Mama’s homecoming, non-storms

Mama made good time getting home yesterday. She walked into the house a little after 6 pm. Both of us were hoping she would get to the farm before the weather turned bad, and she did. I was too sweaty to give her a proper hug so we had to defer that until later. I had been out getting the animals fed and watered in the very hot afternoon temperatures. It had been several days since I had given the cows any grain or cubes so I spent some time in the barn getting them taken care of – out of the wind but not out of the heat. Again, thinking that we were due to have storms moving in at any moment I wanted to get that feeding done in order to avoid going over in the rain.

I had also taken the blower and cleared the sidewalks on my way out to feed. I had to get the leaves and dirt blown out of the garage. I had let it go too long and it was bothering me. While I had the blower out I used it to clear all the feathers and accumulated leaved from under the chicken coop and got pretty dirty doing so because the winds were blowing at 30-40 mph; mostly in the direction that I needed for the chore I was doing – but not totally. The dirt and dust I stirred came around the east side of the coop in a cloud and covered me up. Since I was sweaty, it stuck to me really well. Knowing that Mama was on her way and due to arrive before I would have the chance to get cleaned up, I used the hose to rinse my head and face; another reason I was so wet when Mama did get there. At least, I was a “clean” wet…mostly

Many of the predicted severe weather predictions in the past few weeks have turned out to be non-storms. There have been high winds and some lightening but precious little rain. With the dry conditions, our garden has been looking puny – especially the potatoes. I think Mama and I have figured out that the row of potatoes that is not doing well is a different kind of potato than the one that is doing well. They were also planted a couple weeks earlier that the second row. I am hoping to baby them along for another week or two hoping they will give us some larger potatoes than we have right now. If not we will have to can up what we have. Grandpa has always called the small potatoes “new potatoes” – particularly the red ones. I think we still have some from last year’s crop of red potatoes. The biggest problem is that Mama does not really like the canned potatoes. So, they sit until I make a soup or stew with them.

Back to the non-storms. There are a series of storms predicted to move through our area this weekend but I am not holding out much hope for rain. I will need to water tonight if the winds die down enough to let the water fall where I need it. If not, I will have to wait. The plants are screaming for water now so I hope the forecasts are nearer the mark than in the recent past. And, yes. The plants do communicate with me and right now they are unhappy with the care I am providing them. However, on the bright side. Mama and I picked our first blueberries last night. We will have to keep a sharp eye out and pick them as they ripen. All three bushed are loaded but they are small immature bushes so we will only get enough for a couple small jars of jam – if we get all of them as they ripen and save them for the jam. So far, Mama has eaten the entire ripened crop; all four blueberries.

There is not as much going on this weekend as the last three or four weekends which will give Mama and I time to finish a couple clean-up projects. We are not able to do anything big because I am still stiff and in a good deal of pain in my lower back and Mama’s knees continue to limit her involvement in longer projects, but we can do something.