East Coast Happenings

[Diane Amberg]

I really had fun yesterday. I did the fire safety module at the 4-H camp at UD's big Townsend Hall where the Aggie classes are taught. Great kids, as 4-Her's always are, and wonderful staff. Another storm came rolling in just as I was leaving, so I'm afraid their planned walk down to the UD pool shortly after my visit didn't get to happen.
I did stop by the UD Creamery for ice cream before I drove home. Bought a true half gallon of wonderful Black Forest.... Rich Holstein Chocolate  ice cream, with brownie pieces and thick streaks of black cherry syrup. Oh yum!

[Diane Amberg]

Yea!  The  new charter school passed all  it's inspections, the C of O has been iissued and now the building can officially be occupied.The trucks are starting to arrive with all the furniture, and the parents, volunteers and the teachers are working like bees. Those parents are amazing. They offered trucks, vans, carts, dollies, you name it. Some furniture is new, some second hand or donated. It's really starting to look like a school.

[Diane Amberg]

We're still watching storms. Another Derecho rolled through just north of us tearing down lots of trees and wires. I'm glad the meteorologists are finally using the real name instead of just "severe thunderstorms." They can be very damaging but have no spinning circulation.
Had some soft shelled crabs for dinner last night.I sauteed them  in good butter and they were very tasty, if I do say so myself. I'm not crazy about having to clean them, but I'll not dwell on that. eech!
The garden has taken quit a pounding but seems to be winning anyway. I have several toms almost ready and have picked a couple of peppers.I'm surprised how it has caught up since I had to plant very late.
The slugs are awful this year,so I've been hand picking them and dumping them in soapy water. Have a good day everyone.

[Diane Amberg]

Local flooding here yesterday and again today. 3.9 inches yesterday in my rain gauge and another .3 today. More predicted every day next week. Enough already!

[Diane Amberg]

More rain today and many,many messages back and forth about the firefighters. I didn't know any of them personally, but know folks who did. We have trained teams here who will go out for two weeks at a time during the season to help. I've decided the lack of sun and too much rain is giving me the worst garden ever. The toms are good, but the beans are poorly sprouted, the lettuce is too.  I've replanted the cukes twice with only two plants sprouted and have only two yellow squash out of a replanted area of ten. There is still time to replant once more, but I'm not sure I should bother.  Friend in MD are sharing with us instead of the other way around!

[Diane Amberg]

Happy Liberty Day to all. Our local daily paper, as I'm sure many do, printed the Declaration of Independence as they do every year. I read it with my morning coffee and watched it being read again near the Liberty Bell in Philly. They had a neat parade in spite of the oppressive heat and humidity.
For once it isn't supposed to blow up thunderstorms today, so folks can have their fun and bake but not get boiled in the rain too. Tonight we'll watch the concerts and have steaks on the grill.
Yesterday one of the local camps came to tour the fire house. Its a hard one to do because they run from age 5 to 12. Their interests and fire safety knowledge is so different. 26 kids and 8 counselors.
My friend Irene was off work so she brought her two yellow lab search dogs, Pierce and Pulaski to the station. They really made the tour extra fun as they followed her commands and showed off.
The kids all got a group photo taken wearing their new fire hats in front of the big hook and ladder truck...really cute.
Pierce is 10 now and will retire from the field soon...so, she just got a seven week old new pup to start training. He is so cute. She named him Bunker. Have a great day everyone.

[Diane Amberg]

Who turned on the heat? It's 90 here and with the 77 dewpoint and high humidity, it feels like 102...excessive heat warnings, so we ran our errands early and are hiding inside. Enjoy your weekend.

[Diane Amberg]

The new charter school looks like an ant hill with teachers and parents and staff moving in boxes and furniture and lots of teaching ''stuff'. The rain has been a pain, but at the same time the athletic fields look great. The road in from the main road has been paved and the road and parking lines will be painted soon.
The ribbon cutting and dedication will be on August 20th. Hooray! (Then on to some expansion and room change around in the existing elementary and middle schools.)  Because we re-purposed a closed industrial building, we'll never be accused of building a Taj Mahal. 
The Delaware July heat is back for the week. 90's and very humid. But it's July, it's supposed to be hot. Toms are coming on nicely now with beans almost ready. One pepper plant is a fizzle, but i plant plenty and the others look good.  Beets are almost ready too. The cukes and squash are poor. I replanted three times and still only have a couple of plants . Not sure why. birds? ants? Bad seed? That has never happened before. Enjoy the day.

[Diane Amberg]

Like many areas, we are still baking in this week's heat wave.
I got a call this morning from a neighbor who is fretting over her poor garden this summer. She didn't know what "early blight" was on her toms, they are very slow to ripen and her cukes aren't setting on. Usually I share produce with her as her yard is very shaded except for a very small spot. I had to tell her I wasn't doing much better. Yesterday a ground hog came through and managed to eat all the squash plants. They were in their own unfenced area and were gone before I even knew he was here. Now for the trap! Maybe I can replant again.... if I can catch him.  Apples and carrots usually do the trick
Just one word...birds...can set off some amazing comments from some very rude people. As far as I know this is and always was an open forum. If it weren't so sad it would be funny.

[Diane Amberg]

Whew! THI at 108 and actual temp at 95.5 with about 50% humidity. It should break tomorrow with the arrival of some severe storms coming in from the south west. We're on an orange alert for poor air quality too.
It looks like Al may have gotten a spider bire .He has a 1 1/2 inch long blister on his back, right at the belt line. It looks very simple and doesn't itch. I think it must have happened when he was out watering.
    I was just thinking about the changes in the forum over the years. The nicest, openest, friendliest people joined as much as 7 and 8 years ago...most have gone now. Had enough.  Most of the nastiest, rudest, most self absorbed and self opinionated came much later...now even less than two, or even one year.
They have no clue how to do a real debate and just whine and complain... Mostly about their own fellow Kansans! Anyone who doesn't live in Elk County, even if they did at one time, might as well hang it up.  As far as I know it's still an open forum and nobody should be slammed for posting ideas or opinions on the threads. So stop the personal attacks! Especially the "probies" who haven't earned the right to be rude to ANYONE.  If ya moved in recently...forget it. Unless you are a very conservative cookie cutter image, ya don't stand a chance.
IMHO.