Of Hurricanes and Managers

I am a manager at Wendy's now. It isn't all fun and giggles, but the pay is great. In fact, this is the most money I've made in my entire life. It's also the most I've worked at any time in my life, with the possible exception of the time I was milking three cows every day, morning and night.
The hurricanes have brought some funny weather, but nothing terrible so far. Knock on wood. We had tornado warnings the day I had my interview for managership, but nothing came of it here.
I am still reading up on farming and homesteading. I am getting excited. Very excited.

Failure

I know it sounds bad, but I am not good at growing cantaloupes. All of mine got as big as a softball, then rotted away. I have a very small hope left, so I haven't pulled all the vines out yet. It's coming soon. My tomatoes have done better. They may be small, but at least they haven't rotted away before they ripened.
There is a lesson here. I just need to figure it out. And no, it's not that I can't grow cantaloupe. I haven't given up on it yet. It will take at least ten more years to convince me.

Tomatoes

I have been told many times that you should always pinch the suckers off your tomato plants. They (supposedly) grow very fast and strong and green and don't bear any blooms or fruit. They are called 'suckers' because they suck the energy of the plant away from growing and producing blooms and tomatoes.
I wonder, then, about mine. Yes, the suckers are growing strong, but they are producing tomatoes at a rate that is astonishing. They have more blooms than the 'regular' branches, and set fruit like the seed companies claim.
Maybe suckers aren't so bad.

Summer

It's summer now. We haven't had rain in three days, and it's been sunny non-stop. It must be a sign.
I am considering trying for managership at Wendy's. It is more pay and would look good on my resume. I don't want to make a career out of it, that is certain, but I might as well go as far as I can up the ladder while I'm there. It's not like they can disrupt my life much more than they do already.
My tomatoes are really taking off now. They have gotten tall and strong. Come to think of it, the other plants have come into their own as well. I have three little cantaloupe melons on my vines. I love gardens. They are so exciting!
No sooner had I gotten "No rain - It's summer" out of my mouth, then a rain frog started singing. Talk about eating your words! At least they were still hot.

My neighbor

I have a very charming, though shy, neighbor living under my water hose. He is a black skink, and has a pretty pale blue stripe along his side. I haven't looked it up yet, but I hope he likes mosquitoes. We have those in abundance.
I was afraid, at first, that he was a snake. I'm not overly afraid of snakes, but we have some poisonous ones in our area, and I am not too keen on testing the effectiveness of their venom. So I was very glad to see the blue stripe. Poisonous snakes don't have that kind of stripe here.
So far, he has stayed out of my way. I don't count the times he just appeared at the 'door' of his hole. That was just checking out the local color.

Fresh Basil

My basil is doing very well with all the rain and humidity we've been having. I harvested some yesterday for a lasagna we made for supper. I have to admit that I let some of it go to flower (it doesn't make as many leaves when you do that), but I was rewarded with a hummingbird sighting.
The hummingbird itself was a dark brown little thing - almost ugly, if a hummingbird can be ugly. Definitely not photogenic. It acted just like a hummingbird, though, so I forgave it very soon. And it liked my basil! I will forgive a great many things if my basil is admired properly.

Late Spring Showers

I know I talked about rain yesterday, but it rained again today. Maybe we will catch up on our rainfall. I hear that the Midwest is having a lot of rainy, soppy weather, and it's interfering with growing crops, such as corn. Now don't get me wrong; I like corn. It's just that I prefer a nice green salad. And it always seemed - the few times I and my family grew corn in our garden - that we couldn't get enough water to the plants. They always turned dry and brown. Still, I hope it dries up a little for the farmers. I try to cheer for my comrades whenever I can.
With the economy going the way it is, I am very glad I have my little garden, even though so far it hasn't produced much. There is such a feeling of independence, knowing that I will have tomatoes and cantaloupe that I didn't buy from the store. I am beginning to chafe at being here, instead of on our farm in Kentucky. Our yard needs some fruit and nut trees desperately, as well as a couple of herb beds and a vegetable garden extension. Why am I living in a rented house, anyway?

Guess what happened today?

It rained. A lot. Unfortunately, I was inside Wendy's at the time, working. I would so much have preferred to be outside in the rain. It was a regular frog-strangler. That kind of rain is terrible if you have to be somewhere, but it's wonderful if you've been longing to go swimming. You don't have to get into any awful looking clothes.
I should be out weeding, but I just had a shower and it looks like it is going to storm again. I might get wet!

Mowing the yard

Yesterday I cut the grass. It felt rather wasteful, really, just mowing all that grass without a bagger attached. I am more used to cutting grass and giving it to cows. Sort of like fresh, green hay. They always loved it.
We had cows when I was growing up in Kentucky. I loved them. They were Jerseys. It doesn't mention it in the story or picture books, but cows can have very strong personalities. Ours did. They were almost like people. The only thing they didn't do was talk. And sometimes I thought they almost did that, too.
I miss my cows.

Photo explanation

The picture I have on my blog is, unfortunately, not of my house in Alabama. It is a house I walked past coming home from work in Germany. Sorry to disappoint.

Rain

It is raining right now. I am always very happy for rain. It means that I don't have to go out and water my garden. Don't get me wrong - I like watering my garden. It's just that rain does a much better job of it.
I lived in southern Germany before I came to Alabama. There we had rain at least twice a week. It was a drought if we went for two weeks without any rain. Alabama is a little different. Here is isn't a big thing if we go three weeks without rain. It generates a peculiar mindset, I think. Anyway, it is wonderfully warm here. I like that part. My tomatoes do, too.

New Guest Book

I have a new guestbook. (Don't worry. I'm still getting used to the whole blogging and website scene. It won't continue for the life of this blog.)
http://users3.smartgb.com/g/g.php?a=s&i=g35-28356-e5

Wendy's

Right now I work at Wendy's. It is officially known as "Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers", or something like that. Wendy's is easier to say. It is definitely not my dream job, but I must earn money somehow. Otherwise my farming-homesteading dream will remain just that - a dream.
Most fast food jobs are part time. That fits right into my plans. The rest of my time is spent writing and working in my tiny garden. I am not wasting my time here, even if I do live in the suburbs.
I have tomatoes and peppers and cantaloupe and lettuce (a little warm for that now) and arugula. I call the last 'rocket'. It is wonderful in salads - a little peppery, but very good. I recommend it highly.

Why a "Homesteader"?

Hello! It's good to meet you. You are wondering "Why a homesteader? Why not a farmer?" Ther reason is that homesteading is so much more than farming. A modern farmer will grow a crop - several crops, is he is wise - and then go to the store and buy his groceries. A homesteader, on the other hand, will try to grow his groceries. Then, if he is lucky, he will take the excess to the store and sell it. That is what I want to do. When you think of an old-fashioned farm, with cows and chickens and a vegetable garden and an orchard and hay fields and a cellar, you are thinking more of a homestead. It's a sight more fun than a 'regular' farm any day.
I will have a homestead like that someday soon. Right now I just need to earn some money. That way I will be able to buy those cows and chickens and whatnot. The bottom line is - I live in the city. Not a big city, but a city nonetheless. The neighbors aren't encouraging when I offer to give them some of my fresh-layed eggs. They just tell me to get rid of those infernal birds. And the landlord absolutely forbids any pets at all. What can a poor beginning homesteader do? I'll show them. I won't give them any of my grass-fed steaks for Christmas.