July 25, 2006

Thunderstorms again tonight. So hot today, we did not even want to go to our normal place to go swimming and we just went to our local lake and even took "Cyrus" our bear dog for a swim.We got a little bit of rain and it cooled it off a notch or two.

This morning a friend of the family who is pretty much family, who is an older woman, came to witch us a new well. We evidently have alot of water here and it is not very deep. She says it is only 10 feet down. The well nearby is hand dug and only 36 feet deep. With 2 ponds also in the area, it is a pretty good indication there is water there. She is never wrong and always gets good water for everyone. She 'retired' from it, but because it was my bf, she could not say no. Thanks "Inga".

I am waiting for the storm to pass before I go out and water the garden. For not having watered it for 2 weeks it is looking very good. By next year I will have a dedicated well just for the garden and greenhouse, so I will not have to be frugal with it this year. I did not get to the poultry houses today as it was just too warm out, if it is cool tomorrow, I will get to it then. The straw bales are sitting right outside the doors ready to be put in.

Things in the garden which look great are Leeks, Swiss Chard, Beans, Sunflowers, Onions, and Peas. I know I will not get anywhere close to what I was anticipating for potatoes. The cabbage is suffering from the chincy water amounts. The flowers are doing great for no water and I will remember to keep those varieties. jon's Marigold mix, Lavender, Cosmos, and Calendula are looking beautiful.

5 minute later update: Did I just not say I was going to go water the garden? It has poured non-stop for the last 20 minutes and we have gotten 1.3 cm/ 0.5 inches within the last 15 minutes. It is a roar on the roof and I really do not think I will even have to water tomorrow. The driveway is a flood which is running like a muddy river and it does not look like it is going to stop anytime soon. I really do not even want to run up and lock up the chickens. I will do it later even if I have to run out there at midnight.The sky is a marigold yellow and it has been for the last hour.

Evening Update:

Hotter than Blue Blazes again today. After "Kid" and I ran our morning errands and mailed off more magazines, picked up animal feed at the farm store we came home to vegetate for a bit.The garden does not need watering after last nights storm. I may water it tonight again however.The other extent of our outdoor energy today, other than caring for stock and making sure everyone had water, was putting the clothesline (See Summer 2005 issue for the original story on that) back up, after my bf took it out with the trackhoe. "Teenager" due to his vertical advantage over the rest of us, was the one who was volunteered to help put it back up. We had to go buy more 1,100 pound test line for it. But just the 15 or 20 minutes it took to get it back in working order, was just about enough to melt us.I decided to do a 'girly' thing for myself today. Usually I always paint my toenails. I cannot paint my fingernails, nor grow them out. I do not wear makeup very often (3x a year maybe), so my thing I do to keep my femininity is wear a dress or sarong in the evenings and paint my toenails. When I did the dog sled event last January, I had done so little walking after my injury last summer, that doing 36 miles in 2 days, caused me to bruise under my toenails and I lost 4 of them. They are finally back, so it is time to pretty them up. Dinner tonight is a bison shoulder roast and vegetables. I am thinking of making Blueberry Soup. It is a cold soup, which suits the day. We have slacked the last couple days on dinner due to how hot it has been. No one has felt like eating, so we made a rare splurge and bought a pizza last night. YES.. a take out order. We do not do that very often. But it was TOO hot to cook. I still ordered a salad. Why? I have no idea, for no apparent reason, it never occurred to me to go out to the garden and get some lettuce for a salad. My brain must have been fried. *L*

I have a couple other projects on the go for the magazine in the kitchen and I am soaking 4-5 kinds of beans for making chili tomorrow night. I will probably make corn bread to go with.. and the ever present salad.Time to go rotate laundry I suppose and try out the new clothesline.