State of the Yard

I could talk about Guitargate,  but since I promised yesterday not to go there- politics being, as Steve Stills once famously said, "bullshit"- I decided this morning to go beyond any of that and try a simple little stream of consciousness experiment.

There's a flock of ducks somewhere down Stevens Creek that's making a little ruckus. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether that's the ducks or the crows, but they make morning aware- slumbering lumbering human critters aren't the only ones up & about. Kili (the cat) comes through making no noise at all, nothing but his chirruping purr, asking for a cup of milk. Two cups of coffee into it maybe the chill will be taken off the morning air.

Carolyn scored a huge pile- two large salad bowls full- of tomatoes yesterday from a yard she caretakes. 

Man there likes to grow vegetables for the looks of it, won't touch them himself. What's the point in that? I ask "Looking good" she says. Today we plan on rendering the entire batch into tomato sauce- bagged and frozen that ought to see us through to the end of the year...

Meanwhile, in my own garden, looks like I am going to get at least one nice eggplant- cold nights caused blossom drop all through  June and July, there could be a couple more on the way, but at least four got shot down before they had the chance. Lots of peppers, in fact a couple so heavy hanging on the bush their weight broke the branch they hung on! Four Hungarian Waxes got picked on the weekend, they went into a jar with some special pickling spices, ought to be nice and tangy and edible in a few more weeks. Jalapenos coming in quite thick. I also have Big Jims and California Wonders, but the CW's are rather embryonic compared to the rest of the bunch.

Lots of tomatoes, the Yellow Boys being the best looking, the Romas being the most numerous. I happen to like them a little on the tart side so a lot might not make it to full on ripe, but since we scored all this tomato sauce they'll all go to salads instead. One Beefsteak plant dong so horrible- I picked the absolute worst spot to place it apparently, plus with the cold nights this year, all it wants to do is pump out one single teeny fruit (so far). A lot of lost energy in the plant, went all to the foliage, five feet tall and one little struggler about the size of a thumbnail.

None the less, just having a little spot to grow your own food is a triumph in a society that- like Carolyn's friend- seems to think food all comes from a supermarket  and not from out of the ground. I appreciate this opportunity to get my hands dirty & take the bounty of the land- for who knows whether or not next year might bring the same chances!

So... being inclined to count my blessings at least a couple things to be grateful about & that's about all I got to say for the time being...