03 Jul · Fri 2009

Blueberries, Beagles, and Spinning

Good Morning! The heat! Oh, my goodness! The interesting thing this year is that usually by this time of year "hot and hazy" is the description most often used. The last three days, however, have reminded me of October days. Not the coolness, of course, but the clarity of the sky. Bright and sunny without much haze at all. This has made the sun itself seem that much stronger, without the humidity playing a very big part in the heat. It also makes it seems cooler in the shade with a wind blowing, making being outside during the middle of the day that much more tolerable. It is also continuing to be dry. What was luscious and green is now beginning to get that gray/brown tinge it gets when it's crying out for water. The temperatures are forecasted to remain in the high 80's to mid 90's, but there is no more than a 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms in the next ten days. Most days have only a 0 - 10% chance of any precipitation. Watering is in full force. My herbs are watered morning and evening, especially my mint. The fruit trees/bushes are watered in the evening, the tomatoes will be flooded once/week, and the blueberries will be drip irrigated overnight 1 - 2 times per week until some appreciable rain falls. This is early for our dry season and is bringing back bad memories of the previous drought years. However, last year this time we ended up with 11 inches in two weeks, which killed our tomatoes, so I guess I won't be complaining.

Yesterday was busy with me in the car most of it. After morning chores were finished and I had finished canning the corn from yesterday, we headed over to a friend's house for Michaela and her son to work the dogs in flyball. Unfortunately, the dogs considered it way too hot to actually do anything other than pant, so they spent most of their time indoors. My friend is very much into spinning and, in fact, owns her own cashmere goats. She also purchases all kinds of fiber from all over. Kelsey and I were looking at what she had. The most fascinating was the silk worm cocoons she had. Mrs. M told us the process of getting the silk into a spinnable state and showed us some she was spinning with alpaca. She also showed us some yarn she had spun and that is available in her shop, Yarn of a Tail, on Artfire.com. It is so beautiful. She is so good at it. She uses both drop spindles and a spinning wheel. I had just recently used some gift money to purchase the double drop spindle kit offered by Maine Woods Yarns on Etsy. She let me use her drop spindle and showed me how to start so that I would be ready when it arrived. It was so much fun. I'm really looking forward to getting it and getting started. Looking at her yarns made me realize how much better knitted and crocheted items look with real quality yarn. So much for Wal-mart yarns. I think I may be looking for some angora goats to add to our herd.

After we left, we went for a picnic lunch at a local Revolutionary War Battlefield. It was really too hot for much besides eating in the shade, so our visit there was short. It was also later than planned so we headed home to get the youngers down for naps. This heat really takes it out of them and they seem to need more rest than during the winter. While we were at home, Michaela checked on the beagle she wanted to rescue from the animal shelter in a "somewhat" neighboring county. Yes, it was still available, so back into the car we go for the hour ride down there. It closes at 4PM and we pull up at 3:57PM. As we are getting out of the car, someone walks out with a beagle on a leash. No, it couldn't be. After we go inside we are first told that they were closed, 3 minutes early. OK, the day was catching up with me, and I'm trying to remember that this lady could have had a really bad day. I made a comment under my breath about having driven an hour, arriving 3 minutes before 4PM, only to be told they were closed. Another woman spoke up to ask if we had wanted to adopt a dog and we said yes, one named Poker. And yes, that was Poker (who comes up with these names?) who was now going home with a new family, but not ours. The drive down there had been long, but the drive back was much longer, as I now had a very disappointed 15-year-old.

By this time it was supper and chores. Then bedtime. It seems as if lately these two have run together too often. Ashley made a wonderful pasta dish that wasn't too heavy for a warm night. I only wish my lettuce was still coming in. I would have loved to have a fresh salad to accompany it. Some friends had mentioned an indoor salad garden contraption that sounds like just the ticket. I think I'll research it and see what it'll do.

Another busy day today. Blueberries that were too soft to sell need to be made into sauce, tomatoes are ready to also be put into sauce (I've never done this before so it should be an experience), more blueberries to be picked, etc. I guess I had better get cracking.

May Yahweh bless you in this new day!

Laurie

Posted by Laurie @ 06:09 AM EDT [ Comments [0] ]

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