Friday, August 20, 2010

A Day No Beets Will Be Pickled

The above title makes me think of the book A Day No Pigs Will Die written by Robert Newton Peck. Have you read it? Wonderful book, just wonderful. Very appropriate for reading aloud to your kids, too.

But I digress. Back to this post.

Yep, canning pickled beets was on my list for today. But, hallelujah, we are getting some much needed rainfall. Okay, so I could put on rain gear and slosh out to the garden to harvest the beets, but life doesn't need to be any more challenging.

Oh, how we've longed for this rain. The garden has been so dry that I'm surprised it's done as well as it has. I did some weeding yesterday afternoon which proved to be next to impossible. (Wanna see my blister?)

Our small pond is fed only from run-off from the hills behind us, and we've been sadly watching the level of water go down day by day. If only this falling moisture would continue for a couple of days (dare we hope?).

Our deciduous trees (although we don't have many in these here parts) are already starting to turn color. But rather than giving us glimpses of orange or red, the leaves are turning a dusty yellow/tan. I'm thinking our dryness combined with intense heat this summer is causing funny things to happen.

If we get an all-day rain (which is forecast), it will be the perfect day for me to expend some serious effort toward unpacking the last of the items extracted from my old desk and fitting them into my new one. Not that it isn't due time for me to manage that task. It's been a week today that the new desk got set up.

Also would be a great day to cook/bake for the freezer. The only items finding their way into the freezer lately have been veggies from the garden. What about some cookies? Some what? C-O-O-K-I-E-S. You know, those roundish, yummy things that we haven't seen around here in an age?

The bank statement from July still hasn't been reconciled.

Or I could pull all the valances down from over the windows and wash and iron them. I'll bet that hasn't been done in . . . oh, a year or so? (Maybe it's longer since I have absolutely no recollection of doing it the last time.)

Let's face it, there are a myriad of inside housekeeping chores to do that have been ignored all summer.

Okay, so I'm sure I'm not going to have any trouble using my time on this blessed rainy day.

The first hurdle will be to walk away from this computer and get myself in gear.

13 comments:

Judy D in WA said...

Yeah for rain!! We don't have rain this morning but we have some serious cold! It's 45 degrees! Last week it was in the 90s, hoping to see 70 today.
I hope you get some rain watching time today to go along with your other projects.

Susan said...

It's a sad state of affairs when your inside list is as large as your outside list! The heck with the valances - I vote for COOKIES!

Mama Pea said...

Judy - Gosh, I thought our drop in temp to 55 deg. was cool. You've got us beat! Rain watching time is very soothing, isn't it?

Susan - I think the list of stuff "undone" inside goes hand in hand with all the outside stuff we need/try to squeeze into the summertime! What kind of cookies does your little heart desire this fine day?

Susan said...

My fat little heart desires something with no less than a pound of butter and three types of sugar. And chocolate. And raisins. Mmmmm and pecans. I'm feeling faint.

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Milk and cookies! And how about a good read? Just a bit of relaxing might be in order for your hard workin' hands!

Mama Pea said...

Apple Pie Gal - You gals are pushing me way too hard toward becoming a lazy ol' lump o' lard today! :o)

Erin said...

I'm inside, too... making sauce and freezing "stuff". That means pretty much anything laying around, so I wouldn't be surprised to open the freezer this winter and see shrink-wrapped Legos! I'm so tired of "stuff" all over the counter! I really would like to get outside since the sun came out, but the grass is really long and everything is still wet from 5 days of rain, yuck! Mosquito heaven! I bet it is going to be beautiful very soon up there (not that it isn't all the time) but fall is my absolute favorite season!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Fall is the best season! But I'm kinda worried this year because the summer has been so weird and the trees are starting to change early but with a different, strange coloration. Aw heck, it will probably turn out just gorgeous with no frost til October. (And wouldn't my squash plants love that!!)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the rain!! We need it here too. Hope you accomplish whatever you decided to do today inside, and enjoyed some time for yourself as well :)

Leigh said...

Hurray for rain! And hurray for cookies!

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie and Leigh - During our rainy day yesterday I did get a batch of cookies made and spent the rest of the day working on my new desk arrangement. I think that work on the desk took more out of me than a day's physical work in the garden!

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I thought of you when it rained, thinking of the mulch that the kids put around the apple trees for you. They were wondering about the level of your pond and how deep it would get :)

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Tell the kids that although we eagerly watched the water level in the pond after that rain, it didn't come up on whit. I think the ground has been so parched that any and all moisture was immediately soaked up in the soil. Darn.