Because my hometown was located at the top of a mountain, we never experienced floods. The “big city” of Bradford, Pa. was down in the valley. Those folks often had flooded streets from the small Tuna Creek (locals pronounced in “crick”). On the trip down, we passed several hollows (again ”hollers”), water would run down from them. Therefore, my personal experience did not include raging water in my home. It’s difficult to imagine the devastation in the Texas hill country.

On the completely different weather reaction, I am happy that we are having a bit of rain. Our soil is moist enough to absorb it and I don’t have to haul hoses around endlessly.

I have a new invasive weed, soapwort. The problem is that I like it. It’s blooming right now and looks very nice amongst the other weeds. I looked it up on the Google and I wonder why. It said it was poisonous and not to ingest it. Why would someone just eat a plant without knowing about it?

I wonder about so many things in our now completely computerized world. My son, Reuben, says “If the internet were a real place, you’d be ashamed to be there!”

The trumpet vines are blooming. There is one on the roadside just past lower Lambert’s Cove Road. They are usually orange but I remember a yellow one opposite the Chilmark Store. I forgot to notice if it is still there this year.

My van is also known as a barn, tool shed and closet. I could never give a ride to a well-dressed friend! Sadly, I spilled some Bobbex in there.

I’m going to confess to somethings from the 1970’s. Hopefully, the statute of limitations has passed. I drove a 20-year-old Ford Fairlane from the 1950’s at that time. I spilled an entire quart of liquid fish and seaweed fertilizer concentrate. As a few weeks went by, even I couldn’t stand it. A friend scraped all the vehicular identification and we abandoned it somewhere in Boston. I’m not proud of this behavior and promise not to do it again.

Both Bobbex and liquid fish do a good job of repelling deer and rabbits, and apparently passengers in my cars. Bobbex needs to be applied quite often or otherwise it is simply a condiment.

I’ve noticed that Pee Gee hydrangeas are a personal favorite of deer. Such a pity as they are downright spectacular right now. Good thing some of the blooms are too high for the little jerks to reach!

I harvested most of my garlic. The hardneck variety should be eaten first as they rarely last past Christmas. The soft necks, conversely, should be good until spring.

Violet has been busy making cucumber canoes: small cukes cut lengthwise with the seeds scraped out and filled with yummy Mermaid Farm fromage and some added dill. Real crown pleasers!

Time for a shout-out to my favorite variety of cucumber — Boothby Blond. It has a pale yellow, tender skin and has the flavor of a true heirloom. I get the seed from Pine Tree Gardens, which is located in Maine. Boothby refers not to the place in Maine, but the family that grew them for generations.

I will say, I’m enjoying the discomfort of DJT and the MAGAverse over the Jeffrey Epstein kerfuffle. Even though some corn needs to be popped, I have zero hope that in the end anyone will be held accountable. For decades, our boy Donnie has been teflon. Nothing ever sticks to him. Most of us get in trouble for everything.