Back to the Grind

I haven't gotten a lick done to prepare for the new school year, my room's a mess, I haven't fetched my textbooks from the second floor we've sat in meeting after meeting with most of the information not pertaining to us or receiving conflicting information. We're on day three of pre-planning and I'm happier than a dead hog in the sunshine. For the past two nights I've actually yawned while I was getting ready for bed. Yawned and stretched! It feels so good to be mentally drained by the end of the day as opposed to emotionally and physically. Tomorrow is open house - Wanna take bets on how many students haven't yet done their summer reading?

Man, I love being back at work. It makes me appreciate everything from my family to my garden just that much more. This guy welcomed me home yesterday. I don't know if he's a good guy or a bad guy, but he was beautiful and hung around for quite a long time.
This pal's on my tomatoes on the side yard.

The basil in the other corner yard never really branched much and the stems are turning woody. The basil over here is going gang busters. It's interesting how the same plants do so differently in different parts of the garden - even though they get the same amount of sun. Very cool.

Harvests have been good. Monday before I went to school I picked all of this from the garden and put it in the work room. Tuesday I made a flat egg pie for a meeting. That's Quiche in lay terms. The boy likes hard boiled eggs and the girl likes scrambled or as she calls them 'flat eggs' as opposed to the boy's round eggs, so this was, according to her, a flat egg pie. I put some of the dehydrated tomatoes in it. Very yummy.

This is today's harvest. Tomatoes just keep on coming!

The men were here today to start to build the deck around the pool. It will be nice not to use the shakey ladder anymore. The kids had a blast jumping off the deck tonight. Do you comprehend how completely unacceptable it is for kids to see a pool and not be able to jump in it?

The most awesome thing about construction is there's always a ton of wood left over!!

The guys are leaving it for me. They're small boards, but I can stack them. I have so many beds that are just falling apart and instead of continuing to struggle with them, I'm just going to rebuild them with this material here. Very nice not to have to go out and buy additional wood.

Summer is flexing her muscles; she's grueling and intimidating and one mean, interminable season. We've got football players and coaches dropping out all over the state. Two players and one coach have already died this summer from heat related complications. It's just terrible. Walking outside is akin to taking on a blast furnace while hog tied. Your breath is honestly sucked from your body and you feel the pressure of the humidity in your chest. Parks are empty and tempers are short. Hopefully after this month things will improve. Although, Thomas did make me think when he mentioned the unrelenting darkness of the winters up north. We've all got something. If we have to have one bad season regardless of where we live - I vote we all move to Fiji.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.