is there any more pie?

Check out my massive tomato plants.  I have no idea why they are taller than I am, but perhaps because they were purchased at the local farmer’s market by Dancing Mandolin Player they are some kind of Super Plant.

I had some expert tomato people on my side this year.

Anyway, Banjo Man and I planted them and moved the pots to the other side of our little front yard, which for the past five years has been safe from the deer.

Do you see the open area on the other side of the porch decking?  There are stairs there, but I have blocked them off with twine and strips of blue washcloth.

Very redneck, I agree, but it is my attempt to discourage a “daddy-horned deer” (as my grandson refers to our neighborhood buck) from coming up the stairs, onto the deck, around the corner, and down three stairs to eat my tomato plants.

He has been known to stand by the decking and stare longingly at my plants.  Every morning I open the back door and wonder if I will see cherry tomatoes or devastation.

So far so good.

But to be on the safe side, I temporarily confiscated one of Banjo Man’s game cameras and posted it towards the tomatoes.

I check the camera to see if he is getting braver (he’s not).

And if the unthinkable happens I want to know who did it.

In the meantime I have lots of pictures of my grandson posing with his Star Wars blaster or his squirt gun.  He loved the thought of being captured on camera while making ferocious faces.

It’s 5 AM and raining.  Last summer, with the forest fires and dry timber all around us, rain would have been welcome.  A relief.  This morning’s drizzly gray summer rain is just the frosting on a cold and cloudy cake.

View from my bedroom door.

I know my gardening friends are happy.  I think.  Maybe they are ready for some heat, too.

I know my tomato plants are.  Did I tell you that Banjo Man planted them for me?  We have three large pots this year, filled with cherry tomatoes, basil and mint.

It’s about all I can handle, believe me.

Banjo Man has been landscaping.  This is the “before” picture.

Banjo Man discovers overalls!!!!

Yesterday he took the morning off and went fishing.  Of course he took care of business from his cell phone, out on the lake.  And he was only away from his desk for three hours.  But three hours is a lot, according to Banjo Man.  He doesn’t like to be away from his computer and the stock market.

But Dancing Mandolin Player and her Boyfriend Bob have a new boat, so a fishing trip was too hard to resist.

It’s a good day to clean, I tell myself.  It’s a good day to work on dobro chords and hopefully memorize a few more notes.  Sing a few songs to myself.  Catch up with blog posts (and I have a lot of them to write!), clean out dresser drawers, unpack the new crock pot (it’s gorgeous) and maybe even make a few chicken enchilada casseroles to put in the freezer.

There are quilt bindings to stitch, too, so on this rainy day I might just have to unpack the sewing machine and get busy.

Sitting in one of those bright new Adirondack chairs will have to wait.