Garden - things are moving at a slower pace than normal this year. Not sure if it's because I've not fertilized as often as in the past or because I planted a week or two later than normal. We lost all our squash plants; not thrilled with two of the four tomato breeds we picked out (the Homestead goes bad too fast and is prone to worms and falling off the vine fairly easily; cherry tomatoes we just don't need quite that many). So far I've not had enough tomatoes to can yet; but hopefully by next week I can put up a few. Corn is finally starting to fill out, but not sure we're going to get two ears to a stalk as in the past. Beans have flowered but still are not putting out.
Snakes - I don't want to see another one. In the last three weeks we've killed two in the hen house...both of them over 5' long. I saw a medium size one (between 15-24" - hard to tell when their slithering in their s shape) while cutting grass, and I've seen three small to medium sized skins...one between the front ramp and the dryer vent; one in my garden; one near the pond drain.
Berries - found some blackberries on the other side of the pond while cutting grass. I don't like them myself, but picked some for a cobbler for Mrs. Bryan and Bobby. When I looked again this week they were either gone or dried up. Our one blueberry bush that has survived our plantings is actually producing this year and I've been able to freeze some. The wild ones our neighbor planted got mowed down by a friend while our mower was in the shop.
Virus - My cousin is still at home, but it wife is in the hospital and getting worse. She has it in both lungs; doctors at the local hospital are consulting with UAB about drug options. The brother of my high school friend is back at home, not back to normal yet, but improved enough to go home. And the father of another high school friend, after 40+ days in ICU, is now approved to move to an acute long-term care facility as soon as a bed becomes open. The Walker girls are well with an exception of they still have no sense of taste or smell. Meanwhile Wake County has announced there will be no fall sports (or band or other such activities), and schools everywhere are debating about what to do.
China - more countries are taking note of China's cruelty and annhilation of the Uigher's. American placed some symbolic censorship on party leaders in the area, etc. China has now in turn placed the same travel restrictions and such on Senators Marco Rubio (R- FL, Ted Cruz (R - TX) and two other American officials. Canada is withdrawing some of their officials in response to the current Hong Kong situation as well as the Uigher situation, and India is blocking 50+ phone apps that are all created in China. America is considering doing the same, or at least requiring a warning label to go with those apps. TikTok is the one that Americans are most familiar with, and the Chinese are adding faces in the videos into their facial recognition database.
Elections - training will all be online this year, which means I won't be teaching this fall. On the other side of the spectrum, that also means I am free to work early voting. I've applied, but we won't hear for another month who they will be hiring.
And that's where things stand for July 2020.
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