Sunday, August 24
Aug. 25th, 2025 01:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Getting some sleep, after a great deal of restlessness. Whenever I have one day with little sleep, like yesterday, I can have some difficulty in getting back on track. It's like my body can't relax if I'm over tired.
A lazy start to the day.
When we did go outside, it was to try to reclaim the garden a bit. We've been SO BUSY (like every single summer ever) that it's gotten out of hand, weed-wise.
I picked a good amount of yellow and green beans, though it looks like we're going to get very few trellis beans. The insane squash patch has climbed the whole length of the trellis and overtaken the beans.
We both weeded, though I picked and weeded as I went along. We managed to liberate that half of the garden. The other half is entirely gigantic, Little Shop of Horrors squash plants (some pumpkin, some squash, zucchini) and there is no need to weed it, as the plants have entirely blocked all light from reaching the ground.
I did pick what is very likely now the last of the raspberries.
We put the water onto the garden, to run while we were doing sporty things. I normally don't do that, but figured it would be fine. The garden is pretty dry again, and we're supposed to have an entire week of very hot weather, so I'm hoping that lots of water plus lots of heat and sun will give our carrots and beets and beans the push they need to get big in the last few weeks before we have to bring them in.
Our sunflowers are enormous, but not blooming yet. They were planted late, so I hope they get a chance to bloom.
It looks like Roxy has been sneaking into the garden and eating all of the cucumbers.
Then my Sweetie bolted like winged Mercury to go for a bike ride with his local bike riding friend.
I took the raspberries over to our neighbors as a nice gesture of sharing, and they responded by giving us some LOVELY, HUGE onions and carrots.
We chatted for a while. I'm starting to like their big, sweet, goofy puppy named Oakley. He's very big, and very floppy, and I hope he likes me too.
I was reluctant to make any kind of connection with these neighbors, who have only been next to us for...two years? I've had such crappy luck with neighbors in the past that I haven't felt much like putting in the effort.
So far they do seem like decent folks. It would be nice to have good neighbors.
Then I went to the riding barn.
I got River, and he was a little worried because K was walking around the bushes a lot today making noise, but REALLY, River can't tell it's K?
He was even a little anxious in the barn, but settled down when the Sunday rider showed up and brought in another horse.
The very old, very decrepit farm cat named Earl still likes to catch and eat these big mole things, but he apparently can't keep them down. He threw up two of these huge things in the middle of the barn. Very, very gross. According to R and K, that's an animal that's slow enough that he can still catch them, but he can't seem to keep them down. EWWWW. They were big. Bigger than mice by far, almost like small rats. I couldn't believe he got them down the hatch in the first place.
It seems like R and K's daughter L is....running the risk of being too chicken to get out into the world and figure out who she is. She just graduated from high school this year, and had ZERO plans to continue in ANY direction.
This summer she's been "working for her Mom", though there is lots to do...but she has never worked for anyone else, hasn't been anywhere without family, doesn't seem to have a circle of friends even that aren't people from the barn.
R mentioned to me today that L might start giving some lessons....which means that if she starts doing that, how is she going to get a different job or leave home, or do..anything else with her life?
I know it's "none of my business" and I won't get involved in any way, but I hate to see someone just...never leave home and never grow up or find out who they are. It would be very, very easy for L to just slide right into her Mom's dog grooming business and give some riding lessons, and just keep living at home.
While her friends go to university or into the trades, and travel, and do stuff that their parents don't know about, and even DATE people that they don't have to tell their parents about. They won't have to run everything past their parents before they do it.
You know, like a grown up.
Well, it's sad if she ends up staying.
I worked with River outside, in the lovely evening golden light, with it cooling off. He had decent energy and we worked more on the diagonal yields. So many yields. He did a lovely canter for me under saddle.
I came home, my Sweetie arrived about an hour before and let everyone out; I brought them back in and stopped the water on the garden.
Then we ate and shared notes about everything. His bike ride went well, and he had a nice time with his biking friend.
