This is as far as my garden has gotten so far; there's a mixture of plants on the left that includes broccoli and cabbage. On the right are my tomatoes. Above those trays you get a glimpse of the seed potatoes I've cut up so the pieces can "heal over" before I plant them. There are Yukon Gold and Kennebec potatoes. I'd love to be able to plant some of them on St. Patrick's Day.
Cliff hasn't been able to plow my garden due to frequent rains. We have sandy soil that drains quickly, and if only we could get three days straight with no rain, plowing would be possible.
Meanwhile, I move those two trays of seedlings to the east bedroom before I go to bed, where they'll get plenty of morning sun. Once Cliff is awake each day, I move them next to the two windows in my bedroom, which face south. So far, that's the extent of my gardening this year.
For over a year, Cliff has worked a four-day workweek. He works from 3:30 P.M. till 2:00 A.M. He sleeps until 10 o'clock each morning, takes about an hour to wake up, and then we take our walk. And then it's time for me to make lunch. By the time we eat, it's time for Cliff to get ready for work.
The upside of this schedule is that we get three-day weekends, which would be great for trips to St. Louis or Arkansas on the motorcycle. Except that for the past year, it rains on weekends, EVERY cotton-picking weekend; riding a motorcycle in the rain is not only no fun, but it's dangerous. Still, Cliff gets three-day weekends. He can work on his tractor project. Unless it involves painting, because it rains, most weekends. You can't paint when the humidity is high.
From the time Cliff's place of employment started allowing the four-day workweek, it was voluntary. Some of those volunteers work Monday through Thursday, others work Tuesday through Friday. Many people who tried the four-day week didn't like it, and went back to five eight-hour days. So now, on Monday nights and Friday nights, there are only three people working for those two hours after midnight. Obviously this doesn't make a lot of economic sense for the company.
Cliff has a feeling the four-day, forty-hour week could very well become a thing of the past.
Both of us have mixed feelings.
Yes, the three-day weekends are nice. But the four days Cliff works, there's no time for anything except sleeping, eating, and his going to work. There's precious little time for a motorcycle ride before work.
I'm a morning person. If I'm going to do any housework, I'd prefer to do it early. But Cliff's in bed until 10 o'clock, so I can't run the vacuum; I can't do laundry (the washing machine is near the bedroom). Then he gets up and I fix breakfast and sit and watch the news with him.
Even Cliff agrees that if he's forced to go back to working five eight-hour days (evenings, I should say), it wouldn't break his heart.
Whatever happens, we'll deal with it.
