Tuesday

Well I was awake and ready to roll at 6:30 but Nancy convinced me to stay in bed until after 7:30 so I gave it a try until 7 then I had to get up. You would think being retired I would want to sleep in but that's not the case as I need less sleep now that I'm older, anyhow it was a beautiful morning with temps near 70. There was a heavy dew once again and I could hear it dripping from the roof. After our quiet times we had a delicious breakfast of cinnamon bread(Mennonite bread) dipped in egg and fried, my oh my was that the best ever.

I had promised an old friend from church I would come by his old dairy farm(he retired and sold his milkers) and collect some old cow manure for my garden. Well we loaded up about 8-5 gallon buckets plus 6 sacks of the dried stuff, wow was that ever cured and I could just see plants growing before my eyes once I spread this in the veggie and flower gardens. Many thanks to Clayton as he knew I was a avid gardener. We were close to Eddie and Kimberley's farm so we stopped by and played with the orphaned colt and she gave me some peonies she was wanting to move from one of her flower beds. It was getting close to lunchtime so we headed for the cabin.

Nancy was putting together a fresh salad and I added to it some fresh arugula and nasturtiums leaves and flowers, wow do those ingredients add much flavor but Nancy isn't fond of any of them. After lunch I dug up a new bed for the peonies and planted them then got ready to mow the yards. It took me about 2 hours and wow was the sun ever bright making it definitely a straw hat occasion. Luckily I now have the riding mower thanks to Mike and Dee.

Well after mowing I headed to the lower garden which was by now in the shade so I loosened the dirt around all of the plants except for the potato's as they are starting to finally bloom. I cut 3 heads of cabbage as the slugs are starting to have over night feasts on them and have just 2 more heads growing. I slawed one for supper to go along with our fried fish and 1/2 runner beans. Yumm what a supper and complimented with some home grown sliced cucumbers. After the clean up we headed out on our hike to the top of the mountain. We stopped and visited with Joe and Jetta and she blessed us with a mess of fresh picked 1/2 runners from her garden and a small loaf of homemade bread. She makes awesome bread as we found out last year. We headed for the cabin and decided to call it a day. I had a call from oldest sister, Josie that middle sister Pat and Keith were down to visit with Paw Paw today and he seems to be progressing but at a slower pace than he wanted. Seems he will be there a few more days as there are a few minor problems which will require daily monitoring of his lungs and kidneys.

Well I picked another dozen spoon tomato's today and probably could have added a couple more to them in the soup spoon, yikes are they tiny. Well the Ray's are having a tough road trip as they are in California, maybe its a good thing they don't start play until 10 PM so I don't see the results before bed time. Tomorrow we are going to Galax and taking Helen and brother Joe along as we dine out then head to Lowes and finally Wal-Mart, LATER