Dishing the dirt - Day 9 of the Chill

Dishing the dirt means to spread gossip or scandal.  While looking up this phrase, I also found mention of organic farming.  Now that could get interesting.  So I could post photos of my tomato plants from last summer and write about those right?

I don't like to spread gossip, although I'm sure there's someone out there who would probably disagree with my last statement.  I'm sure everyone, at some time or another has "dished the dirt" on someone else.  We're human and it seems like gossiping is very much a part of human nature.

I will attempt not to dish the dirt in most instances, although I will walk through the dirt most willingly.  I will walk through mud, fields, hills and over rocks and other assorted dirty things if there is a photo to be had.  I climbed down the side of a bluff once up in Humboldt County when I was in college to get a photo of the Pacific Ocean and the Big Dipper in the night time sky once.  I was 20 at the time and it was there that I knew I was a photographer at heart.

Halfway down to where I thought I wanted to go, I slipped and fell.  By the time I'd stopped sliding, I was pretty much where I wanted to be.  I rode it down on my back, holding the camera close while grabbing branches and other assorted things that were flying by in order to slow me down.  The camera came out unscathed in the mishap, the back of my jacket and pants, not so much.

That's the first day when I can clearly remember, the camera came first.  Nothing was going to hurt my pride and joy.  I'd purchased it a year before with my own money and I wasn't about to let it get dirty or broken.  At that time, I knew I was pretty much fixable, but my camera could be laid up for months, because I had no money to repair it at the time.  

Once I'd stopped sliding, I sat there for awhile taking in the situation and realizing that I wasn't going any further.  I also knew I would be able to get myself out of the situation, which meant I didn't have to panic, so I set up my tripod (yeah, I had that with me as well) attached the camera, composed the shot and tripped the shutter.  I used Ectrachrome slide film, so I don't have a print version of that particular shot.  It might even take me awhile to find the shot, but now that I've mentioned it, I guess I'm going to have to search for it sometime soon and post it here.

No, I didn't dish the dirt.  I slid on the dirt.  But it was worth it.  I can still see that shot in my mind's eye and will to the day I die.

Photo Blogging Challenge (July 2013): Signs

And the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said "Imagine that. Huh! Me workin' for you!"
Whoa-oh-oh

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

lyrics as recorded by The Five Man Electrical Band in 1971

As you can see, this month's five photo blog theme was signs.  No standard signs to show you today, but I think you'll enjoy my signs.

1.  Summer meals

Summer meals tend to be not as heavy for some reason.  Although this summer, thus far, hasn't been a real scorcher, the normal heat that becomes quite pervasive in the summertime doesn't make anyone want to cook in the kitchen for very long.  If you do have hot meals, they tend to be barbecues.  Still, my daughter made this very tasty dinner with turkey bacon, basil, beef steak tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and Italian spices.  The meal was definitely a sign that we were in the middle of summer.

2.  4th of July

I think this is an obvious sign for most of us who live in the United States.  When we think of fireworks, we think of 4th of July celebrations and the beginning of our country as an independent sovereign nation, no longer bound to the whim of King George III.  For the most part, fireworks are a sign of some kind of celebration.  We celebrate the birth of our nation.  Disneyland shoots off fireworks nightly during the summer, celebrating the longer hours that guest can enjoy the park.  Baseball stadiums shoot off fireworks after home runs and winning games.  I can remember one game we went to where there were so many homeruns hit by the home team that we were left wondering if there would be anything left for the end of the game.

3.  Camping trip

Right after the 4th of July, my three children and I went on a camping trip.  This was the first time all three of them had gone camping with me in 12 years.  Usually, it has just been the youngest (the tall one in the middle) who has gone camping with me over the last couple of years.  When, they were younger, it was very important to keep them busy, lest they become bored.  I pretty much had every minute scripted out as to what we were going to do.  Since my wife doesn't camp, it was me with three small children, so keeping track of them and making sure they were safe was a big priority.  

I took this shot mainly because I think it represents a very relaxed attitude of all three of them and myself as they have grown into adulthood.  My daughter graduated from grad school this year with a masters in education and will be teaching 4th grade next year.  My son graduated from college with a degree in Environmental Studies and is starting to put feelers out into the job market for some kind of environmental job.  My youngest graduated from high school and will be going away to college to study physics in the fall.  This photo is definitely a sign that we will soon have an empty nest.

4.  Summer work projects

If there is one truism about owning a home, it is definitely that a homeowner's work is never done.  The green fiberglass panels of this fence in between our garage and main house had seen better days and when the one panel fell out of its tracks and several others were threatening to also fall out, we figured that it was a sign that we needed to do something about it.  

While my daughter was still here, we went to the hardware store and picked out all of the pieces of wood that we needed to change the fence.  After she left, my older son got me off of my butt and outside and we built the fence in about six hours.  I was extremely grateful for his help.  By myself, this project would have taken several days, lots of sweat and swear words.  We still need to finish up the gate, but that will come in the next couple of weeks.

5.  Back to school

When I was a kid, school ended the second week of June and didn't resume again until after Labor Day.  That was also true when I started teaching school 30 years ago.  Times have changed, but one thing still remains a constant - sometime during the summer, I receive a letter from my principal hoping that I'm having a good summer.  This letter is the sign that summer really is coming to an end and I will be back at work shortly.  In this case, tomorrow I go back to work for teacher meetings and computer training.  Monday, my students will show up, and I will start my 31st year of teaching, 30th at my current school, Cucamonga Middle School.

And on a side note, a couple of weeks after I start, my daughter will start her first year of teaching and begin the cycle anew for our family.  She will be a fifth generation teacher in our family, stretching back to the late 1890s.  She is poised to follow in the footsteps of both her mother and father, her grandfather, 2 of her great grandparents, and a great great aunt who taught in a one room school house in rural Indiana back in 1897.

So there you have it.  My signs for the month of July.  And here's the link back to P.J.'s blog so you can see the other's signs.

Let the harvest begin

I guess you could say I've become a gentleman farmer.  Not really, because I should never be confused for a gentleman in any stretch of the imagination, but I've at least had a pretty good run this year with my fruits and vegetables.  

The tomatoes are coming in rather nicely. One of the two plants growing upside down in the topsy turvy has already yielded several tomatoes that are the sweetest they can be. There are probably a dozen or more tomatoes on the vine all in various stages of ripeness.  

My only complaint thus far of this particular variety is the toughness of the skin.  Store bought tomatoes seem to have soft skin which isn't very chewy.  These tomatoes I'm growing seem to have a tougher skin, more chewy in nature.  I'm wondering if that's particular to the type of tomato I'm growing or the fact that they are being vine ripened as opposed to being picked way early the way store bought tomatoes are.  If anyone has an answer to that one, I'd appreciate it.

As far as the sunflowers go, they've been blooming pretty steadily this week.  If I remember correctly, my first blossom from two years ago showed up on July 1st and the last blossom came around the end of the month.  This pattern should hold true for this year's crop, although they've been blooming for about a week already this year. 

Most of the traditional yellow ones have started to bloom, but I knew that I'd also planted an orange variety and one of them finally bloomed today.  I'm not sure if the photo does the flower justice as it appears to be a more brownish color than it actually looks like in person, but that's the way digital images sometimes work.

All in all, I'd say it's a pretty successful garden this year.  And I haven't even mentioned the nectarine tree that we planted three years ago.  The limbs on that are weighed down with fruit.  I love nectarines.