Back in the saddle..er..a..or something

We have had a lot of rain in the last week.  Not complaining as we are technically in a moderate drought.  The drawback to the large amount of rain in a small time is tomatoes that have split.  Not just the cherry tomatoes, but the better boys or slicing tomatoes.  I've only had one Roma split.  In addition, the rain has made it urgent to cut the grass.  My sons did a good bit of it recently, and I told them what they didn't get done I would do (part of a workout ).  What I didn't realize is how fast this stuff would grow with the new rains.  Someone told the lawn to have at it I guess.  I ended up redoing part of the grass my sons cut.  Not because they didn't cut it the first time, but because it grew like crazy once watered.  Funny how that happens.  So while I'm cutting the grass, I notice weeds taking over my blueberry bushes. My ADD kicks in and I think " I should rescue them".  So I ended up weeding the blueberry beds.  Then I notice a lot of red on my tomato plants.  I got my picking basket and picked about 30-35 lbs of tomatoes.

 Time to make the sauce.  I will make the sauce now, but not can it until fall.  Canning heats up the kitchen to much.  So I will make the sauce and put it back in the freezer to await a canning later.  The pot on the stove and the messy looking crock pot are currently housing the sauce from previously picked and cooked tomatoes.  I'm amazed at the sheer number of tomatoes I have picked this season; both the ones we  and my neighbors have picked while I was gone.  Still I have this huge amount in one picking.  I still have others waiting.  I'll get to them later.

My house is still my focus right now.  Really my focus.  I just about have the closets cleaned out.  My bathroom is clean as is the master bedroom.  Everything else is still a work in progress, but I'll get there.  Since I have nothing else to do (right), I decided I really didn't like the shower door in my bathroom.  Plus it was leaking at the bottom.  On my yard sale list I had placed "shower curtain" and then found one in our latest and only (so far this summer) trip to the Ric Rac.  It is a lovely curtain in the same color as my bathroom with grommets instead of just holes.  I also found a set of decorative shower curtain hooks.  So armed with my new finds and a few things from Ace Hardware, I.....removed the shower door.  I did!  I removed the shower door including the old caulking and hung the new curtain.  I also hung a new shower head (ours was leaking too), and re-caulked the whole shibang.

 Daddy would have been proud.  We have since used the shower and all works as it should.


Later the next day.....
  It's about 7:30 in the morning.  It will be really hot today and so my plan is to go outside to finish the grass (with Einstein's help), pull up the now empty corn stalks, clean out the chicken coops, and put the resulting chicken manure directly on the garden where the corn used to be.  Once I have the manure dug in, I will cover that part of the garden in plastic, putting it to bed for the season.

Funny, the world didn't stop spinning when my dad passed.  I felt it really should have paused to honor him.  My part of the world did, but even my part of the world couldn't stay stopped for long.  I have a house to run, family to care for, and apparently a garden that is still demanding.  However, with every row hoed, chicken coop cleaned, home improvement accomplished; I think of my dad.  Would he be proud?  Would he smile?  I think he would because he always did.  So I take up the mantle of what he taught me.  I hope to continue the legacy and hopefully, one day, my children will do the same.