Tuesday Morning

Well Monday was another work day and then we received a lite afternoon shower which sent us to the porch to read until supper time and then the skies opened up with a tremendous thunder storm and a deluge of rain which could best be described as a "gully washer". The town of Sparta according to some pics sent on FB was a roaring river.

I started the day with my usual 6'ish or a little before roll out. Nancy slept in as in her custom once I got up until nearly 7:30. I did my usual routines that started with a cup of hot turmeric drink, a few quiet moments and then the posting of this ramble before I headed out to check on the gardens and flower beds for slug and deer damage. So far I've squashed a couple dozen of slugs but with this rain they will be out in force and can eat up a plant is hours. The deer have stayed away "knock on wood".

I had a healthy breakfast of oatmeal, banana, cinnamon, pecans and topped with locally grown raw honey. The sun was out brightly in the tree tops and while the forecast was for evening showers the morning was clear and beautiful with 60's temps. I decided to clean out the area under the back porch which was perfect for storing the kayak's. I did have a bunch of gardening junk that needed to be gone as well tons of fall leaves that had blown up an under the porch so I spent the next couple of hours cleaning and making some saw horses to hold our kayak's. We will store them in the basement this next winter but for now under the porch is great. Nancy had two loads of laundry outside on the clothes line which for some reason is a down home symbol much like comfort food, oh well the millennials have no idea what that means or entails.

Nancy made a superb guacamole for our lunch using fresh cilantro from the garden. Her concoction is better than the one I make. I did add a fresh jalapeno to my side of the dish which added some zing which I like. I actually used my finger to clean the bowl it was that tasty. That was our lunch as we ate it with tortilla chips. Caleb Dalton had given me 5 trout he had caught in the river a few weeks ago and had them frozen in water so we had them for supper along with grilled fresh; cherry tomato's, yellow squash, fresh whole mushrooms, onions and zucchini in our new veggie basket for the grill, yeow, was that ever delicious as Nancy had tossed them in a little olive oil. This cooking basket is one of our best investments for use on the grill. I fried the trout fillets in olive oil to a golden brown and they too were very tasty but not quite the flavor of fried bass. Many thanks to Caleb for blessing us with the trout and we sure hope he does well in Nebraska this week for the national junior competition in skeet and trap shooting with a 12 gauge shotgun. Not only is he a great fisherman but a "dead eye dick" as the saying goes with a gun.

Well we didn't get our hike in as the heaven's opened with a much needed rain which lasted beyond dark and even into the night. We had an inch and half just before dark in a little over an hour and the streets in Sparta looked like the New River had made a detour down main street. We spoke with son Bobby and he and his family are excited about arriving here on Thursday evening and we are planning on meals and events in advance. Amy and her family will be here on Friday evening and what a reunion that will be with all of us, LATER