Will it just rain, already???

It has been very dry here in central Indiana this summer, since the beginning of July.  Oh, sure, I griped about too much in May and June when we cut the grass twice a week.  I mowed Friday, it took me all of about 10 minutes, and that was just to knock off the tops of seeded grass and some hardy weeds.   I looked like a speed demon on the big Grasshopper ZTR (zero turn radius) mower.  When we first brought that sucker into town to mow our very big lot, the neighbors all came out to watch me, they all have postage stamp lots.   It was great having an audience until I killed it on a sneaky stump.  And looked ridiculous going to get Bill to help me get it started again.  So much for looking cool on a mower.

My tomatoes are starting to look pathetic, so I put out a "fan" sprinkler, you know the kind. I can't think of the real name.  I moved it around to hit all the parts of the garden.  The ground was still damp a day later, that hasn't happened for a while.   What little rain we have had just seems to soak back up into the atmosphere.  I have picked blackberries (we have determined they are NOT black raspberries) about a half cup at a time.  I cut back hard last year and must have cut back some canes that were needed this year.  They fruit on last year's new canes, so I have to be careful where I trim.  I should have a bumper crop next year,  I have lots of new canes this year. 

We put out the Hav-a-Heart cage for the danged groundhog, and he then decided that he could find better places to eat and left, haven't seen him since.  Bill believes that maybe he did get caught but the fall-down gate didn't latch all the way and he finally got himself out, and was probably spooked by it.  We did, however, catch an opossum.  One of my VA riders (I drive vets to the hospital in Indy) told me they are good eatin'.  Not sure I want to know.  There used to be an old lady at "Beautiful Bud's" hunting/fishing store here in town that would crockpot up some good eatin' and tell you what it was after you ate it.  She was famous for roadkill stew.  I'm sure she turned the stomach of many a tough, macho man hunter in Crawfordsville. 

Down in Parke County is the Rockville Produce Auction, run by a group of Amish businessmen,  a great place to pick up some produce at a very cheap price if you know what you are doing.  I set out yesterday early, got there, no one was there, didn't remember that they pick produce early on Mondays, not late on Sundays, so the auctions start at 1, not 9.    So called my friend who invited me when I got home and put in an order for canner tomatoes, she told me they were going for 25 cents a large box last week.  I have a message to go pick up some this morning from her.   Last year I canned about 100 jars of juice, soup mix, so we could still live on those, but if I can get them really cheaply, I'll make more.  Last year I bought half bushels of green, red, yellow peppers for about $6.  Gave some away, not sure Presbytera Maria REALLY appreciated me handing her a big box of peppers.....One year I bought 3-- 25 lb. bags of potatoes for $10, sold two before I got them off the pallet.  Sometimes people will hover and wait until someone else buys a large quantity and then they will sidle up to you and ask for a small quantity.  It's all part of the game of the auction.  The best auctions I have been to have been in Sept. when the chrysanthemums are going cheap and going in great quantities.  The buggies and wagons from the Amish farms show up early and arrange their mums by color, size, number all around the edge of the parking lot, it's a lovely sight.  You buy in batches of 25, 50, 75.  They go for anywhere from $1 each to $15 for HUGE pot mums.  Sounds great until you figure out the kids have to sit on top of the van to get the 25 mums in.  I had to laugh once when some ladies from Indy came out and bought about 100 and had to call someone to come with another truck to take them back. I think I got some beauties from them for $2/each.

I drove home on gravel roads and here are some of the sights..Have you ever seen so many huge punkins in one place before?? Their porch was full of larger-than -bushel-basket white pumpkins.

Then I drove down the road and had to share right-of-way with these ladies....

They are either female turkeys or guinea hens. I'm not sure. 

I wanted to show you something I "jury rigged" in my tomato patch.  I had planted cantaloupe alongside the toms, and they found their way up the climbing fence.  They may eventually fall off the vine because of their weight, so I found some old panty hose and rigged up a sling.

Here are some potatoes as they are being dug up.  I think this is one of the fun things to do at the end of the season, digging up "taters."   You will never eat anything fresher tasting than newly dug potatoes.  You have to wait until the vines are dying and falling over, you can even leave them in the ground and dig as you please until about frost time.  Just remember where you planted, because the dried vine can sometimes break off from the ground, and then you're not quite sure where the tubers are.  Boil up with some mint and peas,  yum....
The sweet potatoes won't be ready yet for maybe another month, so I just keep watering them, hoping something is growing down there.

Something else very special has appeared in my "Mommy garden."   I didn't even know I had planted it.   That's number 44,  the new kicker/punter on the JV football team, Robert Combs.   He plays JV soccer, and tried out for football kicker.  I'm not sure he even knows what football is all about besides getting the ball down the field.  He was getting fitted for his uniform and the coach was dressing him, as Bill was shoving food in his mouth after soccer practice last night.  So now I gotta go to two or three soccer matches a week, along with at least one or two football games, so if I disappear from here, I have grown to the bleachers at CHS.  We are all very proud of him.  We DID see something funny before the game yesterday, he was practicing a punt, didn't step it off well, and kicked the center in the butt......

Sent Bailey, the oldest, off to Wabash College on Saturday.  It's about 10 blocks from our house, so we are saving the housing fee ($8100, choke) by having him stay at home, and he enjoys the walk.  Maybe not in February, but right now he's okay with it.  I started my kids out young with lots of long walks, they aren't bothered by it now.   I think he will thrive there, it's a liberal arts college, with about 850 young men, no women.  Let's see how it works. 
 
I am still supplying church flowers from my garden, the  hydrangeas and "cut and come again" zinnias have been a Godsend in this heat, when the perennials are sneaking back into dormancy. 

Dianne, dirt, sweat, and watering can in hand....