Always lots to do

8/10/08 Sunday
First I should fill in the gaps of the last few days in this journal. Friday night I wasn’t able to sleep, my mind just wouldn’t turn off. I took one of Cherie’s over the counter sleep aids with no effect so about 2:30 in the morning I poured a glass of milk hoping that would help. Nope, not at all. I should have gotten this laptop out because what my mind was doing was writing in my head. I was designing a handout for Westbrook Farms to take to the farmer’s market. That’s just one of the things on my long list of what I should do and haven’t gotten to. It’s something I determined to do three months ago and haven’t even started. Also I want to design the company logo. Basically that will be the name “Westbrook Farms” with the two o’s being intertwined hearts and underneath it will say “The farm love is building”. It’s simple enough. All I have to do is draw the intertwined hearts, scan it into this laptop, tweak it on Publisher or MS Word (I think Word has a better program for that), and insert it. Actually, all I have to do is get off my ass and do it. There were all kinds of other things running through my head but I don’t remember them now. The last time I remember seeing on the clock was 3:30 and I was still wide awake. So I didn’t get much sleep at all.

The farmer’s market had some interesting moments. Our blackeyed pea plants are reaching the end of their life and not producing as much so that sold out quick. I have needed to plant another batch for weeks now but, like everything else, haven’t gotten to it. There were at least two people who came to the market just to meet me. They both read the blog, one of them my “What about Bob” blog, which gets into some political stuff. The other guy had a good sized dog on a leash and came straight up to me, held out his hand, and as he shook mine said “My name is ???? (can’t remember) and I’ve been wanting to meet you”, or something like that. He reads the blog a lot so could talk about things going on with us knowledgeably. It always amazes me to meet someone who reads the blog. I mean, I know many do but the fact that our lives are that interesting to others…I don’t know what it is or how to put it but it feels good that someone wants to meet us and likes us.

I was doing well that morning so was able to socialize freely and that helped. A young lady came by with her two friends and because I was comfortable and talkative I regaled her with the “Story” of how Cherie and I got back together. Come to find out she is a reporter for the paper and was there to do an article on the farmer’s market. Upon hearing our story she expressed interest in doing an article on us. This kind of thing makes me wonder. I don’t go out and seek this kind of exposure but it comes. I again wonder about an outside hand putting these things together, if God has a purpose in this, a plan of some type that has been orchestrated and is being put together since the accident, or maybe even before it. And I’m a mess, go figure. Why me? What can I offer when I’m plagued with doubts and problems? Only time can tell.

I will probably have to buy a new water pump for our evaporative air conditioner. The existing one has frozen up a few times and doesn’t pump well now. Yesterday was a hot miserable day and last night wasn’t too fun either. My pillow was soaked with sweat again this morning. But it’s been humid so the evaporative air doesn’t work good in this type of weather anyway, but it does cool the air down some.

Today will be another hot day. By the time we got home yesterday it was well into the nineties so I didn’t get much done outside. As much as I hate to we are going to skip church so I can get badly needed work done on the farm/garden before it gets too hot. A big part of that, a vital part, is getting fall crops planted.

I found a new organic insecticide online that I want to get. It’s actually been out for five years but still isn’t well known. It’s called spinosad. I’ll have to research the different names it is marketed under and figure out where I can get it. What I like is that it works quicker that the Dipple dust, which has B.T. (Bacillus Thuringiensis), and won’t harm the good insects like honey bees and lady bugs. It also lasts a lot longer, killing bugs up to thirty days after application, versus the three or four days for B.T., which washes off with rain also. Not that we have to worry about rain around here. Haven’t seen much of that this year at all. It’s big time drought in these parts.

So if I’m gonna skip church to get work done before it gets hot I’d better get off this computer and get out there.
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It’s noon already. The morning seemed to fly by and I was surprised to see how late it was when I came in to get something to drink. It got hot fast. Fortunately the air conditioner is working well, I think that is due to the humidity being low. Things seem to be going awfully slow regarding what I’ve accomplished. Still have lots of watering to do. Yesterday I found that I had left the water to the soaker hose on one plot on all night and all day. That’s not good but unfortunately not that unusual for me. I try to check all the water faucets every night before I go to bed but often forget or seem to remember I did so when I didn’t. I can’t rely on this memory and must double check myself.

I got to thinking about what I wrote earlier regarding this unseen hand that is on our lives. Ever since I woke from the coma things have been happening and after eight years it’s hard to attribute it to coincidence. Don’t get me wrong, there have been lots of bad and unpleasant things happen but even they can serve a purpose, at least I think so. Anyway, Matt came up to us at the farmer’s market and asked “Do you guys need a refrigerator? I’ve got one I don’t use and when I looked at it I thought of you. Could you use it?”. Little did Matt know that our refrigerator has been on it’s last legs for as long as we’ve been here. The thermostat is bad and despite being turned down as warm as it can go it still freezes things. We’ve had pops blow up and lost melons and things that turn mushy after freezing. So we need a fridge and, without saying a word to anyone, one is provided. It amazes me how, when we need something I sometimes find it at the landfill. I didn’t mention it but a couple of weeks ago I found two really nice ceiling fans at the landfill. It’s not a need but we had looked at them in the store and they would be nice to have. Did God provide it? Beats me but they sure are nice.

I’m rested up and cooled off, had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch so it’s time to get back out there.