Storms

 We have had some pretty fierce weather here for the last three days. Some pretty violent thunderstorms, torrential downpours. Hail at times. High winds. Tornado warnings. Lots of severe weather warnings. Coming back from Pleasantville tonight, a 20 min drive, we had five alerts. The worst of today's storms passed slightly south of us, so we were spared the brunt of it. 

If you have Facebook, you can link to some of today's weather. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1H5CQt9ZHw/

The weird thing is that the storms have been rolling through in waves, multiple storms over the course of a day. Last night we were awakened at least four times by crazy loud cracks of thunder, once by a prolonged lightning flash.

Still...we have been lucky compared to a lot of folks. 

The chicken coop Levi built for us is solid and good. The chickens seem to know when things are going to turn and they scurry in. I keep food and water inside, because some days they spend more time inside than out. It doesn't seem to bother them.

Ignore the mess in the foreground. I swept the coop out, put fresh chips down. The picture was taken before I raked.

When we get a break in the weather, I turn them lose to get some free range time. They love finding earthworms in the water logged ground. 

I put them in the run when I go inside because I still worry about the cats, but so far, the cats seem afraid of them. 

What the fresh hell is this, Mother?

So I am pretty sure they will be able to eventually free range as I hoped. 

Possum (in the picture above) still doesn't want to come inside. I take her supper out to the greenhouse to keep her food dish from flooding. Tonight, I got caught out there when a storm moved in. The rain pounded down so hard I could not see the house but I had been drying seeds from the wild flowers and put them in empty pill bottles I have stashed down there for that purpose. I labeled the ironweed and the echinacea.

Eventually the rain let up and I scooted back to the house, stopping to close up the chickens for the night. It was so dark they were calmly roosting.

Tiger Kitten still comes in for the night. I feel bad for poor Phantom, the big old feral who has been coming to be fed. The storms have been so bad that he did not come to the house to eat last night. Today he darted to the house between storms and stood gazing pitifully through the sliding door. He ran when I slid the door open to put food in his dish. He always does, but tonight he was hungry enough that he stayed very close. I talked to him and he listened keeping steady eye contact. As soon as the door shut, he was on the porch gobbling supper. 

He is the one I worry about the most with the chickens. He is a hunter. I am pretty sure that he is the reason that Tiger sleeps in at night and Possum holes up in the greenhouse. (Phantom is too large to get access to bother her.) He is fierce. I think that the chickens are too large for him to mess with but I am not going to take a chance. 

Today I baked 4 loaves of zucchini bread and a pan of zucchini brownies.

Anonymous

 I have said it before: all people are entitled to their opinions, but when someone comes here to bemoan all politicians as corrupt but refuses to put their name to their comment, they will be deleted. 

He had a lot of emotion but stated no reasons for that emotion. He invoked the name of 'slick willy' but offered no explanation as to why he was focused on that presidency while overlooking current events. Decrying all politics as corrupt allows a person to avoid taking a stand. 

The comment was deleted. 

What is happening now cannot be normalized. It shouldn't be normalized. It is a time to speak up and to speak out. It is time to own your words. If you can't do this, then do not think your comments will join the words of those who do have that courage. 

Isn't it Moronic

I processed my first batch of tomatoes. Probably 3/4 of a bushel. I turned part of that into a nice pot of 'scratch' spaghetti sauce with my own fresh basil. Tim loves that. 

The rest of it just went into a pot and after cooking down, I used my immersion blender to give a quick whisk. Vòila! 12 pints of tomato sauce. 

Tim made a great discovery over the weekend. He stopped in at Albert-Down-The-Road's perpetual garage sale. There was a newish upright freezer for $150. We have a chest freezer that is probably 35 years old that runs perfectly, but it is inconvenient to dig through, and sometimes things get lost, requiring prolonged digging through frozen stuffs while standing on my head..

We will use the upright for meat storage and the chest for vegetables. In the great sorting, we think we have come up with the perfect organizational system: large Aldi shopping bags! We used crates but the plastic did not stand up to the cold. 

The most exciting thing? Today I am picking up six chickens.

I have a nice picture but blogger is not 'taking' it.

Finally.

Another point

This is something I noticed during yesterday's protest: people were not only tooting and giving us thumbs up, they were hanging out their car windows cheering for us. That has never happened before.

It is changing. 

I just feel like it is changing.

Points To Ponder

Options

 The measles have been brought into the Amish community, brought back from a Lancaster horse auction. The Amish do not vaccinate. 

 I know that Mattie is afraid. She called me to say that her oldest son had been exposed. We discussed it.  They take quarantining very seriously. Since they had a family member exposed they were all homebound. 

Tim and I predate the vaccine, but we both had measles as children. We are immune. We can also not carry it. We made a deal that the answer would always be yes. If they wound up with measles, they could count on us if they needed anything. We would run it to them. 

14 days has passed and no one in the family got the measles, but it is still going around. Pennsylvania had its first measles deaths in 35 years, both cases in Lancaster, one of them an infant.

Last night, my phone rang. Levi had questions about my opinion on the vaccine. I was a little surprised. He listened. An 'English' had told Mattie's sister that the vaccine had made her son 'slow, like Down's syndrome'. I pointed out that the first dose of vaccine is given to babies, and that developmental delays may not have been recognized. "That's true," Mattie said. I said 'Everyone has to decide for themselves, but I will always follow the science."

Long story short, we ferried everyone to the health department today. The nurse there was very patient, the paperwork completed, and 10 Amish were vaccinated.

When we got them back home, a buggy pulled in. They visited at the wagon and when they came back, Levi said they told him that they heard of a man who got the vaccine and he got measles, and got them so bad he is in the hospital. 

He looked afraid. 

It will be okay. I am sure that the man got the measles from a person, not the shot. They will get their boosters in 4 weeks. I think it will be a powerful example in their community to see an entire family vaccinated, not braindamaged, not worried about catching the measles.

Maybe people in their community will say, 'I heard about this family that got the vaccine...'

I am about to become very busy here. 

