Wednesday, June 1, 2011

No still. No quiet.

The wind that started yesterday and turned into tornadoes last night raged on all day today. Everything that could bend, including people, were being whipped around by a heavy wind from the south and the sound was constant.

I had to do some gardening today. I didn't get to plant anything yesterday, it had to go in today to take advantage of the warmer weather and the lack of rain today.

When I got there, no one was in the garden. Apparently 2pm is the time to go to be alone.
The trellis/arbor thing I put up yesterday was still standing. I added a few zip ties here and there to tighten things that I couldn't get to last night.
I hoed up weeds from between plants and loosened the hard packed soil.
I planted soybeans, sweet peas, carrots, and muscaline salad mix.
I moved around some of the seedlings to better spots.
I planted climbing flower seeds next to the arbor uprights.
I had to cover plants that I had uncovered a few days ago, the wind had them laying almost flat. Only one small tomato plant was broken on the main stem, but I'm still hopeful it may still grow. Some of the very small plants were covered with upside down 20oz soda bottles with the tops cut off.  I can't leave those on if the weather gets too warm, so I've got to check them in the morning.
I was able to water everything really well before the rest of the gang turned up to use the hose.

As soon as I came inside, I fell asleep.  I'd been fighting the wind for 4 hours and I guess it just wore me out.

The temperature has dropped pretty fast and the wind is calm. It's in the 50F's tonight, but it's supposed to be warm and humid tomorrow. I'm really glad I was able to garden today. Grow, baby, grow.

I'm thinking of tornadoes tonight. I'm watching a documentary on the tornado clusters that have happened so far in 2011. I was just in the middle of a tornado-struck neighborhood last week, but the idea of it didn't reach me until tonight. Last year, some tornadoes went through the rural area where I grew up. Farms were flattened, and rescue teams had to go from farm to farm to check on people's welfare because telephone lines were down. Livestock were pulled up into the tornado and then were dropped in fields and on roads. I guess the idea of a tornado in the countryside scares me more than a tornado in the city.

P.S. I tutor Zhenfang in English on Mondays and Tuesdays. We're working on verbs, but took a little break to learn some more idioms today. Two idioms were covered today - "Shut up!" and "You're pissing me off." She's not a shy gal, but I was surprised at how quickly she picked up "Shut up!" and "You are making me very angry!" She really liked it. I guess learning how to tell people off would be more fun than conjugating regular and irregular verbs.

No comments:

Post a Comment