Summer Time

It's HOT around my neck of the woods this year. My garden is done; I ripped out the tomato plants a few weeks ago. The rainy season started and the tomatoes just don't like all that water. Some is good, a lot makes the tomatoes swell and split, then they are just gross. There are 3 collard plants and a sad little basil plant left and those are all going to get pulled out very shortly. During the down time before the fall season starts up I want to expand the planting bed so that I have a new location for the tomatoes. (They are on a 3 year rotation, which is following guidelines I've read about on-line. Until I expand I only have 2 locations for them.) I also want to install proper raised bed borders instead of the makeshift borders we have now. (DH, this would make a great birthday present, hinthinthint!!!) I'm planning to start my seeds a lot earlier this year, now that I know I can do it. A greater variety of tomatoes and veggies would be good, too. The cherry tomatoes do well in my garden but it would be lovely to have some larger slicing tomatoes as well, maybe some romas if that's all I can get. I had some larger tomatoes growing this year but they went in too late so they produced fruit but it wasn't edible. (The swelling thing again- they would crack and get all yucky before getting ripe.) The collards did well; definitely need more of those. I haven't had any luck with lettuce; it just bolts, so maybe it's a timing thing and I'll give it another go.

Summer is also hot and buggy around here. I've really slacked off on my walking program, even with the greyhounds bugging me for walkies every day, due to the heat and bugs. It's too hot to walk during the day, but if I wait until dusk when it cools off the mosquitoes come out. Those pests really love the dogs too, so they are missing their walks desperately. (The girls take them out on shorter walks a couple of times during the day but they have to come in before the dogs over heat. Greys are incredibly prone to heatstroke since they have such thin skin.) I think I'm going to start biking again; the mosquitoes can't bite me if they can't catch me! I'm also planning a trip to the sporting goods store for some lightweight work out pants. I usually wear shorts (I practically LIVE in shorts over the summer) but long pants will offer more protection from mosquitoes if I can find some I don't smother in. I hate using mosquito repellants and chemicals but sometimes you just have to around here. I also hate using my treadmill, but I think I'm going to have to do that too!

The kids love to go in the pool over the summer so DH spends a lot of time whipping it into shape. It needs some serious maintenance, like resurfacing, but that's really expensive so we're holding off as long as possible. With The Wild Child going to his summer camp we don't need any extra bills. (It's camp, but not camp. He works with his reading specialist for 2 hours a day 4 days a week while he's there and it's costing some serious bucks. If it helps him read, though, it's worth it.)

Regular obligations are set aside over the summer. Girl Scouts and 4H aren't meeting so that's a big chunk of the schedule freed up, although we are planning a couple of Girl Scout get togethers if we can set them up. I'm hoping our weekends will be a little less hectic. Since January I've had a total of 2 weekends where I didn't have obligations of some sort, and one of those was spent packing for the Washington, DC trip. That makes me tired.

I also have goals for the summer. First and foremost, I want to clean out Martha Jr.'s room. She is a pack rat of the highest order and she HATES to let go of ANYTHING. She's not going to have a choice, though. I'm going to empty her room and we're only going to put half back. We did this for The Wild Child's room when he had to have some major ceiling and dry wall repairs and it worked out really well. His room is so much better, and with half the stuff it only gets half as messy, and it's a lot easier for him to clean up. It's a lot less overwhelming for him with less stuff.

I'm also going to start physical therapy for my back next week. Hopefully I can keep up with the exercises and get my back in better shape. It's so limiting at this point. I can't do anything that requires significant time on my feet, and if I don't go and lay down at regular intervals during the day, I'm in pain. I've built my day to day schedule around that but it doesn't work out, say, when we're traveling (like the DC trip) or there's a big holiday meal to cook, or for any other myriad activities. It's frustrating, but the doctor basically said I'm in control of it. If I get my core strength up my back will be a lot better. That means another goal for the summer- improve my core strength.

We also have some summer birthdays to celebrate- The Eldest will turn 19 next week and The Wild Child will be 10 in early July. All of my children will be out of the single digits- wow. My birthday is also in the summer in mid August; I'm hoping for those raised beds. :)