Today's Haul

This weekend, Kevin is down in the OC to stand as Godfather (and a proxy "Godmother" for me!) for our nephew, Sean-Luc, who will be baptized on Sunday. Last night, he hung out with some of my family down at a campsite in Doheney Beach. Lucky guy!
In the meantime, I'm home taking care of the dogs, chickens and other household things that need to get done.
Yesterday's weather was awful. The skies were thick with smoke from a nearby fire, it was over 95 degrees and it was very humid. Thunderstorms were predicted, but none materialized. Although, we did have a pretty good downpour very early this morning. All three rain barrels are now full. Good news for me, because they were down to the last couple of gallons.
Today, I woke up to some bright sunshine and clear, smoke-free skies. I guess the rain washed it all away. I hope it stays that way, because although it's going to be cooler over then next few days (high 80s) I still don't like the smoke.
So I cut the grass in the backyard this morning for the first time. It was pretty easy, once I got the hang of the Neuton electric mower. Kevin had already set the height on the thing, so I just had to put the battery and the key in correctly and off I went. I did a pretty good job! Well, at least, I thought I did...the nice thing about the electric mower is that it is very quiet. I had to push the chickens out of the way as I was cutting the grass. They weren't startled at all.
Next, I collected eggs. I got one from each hen today. Foggy didn't lay one yesterday, but she was the first one this morning to make up for it! I can tell when she or Moa don't lay because Foggy lays pure white eggs and Moa lays pastel green eggs.
Then, I picked today's produce, which you can see below-

I've been getting a nice handful of 'Sweet One Million' and 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes for the past few days. The 'Martino' Romas are finally starting to ripen nicely, and I'm also getting a good handful of green beans each day. I got a couple of nice sized zucchini and straight neck yellow squash, and to top it off, a few more pickling cucumbers. I think I have enough now to make one quart jar of pickles, so that will be a project for tomorrow!
The other reason I stayed home is that I am going to speak at all Masses this weekend to make an appeal for teachers for Religious Education. I'm going to tell the story of Sister Janie, who was a postulant for the Presentation Sisters and the youth minister at St. Irenaeus in Cypress, CA when I was in 7 & 8 grade. (Coincidentally, that is where Sean-Luc will start Kindergarten in September) Sister Janie (among others) really influenced me to stay active in Youth Ministry, so I'm hoping that by telling a positive story about myself, others will want to work with children to teach them about their faith. Wish me luck!