Hot

For two days straight, our air conditioners A-coil froze up in the afternoon and the A/C stopped cooling.  Cliff cleaned the filter the first time it happened, turned off the air while leaving the fan on for a while, and soon  the A-coil was thawed and we had a cool house.  We've only had air conditioning for three years, so we are novices; but thanks to Google, we found out what to do.  
Saturday when it stopped working again, Cliff's brother was here, and he pointed out a little round thing (possibly another filter of some kind?) that was heavily clogged with dirt.  Cliff cleaned that, and yesterday, our hottest day yet, the air conditioner did not fail us.  So perhaps that was the only problem.  
Late in the summer last year, I planted some garlic.  The little plants grew well, then I put straw over them for the winter.  This spring they started growing again, and yesterday I decided to harvest my garlic, since the tops were pretty much dead.  I just tossed all ten huge bulbs over to the grass beside the garden so they could dry out a little; I picked up the largest one to show Cliff, and it ended up in the house.  I also tossed a few onions onto the pile of garlic bulbs.  Later in the afternoon Cliff decided to mow, since the grass was finally dry from a heavy dew.  I was out near his shop when I noticed a strong smell of onion and realized the mower had gone over my treasured, giant garlic bulbs and the onions I had pulled.  I can't blame Cliff; How was he to know that the pile of onions and garlic wasn't some reject, rotted stuff.  I'm always tossing a too-large zucchini or a rotten onion to the side like that.  At least I have plenty of onions, so those were no great loss.  But my record-sized garlic is a thing of the past.  
I froze four containers of sweet corn yesterday, as well as a couple of bags of blanched carrots for future use in stews or glazed carrots.  I also chopped a quart of my wounded onions for the freezer.  So my day was productive.  I tried making a dish called Kielbasa and cabbage for dinner, but it wasn't the best dish I've ever tried.  
I have the best carrot crop I've seen in years, so I'll probably be freezing more of them.  I'm pretty sure there are green beans ready out there to pick.  So far I haven't seen a single red tomato.  We had a very cool spring, and the new garden is shaded in the late afternoon and evening.  Perhaps that's my problem.  
Cliff's Kansas brother and his three sons all have motorcycles now, and they planned to ride together to our place.  My daughter figured to turn it into a small retirement party and invited Cliff's older brother and his wife, also.  
So son-in-law Kevin grilled, as usual, and there was enough food for an army. 

Some of Rachel's co-workers assisted her in making a sign, which Cliff helped her hang up; and we had a nice little family gathering.  You can see my dog obsessing on her shadow, as she has a habit of doing.  We don't have to buy her toys as long as she can chase her shadow.  


Had we started planning a couple of months ago, we could have had lots of people here, because Cliff is pretty darned popular; when he turned fifty, I rented a hall and had a birthday party for him.  There was a great turnout.  These days I am just not up to sending invitations and hosting large crowds, especially when it involves making mass quantities of desserts that Cliff and I don't need.    

Cliff sat on every motorcycle that was here.  This one belongs to his Kansas brother, Don.  

Here you see Don's three boys.  

There's always a Harley in the crowd.  

Cliff's brothers, Donald and Phil.  Donald is younger than Cliff, Phil is the oldest brother.  Somehow he always manages to look like the youngest of the bunch, though.  Clean living must be the cause. 

  Here's a better shot.  That other one doesn't do justice to Phil.

Grandson Arick, his girl friend Heather, and nephew Scotty (I owe him and his son some dessert at some future date).