Thursday thoughts

It has been a busy, busy week.  But now I'm off for a few days.  Things may be crazy around here so I may not be posting much.  My MIL was to arrive this afternoon but she had car trouble in Illinois and now won't arrive until tomorrow.  She was driving her brand new car (got it last week!) when the truck in front of her threw a piece of tire debris up and she was unable to avoid it.  Unfortunately, it hit the front of her car then rattled around underneath, ripping hoses and damaging the air conditioner and radiator.  At least she is OK!  She had to wait for 2 hours on the side of the interstate for the tow truck due to a mix up.  Evidently, it will take a week for her car to be fixed.  So, since I have tomorrow off, I may be driving to pick her up, or she may get a rental car to complete her journey as she wants to visit others out here while she is in the midwest.  She was tired and not in much of a mood to make that kind of decision when V talked to her this evening.
Of course, I'm not complaining that she is a day later- it gives me a bit more time to tidy up the house and clean the spare room for her.  And I've got tomatoes to can and plants to water and laundry to do and weeds to pull and......  you get the idea!
A few observations of the day- interestingly, the hybrid tomatoes I planted are the ones having the most trouble with blossom end rot.    I planted two hybrids (a beefsteak and a paste tomato) because in the garden rotation I'm back to the end where we had blight really bad three years ago.  But, of the Big Mama paste tomatoes- probably over 80% are unusable due to really bad blossom end rot. The beefsteaks are a bit better but almost all the heirloom varieties are much, much better (except the Amish paste which are struggling).  Hmm, makes me wonder if the heirlooms are better suited to these adverse conditions.  The Black Sea Man and Amana Orange tomatoes are going gangbusters.  I got one Amana Orange that weighed in at 24.5 ounces (just over a pound and a half!) Not bad for scorching, dry conditions.
We continue without rain.  Nothing new there.  This week our county was one of many more declared a disaster area due to the drought.  Not that it surprises me.  Our neighbor's corn is barely taller than the fence and already turning yellow.  Trees are already turning and dropping leaves.  The grass is brown and crunchy. We've had trouble with numerous critters eating the ripening tomatoes- I think for the water content.  I've noticed, for the first time EVER, immature boxelder bugs eating tomatoes.  I've never seen that before.  We're keeping the old kiddie wading pool half filled with water for birds and wildlife.  It is common to see 20-30 birds out there at a time.  Of course, I think that has been helping with the insect population as I haven't noticed as many bad bugs as I had feared.
The honeydew vines were really curled and wilted this afternoon.  I'm not sure if they just needed watered of if there is some pest causing trouble.  I watered them well this evening and will check them in the morning to see how they look.  Of course, with no rain and high temps in the mid to upper 90's (we hit 100 on Tuesday again) I'm amazed that anything is still alive.  I've lost several of my fall seedlings already.  Even well watered and mulched, it has just been too much for them.
I don't think there is any relief in sight.  I can't believe that school for the boys starts in only two weeks. I can't imagine, if the weather doesn't break, how they can hold classes in some of these un- or poorly air conditioned buildings.  We'll see what happens when the time comes.
Now, gotta run throw some laundry in the wash and clean the spare room.  I've procrastinated enough!