The Weekend

This weekend was a mixed bag, matched to the weather. It was in the 80's Saturday, but today was close to 100 today and the rest of the week looks to be back to the normal toasty warmth.

Saturday started by picking up mom and going to cut some rhubarb. Given that L and the Son love rhubarb sauce (the Son with ice cream), one can never have too much rhubarb. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the friends patch where we went to pick. We got what there was and headed out.

On the way home, we stopped by my place to pick up some tools and then headed back to mom's place. While she snapped green beans picked from the garden and chopped up the rhubarb, I trimmed a few trees that were too close to the house and then set up the onion racks. The early onions are getting ready to be picked and then finish drying on the sun racks before storage. I'm getting an education in onions, since some of the varieties haven't lived up to expectation this year. Don't know whether it is the strange weather this year or just the varieties.

It seems that many plants have been confused by the weather this year. Our peppers and cantaloupes have blooms galore, but very few peppers or cantaloupes have set on. The winter squash have been very slow to set on squash and may not make it to maturity before the freezing weather arrives. The turnips and kohlrabi have done well, as did the radishes. The beans are doing fine and the cucumbers are just starting to be ready as are the zucchini. The tomatoes are doing just great after looking like they were going to die early in the year. One crop that has thrived with the moist and cool early summer has been the weeds. The Canadian thistle seems to grow inches a day if you don't keep after it.

After finishing at mom's house, I came home and mowed the lawn and did some trimming and then got cleaned up to attend the birthday party of my writer friend. This was his last chance to celebrate being a twenty-something before he hits the big 30 next year. His dad hosted a BBQ in his honor, so we had corn on the cob, BBQ'd sausage, jalapeño baked beans, fruit, salad, and other goodies. Then we topped it off with an ice cream cake just before the host had to go on an emergency call (he is a vet and runs a small animal clinic, so he many times gets called out in the evening).

It was a good party with good friends. My friend T, who had serious back surgery a while ago was there. He's still in a neck collar and moves like a stiff robot, but at least he can feel his fingers again. He's off the morphine and down to percocet, hoping to be off the pain meds entirely in a short while. It will be interesting to see how the recovery goes; it was just good to see him up and about and showing some of his old vim and vinegar.

Given that the birthday boy and I both share a rather twisted sense of humor, I made him take an oath to become the "official" crank handler for the office of the mayor before I'd let him open his present. I then gave him a sample of what he was going to have to handle that left him grinning from ear to ear. (Most people don't realize it, but mayors get an interesting amount of crank mail from causes near and far. After all, it is easy to get the address of mayors and if they bite it means a PR gem. At least the cranks that mail generally aren't quite as odd as the tin foil hat people.) I also gave him a copy of a short story he has been desiring for a while. It is one of those out-of-print classics that are a must read in the genre; I had loaned it to him a while ago and he was duly impressed by it. I think he enjoyed getting the copy.

Today was a lazy day. It was up to 90 by 10am, so I made the strategic decision to relax and read the Sunday paper. That plus my beloved crossword puzzles and some work on the computer made it a fun day. Talked to L in the evening (she was stuck in the mountains again this weekend) and she said it was once again raining and cold up there. It has been rainy and cold for most of the last couple of weeks up there, even leaving a dusting of snow on the hills one day. Seems weather is like water - you could make a lot of money if you could move it from one place to another at a low cost.

Enough drivel for tonight. More later.