Whenever I'm away from blogging for a significant length of time I find it difficult to re-engage. Generally this is due to the number of things that have taken place since my last entry that I think people would find interesting or at least entertaining. I am continually overwhelmed with material.
I also feel some self-generated, frustrating, suffocating pressure to write a novel once I've returned to the world of blogdom. Whether this is due to a supposed need to properly update what few readers I may have out there who actually give a flip or perhaps some form of self-imposed penance, I do not know. What I do know is that I find myself puzzling over this blog for a number of days before jumping back in.
So, here I is again. Puzzled, overwhelmed with material, and ravaged by guilt.
A crazy amount of things have taken place since May. I can not and will not attempt to cover them all. Suffice it to say that it is nice to again enter a season of breathing in and out.
The weather this year has been a rollercoaster ride of high heat and humidity for a few days and then down to clear, cool, near fall-like days, leading back up to the heat and humidity. We're moving back up the track again today, leading to a peak tomorrow of 95 degrees F, and very high humidity. In short, a typically unpredictable Wisconsin summer.
We got rid of our window air conditioners two years ago. We have survived up to this point by opening the windows up at night to cool down the house, and then shutting everything up in the morning to retain what cool air we were able to lure in. It works remarkably well for the most part. However, 95 degree days brutally test my resolve.
One of our reasons for doing away with the A/C was the realization that we became lumps in the house on hot summer days. The coolness of the air conditioners, the soothing hum they create, and the darkness created by the window shades make perfect, though artificial, napping weather. Once prodded (either by guilt or a disgruntled spouse) to go out the door and actually get something done, the sudden blast of furnace-like air would send me whimpering back into our cool sanctuary in search of mercy and understanding.
We have discovered our productivity has increased dramatically since leaving the window units in storage. As an added benefit, our summer electricity bills have decreased dramatically as well.
You learn rather quickly to properly prepare when extreme heat is forecasted and you live without A/C. Pasta salads are made and stored in the refrigerator. Bread and lunch meats are inventoried and resupplied if necessary. Lectures are repeated to little ears (and not so little ears) about the need for keeping doors shut, unnecessary lights off, eating foods that are either cold or microwavable, showers to be taken at night and then only after parental approval, and bedroom fans blowing out during the day and blowing in at night.
Outdoor work is done in the cool of the morning or after the sun goes down. This morning I weeded, mulched and watered some of the remaining tomato plants that I transplanted from their seed trays last evening. These plants were the "replacements" for anything that did not make it in the garden thus far. Fortunately most our original tomato plants survived the move to their permanent beds, leaving us with many extras.
I have about a dozen more plants to go which will find a home in the remaining open raised bed. I would have liked to have transplanted them this morning, but after soaking through my second T-shirt, I decided to call it a morning and headed for shade. Besides, plants respond better to transplanting when it is done in the evening rather than in the hot, mid-day sun.
The big garden related mystery this year is our sweet corn. More specifically, the lack thereof. I tilled a large area behind the barn in early May. It's nice and flat with plenty of sunlight and well fertilized soil. Lisa put in a few rows and later the kids and I planted about a dozen more (each approximately 20 feet long). I've yet to find anything growing but weeds and a single stalk in the area that Lisa had planted.
The seeds were not leftovers from previous years, but purchased this spring We planted well after the last frost and have had plenty of rain to soak the seeds. Still, nothing.
I considered the possibility of raccoons digging up the seeds as there are plenty of coons around here and they are crazy about corn. Yet there isn't even a hint of any soil having been disturbed. Even if some had been dug up, the odds of losing every one of them are astronomical. Further still, they've discovered our grain bags in the machine shed and have had loads of fun feasting on grain.
We also have plenty of rabbits. I nearly ran over some bunnies while mowing to clear the area and unearthed their nest. But again, the odds of them getting all the plants are unlikely and even if they had there's usually some sort of evidence such as partially chewed stalks.
And so the mystery continues...
I also feel some self-generated, frustrating, suffocating pressure to write a novel once I've returned to the world of blogdom. Whether this is due to a supposed need to properly update what few readers I may have out there who actually give a flip or perhaps some form of self-imposed penance, I do not know. What I do know is that I find myself puzzling over this blog for a number of days before jumping back in.
So, here I is again. Puzzled, overwhelmed with material, and ravaged by guilt.
A crazy amount of things have taken place since May. I can not and will not attempt to cover them all. Suffice it to say that it is nice to again enter a season of breathing in and out.
The weather this year has been a rollercoaster ride of high heat and humidity for a few days and then down to clear, cool, near fall-like days, leading back up to the heat and humidity. We're moving back up the track again today, leading to a peak tomorrow of 95 degrees F, and very high humidity. In short, a typically unpredictable Wisconsin summer.
We got rid of our window air conditioners two years ago. We have survived up to this point by opening the windows up at night to cool down the house, and then shutting everything up in the morning to retain what cool air we were able to lure in. It works remarkably well for the most part. However, 95 degree days brutally test my resolve.
One of our reasons for doing away with the A/C was the realization that we became lumps in the house on hot summer days. The coolness of the air conditioners, the soothing hum they create, and the darkness created by the window shades make perfect, though artificial, napping weather. Once prodded (either by guilt or a disgruntled spouse) to go out the door and actually get something done, the sudden blast of furnace-like air would send me whimpering back into our cool sanctuary in search of mercy and understanding.
We have discovered our productivity has increased dramatically since leaving the window units in storage. As an added benefit, our summer electricity bills have decreased dramatically as well.
You learn rather quickly to properly prepare when extreme heat is forecasted and you live without A/C. Pasta salads are made and stored in the refrigerator. Bread and lunch meats are inventoried and resupplied if necessary. Lectures are repeated to little ears (and not so little ears) about the need for keeping doors shut, unnecessary lights off, eating foods that are either cold or microwavable, showers to be taken at night and then only after parental approval, and bedroom fans blowing out during the day and blowing in at night.
Outdoor work is done in the cool of the morning or after the sun goes down. This morning I weeded, mulched and watered some of the remaining tomato plants that I transplanted from their seed trays last evening. These plants were the "replacements" for anything that did not make it in the garden thus far. Fortunately most our original tomato plants survived the move to their permanent beds, leaving us with many extras.
I have about a dozen more plants to go which will find a home in the remaining open raised bed. I would have liked to have transplanted them this morning, but after soaking through my second T-shirt, I decided to call it a morning and headed for shade. Besides, plants respond better to transplanting when it is done in the evening rather than in the hot, mid-day sun.
The big garden related mystery this year is our sweet corn. More specifically, the lack thereof. I tilled a large area behind the barn in early May. It's nice and flat with plenty of sunlight and well fertilized soil. Lisa put in a few rows and later the kids and I planted about a dozen more (each approximately 20 feet long). I've yet to find anything growing but weeds and a single stalk in the area that Lisa had planted.
The seeds were not leftovers from previous years, but purchased this spring We planted well after the last frost and have had plenty of rain to soak the seeds. Still, nothing.
I considered the possibility of raccoons digging up the seeds as there are plenty of coons around here and they are crazy about corn. Yet there isn't even a hint of any soil having been disturbed. Even if some had been dug up, the odds of losing every one of them are astronomical. Further still, they've discovered our grain bags in the machine shed and have had loads of fun feasting on grain.
We also have plenty of rabbits. I nearly ran over some bunnies while mowing to clear the area and unearthed their nest. But again, the odds of them getting all the plants are unlikely and even if they had there's usually some sort of evidence such as partially chewed stalks.
And so the mystery continues...