This is my raised bed of romas and San Marzanos. 

I will close with a few words of wisdom:

Plots

 The big focus today is his big bluster about renaming Lake Ontario. 

It just seems like that ridiculousness pales in comparison to this mystery:

Trump and the Kremlin both denied knowledge of it. Let's be real though. Russia is at war. Military aircraft flying over Moscow would not have gone unnoticed. I don't think the director of the CIA would have risked his own safety, the safety of his staff and the safety of the military personnel without prior contact and the official okay to do so.

Don't even ask me to comment on 22 tons of Argentinian beef that was rejected by China because it had unacceptable levels of antibiotic and amoebas. That is a lot of beef that is looking  for a place to go. 

If only there was a country who was looking for a place to buy cheap meat to ease a beef shortage at home...

Joanne's Charity of Choice

 If anyone wishes to know Joanne's charity of choice it is listed in her obituary.

 https://share.google/jFoSH3dINJaHp3TMb

Thanks to Runnin' Rose for her email.

Saturday

Last night, I sat on the porch and shucked corn. We gave a lot of corn away. To all of our tenants, to our daughters' families, to two neighbors, but for all the giving away, I still had two dozen ears, so I shucked corn in the last light of the day as a formerly feral cat stretched at my feet in a  companionable way. 

I came inside with my biggest kettle full of corn, steamed it, packaged it and got it down to the freezer to join the other two dozen. I think that's enough corn. It will make a nice treat this winter. 

This morning, I could just not get moving to save my soul. I had slept poorly and the coffee wss not doing it. I saw Beth's note that Joanne passed from peacefully this morning just before six. I gave myself permission to stay home and do for my house what I can't do for the world...put it to rights. Tim went to the protest without me. 

We did a little running when he got back. The little store we go to had huge green peppers. 2 for $1.00. 50 cents each was not such a great deal, not really, but they were so big and perfect that it wasn't the worst deal I ever saw either, so I got 10 of them. 

It was a nice hour sitting at the kitchen table chopping peppers for the freezer while listening to a thunderstorm rolling in. Those 10 peppers filled 5 quart freezer bags, over six lbs of chopped peppers. They joined the 3 qts of chopped and sliced peppers already down there.

I carefully set the pepper seeds aside. I will dry them in the greenhouse and then pack them into a pill bottle for next year's garden. While I worked, I allowed myself the luxury of trying to imagine what the world will be like in 9 months when I am getting my next garden planted. Maybe it will be different. I sure hope so.

A terrible picture in the quiet, poorly lit livingroom. Tim got his mount back from the taxidermist today. He is proud. I think I will write a book called 'Decorating with Dead Stuff'.  It will be a backwoods bestseller.

I met a woman I used to work with. She was a quiet person, so quiet, you might not have thought she had opinions. Turns out that she does. So did her boyfriend.  It was nice to discover that. 

The trump administration has begun exporting wild horses to foreign governments who slaughter them for meat.

Today trump announced his plan to import cheap beef from foreign markets to bring prices down.

I am sure that those two things have nothing to do with each other, though.

Boud has an important call to action

The storm warnings have expired. I need to go to bed.

Cat Tales and Gardens

 Some time back, the outside cats began to show some nervous behavior as it got dark outside. I made them two safe places. I know that Possum began to sleep in the green house right away. The entrance was small enough that I was pretty sure she was safe at night. I made a bed for her there.

I was not sure about Tigerkitty though. I never saw him using either safe place. When he came up missing for a few days,  I was a little sick about that. I thought for sure something had snatched him away, but after 4 days, he showed up at the sliding door, back, very thin, very hungry, meowing loudly, and casting very nervous glances all around him. 

When I opened the door, he shot inside, ate two cans of catfood and disappeared into the basement. I was surprised about that, but the next morning, he came upstairs for some dry nibbles, and then asked to be let out. 

This has been his routine now for a few weeks. I found where he puts himself to bed at night. He is not a problem and I actually feel better knowing he is safe. Tonight, he showed up to come in as usual, but for the first time, Possum came inside with him. 

I am pretty sure that our 'predator' is another cat though.

My tomatoes are getting ripe. I have my morning coffee with a beautiful tomato sandwich. Toast the bread, mayo, a thick slice of tomato and lots of ground black pepper. 

We are eating a lot of zucchini and summer squash. Tim loves frittatas and the best thing about them is that you can mix up the vegetables you toss in with the zucchini and wind up with a completely different meal every time. 

My sister and her husband were cutting winter firewood. She didn't have time to process her green beans. I offered to do it for her, but she said, 'just take them. By the time we finish this tree, I will have double that to process.' 

I felt kind of guilty taking them, but when her mind is made up, there is no sense arguing with her. (It probably is genetic.)

We have been working at the house. We had some oil lamps to drop off with Levi and Mattie. I wanted to check on them anyway, because some of the men from the community went to a horse auction in Lancaster last month and brought measles back. The oldest boy had been exposed two Sundays ago and she was worried.

Tim and I have both had the measles. You cannot be a carrier if you've had them. If the family has them, they quarantine. I told her that we would stop in to check on them, and pick up any supplies they might need.

Anyways, checking on them, they have had a bumper crop of sweet corn this year. She has canned a years worth. They have eaten so much sweet corn they are tired of it. They are giving it away. They consider it a blessing and don't believe it should be sold. 

I said that we would be glad to have it. Next thing I knew there were two large bags of it in our car. I certainly did not see that coming. I should have.

On the way home, I stopped off to leave two dozen ears with my sister. It made me feel much better about the beans.

We had corn for supper, and I froze two dozen ears. It will be a real treat this winter. 

'Tis the season. 

Cup on the Bus

 I hope everyone will take a moment to stop in at Joanne's blog and leave a comment. 

In which we take a bow.

 We use our phones as hotspots for our internet and for streaming our television through Roku. We had to. The only way to get internet here is Starlink, and you can bet the ranch that this is not happening. 

