Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends - Page 510

Anytime I hear of a random act of kindness it tends to restore my faith in mankind.  When it i performed by a member of your family it also makes you feel incredibly proud.

Hope's oldest son was 3 when I first meet him.  For several years he would spend very other weekend in my home and each summer.  When he was 12 he moved in full time.  So I would like to think I have influenced his upbringing.  Knowing what I do about his father, plus the fact that both he and his brother have told their mother that they want to be the kind of father I have been leads me to believe that I have had considerable influence.

Yesterday Hope and Roy were in line at the grocery store and a young mother with two small children was trying to pay for her cart full of groceries.  She swiped her debit card 4 times and each time it was rejected.  She claimed she couldn't understand why as she had just deposited more than sufficient funds in the account.

Her care of groceries were moved to the side and she stepped to the front of the store and began talking on her cell phone.  When Roy and Hope finished checking out he informed the cashier that he wanted to pay for the lady's groceries which came to $82 and change.

As he and his mother were leaving the store he hands the woman the receipt and tells her to have a nice day.  Without waiting for a reply he leaves the store before she could even get off her cell phone.

When Hope told me about it later I could help but feel humbed and proud.

I had just written several paragraphs and somehow sent them off into cyber space so I'll try again.

Today has been another good day.  Everyone I know and love is on the right side of the grass and that is reason enough to declare today to be another good one.  The heat has abated somewhat so that is another point in today's favor.  My lawn had turned to a field of straw with everything yellow and brown with the exception of the weeds.  The lack of water hasn't seem to have retarded their growth in the least.  We did get some rain a few days ago and the green returned almost immediately.  The grass came back so quickly that I had to mow yesterday.  One section of lawn receives water each time the garden is watered since I have the sprinkler set to go beyond the garden to reach my raspberries.  The grass from the garden to the berries grew so much that it was difficult to mow and I now need to rake up the "hay".

I've been wanted to float the lower Huron River and use my GPS to mark the holes and runs.  I figured that during low water conditions it would be ideal to do so.  That way once the water levels return this fall I can plan my drifts a little better.  However, with as hot as it has been spending the day sitting in a boat on the water had very little appeal.  Thursday the temperature is fore casted to only hit the low 70's.  Think I'd better try and take advantage in the lull. 

The news is talking about how gas prices rose 38 cents over the weekend and it has risen 60 cent in the last month.  Now they are talking about how they are now going to skyrocket.  My wallet already felt that the prices were already doing that. 

My garden is rather strange this year.  In spite of having planted twice the mustard failed to come up.  Cucumbers are doing half as well as last year.  The green beans haven't done well either and I doubt if I will harvest enough to bother with canning.  The hot dry weather seems to have had an adverse effect on them.  My tomatoes are a completely different story.  I had planted the rows 4' apart and they have grown so much that they have inter meshed.  I don't have a clue on how I'm going to pick them.  Butternut squash and cantaloupes also seem to be thriving on this hot weather.  They have spread out so much that if they don't ease up they will soon cover the entire plot.

For years I have used 60" cow panel to support my tomatoes.  However, before next year I am going to do some serious studying on how I might construct a support system so the each tomato plant can be wound around a single support line allowing it to grow upward.  I've done a little reading about pruning tomatoes so they have a single main stem and the idea intrigues me.

My oldest son once told me about a individual he visited that had all of his tomatoes in 5 gallon pails suspended 12' in the air.  Each plant came out the bottom of the pail.  The pails were all lidded and he had a drip irrigation system attached so that he could insure that a finite amount of water went directly to the roots of each plant.  His entire garden was covered with a large hoop structure ventilated in such manner as to allow him to control the temperature.  He planted his tomatoes on the 1st of March and was still harvesting tomatoes well into November. 

It seems there are many different methods available with each limited by the amount of energy and money you care to put into it. 

It nice to open this thread and find more people willing to log on to read and comment of the rambling of this old rooster.  I am truly a rich man.
 

Another morning started without any coons in the traps.  Maybe I have finally gotten them under control around here.  After catching 8 in 5 days the traps have remained empty.  A friend lives about 3 miles south of me.  Less than a week after telling me that they weren't a problem around his place, he lost his entire flock in one night. 

Yesterday while picking up a few groceries I found a fish that I had never saw before, Swai.  I'd never heard of it but the frozen fillets looked good.  Very light in color and the price was incredibly cheap.  Four fillets individually vacuum sealed in a 2 lb package was $6.  Since my fishing success has been so poor of late, and since it had been awhile since we've had fish for supper I thought why not try them. 

When I got home and googled them I discovered that they are a farm raised catfish from Vietnam.  I thawed 3 filets, cut each into 6 pieces and then coated the pieces with a lightly spiced cornmeal flour.  While they browned in hot oil, Hope fixed a batch of french fries.  Quick inexpensive meal but don't think you could have had better in any restaurant.  The fish was very mild and flaky and we will definitely be fixing them again.