First of the hot days

5/19/08 Monday
This will be the first of four days predicted to be a hundred or more degrees. That will be hard on me and the garden, a real test of us both. Now is when having soaker hoses to water is the most important. Sam’s has fifty foot soaker hoses at almost half the price of Walmart or anyone else. They come in sets of two for eleven bucks. I picked up three sets total, the last two out of the income tax rebate check. That sure didn’t last long (the check that is). If I had the money I’d buy ten more sets and even that wouldn’t cover all the rows I’m growing. I also bought another hundred and twenty foot water hose and we found a deal at Sam’s on a four gallon sprayer that is a backpack model. The same quality unit, that looked exactly like it but had a different brand name, was a hundred ($99.95) bucks at Lowe’s. The one at Sam’s Club carried the “Stanley” name and was forty four dollars and some change. After killing my back with the one gallon spray unit we have (I found it tucked out of sight in a corner of the garage so it hadn’t been stolen) this sounded like a good investment. The one gallon unit works fine but it’s got a short wand. That means I have to stoop slightly to spray plants on the ground and that’s what hurts. With us growing professionally there will be a lot of spraying required so this will be a valuable tool.

I’ve been out working, which I love to do. I said a few months back that I would have to create my job because I can’t work at a normal job, and that is what I’ve done. Right now I’m in to lay down and let the back muscles relax and the pain to reside a little. It’s eleven so I can take the second pain pill of the day. I’m real careful about that. This is the second time I’ve come in. That’s about average for a morning for me but later it will be more often as the strain catches up.

But I’m rested so must head out again. Got to get as much done as I can before it gets to hot. Yesterday Cherie bought some plants for the front where I built the rock fence. I helped her get them planted, or maybe she helped me. I’ve got to run the burn barrel. The latest snake I killed is in there along with a huge rat that apparently drowned in the dog’s pool. They will both be stinking quickly in this heat. The rat was real fat so I’m sure it’s the one that stole a bunch of our seeds. Jen had given us a coffee can full of Indian Paintbrush seeds that just disappeared. We looked all over but can’t find it.