(Side note: my weeklong adventure at the fair was interesting. They had just got the fairgrounds set up with Starlink. Everyone had access to the internet. Despite those assurances, we did not have internet. No one did. It never worked at all during the entire week.)

Anyhow, our system out here in the woods worked okay. We could stream TV, but sometimes there was a lot of buffering and error messages. Our phones worked, but when my daughter called from overseas using What's App, sometimes the calls dropped. The internet could also be pretty slow.

I began doing some research on cell phone boosters. We finally selected a $400 one with a roof mounted antenna. An Amish friend fabricated the mount for the roof.

The instructions called for downloading an app to find what band you were on, and where the cellphone tower was. This app made me very nervous because it wanted permission to 'control my phone', whatever that meant. It also deleted my email app without asking for permission to make room for the itself. 

At that point, I stopped the installation.

We mulled it over and decided that our phones used whatever signal they could get when we traveled. Why did we need to down load something to figure it out? We figured the phone was already picking up the signal here at home with just 1-2 bars. It would be picking up the same signal. It would just be (theoretically) stronger.

We also had no idea where the nearest cellphone tower was either, but Tim pointed out that the antenna was being mounted on a metal roof. We simply aimed it down the road which leads to the nearest big town. (It is also just about the only tree free area to point it.) We brought the wire in through the attic, drilled a hole in the ceiling and brought the wire down to the living room, hooked it up to the booster and plugged it in. 

We held our breath, afraid to hope. We literally had ignored the instructions completely. But day-um, people! We might be old and we might have no technological skills to speak of, but who has four thumbs and can now consistently pull 4-5 bars of connectivity? 

(Answer: Tim and I. We are pretty impressed with ourselves.)

They had another amplifier to wire in, but the house is so small we didn't even need it, so we ignored those instructions too. 

There is a huge fire reported in London tonight. I know they are in a drought.  Fingers crossed for Steve and Dave, even though they do not live in SE London.

These fires seem to be popping up everywhere.

 

Done and dusted

 The fair is over and I am about peopled out. All of us are, I think. The abortion guy came back with a model fetus he borrowed from the right to life group and made a big deal about 'baby killers'. The Republicans were set up right next to them, so I imagine this was planned ahead. 

Our current representative was there at the republican booth. The fair was being covered by a television newswoman, who was scoping out the happenings for stories. She spoke with Kathy Rapp about some issues. During the course of the conversation, the elected official dodged the question she was being asked to say 'Have you been to the Democratic booth? They've got antisemitic material over there.'

Shocked, the reporter said, 'No they don't.'

The representative said, side stepping responsibility for her lie, 'Oh? Someone told me they did.'

The reporter stopped by to see how things were going with us and related the exchange, which was maddening, because we were purposely trying to avoid criticism. Our goal was to engage and provide information. How to vote. Where to vote. These are our candidates. If people wanted to talk, we didn't shy from that, but we weren't there to argue or make people mad. It appears the republicans were playing by a different set of rules.

I met some lovely, lovely people. Lou and Lynn, married for 68 years. We talked for a long time. I said, 'Listen. What is happening now is unsustainable. It is going to collapse at some point. Financially it is imploding right now. We will get past this, and when it is over, we will be looking hard at what led us here.'

Lou said, 'I hope you are right.' We looked at each other and said almost simultaneously, 'We can't lose hope.' We spontaneously reached out our hands to each other. 

There were plenty of thumbs up. I had a indepth conversation with a woman about her third party vote. Another man stopped to talk about issues. We got on the issue of the NRA. He felt strongly that every gun owner should join the NRA. I was surprised because we had so many things we agreed upon. But his point was that if the NRA had more moderate gun owners, their votes would change the laws. I pointed out that the NRA had no power to change gun laws but that these membership dues went directly to lobbyists to persuade (bribe) lawmakers to oppose changing the laws. He listened and and nodded.

It wasn't a bad experience mostly although one of my last interactions nearly did me in. A man from Florida came along and wanted to know who we were going to run for president. 'I don't know, and I am not going to speculate.' You could tell that surprised him. He wanted to know why. I said because he would spend his time arguing about their theoretical lack of merit for the job. 'If you want to talk about right now, I am ready.'

What followed was a parroting of trump talking points. America is respected and all other countries are following our lead. (No, they are not.) Our stock market is booming. (10% of America owns 93% of stock. Things are going really well for them.) He agrees with our actions in Iran. (You agree that burning through our armaments and oil reserves is good for national security? I think we are very vulnerable right now.) He brought up Benghazi. I brought up Syria and Trump's phone conversation with Putin. I asked him what he thought about Ukraine. He did cede a bit. He said we are beginning to make that right. Gold plating statues was being done by donation. (no, the department of interior has spent 95 million taxpayer dollars so far). It didn't stop.

What made it difficult is that for whatever reason, he had triggered the other person there. She was mad. I hadn't seen that in her. She had been a very mellow person up to that point. I think his arrogance, coupled with the fact that he was all over the place with his comments...it was like getting hit with a verbal shotgun.  We had been dealing with this for six days, and I think it had become too much. She yelled and even cried. He weaponized that.  When I tried to counter him, he interrupted me to mock her or tell her to be quiet, and then simply moved on to a new topic.

He finally left when I said, 'you know, we are not going to agree and we need to accept that.' He agreed and I told him to enjoy the fair. That was a hellish 20 minutes though. I am proud that I was able to hold my own. He was trying to command that conversation and it did not happen.

It sounds like there was a major issue at the Republican booth after I left. That was poorly thought out and shouldn't have happened, but there was an eye-popping conversation with some Christian Nationalists who believe that like the old testament, God is directing them to kill all Muslims, men, women and children, to bring about the second coming of Christ. 

These people are fucking nuts. If Jesus came back they'd deport him. 

Entertainment.

 I have driven 'the new car' this week. This morning I could not find my key fob, which was annoying, since I just keep my key fob in my pocket. But it wasn't there. I took Tim's from the glass bowl and headed off, but it really bothered me all day.

