This & That

I think this goes along with getting older but I feel like I’ve been so busy but then I sit down to write about the last few days and . . what did I do that I can share? NOTHING interesting.

First . . the weather! I am so tired of the heat and the lack of rain. I don’t remember the last time we got rain. I think it’s been at least two months. The grass is brown and crunchy. Anything we aren’t watering looks totally dead and it’s even hard to keep things looking good with watering them every other day.

I am finally getting some squash. You may remember that I have battled squash bugs and squash vine borers. I’ve planted and re-planted several types of squash at least three times, fourth counting what I have now. The squash bugs destroyed the cucumbers, the pumpkins and the winter squash. I kept planting because other gardeners kept telling me “plant late” because the squash bugs will go away. They may but they haven’t yet! I go out several times a day and squash all the bugs I can find. Every other night I spray the four plants down with Neem oil.

So far, there are two yellow squash and two zucchini plants and they are doing fine. I have picked both yellow squash and zucchini. I’m not even sure it’s the squash I wanted so badly or just that I wanted to know I could win this battle with the bugs.

I have about half of the tomatoes pulled out, the soil dumped from the grow bags and the area weeded. I’ll be glad when that chore is over.

Vince loves ham and navy beans so yesterday I bought a ham with a bone in it, cut the meat off and am leaving the bone simmering in the roaster overnight. Tomorrow I’ll can quarts of ham and beans. During the winter we can open a jar of ham and beans and have a sandwich for a quick dinner.

On the cross stitching front, I am now working on Love is the Key by Teresa Kogut. I think I have finished the vine, stems and leaves on the bottom border. I still have flowers to add. There’s text that goes above the bottom border. I’m currently working on the pot the big center flower is sitting in. There’s a lot of stitching left to be done. Slim chance . . probably zero chance . . I’ll get this finished before the end of the month.

The plan was to put this aside at the end of the month and get back to working on Farmhouse Christmas and stick with it til it’s done.

This is what I have done. I’m going to stitch the sixth and ninth blocks and then finish the outer border. Then I can order a frame and have that ready so when I do get it finished, I can frame it and hopefully enjoy it for this year’s Christmas season.