Gorgeous

note: This image was shot in 1200X1600 size format.
For a better view click on the photo. For expediency
I usually download photos in a 640X480 size. In the future,
"I'll make a note when pictures are larger format.
RG

I hesitate to use gorgeous. It's a girlie word. Don't want to be no girlie mon. It's a perfect descriptor of this morning. I dash outside to turn off the radio in the garden. No plants have died, nobody is wilting from an overnight session with 95.7, all rock all the time. I leave the bedroom curtains open last evening as I read in bed. The Pooch is curled on the comforter and keeping watch on the garden. It's surprisingly light at 9:30 pm. He moves closer to me as the night progresses. I can't sleep because I'm used to total darkness. A good comparison would be Titus' travel stories. He says he finds it hard to sleep in places with electricity. The hum of motors keeps him awake since he's used to dead silence. I assume that crickets, spring peepers, toads , frogs, coyotes and neighbor's dogs don't fit into the category of dead silence.

In the barn I flick the switch on the interface where I've connected two extension cords that reach to the drying tables in the cover less drying tent. I quickly hunt down a recycled plastic bag from my friends a Wal-Mart. I bring a piece of artwork from the house to store there. I hand carved a bear head from cottonwood root and added an excerpt from a novel. The simple prayer is nicely worded, the bear-an image of the person speaking through the novel. The novelist tells a woman that she makes him feel holy. I find it a moving and thoughtful compliment to the woman. On the reverse side of the retablo( flat board) I had written a description of the bear carved on the front. It makes me smile reading that the bear wants to settle down with a plush animal he met at Puddins' Bar in Seattle. Of late, I have to search for humor in everyday events. It's not that life is grim-it isn't. I'm just so caught up in everything.

This morning for example, I wouldn't be on the computer if I hadn't booted up the weather service to find out if it will rain in the near future. Don't want to waste time irrigating if it'll rain today or tomorrow. Things look dry. Tuesday I drove to Cashton for CPM, composted poultry manure, and bone meal. I purchase fifty pounds of bone meal at a fraction of the price I paid for a 1 lb. bag at the home improvement store in Lacrosse. A half ton of organic, composted poultry manure fills the bed of the pick-up. The poultry manure I use as a side dressing for the onions which are beginning to bulb up nicely, now that we have extended daylight. I shoot long streams of pelleted chicken and turkey manure along the rows of corn. The corn garden is a first timer in this location. I want to make sure that the plants are tall, sturdy and produce well. The bone meal I drizzle over the potato plants with a cottage cheese container. It has a pungent odor that would attract animals, therefore, I make sure I wash the bone meal off the leaves and well into the soil. My X-Ray eyes see the tiny potatoes stretching their invisible arms up for joy at the added natural calcium and phosphorus.

I've made my search on the net for a sausage stuffer. After my hog casings arrive on Monday, I make a ten pound batch of polish sausage. The grinder I use for stuffing the casings is slow and tedious. An added disadvantage is that the electric motor and inner components turn the ground pork into an excessively fine consistency for sausage. A good comparison would be the difference between liver sausage and polish sausage. I prefer a coarser ground sausage. I find a vertical hand crank stuffer at $99 with poly gears and a stainless steel body. The all stainless steel body version costs $200 more. I'll mull the price over while I cultivate the corn and water portions of the 10 garden plots.