I came home and looked everywhere. Under normal circumstances, I would have come home, took off my lanyard and fair ID along with my fair pass and set them on the end of the kitchen table, ready to grab the next morning on my way out. 

But it wasn't there. So I looked under cushions, under furniture, checked pockets. Went through the clothes in the hamper. Even checked the garbage.

Nothing. 

Tim was grumpy because he never loses stuff. 🙄

Tonight I was thinking about it. I went to the car and pushed the start button. It started right up. This meant that the fob was in the car. This was helpful information, although I still couldn't find it. Tim did though. When I put my Raincoat in the back seat, the fob had fallen out of my raincoat pocket, and slipped under the back seat.

Tim watched a foreign movie tonight. The subtitles were pretty strange.  There was a lot of 'footsteps pattering' and 'bell rings', 'laughter' etc. Things that did not really need translating. Actual conversation read 'Enzo speaks Italian'. 'Lucia speaks Italian' etc.

Isn't that just the strangest thing?

Tomorrow is Friday. Two more days and the fair is over. I am glad. I am about peopled out, but it is important to be there. We all feel it. 

Fair

 The fair has been an interesting experience. I went there expecting to change no MAGA minds, but what I notice is that they are loudest when we are quietest. If there is any amount of pushback, they are not so mouthy.

 That is the way of all bullies, isn't it? 

So, I am there every morning. I have worked with a number of different people, and they all bring their own skill set to our table. We have made good use of all of those skills. 

Today, for instance, a woman stopped. In a rather no nonsense way, she wanted me to give her reasons to support our candidates. She and I talked. She listened. Thanked me for talking with her. 

Another guy went through talking in a loud outraged voice about abortions being legal right up to the day the baby was born. Just as outraged 3 voices answered back in unison 'That is a lie!' Perfectly orchestrated, totally unrehearsed. He insisted it was the truth. I said 'Let me explain to you why that is not true.' He left quickly saying we were all crazy. 

We had a prominent citizen who wanted to talk to us about the Muslim 'agenda'. I told him that he was stereotyping and that there wasn't one. Heck. We are more concerned about the republican agenda.

 Freda was registering people to vote, and nobody passed the table without being asked. A rough looking fellow stopped. Ponytailed biker type if you are looking for a mental picture. Freda fired off her question. He said, 'No.' She asked him why, and he said, 'Because I spent 20 years in prison.'

Freda said, 'So you're not allowed to vote?' 

'Oh, I can vote but I think both parties stink.'

What followed was a polite little discussion on why we felt this was untrue. He listened just as politely. 

Out of the blue, Freda said, 'Am I allowed to ask why you were in prison?' The question shocked both me and the other worker, and we exchanged looks over Freda's seated head.

The man said 'Third degree murder,' and launched into a telling of a man with connections who had molested a young relative. (I am totally not kidding.) And when he was done, he admitted to wishing he hadn't done it, while feeling glad that his family was safe.

I said, 'So what do you think about the Jeffrey Epstein cover up?' We talked about our shared outrage at 'men who got away with it'. Before we were done, my coworker had him sitting at a computer helping to get him registered to vote. 

It surprised me the number of old men we had stopping by to tell us that they were Republicans, but could not understand how anyone in their right mind could support what was happening. A preacher's wife horrified at Christian Nationalists. Two ex coworkers that I never would have dreamed would claim the name 'liberal'. A church secretary. Way more support than I ever expected. Our table was seldom without someone there to talk.

Following Miss Merry's lead, I talked to all the kids and admired all the babies. Parents generally paused for pleasant talk.

Yes. There were those who went by without a word. A couple relatives who made quick shocked eye contact, immediately put their heads down, probably afraid that I would call them by name, and someone might think they were one of us. There were even a few rolled eyes and sarcastic comments, but these were muttered too low to be heard. Like I said, MAGA is not so loud when you are standing right there.

Interestingly, our state representative walks past us daily on the way to her seat at the republican booth. She's run unopposed for a number of years, but this year we have a candidate. She glances our way and averts her eyes in a haughty way. A doctor at our booth always wants to remind her that democrats are her constituents too. 

I am half way through fair week and despite my misgivings, it has been a mostly positive experience. 

The Totally Random Post

A couple days ago, I saw a headline that caught my attention: 4 Charged in Death in Warren Co Home Care Case

I worked in this field. In this county. And as I read the article, I realized that I had worked with these people too. 

I cannot wrap my head around the idea that for forty days a helpless man lay in a recliner dying and no one did anything. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I knew people capable of this. I can't get over the fact that it took 3 years to bring charges.

I cannot stop thinking about this. 

It has been a busy couple of days. Working on the old house. 

I went to a thrift store and boy, did I ever strike paydirt. I found two pair of jeans that looked brand new. Most important thing? The waist sits at my natural waist! Whoot! They were tapered leg! Whoot! They were 1/2 off! Whoot! I found also found a pair of fisherman sandals. And a crystal bowl that fits perfectly in my wrought iron bird bath.

We went to a street fair, which was fun. Tim wanted to see the antique cars and trucks. He wanted Mexican food. It was so hot and humid, I wasn't hungry at all, but they offered a cucumber lime ade. It was enough to pique my curiosity. It was excellent and surprisingly thirst quenching. 

So that was my excitement for the day.

Today was protest. Small group. We had a black SUV pass by. In the back seat was an elderly woman, a tiny thing. The window was down and much to my surprise a wrinkled hand came out, pointed like a gun and she made the motion of shooting us, picking us off, one right after another. It was a surreal moment.

I got my shirt and ticket for the fair booth. I am working every day. The guy in charge said that despite the initial enthusiasm and support, as the event drew closer, people had begun to 'ghost' him.

I get that. Standing on a street corner in a red county holding a sign is far different than engaging with people one on one. 

One thing I notice is that they want to engage on an emotional level. They want to provoke an emotional response. I have been practicing unemotional factual responses, but I would be a liar if I said I wasn't worried about this week. 

