Things have settled down.

My nieces are no longer under my care (they are finishing their vacation at my mom’s house.) In spite of the difficulty with J’s temper tantrums, overall I enjoyed both of my nieces and was glad to have them visit.  I would have even allowed them to stay longer, if not for the fact that my kids have camp this week. (I’d paid for it prior to knowing that my nieces would be coming…)

My dad is out of the hospital. The good news is, they did not find any cancer. The bad news is, they don’t know why his heart rate had dropped below 35 beats per minute, causing him to feel so dizzy and tired, and out of breath.  In spite of nine days in the ICU and endless blood tests, heart tests, and more: they do not know what is wrong with him. Adjusting his medications, however, has been key to stabilizing his heart rate, and so he got to go home at last.

When I visited him, he seemed very weary. We talked only briefly, as my entourage flitted around, requiring a fair amount of my attention. He told me he was considering changing his will to leave cash to my brother, the house to me.  What’s fair, and what I want, does not play into this, and I don’t care what he leaves me, really, as long as he gets it together to make some legal, valid, final will so that I won’t have to battle with his new wife (who grows more annoying the more I get to know her.) When I lose him, I would rather focus my energy on grieving than fighting with the living over material things.

As for my garden, I am grieving about my pumpkin plants. I discovered severe damage to the main vines caused by Vine Borers, these awful fat white grubby things (see yucky picture, right) that eat into the vine, stealing moisture, and nutrients from the plant, and causing the root to rot.  Once I discovered them, I removed the insects (killed them, mercilessly) and hoped against hope that the plant will be able to put down more new roots. However, I expect the plants will die within two weeks. And the three or more pumpkins that were using those vines to get big, will wilt, rot and be lost. Oh so sad!!!

On the other hand, I did harvest a pretty purple eggplant today, a handful of green beans, and a skirt full of basil. Two more cucumbers should soon be ready to pick and eat. My watermelon is now the size of a basketball, and I have three cantaloupes, two softballs, and one about the size of a football. It’s encouraging to see so much fruit coming along.  (The picture to the left is of a Moon And Stars watermelon, and looks about the same as mine, but is not my actual watermelon.)

The deer have broken into the garden quite frequently, so the tomato plants are not likely be giving up any fruit, since the deer chomp it all before it even has a chance.