rainy days and puppies...

It's been a soggy twenty four hours for which I am thankful.  As I enjoyed the sporadic rainfalls yesterday, my friend and I acknowledged that we've had a relatively dry year.  I say year, because we were talking about the time frame since I had my knee replaced - can you believe it's 11 months today?  Our rivers are all quite low and everywhere you look that is naturally watered grass is brown and fading.  Even the produce at the farmers market appeared a bit weather worn.  We are very thankful for the rain.

We are expecting a bit more rain today, not a lot, but enough. I say enough, because it isn't that flash flood, wind whipped kind of storm that rushes to the storm drains, never pausing long enough to saturate through the dry ground.  But the kind that is slow and steady, that has time to filter through the surface, to reach all of the roots below.  I'm really okay with a soggy weekend. 

The only thing it has slowed is a couple of the honey do's and I still expect we will get most of them finished.  I'm not so positive about sanding the handrails on the deck because they are currently quite soggy and I don't know if you've ever sanded wet wood, but it's really not a great idea. 

Our friends joined us on our drive down to the Amish farmer's market yesterday and of course blueberries were picked.  I mean, how can I possibly be that close to them and not?  My friend and I had stood out in the heat picking berries and chatting.  Pretty darn perfect if you ask me, well all except that heat part, it was so humid because it was during a lull in the rains.  We definitely toughed it out so we could fill our buckets with those beautiful berries.  As we stood in line to pay, the most heavenly breeze pushed through, and then... more rain!

The market isn't really close, and with gas the way it is, it's probably not the smartest way to buy produce.  But after you have veggies that have been allowed to grow until they are ripe, it's really hard to buy veggies that were picked unripe and shipped to the grocer.  Hubs loves tomatoes, especially heirloom, the difference in them is unreal.  Not to mention the price is so much better when you are buying directly from the farmer.  I know we aren't the only ones to have figured it out, because their parking lot was swarmed the entire time we were there. Some things weren't available due to the sheer number of folks shopping, not because of supply chain issues. 

I had been hoping to get more corn to put up, note to self... on the fourth of July weekend, corn is not easy to find.  What was easy to find was another friend.  The one that had introduced us to the market was there with her sister in law.  It's so fun when you are out and about and run into a friend.  She got to meet my puppies, not just see pictures of them and we spent a few brief moments blocking the masses of folks shopping while we caught up.  They were off on a day of local adventures, we will have to plan a not so busy time to truly catch up. 

Cruising along country roads, they love the wind

For the past week gas had been hovering about $4.74, still stupid high, but sadly we are pretty thankful for that dime a gallon that we'd been saving.  You can imagine our delight when we passed a gas station that selling gas for $4.09.  Yes we both filled our cars.  Another small town that I enjoy visiting, also in the same area has been advertising gas at the only station in town for $4.03.  What gives? Here in the city every station is within a penny of each other.  There isn't really a savings unless you are a member of either Sam's or Costco.  

Why?

Why can these little out of the way places sell their gas so much lower? Because even a couple of miles closer to the highway it was back up to the higher prices?  Where has the competition gone?  Because that little no name gas station was selling gas like crazy, every pump was filled and there were folks waiting.  Yet down the road a station with higher prices was empty.  Is it greed?  Do the bigger companies have no compete clauses? In a truly free economy the seller should be able to decide how much of a profit margin works for them. That is how Walmart became the power retailer it is and drove so many smaller mom and pop shops out of business. By selling more for less they were able to buy in bulk, therefore increasing their profit margin. 

It's way too early in the morning to go digging into the insanity that is going on.  This well orchestrated dance to destroy the former working class is heart wrenching.  The fact that so many are willing to blindly allow it... even more so. 

I'm choosing this weekend to not focus on any of this.  But to focus on home and hearth.  Hubs and I have been diligently working through our honey do list and making progress on the things that help us. After a fun day and some YouTube learning, Hubs was able to repair our sprinkler system for under $20.  A service call would have been in excess of $100. Seriously, it was so easy.  This is the second repair that we have done ourselves.  A year ago, we would have just called a tech, it would have been something out of our knowledge and comfort zone.  The shortage in techs and the time you have to wait for things has definitely had a great impact on our knowledge base and bank book. 

Today will be spent canning up my beautiful ugly tomato's.  They might look odd, but they have a rich flavor and texture.  During the colder winter months we will still have summer in a jar.  I also got some jalapeno's, mine aren't big enough to harvest again yet and I am out of my green sauce.  I will get that started fermenting today.  And after I can up the sauerkraut I will get the beautiful pickles started fermenting.  I only have one crock, so I need to plan things out as fermenting takes a bit longer than canning and it is strictly one recipe at a time. 

watching the kids play next door

There are chores to do, puppies to love, some quilting and doing waiting to happen.  So it's time to finish my coffee, snuggle my babies and get busy. This rainy weekend is just the thing for inspiration...

Take care of yourselves... 

love and peace...