A Much Better Day

August 17, 2026•5 min read

A Much Better Day

There were a lot of exciting things that happened today.

… and I kept it all a secret until now.

Today started like any other day. I woke up at 9:30 and let Wyatt out and crawled back into bed. On the way, I opened the curtains to see if any hummingbirds were making their rounds. As summer starts coming to an end and as fall starts creeping in, the hummingbirds will start to migrate south soon.

The males will generally start heading south first, followed by the females and then the juveniles.

There were a few flying around and I wondered if they might be juveniles. They looked young to me and their feathers looked almost too perfect to be adults.

Wyatt was making a lot of noise, so I crawled out of bed and decided to take him for a walk. As soon as I went outside, I found that he must have been bored because all of his toys were all over the living room and strewn outside in front of the camper.

Wyatt and I headed down the lane towards the garden.

There is a lot to report today.

First, I really hope we like eating spaghetti squash because we now have a lot of them on the vine. So many that I had to look up to make sure we could freeze them. Apparently, if we cook them first, we can then freeze them for future meals.

Some are getting H U G E ….

Then I looked at the grapes. The one grape plant is still struggling. After doing a Google image search of the leaf, it appears it may have a pest. I will have to get something to spray on it.

The other grapevine is doing great.

The zucchini finally produced some vegetables… My partner will be reading this and must be so happy to see this.

Every tomato plant now has tomatoes. They are all still green but within 2 weeks I bet we will have more vegetables than we can eat.

The cucumbers are still small, but they are growing.

There are still a few peppers on the plant.

Can you believe this was the bottom of an onion we bought at a grocery store? We saved the bottom and ate the rest and it is growing like crazy.

The corn is getting close to being ready. There are at least 15 ears of corn.

… and now I get to make my partner really happy…

We have two tiny watermelons starting to grow.

Unfortunately, there are still no pumpkins. But boy, the flowers are beautiful.

Here is what I have discovered, we are located at the top of the mountain. Our temperatures here are consistently 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the valley, and as much as 20 degrees cooler than what we are used to downstate. What this means is that we started the garden too late. Because of the cooler temperatures, we will need to start seeds before we come up next season and when we get here, we will need to move them into a greenhouse of some sort. I think a hoop house is probably the most affordable.

On the way back from the garden, I saw this pile. Before looking at the caption below the picture, can you guess what a Google image search says it is? This is a first for us here. We will have to stay aware of our surroundings.

Then I headed into town to do laundry, get lunch, and pick up a tomato. Yes, can you believe I need to buy a tomato? There must be 50 tomatoes in the garden but not a single ripe one.

For lunch, I went to the golf course and got a chicken sandwich.

They have a great view.

And really good food.

Back on the farm, I let Wyatt out. This time I didn’t take him to town. When I let him out, he was ready to play. Boy, does he love that Jolly Ball.

Then it was time to do the saddest thing I have had to do so far. I took down the red flowers. They are tropical flowers and the temperatures are expected to fall into the 50s over the next 2 weeks, so they are being sent south for the winter. Taking them down was the first sign the season is coming to an end.

Wyatt and I went on patrol again down the lane a little earlier than usual. Rain was expected, so we went before the rain started.

After sitting inside for a while I decided I can’t just sit around so I headed to the New Holland dealer where our tractor is in for maintenance. I had to drop off a part I had on hand and figured it was better to do that tonight while I had nothing else to do.

Back on the farm, my day wasn’t over yet.

It was time to make dinner. Tonight I was having leftovers from last night. Chicken enchiladas are one of my favorites. But tonight I made something special. Tonight was the first time I attempted to make my partner's Shepherd's Salad. It was good but it wasn’t the same as when she makes it. You know there is that little extra seasoning you can't add when you make something for yourself. That seasoning that only someone else can add when they are making something for you. You know the seasoning… LOVE…

After dinner I headed outside and added timers to the lights. I have wanted to do this for a while. I finally bought the timers today at Walmart. They are dusk to dawn timers so the lights will turn off in the morning and back on automatically when it starts to get dark.

Back inside, it was time to give Wyatt his flea and tick medicine. I always use these moments as training opportunities. He loves cheese, so I can get him to do many tricks for it.