July is winding down

I'll be so glad when this summer is over. It's been dreadfully hot, even by South Carolina standards. I seem to get less and less tolerant of the heat the older I get, and I just can't seem to enjoy anything this time of year. Even my friend's pool offers no relief; the water is as warm as a sauna. Forget doing much of anything outside, with heat values over 100 degrees day after day. I realized today that one of the reasons I don't mind working all summer is that I'd just be sitting inside my house hiding out in the a/c. I might as well be at work in the a/c earning money. I get paid for 30 more days of work each year than the teachers do, and I wouldn't be going on vacation during that time anyway. 

I've had a little bit of fun this summer, though. I've read two books recently: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (for my book club) and then the new book by Daniel Mason, Country People. The Midnight Library was a quick read and mildly entertaining, although nothing really special. It did lead to some interesting conversation at book club, though. Country People is wonderful. Daniel Mason wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, North Woods, so I ordered a copy as soon as it was released. I really enjoyed it. Reading is great fun when you're stuck in the house!

Then Marla came over last Saturday afternoon and spent several hours with me. I made strawberry daiquiris from some of the fresh local strawberries I'd put in the freezer back in April, along with some snacks: a hot Rotel dip in the crockpot, cold sour cream/ranch dip, potato and tortilla chips for dipping, King's Hawaiian Ham and Swiss sliders, and caramel turtle brownies. I also made a pitcher of iced tea for when the daiquiris got cloying (which never happened, haha). 

The dogs were absolutely thrilled to see her, as usual. She was actually with me the day I first met George at the Darlington County Humane Society back in 2013. She loves both the dogs like she loves her own pets, and they know it. As soon as I saw her car pull into the driveway I announced, "MARLA IS HERE!" and Poppy and George nearly tripped over themselves running for the door to greet her. 

Speaking of the dogs, we used to sometimes call Ginger "Gingerbread". This afternoon, Marco called Poppy "Gingerbread" and when I said, "That's not Gingerbread, silly. That's Poppy." he sat there for a second and then called her "Baby Bread" instead! How stinkin' cute is that? It makes me so happy that he hasn't forgotten Ginger even though she's been gone almost 6 years now. We still miss her so much.

Today was the first day back at work for the teachers and most of the staff. It was so good to see everyone again and to meet the new teachers coming on board! We started the day with a catered breakfast and some time to catch up, which was nice. After that my office was a popular place, because as the bookkeeper I had the teachers' supply checks to give out! (Every teacher gets a $400 check at the beginning of the year to spend on whatever they want for their classrooms.) 

Tomorrow most of the staff will be at professional development, including me. I'll be up at one of the administrative buildings all day for the annual bookkeepers' meeting/training. It was great the first year or two when I was still a newbie, but these days it's just a lot of the same old, same old and boring PowerPoint presentations. It will be good to see the other district bookkeepers and the accountants, but other than that I wish I didn't have to go. Still, I marvel every day at how lucky I am to have a job I love. I got my updated salary letter the other day and this year I have an annual increase of 8%...a really solid, nice raise! So I won't complain about boring meetings and training sessions. 

The students will return next Wednesday, so summer break is winding down for them, too. 

Strays

So, we're still feeding the feral mama cat and two of her original four kittens that I wrote about previously. 

The two little tabbies disappeared a while back, but the others are still around and growing up fast. I know we shouldn't encourage feral strays that we can't afford to keep, but we can't stand to think of them going hungry or not having fresh clean water to drink. 

I mean, just look at this cute little cat family:

The kittens show up twice a day, usually accompanied by their mama, and wait by the fence for us to bring out some Meow Mix. The youngsters back away while we put the food out, but they're getting bolder by the day. Mom, on the other hand, never runs and prefers to stand her ground when we approach. She usually growls or hisses a little at us, too. (Some gratitude! Ha!) 

Here she is on her favorite place to hang out, a tiny concrete bench over on my neighbor's side. When I took this photo she was opening her mouth to hiss at me....

...but the hiss quickly became a yawn instead. :)

A film on the Fourth

July is here, and with it another (almost) record heat wave. It's not even cooling down very much at night. In fact, I think it just gets more unbearably humid as the sun sets. I hate the feeling that I'm missing out on so much of the season, but I just can't stand the heat. The motivation to do much of anything just isn't there!

Speaking of which, the 4th was the hottest day of the year so far, so we stayed at home. About two miles up the highway (at a large soccer complex) the city put on a big event: live music, food trucks, games and vendors, and then a drone light show followed by a massive 30-minute fireworks display.  It was supposed to go on until 10:30pm, and it sounded like it did. I'm not a fan of large crowds on a good day, much less when it's 100 degrees outside. So instead of going out, we grilled hot dogs and fresh corn on the cob for our supper and had ice cream for dessert.

When it started to get dark, we watched a movie: Project Hail Mary. I'm not usually much of a sci-fi fan, but I like Ryan Gosling and the movie had great reviews. And I absolutely loved it! The special effects were better than fireworks, and the story was just wonderful, full of sadness but also hope and quite a bit of humor. It was, without a doubt, the best film I've seen in ages and a great choice for the Fourth of July. I plan to watch it again soon. 

Slim pickings and a question

Here are some of the scant handfuls of veggies I've managed to harvest from this year's struggling summer garden. Not pictured: a quart size Ziplock full of green beans and a couple more cucumbers (they're in the refrigerator). Sadly, these photos are the sum total of my tomato production so far. 

I got exactly one Black Sea Man tomato before all three of the plants got a disease and died. It had a nice flavor, but still....one is just enough to be a tease. 

I did slice it thin and tried to make a nice presentation of it. :)

Finally, I have a question for all you vegetable gardeners out there. I bought a 4-pack of what was supposed to be yellow crookneck squash plants at Lowe's a couple of months ago. I'm not sure what these are, but they're decidedly NOT yellow crookneck squash! 

Can anyone identify this for me? Please and thank you!