Thursday Morning

Well we are receiving some much needed rain this AM as I awaken to start the day. Do we ever need it as the earth is parched and I'm hand watering my gardens every day. Wednesday started out with me being awake most of the night due to eating some trail mix with chocolate covered coffee beans the evening before because we had skipped supper due to a large lunch. I didn't feel tired from the lack of sleep but did sleep in this Thursday morning.

After my usual morning routine(s) I headed out to check the gardens for deer, slug and beetle damage. Luckily the critter that could be a real pest, rabbits so far have just stayed in the yards eating the clover which is in abundance this year. The slugs are leaving holes in my cabbages and the kale has a new crop of green worms. I smash them with my fingers as I try not to use any pesticides. The deer have stayed away for the past couple nights. I ate the last buckwheat cake for breakfast slathered with strawberry freezer jam Kay brought me. Yeow was that ever tasty.

I headed out to pick wine berries and picked at least a quart. There aren't as many this year due to the lack of rain but the ones we do have are delicious and beautiful. The Japanese beetles are usually in full swing by now but I kill maybe a dozen a day whereas last year it was hundreds a day. Not sure why there aren't as many and of course the plants don't miss there voracious appetites. The sunshine was out so we washed two loads of laundry and hung them on the line to dry.

We decided we would get our daily hike out of the way before it got too hot so up the mountain we went. We saw no one on our hike and on the bright side of the mountain it was very hot. We could see Pilot Mountain clearly but Winston was hazy and we couldn't make out the buildings. It was such a difference on the back road in the shade of the trees that it felt like the crisper in the fridge. What a difference a few trees make.  We came back and decided to eat our big meal around 1 PM for a change so I fired up the grill and put two bone in pork chops on to cook. We have fresh green beans from the Browning garden and store bought broccoli, yeow was that ever some fine eatin'. After the clean up we decided to visit with our "mountain mom", Helen and take her and her brother Joe some wine berries. Joe blessed us with a nice bag of Jalapeno peppers from his garden. We visited for an hour or so with her before heading back to the cabin.

I sat on the back porch and finished another good read by Sandra Brown and have one more to go before these 3 are due back at the library. I did harvest my home grown garlic and worked that bed up for the August planting in the afternoon. I didn't get as many this year but they were a little larger. I want to get that bed ready with a good top dressing of manure that we gathered from the pasture of the Dalton Farm last evening. We scooped up several bags and buckets of horse, alpaca and cow patties. It was close to dark before we got home so I have that job of unloading the "prized droppings" later today.

Well after a hot shower we tuned into the Fox News channel and learned once again the leadership of our country is null and void and we see the effects of the lack of leadership as the radicals have taken over Iraq, Russia is telling the USA to go pound sand and we are doing all we can to stop Israel from defending herself against those terrorists who have in their charter that Israel must be destroyed. Wake up America and see what is happening with this administration and his plan to change America which is definitely occurring and it's definitely not for the good. We are no longer the country idolized by many who sought a better way of life as this administration is doing everything it can to make us a third world country. Mark my words unless we get rid of this bunch of power seekers and vote responsible liberty loving representatives into the leadership of the nation we are doomed, LATER