I caught my second wind this week after having a couple of lay low days. Thursday and Friday were hit-the-ground-running kinds of days. When we were coming home from town Thursday, we came through flash flooding the likes of which no one around here can remember. There is a small creek that runs through some properties along the road our house is on. This little creek is never more than a yard wide during a downpour. There were places Thursday where that creek was forty feet wide! There were about twenty places where the rain came over the road and we had to drive really slow. It wasn’t deep water...just an inch or so running across the pavement but we were very careful.
I was born in the early ‘50s. We lived in an upstairs apartment of a house that no longer stands. But the time I was in second grade, we had lived in six houses that I know of. Mom and Dad bought their first home with an FHA loan for a little under $11,000. Two bedrooms with an unfinished attic and basement. It wasn’t much, but we were grateful for it.
I’ve been missing my Colorado peeps a lot this summer...especially now. This is when I would have been saying goodbye and driving back to West Virginia after a month of fun with the kids and my brother. Instead, I have to be satisfied with a weekly video chat with them. Don’t get me wrong...I am grateful for that connection. But, it’s not the same, you know?
Remember back when we were kids? School let out in May and it seemed like for-EV-er before it was September and time to go back. Then we grew up and became adults and got jobs and got married (or not) and had kids (or not). Then, summers dragged for an entirely different reason. By late August, we were like... “When does school start??? I’m done already!”
I thought for sure I was going to be a lady of leisure yesterday. But, nooooooooo! Even though it was Sunday, the Weather Channel App informed us first thing when we woke up what our day was going to entail. We had absolutely no other choice than to go to the farm and mow. But first, we had to go back to town. We got to the pharmacy too late on Saturday and then, when I opened up my brand new jelly maker, the knob for the lid was missing. Fortunately, they had another one and held it for me till we could get back yesterday morning.
I took yesterday off! I told the boss-man I was NOT working all day and he thought that was a fine idea. It’s a good thing, because I had another near sleepless night Friday. We had thunderstorms come through periodically all day Friday and into the night. Mr. FixIt was worried about the storm drain we cleared out with the snake this week, so he set his alarm to go off at 2:00, 3:30, and 5:00. First...I probably fell asleep about 1:30, so that was the end of sleep for me. Second, it hardy rained at all overnight so it was overkill. But, like he says...better to be safe than sorry.
Earlier in the season, I wasn’t at all sure I would get many tomatoes. Blossom end rot was decimating my crop, but I changed the feed and...wham! They are coming on like gangbusters now. I had another bucket ready yesterday morning and...they don’t know a day off from nothin’!
I went out and got the crocks of bread dough from the garage fridge first thing so I could bake in the cool of the day. When you bake sourdough bread in a dutch oven inside your kitchen oven, you have to heat it up to 500 degrees. It doesn’t take long till your house is overheated...even at 9:00am. I have a window fan so I put it in the kitchen window and exhausted as much of the heat out as I could before the outside temp climbed.
This is the time of year when I look back and remember long, leisurely days of knitting in front of the fire...a mug of tea, fuzzy slippers, and snow falling gently outside the window. And I wonder... “Will we ever get back to those days again?”
I’m sure we will...eventually. At least we didn’t have to wrangle that drain snake yesterday. I am not sure I had another day in me to mess with that thing and still walk upright. I hit the ground running yesterday. I mixed up some bread dough and fed the starter again. I set it aside in the fridge for the time being. It will grow slower and actually develop a nicer flavor if you do that from time to time. It saves you from having to feed it every day.
Round three of the “snaking the drain” saga. I had some things to do first. Run to the nearby Piggly Wiggly and pick up the pork picnics I ordered. Make the pork rub. Rub the pork and get it in the smoker. Clean and prepare a bucket of Roma tomatoes and load the dehydrator. Feed the sourdough starter and make a batch of sourdough pancakes with the discard. Clean up the kitchen. THEN I could go downstairs and help Mr. FixIt.
Today would have been my mama’s 95th birthday! Happy Heavenly Birthday, Wanda Belle!
It was hotter than blue blazes yesterday and we had to work on that drain some more. I ran the snake down several times and we weren’t making any progress so I suggested using a different blade on the end. We switched to a metal end that looks like a spring. I told Mr. FixIt that we might break through with that end, then we could switch back to a cutter. I put the snake down twice and we got stopped at the same point each time. We painted a small white spot on the snake to mark how far we got down.
