Summertime and the Living is Easy

Life is sweet. Life is grand! I am on day three of four days off. I have six hours to work within it but am not even counting it as they are two, three-hour shifts and in the evening. I still have the days off. My daughter was home for the weekend and my portion of her visit was Saturday to Sunday afternoon. We had lots of fun and a relaxing time. Yesterday, she had Father's Day and today, a funeral. She will drop by a bit before she heads for the ferry to return home. I'm really enjoying the off time. I had worked 27 extra hours week before last and last week worked long hours again, working 34 hours in a 48 hour period. Whew!

I've spent a lot of my time gardening and have sad news about my vegetable garden. I had a whole lot of cucumber seedlings last week and not a one remains. I believe slugs are the problem though crows have been suggested as a possible culprit. There are no leaves either on the many bean seedlings of different varieties so I think that points to slugs. I will replant and go on patrol tonight with a pair of latex gloves and container. Fun, fun, yuck, yuck. At least they are not the huge slugs they get out west.

I had a great laugh (at myself) this morning. I hum and sing to myself all the time. If people are around it is very light or even just in my head. If no one is around, I let it rip. The cats are used to it but no one else ever hears. Anyway, this morning I went out on the deck and started this whole percussive thing with my foot while hand slapping and clapping. I was wailing away to the cats, changing the words of an old folk song, now with a very loud percussive beat, to lyrics about the day and the cats and this and that. All at once I heard hammering and saw someone working on the pasture fence just to my right. Let me tell you my impromptu concert ended very quickly and I came into the house (with a red face) to laugh .... and groan. That's what a couple of days off will do to you. I was singing with joy.

I played a lot of frisbee with Baxter the Beast this weekend. His mug illustrates today's post and I must say he has a face only a mama could love. I got a wicked bite on my arm from him but it was not his fault. He was jumping for the frisbee but I moved it and my arm became the spot where his teeth landed. It is very bruised and broke the skin. I had an altercation with some rose bushes as well so I am going to return to work looking like I had a very adventurous time off.

I have very different types of music for today's post. The nice percussive, Soul Drummers, by Ray Barretto has a bit of call and some clapping and lots of groove. This could be traveling through my brain at any moment right after something like this: Summertime by Pura Fe. That would probably make me think of Summertime by Ray Barretta again and I'd be off singing like no one was listening. A great big welcome to summer!