monday's mountain musings

Yeah!! It is finals week once again and I will finally be done with my Eng. Comp. class. I must say that it was the absolute, stupidest class I have ever had the joy of taking in my entire  life, and I have taken a lot of classes. Hopefully the Eng. Comp.II class that I begin next week will go a little better than this one has.

 Summer is nearly gone now, but we are still having very warm days and no rain.The nights are cool and most of the color is beginning to fade.  Most of the summer crops are done producing and have been pulled out and the remainder are going for seed saving purposes.  My tiny tom's, paprika and mystery pepper are still thinking it is July,but, I had to pull the okra out of my misery yesterday. Most of it had begun falling over and looking pretty hideous so I harvested the small pods for food and cut the large ones to dry  to mix half and half with our coffee. The goats enjoyed the leaves and stems and I now have four beds to plant for fall and winter, if I so choose.

 The fall  crops are doing very well  with the exception of my onion starts. The heat and dry was just too much and I could not justify the hauling of water more often for them. The broccoli and cabbage are growing quite nicely and even the ones that got eaten on are looking like they will pull through.  The peas are climbing their poles and are so very pretty,  they are the prettiest shade of green  I have ever seen for fall plantings. The turnips, the ones I had to reseed, well ,I believe every seed planted has now sprouted. Boy, there are a lot of turnips growing. The critters will enjoy the greens and culled plantlings, so  I am not worried about any waste.  The rest of the greens, carrots, and fall herbs are coming along quite well which is almost surprising, since it is so dry. We will be eating spinach and lettuce in a week or so.

I think this weekend the manthing and I are going on vacation to our second home. It is time for a break from  my daily world and all its trappings. I think it is  the perfect time for a little get away to the mountains . The end of another block of classes, full, harvest moon Equinox. While we will most likely not be able to celebrate on the  appropriate days, it will suffice to have a couple few days away from home.. sorta... kinda... good thing its only  200 foot away as we have the critters to tend to still. 

While much of the color is beginning to fade, there are a few things still blooming , giving us some magnificent scenery.