Sigh, late again! Story of my life, somedays! (Most days!) Well, we've managed to hold off on turning on the air conditioner out here, in spite of several days of hot, humid, and downright muggy weather - how 'bout you folks? What type of weather have you been having? I like to go to weatherunderground.com and click on the different areas where friends and family live and see what kind of weather they are having; and then I try to imagine what they might be doing. Of course, since I'm usually doing this on my dinner break at work, most of 'em are sleeping, since that's what normal people do at 3 am! I was just re-reading what I wrote, and I wondered if "muggy" is a universal term? How do y'all describe the weather where you're at when it is hot, humid, heavy, sticky, too darn thick to breath the air almost?!

I got up early Saturday evening, and Hubs and I managed to finish getting all the old peas pulled out; and then I planted cucumbers in their place - hopefully late enough to foil the cucumber beetles! My Uncle Roger has cukes that are 8" long already, so he's laughing at me for planting so late; but at least I'll have some left when the tomatoes get ripe, to make the cucumber, onion, and tomato salad that Sharon gave me the recipe for - mmmm! That was about all I had time to do before I headed in for the shower - because I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to enjoy my supper. Hubs roasted a chicken in the rotisserie, and we had it with dressing, corn from the freezer and boiled new red potatoes from the garden - double mmmm!!

Mr. Moffat left just now; he's the older gentleman who brought Pop the morel mushrooms this spring, and who comes to pick my extra strawberries that are going to waste - I think he gives half of them away to folks that can't pick themselves! He brought me a head of cabbage from his garden as a thank-you for the berries he picked today - guess I'm going to have to go out and dig some more of those new potatoes! Hmm, or maybe cook half with new potatoes, carrots and onion, and make slaw with the other half - sounds like a plan to me! Now what should I fix to go with?!

Hubs got me up about 1 pm yesterday afternoon; I had gotten off work at 7:30, and then stopped to do the Father's Day shopping (Pop got an oak file cabinet from John and I, and a new gardening hat and gloves from Jessie; Hubs got microbrewery beer from Jessie) so I was just too beat to stay up and do anything in the morning when it was cooler. I had to do laundry again, but at least that was a nice cool job since I pull the washer out under the canopy of the shed where there is shade and there was a nice breeze yesterday. I don't mind splashing around in the water one bit when it is so hot outside! I had another 7 loads to do - where does it all come from, I want to know!? While the laundry was sloshing, Hubs and I cleaned off the porch - we used the discarded wash water to wash it down after we got rid of the accumulated junk and puppy dog hair. I still need to figure out a way to wash the glider cushions - I'm thinking about taking them to the car wash! We used the second batch of wash water to wash my car; and the third to wash down the concrete under the canopy (and watered the daylillies that I planted there this spring as a bonus!) Hubs was having a "negative day" yesterday; where everything he said was negative - bitched about the dog, bitched about his job, bitched about the grass being tall, bitched about the tractor being old - yada yada yada....Hey, I hear enough of that nonsense at work - and I get PAID for listening to it there!!! So after about 3 hours of negativity (that's enough venting for anyone!), I grabbed my hoe and headed for the berry patch; knowing that no sane person would follow me out there at 4 o'clock in the heat and sun - and sure enough, he didn't!! I managed to hoe around 4 rows of berry plants, and got the runners moved back into the centers in those rows; then moved on and weeded the 60' row of tomato plants - gotta get some more straw down on those babies and get the climbers tied to the fence! By 6 pm, both of us were inclined to be civil again, so I grabbed a shower and we headed over to Shelbyville, where I took him out for Chinese food for Father's Day. I appreciate the fact that he is a pretty good step-dad to Jes, even if he IS an old poop sometimes, so I reckon he deserved it!

Today, I got up at about 7 am and did the chores; including Pop's chore of filling the hummingbird feeders. Then I had to make up another batch of feed; those little dickens are eating us out of house and home to the tune of nearly a half gallon of feed a day - heck, I'm down to only one row of sugar in the pantry now!! Sure hope I can catch it on sale soon! I make my feed 4 to 1; 4 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar. I like to boil it to make sure that it is in solution, but I learned a new trick this year: I use 1 qt (4 cups) of water and 2 cups of sugar and bring it to a boil; meanwhile, I put another quart of cold water into the feed pitcher. When the feed boils, I shut it off, then pour it into the pitcher of cold water - that way it's cool enough to feed almost at once, but I'm sure that it's dissolved well too. Reckon you CAN teach an old dog new tricks after all!!

