Dog days of Summer

It may not be the picture perfect summer I imagine, but I think it's perfect enough.  It includes everyone and everything I love.  And that's what matters most!  

It's the dog days of summer.  It's hot and there's no time for wasting.  It starts out early... very early in the morning. Just when I see the first hint of dawn peeking in through the east window of my bedroom, I know it's time to get up.  Or, rather, farmer d (that's my hubby), gets up to work the farm. We don't need a rooster to awaken us.... farmer d has a built in clock!  He lets me sleep a little longer.  Nice.  The hired help is already arriving to pick the blackberries. There are peaches, nectarines, pears, and plums bursting with perfect fullness and flavor... begging to be picked.  Farmer d starts up the tractor and soon I can hear the purr of the engine as he heads out into the orchard.  I drift back off to sleep and farmer d works for a couple of hours picking fruit before heading off to his real job.   

My work on the farm starts when farmer d goes to work.  There are phone calls to be made to customers and orders to be filled.  On days I need to make a delivery to a local Food Market, the fruit wagon (van) is loaded with twenty to thirty half bushel baskets of peaches. Farmer d makes it easy for me.  Nice.  

Fridays and Saturdays are our busiest days of the week.  We prepare for the Farmers Market on Friday.  Farmer d picks eggplant and fruit.  I top the berry baskets with lids and stack them in boxes.  It can take two hours or more just to do that.  Fruit that has been picked during the week is put in a large walk-in cooler to keep it fresh for stores and the market.  Late Friday evening, we load the wagon up with fruits and veggies, in half bushel boxes, to take to the Farmers Market.  Saturday starts very early in the morning.  It takes us an hour to get to the Farmers Market in SLC.  We arrive at 7:00 a.m. and start our sales shortly after we set up.  We are busy greeting customers and making sales from start to end.  The hard work usually pays off.  What started out as a hobby has overtaken much of our summer.

One might wonder if I ever have time for fun.  I do!  Sometimes it takes some creative planning on my part.  But with 19 grandchildren, I'm not about to miss out on making memories.  So, when I'm not farming, I'm playing. 

Summertime when I'm not farming -----

1. Traveling suitcase.  One day in the summer.  It's a day adventure with grandma.  I pack a suitcase with an atlas, stories, activities, and other items of interest.  Grandma, kids, and grandkids are then ready to go!  It may be a Museum, the Zoo,  flower gardens, State Parks, the city, the mountains, the lake, a train ride, a theme park, and even a cemetery. It has to be something that creates a memory and is fun.  Added bonus -- they'll be learning and may not even know it!

2.  Swimming lessons and ball games are a tradition for as long as I can remember.  I enjoyed them as a child, I enjoyed watching my children when they were small, and I love watching my grandchildren now. 

3.  Shaved ice.  Summer's are so hot and dry where we live.  There's nothing better than sharing a shaved ice treat together. 

4.  County Fair.  I have been a County Extension Agent so I'm quite partial to Fairs.  4-H or participating in the county Fair was always a part of my life, my kids life, and now the grandkids life.  A county Fair is so much fun!  Not only do you get to enter an exhibit or animal and have it judged, but you get to see a rodeo, feel the thrill of a carnival ride, watch a parade and collect a bag full of candy and eat popsicles, see animals of all kinds, and see exhibits of food, fresh garden produce, art, clothing, quilts, and lots of other ingenious things made from citizens of the county.  There are dutch oven cook-offs, pie eating contests, animal shows and so much more.

5.  Celebrations.  Every 24th of July we celebrate Pioneer Day (days of '47), but most importantly, dad's birthday.  Every year we put a sparkler in his cake before singing happy birthday to him. He's not with us any more and keeping that tradition alive is more meaningful than ever.  
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Birthday Party.  For everyone!  Heard the saying... "one size fits all."  I decided to have one HUGE birthday party instead of sending un-meaningful and useless gifts through the mail 35 days of the year.  A day at the pool, lunch and birthday cake in the park, dollar gifts, togetherness, and tons of fun makes up our family birthday party.

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Family Reunions.  Staying in touch with brothers and sisters, their children and their children is both fun and necessary.  I grew up with cousins that were like siblings to me. The same for my children and their cousins.  Extended family reunions also keeps us tied and grateful to our ancestors and pioneer heritage.  And that leads into genealogy research (a whole other topic). 

BUT THE BEST PART OF SUMMER ---- Sitting in the backyard with the family.  Watching the kids play, the dogs play, the chickens run, sitting under the huge cottonwood trees, having a bbq, sitting around an evening fire, relaxing and visiting.  It may or may not be planned, and it doesn't have to be perfect, because it will be perfect enough. Oh yeah... that's summer at it's finest!