Nothing Like A Nice Rainy Day

 Okay. I've got an idea. I'm going to start canning my pickled green beans in gallon jars. So much less time-consuming, right? 
Actually, my canning kettle isn't big enough for that but I do believe I might start putting them in quart jars. I didn't pick yesterday, went out today, picked in the rain, and got another Jumbo Ziplock Bag full. This is truly ridiculous. 

It started storming here last night with lovely rumbles and distant lightning cracks and then rain. The wind had been blowing all day, sometimes with huge gusts that rattled the magnolia leaves and shivered the Bradford pears and oaks into tangles. I guess it blew in that storm and I read in the paper this morning that over 22,000 people in the area lost their power. As far as I know we did not, but if we did and the generator had come on, we would not have known it in our sleep. There was some pretty serious flickering going on before we went to bed but no complete loss of power. And it has rained almost all day, sometimes just a drizzle, and sometimes hard and fast. So once again I came in from the garden wet but not with sweat which was a very fine change in the circumstances and now it's down to about sixty-nine degrees on the porch which is almost polar for us at this time of year. 

Guess what- I did it, y'all! I sat on the couch for awhile this afternoon with Maurice and watched TV and started patching my beloved old blue linen shirt. 

We watched that limited documentary series on Prime about the Duggar's "reality" show. Remember the Duggars? That deranged fundamentalist Christian family who had nineteen kids? I never once watched the show. Not sure why. I mean, there's a family in Monticello who probably follow the same principles with maybe a dozen kids whom I see at the Wacissa sometimes and I'm pretty fascinated with them. The sect that the Duggars followed was a group called the IBLP which stands for Institute of Basic Life Principles and it was founded by some creepazoid misogynist guy named Bill...wait for it!...Gothard. 

Mr. Gothard was the final word on how to control your wife, your kids, and your life according to his take on the Biblical principles. The IBLP is all about homeschooling and they provide "educational" materials for that purpose. They also teach that children and wives need to be taught right from wrong with "the rod" and...oh god. 
It's all just so horrible. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Gothard has never been married. Over thirty women came forward and accused him of the usual stuff- sexual molestation and abuse- which he denied but he did resign. Here's what he said about that: 
"Never in my life have I touched a girl sexually. I'm shocked to even hear that."
Ironic for someone with that name unless he touched boys sexually instead. 

Okay. That's enough about the Duggars and their slimy beliefs. Of course, their oldest son, Josh, is in prison right now for child pornography. The show itself was canceled when it came out that Josh had confessed to molesting some of his sisters when they were young. 
You just can't make this stuff up. 
Well, you could but it wouldn't be as weird. 

There's the beginning of my mending. The entire yoke of the shirt is worn thin as a wispy dream of a yoke and I should have just started out replacing the whole thing but I do love my embroidered-on patches. You can see the one I already did. 

Tonight's supper is going to be stuffed peppers. 

Those are probably the best bell peppers I've ever grown in my life and I probably should have left them on their bush and let them get red but they are so big and shiny and firm and lovely that I decided to pick them now before the bugs get to them. 
Gosh. That paragraph was a little bit naughty. 

Oh well. 

It's still raining. Maybe the cucumbers will now burst forth with pickle worthy goodness. I hope so. I know the weeds are happy. 

One last thing- let me ask you a question- if cats had peed on your homegrown potatoes and you left the potatoes outside on the cement walkway and it rained on them for a day and a night and they didn't smell like pee at all anymore, would you dare eat them? 

I am pondering this. 

Meanwhile, be well and take care. 

Love...Ms. Moon