Tough Year Continues

The season out at Custom Gardens continues. As if we hadn't had enough trouble already, some time last week some sort of blight started to slowly eat it's way through the tomatoes--as of yesterday Ray and Virginia had lost what appeared to be a third and a half of the crop. Virginia believes that whatever it is that's killing the tomatoes came in with the huge population of leaf hoppers that have shown up this year to feast on all that lush vegetation that covered the desert a couple of months ago thanks to our unusually wet spring. There's no two ways about it; we're having a really tough year out at the farm.

Nevertheless, I had a really great time out there yesterday. Melissa now has weekends off (finally!), and she was able to come with me for the first time. After harvesting a little garlic, Ray and Virginia put us to work rebuilding "Andy" the scarecrow. It was my first scarecrow, but I think we did pretty well--pictures should follow soon. How much Andy the scarecrow actually benefits the crops I'm not exactly sure, but it was a good time building him.

Today we went up to Tahoe City and rafted the upper stretch of the Truckee River. The picture at left is a picture of the upper Truckee, but it is not me and my friends--I could have gotten one of those official commemorative pictures but I wasn't about to pay $21.95 for a shot of me looking pudgy in a life vest. As for the ride itself, not only was it a great time, but miraculously I seem to have escaped without a painful high-altitude sunburn. Usually any square inch of my exposed pasty flesh (that is, any part of me that isn't covered by my farmer's tan) turns fire-engine red after a few seconds of exposure on a sunny day like today even if I use sunscreen, but today I somehow seem to have gotten away unscathed. And how fantastic is it to be able to see Melissa in the daytime! She's even prettier in the sunlight! I just hope Karma isn't planning on paying me back for this.