Yikes!

I thought today was going to finally be a perfect day. My brother had come up for the weekend and we moved about a 1/4 cord of wood that had been "temporarily" sitting by the side of the house, on some really nice patio bricks that deserved better. He then cleaned away some other items for me and the area around the house and shed was starting to look nice. The garden had just about recovered from the dreary, rainy days of the previous week and the temperature got up to 81 degrees. Then at about 3:45 pm, while I was off doing the weekly shopping, a huge thunderstorm came through the area and dropped about 3-4 inches of rain, including some hail. The temperature dropped down to 63 degrees, the pool filled to the very top and, luckily, the garden survived.

I had some more potatoes today, along with buttercrunch lettuce that had more slugs than I really wanted to see. My tomatoes are continuing to grow, but still green. I cut the lawn for the second time this week and after a late fertilizing, the grass is starting to look better.

The cucumbers I transplanted two days ago have been eaten up, either by s frisky chipmunk or some nasty bugs. In either case, I haven't had such a problem before, so I am going to do a second planting right into the ground this time and see what happens.

My plan for the next couple of days is to do a good amount of weeding using the hula hoe, which has been a real lifesaver for me. The other project on the table is to begin painting the exterior of the house. It has been eight years since I last did this and even then I was a bit shaky when it came to doing the peaks on the side of the house. Thirty feet up on a ladder isn't very appealing to me anymore. My wife and I are working on color selection with she picking the winning color on tomorrow (Sunday) as Sherwin Williams is having a great 37% off sale. I really like Sherwin Williams as it has just the right consistency so that the paint doesn't run downhill has I paint. It holds very well and retains its color quite well given our weather conditions here in New England.