Well Friday was a mixture of work and fun with some excellent eating at the Tracy's cabin later in the day. It stayed dry for the day but on the way home last evening around 9'ish we encountered some light mist which required the wipers and this morning I awakened to everything being wet outside. The yards and gardens have dried out somewhat but we need another day of bright sunshine to really dry the area.
I started the day much the usual with a 6'ish roll out to my routines that always start with some vitamins and supplements washed down with a cup of hot green tea laced with turmeric and a slice of fresh ginger while I post this ramble and then lift up several by name. I've added a couple to the list as our neighbor Joe Browning isn't doing the best and as well as our pastor's mom, Gay who had a puncture of her colon during a routine colonoscopy, yeow that is once reason I've stayed away from the procedure. All the others are doing well as I've heard nothing to the contrary.
I headed outside with my rubber boots as the dew is so heavy in the morning despite no rain over night to check on the both the veggie and flower gardens. First the veggies are holding their own despite the wet soil. I've daily been hoeing around the plants loosening the packed wet ground and then I added some horse manure between the rows to help with getting some nutrients back after such leeching by all of the rain. My manure supplier called the other night and informed me she had plenty just waiting for me to come and get it; I trade cleaning out her stables for the manure which I compost and then add to the beds.
The flower beds are the best we've had in years although one perennial daisy succumbed to all of the wet weather as its stopped blooming but I think the plant will live. I harvested the dead heads and hope to start new seedlings with them next year. The cone flowers are everywhere and with many different shades of color and now the zinnias are blooming with their many colors as well. I'm still waiting on the morning glories and the marigolds to bloom but the vines have just about reached the the top of the arbor as they grow up both sides. The marigolds are huge in size but no heads yet.
I started to rake the green moss which grows in the backwoods yard as it gets limited sunshine and less attention as the rest of the yards. Each year I rake and reseed the area but the moss loves the shaded area. I need to lime and fertilize again which helps with keeping it under control. I raked up several golf cart loads which easily comes up but with it some of the grass seedlings, oh well. I have fun keeping busy and giving the arms and shoulders a workout. We took off on a late morning hike to the top and stopped and visited with Jetta on the way. Joe still isn't doing well enough to sit and visit which is very rare for him as we all love to sit and talk. He has a doctor's appointment on Monday for a stress test as many years ago he had a heart procedure.
We came back and had a late lunch of a leftover a deer burger for me which I would always eat in place of beef, its that good. Neighbor Gerald blessed us with several packages of the ground meat from last years hunt which was processed by a butcher, Yeow it was delicious and even Nancy likes the meat which makes it even better. The delicious meat is a result of them eating my garden at times. I headed back out to the backwoods yard for another hour and half of raking moss down the hill. I try to rake the most visible areas which crowd out the grasses and have a few more areas to go. That yard is probably a good acre in area so I will have plenty to do before we head out on Wednesday for a weeks vacation to Ohio, Michigan and Virginia before heading back home around the last week in August.
We cleaned up and headed out to down town Sparta with a stop at the local library where I introduced the librarian to my son, Bobby's second book in the trilogy of EPIC OF HAVEN titled the RAVENOUS SEIZE. She wanted him to autograph the book before adding it to the shelf. It's a beautiful hardbound edition and if you like The Lord of the Rings this story is for you. Amazon carries the book and the kindle version as well. He is still writing the third and final book in the trilogy. We left there around 4'ish and headed over to the Tracy's cabin which is just a few miles west of town.
Kathryn had orderves set out along with some fruit of the vine and we partook of a little of each while starting a game of Spades; the four handed variety which is quite different from the six handed game which is what we have been playing the past couple of weeks when the Botbyl's were here. She and I teamed up against Nancy and Patrick for a change as we played together last week when Nancy and Carol were sightseeing on top of the mountain and we beat Dan and Patrick as they love to go Nil; which is to not take any tricks. Playing with two decks is so much different than playing with one deck and Kathryn and I prevailed after a break for supper and the cleanup on the last hand. It was a barn burner as Kathryn had never attempted to go Nil and she did it which gave us the win. All of us but her had tried the Nil approach several times during the game and had succeeded and failed. It's a really fun game with lots of depending on your partner for the right card to play.
Kathryn made Sopapillas from scratch which were awesome and so delicious. We headed out just before 9 as darkness was setting and got home just before it got pitch black out. We encountered a light drizzle on the parkway. I hit the shower and curled up with a new read from the library while Nancy flipped channels. I learned the Ray's were winning against the Jay's before the sandman calleth around 10:15, LATER
