Working and healing

Well, I've been working 30 ours a week as a hunting outfitter for Bass Pro Shops.  It's kind of fun.  Mostly, I help people pick out range finders, scopes, binoculars, and knives.  I am astounded every day by how much money people spend on hunting equipment.  But, I guess, if you are flying to Alaska to hunt moose, or to Kyrgyzstan to hunt ibex you don't want want to miss the shot because of not having the best possible equipment.  I enjoy my co-workers.  Politically, it is exactly opposite from working as a teacher.  Instead of gay pride flags and coexist stickers I am now surrounded by American flags and Don't Tread On Me stickers.

Yesterday, I accepted a job with a real estate/property management company.  I'll be serving notices, inspecting properties,  and showing vacant properties to potential tenants.  It is only about 20 hours a week but the hourly rate is jut insanely high.

My thumb is healing. The other day I saw my doctor and she took the cast off my arm and made a plastic brace for me instead.  It only covers my thumb and half my hand.  My left thumb is longer now.  And it barely moves.  I'm doing the exercises.  The doctor said It should be back to normal in 8 more weeks.

Radio, Part One

When I was a kid I travelled all over the country with my parents.  There were Bible conferences, conventions, board meetings, and sometimes a vacation and we almost always went by car.  The first long trip I remember taking was to Missouri when I was 4 or 5 years old.  We drove from Palo Alto, California to Springfield, Missouri where we visited Mammy, my dad's mother.  I don't remember much about the trip: her flowers, the manual water pump in the front yard.  Very green thick grass.  On that trip I remember hearing Paul Harvey on the radio.    I don't remember anything he talked about, but I remember hearing the sound of his voice two or three times a day while we were driving.  He always began his broadcasts with "Hello, Americans!" And I remember noticing that he always said the page numbers when he was reading the news.  I thought it was funny.  That trip was the beginning of my love for radio.  He read the news several times a day, did the famous "Rest of the Story" (though I didn't hear it on that trip to Springfield.  I remember hearing it on a later trip to Dallas Texas in 1978.) program, and commentaries.  Later, when I was a teenager, my parents gave me Paul Harvey's book.  I devoured it in one day and night.  He died about the same time my parents died.

Here is an example of his commentaries.  It is titled From Freedom to Chains.  (Is it any wonder I am a conservative today?)

The garden

The garden has had a rough go of it this year. We had aphids and thrips.  We have subterranean beetles that killed some tomato plants.  We had a cold and cloudy spring.   We had an outbreak of powdery mildew in June that damaged the cucumber flowers and resulted in less production.

The cure for powdery mildew is a mixture of vegetable oil, water, baking soda, and dish soap, but it is a cure for powdery mildew like radiation and chemotherapy are a cure for cancer; it hurts the patient almost as much as the disease.  So, now we have powdery mildew in the pumpkin vines, in the yellow summer squash, the butternut squash, and half of the cucumber vines.  Since it is so late in the summer I'm going to let the disease run its course, hoping to harvest before it kills the plants.  I think next spring I will treat the whole garden with copper sulfate and lay down barley straw as prophylactics.  (I tried the milk cure last year.  In my experience it does not work.)

Even with bug, weather, and disease working against us we have harvest a lot of food.   We planted more this year, and harvested less than last year, but it is still more than enough to eat all summer.  Not enough to pickle for the winter, but enough for now.  And that's okay.  I just hope I get those seven pumpkins in before the vines die.

A Pumpkin, Camps, Bones, and Jobs

Today's harvest from our garden

Today I harvested the first pumpkin from our garden; no easy feat with only one hand.  It makes be happy.

Basil, Kathleen, and her children have been camping up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the last 5 days; first at San Jose Family Camp then at Yosemite National Park.  I couldn't go with them because of job interviews.   I had an interview for a great job.  I am pretty sure I got the second interview.  And I was hired for a thank-God-I-got -the-job-offer-because-I-don't-have-anything-else job.  I start on the 27th.

I got a message from Anselm.  He's been working as a life guard and swimming instructor up at Camp Hi-Sierra all summer.  Somehow, he's managed to find the time to earn three merit badges when he was scheduled to work.  And, he's been having a lot of fun.

I was hoping that the hand was almost healed, its been over a moth since I broke it, but I saw the doctors the other day and was disappointed when they took off the cast just to put a new on on.  The cast and the pins holding the bones together will stay put for another month.   The good news is that even if the broken bone hasn't yet healed, at least, the dislocated carpals have stayed in place since the surgery.  The side of my toe is numb to the touch (nerve damage?) unless I bend it, in which case the bones hurts quite a bit.  I can hardly believe I broke both a hand and a toe.  How clumsy can one man be?

Judges

My Dad seems to have had two careers. Prior to 1977 he had one message, a message designed to advance his reputation in his denomination, as my older siblings can attest. I didn't hear it. I have but a few sermon notes from that period of his life. In 1985 he destroyed all his notes and sermons from that period of his life. After 1978 and the Jesus movement his message seemed to change. He preached a lot from Judges, 1st and 2nd Kings, the Gospel of John, and Ephesians after that. In my life I am constantly reminded of Judges and the sermons my Dad preached from that book; probably, not the best thing for a Christian. I should be beyond Judges at this point in my life with Christ. Nevertheless, right now, I am living in Judges 16:4-19. I hope I will live to see in my life Judges 16:28-29. There are no guarantees. Kyrie eleison.

First Aid Kits

Several injuries in the past month (I broke my hand a few weeks ago, I broke a toe yesterday, Kathleen got all scratched up in the pumpkin vines today, and a few other things.) have me thinking about the perfect first aid kit.  I looked on Amazon to see what they offer but they range from the almost useless (a red plastic case with five sizes of Band-Aids) to the simply bizarre (a very nice canvass bag containing gauze bandages, a Leatherman tool, and fishing hooks.)  Most of the first aid kits were very basic, and seem to anticipate getting the sick or injured person to a hospital within 5 minutes.  I think I can put together a better first aid kit.

This is what I think should be in a first aid kit.

