Two more weeks

That's how much summer school I have left. Two weeks. One more week of lectures, then a week of exams. Then I get 3 weeks off before the fall grind semester begins. It won't be enough time off. Can you tell I am soooooo over summer school??

The weather is still hot and humid. Nick still runs through (and under, over, and beyond) the creek almost everyday. He has so many bug bites driving him crazy that I can't really blame him for doing it. Except that I have to wash him. So I do. Blame him, that is.

I managed to tidy up my harvested garlic. The weather was so muggy, that they just weren't curing like they should have.



I was worried that they would simply mold on the back porch. So I brought them in, dusted them off, and made little net bags for them to hang in the garage pantry.



This ought to last me over two years! Or until the next vampire convention comes to town.

Otherwise, the vegetable garden has been a bit of a bust this year. I have gotten more tomatoes than I can eat at a time, but not enough to can. I did bring in 7 spaghetti squashes that will go live with the garlic in the garage until I can eat them. But the cabbages were disappointing, the carrots never did sprout, and the celery was way too strongly flavored to be much good.

I don't have any pictures, but yesterday, Stud Muffin saw a squirrel fly up into an apple tree and make off with an apple! I've been wondering where they all went! I have one tree that required supports to prop up laden branches. Relieved of the weight of the apples, the branches have sprung up and the supports are lying lamely on the ground. Oh well, most of the fruit had sunburn, and black splotches. Maybe the squirrel will get diarrhea!! (I'm vindictive that way!!)

Now here is a photo that should never have been taken! Studly snapped this very unflattering shot of me standing up at the table studying.



My poor butt just can't take all of this sitting down reading!! Have I told you I am over summer school yet?? No? Well, believe you me, I am!

So there you are. Just think of me sitting on a cushion, moving it from dining chair to recliner as I study, muttering "... two more weeks, two more weeks..." over and over. Cuz that's what I'm doing right now!!

The non-update update

Before I get lynched for not posting anything here, I will leave a pathetic little update.

1. We been having a heat wave. Unrelenting, hot, muggy weather that puts the kabosh on any kind of outdoor chores or activities. Our nighttime lows have been higher than the highs in most places. Except perhaps Hell. Well, maybe even Hell. It's too close to tell.

So, all we (and by this I mean Stud Muffin) have done is run out and start the sprinklers watering. Then we run back out and move the sprinklers for some more watering. My job it to get out there before the sun rises and water the vegetable garden. Oh. And tell them how sorry I am that they are being roasted even before they are harvested.

2. Now we have been having torrential rain. For the last two nights, I have been blown out of bed by incredible house-shaking thunder and lightning. When that happens, Sassy barks like a lunatic and beats up on all of her toys, while Nick forces open the curtains and stands in the window to check out what's making all the infernal noise. I have been making do with short naps throughout the night.

Image by www.uwec.edu


3. Three days wasn't nearly enough time to rejuvenate before starting another crash course for nursing. This class is much better than the last, but I was already worn out when it began. Things have not improved with limited sleep. See item number 2.

4. As a result of numbers 2 and 3, I am sitting here like a leftover party-girl, but without the fun of the party. So, I am just going to sit here and look like this:

Image by cinemafique.files.wordpress.com

Phew!

Okay... test over. Passed. Course over. Passed. Actually, I got my best grade on this final. Unfortunately, many of my fellow students didn't pass the class, and some missed it by less than 1 point! I'm not going to go into why this course was so horrible, but I will say that the failure rate is not a reflection on the students themselves. Nuff said!

Between studying and sleeping napping, I have done a couple of things in the garden. I got the garlic harvested and hung up to dry on the back porch.



I know I'm not supposed to cut the tops off, but I just had to!

I have harvested more veggies and herbs too. Celery, zucchini, lemon cucumber, and basil.



I spy, with my little eye, the first ripening tomatoes.



And I came home from my test today to find Stud Muffin had power-washed the porch on the studio building and was working on the teak furniture that lives there. It hasn't been cleaned in -well- too long.



Which side has been washed??



Better??



The chickens napped in the sun. Okay, they are wooden chickens, but they still need their rest!



I helped a bit and we got one of the chairs cleaned as well. Tomorrow we will finish the washing and after it all dries, I will start the much-slower process of oiling it all down.



And finally, when I went to make a deposit into the compost heap this afternoon, I noticed that "somebody" has been snacking on the squash garden. This zucchini plant used to have the largest elephant-ear leaves! I put some bird netting over it all, so hopefully, "somebody" will go elsewhere for food.



I now have 3 days off from school, but before you think I can just goof off, I do have about 259 pages of reading to do for the next class!

Don't talk to me...

Image by farm4.static.flickr.com

I'm not listening. Tomorrow is the final exam for my Pharmacology class. Four weeks and 189 drugs of pure hell (yes, I'm so lame I counted.)

I know nothing about drugs. If you peer in one ear, you would see daylight coming in from the other ear.

A few things I did learn. Like a whole bunch of ways to kill a person, by accident or on purpose.

And that the Marquis de Sade teaches pharmacology at my school. And that on the last exam, 2/3 of the students didn't pass. Out of a class of 80.

And that if you drive toward school with your doors unlocked, you might get carjacked and wind up driving a gun-toting maniac to Arizona (long story, fellow student is safe and on the way home.)

But as far as anything useful that will help me on this 100 question final exam... Nada.

So until my eyes have massaged all the words on 100s of pages of notes, and this horrid class is over and done with, I'm not listening to anyone. Well, except Studly. And Nick and Sassy. And you.