Getting ahead of the game....for once

Because of the high winds and the storms we've had, a friend of a friend offered to let us come over and cut up a tree that fell over at their house. We said yes please, and made arrangements to go over today and start cutting and loading. Dear Hubby got called into work this morning for an emergency meeting. It's his day off, but he went in anyway. He got home around one, we had lunch, got directions and headed out about 2. About 20 minutes into the cutting we decided that cutting firewood in the middle of the afternoon in Texas in June was not the wisest thing to do. It was a little warm. Well, quite warm. 97 degrees warm. But we were there, spent money on gas to get there and made the best of a hot situation. We got almost a whole truck load cut before the chainsaw got too hot and we had to quit. But honestly, we were pretty glad about the whole thing. The deal when we get firewood is he cuts, I load. So, once he stops cutting, I can stop loading. We only got about a fifth of the tree cut, maybe not even that much. The trunk is massive. The owners told us that the other two trees that were in that particular stand will be coming down soon as well, so they hired someone to cut them down, but are giving us that wood too. It should be enough for the whole winter and then some. Never been this prepared before! We'll rent a splitter and get it all stacked and seasoned before the cold hits in December. Now that's a good feeling.

My sister in law asked if I'd gotten batteries for the camera yet. Uhhh, well, see...basically what happened was...OH, ALRIGHT! I'll spring for the batteries tomorrow and get some pictures of the chicks and the garden and other stuff up.

Big news for the day: I picked my first tomato this morning. It was even ready for me to pick it! Of course, I can't eat it yet because I have to take a picture...see above paragraph. I also ate the first green bean today. And I harvested some Passion Flower vine leaves to dry and make tea out of. It's has purported anti-anxiety powers, and I have lots of Passion Flower vines. And lots of anxieties. Rule of thumb is to only harvest one third of a plants leaves and then thank the mother plant for her kindness and generosity.

I harvested all my garlic the other day and it's in a basket on the front porch curing. Definitely enough for a year. Pulled, braided and hung some onions today. There's still a lot out there, but I wanted to get some done before we go on vacation.

I worked on my parent's 50th Anniversary quilt today. My sister printed all the photos for me and I got them back last night, so they're all cut down and ready to be pieced into the blocks. I'm running against the clock at this point, so I'll be busting my butt the week after vacation to get it done. It's to be presented at their party on the 28th...of this month. Yikes. I'll have 5 days after we get home to get it finished. No problem...I have a daughter to do my chores and really, they can feed themselves.....


I guess that's it for today. It's been a full day, but a good day.

Be well,

deb