Dear Family and Friends,
The stock I held through the weekend before last should have been sold the following Monday, but I had been trying to break myself from the habit of keeping a constant eye on
whatever I'm currently holding, trusting the outcome to be in my favor eventually. I sold the holding on Tuesday for a loss when the company's earnings were announced to be in line with expectations. Not good in the current market environment. The earning's numbers need to handily beat the expectations for the stock to move higher. But determined to be right, I'm holding another which announces Monday. If it doesn't beat expectations after pre-announcing better than projected earnings and a subsequent rise in expectations, I'll be surprised. How the general market reacts will of course be the only uncertainty, and unfortunately, the only uncertainty which counts.
Most of the week has been hot and humid, raising the uncomfortable factor considerably and keeping outside activities to a minimum. I had expected to see a summer much like the one last year, hot and exceptionally dry. No lack of heat, but it sure hasn't been dry either. We're coming into the last week of July, and I figure we've had more rain in June and July than we did in March, April, or May. The lake from which we derive our drinking water has risen substantially pretty much removing any threat of water shortages in the immediate future.
And speaking of rain, we had a humdinger of a storm Thursday. When I left for work that morning, the sky was overcast, and some rain was a possibility. I got to work around nine. Around nine fifteen, the wind had come up. By nine twenty, we were in the dark and watching what I think looks like being in the midst of a hurricane, having never witnessed one personally. The sky had become so dark I could hardly make my way through the shop using whatever outside light was coming in through the windows. It was almost pitch
black. The rain was driven and coming down in torrents, and the wind was pushing the persimmon trees almost to the ground. None of it seemed remotely possible when looking
at the sky prior to going into work.
Around ten o'clock, the brunt of the storm had moved on, but there was still a steady rain falling. We were also still in the dark. My employer let me come home to check on the house to see what damage, if any, had occurred because of the storm. Thankfully, aside from the yard littered with small dead limbs from the pines, there was no damage to the house. On the way home, I noticed a car which had been struck by a falling limb. Must have been a stroke of bad luck because judging from the way the car was parked, it looked as though the driver of the vehicle had pulled off the road due to the storm. He just picked the wrong place to wait out the storm before proceeding on. Some of the other damage included part of a roof blown off one of the motels, and a huge tree blocking the main road about a mile or so from the eastern city limits. From reports of those who came into the shop, we heard traffic had backed up for a few miles until the tree was finally removed enough to where traffic could continue to flow.
Our power at the shop was out the entire day. For the first half of the day we concentrated on work which didn't require the use of machinery, using the light coming in through the
windows and doors to see by. By around eleven a.m. the sky had cleared and the sun was out. When I left work in the morning to go check on the house, I noticed the storm had
knocked down the huge wooden sign pointing the way to the shop. So after lunch, my employer, a co-worker, and I spent most of the afternoon tearing it apart and loading the
lumber into our trucks. It was really kind of fun because of the change of pace. The work which we concentrated on during the first half of the day got monotenous and boring rather quickly. I was dreading having to do it for another 3 or so hours.
About three or so weeks ago, we had a thunderstorm come up in the afternoon. It must have been a weekend because I remember SJ being home at the time which meant she would have probably gotten off about an hour before it started. I was in the kitchen when I heard a sizzling, popping sound and then saw a quick flash followed immediately by sudden bang. It was fairly obvious lightening had struck fairly close. The next day, after pulling out of the drive, I noticed pieces of bark laying in the roadway. I thought perhaps someone had been hauling limbs to the property next door and dumping them. It wasn't until a week later that I noticed a small tree down directly across from the entrance to the driveway. Lifting my gaze a bit higher, I noticed what looked like a downed tree behind a mass of overgrown vines and brush. Curious, I walked over to the area after work. It was amazing. This huge tree looked like it had litterally exploded from the inside out. The trunk resembled the "Needles" rock formations in South Dakota, its core wood turned into many pointed fingers. This explained the pieces of bark lying in the road. I saw one piece laying in our driveway when I first went over to see what had happened. I took my camera along and took some photos. I'd never seen anything like it before. Glad it wasn't our home!