After the protest, we stopped to eat. Much to my surprise, my aunts and uncles were there celebrating a cousin's birthday. It has been years since I saw them. 

We walked today 5 miles today. I collected seed heads from a wildflower I am not familiar with and hope to grow here. It is called ironweed and it was covered in butterflies.

We are having one heck of a thunder storm. The rain has been torrential. It will be interesting to see the final precipitation amounts. 

I am back!

 I got back from my son's house pretty late last night. There was A LOT of construction on 80, with one lane traffic. This created huge bottlenecks because people will wait until the last damn minute to merge. Traffic crawled for miles. Consider the fact that there were 5 or 6 of these construction zones, welp...I did not get home until almost 7. I was whupped. 

It was such a fun visit, as always. 

Today was a jump up and get on the road. We have a tenant that is particular. She did not like her apartment sized washer and dryer. It was replaced with an LG all in one. She didn't like that. It is something that Tim and I feel strongly about. Clean clothes are a basic human dignity, so everyone has a washer and dryer. I said to the tenant, "We have met our scope of responsibility. This is a new $1900 unit. If you are unhappy with it, we will pull it, but you can buy your own." 

This was the morning. She messaged me over the weekend.  I told her to call Tim, that I was not home. She didn't. That meant that the first Tim heard that we had to get an appliance moved was late last night.

So, we got up early and got going. Tim was cranky. We did not have any place to store this appliance. He snapped, 'I am hauling it to the scrap yard.'  

I told him he wasn't. The machine was installed on April 17th, 2025. I told him there were plenty of people who'd be glad for a new washer. I put an ad on a Helping Hands site, and then we wheeled it to the road to load on the truck. These things are heavy as heck, so it was a bit of huffing and puffing. 

A guy passing by in his truck stopped to give a hand and the job was done. Tim asked him if he wanted it.

"No," he said, and asked how much we wanted for it. Tim told him it was free. My husband was bound and determined that he was not moving that thing into the basement where we have a stock pile of appliances. Like I said, the thing is heavy.

Our helper took down our number and names and drove away. We went down the street and dug up a snowball bush from the old house that I wanted to take to the new. I also wanted some lamb's ear.

We were about to head out when my phone rang. It was an elderly man. He and his wife were raising their great-grandkids, if you can believe it. They had just had their washer repaired and had been told that it was on its last legs. A stepson had called to tell him about ours. 

We told him it was on our truck and that we would deliver it.

And we did. 

His wife was so pleased. A naked 3 year old came to the door with her. I laughed and said that if the rest of them dressed like this one, she might not need to do laundry at all. Great-grandma wearily said, "this week she doesn't want to wear clothes."

We got the washer off the truck with the ramps and wheeled up on their porch. Their son in law was coming after work to switch everything out. We left the dolly there. He will drop it at the old house tomorrow.

Tim's mood brightened considerably once he stopped worrying about that washer. We stopped to grab a late lunch. "What should we do now?"

I reminded him that there was a bush we needed to get in the ground. I did suggest stopping by a yard sale on the way out of town. I had seen a hummingbird feeder that was perfect for my bottle tree.

The proprieter was a talker. He and his wife had just moved in. I pointed to their fence behind the house and explained that on the other side of that was our backyard. One thing led to another, and somehow he wound up on the subject of guns.

"You may not agree with me but if they're going our guns away ('oh no...not one of those!') the only ones left with guns will be law enforcement, and those seem to be the people we have to worry about."

Could have knocked me over with a feather. 

The evening was spent planting a bush, hanging my new bird feeder and two solar lanterns on my bottle tree. 

I have my first zucchini from my own garden.

How Does My Garden Grow.

My favorite Garrison Keillor.

This might be the year my own garden gets ahead of me.

I planted San Marzaos, Beefsteak and cherry tomatoes. Then my sister had some extra romas looking for a home. 

I do love tomatoes. 

I have 24 plants, and they are huge. Tim had to enclose them and run cross members to keep them from repeatedly falling over. I wired the cages to the boards. (Funny part? He is not a fan of to.atoes, although he does love tomato sauce.)

I am hopeful that once I am back from my son's house, I will see them showing signs of turning red. I can't wait. 

One of my distressed delphinium put out the most beautiful bloom.

I will see you when I get back.

Ordinary day.

 Today, I ran into town to buy 3 dozen ears of corn to take to my son and daughter in law's. I also wanted to pick up some Italian sausage. 

My sister is up to her armpits in zucchini and sent 6 more over. I am not sure who she thinks is going to eat all that. We are just two people! We have had squash 4 nights in a row. Luckily, we both like it. I am going to take four down to my son's house. 

I found a great deal today. Green peppers are 75 cents apiece in the store. They are not ready from the garden. I needed a pepper to stuff my zucchini and was prepared to grin and bear it. I was happy to see that they had some past -their-prime peppers, 3 for $1. You better believe I was all over that! I got $3 worth of them. I sliced some for stir fries and fajitas, and diced up the rest. I have 3 qts in the freezer, and that is happy news.

I also spent some time in the greenhouse. I planted basil, rosemary, and lavender. The columbine seeds I collected from last year all sprouted. Flushed with success, I collected some anise hyssop seeds. Not sure what I will do with them yet.

I also planted yet another distressed coneflower in my flower bed. 

Tonight, we watched the biggest blackest clouds rolling in. They were moving across the sky so quickly. I slipped on my sandals and threw open the door to run to the greenhouse and shut the door there. Just that quick, it had gotten dark as night. I headed to the greenhouse, but the skies opened up before I got there. 

I slid the door to the greenhouse shut  and was checking my plants. I was delighted to see Possum wiggle in through her little entrance. She accepted some pets and together we listened to the rain pounding down on the roof. When I left, she stayed put, curled up on the rug. 

I am glad she knows to use her safe place.

Cats and kids

Tonight, for the first night, Tiger has not hidden in the house. I moved the couch a couple days back to vacuum under it, and found quite a stash of cat toys. I set them aside and today he found them. What a good time he is having, running up and down the hall, chasing jingling balls. 

