Paul & Mary's Daily Diary

I was hoping everything would be just “Ducky,” but that didn’t happen!

Poof!  Mary got a cold!  Headache, sniffles, slight cough, and most telling, no desire for a glass of wine!  I fixed her coffee, and we sat at the table for a few minutes talking to Colleen.  After that, Mary headed to the sick bay!  She was easy to find; I just followed the trail of Kleenex.

“I came, I saw, I coughed.”

Robin stayed with us until about 9:00 am, then took off to run errands/chores.

I gently placed a blanket on Mary, who was in the “cold position,” sitting comfortably in her lounge chair in front of the TV, sewing quietly.    I then went outside and worked in the garden for about two hours before it got too hot, enjoying a peaceful moment in my day.

The first ripe cantaloupe of the season was spotted!  It was a delicious event, even though some sowbugs seemed to enjoy it also!  The ripe fruit was sitting on the ground, which was my fault; it was too well hidden from sight.  In one case, 3/4 of it was delicious, tasting like sugar.  In the U.S., what people call a cantaloupe is usually actually a reticulated muskmelon, not the true European cantaloupe.

There are about ten more in hiding beneath the leaves!

I came in at 1:00 pm after two plus hours in the Sun.  I joined Mary to watch TV, and around 3:30 pm, I went back outside to continue planting our latest veggies.   While outside, I thought a lot about growing up (yes, it is still a work in process) in the neighborhood.

I made my first car using my neighbor’s baby buggy wheels.

Back to farming.  I planted four types of climbing cucumbers.  The favorite around here is the Japanese Long.  Japanese long cucumbers are usually slender, dark green, and nearly seedless compared with many Western cucumbers.

I planted four new cucumber varieties, all climbers, including Japanese Longs.

Watering the corn was next on the agenda.  They are ready to be picky, so tomorrow we are going to make corn chowder and corn on the cob.  It will be a corny day!

The corn is tall, and we have 60+ ears to devour in the next two weeks; then we plant another batch!

Iowa in Orange, CA!

The tomatoes are going wild, and thank goodness we have a lot of friends, or we would be drowning in tomatoes!  The large, heavy tomatoes are usually called beefsteak tomatoes.
They’re big, meaty tomatoes often used for sandwiches, burgers, slicing, and salads.

definitely a “Big Boy.”

As I rounded the garden, I spotted the berries, which are about a week away from becoming a pie.

Next week, I will pick blackberries for an hour and return to the house with one cup of berries and seventeen scratches.  The berries will be free.  The skin donation will be mandatory.

We probably have 200+ berries on the plants!

At 6:00 pm, I returned to the house, fixed Mary dinner, and provided her with the Alka-Selzer cold relief medication that usually works fine!

Here are some fun bits of Alka-Seltzer trivia you can drop at a party, over breakfast, or while waiting for the fizz to finish fizzing!

It wasn’t originally famous for hangovers.  When Alka-Seltzer was introduced in 1931, it was marketed primarily for headaches, colds, and upset stomachs.

A famous advertising slogan doubled sales.  In the 1960s, an ad campaign encouraged people to use “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!” The catchy jingle became one of the most recognized advertising slogans in American history.

The original formula contains aspirin.  Classic Alka-Seltzer combines aspirin, citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate.  When dissolved in water, the acid and bicarbonate create the signature fizz.

The “two-tablet” recommendation came from marketing.  An early advertisement showed a glass with two tablets dropping in, rather than one.  Sales reportedly increased significantly because many consumers began using two tablets each time.

It had a famous cartoon mascot.  “Speedy Alka-Seltzer,” a smiling character with a tablet-shaped body, appeared in television commercials during the 1950s and became a pop culture icon.

The fizz is chemistry in action.  The bubbling comes from carbon dioxide gas produced when citric acid reacts with sodium bicarbonate in water.

We watched 1883 (again) until 9:54 pm, then turned off the TV and hit the sack.  I have a photo of Mary asleep, but since she has veto power over blog content, we can’t use it.  This will have to do.

On her way to bed, I heard her say, “I’m powered by tea, soup, and self-pity.”

Mary has a cold.  Picture this with red eyes, a runny nose, and a fist full of Kleenex.

Good Night All!