Squash and pumpkins - July 21, 2024

As soon as Nanny left for church this morning, I went to the garden to plant two pumpkins - one that produces pumpkins for carving, and one that produces mini pumpkins  - that I sprouted from seeds.  They've been on our patio table for a month and have come close to croaking more than once.  Maybe they'll live in the ground. 

I also planted 4 more hills of squash.  Our first 4 squash hills are producing as much squash as we want to eat, but they'll probably be pooping out soon, either from bugs or exhaustion.  

[Note to self:  check for squash bugs tomorrow.]

Once everything was planted and watered in, I started raking up some of the grass I mowed yesterday.  While I was raking, The Brother-in-Law showed up on his race-car-like zero-turn lawnmower and went to work in the front.

I must stay that "The BIL" was doing a better job of mowing than I did, depending on how you look at grass.  You might have seen the post in which I told about The Husband and I putting the deck back on our riding lawnmower after installing new blades.  Evidently, we did not get the deck level, for it's cutting wedge-like strips that nearly peel the ground on one side and leave it taller on the others.  This is not very attractive.  However, I hadn't mowed for looks; I'd mowed to (hopefully) scatter some chiggers out of the grass between Nanny's back porch and the garden.

And I'd left an un-mowed section in front of the shed where my lawnmower ran out of gas and I said f it.

The BIL can be a lot of fun, but he can also be a grouchy asshole.  We get along because neither of us minds telling the other how it is.

I heard him grousing (above the noise of the lawnmower) when he saw the striped back yard.  Aw, hell, she done f___d up the grass.  He whirled his lawnmower around and went to the side yard, where I'd left the un-mowed square.  WTF!  What made it even better was that center of the un-mowed square contained about five tall, dusty mole hills, and I'd left the dirt bath for him to enjoy. (He repaid me by thoroughly dusting my car.)

Now, I had not mowed the section of the back yard that's behind the vegetable garden, so I got his attention and pointed and said, "I didn't mow back there."

"I'm damn sure glad you didn't!" he said.

I rolled my eyes and shot him the bird and came home to sit under the fan on the back porch.

I've been wanting to paint all day.  Did some sketching but haven't wet a brush.  

And now it's almost time to start supper.

Red beans & rice and cornbread.