Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ramblings of this and that

What a busy few days. I've got almost all the painting done at the old house (I just need to touch up paint on the back door landing) and we are hoping to meet with our realtor tomorrow afternoon or Monday at the latest to get it on the market. Yeah!!! There are still a few repairs to be done. There is a broken window in the dining room that hasn't been fixed yet and I need to do something about my flower bed by the front sidewalk. The flower bed got driven over when we backed in the moving truck so everything is flattened. Fortunately, I have a whole bunch of volunteer marigolds in my back yard there that I plan to move into the front. An easy solution and it won't take long. Oh, and I need to make sure both bathrooms are clean (read here: pristine). Maybe it's just me- but nothing would turn me off quicker than a dirty bathroom. I noticed that there is a little mildew on the grout in the upstairs shower stall since we've moved out- that will have to go.
We had a huge ass storm last night. Not much rain in the gauge- only.4 inch but I think it was blowing sideways enough of the time that I'm not sure how accurate it was. I was worried that we would lose power during the storm but we pulled through. However, in the middle of the night- long after the storm was past- I got up and discovered that the power was off. Man, it is DARK out here with no lights around. In town, even with the power off in our neighborhood, there was always enough reflected light from other parts of town that it wasn't that bad.
Heard from J15 this afternoon. She is having a blast! They were exploring the French Quarter of New Orleans this afternoon. I was a bit surprised to hear what their service project was about- I thought they were all related to hurricane relief- I was misinformed. They went to the WWII museum, got a tour and an educational presentation and then spent the rest of their morning interviewing WWII veterans. How cool is that- of course, she said it was rather depressing- but still, a good learning experience.
I had a chance to stop in at the farmer's market this morning. I picked up some brats and some yellow summer squash. One of the vendors has arguably the best brats on the planet (local beef- yum!) and we have been yearning for them since the beginning of the summer. When I was picking up the squash, I had a nice chat with the vendor. We were discussing the bizarre summer we've had. I'm not the only one who doesn't have tomatoes or bell peppers. He told me that he's been doing this for 29 years and he has NEVER not had tomatoes in July. He said he's only had 3 ripe ones off the entire field. And he said his green beans bloomed for a month before he had any set on. My beans are finally setting on- I spied my first half inch long bean tonight so soon....
The boys are happy- V finally set up the x-box so they are playing their brains out after 3 weeks without it. But at least they did go outside this afternoon to fly kites in the gorgeous weather.
Enough babbling for now. I've got laundry to do.

4 comments:

  1. I sure don't miss those storms. Tho some rain would be nice.
    Glad you scored some of those brats you like. A special meal for when J15 returns??

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  2. How lucky for those volunteer marigolds! Stepping up to the plate just when you need them :-)
    I agree, the bathrooms are something I would scrutinize when house-hunting... I hope that the cleaning goes quickly and smoothly for you though, you've put in so much work.

    I went to a pick-your-own veg farm yesterday, and they were saying much the same thing about the oddest weather/growing season this year. They barely have any veg, likely none for 2 weeks ready to harvest in any sizable quantity... likely because of the cool/rainy (monsoon-like?) summer so far. No eggplant, beans, etc.... though the beans should be the first arrivals. And between the weather and the late-blight in this area, the tomatoes are not too likely to come on strong until mid-August. Sigh. For these farmers who depend on their crops so much, it must be so stressful.

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  3. You've gotten so much accomplished. I need to go look at my garden tonight - hopefully my tomatoes are doing well. The green beans, peas and beets did not grow at all. Oh well - I'll be hitting the amish roadside stands.
    Kris

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  4. flying kites, huh? i haven't done that in a Long time. my spot out at red earth would be great for it too! the wind sweeps through there powerfully, and it's very open. i wonder what kites were made with before plastic? fabric? some type of paper? very thin, light hide? i wonder if i can make a 'primitive' kite =)

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