2020 Life Logs, Day 235: Up to My Elbows in Tomatoes
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Breezy; High 81, Low 68 F Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Last night when I wrote my log, I named it “Knee Deep in Tomatoes.” I named it that because the 5-gallon buckets of tomatoes came up to my knees. Today as I processed 60 of the 90 pounds, the resulting peeled and deseeded tomatoes filled a pot that is as tall as the length from my wrist to my elbow. Thus, “Up to My Elbows.” Tomorrow I will add the other ingredients, cook down the sauce, and start the canning process.
Then on Tuesday, I’ll attack the last 30 pounds plus the five and a half pounds I picked from my garden today. The organic sauce tomatoes that I am processing are San Marzanos and Alpacas and are shaped like Roma tomatoes that are common in grocery stores. Not big, but lots of them. When I’m finished, I know I will be happy with the harvest, but I probably won’t want to see another tomato for quite some time.
Late this afternoon a man came to my front door. He was wearing a Covid mask and had an official looking name tag on, but he really didn’t identify himself. I went to the door and Shadow went ballistic. That’s when I saw that he had a very large dog sitting out in the driveway. I tried to calm Shadow and the gentleman said he was looking for 35 Madeline Road. I assured him this was not it. But he continued saying that 27 Madeline is one side of me and the next house is 41 Madeline. He asked, “Where are the houses with numbers in between?” He asked my name and my phone number. That’s when I finally asked him who the hell he was. Was he from the Census Bureau? Yes, he was, but it would have been comforting if he had started with that identification. Anyway, when I assured him there were no houses in the woods that surround my cottage, he was satisfied and ready to move on. But then he invited Shadow out to meet his dog, Ashley—four times the size of Shadow. He assured me Ashley was very well trained and dog friendly. Since Shadow was VERY anxious to go out, I let him go. Ashley was a little too aggressive for Shadow and Shadow was a little too energetic for Ashley. But they got along okay until Shadow started chasing Ashley, causing Ashley to jump the four feet across one of my raised garden beds, knocking down the iron fence stake and the chicken wire fencing on one side of the bed. With all my strength, I could not right the iron stake. I will have use a sledge hammer tomorrow to straighten the stake. But thankfully, Ashley was okay. I have just never seen a dog jump that long and high. There are zinnias in the bed that are 2-3 feet high and she cleared them with no problem. More like a horse than a dog. Then she ran into the bike rack on the back of my car. I suggested to the gentleman that he should take his dog and leave while the dog was still alive! Interesting encounter.
