News to peruse

Sponge Bob and Round Ass have once again trashed my parents' house and then bugged out. Probably sticking them for the last month's rent and the electric bill. Just like last time. This time they left behind a ton of garbage and a cat. But they didn't forget the air conditioning unit that didn't belong to them.
So, once again, Mom and Dad have to replace all the carpet and have to patch the hundreds of nail holes in the walls. Well, at least now I can visit them again without having to deal with Bob's juvenile bullshit. What a loser. Mom says that's it for him. She's never going to help him out again...particularly since he verbally accosted her and blamed her for everything bad that has happened to him in his life. I'm not sure I believe her because he is her son after all and he will be back. It's inevitable. He's always been an arrogant, pompous, self-centered asshole and one day he'll tell his boss how to do his job and he'll be fired AGAIN and he won't have anyplace to go since he's burned every bridge he's ever had.

Mom and Dad were trying to sell their place...well, probably not really trying...and now they won't advertise again until they remodel the guest house and put vinyl siding on the main house. Dad is 82. Mom is 74. They're not going anywhere.

And now for some local news: I still have some painting to do in the sunroom but other than that it's finished. My next project is pulling up the carpet in the hallway and refinishing the hardwood floor. I scrubbed the hell out of my shower yesterday and discovered that I really need to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it. There is a leak, or was at one time, behind the shower head and the sheetrock is spongy there. And it's regular sheetrock, too. The whole wall will need to be torn down and replaced with backerboard. I also wanted to replace the vinyl in the kitchen with ceramic tile but I'll have to wait until next year's budget since the asshole contractor from last year ate up our budget for this year. Dick.

The garden is producing pretty well so far this year. I've actually harvested squash this year. Yellow crookneck and zucchini. I'm loving it. I've got delicata and lakota coming on as well. I'm glad I only planted two short rows of string beans. I got a mess with my first picking with just a half row and picked the rest and gave it to Charlie next door. He must have planted his late because he hasn't gotten any yet in his garden.
I had to do something different with the garden this year. I used one of the lightweight insect barriers as a shade cloth over the peppers and tomatoes and it has worked wonders. It was amazing to see that the plants under the shade cloth looked fine but the rest of the garden was limp, wilted, and half dead looking. So last weekend Jim and I erected a shade "tent" for some of the squash. What a world of difference. The insect barrier allows rain to pass thru and diminishes the light by 5% but it's enough to give the plants some respite from the scorching heat.
This is how I did it: Cut two 10' pieces of small bore pvc in half to create four 5' pieces. These are flexible which I find important so the shade cloth won't rip in the wind. Take another pvc pipe in a larger bore and cut into lengths of about 2' each. These short pieces are pounded into the ground at the corners of the plot. They have to be long enough to offer some stability to the smaller pvc. Drill a hole completely thru the top of the small bore pvc about an inch or so from one end. Take a piece of coat hanger or wire and thread it thru the hole and form it into a ring. Tie the corner of the shade cloth to this ring. Drop the 5' piece of pvc into the foundation pvc that's in the ground. Repeat with other 3 corners. The shade cloth is about 4.5 feet off the ground so one can go under it to weed and water and harvest. The sides are open so the ventilation is great and the bees can still get in there to do their pollination thing. I'll update if I run across any problems with it.