Tuesday Morning

Well Monday was one of the finest days we've had in quite a spell. The overcast skies and fog from Sunday's weather were gone by day break and the beautiful Carolina blue skies were evident throughout the day. Despite the 55 degree morning to start the day by late afternoon we saw some low 70's but then again as dusk fell the temps quickly headed back down into the low 50's by this morning.

After our morning routines and a few quiet moments I had a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon, honey and a fresh peach after posting this ramble. I headed out to check on the gardens wearing my gum boots as the dew was so heavy if looked as if had rained overnight. A slug made a feast out of one of my recently transplanted Romaine lettuce plants so I opted to sprinkle a little slug poison around the edge of the upper garden. The weeds of course had a field day with the inch of rain we had Sunday and so has the grass in all of the gardens. It is so green and lush and will need to be mowed before the weekend. I sowed some sugar peas seeds and fed all of the new lettuce and spinach after hoeing the weeds and loosening the soil due to the rainfall.

We took off on our daily hike to the top of the mountain and once again I could see the high rise buildings in downtown Winston-Salem despite some haze as the sun warmed up the hollers and valleys. We stopped and sat a spell on Norm's porch as he was enjoying the warm sunshine. He looked a bit stronger and said he felt the best he has felt in days. We visited until the mailman came and then we ran that up to him before taking off across the mountain. We saw no one at the Browning's so we continued on down the mountain. We decided to eat our supper for lunch and then later in the evening had our lunch for supper as we wanted to clean up the leftover Mexican dishes. After eating I headed out to the backwoods yard and decided to dig out another small gum tree that was about 8 to10 inches in diameter. I dug down in the soft wet soil around the roots until it finally keeled over then sawed it up in stove length pieces for the camp fires. I then hoed out the area where the woods had taken over with Galax plants and other vegetation that precluded the ability for grass to grow and then once that was cleared of the woods debris I sowed new grass seeds. This job will make it much easier to mow and will allow a little more sunlight into the shaded backwoods yard.

That kept me busy until after 4 PM when Nancy decided I had better call it a day. She had clothes on the line and while she folded them I checked out my next yard improvement I will work on today(Tues.). I want to cut the tops out of a couple trees near the fire circle especially the Holly tree as its leaves are murder on your hands and fingers after they dry. The stickers are sharp and quite painful. There is also another gum tree that has a tremendous amount of foliage near the Holly tree so I will top that tree as well and use the wood for campfires. That project should allow a lot more sunlight in that area where moss likes to grow which crowds out the grass.

After supper we headed out on the golf cart to visit the couple Russ and Linda from Ohio. He installs furnaces and a/c units as a side job as both of them are retired. They make the nearly 400 mile trip several times during the summer with their 2 dogs. He has installed both units in their one story cabin and hopefully one day move here permanently. We visited with them until dusk started and the temps starting dropping. I was still in shorts and luckily brought a flannel shirt along as the golf cart ride back to the cabin was a chilly one. It wasn't long until I was in the hot shower then retired to the reading room for several chapters in a new Sandra Brown book titled TEXAS, LATER