I had to do a fluff job on the house this morning - what IS it about men that makes them unable to either wipe their feet or take off their darn shoes before tracking into the house!? Next house I build will have a mud room, I swear! I managed to get all the laundry we did yesterday folded or hung and put away, except for the ironing; and it's just going to have to wait a while! I figured out that the sticky on the floor by the sink was from Pop, bringing the feeders in to rinse them before he fills them - me, I get a bucket of water from the stock tank and set it on the porch table to rinse them - keeps the mess outside that way, and the ants clean up any spills. And then I water my concrete pot of pansies and my enamel wash basin of hens 'n chicks with the water. That's efficient, not lazy; no matter that Pop tells you a different story!

I have to go in to work at the nursing home this afternoon from 2:30 to 11pm; then back in from 6am to 2:30 pm on Tuesday - bummer! I need to get those other 6 rows of berries done; and those two double rows are going to be a booger, I just know it! But I need to get some straw down too, and I want to check over the beds in the back part of the garden for weeds so I can keep ahead of the darn things (unlike the front garden - sigh!) And I need to get those round-upped weeds out from under the clothesline and toss 'em in the burn pile, and I need to pick up the yard so Pop can mow, and I need to weed in the other two sections of garden, and I need to spread out the pea vines that Hubs just dumped in a pile in the compost bins, and I need to pull my hair out and run screaming down the street 'cause there ain't no way I'm ever going to get it all done!!! Especially not sitting here on my butt, in front of the computer - tho, in my defense, your honor; I was waiting for the blueberry muffins and banana bread to get out of the oven before I went outside and forgot about 'em! Well, I reckon I'd better get at it - you folks all take care out there, and try to stay cool!

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2003

Answers

Man Polly, I was reading all the things you have to do inbetween your two jobs and said I'd be pulling out my hair by now...and you were!

Actually, it has been cool and rainy here alot. The other day it was finally hot and muggy. It's not suppose to rain until Wens then scattered showers for the next couple days. I NEED HAY!!

I was trying to work on my pond yesterday but those darn rocks are just too heavy. I have to be in the pond to do the falls so it's half empty. Then I stepped wrong and one of my boots filled up with water (cold and squshy) Besides straining my back, I smashed my thumbnail, scraped my arm and my foot was still squshy.

We are trying to fix our pool. We put algea killer in and I can't believe how fast that stuff works!! My son said as soon as the water is clear, he will go in and try to find the leak. Funny thing is, it stopped leaking during the winter. I thought a leaf covered the hole but I think Hubs got most of the leaves out.

Polly, I know what you mean about negative days. My husband is bad when he's tired. If you tell him he is being unreasonable because he's tired, he gets worse. Then all the yelling starts. The kid and I just stay away from him. Thing is, he doesn't know how to relax. I'll tell him he doesn't have to do something everyday. Two more years till retirement.

Well, tomorrow I'll hopefully finish the pond. I have to pick up some X-rays of my son's teeth. The dentist said he has some thinning of four of his molers and they have a new technique that sandblasts the bad part and porcilin is replaced. Really easy, good for him and also $150 A TOOTH!! The insurance covers only $61 and gives us 1/2 so that is $480 for something that he may not even need. I'm taking him for a second opionion. I think the Dr is trying to pay for this new equipment at our expense. Too bad, it's hard for me to find a dentist I trust since my childhood was drill to fill dentists. I bought a flat of started green beans and some cucumbers. I also found that dandelion on the net so I want to plant those too. Backyard landscaping will have to wait.

Hope all are well.

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2003

Well I now own two houses. :) The closing was on Monday. I was in a panic in the morning but it ended up going well. The mortgage company has been so busy with refinancing that they didn't get my loan info to the title company until 10am the morning of closing. That meant that I didn't know how much money I was supposed to bring until about 3 hours before the closing. Fortunately I had already planned on taking the afternoon off from work, so I did have time to go to the bank and get the cashier's check.

We haven't had a chance to go out and walk the property since the surveyor was there. But in talking with the owners at closing we found out that the pond is a lot bigger than we thought. The pond is actually two ponds, there is a small pond in the front and a large pond in the back with a small earth dam separating them. We thought that the earth dam was the property line, but it turns out that both ponds are on our property. Originally it was all one big pond, a few years ago they built the dam with the intention of having the large pond for fishing and boating and the small pond as a swimming hole. Then he got sick and never finished the project, so the smaller pond still needs to have the bottom graded and sand put down. Oh yeah, did I mention that the survey came back 1 acre larger than what we thought?

