hrj

Every year there is the cosmic dilemma of whether we can hold out against calling the exterminator for the ants until after the raspberries have all ripened. If it were just me, I'd deal with the ants by getting fanatical about keeping the food and garbage inaccessible, but as a landlady I can't really get away with telling the tenants to do that. I do, however, hold out for not spreading poisons around the foundations of the house until I'm done with berry season. Summer weather brings out both abundances, with the ants usually leading slightly. I've been moving the cat's wet-food dish regularly for the past several weeks to keep the pests away, and then today I went out to set up the sprinkler and found nearly a quart of berries waiting for me. And as a bonus: my two cherries were ripe (and un-bird-eaten!). This is, I believe, a doubling of my last cherry crop. Next year, if I really manage to get the neighbor's trees pruned back to the fence, the cherry may get enough sun to go to town. The boysenberries and black raspberries are getting ripe too, but I let them be for now. I didn't get down on hands and knees to check for strawberries yet. I don't get enough strawberries to stop me from buying them at the store, but somehow I can never bring myself to pay money for raspberries and blackberries -- and the anticipation only makes them sweeter.

IKEA was having a big sale this weekend and I've been thinking about getting a new bedstead -- one that actually has a headboard so I can sit up in bed if I want to. But none of the items I've had my eye on were on sale, so I let that slide for the moment. I did get some containers I've been meaning to experiment with for a new SCA camp kitchen design. (I am forever designing the next version of the SCA camp kitchen, with a steady cycle of elaboration and simplification.) More on this project later if it looks like it's going to work.