Monday, Monday

Monday certainly lived up to its reputation.

I’ve often wondered why everyone complains about Mondays…then, I have one of “those Mondays” and remember in vivid detail.

okra grows best in HOT, DRY weather

The weather has been playing havoc on our plans lately.  

Two and a half inches of rain late last week made for a lot of mud and delayed work.  The warmer weather has increased plant growth overnight and it’s starting to look like a jungle.  …and then there are the bugs…(but, that’s another story)

The Boss has been more than a little concerned about the garlic crop.  It’s time to harvest…it’s time to harvest….RIGHT NOW!  All the recent moisture is not what the garlic needs at this point of its growth cycle.  As a matter of fact, any irrigation is generally removed some time prior to harvest to allow some slight drying before the plants are removed from the ground and allowed to cure.  

too much moisture causes the bulbs to split open

Monday…surely Monday, we could get to it.

Intermittent rain was predicted for Monday, so the Boss said he’d take the trailer to town and get the feed.  If it’s just a drizzle, the feed store dudes carefully tuck a tarp over the paper sacks in the back of the pick-up for me, but the prediction was for a little more. Change in plans...number one...

But by late Sunday evening, a flash flood warning was issued for Monday.  We changed up our regular Monday schedule, hoping against hope to get the garlic harvested prior to the rain. We’d pull the garlic, store it, and THEN head to town.

It was already raining by the time we headed out for chores, so we changed our plan AGAIN.

I headed off to do the “town run” (minus the feedstore...don't know when we'll get there) while the Boss hoped to get some prep work done in hopes of a late day garlic harvest.

By the time I got to town, it was evident that the flash flood warning was not an overstatement.  The heavens opened as I walked away from the Xterra.  I also thought I heard a strange noise, but it was raining too hard to tell.

pay attention to this little light

As I was pulling into the Farm Bureau for my next stop, the low tire pressure light came on.  “Issues” with the vehicle always make me feel like such a girl…I called the Boss, again. He sighed (his day wasn't going as planned, either...the weather was playing havoc at home as well) and dispatched me to the muffler place.  Yes, I know…the muffler place also does tires…we’ve been dealing with them for years. They do good work and they’re always nice.

Sure, they’d look at it.

Long story short…they fixed the tire in a relatively short amount of time, didn’t charge me too much, and I was back in business. More importantly, the daytime TV blasting away in the waiting room didn’t do too much damage to my psyche or my hearing.

But, look what caused the problem!  A rock…a piece of driveway gravel. I must say, I found that more than

a little unsettling as nearly all the roads and driveways around here are covered with the same stuff!

I was back on track (sort of).  The momentum and direction of the day was completely shot, but there were things to do. I did lose track of how many times we changed our plans for this one day.

It continued to pour….and pour…they issued a flood warning…a tornado warning…and the low tire pressure light never went off in my vehicle. ugh! 

I was soaked by the time I finished my errands and fretted the entire trip back, worrying over that little light. (the first time I ever drove the Xterra, the light came on driving down the interstate.  As I made the turn on the exit ramp, the ker-wumpa, ker-wumpa let me know the tire was flat.  The SAME tire. The Boss assured that this time the light just needed a re-set…but, still…)  I was SO glad to get to the farm gate!

By lunchtime, my day had improved.  

We even made our long postponed trip to the dump!  The sun came out briefly.  I was able to do some harvesting. The Boss got everything prepared for Tuesday’s project of hauling lambs to the processor to get the first lamb products of the season ready for Market sales.

Late afternoon chores saw yet another storm rolling in.  Poor Jed…he’s been spending a LOT of time whimpering and hiding from thunder lately!

Jed is terrified of thunder and follows us around hoping for comfort
until there is no longer a threat of storm

All told, we got ANOTHER 2 ½ inches of rain on Monday.  That’s 5 inches in 72 -96 hours!  Wet? Muddy? You better know it!  The whole jungle analogy just got a little more real.

However, after supper there was a rainbow.

…and Tuesday doesn’t have a such a bad reputation…

...so…onward! 

Maybe…maybe…when we get back from lamb hauling we can get to garlic harvesting. 

(provided it doesn’t rain again!)