Carry on then

Summer is clicking right along here in the hills. The brother-in-law and family arrive tomorrow from Austria to stay for I don't know how long, Amy's getting married tomorrow, and all of a sudden we're halfway into July.

The weather's been a bit odd lately. For about two weeks, it was really humid and stormy; we would have a thunderstorm every day, and crazy torrential rains. I called it Monsoon Season. But that pattern seems to have settled into a climate of moderate daytime temperatures, sun, and coolish nights. I'm sure that will change - this weekend's supposed to be hot as hades - but for now the sleeping is good so I'm not complaining.

I have several minor dramas on the go, as per usual:

My cat was getting into a lot of fights with something (?a stray male cat was hanging around - could be him?) about two weeks ago, and required a trip to the vet and antibiotics for his rather dramatic injuries (his legs were all slashed up). He's bounced back and healed up, but he seems lethargic and reluctant to stay outside. Although last night he wouldn't come in, but whatever. He sleeps all day and this morning didn't want to eat. I'm keeping a close eye on him but I'm very worried; I'm hoping it's a hairball or something innocent. He was eating up to this morning, but today he seems under the weather.

I have a nasty case of cucumber beetles, which is terrible because I'm growing cucumbers, butternut squash, zucchinis, and patty pan squash this summer. When the garden was planted up, i thought "wow that's too much squash, hope it's all ok" but now I'm starting to see damage, and I've lost a zucchini plant. If anyone has any great natural remedies for cucumber beetles I'd really appreciate it, I'm tired of going out there and manually squashing them all. They're sneaky little buggers and they run away from me.

We got a new refrigerator and now I'm obsessed with making it look bountiful rather than full of crap. When we cleared out the old one, here's a basic list of what we discovered:

- 3 jars of cocktail sauce
- 4 or 5 old homemade vinaigrettes
- 2 jars of pickles
- 3 jars of hot pickled peppers
- 3 jars of cocktail onions (who even eats those? I guess I do)
- 2 identical squeeze bottles of mustard
- 2 bottles of ketchup
- 3 kinds of fish sauce
- 4 jars of jam containing less than a tablespoon each
- fudge sauce that is exactly 4 years old
- jerk sauce from I don't know when

So you see, the fridge is pretty darn empty now. I am working slowly at filling it up with good things, gourmet ingredients and lovely treats for when my guests arrive. I want to open the fridge and be blown away by the cornucopia of fresh vegetables and chichipoopoo delicacies, while at the same time being reassured by the good old dairy standbys - fresh milk, cream and eggs, plain yoghurt, and a big hunk of butter.

See? It's not easy to live with me.

Aside from the cucumber beetles the veggie garden is doing well. In fact, all of the gardens are doing wonderfully - I should be posting pictures but I'm too damn busy doing yard maintenance. The only veggie garden failures, besides what I lost to the cucumber beetles (damn them!) are the eggplants (tiny, won't produce this year I don't think) and the basil that I started from seed. Oh, also I have one cherry tomato plant in a galvanized tub that has practically no leaves, only fruit. Why is that? Anyway, I have also had a few garden surprises. Coriander has sprung up everywhere, which is terrific because we eat a lot of it. I'm letting some plants go to seed, so it'll be back next year. I have one cucumber/squash mystery plant growing in a container of flowers by my shed, i have no idea what it is or how it got there, but I can't wait to find out.

Other dramas: I have discovered what's wrong with my plum tree. I'd previously thought that it was just too damn old, but now I see that I have a case of Plum Curculio, and this year is a wipeout. Which is too bad, because when we picked up all of the bad plums to throw them away, I realized that we would have had approximately 200 plums if it had all worked out. That was motivation to take drastic measures next year to try to ensure some kind of successful harvest.

Also, I have some kind of animal living in the woods beyond my veggie garden. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is I hope it's something that doesn't: A) fight with cats or B)eat my garden. I also saw a groundhog on the lawn the other day, but I'm hoping the cats will chase it away peacefully and without gore or tragedy.

Phew. I should write more often to keep the size of my posts down to a reasonable level.

Wish me luck this week with the in-laws....