Blight

I know I touched on the blight in my last post, but it has really been eating at me.

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This year Jeremy, Mom, and I took on gardening. This is not a new task, but we took on some new ideas and steps. We wanted tomatoes, lots of them! Tomatoes were going to be diced, crushed, made into plain sauce, spaghetti sauce, canned and frozen.

There were romas, heirlooms, cherries, and now, we have none. Just the other day we checking out the plants looking for green fruits. It was so exciting to find them, small ones at first, then big ones, clusters of them, cherries and heirloom uglies, we couldn't wait for them to start turning yellow and red and orange.

Blight hit. It hit hard. It took out ALL of our tomatoes. We had them planted in several different locations, up at the house, down the hill, and by the pond, not even "close" to each other, and yet they were all destroyed.

It was very sad. We had to pull them all. Because blight is a spore, we can't burn them, it will spread the blight to others. We can't just compost/bury them, because that won't necessarily kill off the spores, and it could get reintroduced next summer. We have been working so hard to help lower our dependency on corporate farming, as well as finding ways to help keep things out of the landfill. With no tomatoes to put up, and the only way to get rid of the blight and the plants is to bag them up and take them to the landfill.

Camping & Tomato Blight

Friday after work, Jeremy and I took off for a weekend of camping at Stillwater State Park at Lake Groton. The trip was fantastic! Lots of paddling, fishing, relaxing, good food, and even greater company!
We took Sammy (Dad's dog) for the weekend, as Dad and Deb were going away as well and couldn't bring him with them. Sam had such a good time, he was acting just like a puppy.
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Yesterday I went up to help Mom with the gardens for a bit and we had to finish pulling ALL of the tomato plants. The late blight hit them, and while we were able to salvage some of the green tomatoes for Mom to make green tomato relish. It was incredibly sad. We started the plants from seeds and were really enjoying the process of watching the seeds grow into seedlings, into plants, putting them in the ground, and watching the fruits begin to grow. Probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do gardening.

Finally Friday

Strangely this week has passed at a snails pace, but FINALLY its Friday. The theme is following through quite nicely as it is taking forever for today to pass as well.
Extremely excited about camping this weekend with Jeremy, Mom and Lynda, and Joe and Mel. Gilligan, Sophie, and Sammy will be with us as well. Looking forward to lots of kayaking, fishing, swimming, hiking, and game playing.
Got stuff for s'mores, can't wait to sit around a fire and relax.

Mountain Biking

I have really missed mountain biking! Biking to Bethel on the main road is just not the same. It is a great workout, I enjoy it a lot, but biking in the woods is a blast.
We went up to explore Milstone Hill in Barre. Knowing I am slow and inexperienced with biking in the woods, Jeremy's brother Vince made sure to go up ahead of us and log a good 6-7 miles before we got there. I had to do a fair share of walking, but was able to do some of the hills, up and down, but corners and rocky passes got me. I would say I was able to bike half of it.
Next Monday we are planning to go again!

Enduro!

Lately, Jeremy and I have been finding ways to use the abundance of swiss chard we are getting from the garden. Our favorite way thus far seems to be to wilt it down with a bit of EVOO and fresh garlic and topping a pizza or stuffing a calzone with it. It has such great flavor!

Today was day 2 with Jeremy not smoking. He is on the patch, and going strong.

Tonight was the M&M Enduro at Thunder Road. My favorite race of the year! Can't wait till we have the money and time so I can race it too. Approximately 130 races went 250 laps vying for a $5000 purse! Very exciting. A few flips, a few fires, lots of excitement.

I don't work tomorrow or Tuesday, great for me, sucky for the pocket book. I can't wait to be able to sleep in and have nothing on the schedule for a change.

Advance Directives

Here's the deal. I am not old, not even close. Yet I have a legal document in my possession that many people who are 3 times as old as me do not have.
An Advance Directive is a legal document that lists and a health care agent as well as your wishes should you become unable to do so. I have pretty specific wishes that I really want carried out, and don't want it to be left to chance.
They then get filed with the Vermont Advance Directive Registry so that no matter where I am my wishes can be followed.
I urge you to do the same within your state.

Links for Vermonters
Vermont Advance Directive Registry - http://healthvermont.gov/vadr/
Vermont Ethics Network - http://www.vtethicsnetwork.org/

Camels Hump

Saturday, Mom, Jeremy, and I embarked on an adventure. We took on Camels Hump in all its glory.
With all the rain we have, it has been wetter than ever. The streams had water in them, there was a beautiful little water fall. It made it extremely buggy as well.













This was a little more than a third of the way up the mountain. We were still feeling great at this point. There was another couple who we were going back and forth with in the "lead."




The closer we got to the top, the harder it became. Breathing was harder, muscles were getting tight, we could really feel the burn. It was totally worth it when we rounded the corner and were at the summit.


It as a bit hazy, but the view was magnificent. I have been to the top one other time and was clearer but cold and windy. This day was breezy, very light thought, and warm! We put long sleeves on due to the breeze on our sweaty skin.

We had a great snack, spent some time wandering around looking from each angle, and marveling at the beauty. We had to be careful to stay on the rocks, because the alpine vegetation is very delicate.









The hike down was just as challenging! I managed to somehow tweak my knee just as we started the hike back down, which slowed me down. It hurt, the pain did not make the hike down as much fun as it could have been. We all slowed a lot the farther down the hill we got, all but limping to the car at the end.










The hike was fantastic. Jeremy had been up multiple times, I had been up one other time. Mom had never been up Camels Hump which made it all the better. Can't wait to do it again, only from the other side this time.