- A triple antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin for minor abrasions and cuts and after-suture deep wound care. (Don't put it into to deep wounds.)
- A double antibiotic ointment to use on people who are allergic to neomycin, one of the antibiotics in triple antibiotics.
- Zinc-oxide cream for mild abrasions, rashes, chapped skin.  It increases the speed of healing.  It has some antibiotic properties but those are ancillary to the promotion of healing.  It is also used as a sunscreen but I don't know how effective it is.  What I do know is that my Mammy (my Dad's Mom) put it on every little scrape, rash, and cut I ever got.  Most Zinc Oxide creams come in 10% to 40% concentrations.  For example, Balmex is labeled for care of adults but only has 11%.  Desitin Maximum Strength, on the other hand, is marketed to parents of infants to treat diaper rash but it contains a 40% concentration of zinc oxide.  So, even though it has that funny smell I'd use Desitin Maximum Strength over other products of which I am aware. 
- Petroleum jelly.  A chemistry professor told me it is the same molecule our skin makes that causes our skin feel healthy, and if we have dry skin, probably, all we need is a little petroleum jelly.  (Ladies, don't waste money on expensive lotions.  Petroleum jelly is all you need.)
- A bar or bottle of pure soap.  In most cases you do not want to put antibiotics into deep wounds but you do want to clean out any dirt that is in them.  It is hard to find a pure soap. All soap needs to contain is oleic acid (usually from vegetable oil), potassium hydroxide (or sodium hydroxide), and water.  It is really difficult to find pure soap, even though almost all soaps you see for sale claim to be pure.  The best I have found in stores is Dr. Bronner's unscented.  For the first aid kit I recommend a small bottle of the liquid, just because it is hard to keep the bar soap sterile after it has been used.

- Adjustable arm slings.  Sometimes you need to elevate and immobilize your hand because you've fallen while feeding humming birds and have broken your hand.  

- Instant cold packs for breaks, sprains, or anything else that is swelling.  You can make your own, but it is easier to just buy them.
- Benadryl liquid, Zyrtec pills, and epinephrine to treat histamine reactions to things such as pollen, poison oak, and bee stings.
- Sterile pads for bandaging minor wounds.
- Cervical collar for immobilizing the neck.

- Adhesive bandages of various sizes.

- A few rolls of gauze.
- Clotting pads, Israeli bandages, and a tourniquet kit to stop bleeding.  You might be asking, why a tourniquet kit when all you need is a stick and two shoe laces to make a tourniquet?  Well, then just put those in a plastic bag, label it "TOURNIQUET" and put it in your first aid kit.

- Bottle of alcohol.

- Bag cotton balls.
- Penlight or other small flashlight

- Butterfly bandages for closing small but deep cuts.
- Sutures for closing big wide wounds.  You'll have to use veterinary sutures because human sutures can only be sold to licensed physicians. (It's a stupid law.)  But don't worry, they are still very high quality. (Watch a video on how to use them before you need to use them.)
- Hemostasis forceps for stopping bleeding while suturing.  Lets hope you never need more than three or four.
- Needle holder

- Scalpel handles and blades
- Inflatable splints to immobilize broken arms and legs.
- Kocher tweezers
- Medical scissors for cutting bandages and clothes
-A topical anesthetic for when suturing is necessary.
- Motrin, aspirin, and tylenol (one bottle of each) to control pain, fever, and inflammation.
- Though it might sound like something out of an old movie or a Sherlock Holmes novel, smelling salts are useful and should be included in the kit. They can mask a concussion but there are times when a person needs to be awake and alert to move away from danger or to help.
- Ace bandages to support sprained/broken ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows.

- A squeeze bottle of distilled water for cleaning wounds.
- Mylar emergency blanket and sugar cubes for treating hypothermia.  (FYI: When I took the California hunter education course a few years ago I learned that more hunters die from hypothermia than from gunshots.)
- It might be too big to fit in a reasonably sized first aid kit but a neck brace might be a good thing to have around after a serious fall or a car crash.
- Duct tape.  Because it works better than surgical tape.

That, just off the top of my head, is what belongs in a first aid kit.

Something that absolutely does not belong in a first aid kit is a snake bite venom extraction kit.

A Broken Hand, Powdery Mildew, and a Door

I broke my hand on June 20.  It happened when I fell off a step ladder while filling Kathleen's humming bird feeders.  I think I, probably, would not have broken my hand had I not attempted to avoid landing on the mop bucket.  But I did.  And I fell hard on my extended left hand and it broke.  I I knew it was hurt but I didn't know it was broken until 10 days later when I went to the doctor.  Then, on July 5 I had surgery to pin the bones back in place.  It is now 21 days since I broke it, and 7 days since surgery, and it still hurts pretty bad.  They gave me hydrocodone but I am taking 1/2 of what is prescribed for each day because I dislike the side effects.  I have no idea how anyone becomes addicted to opiates.  It's just a yucky feeling.  So I'm taking a lot of ibuprofin and gritting my teeth.

Basil Wenceslas, who at13 years is taller and stronger than I, came over today and helped me do some things I can't do because of my hand.   We went to Home Depot to get a sprayer.  It's a HDX 2 gallon hand pump sprayer.  My son used it to treat the pumpkins and squash for powdery mildew.  The infection was pretty bad but we caught it before there was much damage.  We put 1 quart of vegetable oil, 1 cup of baking soda, and a table spoon of dish washing liquid in to the sprayer, filled it the rest of the way with water, then sprayed it all over he infected plants.

Then, when that was done, Basil and I rehung the door to the room beneath the stairs.  It was fun.  I taught him how to repair the door with wood putty. Then he used my new German screwdrivers to hang the door on the hinges.  It makes me happy to see him doing and learning new things.

9 Good Books About History Any High School Student Should Read

I am worried by how little the young people with whom I am acquainted know about the past, even my own sons.  This lack of knowledge has been demonstrated recently as people in the United States have been busy taking down statues of the U.S. Presidents, early explorers, and Civil War generals., and unfairly criticizing Catholic missionaries (They can be fairly criticized for other things.),  Just a few ays ago the school board in San Francisco decided to cover up some 80 year old murals that have become a casus belli for the mis-educated.   The murals were painted by a communist-leaning painter who's work was a criticism of westward expansion, slavery, and the idolization of George Washington  but some modern viewers think the work is doing the opposite; glorifying slavery, westward expansion, and George Washington.  This is just craziness.  It is as though these removers of statues, paintings, and street names have never read what Moses wrote about Noah: He was righteous in his generation.  From our modern point of view he was a drunk.  But he was the best it was possible for a man to be in his generation. I doubt that you or I would have been as righteous had we been his contemporaries.  Yet, the statue removers are judging Presidents and explorers by todays societal norms. (Not to be confused with God's unalterable Law.  That never changes and we are all violators of it.)

