13:08 – It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S., the day set aside to remember those who sacrificed themselves to protect our freedom. Although the official purpose of Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their lives in the service of our country, let’s also remember all of those brave men and women, living and dead, who through the years have put their lives on the line to protect all of us. As we have our cookouts and family get-togethers today, let’s all take a moment to think about our troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, who can’t be with their families. And let’s have a thought, not just today but every day of the year, for them and the sacrifices they are making and have made.
Frances and Al are up here for the holiday. Al brought up his roto-tiller/cultivator and spent several hours yesterday tilling a 15×20 foot garden plot. He, Frances, and Barbara have already planted some red pepper seedlings and two types of tomato seedlings out there. All hybrids. They’ve been in the ground at least two hours, but they don’t look any bigger to me yet.
I’m going to have Barbara sit down and look at the open-pollinated (“heirloom”) seeds we have on hand and decide what to plant. She wants to put in a few examples of various types, just to see how they do. I went out and grabbed a kilo or so of the untreated soil to send off for analysis. I suppose I could do it myself–Al in fact thought I was doing that when I disappeared indoors with the soil sample in hand–but our taxes have already paid for the “free” testing by the NC Ag Extension service, so we might as well have them do it.