Melt Down

I had a minor melt down today on the way to the bank. There was a substitute for Cokie Roberts on Fresh Air today and he was replaying an interview by Cokie with Ray Price done in '99. They played "Crazy Arms" and I just couldn't hold back the tears. There is something about music that can touch emotions and memories you've buried so deep you think they'll never surface. In this case it was memories of my father, that Alabama wild man, dry, wry sense of humor, bourbon drinking, gambler.  Ray Price died on Monday, he was in his 80's and a contemporary of my folks. He made a lot of good music! Some of my favorites of his were: For the Good Times, Am I That easy to Forget, You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, and of course his first big hit Crazy Arms. Any Ray Price fans out there? Or for that matter any classic country music fans out there. I've been mostly Rock n Roll my whole life but when you hear his music it does strike an honest chord that a few modern day artists are bringing back, notably Jason Isbell. I've heard a few cuts from his album Southeastern. I think it's going to be a monster. If you haven't heard him pull up the single "Elephant". Then you too can have a meltdown.

Summer Doldrums

We are in the late summer doldrums around my house. You know how that goes, no energy to do anything after three in the afternoon. Strenuous work gets done in the early morning, or not at all. Watching the heat lightening in the sky night after night, after night. Wondering if it really is safe to plant those fall veggies, or if you really have a prayer of a chance  of seeing them sprout.

So far the pak choy I planted in 4 inch pots a few weeks ago and ten days ago planted out into the garden look good and the broccoli I sewed directly into the same bed are coming up. The winter squash  look dreadful with yellow leaves and some bare stalks are nevertheless putting out squash. The sweet peppers look puny also but continue to bear. I want to just snatch them all up and plant something else but it is still so hot. I did plant cauliflower seeds, two different types, a traditional and a Romanesque. We had terrible nematode and stink bug damage so we have solarized the fallow beds and further treated with a dilute household bleach solution.

I planted the sugar snap peas, and still have a sweet pea selection that also requires trellising. I have a large strawberry bed and if research bears out their tolerance of each other I may plant the peas in with them. We'll see. This season we decided upon an experiment with straw bales and we have a small pilot area with tomato plants and pepper seeds. Tomatoes are looking good and just setting flowers but the pepper seeds have failed to show at all. In spite of a continuous composting effort we never seem to have enough of that good stuff so I have high hopes for this bale project.

There are lots of good courses coming up at the Extension Service and I plan to attend a few just to see how others are faring. In addition to the veggie garden I want to convert my lawn into a more Florida friendly space that is attractive but requires less lawn maintenance. But right now that all sounds way beyond my ambition.

Count the ways - part 2

Well hallelujah! It only dropped to 33 as of 4 am. Only one more night of cold weather, and wouldn't it be lovely if that was all the cold weather we got til fall? We can only hope.

It is a beautiful morning to look out upon, clear sky and calm. We will leave all the cold weather protections in place until tomorrow. In the coming days we'll plant out our summer crops and flowers. I can't wait to see it all growing and for the garden space to take on the look of permanence. I have plans for vining plants to scale its fence and a small seating area where we can take a break. I'll post more photos so you can see what we've accomplished.

How to keep my garden from freezing? Let me count the ways!

How to keep my garden from freezing.......let me count the ways!  The broccoli rabe received a painting drop cloth-one of the flimsy plastic numbers which tried to fly away in the wind. So then we added a dark green shade cloth on top to weigh it down.  All along the sides we weighted it with sand from the walkways and a few garden implements and assorted tools. I put a hammer across one corner of the raised bed. The little four by four carrot bed got a layer of bubble wrap, but since it was barely wide enough to cover it we came back today and added our dog's blanket we used on the back seat of our truck. Then we put bricks at all four corners. The lettuce bed got a queen sized sheet with shovels anchoring it. The sugar snaps got a healthy layer of shredded documents and a Visqueen cover weighted by sand all along the length of it. The fig tree has started to bud so we covered it with a tarp and bubble wrap held in place by forty pound bags of compost. My husband has babied this little tree for a year and we had no figs last years due to drouth. We are hoping for a crop this year.

Scheffleras on the patio are wrapped in king size sheets. Tender plants in the front yard beds are covered by bubble wrap and cardboard boxes. Tender new seedlings have been brought inside and my succulents are in the mini greenhouse. Poinsettias planted against the back wall of the house are tarped over. We have two mornings to worry about. We are keeping our fingers crossed all this works. We started early in our preparations knowing some efforts would fall short. As of this afternoon everything was staying in place and hopefully will remain there until this momentary frigid spells passes. Fast assembly  cover are in our future, but for now this hodge podge of is the plan. It looks pretty sad, but if it gets us through the next cool mornings we may have seen the last of winter. That would be a good thing.

Count On This

No dealing with
this narcissist
it is after all
just about him
all and all are viewed
from the perspective
of how well
it makes him look
and on and on he wails
of old slights
perceived travails
while first on his request list
what lately have you placed upon
my plate
his charges are all
worn out...
from the drama
it isn't right for babes
to live with his trauma
even baby's eyes grow dull
when subjected to
his harsh and sullen
lack of good
no real word of
encouragement
for them
no warm and fuzzy
moments of ease
just continuous exposure
to his disease