 To help with this situation I have put together a list of books that will relate facts of history, show how historians do their work, and also demonstrate why history is important.  The list covers several different countries, different kinds of events, and different times.  It is in no particular order.

1.  The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen.  This British author mines the written accounts of people who lived through the Inquisition.

2.  The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson.  What caused the civil war?  Why was it necessary?  How did some of the people who fought the war think about it?

3. The Old West.  This series of books tells the stories of the American West, which is are the stories of the making of modern America. (As a Californian I might be biased.)  Of all the books I am recommending the volumes of this set are the only ones that, I think, might be a stretch for high school students;  they assume a lot of prior knowledge, and the writing style of some of the essays is pretty dry.  But I am including them because they cover so many different experiences and a lot of different points of view.

4.  The Histories by Herodotus.  The first book that we can think of as a modern history.   It tells the history of events that happened in living memory, discloses sources, and expresses the doubts the author has about his sources, ("that's what they say but I don't believe them.").  Interestingly, this book explained not only why the Persians lost when they waged war on the Greeks but also foretold why the Germans would lose both World Wars.

5. A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hansen.  Lately, Hansen, who is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, has become a political columnist but this book is not like his columns, it is history based on all the primary sources; of course, Thucydides, but also Andocides, Aristophanes, and Plato. It is eminently readable.

6.  A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer  might seem old and out of date at first (it was published in the 1920s), and it does not always agree with what the Bible says about certain ancient events, and it says more about prehistory than a history book should.  Nevertheless, it is a vey good survey of all the important events on the globe up to the beginning of the 20th century.

7.  Adams'  Synchronological Chart or Map of History by Spencer Adams can best be thought of a a graphic representation of everything people have ever done.  It shows changes in royal dynasties, church councils, the emergence of new nations, the decline of old nations, the line from Adam to Jesus, and much much more.  I can not recommend this highly enough.

8.  History of the World Map by Map is a good idea that is beautifully rendered and mostly accurate.  My own introduction to history was in the Bible and the maps in the back pages of that Bible; the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel and The Missionary Journeys of St. Paul are the names of two of the maps I can remember.  Those maps were very important in helping me understand what was printed in the text.  Later, when I was 8, my mother gave me a map of Civil War Battlefields.  I don't even think I knew what the Civll War was when she gave me the map, but on that map I saw the names Shiloh (a battle so horrible the people of that town refused to fly the American flag for 83 years), Chickamauga (27 thousand killed or seriously wounded in 3 days of fighting) , and Gettysburg (where the tide was turned) for the first time.  History, whether Biblical, American, or world happened on the surface of the Earth; and to a large degree, the features of that surface dictated the events of history. History of the World Map By Map is a set of 140 annotated maps that explain most of the major events in the story of mankind by showing where they happened.

9. A Renaissance Tapestry: The Gonzaga of Mantua by Kate Simon.  The ancient Romans taught their children the history of Rome by teaching them the histories of their own families.  Similarly, Simon teaches her readers the history of the Italian Renaissance by teaching them the history of one family who lived through it.  It is beautiful and engaging.  And proof that even in modern times,  when university professors dominate historical writing, amateurs can still write gorgeous history.

Fatherhood and the Garden

In 9 hours Anselm leaves for Camp Hi-Sierra where he will be working all summer. He is driving himself  (n the car he bought with his own money earned from working at Starbucks.) up into the mountains. I'm worried. I keep reminding myself that when I was his age (17) I had thrown hand grenades, jumped out of towers, and survived a barracks brawl. But I'm still worried about him driving into the Sierras by himself.  It seems like just yesterday I was having to correct his behavior in restaurants.  How did he get so old so fast?

In other news, I pulled out that yellow pear tomato plant.  In its place I planted 6 butternut squash seeds.  I know it's kind of late but, I think, we should be able to harvest them in the first week of November, before it gets too cold..  It will, I hope, make good soup.

A squirrel got one of the smaller pumpkins.  I wish that hawk would come back.

Also, Kathleen wanted a tomato plant in a washtub that has a couple of sunflower in it.  (Basil had planted some carrot tops in the tub back in February but when I pulled them up last week they looked like crazy misshapen mutant carrot creatures from Mars.)  So I planted a Bonnie Original.  It is about 15 inches tall and already has some flowers on it.

The Garden

Today's Harvest

A cucumber arch

The garden is going well.  We started to have some good tomato harvests.  Kathleen loves the little sun gold tomatoes.  I think she stops in the garden each morning on the way to the gymn to pick a couple.  The little yellow pear shaped tomatoes are soft and fleshy. We don't like them very much.  I'll probably use the canner Kathleen gave me at Christmas and make them into tomato sauce.  The romas taste like I imagine Italy: Rich and warm and friendly.  We have other varieties growing but I don't know what they are since that kid removed all the signs.

We have been eating yellow squash for a few days but last night a squirrel got into the plant and ate what we were going to pick today.  You'll remember that I planted several seeds but only one came up.  So a couple of days ago Kathleen and I went to a nursery to buy some green house-started summer squash plants.  They wee sold out so we bought zucchini.  We didn't have any room left in the planter boxes so we planted them in big pots.   I think I am starting to regret not planting any butternut or acorn squash this year. 

The cucumber vine survived the thrips.  Sadly, the cucumbers on the vine were shriveled and had to be composted.  But there are lots and lots of new flowers on the vine so there will be plenty of cucumbers later.  Oh!  Speaking of cucumbers:  We have been watching a British gardner named Monty Don on Netflix, and have followed his advice to "cram them in there".  So, between some of our tomato plants we planted more cucumber vines.  They came up last Saturday, and yesterday we used rebar and garden hose to make arches for them to climb. Altogether, we have 11 cucumber vines growing amongst the tomatoes in the three raised beds.  I foresee a lot of pickles in our future.  Oh, that reminds me:  The dill is taller than I am now.

The marigold seeds I planted never came up.  I'm a little bit disappointed by that.  The camomile seeds I planted around the onions sprouted but most of the seedlings died in the heat of the last three days.  Speaking of onions; Kathleen talked me into pulling one up a few days ago to see if they were ready to harvest.  It was still small, about the size of a large head of garlic.  But I used it with butter and herbs de provence to cook some squash and it was marvelous.  I do not think I have ever tasted a better onion.

