Today So Far

65°f this morning, 18°C. Clear, but clouds expected to move in later.

We got an early start today. I was up before 6am, rare for me but what I have done 2 days in a row. Today I wanted to get out in the gardens before it got hot. These 80-degree-plus days are not my idea of Spring!

So up, tea and coffee, laundry sorted and the washer started, breakfast of fresh tomatoes (more about that later), eggs, toast, and strawberries.  Then outside where I weeded my rose garden, added new mulch, mulched a row of young shrubs to protect them from the Mad Weedeater Man, then got onto the veggie garden to weed and hoe.

The roses are looking so pretty. I missed the peak of the orange one but the yellow is just stunning now.

One thing is certain: I will not use straw from Tractor Supply for mulch again! It was apparently chock full of seeds, which sprouted and actually rooted themselves on the cardboard I put down first! So I pulled up mulch and turned it, pulling that grass or whatever straw is made from as I worked. That took a while. Then it was hoe time. 

I stopped for a while to help Larry put up the cattle panel arch for the pole lima beans. He planted the beans and more tomatoes while I finished hoping. On the way to the house I picked strawberries,  asparagus,  and lettuce. These will be part of our lunch. I ckeanedvup and sugared the strawberries,  washed and cleaned the lettuce, and put the asparagus in a bag in the fridge.

As I started writing this it was 10:30 and coffee break time! We are having a snack too, the pineapple-banana-pecan bread i made Sunday. The porch ceiling fan is on, and it's already 81 degrees. I will get my stringtrimming finished up after break, then it's inside work until it cools down this evening.

Yesterday we were up and on the road early, as Larry had a doctor appointment at 8am at the VA, about an hour and a half away. After his appointment,  we went to Lowe's to get a patio door sliding screen. We won't be able to put it on until we figure out a way to protect it from our dogs and the cat,  though--the reason for the demise of our last screen door.

We planned to go to the cemetery where Larry's parents are buried afterwards, and needed to get flowers. They are in a mausoleum so we needed something to go in the vase attached to their panel. At first I thought I would run in to Michael's and get some silk flowers, but Lowe's had some nice roses bushes, and Larry's mom loved roses. So we opted to buy a rose bush, cut the flowers for the vase, and plant the bush at home, where it will be named Dollie's Rose, in memory if his mother. 

But before we went to the cemetery we stopped to visit Larry's twin sister Mary and her husband Bob. We don't see them often; they never want to drive up here, so Larry visits when he goes to the VA. We picked up cinnamon rolls and strawberries on the way, and enjoyed those and coffee on their porch while catching up. Larry's oldest sister, Jeanie, lost her husband last week to pancreatic cancer, and I think that has made all three of them realize they need to try to get together,  or at least call each other more often. 

Mary, Larry, and me. Neither of them have a middle name. Guess their mama was too worn out to choose them after the surprise of having twins!

Finally we made it to the cemetery, where Larry visited the grave of his brother before we put the flowers on his parents' stone. Then home for naps, something I rarely do but I was worn out.in the evening we got on to cutting grass and stringtrimming until a neighbor stopped by just before dark.

So that's been the last 2 days.  But, back to those tomatoes: 

Our son Derek has a friend who has 5 high tunnels where he grows only tomatoes. He's been doing this for about 20 years, and the tomatoes are his main source of income, although he does grow field corn and lots of ornamental pumpkins in the fall. His tomatoes are well known all over this part of West Virginia, and earn that high opinion because they are absolutely delicious.  Derek brought me one of Mark's very first ripe one for Mothers Day, and what a treat! Then Sunday he called to say he had a whole box Mark had given him of the less-than-perfect ripe ones. Oh. My. Goodness.  Ripe tomatoes in May! They are so, so good too. And since they are also very ripe, I will bebgorging myself on tomatoes for the next few days. Sometimes I just hate my life! Not.

Okay, back to work!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.