Some places have record-breaking heat this past week. They are promising kinder temperatures starting tomorrow.  Tom is out there putting the last of Fritz's mulching hay away, all by himself. It's hard to explain the way some things have grown this summer. There's a rose bush back of our house. The flowering part has died off, so this new growth must be from the rootstock and some stems are about nine feet tall. Usually they say corn likes real hot nights, which we haven't had until just lately, but Fritz tells of someone having 14-foot corn. I planted a little patch of sweet corn and it resembles field corn. Some seeds planted early didn't seem to have moisture enough to germinate them and some that have been in the ground for quite some time are just showing up now.

 A little while ago, I got hungry and I brought some pickled beef tongue out of the refrigerator. I had fixed it some time ago, but as long as it was in vinegar it had kept good. It made me think of the salesman, this was back when they travelled by train. He got into town in the middle of the afternoon and he was really hungry. He told the girl in the diner that he knew there wouldn't be any meals ready so he wanted a hearty sandwich. She said, "I could get you a beef tongue sandwich." And he said, "I couldn't eat anything that came out of a cow's mouth," And she said, "Well, we have some nice fresh eggs."

 Talked to my sister Luty yesterday and she says her daughter Kim now has two different women to help take care of her. So that doesn't sound too encouraging. I still have to walk with a walker, but am still able to get in and out of a car and into a restaurant. So, our plans for this winter are uncertain.

 Because Monica's big dog was here, we didn't have to build a fence around the garden. Monica is moving from The Meadowlands to Lexington and is here today to get her dog. I hope the deer don't find out about this for a visit from a few deer in one night could ruin the garden. I had planned on having some posts and wire fence put in for the cucumbers to climb but it don't look as though it will get done. My son Jim says, "Don't worry, those vines will be climbing those corn stalks and they won't miss the fence."

 He also advised me about what I call the volunteer tomatoes that come up from seeds of those little tomatoes that didn't get picked last year. When Jim Hines rototills the garden, these seeds get buried and so they keep coming up and when they do it seems they grow a lot fatter than plants that you set out. I told Jim that I should have something to keep them in place. Jim said, "Take something sharp out there and cut them back to where you want them. Lord knows you'll have enough to them."

 Well, I hope to get, with Tom's help, to make some tomato juice from the little tomatoes and some bread and butter and some dill pickles with the cucumbers. That's another count against those volunteers, they're trying to smother my dill plants.