Any of you who have read some of my previous Blog entries know that on occasion I bitch about the lack of benefits provided by aging. I joke about the only benefits from advancing age being an occasional senior discount and hitting from the gold tees when I play golf.
Well, lo and behold, I found another one. Sitting here in my air conditioned office hiding from another oppressive day of heat, the result of a now seven day heat wave, I realized that I don’t work anymore, I’m retired. I can remember those miserable 90 and 100 degree days when I had my business. Trying to work at the desk with papers sticking to my arms, listening to office staff complaining about the heat and still others bitching that the air conditioning was too cold. Worrying about my poor warehouse workers sweltering in the non-air conditioned warehouse, should I send them home early? If I do that then the office will be pissed, pardon my language. How do I run the business when everyone wants their vacation time in July, dilemma after dilemma? And don’t forget fighting the bees that always seem to find a home somewhere in my walls. Well thank heaven these are only memories and I can continue my quest for additional benefits.
On a lighter side, I want you to know that I have continued my attempts at farming. These last few years I have planted some vegetables in the fifty foot wall bordering our pool. Have tried a few things, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers etc., but I’ve had the most fun
growing butternut squash which we love, especially in a soup on those cold fall and winter days. I always save the biggest for last and when preparing for a meal, I take all the seeds, dry them and start them in small pots the following spring. I figure that if I keep using the biggest every year, some day I’ll be growing some real monsters….lol. The crop looks good this year in spite of some early cold snaps which really hurt the start. In addition to the squash, I’ve got a few pots of tomatoes along with something new for me.
This spring a friend of mine presented me with a tiny plant that he said was a pumpkin. I planted it and nursed it along until it began to develop what looked like a zucchini, but has now developed into an honest to goodness pumpkin. Right now it’s the size of a medium sized watermelon. I’ve decided to feed the hell out of it and bring it to one of those contests at a local fair this fall. Only kidding, but it’s going to be fun seeing how big I can grow it.
