A little this and that.

 Blessings Darlings!

We got heavy rain yesterday!  I fear that most of it ran off the lawn, but I will go out soon and start digging the hole for the elderberry.  At least the ground shouldn't be rock hard, right? 

I'm still being buried in tomatoes and Swiss Chard.  Drying the tomatoes is well underway.  Zucchini should start over producing soon.  Peppers are about perfect right now.

No homes yet for the 7 kittens we are currently fostering.  And the damn barn cat just had more kittens two days ago.  MY spawn has finally heard back and has plans for getting the fuzzy assholes spayed at reasonable cost. 

Music for the start of the day:  Flogging Molly, as backdrop for Sinead O'Connor's funeral.

Frondly, Fern

Detailed garden update.

 Blessings Darlings!

Today ... like most days this week ... the forecast has been 'today will be much cooler than yesterday was'.  Today ... like EVERY day this week ... the forecast LIED.  It's still hot and miserable out.

My plan in the garden this year was to try to match most of what the garden produced with the amount of veggies that we eat fresh, other than my experiments with growing potatoes and dry beans.  I'm doing okay at that goal!  Yay!  Not all of the success has been because I planned well, tho'.

We haven't gotten ANY tomatoes from the plants I purposely put in yet.  We're eating the ones off one of the volunteer tomato plants.  I have no idea what its genetics are, but it's putting out about 8 oz round fruit.  Hell, one of the plants I bought and planted (pink brandywine) hasn't even set fruit yet!

I've only planted two plots of green beans this year - we had WAY too many green beans for eating last year, and I didn't want to mess with canning them this year.  I only planted the second plot late, two weeks ago, so we've not gotten any from that plot.   But since I wasn't after beans-for-canning, I planted my favorite bush beans this year - Contender beans. Last year I planted my second favorite, Tendergreen beans.  Both produce for a longer period of time than green bean varieties for selling or canning, such as Jade.  Now every few days, altho' I expect that patch to be played out, I still harvest at least a pound of beans.  ALMOST too much for us.  The second plot has half the number of plants in it (and can be protected from frost, since I did plant them a little late.)

When we get a cool day, I'll harvest the potatoes, and evaluate that harvest.  I put in 15 seed potatoes of Yukon Gold.  I'd rather have put in some russet potatoes, but this was the only option at the store at the time.  Things got SERIOUSLY sold out due to folks suddenly gardening due to Coronavirus this year!  I didn't to a great job of making sure that the potatolings were covered by straw to protect them from the sun over the season, so I'm sure that I'm going to have a problem with some of them being too green to eat (the green produces toxins), but it's still going to be interesting.

I lost the one grey squash zucchini to bacterial wilt, but got 3 squash off of it before it died.  The ONE yellow crookneck heritage squash has been producing more than we've been able to eat.  This is with using it for stir-fries, raw slices for dips, zoodles in place of pasta, and just cooking and eating it as a 'regular' veggie.  The plant is now dying off, slowly but very surely, so we won't be getting much more from it.  My husband is grateful for that.

Turnip and beets were about perfect.  Put in 12 or 15 of each of them.  Rutabagas ... I don't do well with those.  They didn't survive transplanting.  The 'volunteer' dill - I had one scrawny plant last year, so I just let it go to seed, and it gave me 1 plant this year - is doing well, but I'm letting it seed itself again.  If I get enough plants next year, and put in some Jade or other canning beans, I'll use some for dilly beans.  And maybe for dill pickles - this year I've not gotten any cucs yet but do hope I'll get a few from my late planting.  I've gotten enough basil for fresh use (barely) and to dry some for the winter, but not enough for the Spawn to make and freeze pesto.  Parsley has stayed alive, but not grown enough to harvest and use.  I've harvested lots of spearmint, oregano, thyme, and sage.  Rosemary is ... limping.  I'll be happy if it survives the winter.

The one bell pepper is doing okay, but not great.  The hot peppers are producing tons of peppers - I might skip growing them next year, and just smoke or dry these.  Next year I want more sweet peppers and maybe some shishitos, I really loved those last year.

August Life in the US update.

 Blessings Darlings!

So, back to more mundane daily life-during-coronavirus.  I'm enjoying a bit of hypomania and the higher energy levels.  House is getting more deeply cleaned, two blog posts I'm really proud of, reading is being done without me falling asleep, etc.  Yes, folks - the pillows are in the wash even as I type.  Maybe it's not hypomania, maybe this is what 'normal' folks without anxiety and depression feel every day.  Whatever.  

I'm trying to incorporate a second daily offering in my life, an offering of some of my coffee to The Morrigan in the morning.  Been meaning to do that for a week.  Last night I put a sticky note on my coffee cup.  This might be just the thing I needed - I MIGHT now be able to do an offering before I actually have my daily coffee! 

But Coronavirus drags on, with more than 5 million infections in the US.  Schools are opening, masks aren't begin worn, infections spreading there, lots of students/staff getting quarantined.  The Spawn's college starts again 2 weeks from today.  We know that one class will be online.  The other 4 are all supposed to be In Person. I have invested in more masks.  Hospitals still full, respirators still fully utilized, deaths still up.

Sturgis is full of bikers going around mask-free, who will infect each other then spread out across the country.  There might be many a Harley on sale cheap in a few months.

Economy still fucked, because folks don't want to become ill or die.  My job is GONE.  The hotel is going to be a dorm for the local college, so the college can do only one student per room.  The dorms do not serve meals.  I worked in the kitchen.  My only job options right now are McDonalds and Dairy Queen, and maybe the Food Lion is hiring.  Both would require lots of exposure to, ya know, people.  For minimum wage.

Grocery prices are still way up, especially for meats. There are new episodes of contamination of lettuce every few months.  We're getting by on Swiss Cress from the garden instead of lettuce. This will be more of a problem come winter, of course.  I don't have quite enough veggies to not have to buy any, but maybe I'll do better next year.

The Chubby Hubby's birthday is coming, and there's really no where to take him for the day.  Museums?  Surely you jest.  If it was MY birthday, we'd hike.  But MY birthday is in December.  His is on the anniversary of the National Park Service, later this month.

While the Spawn and I were getting our Coronavirus stimulus money, we saved most of it.  The govt might start it up again, but Constitutionally money stuff has to start in the House.  Not as executive orders from POTUS.   At any rate, we could save a lot and did save a lot.  We'll be okay for a while, unlike lots of folks.  Most renters here in West Virginia are delinquent on their rent.  

Here in the US we haven't even had the national conventions leading to the election.  But this election has already dragged on for ever.  And the stupid push against voting by mail, especially during the pandemic is, well, stupid.  At least here in WV - a mostly Republican state, so POTUS is okay with it here - I can order my vote my mail ballot online TOMORROW.  And you can bet your ass that I'm going to.  But if I had to vote in person - I'd be there, with a chair, drinks, food, umbrella if needed, etc.  I . am . going . to . vote.

Frondly, Fern