First Ripe Tomato - July 6, 2020

I hope you (all/both) had a pleasant Independence Day.  Ours was rather quiet.  Although a cousin invited us and the whole extended family for a 4th of July barbeque, we opted not to go.  At the time, we still did not know the results of The Husband's co-worker's COVID-19 test, and we didn't want to take the chance on infecting someone in case The Husband had been infected.

That same day, Nanny needed to be driven to her doctor's office to have a COVID-19 test in preparation for surgery that's supposed to happen tomorrow.  The Husband and I thought he probably should not be in a car with her.  The Sister-in-Law is a nurse and had recently been to a Florida beach.  On top of that, the hospital where she works is over-flowing with COVID patients, some of whom have been put in the cardiac ICU where she works because there's nowhere else to put them.  So she didn't need to be in the car with Nanny, either.  We decided that I was probably the safest person to take Nanny to the doctor, so I took her.

After driving Nanny to the doctor, I spent most of the afternoon practicing my mandolin on the porch.  The Husband came out with his ukulele, and we played a bunch of songs with a dude on YouTube.  Later that evening, we went to the garden to pick green beans.  We also found a bunch of cucumbers, and picked three tomatoes that were *almost* ripe enough to be delicious.  We brought the tomatoes home and set them in a windowsill to finish ripening, fearful that if we left them on the vine, a turtle or a squirrel or some other critter would get them before we did.

Yesterday, we worked our butts off in the yard.  I weeded a flower bed then push-mowed the tight spots while The Husband chopped down some sumac bushes growing along Nanny's driveway.  Come lunch time, The Husband said, "I'm going to make a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and I'm going to slice one of the tomatoes to go on it."  I said, 'OH, NO, YOU ARE NOT!  They're not ripe enough yet!"  He grumbled about it, but he left the tomatoes alone.  I'm not sure I can fight him off of them for another day, though.  Heck, I've been jones-ing for a tomato/mayo sandwich, myself!

About sundown, we heard thunder.  The Husband got out the riding lawnmower to finish the yard.  I went to the garden, intending to run the little tiller down the row where I planted the new tomatoes.  There are purple hull peas in the rows on both sides of the tomatoes, and they've put out runners that reach across the tomato row.  I started the tiller and realized that if I used it, I'd likely snatch some of the pea vines right out of the ground, so I weeded with the hoe, instead.  I'd just finished the weeding and was about to set some tomato cages over the new tomatoes when it started to rain.  Maybe I can finish the job this evening, if it's not too wet to walk in the garden.