4th of July Part 2

The highlight of the weekednd was on Sunday, when we went up to Burlington which is on Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain is celebrating its quadracentennial (400 years). As part of that celebration, The Roots performed in Waterfront Park. It was a fabulous performance. "I push my seed in her bush for life. It's gonna work because I'm pushin' it right. And if Mary dropped my baby girl tonight, I would name her rock'n'roll."

4th of July in Vermont

Vermont was beautiful for Independence Day. Mark and I went downtown and watched a small town parade. I thought it was going to be a small town turnout. But there was a bunch of people. Did the whole state turn out? We found that the parade was sponsored by the "Area" Chamber of Commerce. That explained why there was so much more people than I thought there would be since at least 5 towns were participating. It was huge. We rode the dirt bike into town, thankfully, and were able to bypass a lot of traffic (what there is up here) and park behind a building on Main Street. The atmosphere was very festive, even though rain was threatening all morning. It finally poured later in the day. I have never seen so many tractors in my life. Big, small, old, and new. A farmer's dream, I'm sure. The funniest was the Amtrak train that comes through town stops right in the middle of Main Street, in the middle of the parade. But that didn't dissuade folks from keeping their perch right on the tracks… I think I caught the spirit of the day.

I’ve Got Worms! Mom’s Got Jokes…

My garden has been working well for me, despite my poor watering skills. The consultants came to check on the garden last week, so right before they came, guess what Mark and I were doing…WEEDING! And we found lots of worms. According to several websites "Worms are so important to the health and vitality of your soil. They help increase the amounts of air and water in the soil, they help with the decomposition of organic matter and they leave behind fertilizer in the form of castings. They're kind of like little tillers in your garden." Although they are super yucky ( I almost screamed when I flung the first couple of my fingers), they are nutrient rich and important to the health of the garden.

The garden was pronounced doing well by the consultants. In spite of the moderate climate in Vermont, and the regular rain we get, I do need to do more watering (OK I need to water period!). And more weeding… The Mizuna and Curly Cress are sprouting like mad. The squash is growing nicely, the Rhubarb is overdue for cutting, and the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are growing nicely. The corn, onions and peppers need alittle help. The spinach isn't doing so well, but the collards look great. We got lucky.

Then we go to visit my family in Central California. It was in the mid 70s when we left Vermont. In Southern Cali, it was 90! Then we went up to the Central Valley to see the parents. It was triple digits there! I forgot about all this heat. I wilted. And so did my Mom's potted flowers she bought for an event. We watered them and spritzed them and some revived. It reminded me of my garden, which wouldn't have stood a chance in this climate. I would just have a pile of dirt.

So while we're visiting my mother is making jokes. She asked if they checked our passports at the airport. Now that we live in Vermont, we're foreigners. Ha ha ha. If the population in Vermont was 600,000, it's now 600, 002 with the addition of Mark and I. Ha ha ha. Mark and I just doubled the Black population in the state of Vermont. Of course we said we've seen/met several Blacks, but Mom doesn't believe it. And when they visit next month she and Joy (my sister) are going to be doing their own census of Blacks. I told her traffic was light during my commute to and from volunteering in Burlington. Mom's response was, how could there be traffic with only 300 people in the state.

We had a lovely visit. We had a catered family dinner which was superb. And my parents hosted a Summer Salad Celebration. Although it was hotter than Hades, we had a blast.

My parents and one of my sisters will be visiting us in Vermont in a few weeksw. Their visit will surely offer comic relief. It might be a good time to invite our neighbors over for an introduction.

Lions & Tigers & Bears & Snakes!

Mark and I have been in Vermont for about two months now. One would think we would be used to or at least prepared for all types of critters. Well… although there may not be any lions and tigers (at least I don't think so) there are other things of which we should be aware. I've had multiple close encounters with bugs, but I won't bore you with that. One night Mark is getting ready to go out on the deck to smoke. This is one of the few nights he hasn't made a fire (did I mention he's a pyro). He looks down as he's opening the sliding glass door and sees eyes. He flips on the switch and low and behold there is an animal that resembles a cat on steroids. The thing hissed at him.

He was of course startled and went for a large stick to chase it away. The thing disappeared. I told him that's what he gets for smoking! Come to find out it's a fisher cat. Vermont imported these things to take care of the overgrowing porcupine population a few years ago. Apparently they are natural predators of porcupines (who knew!) and now these fisher cats are overpopulated. Will we ever learn? I pray that I never see one of those up close.

So then Mark is out building the fence for the bison (that we moved up to Vermont to raise) when a horn beeps. A state trooper (another one) had pulled into our driveway. The trooper was going house to house in our area to alert residents that there had been a black bear citing. The trooper asked Mark to call in if we saw the bear, but if it was on our property we had the right to shoot it! Why would we want to shoot a bear? Apparently shoot bear is common in Vermont… The trooper said that their preference is to trap the bear and relocate it, but some people want to shoot them. Poor bear. Mark is down at the corner store one morning, which also happens to be a gathering spot for old-timers (men) who gossip about the goings on in the area. Mark tries to be there a couple of times a week. They were talking about when a young man had shot a bear and put it in the bed of his truck to go around and show all his friends. Well, two weeks later when this young man was done showing off, he went to take the bear out of his bed and it came apart. The bear had decomposed so much in the two weeks he was showing off that he couldn't use any of it (for food, or for it's fur). Yuck! We just received word that the bear sited in our area had been trapped and relocated. Go Bear!

A week or so ago, Mark was having a happy time on his riding tractor, mowing the vast lawn that we have. The grass, weeds and stuff had grown pretty tall (at least 3 to 4 feet). All the sudden something slides across his lap under his shirt and out through his shirt sleeve. It was a snake! Now as you can imagine, he jumped off the tractor and ran. I know he screamed too. He smoked several cigarettes after that encounter. I guess I can't blame him there. It took him awhile (several days) to go get his mower… So maybe there are no lions and tigers, but there are definitely bears and snakes. I swear, Mark has all the fun.