I worked my ass off yesterday, and definitely earned my drink.

I cleaned up the little square bed that had been supposed to be poppies but ended up native weeds and volunteer tomatoes, and reseeded it with CA orange poppies and beautiful dark purple poppies.  Hopefully they can do their over-winter thing and bloom in spring.

Then I took on that beast of a veg garden.  I cleaned up the paths, finished weeding the peppers, and raked away all the dead stuff to reveal a clean space to plant the rest of my fall/winter seeds.  It actually looks like a garden again.  Meanwhile, all the seeds on the other side are germinating.  As are all the weeds, of course!  My work’s cut out.

I stayed later so Avdi could go to the Black Rep.  I was watching the radar map, because a big blob was slowly approaching from the west, and late last night it actually–wait for it– rained!!  It’s been what, a month or more?!  Now it’s supposed to cool off a little, yay.

Tomorrow we have our “false fall B&B”.

Still very hot and dry, no rain for weeks, to the point where it takes nothing to kick up a dust storm in the yard.  They say it’s been a lot worse.  Midwesterners may be bland and boring, but their weather is not!

Yesterday while watering, I realized it’s time to replant some natives along the woodsy edge, to stratify over winter.  So I raked and cleaned up that whole strip, and added native and wildflower seeds to whatever may still be in there waiting for next spring.  I also raked and cleaned up some other areas of the back yard.  Soon I’ll start throwing leaves in the veg garden to serve as compost and mulch.

Y has his new bed set up, along with the well-furnished expectant pet rats cage.  Between the two large nests, there’s not much floor space left to clutter, but we’ll see!

Just a quickie…my “new” phone and I have one thing in common–a permanent case of fog brain, or I should say, lenses.  We both can’t focus.  But we make do.

The little seedlings are parsley.  That is Avdi actually out on the patio having cosmos with me.

They call this season false fall.  FALLse.  It’s basically summer back with a vengeance, continuing drought, with slightly less humidity.  So, California-like.  I’ll take it.  I have to water the garden every day, because I have a whole new wave of succession plantings coming up.  It’s almost Sukkot.  The pool is back in action and being used.  It should be perfect summer weather for our next B&B on Sat.  How it’s done in MO.

Avdi took me to the Theatre Guild of Webster Groves to see their production of Hound of the Baskervilles.  It’s located in a very old house, and has been active since before the Depression, in various iterations and locations.  This house had no AC on a very hot night (old infrastructure and budget issues), but was packed with an obviously appreciative, loyal crowd.  The play and actors were very professional and incorporated humor into this version.  I enjoyed it, although I almost died of heat!  The house with all the lights was next door.

Then I spent the night, so Avdi could get out.  I actually slept.  Today he and E and Y went to the zoo, but I opted for home.  It’s too hot for me to garden or traipse around outside.  I’ve gotten too dependent on AC, here in the new deep south.

I apologize for the lower quality of photos.  My new (refurb) phone is apparently half-blind like me, and can’t focus.

As always, the lovely baked goods (pumpkin cheesecake and bread pudding) are by E.  The pool, after much labor, is back, and looking inviting.

Now I know why I stick to simple, inane subjects that I understand for the most part.

Just when I think the political underworld can’t be any more grotesque and surreal than it already is, I learn about groypers.  Charlie Kirk wasn’t fascist enough?!  Virtual war games are being re-enacted in real time, not only against the usual suspects (leftists and marginalized groups), but fellow-christian fascists who aren’t extreme enough.

I’m going back to the garden.

Erev was interesting.  It came down to just Avdi, Y, and me, because K was sick and E was out participating in school EC activities.  Y raised some very intelligent questions and points about political, societal, and coming-of-age issues, leading to a lively and relevant discussion.  I learned some things, too.  Kids are paying attention.  These are the times I feel privileged to be around for.

Here for your viewing pleasure we have, courtesy of E, a Butt Apple.  (Pomme de Butte sounds fancier.)  (Also a pretty fancy tat.)  We are a unique family.

E also alertly observed the sudden mysterious disappearance of all the booze.  What you see here is all non-A.

I got busy in the garden, finishing out the replanting of the first section.  Even after tilling and hoeing, the ground was so baked I couldn’t get the stakes into it!  I added a Portuguese kale, a mini pak choi, broccoli, and mixed Asian greens, all of it cold-hardy.  Naturally the temps returned to 90s for the week!  E was out there attempting to clean up the green swamp of a pool.

The hot peppers are still going strong—cayenne, jalapeños, and poblanos, mainly.  Bells are another one I can’t seem to grow.  Yet I did manage a few eggplants.

To read these posts, you’d never know there are genocides, assassinations, mass shootings, deportations, and racist fascism going on all around us daily.  Just to name a few.  I try to leave the atrocities to the “experts”.  If this were “The Expanse”, I’d be Prax.  I hope I’d be as courageous as he had to be when it came down to his own family and friends.  I’d be The Praxigatrix.

I barely made it out to the garden today, except to water, and here’s why: I was assigned the significant job of purging essentially all booze from Avdi’s house.  I won’t go into details, but you can probably guess.  No, it’s not me, because all the booze is now living at my apartment!  Oh whatever will I do??  Ironically, I’m unable to drink very much any more!  Ahaha.  I have to smuggle drinks for Avdi in a flask!  It’s like Prohibition!

But seriously, it’s kind of sad for Avdi to have to adjust even more aspects of his lifestyle to keep his household safe and secure.  What happens elsewhere is another matter, but at home he must take responsibility for his kids’ health and behavior.  It also affects other aspects, like limiting Avdi’s freedom to go out for the evening, e.g., with me tonight, or any time.  It amounts to a curfew.  Even less escape or time out.  The price you pay for having kids.

As it turned out, we did get to go out and check out another new-to-us place in Tower Grove South, a smash burger and drinks joint, where we sat out on the pleasant patio.  It was very relaxed and casual, with excellent burgers and drinks.  There are lots of other taverns and eateries around, for another evening.  We just had time to rush over to Costco for kid meds and foods that kids with various eating disorders will eat.  It’s always like Little India and Asia over there late in the evening, which I love to see.

Now I’m back in my apartment, with a pantry filled with booze instead of food!

I was a weeding machine yesterday, trying to reclaim the veg garden from the jungle and give it a second life.  I made some headway.  It’s amazing what you’ll find down there.  Much like my brain.

I wonder if that’s how Avdi feels every day, struggling to keep the kids weed-free (STS) and alive.  See, it’s all one big metaphor.

I threw in a photo of some actual jungle plants soon to be relocated indoors, mostly to my apartment collection.

If you can get through a MO summer a.k.a. hell, you are rewarded with the wonders of MO pre-fall.  Perfect for working outside and reclaiming the veg garden for another season!

It seems that’s my new evil plan.  I’m planting a whole salad of various cool-weather lettuces and hardy fall/winter greens in the half I tilled.  As the other half finishes out, I’ll replant it, as well.  I’ve also been replanting herbs here and there.  I’m weeding as I go, and later on I’ll dump piles of leaves etc. on everything and till it under.

Things in the household are not as idyllic.  The kids seem to have cycles of being self-destructive and giving Avdi grief, like whac-a-mole.  Just as one gets somewhat sorted, another one erupts.  So he’s not doing so well.  I try to just help manage the physical household, and then stay outside (but available) where it’s safer!

Somehow I threw my back out, so once the drugs kick in, I’ll go over there and do it again.