Just to see what would happen, I put down a paper bag.

Instant mayhem.

Houdi has never shown any interest in a paper bag, until now.

You'll  have to excuse the low light. I did not want to interrupt the excitement. It is nice to see Tiger relaxing though.

Tomorrow will be spent getting my stuff together for a trip east. We are having a bit of a pre-celebration for the girls' birthdays, since they will spending their actual birthdays on the beach. They are excited about this. I bought them their own small beach bags, with hats and sunglasses and beach toys. 

The car ride is 7 hours to the Outer Banks. I got them each a bag of things to open every hour to break up the monotony of the drive. 

I did that with my own and now I am doing it with my 4 and 8 year old granddaughters. Boggles my mind.

Time flies...

I sent my daughter a small package. Checking the tracking on the package, I was amused to see it is at Heathrow, United States!

Tiger Makes Up his Mind

We have two ferals left. Possum was one of the original four kittens born in the garage, and Tiger Kitty, her nephew. 

They lived in the heated garage over the winter but as the weather warmed, they spent more time outside. When I am doing outside work, they are stretched beside me, and when I pet them, they purr contentedly

Tiger Kitty went awol for about a week. I had just about given up hope when he reappeared, thin, nervous and hungry. I was so glad to see him and for once, he seemed very glad to see me, as opposed to his normal 'Meh...she doesn't seem like a bad sort' demeanor. 

Much to my surprise, he darted inside as soon as I opened the door to get some catfood. I fed him inside, to see what he would do. He ate and disappeared. In the morning, he was waiting at the door to go out. 

At night, he darts back inside. I am not sure where he hides away. I think he is afraid of something outside at night. But except for one small overturned plant, he behaves perfectly.

I would rather have them in at night, really. Possum is still not interested in the great indoors. If she comes in, she has had her fill after a couple minutes and heads for the door.

I have no idea what is out there, but we have made two escape places for her to hide. 

My Space

I have been hard at work clearing the little flower bed by the greenhouse, and I did get that done. It was a tangle of brambles. shrubs, weeds and some vines tying it all together. 

Then I was inspired to clear all the growth back from my greenhouse.

Thrilled with the results of that hard work, I decided to pull out all the ductwork and the furnace Tim stuck in my greenhouse a couple years back. That poor green house was floor to rafter.

(This situation was only temporary.)

Did you know a furnace weighs 250 pounds? And that hornets build nests in them when they sit for a couple years? Just two things I learned about furnaces.

So I hauled it all to Tim's garage, about 30 yards away. 

(It is only temporary.)

And it looked so very nice once I was able to get inside. So I got a broom, a bucket of soapy water, and some window cleaner. 

 

You know what is missing? Plants. 

My project right now will be propagating. Later on, seed collection. Next year, the goal will be a small heater so that I can start my plants out there. We already have one in the garage waiting.

Immortality

 For a time, there was an old woman sitting on the porch of an old house in a wheelchair. Whenever a car passed, she would smile and wave. 

The first time I saw her, I smiled and waved back. The second time, I gave a friendly toot on my horn. The third time. I realized that she did this nearly every day. 

I began to purposely take that side street in to town for no other reason than to smile and wave back. She always seemed so joyous.

Winter came, and it was a long one, but spring came along as it always does. However that old woman no longer sat on her front porch. Still, though, I find myself turning down that side street. I remember the waving and her big smile.

In a way, that is immortality, and that is not the worst way to be remembered, is it?

What I have been up to

Over 5 years ago. Tim and I built a little greenhouse. 

As is my nature, I started stacking stones on the west side of it for a flowerbed. 

In the intervening years, I did not keep up with it because we were building a house, and Tim got sick. A lot of upheaval there. Nature started taking that little space back. 

Yesterday, I started work on it. I weed whacked. We have blades on the weedeater so it does a good job on the tangley overgrowth. When I chopped back to the stone wall, I was able to kneel and begin sorting out the mess inside. I was happy to find a nice patch of aquilegia/columbine and it reminded me so much of Weaver. I miss her voice.

I dug on. Tiger lily. Spearmint. I am going to replant wild flower there. 

I had a meeting at 5:30, so I only got halfway done, but before I headed back to the house, I decided to give a quick weeding to the front of the greenhouse. I was shocked to see a hydrangea stubbornly doing battle with the tall weeds. 

I'd seen that struggling little plant in the store years back and it reminded me of my old friend who died of brain cancer close to 20 years ago now (how is that even possible?!!)  I got it. Planted it. It promptly died. I chalked up as one of my poor plants that did not make it. While I may have given up, that little plant did not, and yesterday I found it. I was so pleased at that little miracle!

There is something very grounding about weeding and sweating and thinking about other people and other times, even if it is hotter than hades. It was a sweet afternoon and I really enjoyed my quiet time.

My nephew made me a bottle tree and delivered it when he came off his hill on Sunday. That was something else I did yesterday. I transplanted some established morning glory vines at the base of it. The vines will climb the trunk and spread across the branches. Maybe not this year, but we will see. 

Yesterday, those vines looked wilted and unhappy. Today, a series of thunderstorms are rattling through. Between downpours, I snuck out to take a peek. Things look a lot more hopeful today.

Step by step.

just another rock in the wall

 It is not a professional Northsider Dave wall, and it is not complete. This started out as a 'junk bed' that I knew I meant to be a flower bed one day. Probably a couple years of dumping distressed clearance plants. Two forsythia, a hyacinth, an azalea, two lilacs, some lilies, spider wort, dianthus. Delphinium, coneflower, bee balm. I planted blue morning glries to climb a trellis. I have columbine seeds sprouting. An assortment of wild flowers outside the wall surrounding an old wheelbarrow full of annuals Mattie gave me. 

For all of that, it looks pretty sparse, doesn't it? Poor thing has been run over with heavy equipment over and over. It's been trampled. Mowed over. That is kind of why I put the little wall there: to provide a visual for the man. Much more aesthetic than a sign that says "Stay the hell out!"

