What I did today

Another user of baking soda paste. I got bitten 3x by an unknown spider while sleeping, 2 nights ago. Woke up to intense aching, swelling and some pain. Baking soda paste took out the pain and intense itch and reduced the swelling pretty quickly. Still some redness today but no itching.

Worked getting leaky rain barrel scrubbed and ready for repair yesterday. Sealant on the outside of the barrel is still solid but need to do some work on the inside near the spigot as it had some minor seepage last year. Put baked beans in the crockpot as there was no way I was turning the oven on. Arrived at our picnic about ten minutes early only to see my mom's car there besides the host's. Some of them are usually fashionably late, so we waited 45 minutes and when no one else showed up we went ahead and ate. There's generally 5-6 couples at the picnic every year and I was very disappointed that none of them had the courtesy to let the host know they weren't coming. We didn't have quite a broad of a selection of food as normal but we all left with a full belly and kiddo fell in love with the wicker swing they had.

So far today I've watered and taken the caulking gun outside to tackle the barrel repairs. Sorted out the kennel where I keep the extra plants and tossed some tomatoes and peppers I've been holding for a lady for at least three weeks. Kept a few I intend to plant and hopefully they'll be in the ground by the end of the week. Stretched hoses from the rain barrel to new garden addition and filled one of the mineral tubs with water as dragging that 15-gallon barrel back and forth gets old after a while. Need to remove faucet from the laundry sink we picked up curbside last year and take it to Lowes to find fittings to attach it to a water hose. Slowly I'm getting projects done.

Today I decided to pull out the strawberry bed, 2' x 8'. Originally I purchased reblooming berries but I do believe they were a different variety and they never did.

And I do believe I can put other veggies in there and get more than I did with the strawberries. They were very good but I don't have a large space for gardening and would rather be more productive. If I had a bigger plot I would have just expanded on what I already had.

I picked peppers, cukes, squash, and zucchini this morning, had a decent basket of produce. Went out to get the mail and met the neighbor across the street who had just returned from vacation, gave her a good selection of this morning's pickings. During our brief conversation, I discovered that we have a reputation in the neighborhood for our gardening prowess.

It was overcast and the lawn wasn't completely dry, so I decided to skip the bagging and cut with the mulching blades. There were a few drops throughout the mowing and I finished just 60 seconds before the sky opened up with a major downpour, talk about great timing.

Went out to clean up a raised bed where I had the peas planted, getting it ready to plant some root crops for fall harvest. Cheryl is picking off Japanese beetles and sending them to the great beyond. Lots of things to do out there!

Celebrated a friend's birthday by cooking dinner for her and her partner. Did the 2 week shopping a day early as I needed ingredients for the meal. Didn't work outside as it is too blazing hot. This hot weather makes me wish. Almost. that I was more of a morning person so that I could get out there in the early AM coolness. Ain't gonna happen. I manage to get an hour or a bit more in the gardens, after dinner.

Hubby was home and kiddo's favorite phrase to me is "go away," so I spent some time outside in the kennel holding area which I have covered with shade cloth. Emptied soil out of pots and watered everything. At one point the wind stirred and I noticed the black plastic blowing around and realized I'd stolen the bricks that were holding it down. I was briefly thankful that it hadn't blown back onto the peppers when I suddenly realized it was covering three of them. Thankfully I caught it as it would have cooked them at 92°. Decided that holding area would indeed be part of the expansion and likely that the kennel will remain in place until next spring. So that means I can actually plant inside of it now. Rain barrel is repaired and even though I rolled it into the shade to fix it, it was still plenty hot inside. Took faucet off of old laundry sink and have it in the car and then tackled a leak in the connection of one of the expanding hoses. Turns out there were two o-rings inside and both were twisted. Took some finagling but finally got it back together and no leaks!

My outside time also gave me plenty of time to ponder and I've decided not to grow so many tomato and pepper plants next year. Yes I did make a few hundred on the extras but the space and time involved is more than I'm willing to give. Of course I'm subject to change my mind multiple times before next season.

I believe the predicted high today is 96° and the morning started off as overcast. About two hours later the sun came out in full force and though there's a small chance of rain this afternoon, it's still going to be a scorcher.