I started the day much the usual with a before 6 roll out to my cup of hot green tea laced with turmeric and fresh ginger root while I posted this ramble then spend some quiet moments with my Creator lifting up several and giving thanks. All are as well as can be expected given the nature of their issues and little Finnley is progressing day by day. I headed out to check on the gardens and had to don long pants with an extra shirt as the cool temps and the wind made it feel even colder, yikes for the first day of summer it felt like the first day of fall. Just last week we were in the 80's which is a little warm for the mountains and we had the a/c on and now its getting close to heat again.
Everything in the gardens looked great and I transplanted some collard seedlings into 6 packs before setting them out in the garden. The Bibb lettuces now have 4 leaves and I'm thinking of setting them out into the garden. 6 of my large cherry tomato's look great but the 3 tomato plants which give the big fruit aren't as healthy looking. Nancy was still in the sack as Larry and Brandon weren't coming until after lunch to finish up the wood work around the new shower. They have done a marvelous job and we are completely satisfied at this stage of their workmanship. We next week will tackle the laying of the vinyl plank flooring with and underlayment. So far they are less costly by far from an earlier estimate despite working by the hour; plus we have become friends as well.
I fired up the golf cart to check on the berry patch and many have ripened and are now falling off or rotting on the vine. I managed to pick a gallon or so and noticed the vines were loaded with lots of berries to mature in the next day or so. I spoke with Joe the prior owner via email and he gave me the number of the new owners and they were not coming to the mountain until the middle of July and were thrilled that we could use the fruit. I promised her a jar of jelly. We will make a batch next week and then pick daily for cobblers and pies. Nancy has a fantastic recipe which she used on the cherries last week; even the workers loved it.
I put 3 slabs of St.Louis ribs on the smoker around 11'ish and let them smoke for about 6 hours. The meat fell off the bone except for the larger ends of the slab; delicious as I used applewood and just one piece of hickory to flavor. Folks brought tater salad, cooked green beans, baked beans and Nancy had salsa and guacamole before hand with chips. The garlic bread was in abundance as well. This is just one of the many cook outs over the summer and why I come home 10 pounds heavier than when we left Florida. Kimberly made a decadent blueberry cake with whipped cream like a cake but in a bowl, yikes I had two helpings and made her take the leftovers home. Gerald had a spoon of the dessert while we played Sequence of which I must mention the GUY WON AGAIN..I must say since neighbor Gerald left after a game of Corn Hole while the gals cleaned up, we used Mechelle as a player for the guys. We had 6 players but only two guys so she bit the bullet and played with us on our team; we always win when she crosses over and becomes a guy for the evening. What would we call that; gamegender. It's so ridiculous there now is a bill in the congress to let men play as women in sports, the libs do not know which bathroom to use but yet they want to control the social mores of our culture. Not only is it a smear on our culture but GOD created two sexes; male and female.
I must say I was ambivalent about our duly elected Potus Trump's decision to not blow Iran's military into extinction but he made a conscious decision to not take any lives no matter what because of the downing of an unmanned drone. This speaks highly of his integrity and desire to save humanity instead of starting a war that would not only kill many innocences on both sides. He wants America to be great and in that process bring peace through strength. I hope those who "chant death to America" wake up and take away from this decision that America is not a bully and neither is this Potus but realize they can only go so far before fatal decisions will be made. The left is perplexed because they will now spin this decision to denigrate this man who is putting America first and our allies and bringing back our relationship with GOD and all created in His Image; even our enemies. This was a gutsy decision and I commend him for giving the regime in Iran another day to decide if they want to live or die. There is a revolt within their gov't to replace the leaders there who are wanting to build nuclear weapons with the assistance of our last USA leaders who are muslim extremists. Let's hope the common folks there are victorious and along with our sanctions will help to defeat them without a bloody conflict.
Well the food was excellent as well as the fun afterwards and it wasn't long after all left around 9'ish I was in the hot shower and soon in the horizontal lab position. Sometime during the night I was awakened by a thunder storm with rain beating on the tin roof, LATER
