Happy Saturday!

The garden projects continued this week but I feel like progress has been exceptionally slow as the days are getting shorter. With dinner finishing at around 4 PM, I only have about 90 minutes to work each day before I could no longer see. It’s also been slow because the drill/screw driver kept malfunctioning and it took about an eternity (if I was lucky) to get it to work again. So the only progress I made this week has been getting a single removable frame to fit in its place and made two more frames.

The weather hadn’t been cooperating either. It’s been an exceptionally wet October – raining at least 3 days each week. Not that I’m complaining but this is not normal for a desert climate like mine. It’s been raining so much that the southern half of the state is practically drowning in water. Water is flowing over banks, into nearby towns and places, forcing people to evacuate and seek shelter somewhere else. Meanwhile, I have 200 gallons of rain water sitting in the rain barrel that won’t probably get used until next year. Oh well, at least I don’t have to worry the plants not getting enough water.

I had an allergy test done this week. I was also tested for asthma, thank goodness, for the negative result on that one. My back was turned into a canvas as the medical assistant put an extract of different things to test me for different skin allergy before pricking my skin to help the extract get underneath. There were about a dozen pricks that were endured and in the end, the test yielded surprising results.

I honestly didn’t think I was allergic to so many things – cats, dogs, horse, cattle, were among them. I wanted to see if I was allergic to grass and indeed I was, especially to Kentucky blue grass, which is a pretty common grass in the U.S. but it wasn’t as bad as my allergy to cats.

Thursday was the Halloween party at the office. My mom decided to switch days this week and headed to the office with me. The drive was awful. She either watched Youtube the entire drive or complained about my driving. I have been driving for almost 20 years now and still, she thinks I’m not being careful. “If I didn’t have you in the car,” I snapped at her, “I would be way out there, in the fast lane, not here, behind a truck driving 60 miles/hours.” She was complaining about me driving too fast and not letting people cut in front of me.

Her backseat driving and complains did not put me in a good mindset by the time I reached the office. I was angry and wished to punch somebody in the face. That’s why I never want to go anywhere with my mom. The way she talks, she doesn’t care how her words make other people feels.

Thankfully, my mood was lifted when I participated in the office scavenger hunt with my co-workers. We laughed and we had fun fulfilling the tasks. The scavenger hunt was followed by lunch, which was chicken parmesan and pasta. I probably over-indulged myself that day because I didn’t feel good afterwards.

Back in the garden, I have been picking raspberries and figs like crazy in October.

The wild raspberries patch that had re-grown after I dug up most of the roots from the old plants and the new patch of thornless raspberries I planted in 2024 are fruiting like madness this year. I have been harvesting every other day and putting them in yogurt. It’s a little sour for my liking but it’s okay.

I also installed a new wire trellis recently to help the new thornless canes stand up.

I also managed to solve my mouse problem for new by going all “mama bear” to my fig tree. If you ever had garden-fresh figs, it’s like eating candy. I can’t do more than 2 or 3 figs at a time, it is that sweet.

I really appreciate that there are still so much to harvest so late in the season. I have been keeping a close-eye on when the first frost will come but can’t see it yet. It’s exceptionally late for the first frost to not have arrived yet, for sure.

I really appreciate you stopping by and reading about my week. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.