respublica

The Summer of 2023

This summer has been unusual in several respects. It has been really hot, more days reaching 100 or close to it. But, this has been coupled with regular rain and high humidity which has kept the grass and everything else, growing well through this August. Normally our lawns would have turned more brown than green. Not this year. We still have to cut as often as we do in spring.

Our windows are steamed over so we can't  really see out.

Just very abnormal, this summer is.

It's a very very smokey, noisy time of year

Leave it to some neighbors to not let fireworks stay in official display areas. Last night the people behind us decided it would be great to stand by their front door and shoot of fireworks. Problem was, their front door is very close to our wood fence and garage as well as our next door neighbor's new wood fence. The shooting and smoke and probably hot embers went on for a couple of hours. I was pretty much beside myself hoping against hope none of the flaming parts fell and started a big fire. I could really conceive of all this hot stuff setting one thing after another on fire.

Here are two pictures I took of how much smoke filled the area behind our yard. Just now the guy who was doing this standing with his family right against his own back door, came out and set one more blast off. I'd guess we'll see more of the same tonight. But our next door neighbor did finally call the police who came out very quickly and told those people to desist. We shall see tonight.

Big time planting season

We are pretty much finished with our planting, but it seems as though many people around here are just getting started. I drove by Creekside Nursery in Collinsville yesterday around 12:30 and the parking lot was totally filled and cars were lined up on the road on both sides big time trying to  get in. I was glad I hadn't planned on going there.

This planting is a good thing, lots of work though.

We have just couple more things which need to go into the ground and that is today's job. I'm pleased to see the radishes are showing red, it won't be long before we can pull some of them. We have quite a few strawberries forming thankfully. You never know with them.

In any event, today's job is to go after the weeds which have the nerve to insert themselves into the good things.

This is not the friendliest March

I am getting frustrated with this weather. We had a mild winter for the most part, but now that it's getting time to get out into the garden, it gets bone chilling. My habit has been to plant potatoes on St. Patrick's Day which is sort of an old tradition. Ireland loves their potatoes so I've tried to go along with this technique. I bought two varieties of seed potatoes on Saturday at the Collinsville Farmers Market. I have the two large flower pots almost ready to put them in and had planned to work up part of the back yard garden today. But I think not.

Planting potatoes in big pots is an amazing way to do it. In the end we just tip over the posts and there come the potatoes. No digging and the best tasting spuds you'll ever eat. I am so ready. I do put extra potatoes in the back garden but that ground is just not ready to be worked.

I am going to clean the pots today and go get potting soil.

 

Garden Hacks

I'm getting itchy to get out in the yard and begin planting. I know it's too soon, but the time has come to consider what we will do this year. So I found  this article interesting. I won't do most of the ideas they give, but I will do some.

I already picked up some seed tape. This is a great way to plant things like radishes and other salad type vegetables. I used the radish and green onion tapes a couple of years ago while at the seminary and it worked really well. Those seeds are so mall this makes it easier to get a balanced crop. Home Depot had them yesterday, not as many choices as I would have liked but did get radishes and a small salad green mix. Just unroll the tape and lay it flat in the ground. Cover it up with soil and walk away. Nice even spacing when they grow.

A Fish Story

The Belleville paper has a list of many Friday Fish Fries going on in the Metro East during this Lenten season. Fish fries are well liked by many people, I may be one of the few people in the world who does not like fish at all. Dale loves fish and I feel sorry for him now and then as I don't fix fish for dinner very often. You can season fish every which way but I still feel like I have a mouth full of spare change. However at this time of year almost every restaurant offers Friday fish. So we are going out to eat tonight so he can get fish and I'll get a burger and fries.

What is eye-opening is the huge number of American Legions and VFW's which have Friday fish. I know from watching our American Legion parking lot across the street is how many people come. You can get fish about any place on Lenten Fridays and Good Friday will be huge for this.

To all here

Wishing you a blessed Christmas. Be safe.

The Hardest Time of the Year

At this moment in time, I get over-wrought trying to get Christmas presents bought, wrapped and delivered. I never seem to feel anything has gone right and it's exhausting. I long for a time when we could just celebrate Christmas with church services and beautiful surroundings. Not the mad dash to get present after present. It's so hard, especially when looking for things to give to friends and relatives with no idea what would be great or thoughtful.

Just let me see the beautiful lights and carols and candles in church. All this rushing and worrying and buying and wrapping is just too much.

Toys to remember

Now this was a fun article. "What was the top holiday toy the year you were born?" I have to point out that the constant use of the word "holiday" for Christmas gets on my nerves and back in most years it was called Christmas toys. But in any event it was fun to scroll through the years to see when toys were popular at Christmas.

My year was Tonka Trucks. What is surprising is how long many of the still popular toys have been around.

Be aware this website is very annoying with moving ads, but really fun to check out.

Tiny Town Time

All of a sudden it's time to get our Christmas Tiny Town out into the yard. But first it is a matter of getting all the parts to the town out of the storage place and checking to see if any repairs are needed. But we did get all the lighted animals home and they are on the front porch waiting to go.