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Wow. I've got some time on my hands. The tomato sauce is simmering on the front burner, the dog and cat aren't fighting( I don't hear any high pitched yipping or angry meows) and there's not a thing in the garden I want to pick. I'm hoping that by noon, the sauce will have cooked down and I can start adding fresh chopped onions, green pepper, jalapenos and cilantro for salsa.

The potato harvest is complete. Officially, we had 511 pounds of Kennebec white potatoes. Actual white potatoes boxed and stored in our 67.5 degree basement is 461 pounds. The 10X80 row actually yielded more than 511 pounds. As I till the brown loam, I dig up potatoes missed with the fork. Some were sliced in half. Most were potatoes in a bad year I'd take to the outside food prep area and wash for immediate consumption. This year I can afford to be lavish. The big lumps of rotting spuds, potatoes smaller than a golf ball, any that have a tinge of green which is a pernicious poison and jumbo mutant potatoes hit the compost pile. I'll take Mandy the pup over to the Amish farm for milk, canning lids and eggs and inquire about selling some of the bounty. The remainder will be given away and eaten.

The 26th of August ranks 149th on my list of notable events. It is the date of my first marriage. What usually happens is that I'll note the date. Then, I'll recall a few pleasant memories ( I should have noticed that right from the start I was doomed when the bride and her parents excluded me from most of the wedding planning) and consider my self lucky I'm married to Dawn. Although we have our differences, life with Dawn is much different than the 16 years I suffered with the mother of my children. Everyone has an "ex" story. For purposes of "ex" planation and example, I decided to end the marriage and take joint custody of a toddler not yet potty trained, her five year old brother and an older sister entering into teenage oblivion. In those days joint custody was a novel thing. All three are grown now. Their mother still lives in the same house, married and divorced her second husband ( recently deceased from a pernicious lifestlye) and relies on son and son-in-law to keep the house from falling into disrepair.

The thirty minutes I allotted for the blog has expanded to 60. I should check on the pup to see if the mosquitos have carried her off. The Pooch(cat) just had his monthly dose of Frontline. Then I'll chop and can 14 pints of batch #2 of salsa, savor a leftover lunch of meat loaf and mashed potatoes while reading Janet Evanovich for fun.