Well Friday was mostly a cloudy, overcast with lite rain showers through out the day with major gully washers all around us, but we missed the big storms, thankfully. We headed into Sparta around 3 PM and they were just over one of those cloud busters with severe lightning and down pours.
The morning was quiet around here as I started the day a little after 6 with a cup of green tea with a little cinnamon then a few quiet moments after posting this ramble about the day before. I find I'm more wordy in the morning and wide awake especially after walking up and down these yards, mountains and stairs several times during the day. When my head hits the pillow its not long before I'm waking up around 6'ish the next morning. I do love keeping busy with this cabin living.
I headed out to the side front yard where I started on the moss infestation with a rake. I'm learning different techniques about the removal of this unwanted plant called moss. It's really kind of pretty and very lite in weight but it chokes out the good grass and leaves large spots of a lite green which makes the yards variegated in color. I raked and carried 2 at a time 5 gallon buckets of the stuff to the woods for nearly 3 hours before lunch. I had worked up an appetite by then so we sat down to a lunch of leftovers. Rain showers were evident but nothing too extreme just enough for me to decide not to get soaked; although I was rather wet from sweat. The humidity was awful but the temps were holding down into the low 70's.
Paw Paw (dad)called early in the morning and he was wishing for some rain and cooler temps as they had 3 days of over a 100 degrees in the Winchester, Va. area. The amount of rainfall here is setting all kinds of records and while everything is lush and green except for the garden plants. My herbs like dill, cilantro and basil have seem better days as well as the lettuce, beets and spinach. The 1/2 runner beans are doing O.K. as they have now reached to the top of the 6 ft. climbing wire I set up and the cucumbers are setting little nubins. The slugs and beetles are still a problem but I feel like a big game hunter as I annihilate them with the thumb and a bowl of water and eventually after they have gathered in a ball with the bottom of my boot.
We had a library run to make while in town and I picked up 3 new reads before we headed to the River Rock Grill. We met up with Helen(mountain mom) and her brother Joe and their sister Martha. I had a good meal of chicken cordon-blue, twice baked spud and green beans with a nice tasty salad loaded with feta cheese. We all had something different but Joe had the grilled hamburger steak made from a locally grown(Grayson County, Virginia) farmer that specializes in range fed beef. We had beef the night before so I will try it the next time. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal but Martha who ordered mild spicy wings and after her first bite sent her into coughing spasms and a red face. She was having a time catching her breath so the waitress brought her regular wings instead which seemed alright to her palate. I love spicy hot wings and I may have to try them sometime down the road.
Well we made a grocery stop on the way out of town for goodies for a dessert tonight(Saturday) at our small group taking place at the Dalton Ranch. I smell a victory for the guys over the gals in Sequence which will be our first match in quite a spell. We came home and the skies cleared with bright sunshine. We took our hike to the top of the mountain and saw no one except for Zeke( the Browning dog) who always greets us warmly. We headed on back down the mountain to the back yard where we picked wine berries for an hour or so before I made one last safari. I gathered about 50 or more and half of those were on my bean plants. I gave then a rather quick send off with my boot.
We settled into the Ray's vs the Jay's which were actually on T.V. and the game started with the Jay's knocking home runs and leading 4-1 when the bats came to life for the Ray's and we started hitting homers and won 8-5 in the Jay's home park. Well it wasn't long until the good hard work, a tasty meal, the hike and a hot shower had me reading but just a chapter in a new novel before it was lights out, LATER NO PICS TODAY!!!
