It's Going To Be A Great Day - It's June and I'm Planning For September Already

Yesterday was one of those glorious days here in the Frozen Northlands. Blue skies, the slightest of breezes, and high temperatures without being super uncomfortably hot or humid. It was a perfect day, marred only by the fact that I'm a total klutz. In the morning, I managed to fall flat on the den carpeting, and I have no idea what I tripped over. It was an invisible rope held by mischievous fairies tripping me up and flat on my face. I got back up, shook myself off, and continued with my day. 

I am a klutz - have been known to break bones because 
I've tripped over my own feet. Yesterday I got far too 
acquainted with the carpeting in the den - twice! 

But it happened a second time, this time in the late afternoon while preparing to walk upstairs and make dinner. This time DH was behind me, watching. I managed to bruise my right inner wrist (it's a lovely shade of blue with a red gash in it and it's quite swollen). I also scraped up my left exterior ankle, and I actually didn't realize I had done that until getting into my cross-legged position for meditation this morning. Maybe I've got it out of my system now. I hope so, it's disturbing to be so klutzy. 

I picked up a bale of straw at Home Depot on Friday, 
and wanted to get some of it placed around my 
strawberries over the weekend. I had my chance 
Sunday morning. 

 I started the day out at the grocery store with DH. We hadn't been able to come to a consensus about what to have for dinner, so needed to pick something up on the fly. We ended up with some tenderloin steaks, which I quickly put into a lime-garlic marinade to help tenderize the meat as soon as I returned home. After I had that going, I changed clothes and grabbed the wheelbarrow from the shed. Opening up my car's "trunk" I pulled out the bale of straw I had purchased on Friday. I swept out the detritus from the bale (the car still needs a serious vacuuming) and resolved to use a tarp if I end up needing to cart straw bales in the future. I then proceeded to put straw all around the strawberries in my little fenced-off section of the yard. I'll have to watch carefully and make sure moisture will still get through to the roots, but now the berries will be protected from the ground and they can ripen more easily. 

My little strawberry patch looks much happier now, 
with straw around the plants. DH is worried about 
them getting enough water through the straw, but 
I think they'll do just fine. I'll keep an eye on them, of 
course. But now I won't have to worry so much 
about the fruit being directly on the ground. 

DH found room for the remainder of the bale under the plastic tarp which covers his topsoil pile, so we're set until we need more straw in the late fall, to protect the berries over the winter months. We had been using fallen leaves (which we have in abundance in autumn), but the straw will be better for wintering the plants. This is their fourth year and it looks like I'll have a bumper crop. 

Last year's raspberry crop was wonderful, and 
DH thinks this year's might be even bigger. 
We let our raspberries grow wild, where they 
want, in a section of yard where they are 
totally out of the way. 

The raspberries are also looking like they'll be crazy this year. Last year's crop was insane, and this year's promises to be at least that good, maybe even better. I'm jumping into several weeks of WildFit Spring starting today, which means no fruit, just veggies and some protein. I'm glad I'm doing this now, not a month from now, and I'll still eat the occasional berry as they come ripe, because I'm not going to waste such wonderful fruit. 

I'm so totally and deliriously happy that the State Fair 
is on for this year. Sharon is already planning her 
flight out to visit and enjoy the Fair with us again. 
Life is starting to return to "normal" again, and I 
couldn't be happier. 

The word came through Saturday - the State Fair is on for this year. Ticket sales are opening today and I'm going to be getting my tickets this week, if I can. I need to figure out exactly how many tickets I need, and arrange for them. I'll have to buy our Blue Ribbon Savings books separately in August, when they become available for sale. 

We have an old rusty patio chair similar to this, 
but in what used to be a baby blue color. 
I want to strip the rust, solder a couple of holes 
in the framework, and repaint the chair with 
new Rustoleum spray paint. I'll have to think 
about what color I want. I know I DON'T 
want red or yellow, but teal or aqua might be nice. 

So here I am, in the beginning of summer, already planning for the end of the season. Crazy! I still have a lot to do before September, though. And there's this old metal yard chair that DH has challenged me to refinish ... I guess I'd better drop by the hardware store and see what colors are available in spray-on Rustoleum. It'll be a lot of work, but totally a fun challenge. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I start my day out today with my semi-annual check-up from my Dentist, which will be followed by DH and Chickie, both getting theirs checked at the same place in later appointments. I always have first thing in the morning when they open, DH is usually #2 or #3, sometimes Chickie is #2, sometimes she's #4. It's amusing that we group up like that, but it seems to work that way every time. Have a wonderful start to your week and I'll be back tomorrow. Stay safe, be kind and smile - it's going to be a great day.