Early August Update

First, some Liam-isms from the last couple days:

While the kids are coming into the bedroom in the morning to get clothes: "I can't put on any underwear, I'm wearing a diaper, dammit"

To Raelin and me: "you're not little enough to pee in your pants, but I is"

Anyhow, Kelly returned today from a 5 day trip out west to see some pals. Gotta love those jetBlue free flights ;) It's the longest she's been away from the kiddos, so a big jump for all of us, especially little Liam. I took vacation time from work and we had a blast. Hit the free day at the Lobstah festival, got rained out of getting a hot dog from any of the stands, finished out R's swimming lessons, helped a buddy install a set of French doors in our dining room, spent a bunch of time in the garden, and got a good start on the year's blueberries ;)

From the garden specifically I picked a wheelbarrow load (literally!!!) of cukes, and that wasn't even all of them from the first of 3 rows. Also picked about 3 gallons of string beans and a generous bag of chard. Lots of all of it still out there. The tomato jungle is starting to get ripe as well, the late strawberries are set, and the squashes and melons are all on the vines or heavy with blossoms. Potatoes are all strong though one row is battling (and thus we're in there, too) potato bugs. Gross little things, especially the bigger ones that you can really feel pop between your fingers.

Lots of toads have been spotted out in the garden, as well as predatory insects. Hopefully they're all out there eating their fill.

On the berry front, my goal for this year is to have 12 gallons in the freezer and then dole out a gallon for each month. A gallon of berries is roughly 5 pounds worth. The only drag is that this year all the berries we have access to were sprayed, so I have to wait until I get back to the house and wash them to eat more than one or two. Also means the kids have to stay home, though that's not so bad as it's a longish walk to the fields and picking with them is less about actually picking and more about doing something together. No, when I pick berries, I pick berries. Barefoot and silent. The fields are far from the roads and in the middle of dense woods so there's no road noise and lots of birds calling. Even heard a grouse drumming the other day, which took me a bit by surprise.

So the garden's humming along, the house is slowly getting things done to it, the shed->office is still utterly stalled out (though not for long), and summer here continues to be a dreamy time...

Anyhoo, signing off for now, don't pee in your pants.