I remember that flood too! We rescued a couple from the roof of their Bronco overcome in a wash near Del Rio. Threw a rope out to them and pulled each of them to shore. We were stuck on the ranch for almost two weeks...except for Wheaty, not sure if that was his real name??? He swam the half mile wide once dry bed turned river for a date with his favorite hooker in Acuña. Crazy old guide and trapper spent more time eating outside the bunkhouse because he never could heed his own advice to walk out upwind from his traps. Weekly skunk baths...no wonder he headed for the red light district!
Love story time at Annie's place!
Dear Gawd, Shane, if you don't "retire" in Texas--let's redefine "retire"--"I don't work fo de man no mo but I work harder now and LIKE IT! . . . even if getting old and workin' sho does suck sometime." Del Rio and Acuña?? Shane? Really? Did you or Scott ever get OUT of border towns when younger?
I don't have much room to speak . . . Big Bend always wound up extending to fishing/ camping Amistad--by then I was adept at sensing, pre-killing, scorpions, and at least prescience on drug dealers--but know too well what you mean by those flash floods "on the road that ain't road no mo."
Some pics: I don't give a "darn" what weather says, this stuff is out until garden dries: it's not coming back in. Period.
Pre-Actinovate spray: 4 flats maters, with some summer squash, cukes tossed in where space will hold, 2 flats peppers praying for deeper ground . . . patience grasshoppas: it rained.
Tomatillo and some manzano that just
SHOT up, white cukes, boston pickling, zukes of varieties, white, black beauty, yellow, blended, neck pumpkin, butternut, Red Kuri, Blue Hubbard, dill, and the "baby" pepper flat. If look closely can see flowers on tomatillos and yeah, already been rubbing those, one to another, together. Others on left are, yeah, couple bell, but fatalii, one Moruga Blend "gone wild" but mostly can't get over those yellow manzanos that went from being normal to VINES it seemed . . . but I did do something as experiment: potted them up with a little vermicompost. Which explains, at least in my mind, why those and tomatillos took off like rocket. You're free kids: no more lights, controlled environments. Hilariously, or not, there's a peony on other side of flats. Hmm. I hope the ants doing their unpetaling work there, like that peony lots better than pepper plants. I'm at the "oh well" stage of this. But might toss some coffee grounds just in case.
Torn between two pepper flats. Old wheelbarrows make great hardening off stages with gonzo slab plywood on em. Some yellowing on lower leaves but how would ya feel if it was you? Ton of watermelon, cantaloupe: the big leaves on left are Ramon's/Walkgood PoP JA Habs and the tall boy in back in a 7 Pod Brown x Naga (from Jamie/Romy6). Guess it got height aspect from the 7 Pod gene
Nice arugula, loose leaf, onion mix. Rabbit food.
Dirt porn. 6 to top, 8 to sides straw.
Even
more dirt porn: raised beds
within garden, after those rains, N to S, S to North . . . when digging this out with shovels, hoes, pre-big-rain, raising beds within the garden, "just keep moving" is idea, direction counts but . . . "just keep moving." These
are N-S. After 2 inches rain in 12 hour period, but not a hard hard rain. I knew I'd lose some height or get some wash but a little is fine. Had I left that soil as was? It
is on a slope, would have run, compacted all over, and compaction between raised beds, not that much of an issue but will loosen that up too.
Also ran across some pine mulch when picking up straw. 20 bags. More like pine compost but it has a lot of 1/8th to 1/2 inch it. Gonna try it with 5-1-1 mix for containers with chunky perlite, peat, Osmo Plus, lime. Also picked up more BIG tomato cages, and going back for smaller pepper cages, and more nursery pots, some bamboo, and mulch if I like texture of mulch, didn't look like too much sapwood either. I may just throw it into wheelbarrow as is, mix, toss in containers, only screening peat for largest logs. Let it go.
Also, wow, picked up 20 bags Black Kow--this little hardware store had some KICK-BUTT prices, to go with my compost for inground planting holes. Mixes of compost are best.
After getting over digging out RB's
within garden Thur/Frid ahead of storm, I lugged 30 bales straw, 20 50# bags Black Kow, 20 bags mulch, cages (in garage that're driving other half inSANE but they won't be there long), and after that much "totin,'" my lower back seized. Muscles/joints/ligaments were tired of me. Wanted to be in another body, I guess. Neighbor has . . . old swing "sets" were either in trees OR they used like 3 x diameter cattle guard stuff, cemented that in, and had just one swing: kids had to take turns. The guy who lived there long time ago, had one such contraption put in for his grandchildren. After we broke chains, seats, heck we used it to climb on. Hang from. It's about 7' tall. Crawled to garage, got stepladder, dragged it out there and hung from frame of that old single swing set. Since bent double, literally not able to stand straight, it was . . . sweat beaded on my gums, under eyelids, oozed from toenails, etc. from pain--I did
gently lower myself but--and the rush that went down spinal column, up to head . . . stars, and my husband . . .
"WHAT! WHAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I couldn't answer, just wishing had kept earpods in, concentrating on breathing, listening to my back and neck, thought crossed my mind to bring a noose next time. But the man finally looked, saw the straw, saw the Black Kow HEAP, and
got it: I needed a little help. Bless his heart. He just stood there until I could get on ladder. Had asked if I wanted him to lift me down. I sounded like rusted Tin Man, negative. But he held the ladder, helping me walk down it standing . . . and then the nausea hit. That's not his thing; I don't care--had little bros, worked in summer camps for kids when began working in h.s. and no gore bothers me--but ever tried that standing up because afraid to bend over again? I was outside still, no biggie. After those waves passed an hour later, did laundry, trusted myself to sit, back on heating pad. Fell asleep on sofa after some struggle with a shower
back to heating pad; that sweet man must've stretched me out and covered me up on sofa. Where I woke up this morning. He also must've called one of bros' wives, concerned; my brothers know this behavior is
normal for me. Middle bro came by this morning with quinoa dish his wife had made last nght, fresh veggies, and fruit. "Make my wife a promise.
She didn't grow up with you. Lie to me so I can lie to her that you won't do anything today. You know how doctors are? Like doctors. And where's your anti-inflammatory?" I told him, said, "Aw little bro, didn't know you cared!" He gave me sarcastic look, handed me the Naproxin, said, "I honestly, at this point, well, my wife cares." But he was grinning. Am so blessed by the great men I have in my life
. So I lied to him, then took all the flats outside, whacked them with Actinovate. Where they stay. Sun's out now; hardcore hardening off! Plant out this weekend!
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