Summer Gardening

Summer has arrived in full force in central Texas. Yesterday when I got in my car after work, the temperature outside showed as 111O. In all honesty, it was only 97O, but sitting outside, in the sun, with no shade other than that of the lamp-posts, the car surface was probably 111O or higher.

That same heat taking a toll on my car’s thermometer is taking a toll on all my garden plants - especially those in pots. I watered most of the plants three days ago, but when I came home today, most of them appeared as if they had been in a years-long drought.

I planted them all from seed this spring, there is no way they know we have been in a years-long drought.

I even bought Miracle Grow Moisture Control potting soil.

Texas Heat 1 - Miracle Grow 0.

Some of my plants are growing like crazy and are leaving me wondering just how much eggplant and bell pepper I can eat in a year. Allrecipes.com lists some 240 recipes for eggplant, so I should be good.

Last year I made more gazpacho than I could eat. This year I cannot get my cucumbers to put on a single cuc. They tease me with thousands of blonde deceptions, but no fruit appears.

At least the squash have started to produce.

Maybe I should have planted okra this year. It does well in the heat.

Each summer having a garden is taking a chance that the weather will not be at its worst. The last few years; however, the weather has been at its worst. Despite the weather with its heat and drought that dash the best laid plans and the critters that nibble at my plants (and sometimes my feet), gardening is the second most hopeful thing that I do (my job as an educator is the most hopeful thing that I do). Every seed I drop into the ground contains the promise of bounty. A little help from mother nature and my faithful stewardship and that seed will produce foods far better than can be purchased at the store.

I do not know if the food is “really” better or if the sweat and effort make it seem that much better. Whatever the reason, I know I enjoy everything that comes from my garden.

And thanks to my new food vacuum-sealer, I do not have to enjoy it all right now.

Summer Shearing

People without much hair, have no idea what those of us who are more hirsute endure during the summer. Those of us who are patchily hairy are even more unique as only certain parts of us will be sweating while the remainder of our body is fine.  Hairiness affects my head and legs most profoundly.

After a day of helping a friend with work in his yard, I decided it was time for my  summer “do” and pulled out the clippers. Rather than going without a guard as is my normal routine, I decided to step the cut down by using several guards and working my way down to the length I wanted. After just a few minutes my head felt free with all the weight gone from it.

The newly shorn me

While I had the clippers out, I decided to go on and shorten the hair on my legs. 

Clipping behind the knees proved exceptionally challenging.

Clipping the upper thighs proved to be even more so - it involved bending around, trying to keep the clippers level against the skin as I bent to get the hair evenly trimmed.

Eventually, though, my much less hairy legs emerged and I realized just how much nicer they felt with the air coming out of the air conditioning vent overhead flowing over them without the interference of hair. It was HEAVEN. I did not usually feel the air from the AC vent.

Yes, folks - that is the hair form my legs collected on the bottom of the bathtub.

Looking at my legs, I fantasized about how easily sunblock will go on the next time I go to the lake or pool with someone. No more of the gloppy streakiness - just a smooth application and a quick absorption by the skin.

I looked at my shiny nearly bare legs in the mirror and fantasized about how much better they are going to look as my running further tones them up and the definition is seen without the interference and shadows of hair.

Turning my leg side to side, I imagined what it would look and feel like to have a hand running up it - catching the now short hairs and tweaking the skin beneath them.

People without much hair have no idea what those of us who are more hirsute endure during the summer. And they have no idea how the imagination can run wild when freedom from hair is achieved.