My toes are brown

Last time they were brown was probably in 1986 when I took a two week vacation to Catalina Island and did nothing much more than walk or sit in the sun all day. The picture is of Descanso Beach, pretty much where I hung out when I was at the beach. I was fascinated at having brown toes. It seems that just working in the garden on weekends or hanging clothes on the line and taking them down doesn't give enough exposure to get brown toes. But this year I have been in the garden and outside a lot more - during high sun times - and so my toes are brown. Of course, this is due to the circumstance of being unemployed...not a good thing, but it does provide for some guilty pleasures. Like brown toes. I _do_ have an interview on Wednesday - so wish me luck! It is with the Idaho Health Department, as administrative assistant and it sounds like an interesting job. It would be a commute, perhaps 45 minutes, but that would give me dedicated times to listen to books on tape, a happy thought!

I have been keeping busy - started refinishing my kitchen cupboard doors and drawers, but then someone told me not to use shellac in temperatures above 78F, so I have taken a bit of a break. I did notice when I did the first round (before I knew about the temperature restriction), that the shellac seemed to dry quicker than I would have liked, and so it's not a perfect finish, but it'll do for the now. Yesterday I chose to finally remove the permafrost from my upright freezer in the basement - a rather cool occupation for a rather hot day. I also performed an inventory of the contents - lots of little tubs of prepared soups and meals, so now I know for sure what's in there, and have lots of options for meals. I should say, there really weren't any surprises; things are just more organized now. I have almost cleared off my workbench in the basement so I can get back into soap production. When my sister Janice visited in April, she brought me some of her creations, and if I get going on my soap, it will be ready to use just about when I've finished with hers :-)

My tomatoes have started to ripen and from the looks of it, this will be a good year. I am so hoping to can some tomato juice and possibly some salsa. I gave up on trying to grow peppers - they are just too particular for my abilities. I am quite sad that my beets are not happy either, as I love pickled beets and would have liked to see some jars of that on my shelf, but alas! I may go to the Farmer's Market if I get really desperate. I'm still waiting on my squash...I have seen ONE wee Hubbard squash, about the size of a golf ball, no spaghetti squash, no patty pan and, hold on to your horses - NO zucchini!!! Who can imagine no zucchini? It has been that way the past two years. And yes, there are plenty of buzzy bees around, they are all over the lavender, bee balm, borage, calendula, sunflowers, etc. out there, but for some reason my squash production is stunted. I am SOOOOO hoping (hear that, you squash plants!?!) that I get some nice squash this year. The Hubbard, especially, are so versatile - soup, bread, just mashed with butter...oh well, maybe I'll put some more manure on them...You can see the zucchini to the right of the hose and the other squash are to the left of the little purple Johnny Jump Ups. That's a giant sunflower in the middle that now has a big, dinner-plate flower on it and more coming :-)

One day this past week, my friend Mel asked me to go out to see her giraffe friend with her. Having not a whole lot else on my agenda, I agreed. I didn't take any pictures this time, but here's a piccie of Karson from when we were there on July 5. Mel thinks he's gotten taller, but I don't - he's still about this tall to me and we can make eye contact without me looking up to him. I also got to hold another baby wallaroo this time, Mel's friend is hand-raising this baby and it was just two days out of the mom's pouch. The new baby, Winnie, is about two months old. Given the biology of wallaroos, it is difficult to really determine their exact birthday.

Now the really big news - I got about 3 hours worth of ironing done yesterday - yes, ironing! I still have clothes that really do require an iron, and if I would keep up with it, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But I set up the board in front of the tv and watched Little House on the Prairie and then a couple of episodes of MASH, and voila! clothes are ironed! (It is pretty exciting television when you only have limited cable.)

I know this entry has been just too exciting for words, but I hope you can remain calm the rest of the day. This is my first official post and I'm still trying to figure out if I like it or not. Comments welcome. Ta-Ta For Now. The Auld Girl