Blood, Sweat and Beers

Shelling peas in the heat of the day, with NPR on the radio.

I don't know about wherever you live, but June on Flat Top Mountain was stinking hot. The first few weeks of my summer vacation flew by with serious garden puttering, sweating and digging in the dirt. Then there were a few lazy afternoons spent shelling peas on the porch. And a loyal nightly 7:10 appointment with a homebrew.

And as soon as the June heat broke, July ushered in monsoons. The rain gauge clocked 4.5 inches in the past 24 hours. And that's on top of at least 3 more inches in the past week. What's good for the plants is good for Flat Top, so I can't complain. But I want to.

In between those two weather extremes, we were treated to a vacation from our summer vacation: a 4-day trip down to Beaufort, S.C., to spend several nights with friends on their fabulous 52-foot power boat. We left Nick with Mom (the first time he's been without us since February 2006), and played tourists with dinners out, beach time, a kayak adventure and a boat ride up the Intracoastal Waterway. It was all seriously lovely.

Spanish moss in full glory, in South Carolina's Port Royal/Beaufort area.

These past two months have also featured a whole lot of car repairs. As I type, Mason's got the innards of the Jeep driver-side door splayed over our kitchen island. Today, amid errands in the monsoons, the window got stuck down. Meanwhile the Honda is up on blocks for repairs to its suspension. Anyone who has driven our road would understand.

And the truck? Driveshaft fell out coming up the mountain hauling a trailer full of gravel. It still runs, but only in four-wheel-drive low -- kind of like an old person on a Rascal -- so it's restricted to mountain work only. No more jaunts into town. May she rest in peace.

Summer Break

Butterflies on my butterfly weed, with the site of the future bunkhouse in the left rear. 

 
As of Monday, I became a free woman again, and Mason couldn't be happier! Noooo, I didn't toss my man out! I stopped working at the garden nursery for the summer, when the gardening business is much slower and the brutal heat on a asphalt lot is hard on an aging woman.

So instead, I'm taking it easy.

HA! Like that ever happens on Flat Top.

Since my last day of work Sunday, I've planted several blueberry bushes and a couple of rosemary plants I scored free from a customer I did some planting for, and I did some weeding. And I helped Mason dig a hole 2 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 4.5 feet long for a new septic tank. Only 3.5 feet deeper to go. And ... I smoked a pork butt, tended to the veggie garden, made homemade dog biscuits from spent brewing grains, mowed Mom's lawn and painted 10 landscape timbers for the veggie garden fencing project. And we visited with my sister and her hubbie, who were driving through town.

I also helped Mason clear out the northern corner of our circle driveway, tearing out a vicious wild rose and many other undesirables to give me one more area to landscape. JUST what I need, right? Since I'm barely on top of all the other areas. And I even helped Mason disassemble the Honda's struts, which are shot after two years of commuting.

So you can see how summer vacation plays out on Flat Top.

And Mason and I couldn't be happier.

Happy little coneflowers and butterflies.

Honeycrisp apples!!! If I can nurture these to harvest, it'll be a miracle! They are on my espaliered apple tree, which has a total of nine apples that are all looking pretty damn good. 

I may have planted too many potatoes, considering I have no idea what I'm doing.   

The six tomato plants are all about to kick into gear, and the early lettuce in the background is about to bolt.

Our Girl's Got a Home

Our tractor finally has a dry place to call home! Way to go, Mason!

When we built that second shed, more than a year ago, we had planned to create a shelter between the two sheds where we could park our beloved tractor. Finally, the girl's got a home! Even more impressive? Mason got it built in a day!!

Our tractor was kind of an impulse buy when we first moved to Flat Top. Mason wanted it. We weren't really sure what we'd use her for, but damn she was cute, so why not buy her, right?  For the first year or so, she got parked in various spots around the landscape -- our version of yard art. But when it rained -- and lemme tell ya, people, it rains about 54 inches a year here -- we had to cover her in an ugly tarp.

Then I got a free greenhouse from some neighbors. Nothing fancy, just a plastic tarp over metal hoops. But before I could load her up with plants, Mason parked Miss Tractor inside it.  Two years and several storms later, the greenhouse was in pieces and our girl was back under the tarp.

Alas, she now looks like she was born to live between our sheds.

And as you can see from the photos, while Mason's been building, I've been busy planting. Big surprise, right?

That's a Saute Sunset azalea ... AND Mason's latest work.

 

Part Time, and No Time

I added those splashy hot pink (supposedly Hershey Red) azaleas last fall.  

I'm only working part time at the garden nursery, three days plus some at-home landscape designing, but I feel like I have no time at all for MY garden. It doesn't help, of course, that the past week has been nothing but rain. Sorry, Californian friends: No drought here!

Congo azaleas: Woody and boring most of the year, but lovely in spring!

