I started my tomatoes from seed in late March. It is now late August and although the plants have grown quite large, there are only green tomatoes. I picked the only three cherry tomatoes that ripened and they were delicious but what is happening with the slicers? Climate change?
This summer has brought storms with high winds and heavy rain, falling trees, and power outages. We were fortunate last week when a tree came down across our road that the temperature and humidity were comfortable. The electric went out at 1:44 AM. Good thing I have my old Coleman stove. At least I could make coffee. When the electric goes out I try to act like I’m camping – just with my own bed and bath available. Two weeks before, we lost electric like most of north county and we were without power for a day and a half. I am lucky I have a large cooler that I could put ice in and keep milk cold.
When this happens I think of when I was young and like most in St. Louis, we did not have air conditioning. (This was in the 1950’s and most of the 60’s) We did a lot of camping back then so we were used to sleeping in the heat. I suppose being a kid we were resilient enough to be able to roll with the punches. Of course, as I’ve mentioned before, we used to swim a lot to cool off.
Now that I’m a bit older, I have been thinking of getting a generator so I don’t have to get the camping gear out just to make a cup of coffee. I’ve been doing a little research via google.
We are blessed to be living in an age where we have information at our fingertips. My favorite is YouTube university. So far I’ve learned to build my own backyard pizza oven, rebuild small engine carburetors, and repair my washing machine. As Red Green says: “If the women don’t find you handsome, at least let em find you handy.”
Schools in and summer is coming to a close. Another season will be upon us starting the 23rd of this month. I just hope my tomatoes will ripen before the fall harvest.
Stay safe, cool, and handy. – Papa Deau