We had an infestation of spider mites so last week we released 3,000 ladybugs in the garden.  They ate all the spider mites in two days and flew away to find more food.  Only one tomato plant seems to have been seriously damaged.  We caught the pests just in the nick of time.  Ladybugs might be my favorite bugs.

We haven't seen many pollinators in the garden.  A few carpenter bees.  A few wasps.  I think I've only seen 2 butterflies.  Only one honey bee.  no mason bees.  I think I might have seen one bumble bee.  It is worrisome.  Next February, I think, I'll buy a bunch of bumble bee queens and set them loose in the neighborhood.  Maybe, I can get a good population going.

The pumpkin patch is going crazy!  Its only June and we are trying to figure out what to do with the vines.  There are two vollyball-sized pumpkins and several softball sized pumpkins, and many many female flowers which, I hope, will grow into pumpkins.  It is growing in the bit of ground my youngest son and I broke up a few months ago.

The Pumpkin Patch

 The ground is mostly dense clay.  To that we added some of our compost and an ammonia & phosphate fertilizer.  I know, some people will freak out that it isn't organic, but ammonia is a naturally occurring molecule and phosphate is dug out of the ground, so I am not worried.  We also have some red onions and volunteer beets and tomatoes, growing in the patch but I think the pumpkin vines are going to take their share of the sunlight pretty soon.  None of the sunflowers I planted along the wooden fence at the back of the patch came up.

I also planted a pepper seed in one of the raised beds.  It sprouted and is now about 8 inches tall.  But I can't remember if it is bell pepper or jalapeño pepper.  Either way, I'll be happy at harvest time.

Abraham., Isaac, and Jacob

Every day I see my Dad's wedding ring on my hand. He was married to one woman from the age of 21 to the age of 82. (83?)

Every day I see my son's medals (thrice decorated for bravery in combat) on the wall.

There has been a parade of women in my life. My time in the army was honorable but not distinguished.

I feel like Isaac stuck between Abraham and Jacob.

The Woman at the Well, Gardening

2,000 years ago St Photini met Jesus at Jacob's well.  She was living with a man to whom she wasn't married.  Jesus said go and sin no more.  Where did she go?  Did she become homeless?  We know from other sources that she had two children.  Did she make them homeless, too?  Did she have any responsibilities to the man who sheltered her?  All of these questions are left unanswered in the Bible.  To mix history with a parable, are all of these things the thorns Jesus talked about in the Parable of the Sower.  (June 25 Update:  Whoops!  I conflated the woman at the well with the woman caught in adultery.  I hate when I do stuff like that.)

This has been a cold and wet May.  In fact, at 3:30 p.m. today it was 58 degrees and raining.  I heard this is the coldest wettest may since 1949.  I believe it.  Last year we were gathering baskets full of tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash by mid-May.  It has been so cool and cloudy all spring that, as of yesterday, we've only picked three tomatoes and three squash.   This afternoon I planted camomile seeds around the onions.  (Whenever I think think of the word camomile I am reminded of this story.) I planted English daisies at the feet of the sunflowerrs, which are not blooming yet because there is no sun.  And I planted marigolds at the end of one of the tomato beds.  They should all germinate in 5 to ten days.  One of the cucumber vines and one of the pumpkin vines were infested with thrips.  I used an organic pesticide on them but I am worried it will harm the bees, butterflies, and lady bugs.

Welding, gardening, job update, and a list of things I'd like to do

Today is a big day for Son #3 (aka the little boy aka Anselm).  He takes his welder certification test.  He has many hours of practice behind him and his instructor says he's ready.  So, hopefully, tonight he will be an AWS certified welder.

The garden is doing okay.  Lots of squash, cucumber, and tomatoes are growing but everything seems kind of slow this year.  Too many cloudy days.  I have learned the big advantage of raised planter boxes:  No snails.  We have no snails in the boxes but the one plot of dirt that we broke up for the garden - well, it is a constant battle against snails.  Before I figured out where they were hiding (in the leaf litter) they did a lot of damage.  Now I go out every morning before work and kill them.  The population is much reduced and the plants are doing well.  The grapevines are just crazy huge.  There have been some big black bumblebees in the garden.  They make me happy.

I have an interview for a job in the city traffic department next week.  I'm pretty excited about it.  It isn't a lot of money but it is enough money.  Also, it is low stress.   Really, enough money and low stress sounds pretty good to me. 

I don't know if it's just me, or if everyone is like this.  I seem to need to be working toward something big or else I feel discontent.  Ever since I decided to not be a teacher and give up on the the teaching credential and the M.Ed. degree I have felt kind of rudderless.  I've spent more of my adult years in school than out of school so I've been feeling like I don't have a purpose.  That's an exaggeration, I mean I know "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever" so I'm not talking about any thing that big, more like "what am I going to do right now".

So, I'm making a list.

1. Help my son get a fictitious business name, insurance, and a business license.
2. Help Kathleen roll over her 403(b) into self-directed IRA.
3. Finally use my veterans benefits to buy a 4-plex in Sacramento, Fresno, Sonora, or Modesto. (A few years ago I got approved for a 6 unit building but my wife at the time kind of freaked out over it so we didn't buy it.)
4. Take the motorcycle licensing safety class.
5. Build a raised bed in a partly-shady area of the garden for blackberries.

That's probably enough.

Resignation and Paskha

I resigned from my job today.  I am not cut out for either middle school or science.  I'll stay there till the end of the school year but next year, I hope, I'll be teaching history in a high school.  I've had to work late every night this week preparing lab activities for the next day. (You have no idea how much prep work goes in to teaching 150 middle school students how to potassium hydroxide from charcoal then test its pH.)  I've missed all the Holy Week services.  All of them.  Well, its 10:30 at night.  I got the paskha cheese in the flower pot and the pot in the fridge.  Good night.

Spring Break

The week that is just now ending is my school district's spring break.  So, I took the boys, Anselm and Basil on a road trip to the Grand Canyon.  At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday we left San Jose, heading south on U.S. Highway 101.  Our first destination was the cemetery in Paso Robles where their oldest brother is buried.  Every time I go to his grave I find flowers, or beer, or a flag someone has left there.  This time was no exception.  There was a flag left by someone.  I don't know who. 

