Mom's enjoying the beautiful weather by the garden pond Sunday afternoon

June 24, 2018 - Sunday evening

55 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm not certain where today went, but it flew by in a flash.

With Sargie having to work at noon on Sunday, Mom and I had a good day at home. We talked, Mom kept me company off and on as I went about my daily activities, and for a while this afternoon, I even managed to take a short nap. I'm not so sure Mom didn't do the same.

I began the day in the garden as usual. 

I was especially happy to see the first tomato blossom of the year.

It's going to be a long time before we see any ripe fruits, but it's a start. 

The biggest problem I have in raising tomatoes is that they seem to get a fungus every year. We always have more tomatoes than we can use, but the plants are mostly dead before they ripen.

This year's variety is supposed to be disease resistant, but I noticed that a few of the bottom leaves already have some black spots. 

I was surprised to see our mosquito plant blooming.

This is one that we bought a year ago and overwintered down the basement.

After a morning spent in the garden, I moved my attentions to finishing mowing the trails and back meadows. For the first time this year, the entire yard, trails, and meadows are cut at one time.

I have Sargie to thank for the time she spent on the mower over the past couple of days. Everything is mowed and the garden beds are weeded. 

I turned my attentions to patching the drive. The frost heaves really played havoc with the blacktop this spring causing multiple cracks. 

There are still more to fill before I can seal the drive later this summer in preparation for next winter.

The strawberry bed was weeded this afternoon. I'm tickled how well the plants are doing, especially after they spent a full two months in the refrigerator waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw after being shipped.

I'm picking a few berries off the new plants, but we won't get many this year. 

It's recommended that all the blossoms be plucked from first year plants and I used to do that, but it's been my experience that it makes no difference in their vitality. They'll send out runners over the next few weeks and the beds will be filled. I'm hoping for a good harvest next summer.

I enjoy growing large vegetables. In fact, it's become a bit of an obsession for me. This year's giant is the rhubarb.

Some of the leaves are the size of an elephant's ear, certainly the largest I've ever seen.

Of course, this late in the season, the stalks are too large and tough to be of any use for cooking. Still, the plants are beautiful and add to the garden scenery.

Hard to believe this patch came from two little plants purchased from the local hardware store seven years ago for $2 each.

The dash lights in the Equinox have been showing it needs a brake job. We took the car to town tonight to drop it off at my friend, Dave's, to be checked. I want good brakes before we drive Mom back to Indiana!

Supper tonight was one of our better ones. I grilled pork chops outside while Sargie cut up and made all the fixings for a vegetable salad.

If anyone was hungry after tonight's meal, it's their own fault. 

Sargie works from 11 AM to 8 PM Monday. No doubt, Mom and I will find plenty to do, gab a bunch, and maybe it will be a repeat of today. We might even sneak a nap in sometime in the afternoon!

After all, a man's work, and that of his mama's, is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

I added more charcoal to the balsam tree stump tonight and the last I checked, it was still smoldering down deep inside.