I'm hiding under the stairs."  I needed a change of scenery.

We finally got some work, and the day finally ended.  Alas, I came home to a heat index of  103°.  Happy first day of Meteorological Summer.  By the time I'd scattered some corn for the wild critters that eat corn and deadheaded the marigolds, I was fair dripping with sweat. 

I kind of want to water them when the sun gets a little lower, but we are expecting storms tonight.  Therein lies the conundrum.  If I water, we'll get buckets of rain, but if I don't, we'll barely get a drop.  Oh well, I filled the drip waterers by my tomatoes, and the rest will survive one more day until I see what the weather is going to do.  

My poor zinnias are so droopy from the heat, I found an old trellis to prop them up with. 

Next year, I'll know to put trellises up when I plant them, and put my fairy garden in another bed.  One where the plants don't grow quite so thick and tall.   Then again, as I said, I've never had zinnias grow this big before.  

The good news is, this next round of storms is supposed to cool things off just a bit.  The bad news is, it's just a bit.  I'm talking down into the upper 80s instead of the low 90s.  I'm already ready for fall.  

By the way, I was chatting with one of the supervisors while we were waiting -- he for an order, and I to use the computer. Now, this supervisor, his dad, and his son all grow huge gardens every year.  You may remember the son.  I called him Supervisor Greenjeans, because of the way he was always talking about his garden, before he took a job at another facility here in town. 

All that to say, the supervisor I was chatting with told me his wife had made squash pickles.  He didn't think they'd been any good, but they were.  Now I have to look up a recipe for squash pickles and next year plant squash.  If I can perfect the recipe, that'll be something else I can make and sell at the farmer's market when I've retired. 

Well, I stayed up way too late last night watching gardening videos, so I'm going to head for bed soon.  Before I go, I wanted to show you scarf progress.  I've passed the halfway point, and I know this because I've joined the second ball of yarn.  

Yarn:  Life DK by Stylecraft

Colorway:  Teal

Pattern:  Trekking Is For Necking

Needles:  US 6 / 4mm

I think I'll go work on it a bit before bed.

Goodnight, all.