We have managed to get a few things done: a strawberry planter in the veggie garden, a dozen or so new plants, weeding and more weeding.

New on the menu at Flat Top Kitchens: Homegrown strawberries.
We're also expecting apples, nectarines and plums this year. Maybe more blueberries, too,
if I bring some home this weekend. 

We're also working to restock our firewood supply for Winter 2015-16, but we're way behind schedule. (Did I mention the rain?) So far we've focused on clearing the future site of the guest "bunkhouse," which is now officially on the schedule for 2016, with some initial work getting done this year. Like chainsawing all 70-foot trees in danger of falling on said bunkhouse.

Future home of the "bunkhouse."

 And tonight, with great melancholy, we finished the last episode of the last season of "The Wire," which has been our main source of entertainment for the past three months, thanks to our pal Karen. Now I finally know what y'all have been raving about. Now that it's over, pour my misery ...  down in the hole ...

Momma Is In Da' House

That's Mom, aka Gerri, and her adorable pup Will, and their new front door.

Say it with me: Home Sweet Home! Momma is home sweet home!

After several months of great stress, tension and uncertainty, my mother almost seemed happy and relaxed tonight as she stacked toilet paper in her new linen closet in her new house in Hixson, Tennessee.

Of course, after driving our dirt/mud road for a week, who wouldn't be happy? But let's see how she feels after sleeping tonight on a blow-up mattress. And tomorrow, the moving PODS arrive. So Mason and me? Not so happy... and likely really sore.

Meanwhile, Back on the Boat

Mason negotiates lines as Sea Dragon goes through locks cutting across South Florida.

Just when our supposed-to-be gentle Southern winter decided to give us a final "%$*&#! You" -- bringing temps in the teens, snow and an ice storm -- Mason left me alone in the freezing woods to go play on a megayacht in Florida. Seriously, people, how lucky is this guy?

So the story is that our new Chattanooga friends, who sailed the South Pacific like we did and recently bought a 52-foot powerboat in Florida, needed help getting the boat to Georgia. They didn't expect to need help, but the wife racked her back in a seriously bad way doing something as silly as shifting a case of water bottles in a shopping cart.

So, Mason to the rescue!

He was gone for 11 days, not that I was counting. And talk about timing, he was gone JUST as my mother was flying into town for her second round of house-hunting. (No, really, Mom, it truly was JUST a coincidence!)

In that time, he enjoyed 70-degree sunshine, got tan and ate filet mignon and seafood galore. Me? I ate McDonalds in between 12-hour days of house-hunting (including commute time).

Alas, Mason had a fun time checking out what it means to travel the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), and came home with tales of adventure -- and perhaps a renewed appreciation for our boring little mountain life.

As for me, a final contract was signed today on Mom's new house. It's a bit nerve-racking, because she put a bid on it based on my recommendation; she had left town with a bid on a different house that fell through.

And now, it seems spring is finally breaking through. Today, we took down two massive trees  -- the first of our Winter 2015-16 firewood. We're behind schedule in getting that firewood restocked, so it felt great to get that project started.

And in the final sign of spring: I'm back at work at the garden nursery, just three days a week.

Sooo, what's new with you?

This winter apparently wasn't as cold as the last one; we had all this firewood left over!
(That's Mason lumberjacking in the far right corner.)

Hello, spring!

Showering With a Garden Hose

Mason and Nick, napping on my Mom's front porch. In his defense, we kept him busy with lots of Mr. Fix-It tasks. 

I just took a fantastic hot shower. In our shower. With a garden hose. With the garden spray nozzle set on "shower," of course. Now, granted, it was my first shower in four days.

Just another glamorous Flat Top story. You see, we were out of town. In Texas. Doing the family thing. And we turned off the water to the cabin while we were gone and opened the faucets. Well, at least we THOUGHT we opened the faucets. But it seems the shower head never really drained, and Flat Top hit 3 degrees the night before we got back.

You people with thermostat-controlled heat just don't know how good you've got it. Or maybe you do.

OK, enough details. The shower's busted and we're on standby until a burst overhead pipe is repaired. Think: Tile and backer board removal, etc. Luckily, Mason went to the MacGyver School of Innovation and fixed us up with a stand-by shower.

Other details: Before we drove to Texas, I flew there, then drove back with Mom and her dog, Will. We house-hunted for a week while her house sale fell apart in Texas, so she returned home without being able to buy. Then she sold her house again, while we all were in Texas, so she was flying back to Chattanooga tomorrow. Except that her flight got canceled due to a Texas ice storm.

Yeah, the last month has been a bit nonstop. So a busted shower? Meh.

Meanwhile, could someone tell me what the hell happened to the 60-degree February days we enjoyed during our first Flat Top winter?

Ice caked on our bedroom balcony door. Welcome home.