Monday, July 20, 2015

Heating up

The rain that I have waited for came last evening.  A good soaking rain to refresh the vegetation and wet the earth on the dirt road.  A good southern thunderstorm that turned the horizon dark, followed by wind, thunder, lightening, and finally rain.

We had just finished up trimming box woods and working in the garden.  It felt good to get soaked to the skin.  The heat has been oppressive for the past week.  I have begun riding very early in the morning or after sunset in the evening.  And then I only ride for about 45 minutes because we are both soaked by then.

I find the best part of being with my horse is giving him a bath.  He likes to hold the hose in his mouth while I gently put pressure on the nozzle to give him water. He is quite a character, and we get along well.

C. and I went on a tomato picking excursion and came home with three 10 gal buckets filled.  We proceeded to make marinara sauce with large bubbling pots cooking on the stove. It took us all day to process the tomatoes into sauce. We froze the sauce and will no doubt appreciate it this winter.
So many tomatoes and a lot were already rotting on the ground. 
Our picking within 30 minutes
Love that "pales" were $5
Lots of tomatoes to process
I couldn't help but think as we were picking those tomatoes that the ones rotting on the ground would feed a lot of people.  It is a shame to see them go to waste. I wish that farmers would consider having a sale price for picking or maybe a free day so that produce would be used instead of wasted.

I have gone to two meetings with the unity Courage Campaign group that is trying to get people talking to each other who are from different backgrounds. So far, we have just been talking to those of similar attitudes.  I honestly don't see how we are going to get those who have opposing ideas to get together using the lunch format.  So I am going to organize a pot luck dinner out on the island at the Community Center. Hopefully, we will be able to have more thought provoking discussions by stepping out of our comfort zone.

And about talking --- The KKK and the New Black Panthers had a rumble in the state capitol on Saturday.  Several people were injured.  Lots of screaming and hurling of racial epithets. Some columnists say that we are headed for a race war. I certainly hope not, but there is a great deal of unrest.   I did not go to the rally because  I don't think much good would come from standing out in the heat being caught between two groups of people who intensely dislike each other.  Heat and dislike are bad combinations.

I have been jogging again on our country road.  Each way is a mile so I get 2 miles in each evening.  It isn't a great distance at all, but between riding and working out at the gym, I stay in good physical shape.  I enjoy the physical challenge, although Aleve liquid gels have become a daily friend to me.
The road to home.
 Hope that you all are doing well.  Looks like the entire country is in a heat wave. Stay cool.
Sunflower field near our house. 

9 comments:

  1. I admire your riding and running so much- I KNOW how hot it is. I'm really glad you got the beautiful horse companion.
    Don't give up the racial diversity talks. Keep at it. You are determined and brave and on the right track. You are a fine man, Syd.

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  2. Be careful of those Aleve...they are hard to get off of....

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  3. So how did you like the Detroit 88 Nazi group down there causing trouble. They have their HQ he IN Detroit (cheap rent) but wouldn't dare start any crap like what they did in SC. They are true cowards wo's only conviction is a few freeway tags no one can read.

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  4. Happy to read you are running :) Did I mention that I'm run king the Kiawah half marathon in December?

    I'm so jealous of your tomatoes. It's not quite season here yet.

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  5. You'll be so glad of homemade marinara sauce this winter! Your tomatoes look wonderful.

    And I hope the talking over a potluck meal makes some difference Syd -- it is so hard for polarised people to listen and change their entrenched opinions --

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  6. Love the pic of the road to home. Breath taking!

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  7. Your sunflower photo is amazing. It looks like a hand painting ...worthy of framing.

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  8. Meeting with like minded people does help to encourage everyone to stay positive. We live and work with people every day that still have racist thoughts but keep it to themselves. You never know the influence you may be having on another. Just like this blog.

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  9. Beautiful pics. The view on your run is gorgeous and I can sense a lot of peace come from the picture. I need to step up my running, not my favorite, but necessary. It has been brutally hot here too... new record temps, even for the desert. But I'll take it over the white stuff any day... :)

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