Recovering from restless sky syndrome

We've had wind, rain, hail, and tornadoes, although the latter did not actually touch down on our property. The forecast (if it can be believed) is now calling for clear skies for the next week, which makes me happier than a pig in mud. I know it's my fault that we've had so much rain. You see, we used to have only two water hoses, which had to be pulled from the house-to-garden path to the barn-to-livestock-troughs frequently. I went out and bought two more water hoses a couple weeks ago, so they could stay permanently attached to the house, and we could water the garden at any time without having to go to the barn, unhook the hoses, and drag them to the house, where we'd connect them and string them out to the garden. The garden has not required watering since I bought the new hoses. So, if you live in the Midwest, now you know who to blame for all this rain!

When I looked at the farmer's forecast a few days ago, it said that soil moisture levels were excellent for crop growth. What a nice way to look at it. I screamed at the computer, "Yeah, and perfect for weeds, too!" We had mulched two rows of our peppers a couple weeks ago, but the third row was completely lost, because the weeds were just as big as the pepper plants. And it was the row that was hardest hit by the rabbits, which made it harder for Mike to sort through everything growing there and pull only the weeds. He didn't know when to expect a pepper plant, so he couldn't just start grabbing and yanking everything.

So, for the first time in eight years, I actually hired someone to help with the vegetable garden, which was a great idea. We managed to get the whole thing weeded and mulched, and Mike and I got all the tomato plants on trellises. For the first time in months, I'm actually feeling optimistic about the garden!