Anyway, the stuff that remains has shown that it has what it takes to be in my garden. Hopefully, after 20 bags of mulch, everything will begin to spread out and fill in. 

The funny part is how pleased Tim is. After I put out 10 bags of mulch, it was his suggestion to buy 20 more bags. When I was done, he cast a critical eye and suggested we probably need to go out today and get at least five more bags. It is nice to have him on board. 

We had quite a bit of rain yesterday, which has knocked a lot of the smoke down. We must have had some pretty strong winds. It laid down 24 tomatoes in cages. Today will be reconstruction there, along with hauling up more rock.

The protest was small. The air quality is quite a concern. An irony I have noticed is a lot of people ranting about Canada's culpability are angrily puffing their vapes or cigarettes as they bitch. Remember 'cognitive dissonance'? JD talked a lot about that in his book before he became the poster child for it.

And this sums up MAGA. Their motto is "I am sure there is a scapegoat around here somewhere."

You know, as it gets closer to midterms, expect the noise and misinformation to increase. If ever was a time to hold steady and not give way to despair and hopelessness. What is happening is NOT sustainable. It will fall. How quickly it falls depends a great deal on us. 

(Well...that an the dying out of unreasonable minds and corruption of those who hold power.)

We can stonewall them.

Smokin'

 Today was a good day. The smoke from the wildfires has died down. 

Yesterday was pretty awful. It was hot. It was humid and the smoke was so thick that you could not only smell it, you could taste it. My sinuses were nuts. 

So...yesterday was an inside day. I cut up a watermelon for the fridge. I made a bowl of chicken salad with grapes and tarragon for cold sandwiches. I made a cucumber salad and a broccoli salad. It is always a good thing to have a fridge full of ready to eat stuff on a hot day. 

When I was cleaning up, much to my surprise I saw three young men working in the wooded strip between our house and the road. I slipped on my sandals and went out to see what they were doing. 

They were industriously working with picks and shovels, digging around the base of a telephone pole. They explained that they were checking telephone poles for signs of rot. 

I observed that it was a hot day for such physical work. They looked pretty miserable, and they agreed. I said, "well if you need a cold drink, just come to the house," and went back. Almost immediately, there was a young man at the door, asking for water. I got out the Brita pitcher from the fridge and poured 3 glasses of ice cold water. He said, "we all have water, but it is in the truck about a mile up the road." I felt so sorry for them that I sent him off with watermelon and forks. They took a break standing in the shade and then moved down to the next pole in the neighbor's field. 

It cooled off last night, down to 58 degrees. Crazy 30 degree drop, but it was a good night for sleeping.

This morning, Tim was off to do Tim things. He is rewiring the ceiling lights in the old house, which was, despite the previous owner's updates, still knob and tube. He also had an appointment to get the new car inspected. 

It gave me a morning to do Debby things. It has been a good month for collecting clothes for my granddaughters, so I got them washed, dried and folded. A heaping bushel basket of things for them. I cannot wait for them to see. 

I got the house vacuumed and even vacuumed under chair and sofa cushions. Things like that.

This afternoon was so much cooler. The air much clearer. I weedwhacked. Tim mowed. We got 10 more bags of mulch (a distressed delphium and coneflower begged me to take them. At $4 each, I couldn't bring myself to leave them behind) and muriatic acid for the porch roof of the house in town. I dropped some stuff off at Goodwill. I also picked up some more nice clothes for the girls at Goodwill. Wouldn't you know they had a special deal going on too. Women's long sleeved shirts and sweaters were 2 for $8. Must be $4 is my lucky number. So I got myself 4 shirts for the fall. 

Tim wanted to stop at his favorite ice cream place. As always, it was busy. As we waited, I began sneezing. I apologized and explained I had been weedwhacking. 

A Johnny-come-lately said loudly from behind us, 'Canada complains so much about the United States. They owe us an apology for all this smoke in the air!'

That pissed me off. I said, "I am sure that Canada is having a worse time than we are, and they sure didn't do this intentionally.''  Another round of sneezing hit me before I could point out we had our own wildfires in Minnesota. 

I think that he realized he had stepped on toes, because he quickly said, "A guy in my church says if you sneeze 3 times, that's a sign of the divine."

I looked at him. What church does he go to? The Christian Sinus? Do they pray to the Almighty Mucus? All praise Kleenex? Hallelujah to hankies? Waiting hopefully for someone to sneeze so they can all bless him and go home?

Then he sat down at a picnic table. He said to Tim, "Right behind you. I just wanted you to know. I didn't want to hear you giggling when you sat in my lap."

What the freaking what???!!!

Lucky for him, my cone came out and I took it to the farthest seat and sat down. Tim followed with his banana split. Wouldn't you know, the man followed along with HIS banana split. 

I am proud to say, I bit my tongue. I think he also was biting his. He said more stupid stuff but pretty much avoided the offensive stuff. 

You know, an encouraging thing happened esrlier. My daughter posted something about the VA cuts. It made me mad that a relative immediately commented "This is false. Do research!"

The fact is that it isn't false. So I began posting 'research'. NPR. Newsweek. Articles from the government. From the VA. 9 in all, one right after another. I also suggested he do some research on proposed HR 9732/S. 4744. As a partially disabled veteran (Iraqi IED), if he wasn't aware, he needed to be. 

Normally I woild not have said anything. No point. I scroll past his stuff although I vehemently disagree with much of it. But he commented on someone else's post with the aim to make them look uninformed. He is a Christian Nationalist and MAGA so i figured he would just blow me off, but much to my surprise, today there was another comment, short. "I do have to say that you were right about the post. I was wrong for saying what I said. I'm sorry."

I couldn't believe my eyes. I replied to his comment: "I appreciate this. I hope you will follow the VA's suggestions."

That felt like such a major thing. Buoyed by that, tonight I ate my ice cream cone and let a foolish man babble. I got the idea he knew he was wrong too.

A Memory

 

Facebook memory from 14 years ago. 

Today William is taller than I am, and has a mustache.