Getting some sleep, after a great deal of restlessness. Whenever I have one day with little sleep, like yesterday, I can have some difficulty in getting back on track. It's like my body can't relax if I'm over tired.
A lazy start to the day.
When we did go outside, it was to try to reclaim the garden a bit. We've been SO BUSY (like every single summer ever) that it's gotten out of hand, weed-wise.
I picked a good amount of yellow and green beans, though it looks like we're going to get very few trellis beans. The insane squash patch has climbed the whole length of the trellis and overtaken the beans.
We both weeded, though I picked and weeded as I went along. We managed to liberate that half of the garden. The other half is entirely gigantic, Little Shop of Horrors squash plants (some pumpkin, some squash, zucchini) and there is no need to weed it, as the plants have entirely blocked all light from reaching the ground.
I did pick what is very likely now the last of the raspberries.
We put the water onto the garden, to run while we were doing sporty things. I normally don't do that, but figured it would be fine. The garden is pretty dry again, and we're supposed to have an entire week of very hot weather, so I'm hoping that lots of water plus lots of heat and sun will give our carrots and beets and beans the push they need to get big in the last few weeks before we have to bring them in.
Our sunflowers are enormous, but not blooming yet. They were planted late, so I hope they get a chance to bloom.
It looks like Roxy has been sneaking into the garden and eating all of the cucumbers.
Then my Sweetie bolted like winged Mercury to go for a bike ride with his local bike riding friend.
I took the raspberries over to our neighbors as a nice gesture of sharing, and they responded by giving us some LOVELY, HUGE onions and carrots.
We chatted for a while. I'm starting to like their big, sweet, goofy puppy named Oakley. He's very big, and very floppy, and I hope he likes me too.
I was reluctant to make any kind of connection with these neighbors, who have only been next to us for...two years? I've had such crappy luck with neighbors in the past that I haven't felt much like putting in the effort.
So far they do seem like decent folks. It would be nice to have good neighbors.
Then I went to the riding barn.
I got River, and he was a little worried because K was walking around the bushes a lot today making noise, but REALLY, River can't tell it's K?
He was even a little anxious in the barn, but settled down when the Sunday rider showed up and brought in another horse.
The very old, very decrepit farm cat named Earl still likes to catch and eat these big mole things, but he apparently can't keep them down. He threw up two of these huge things in the middle of the barn. Very, very gross. According to R and K, that's an animal that's slow enough that he can still catch them, but he can't seem to keep them down. EWWWW. They were big. Bigger than mice by far, almost like small rats. I couldn't believe he got them down the hatch in the first place.
It seems like R and K's daughter L is....running the risk of being too chicken to get out into the world and figure out who she is. She just graduated from high school this year, and had ZERO plans to continue in ANY direction.
This summer she's been "working for her Mom", though there is lots to do...but she has never worked for anyone else, hasn't been anywhere without family, doesn't seem to have a circle of friends even that aren't people from the barn.
R mentioned to me today that L might start giving some lessons....which means that if she starts doing that, how is she going to get a different job or leave home, or do..anything else with her life?
I know it's "none of my business" and I won't get involved in any way, but I hate to see someone just...never leave home and never grow up or find out who they are. It would be very, very easy for L to just slide right into her Mom's dog grooming business and give some riding lessons, and just keep living at home.
While her friends go to university or into the trades, and travel, and do stuff that their parents don't know about, and even DATE people that they don't have to tell their parents about. They won't have to run everything past their parents before they do it.
You know, like a grown up.
Well, it's sad if she ends up staying.
I worked with River outside, in the lovely evening golden light, with it cooling off. He had decent energy and we worked more on the diagonal yields. So many yields. He did a lovely canter for me under saddle.
I came home, my Sweetie arrived about an hour before and let everyone out; I brought them back in and stopped the water on the garden.
Then we ate and shared notes about everything. His bike ride went well, and he had a nice time with his biking friend.
