7/8: Thunderstorm

The rain we desparately needed.

Weslee and I cared for his ingrown toenail and hole in the foot, while he did some schoolwork-reading. Doug biked to work today. I met with landscapers. And I watered the new little patch of grass-seeded-dirt at 8 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. At 2:03 (yes, a mere 33 minutes later), it started to rain, and poured for nearly an hour. Needless to say, I had to go pick Doug up when the stinging bite of rain got to be too much for Biker Doug.

When the second (or was it the third?) landscaper was measuring our front lawn today for an estimate, I checked the garden out back. The soybean/carrot/lettuce bed that we planted about a week ago finally has a few little soy seedlings that popped up since yesterday. The pole beans have started strangling the corn so I added some bean teepees and twine the bean vines around them whenever I think about it. The bush beans in back have beautiful flowers on them (why oh why didn't I take the camera with me?). The black-seeded simpson lettuce seems to expand when I cut the outer leaves so - hmmmm... yummy! The giant watermelon seed finally sprouted.

Did I write about the foxes and how they kept uprooting my seedlings in front - asparagas, gourds, flowers, etc? The labels got separated from the plants so I rescued whatever gourds I could and planted them (too) close together. In addition, since the asparagas roots were scattered in both the front and back yard, by the time I found them, they were pretty much dead. When I added potting soil to the front terrace bed so I could plant more bush beans and cucumbers, I threw in the (dead?) asparagas under the potting soil so it would maybe compost into the soil. Today, I saw two little spears in between several black turtle bean plants. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow - but yes, we're amazed! Hearty little suckers.

We keep thinking about our next (and LAST) house. Unless we find the perfect situation (decent shape farmhouse on 3-5 acres zoned agriculture), we'll want to build a green home, if possible. Which means the added immediate expense of electricity (solar panels), sewer, and water (well?). Guess we gotta take a good hard look at our finances. We wonder ... is it possible to build a green home for our current mortgage?

I digressed. Back to today ... Inside, before it started raining, it was quite hot so I turned on the swamp cooler. About 30 minutes later, I noticed drips from one of the tanks. Immediately checked it out and turned it off. Not sure why, but it drizzled and soaked the floor and everything around it. Which happened to be stacks of Weslee's science, history, and math workbooks for the next school year. And fiction books, particularly "The Iliad" is ruined. Will continue to dry tomorrow, and hope for the best. Vikki