Superstition

 In October of 2008, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a scary time because there was no way of knowing how it would work out. People die from breast cancer. Would I be one of them? I  remember an early morning appointment, where 4 women sat together talking about cancer, but still somehow finding plenty to laugh about, and that laughter was, I think, encouraging to all of us. 

Treatment ends, and you ring that bell and walk out of the cancer center, and I guess that I expected to feel something. Triumph. Relief. A hallelujah moment. But I didn't.

For the next 6 or so years, what I felt was as if I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. My cancer, I was told, was the kind of cancer that had the tendency to break away and travel, metastasizing in other areas of the body. The brain, lungs, liver, or bones was the most likely areas for those secondary cancers, a 1 in 3 chance.

So...there are the mammograms, and I learned a new word: scanxiety. It is a cute word but a real situation. The mammogram dredged up old ghosts and fears. The no evidence of disease (NED) from the doctor wasn't much of a comfort either. I wasn't expecting it to show up there...I was more worried about my brains, bones, liver, and lungs.

There was the day I realized that of the four women in the waiting room that morning, years back were all dead now. I was the last surviver. 

All these things worked together for a few years to keep me anxious, but then a truly Debby-thing happened. I was climbing an extension ladder. It was my own carelessness. I should have checked. It was not properly set, and as I reached out for the roof, the ladder suddenly 'unextended' and fell over leaving me hanging off the edge of the roof by one arm, the other hand still clutching at the collapsing ladder. The young man on the ground grabbed the ladder. The husband on the roof grabbed on to the seat of my pants and hauled my ass to safety. 

It was a terrifying moment, not just for me but everyone there. Thinking about it though, I got a case of the giggles. I mean, really...I was so worried about cancer but I could just as easily die by falling off the roof, or getting hit by a car, and the more I thought about it the more ridiculously funny it seemed to me.

(Side note: when you have scared the mess out of your husband, bursting into laughter is going to make him mad. And when you can't stop laughing, it is going to make even the quietest man yell his head off at some point.)

Anyways, at some point, I simply stopped worrying about it. To be honest, I stopped being a stickler about the mammograms, even. When Tim was having his own issues there were a couple years that I didn't get around to having it done.

There is a woman. She and I had cancer about the same time. Her husband hauled two dump truck loads of gravel to the new driveway last spring. He and Tim talked a while. After all these years, her cancer has returned. He said, 'Yeah. She's not doing well.'

Today was my mammogram. After all these years, 18+ of them, and as ridiculous as it sounds, I found myself feeling superstitious. 

LATE EDIT: It was letting my fears take over. I received my phone call. All looks as it should.

In Which Tim Does Not Buy a Car

Thursday, Tim said that there was a car he wanted to look at up in Cassadaga, NY.

I get confused because he has said, over and over, that he does not want to buy another car right now. Gives very sound reasoning for not doing so. Yet every evening he is looking at cars on the internet. Lately, he has been fixated on an Acura. So I say things like 'but I thought you didn't want another car right now." He says, "you always want to keep an eye on what's available."

Things to know: 

1) I could not care less about what car I am driving as long as it gets me from point A to point B, so I am happy with the Suburu, and Tim has two trucks.

2) We never buy new cars. They are overpriced and begin to depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. So we were looking for a good used car.

3) Tim does the maintenance on our cars, so....

4) in the end, car decisions are his to make which people don't quite understand, but it is the way we do things. Always have. 

Seriously, we discussed upgrading to a newer car last spring, gave away the car we were replacing, and then Tim began the search. In April, I was visiting my son's family. During our evening phone conversation, I mentioned to Tim that on the way to the Mennonite grocery store, I had noticed a number of neat farms with shiny black cars parked out front with for sale signs on them. I suggested he make the trip out with me next time to scope out potential purchases on the eastern side of the state

He laughed."Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you I bought a car." The fact had completely slipped his mind. 

But I digress, this time, I had only one request. I liked hatchbacks rather than a trunk. That was more practical in my mind. Night after night, he looked through listings. We went to probably a half dozen dealerships scoping out the offerings. For all of that, we definitely did not buy anything because we were not buying another car right now. 

Then he read about that Acura up in Cassadaga, so we made a trip up there to not buy it. And I was glad we didn't buy it. It was an okay car, but I thought it was overpriced compared to the Honda Pilot sitting next to it, with comparable options. Tim studied that car too and made the decision not to buy that one either. 

But then I saw his head pivot. He went quiet. He very likely heard angels singing. He headed for another car on the lot. He was all over it. All under it. Inside it. He was ticking mental boxes. I noticed it had a hatch instead of a trunk. My mental box: ticked. 

The salesman came out, slapped a license plate on it and handed Tim the fob. We took it for a test drive. We pulled off in a parking lot and he tested the options out. I read things from the car manual to him. 

He certainly was spending an unusually long time not buying this car. We drove back to the lot. Tim got out and studied the car. He gave me a list of things to look up on my phone while he studied under the hood again, and examined the frame.

I began to have some real doubts about whether we were still not buying this car. He said, "I am going to offer him (x dollars)" and headed off to the office. At this point, I knew for sure that we were definitely not not buying this car. We didn't, of course. And we did not not put a deposit on it, and we are not not picking it Monday afternoon.

It is a fleet car, well maintained, something called a Honda Crosstour, which was discontinued once Honda discovered that their Accord/SUV marriage was not a good seller. At that point, they made the switch back to selling Accords and offering a Honda Pilot to appeal to the SUV crowd. 

 

On the way home, Tim sighed. " I am glad that problem is done."

I said, "I had no idea that not getting a car was so stressful! I thought that once your mind was made up, you just went ahead and didn't do it."

Here is a random shot we got coming home from Tim's family reunion/outdoor brick oven breadmaking extravaganza yesterday. We drove home in comfortable carbed-out bliss.

I hope this makes up for the lack of train pictures, Andrew. I boarded with an allergy situation and got motion sickness. I did not spend a lot of time looking out the window, so no. I did not take pictures.