We prayed for Billy and then ate sandwiches I had prepared for the journey. The sandwiches were tri-tip I had grilled with a garlic/salt/black pepper rub on Monday, dijon mustard, blue cheese from Point Reyes, and pickled peppers on an Acme sour baguette.

From Paso Robles we drove east on state road 46.  Its the road James Dean died on. Our destination , on the other side of the San Joaquin Valley, was Bakersfield.

In Bakersfield we stopped at the church my Dad built in 1953.  It was good to tell my boys about their grandfather and show him one of his accomplishments.  I told related to them a sermon I heard him preach in the 1970s in which he told about having a nervous breakdown while pastoring there.  It head to do with a self winding watch.  While he was strapped to the hospital bed he couldn't move and the watch stopped running.  The point he made in the sermon I heard, and what I related to my sons was that the Christian life requires exercise.  If we do not exercise the faith God gives us it won't do what it is supposed to to.

From Bakersfield we drove over Tehachapi Pass  and across the Mojave Desert on 58.  We stopped in Barstow, passed the giant boron mine and 20-Mule Team Road, got stuck in a sand storm and had to pull over at a rest stop, then into Nevada. It was the first time Basil had been out of California.

Just across the state line we took a little detour down a side road, pulled over, took out a rifle, and shot at a red solo cup about 40 yards way.  I  guess we went through about 100 rounds.  It was fun but we had to keep going so we hopped back in the car and headed to Las Vegas.

We checked into our hotel, The Eastside Cannery, dropped of our bags, put the rifle in their safe, then went to the big Bass Pro Shops on Las Vegas Boulevard where we saw a sturgeon leap out of a tank and taxadermied everything, even a giraffe.  We took advantage of the more relaxed legal environment of Nevada and bought a bunch of ammo.  I bought several boxes of buckshot while Anselm bought 1,000 rounds of .22 hollow points.

Then we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I hadn't been to a Cracker Barrel since the mid 1980s.  It was the boy's first time.   Of course, I had chicken livers and I introduced the boys to hashbrown casserole.  I think they fell in love.

The next morning we checked out about 7, went to the Longhorn for a breakfast of pancakes and country fried steak, then on to Hoover Dam.  We wanted to go on the tour but they wouldn't let us park the car because of the rifle in the car. (I called the White house to complain about that.)  So we just went on our way.

In Kingman, Arizona we stopped for a while and went to the Route 66 Museum. (Yes, I know. I've talked about Route 66 before.) and looked at some turquoise jewelry.  I really wanted a Navajo-made bolo tie but I din't want it as much as they wanted to charge for it.

Then we headed to the Grand Canyon.  On the way, as the terrain turned from desert to forest, we hit a hail storm.  The hail was blowing across the highway like snakes. We checked into the Yavapai Lodge, then went a looked at the canyon.  Then it started snowing.  While walking around on the top of the canyon we saw many elk, some were just a few feet away from us, one big cow was close enough to touch, but we were smart enough not to try.  After a looking at the canyon and going to the geological museum we went back to the lodge were we ate elk for supper.  It was good.

The next morning we checked out at 6:30 and began the drive home.  We stopped in Kingman again, but this time to eat breakfast at another Cracker Barrel, where I bought divinity and a pecan log for Kathleen's children.  As we approached the Colorado River we took a little detour up to Golden Shores to buy gasoline before crossing into California and having to pay much higher tax.

One of the fun things about this trip was seeing all the trains.  Some of them had 5 or six engines and a hundred or more cars.  Most of the cars were flatbeds loaded with containers nearing the names of big ship lines such as Cosco and Maersk.  I guess they had been offloaded at the Port of Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles and were bound for all points east.  I encouraged Basil to think about becoming a locomotive engineer since the best training program for that career is right here in California, and it is a perfect job for people who don't enjoy having to interact with a lot of people.  I hope he gives it serious consideration.

We didn't drive all the way over to Hwy 101 but turned north at Interstate 5 (Lots of new orchards have been planted.!) so the boys could see Harris Ranch (aka Cowschwitz) where their food comes from, and then went over the Diablo Mountains at Pacheco Pass.  It was late so we didn't stop at Casa de Fruta.  We were home before midnight.

Scouting and Gardening

Anselm Samuel (aka the little boy) turned 17 two days ago.  Its hard to believe that that same little boy who used to race snails after the rain now towers over me, is a high school graduate (two years early) works full time,  and goes to college part time, has his drivers license, and is progressing through his welding certificate requirements.

After the divorce he lost interest in scouting for a couple of years. I guess it was hard with me not having a place to live near him.  I don't know.  And when he got back involved he didn't want to do the stuff required for advancement, he just wanted to go to troop meetings and go on all the camping trips.  But last spring her really jumped back into it with both feet.  All last summer he worked as a life guard at Camp Hi-Sierra, became a patrol leader in his troop,  and decided to go for Eagle Scout rank. He was awarded Star Scout rank a couple of days before his birthday and has to advance two more ranks before he turns 18, which is the cut-off age for earning Eagle.  So, he went by the Scout store yesterday and bought all the books, got his Scout Master to sign off on the forms, has contacted the merit badge counselors and has begun work on the remaining merit badges.  Its going to be a lot of work, and he has no time to goof off.  I hope he can do it.

The garden is doing well.  We lost two tomato plants; the Cherokee Purple and a Big Boy.  Kathleen really likes the little yellow tomatoes so I replaced the dead plants with Yellow Pear and Sungold.  Altogether we have 11 tomato plants.  It looks like the summer squash has decided to come up.  4 of the five seeds I planted have sprouted.  None of the sunflowers have come up.  The parsnips, onions, and carrots are doing okay, I guess.  It's hard to tell since they grow underground.   In other news, a red-tailed hawk has begun perching on top of the oak tree behind the garden.  I heard his (her?) cry when I was planting tomatoes.  WOW!  it is loud!  Other than that one cry the only evidence of it's presence is an absence of squirrels and, every few days, a scattering of pigeon feathers in the garden.

Banana Bread

I slept in until 10 o'clock this morning.  When I awoke Kathleen was gone.  So I started in on a couple of baking projects.  The first was a berry pie.  I used strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. And I put a top crust on it.  This bight sound silly, but I think that the crust is the best part of most pies.  When the pie was in the oven I set to work making banana bread.  It was the first time I had made banana bread since I helped my Mother make it when I was just 15 or 16 years old.

