Cooler weather is coming

I've had a productive and wonderful day, in spite of the heat.  The grandson recently gave us some roasts and steaks from the last cow he had butchered, since neither he nor his significant other like to cook.  Last night I got a chuck roast out of the freezer to thaw, and this morning I put in in the crock pot, so we had Sunday dinner on Thursday noon:  Roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, the last of last year's home-grown sweet corn from the freezer, and spinach fresh from the garden.  I messaged Arick (the oldest grandson) at work and told him he and Alex could come and warm up leftovers this evening; he said she is working late tonight.  She's a manager at Hooter's, so her hours are always changing; she may go to work at 8:30 in the morning, and the next day leave for work at 4:30 P.M.  Anyhow, I messaged her and told her to come and have some leftovers any time she wanted to; she was glad to oblige.  We really like her:  She's always pleasant and fun to talk to, and she loves to eat anything I make.  Grandson will be over when he's ready to eat this evening.  He's already home from work, but will wait until his girlfriend goes to work before he comes over.  He usually goes and works out in the evening, too. 

In the garden, the sweet potatoes are coming along.  I paid for a dozen plants, and the seller included two extra ones.  It looks like I'm going to have eleven living plants (knock wood).  That isn't bad, all things considered.

I found a packet of zinnia seeds this morning, so I tilled up a little spot in the corner of the garden area and intend to plant them tomorrow morning while it's cool.  They are saying there's a chance of rain tomorrow; I hope they're right.

I'll probably also pull up the radishes and spinach tomorrow.  Radishes are starting to go to seed, thanks to the hot weather, and the spinach won't be far behind them.  Then I can plant some other things in that space.  My Iris and peonies will soon be blooming, and after that, the day lilies.  The slow-poke hardy Hibiscus hasn't even come up yet!

Summertime already

Yes, it's warm and windy.  You won't hear me complaining at this point, although the ninety degree temperatures heading our way starting today marks the end of morel season, and probably the end of our radishes and spinach, both of which like cool weather.  As for morels, everyone around here had all the morels they wanted.  Those cool, cloudy days gave us a good long spell of mushroom-hunting.  The grandson gave me his last ones.  I'm experimenting with dehydrating them, since my oven has a "dehydrate" button.  It's a convection oven too, so the fans keep the air moving as they dry.  I'll use them to give soups a little of the morel taste.  We had spinach from the garden Saturday, and I'll probably pick some again tomorrow while the getting's good.  Once the radishes and spinach are out, I'll use those two rows for something else.

Cliff and the grandson mowed our yards, so I took a picture of our home sweet home while we were outside.

We had a nice weekend.  Our daughter, her husband, and her youngest daughter were here, so two of our great-grandchildren, Ivan and Amara, were here.  Cliff took them for a tractor ride, which they both love, although Ivan would have rather had his mom along.  My daughter got the cutest video of Amara leading all of us in an "orchestra" of kiddy instruments, but I guess there's no way to get it from Facebook to my blog.

The garden is prospering fairly well.  I can already see the tomato plants are happier with the warmer weather; they have started growing.  Oh, and my strawberries!  I can hardly wait.  There are blooms galore, and even some tiny green berries.

 

I'm out there pulling tiny weeds out of the patch every day.

My iris' are getting ready to bloom.  I transplanted some of them from the yard to my garden, since grass and weeds were overtaking them where they were before.

I recorded another song my parents taught me.  Eddy Arnold had a hit with the song in 1949, and that's probably about the year my parents were singing it around the house.  

At that time, the only rice I knew about was rice-and-raisins, which we had for breakfast once in awhile.  It was a favorite of mine.  So when I heard this song, I pictured people tossing pans or bowls of cooked rice and raisins at the bride.  Don't laugh; after all, I was only five years old.   

I had to look at some words with this one, because I only recalled the chorus.  I should sit in a different location when I record.  My glasses reflect the light, sitting here.  Not that it matters much to me.