Unfortunately, the last storm and those of the past weeks have not been very kind to the garden. The wind and rain from the last one wasn't able to dislodge the vines of the
cucumbers which are growing quite nicely up the sides of the wire cage, but I had to pull one pepper plant because the main stem had broken. I also pulled one tomato plant mostly
out of frustration. The wind had bent some of the vines breaking them which didn't mean the plant wasn't salvageable. I was just tired of constantly propping the plant back up when it wasn't setting fruit. I said to heck with it and just pulled it up. I was tired of messing with it. I also pulled all three of the corn stalks and picked the whopping amount of three ears from the lot. Luckily, the ears had matured so it wasn't a total loss, but might as well have been considering all the re-plantings trying to get it to grow.
I figured up the other day the cucumber vines have yielded 26 picked, two of them going to the compost pile because I picked them too late. The vines are still growing like gang-
busters with many more setting on and some of them probably ready to pick right now. I'm running out of people to give them to! I've also picked seven tomatoes so far, but had to toss three because something had bored into them. I guess just being able to keep the squirrels out is only half the battle. I've noticed many of the beef steak variety have
suffered blossom end rot. I think I'll stick with the better boy variety exclusively next year. We made use of the first ones for BLTs. Oh man were they good! I think it had been two years since I had eaten a good vine ripened tomato.
With all of the cucumbers, most of them an average of ten to twelve inches long with dark green skin, SJ tried her hand at making pickles last Monday and Tuesday. Personally, I don't care for them, and now I have even less of a desire for them. The house smelled of vinegar for two days. Thank goodness for our attic fan. She ended up with about ten or so pint jars of home-made pickles. I can't help but wonder how many of them she'll ever eat especially since we've got home-made blackberry jam from six or seven years ago I've not gotten around to tossing out. But knowing how much she likes to cook, and very well I might add, I'm glad she was able to try it. (I just hope she doesn't start giving them away only to find out she did a really good job. Otherwise I'll be putting up with the stink of vinegar every year!)
Got a call-back from Stan the other evening. I had to find out if he was interested in something we had discussed via email, but wasn't sure as to what his decision was. During
our conversation, he said he and his wife were going on vacation next week. When I asked him where, he said he couldn't tell me as his wife had just walked into the room, and it was going to be a surprise for their wedding anniversary. I think this would be or almost be their 20th. He also said he had picked up a couple of other items to pass along the next time we see each other. Apparently, some guy wrote a book about where our grandparents on Dad's side lived. I'm hoping he'll like it more than the pop bottles I bought for him which were bottled there. I thought they were kind of neat even though Dad seemed under whelmed, but then I guess since I'm the one which collects crown top sodas it would hardly come as a surprise.
Speaking of books, I got a reply from Vivian via email regarding my letting her know about this thread on this site. She wrote to say she was diagnosed as being cancer free from her surgeon. She said she had been going to a doctor who uses natural remedies and has been taking various herbs for about the last two years. But what I was most excited to read was that she has been working on a book about her life. I remember some of the stories she would tell, and they were quite interesting. I hope she'll relate the one about seeing a vision of Jesus when she was twelve. Her's has been a life of various pains and ailments, and yet she has hardly ever given up hope for complete healing, praising the Lord all along. She is a living testimony to what is possible even in the face of different adversities.
Vivian, I would guess, is about 85 years of age. I think she had just turned 80 when we went back to my home town to see her while she was visiting from California. She said she
wasn't able to garden anymore, but was able to tend a couple of pots of flowers in front of her apartment. I remember being struck by her radiance when we last saw her. Even with
her hearing loss and the various other afflictions to her petite frame, she seemed to shine. I can't remember ever receiving a letter or email from her that didn't seem to convey how genuinely happy she is in spite of all that has happened to her. Those with more and in far better health should be so lucky.
Could probably write a couple of more pages, but should probably save it for next time. Hope ya all are well,
Mike, SJ, and Bear |