My recipe (adapted from someone else's)

2 cups of flour (I could find my measuring cup so I used a pint jar)
1/4 pound butter (softened)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas
2 AA large eggs
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F.   butter a 5" X 9"  baking pan.  Cream the brown sugar and butter together.  Add the eggs and mix them into the butter and brown sugar.  Next stir in the mashed bananas.   in another bowl mix the salt, flour, and baking soda.  Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture.  Stir it thoroughly, until you can not see any white flour.  Pour in the chopped walnuts and stir until evenly distributed.  Pour the batter into the baking pan, put it in the oven for 65 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before slicing it.

Kathleen came home just as I was putting the bread in the oven.  So we had just enough time to run to the nursery.  We bought a bunch of plants.  Tomato varieties include Big Boy, Cherokee Purple, Early Girl, Sungold Cherry, and Husky Cherry Red.  We also got some cucumber and rosemaries.

We got home just as the bread was coming out of the oven.  Kathleen's niece is staying with us right now so she was keeping an eye on it while we were at the nursery.  I turned the banana bread out to cool and then went out to the garden. 

We harvested all the garlic, planted all the tomatoes, cucumbers,

Holding up some garlic

 and rosemaries ( I use a lot of rosemary in the kitchen so we really needed more than the one plant we already had.)  we bought today. Kathleen also transplanted the onions I started indoors a few weeks ago. 

I am a bit worried about the squash seeds I planted in the ground last week.  I don't yet see any sprouts.  I think I might need mix in some better soil and reseed.  The parsnips are looking really good.

Some of the tomato plants

I wasn't feeling well in my stomach so, though I cooked dinner for Kathleen, her niece, and her kids, I didn't eat.  After dinner some neighbor kids came over to play games.  They ate the berry pie.  I had a little slice, too.  It was good.  The banana bread is still resting on the counter top.  Kathleen said something about taking it to her dad's house tomorrow.

The Redwoods

Today Basil and Kathleen and I drove over the hill to Felton and Henry Cowell State Park. (I have been  there many times with my boys over the years). 

Deer on Meadow Trai

Matt and Basil 

There were lots of deer. I thought we wouldn't see any because Oliver the pit bull was with us but there they were.  Lots and lots of them.  We went on two different trails, we only saw the deer on the Meadow Trail.  The Redwood Grove Trail has too many people and not as much grass.

Kathleen at the Opening

On the Redwood Grove Trail we passed the Fremont Tree.  There is a plaque.  Kathleen crawled inside it, to where he slept. that night. In addition to being a famous California explorer,  John Fremont bears the distinction of being the first U.S. army general to free slaves during the Civil War.

A strange thing we saw on the Redwood Grove Trail is that the park administration changed the bronze labels on the big giant slice of redwood tree at the trailhead.   It has some new labels (the founding of an Aztec city) but is missing a lot of others, such as the tree sprouting during the reign of Emperor Justinian,  which I mentioned seeing in 2008.  It is very strange.

After the two trails we went to our favorite grocery store.  It merged with a larger grocery store chain a few years ago but the owners didn't like the direction of the new larger market.  They were were bringing in a lot more factory made food and losing the connection to local farmers.  So the owners of the original New Leaf Market stores in Felton and Boulder Creek pulled out of the company.  Sadly, they had lost the right to use the name.  Now they are called Wild Roots Market.  It's as good as ever.  I got some fennel, carrots, and cheese to take home and prepare for lunch.

After saying midday prayers, Basil helped me cook lunch.  Then we worked in the garden.  While I turned the compost piles he planted carrot tops in a big wash tub full of soil.  Sadly, the sunflowers I transplanted last week did not survive.

Ski Week

This is Tuesday of what people in this part of California call ski week. All the schools are closed for the week and many people drive up unto the mountains to go skiing.  I am not.  Mosly, I am working around the house.  Yesterday I rehung a door that was falling off its hinges,  Then my boys came over and I made dinner of roast beef threaded with bacon.  I also made bread pudding.  I couldn't eat it but everyone else loved it.  That made me happy.  After dinner we played board games.

Basil spent the night.  We woke up, said morning prayers, then Kathleen made us ommletts for breakfast.  After that we wend to the nursery to see if they had any tomato plants.  They didn't.  So we bought a couple of bags of potting soil and some flower seeds.

When we got home we dug out a new bed for sunflowers and pumpkins.  Its about 4 yards by 3 yards.  We also planted some flowers, and got the three raised beds ready for planting.  There are a couple of cold nights predicted this week but I think it will be safe to put the seedlings (onions, sunflowers, and zinnias) I started 3 weeks ago out in the Earth. 

After we dug the new bed (it was hard work.  Nothing had grown in that soil for 20 years since it was covered in 3 inches of crushed granite.) Basil went somewhere with his mom and I came in to get supper started.  I am baking a meat pie.  It is from last nights left over roast beef and bacon. I added one diced onion, two diced potatoes, 3 cloves minced garlic, allspice, black pepper, salt, shredded cheese, and mushrooms. And it is all in a pastry shell. 

I taught Kathleen's kids how to make ice cream 3 nights ago.  I think I am their favorite person right now.

I have run out of money to pay for National University's tuition.  So, it looks like I am going to be out of their internship program in a couple of weeks.  I don't know if the school district will be able to keep me on as a teacher without me being in an accredited internship program.  Well, I can't make $6,000 appear out of thin air.  I really wish I had never embarked on this road but had remained a substitute teacher.  As it is now, I owe tens of thousands of dollars for a program I will never finish.  Oh well, at least, my debts can't be inherited by my children. In the meantime, I have begun looking for other work. 

Formal Evaluation

This is the first day of my winter break from school.  It is one o'clock in the afternoon and I haven't done anything other than walk the dog. (Have I mentioned that we have a pit bull named Oliver who lives with us now?)   Now I think I'll wrap the last few presents and do some last minute baking for the people in my parish.  I'm taking the boys to confession tonight.  I'm still not able to go.  Its been about three years since I've been able to go to confession or communion.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I had my formal evaluation at work yesterday.  My boss said they love me and not to worry about the person from the district who says i am a lousy teacher.  She said the whole school has been talking about the experiments and demonstrations I've been running in my classes.

