With summer here in full force I find myself stuck in the house.... which really isn't fair. I want to be out on the deck but the mosquitoes are heavy enough to carry me off and that's saying something since my backside is pretty mighty these days. During the day the wind comes up and drives those mosquitoes off in the direction of who-knows-where-land. And if I try spinning out there then the current fibre wants to blow away from me too.
While I was away at Olds there was a mighty downpour. It rained and rained and rained so hard that in two day there was more rain than we had all of last year. The rivers were full, the ditches were full and soon the water was trying to go in places it doesn't normally go. Everything is green and beautiful this year, everything is growing well. But in Chetwynd, a town some 63 kilometres to the south of us, trains were derailed and roads were washed out and they were hit very hard indeed. Hudson's Hope almost got cut off completely. If it weren't for the diligence of one really good tractor operator who had his machine down on the banks of our wee creek building up the banks with rocks, the bridge would have been washed out for sure. The strange thing is that everything went back to normal fairly quickly after the rain stopped... but now the forecast is predicting another rainfall like the previous one. This morning the sky is blue with nary a cloud in sight. The farmers in the valley are starting to mow their hay. Rain right now is really a burden and not a good thing at all. Now we want sunshine to dry the hay that is already cut. Rain will just mean bad hay in the fall.
Sometimes I wonder if the weather will ever be right. Dry summers like last year are devastating. The grass hoppers thrive and while they don't bother you much when you are on the deck, they do decimate veggie gardens and hay fields.... and drought is never good for gardens. Then if you do get rain in the spring everything grows nicely but the mosquitoes are plentiful... and you had better hope the rain stops when it is time to cut hay because if the hay gets wet your animals still suffer through the winter with moldy hay. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth having a farm at all.
Teapot has weeded our carrots and beets but for some reason the beets are not doing as well as they should be. We didn't get the potatoes in at all... that will have to be for next year. I would be out there in the garden each and every day but I'm working on my 150 hour project and in a hurry to get it done, so I'm not being a farmer at all it seems.
Still, farming aside, you couldn't ask for a more pleasant summer. Teapot and I walk each evening a short walk to the highway and back on the trails through my beloved forest. A 2.6 kilometre walk and slowly I can feel that my ankle is strengthening. These are the delightful days of summer. There are strawberries to be picked and eaten, and hopefully with all this rain the blueberries will do well this year. We might not have potatoes in the fall but we will have carrots and some beets. And if all goes as well as I hope, the animals will be well taken care of this year too.
Yes, absolutely delightful.
I'm off to spin a little cashmere/silk/wool for that blasted 150 hour project. I'm so close to being done I can almost taste it. And guess what... I'm going to try doing it on the deck! Mosquitoes here I come...
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