Harper spent yesterday at Arlington, and Mount Vernon as well as a few other places. I truly have not heard much from her other than to say yes, she is having fun and that she really liked Mt. Vernon. I guess I will get a big recap tomorrow night when she comes home. Thank goodness the sponsors have been great about posting photos! Otherwise....
Luckily, I don't have time to nag at Harper about her lack of sending me photos because I have plenty of projects occupying my time. Yesterday, I forced Quincy to help me get the cover off of the pool. This is what we are starting with. Not the worst it has ever been for sure. I can see the bottom, so that is not all bad. We did drop some debris in there from the cover, which we hoped to avoid, but are just not strong enough. I also have a leak, and am trying to isolate the area to find it. It is a tiny leak that I attempted to patch last summer but never found it. When we lowered the water to below the skimmer, it stopped, so we know about where to start looking. This weekend Preston will be home, so I will recruit him to helping me. I hope to be able to swim by next week!
Confession - when we bought this house, I was not really on board with the pool that was in the yard. To me it seemed like a liability, and a lot of work. And that is still true today - it is a both a liability and a lot of work. BUT when the original pool broke, it was me that talked Jim into replacing it. It is also me who does quite a lot of the work on keeping it clean and the water balanced. I always say it is for the kids, but truth be told it is for me. I love having it. I love getting in the pool in the summer time and then getting out and working in the garden or mowing the lawn, and then getting back in when I get hot. I love having time to sit in the pool on my floaty with a mixed drink. And I love poolside afternoons with the kids and grandkids. It really brings me quite a lot of enjoyment and I hope that we will be able to continue to keep up with it for a long time.
Last fall, I bought some sweet potatoes from a woman in Scranton. We ate most of them, but I used a couple to make my own slips. I was not sure what I was doing, but they went crazy inside the house, and even though they said to wait to plant them outside, I was over having them everywhere so I stuck them in this raised bed that Jim made for me out of an old entertainment center. They have gone absolutely wild. I have no idea what I am doing, I have never grown sweet potatoes before. Fingers crossed that I will be getting pounds and pounds of sweet potatoes! I absolutely love them!
And these are white potatoes that I planted in feed sacks. They have also gone crazy! I planted some in the ground as well. This is the second time I have grown potatoes in sacks - but last year I got about 4 potatoes. Fingers crossed that they produce more this time. The plants are way more impressive for sure!
And I was given a couple of goji berry plants. One looks absolutely dead, one looks like it will survive, and one is thriving. My understanding is that if you plant one, you will end up with many, so I am not overly upset over the one that died. Another confession.... I have no idea what a goji berry is. I have never tasted one, I have never even really heard of them. But my board president's wife was giving them away, so I accepted her offer. She tells me that she loves to eat them straight off the plant. The internet says that most people dry them and use them like dried cranberries. I guess we shall see what happens. I like trying new things. I can always rip them out if we hate them right? :) They are a super food, filled with vitamins and minerals and highly recommended for nutrition, so I am hopeful we can find a use for them.
My desire to fill our yard with edible plants that come back year after year is slowly becoming a reality. My little orchard is thriving, and I have expanded our berry beds. I am thrilled with this in ways I cannot describe. I truly am just a giant nerd I guess.
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