Maple Pecan Pie

Well, just one more week to go until the semester is over.  I mean the semester at work, not National University.  I think, that was over a couple of weeks ago.  I just have zero desire to do anything for them anymore.  Kathleen says its just a hoop invented to make it difficult to become a teacher and that I shouldn't make a big deal out of it, but I do.  But work is going well.  The lactic acid and yeast experiments are doing what they are supposed to do,  and next week  I'll do lessons on emulsions and sub-zero water culminating in ice cream.  That ought to be fun.

Today was a very fun day.  I picked Basil, my youngest son up at his mom's house at 9 this morning and, after morning prayers, we cooked all day.  We made 20 pounds of Christmas sausage,  a gallon of beef/pork stock for soups (I freeze it in plastic bags), two green bean and onion pies for Kathleen to take to her sisters Christmas party tonight, a roast beef for Kathleen's kids to make into sandwiches for their lunches at school next week, and a maple pecan pie.  The nice thing about this last pie is that it is like the sausage and beef stock:  It can be frozen for future use.

When I took Basil home a few minutes ago we drove around his neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights on all the houses.

In other news, I am back on the wagon.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to stop drinking again but I have. 




Maple Pecan Pie Recipe

9-inch pastry pie crust
3 cups pecan halves
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour
3 large eggs. at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup grade-A dark amber maple syrup
1 tsp non-iodized salt


Bake the pie crust at 350F for 15 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and let cool.  You will be tempted to skip this step.  Do not skip this step.  If you do you will be sorry.
Put the pecans in the pie crust and set aside.
Melt the butter but let it cool a little before you do anything with it.
In a small mixing bowel whisk together the brown sugar, salt, flour, vanilla extract, and maple syrup.
Add the melted but somewhat cooled butter to the mixing bowl and whisk it together with the other ingredients.
Add the three eggs to the mixing bowl and whisk them together with the other ingredients.
Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the pie crust.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes in the lower half of the oven.  When the pie has been in the oven 20 minutes tent it with aluminum foil so it doesn't get too brown on top.

Off the wagon

I went off the wagon today.  Actually, I have a big glass of whisky in hand as I write this.
It was miserable.  I was miserable.
I was told last week by my observer from National University that I am the "worst teacher on the planet".  I was told by my Consulting Teacher from the district that I am a horrible teacher.   (In both cases the main complaint is that I lecture too much, teach above grade level, and don't have my students doing anything.  By "doing" they mean anything other than reading, listening, and answering questions on tests.  They really hate tests.)
All morning and afternoon I was miserable.  I am supposed to write "reflections" on my lesson plans.  (I thought they were really good lessons:  water density experiments, oxidation experiments, bread mold [apparently the district doesn't want students exposed to mold], Linnaean taxonomy, making and exploding gunpowder, cellular respiration [seriously, how are you supposed to teach that without also talking about atomic theory?], etc).  But I did nothing all day today.  Now I am making fruitcakes.  And a bunch of the bourbon whiskey that was supposed to go into the fruitcakes wound up in me and, suddenly, I am happy again.  I had forgotten how good this feels.  Well, I suck.  If I hadn't invested $30,000 in this program at National University I would quit it today.
The only good thing about this day, a Saturday, is that this morning I delivered the Advent calendars to my sons and to Kathleen's kids. And I said morning prayers.  And I like Oliver the dog.

The night before Thanksgiving.

I am baking pies.  The cranberry walnut pies.  I'm also making pecan pies since they are Kathleen's

daughter's favorite.  It makes me happy to make food for people.  Kathleen and her kids are going to Livermore to be with her brother's family tomorrow.  My sons are going to be with me.  Anselm has to work until 5 pm. (He got a job at Starbucks.) so I didn't want to to go to the Cathedral and then to Livermore as we had planned.   I am waiting until Anselm gets off work then having Thanksgiving dinner with my boys.  I'm pretty excited about it. I got a smallish turkey, yams, cranberries, potatoes, and a few other things.  I'm very happy to be making my Mom's cranberry salad.  I don't think I've had it since the Thanksgiving before she died.

In other news, we've had a dog for about two weeks.  It's an old pit bull named Oliver.  Kathleen got him from the dog pound.  He seems to hate everyone but us.  I am surprised by how gentle he is with Kathleen's kids.  They are pretty rough with him but he is very patient. 

Sausage, a Praying Mantis, and Fruit Cake

This was a very busy day.  At church today I cooked lunch.  Father Basil was gone but there was still a big crowd.  I cooked super hot cajun sausage and cut it up and put toothpicks in it for an appetizer.  Then I had a couple of big trays of bratwurst and polish sausages in sauerkraut, and then a huge platter of Italian sausage in caramelized onions.  Someone else made dessert, and someone else made a salad, and someone else made mashed potatoes.  It was a good meal for the last Sunday before the start of the Nativity fast.

Kathleen is so pretty.  Is it wrong to feel pride when she goes to church with me?  I feel like I got the pretty girl.

After church I dropped Anselm Samuel off at work then picked up Basil at his mother's house (it used to be my house) and we went and worked in the garden.  He pulled out the last of the summer squash vines, cut them up and put them in the compost bin, and helped me plant radishes.  It might be too late in the year to try for radishes.  We'll see how it goes. 

We watched a huger praying mantis hunting.  It spied a flower stalk covered in aphides from about 15 feet away and slowly moved toward it, and up it, and began feasting on the aphids.  It was fun to watch.   I am pretty amazed that it saw the aphids from so far away.

After working in the garden we set to work making fruitcakes.   The first time I made fruit cake was 10 years ago.  It is hard to believe the time goes by so quickly.  I didn't cause any explosions this year but I did burn the hair off the back of my hand when the whiskey in the oven flashed.  Basil and I made 12 fruitcakes.  We'll make more throughout the month and give them away on Christmas.

It has been a long day and I have a hundred fifty kids to teach tomorrow.  Goodnight.

This and That

This morning I took out the tomato vines.  There were lots of green tomatoes but the days are too short and cool so they weren't getting ripe.  I planted garlic in their place.  Then I emailed an assignment to a professor.  I am taking a break from grad school now until I finish this internship.  Lots of paper I have to write while doing it.  No way to work on a masters degree at the same time.

