On Thursday the temps were to soar into the 80’sF. In a passive solar house, if I don’t pull shades against the sun, the temps can reach 100F real fast. So the first thing I did when I got up on Thursday morning was to take down all the seedling shelves in the office. That window faces east, so the sun would be on it early.
In the dining room there wasn’t much I could do. But I did get all the shades pulled before the sun hit the windows.
I have not yet done the windows, so there are no screens in. Normally I’d have those west windows open to cool the house down. I’d pull the shades when the sun hit them around 1PM.
I figured if it got too hot outside we could come in and take all the seedling starting stuff to the cellar and put it away. I chanced to look at the calendar at 7:45AM and saw I had getting the septic tank pumped on for 9AM.
The covers are under the top walkway in the New Herb garden. The weeds were 3X as bad as this photo from April. So I zoomed out there with a platoon of sleds and started pulling weeds like mad.
My cleaning helper arrived and she started at the other end and we had it nearly done by 9AM. No tank truck arrived.
So we kept going and dug out 2 of the 5 covers. It was nearly 10AM, no tank truck, and no answer when I called.
So we headed to the Big garden. We decided planting parsnips then mulching was the way to go, start at the north end and work south. So I went to find the parsnip seeds. There weren’t any.
Fedco changed how they handle backorders. You no longer can order seed they expect and have it shipped when it comes in. You can only order seed in stock. You have to REMEMBER to go back and check to see if it’s come in and order it then. Well, memory is NOT my strong suit. And I hadn’t remembered to order: parsnips, green beans, lima beans, or gourds. Sigh…
So we decided to mulch the rows, leaving the planting area open. I hoped I’d last until 11AM as the sun was pretty hot. We did finish all the mulching! And by 11AM too. We went inside after cleaning up to cool down. I got a shower and had to rest a while. My helper took a break, and then started hauling the seedling starting stuff to the cellar and putting it away.
I eventually got up and helped her and we got it all done. I got the Fedco order in (all was in stock) and I hope to have it by next week. I took a short nap and the contractor arrived to start the woodshed addition. Still no tank truck, no call back. I don’t know what happened with that, but I now have a mess in the New Herb garden…
On Chaos Friday, I have my general helper here and my helper friend. My helper friend will be feeding the seedlings while my general helper and I start bringing screens up from the cellar and washing them. We may even get some windows washed and screens into crucial windows. It’s to be really hot again.