I wrote the paragraph below in 2011, saved it as a draft and promptly forgot it

 (Circa 2011) Status for the garden this time last year: Gawd, its been h.o.t. here. So hot Hubby and I had to escape to Florida for a few days to cool off. Seriously. Triple digit temps a lot and when it’s not, it’s horribly humid. When we returned home and took a look at our garden today, it was a little scary the amount of produce to be gathered and either eaten or frozen or canned. So, we took out lovely little wicker basket and three grocery bags to the garden with us, but came back with two wheelbarrow’s full.

Fortunately this year hasn’t been that hot, but we haven’t had the garden abundance either. We’re plagued with bugs who love to eat as much as we do. Because of their tenacity, combined with the heat, we lost all our squash plants and some tomatoes. I’m bummed about both. Then a rabbit found its way through the mesh fence and helped him/herself to our green bean plants.

We’ve done a better job of fighting the weeds, but rain, while our salvation when it comes to drought, is also our nemesis because it’s like a magic potion for weed growth. Anyway, Hubby and I have come to realize we’re spending a TON more time at this than we intended to commit, especially when you factor in the time to clean, process and freeze or home can too.

All that has also had an adverse impact on my writing time, especially since I have Sophie. Remember her, the pretty little Cockalier pup who stole my heart? Well, she’s 4 1/2 months old now, recovered from her spaying operation and is (I’m guessing here) around 13-15 pounds.

Recently all three dogs were feelin’ the heat, so Hubby took them to a nearby lake and she discovered swimming. Hubby threw an object for Guinness to fetch and Sophie followed, paddling after him as if she’d done it a million times!

I’m feelin’ the heat on writing progress too as I’m nowhere close to the word count I’d hoped to have by this time of year. Thank goodness a writing buddy offered up a writing retreat. I’ll report on that in more detail another day, but suffice it to say it saved my month and set me up for success with Camp NaNoWriMo. Yay!!!

July has to be a good writing month because we’re expecting two waves of company the first and second weeks in August. Oh, boy. That’s my que to get back to work on the WIPs.

Sorry about the long absence here. I’ll post more soon, I promise.