Last weekend we harvested most of the squash and took those vines out.  Parsnips, carrots, and radishes were planted in their place.  There is still one acorn squash and two spaghetti squash ripening.  Maybe another week before they are ready to pick.

The potatoes were a bust.  After all that care we just got 9 little potatoes.  I think it is because I used store-bough potatoes for seed.  I heard they spray those with a hormone to keep them from reproducing.  In the spring I'll make sure to use seed potatoes from a nursery and not just buy them at the super market.

Basil Wenceslas, Kathleen,  her kids, and I are going to Half Moon Bay today to get pumpkins; we always go here.  Maybe you, dear reader, remember seeing the picture from when my boys were little.  I made a picnic for us.  Sharp white cheddar and romain with homemade curry mayo (cumin, carlic, tumeric) on baguette, braeburn apples, San Pelegrino, potato salad (my sister's recipe.  I'll post it later.), some of the pickles I made back in the summer, and for desert Daelman's caramel bites.

After that we are going to vespers in Felton.  I am so excited about this.  It will be the first time in months and months since my boy has been in church.  I worry and pray so much my lips are wearing out.

Well, it is time to go get in the car and drive over the hill.

A Garden Update

We have taken out the the cucumber vines and most of the tomato vines.  The pumpkins, cantaloupe, and watermelons have all been harvested.  There are still a few tomatoes ripening on a couple of vines.  We have acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash growing.  Actually, the butternut are, probably, ready to pick now.  I know the potatoes are ready.  Tomorrow, when son #4 is here we'll harvest them.  That should be fun.  A few Days ago Basil and I planted a row of cabbage.  Once all the tomatoes are gone we'll plant more.

It seems the prayers and the lithium have been helping Basil.  He is happier and his personality seems to be back to normal, the way he was three years ago.  I still worry and pray.  Last weekend he and I did all night security at the parish festival.  It was good.  We just played games all night.  The best part was vespers.  I think it was the first time since Holy Week he's been to church.

Anselm is working at Starbucks and going to school.  He seems to be doing well.  It is hard to know.  I worry about the friends he is making.  I don't know them but we live in Sodom or Ephesus.  I pray to St. Michael for him constantly.

A blog for school

One of the classes I am taking at National University has me writing a blog.  If you are interested, you can take a look at it here. 

Have Internship. Will teach.

Last week I worked three days as a sub at a middle school.  It was a lot of fun.  Not at all like the bad school I subbed in last March.  That was a hideous affair and I wasn't sure I'd ever be a teacher after that month.  I had to file three sexual harassment complaints, a student going through a gang initiation tried to have me fired, one girl put another in the hospital.  It was the worst ever.  I felt like a total failure at the end of that assignment.  But when I walked into work last Wednesday the Principal greeted me and told me she and all the other principals in the district had heard about what a great job I did at that school and that she was amazed I lasted more than two weeks (no teacher had made it even one week in that class) and that she was thrilled to have me at her school.  Then last Friday she offered me a job for the rest of the year.  So, I have an emergency  internship credential (so I won't have to work unpaid for a semester) and meet the requirement for a real teacher credential.  When I told my students today they all clapped and gave me flowers.  It was surprising, to say the least.

Secret Christian Man

I had two conversations in code with students today. 

Incident 1.
Me: "Your name is Lydia. Do you like purple?"
Her: "Yes, how did you know?"
Me:  "I just did."

And three students pulled crosses out of their shirts.

Incident 2.
Him: "I chose the tulip."
Me: "Why did you choose the tulip."
Him: "Because of how it was designed."
Me: "Designed?
Him: "Yes, designed."

We looked at each other silently, just for a heartbeat, and each knew the other knew. He looked relieved.

A High School Graduate

Well, he did it.  It took three months of intense study but Anselm Samuel passed the CHSPE and he is free of high school two years early.  He spent all summer working at Camp Hi-Sierra so he wasn't home when his diploma arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. 

I had wanted him to start next week at  SVAE to learn to be a welder (it pays about $20 to $30 per hour in California; not bad for a 16 year old.) but the classes conflict with his Boy Scout schedule.  He is on a pretty tight schedule with them to make Eagle Scout rank before he is 18 (He has earned Star Scout rank over the spring and summer.  along the way he also picked up the 1 mile swim patch, the lifeguard patch, the gardening merit badge, and the lifeguard merit badge) so, he has delayed welding at SAE until January, when he will be able to take a 13 week break from the weekly troop meetings and complete the welding program.  So, what is he going to do until January?  Well, today he applied to De Anza College, where both I (liberal arts, 1992) an and my mother (early childhood education,1978) went to school.  He says he wants to study something technical, such as machining or automotive, it depends on what classes have openings.  He has already arranged to try out for the water polo, wrestling, and rifle teams. 

But I am worried.  I am worried because one of my neighbors is a 15 year old girl and she has her sights set on my son.  That wouldn't be a big worry for me if he was already trained and in a career.  But he isn't.  So, I am pushing the welding program in the Spring.  Boys Scouts will work around his schedule in the spring but they can't do it in the fall, and because the welding classes are at night they won't interfere with his day classes at De Anza.  Oh, he looks like a man, he sounds like a man, but he is just 16 and not ready for life.  I have to hurry.  I really wish I had the money to send him to St Herman Seminary in Kodiak for a year so he could do the reader program and find an Orthodox girl.  Why can't there be any girls his age in my parish?!

Today in my life: Pickles, Tomahawks, and a Name Day.

I woke up this morning to the smells of Kathleen making breakfast.  Coffee, omelette with baccon, cheese, bell peppers, and onions. They are the best omelettes I have since I was in the Army.  Truly amazing. (We are on day two of the Dormition Fast but I do not keep the fasts.  Because of my living situation it feels pharisaical when I fast.  But maybe fasting would help me solve this problem.  I don't know.)

Kathleen and I moved one of the watermelon vines, watered, and picked tomatoes cucumbers and summer squash.  I ate a couple of the squash then pickled two pints of squash and cucumbers.  Then I cleaned Anselm Samuel's rifle, sharpened the the boys' tomahawks (One could shave with them now), smoked my pipe, and read the day's entry in the Prologue of Ohrid.
Today is my youngest son's Name Day.  He is named for St. Basil of Moscow.  I think I'll pray an Akathist for him now.  Oh, and I have to finish a TPA.

Today's Harvest

Tomahawks