We're planning on taking possesion July 3rd but we're not moving in until July 12th. I wanted to move in over July 4th weekend, but there is a huge sci fi convention in town that weekend that all of the guys are planning on attending, and not even bribes of beer and pizza can get them to change their minds. So I'm going to have to wait til the next weekend. I'm making arrangements to have the basement waterproofed the week of July 7th so at least that week won't be a total waste.

I weeded the garden over the weekend and put down some more straw mulch. The tomatos are starting to blossom and I have one green pepper about the size of my thumb. The bush beans and the squash are a couple of inches high. I had to cut back the comfrey plants because they were taking over the bean patch. Last year the tomatoes had problems with blossom end rot so this year I meant to put some eggshells in the hole when I planted them and I totally forgot about it! D'oh!

Hey Polly, was it the Baker Creek Spring Festival that you went to this year? There's an article in this month's Countryside about the fellow who started Baker Creek Heirloom seeds, he's only 22 years old! I thought of you when he said that they have 60 varieties of tomatoes! The Cherokee Purple tomato sounds interesting, I may just have to give it a try next year. Maybe some of their orange and yellow roma-type tomatoes too.... :)

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2003

Wow, Polly where do you find the energy . . . one full day of your's is quite a day - I think I'd pass out somewhere around 4 p.m. if my days were the same.

Sherri C., that's really good news about your new home - ponds on the property is very cool, as you should be able to see lots of wildlife coming to water. And in the winter . . . ice skating if you like. Neat.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2003

Hi everyone!! I've not posted in the last week because we lost the baby!! I've been having a hard time with it but know that for some reason or another it was not the time for us to have a baby. The Dr said we could start in 6 months to try again so we are staying up beat about this. Mike is my rock, he has kept me from going into depression as I know I would if it wasn't for him. He has been right here beside me throught this horriable ordeal. Now I know why he was sent to me!! I've always been a little on the depressed side and he has gotten me completely away from all of that.

Hope to get caught up on everyone. Sherri thanks so much for the very comforting words!! Sandy

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2003

Sandy, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost the baby; as I know that you and Mike were so happy about being pregnant. I know it's hard, but do try to keep upbeat and optimistic - a healthy mind helps keep your body healthy enough to try again. If you need to vent, my e- mail addy is good. I lost my first two, at 13 weeks in '79 and 5 months in '81, before I was able to carry Jes to term in '84, so I kinda remember where your head, heart, and yes, hormones are right now. I remember that I swore that the next time someone told me "It was for the best" I was gonna pop 'em one in the nose! But now I understand how hard it is to find comforting words during this time. Take care, dear girl; we're here if you need us.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2003

I am so very sorry Sandy. How wonderful that your husband is really there for you emotionally to help you get through this.

Blessings and hugs,

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2003

Sandy, we're very sorry to hear about your loss of your baby. I know you were really looking forward to this, but sometimes, it just wasn't meant to be.

My wife and I lost a baby early in her pregnancy also about two and a half years ago - 'empty sack' where the fetus is reabsorbed back into the womb. No bleeding, no warning of something amiss - the doctor couldn't hear a heartbeat during her second month examination of my wife, did two sonograms to be sure. No sign of life where there was before - we just stared at that darn screen. My wife and I also took it hard - like you, we were really looking forward to having a young one to play with my son.

A year later, my wife was pregnant again, and gave birth to a little girl with a lot of attitude. I'm sure you will have the same luck - you are just going to have wait a little more. Good things come to those who wait - you'll see.

So grieve with your husband - keeping inside won't help a bit. Don't hold back - talk it out with him, get both of your feelings out in the open. That is how we were able to bounce back.

It's sad, but happens to a lot of folks - I'm sure even to some of us here in 'Beyond The Sidewalks'. You aren't alone, by any means.

I hope this helped you - feel better soon.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2003

I've known about Sandy's baby for a few days but I didn't think it was my place to say anything until she posted it herself. :(

Sandy, I'm glad that my email helped. It's such a helpless feeling when you're far away from friends who are hurting. Since I've never been pregnant it's hard to know what to say in this situation. I'll be mentioning you and Mike in our little Pagan version of prayer requests that we'll be doing tomorrow, if you don't mind.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2003

Thanks Sherri I would feel honored if you would do that for us!!!! It's getting easier as the days go by but I still feel that need!! I'm watching my cousin's down-sydrom child this week and that has kept my mind busy!!!

Thanks everyone for all of "we are thinking about you" I've shared them with Mike and he was very touched that people we don't see could stand behind us and feel for us as ya'll have!!! J.R he really took to heart all that you wrote!!!

Thanks so much everyone!!! Your friend Sandy

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2003