Crazy, Busy Summer!

 

I thought I would do a small update post.  Its still rocking and rolling in Ridgecrest. We don't feel the earthquakes unless they are five or greater. Which hasn't been the case recently. All of my canning is still in the pantry floor. I have continued to can produce from the garden. This morning I picked a bushel and a half of peaches. I have to do something with them. I did make a yummy cobbler. The peaches are cling so they are so nice to work with.

 

On July 12th, we started painting the inside of the house. We have painted so far, our bedroom, our bathroom, the office and the guest bathroom. We are painting the master closet today. It looks so pretty and clean. I have been de-cluttering as I go along. I cannot believe how much stuff I have hung onto and now it seems silly that it meant so much to me. One of the things that bugs me is the hundreds of notebook/diary's that I have. I was looking through one today from 2004, gosh I was such a crazy busy woman. I read my entry to Ron which I have no memory of at all. Just as an aside,
I say, " The washing machine caught on fire today." What? How can it be I can't remember that at all.
You would think I would remember that. I also noticed how much I took the kids to the dentist. Oh and piano lessons.

 

I was going through photo albums. I can't do that too much as I really get sad. Time just seems to go by so fast. I am going to continue going through each closet one by one until I can get the house in shape. In the spring when I got rid of all of the clutter out there in my shed that was wonderful. Now it feels just as nice getting the house cleaned. There are times when I hesitate about throwing something away, and I make myself say, " It doesn't love you." Then I can do that.

 

We should hit 109 tomorrow, It will pretty much finish off my flowers. My poor garden just looks so sad and wilty with this kind of heat.  It has though pretty much been a nice summer. We have had such a cool summer compared to summers past.

I just wanted to give you an update. Things are good and since we are told to live one day at a time. I am trying to do that. With so many earthquakes it really narrows my vision.

I hope all of you are  okay, and I send you my love,

~Kim~

I read this quote when I was reading a book. I have thought and thought about it. I would say it really shook me to the core.

Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.”
– Albert Einstein

Summer Days

 

I just wanted to send you a greeting of the rock and roll capitol. On July 4th we had a 6.4 earthquake. The largest I have ever been in before. Then on the next day, we had a 7.1 Again, bigger than anything I have been in my life. Ron and I were out in the garden with the second big one hit. So surreal sitting in the pasture watching the peaceful evening as the sun sets, and then to suddenly be aware of being very dizzy, and realize that the ground is moving and so is all of the trees. Ron jumped up to go see the swimming pool, and all of its tidal waves, I ran in the house to make sure that all of this canning I have been storing like a chipmunk was okay.

 

All of it is on the floor in the pantry. Its going to stay there for awhile I think. My earthquake tracker says we are having earthquakes about every minute still. Small they maybe be but every four hours will be a 4 or larger and when there is a five we feel it here. We are 122 miles from the epicenter.
My house looks sad with everything down and put away. I was surprised nothing fell when we had the 7.1

Yesterday, Ron got the cars filled with gas. The propane tanks filled with propane and all of the other things they tell you to do in case of an emergency. I did mental checklists all day. I think we can survive a few months now just in case. My brother has a water well next door, I am sure we could figure out how to get it to run on a generator if we had to. So much stuff to think of, but I forgot the garden, and today I had to pick it. Here is goes:

Potatoes-russet and red

cucumbers and cantaloupe and some giant zucchini

Some more zucchini, dill, and a Tigger Melon

I can't wait to taste that.

My Chamomile, I need to harvest its flowers for tea.

Peter came home and he wants pesto. Bell Peppers

Some of my tomatoes.

I can tell you the thought of canning right now strikes fear into my heart. There is a 3 percent chance we can have a bigger earthquake than 7.1 and the thought of doing all of this work and having it broken really does make me sad. It will be time to break out my pressure canner. I am thinking I will start making vegetable soup.

Now for the outside pictures of this beautiful garden we have this year. I have taken so many pictures but I haven't wrote that many blogs.

Growing everything on these cattle panels has been so incredible. I am really enjoying this vertical gardening. The banana squash has taken over and has grown up one side and down the other. Its so easy to keep track of how things are growing and I think it has kept the squash beetles at bay. That and food grade sulfur. It has even kept the white flies from destroying my garden this year. I have lost so many gardens in the past to those pests. I was about to just give up. I am so glad we gave it one more try.

Even my pumpkins love growing up the cattle panels.

So this is today. July so far has been interesting. Keep those poor people in Ridgecrest which is at the epicenter of this in your prayers. I know how tired I was last night, I just can't imagine how exhausted they are because they are having constant earthquakes.

This is how many earthquakes it has been in the last few days.

Have a wonderful day,
~Kim~

 "If it could be like this always---always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe..."
---Evelyn Waugh