The Simple Life

It's a Tuesday morning and I’m almost ready for the day. I just hope it’s a better one than yesterday. I will start the day with a walk in the park, a 6+ mile walk at a faster than usual pace. Maybe that will help with my disposition. Yesterday, I tried making catsup and that didn’t work. My pear butter was a failure as well. Although I do have 12 jars of delicious pear syrup! Then my riding mower stopped working, right in the middle of the orchard, and after I loaded it on the trailer and took it to town, I found that the mower repair shop was closed on Monday’s. So now the mower sits on the trailer and I will have to deliver it when I get back from my walk.

Also, I’m hoping for a cooler day, as it looks like I will have to mow the front lawns by hand. That wasn’t the plan, but it is now. The rest of the orchard will have to wait; I’m not mowing that by hand. And I will have to do some more tomato processing this week as the tomatoes are getting riper each day and the harvest is plentiful.

I really need to stop worrying about things like that. It seems as if I am not able to retire from a life of stress in the business world without finding something else to worry about. What do I care about tomatoes? See? That’s it, I do care and that brings me more stress. As I have said many times, it’s bound to be genetic and I seem to be destined for a stress filled life.

I’m already planning next year’s garden and it’s going to be different from this year by quite a margin. Simple will be the theme. And I’m also planning the trees that I want to add to the orchard. The apples are a pain and quite a mess. Do I even want more apples? I think I will prune them back severely and see what happens. The same with the walnuts. I would like more nectarines and peaches. And more plums. And I wonder about pluots. Those would be fun to grow. See? There I go again, looking for ways to expand my responsibilities instead of reducing them.