How I've spent my summer vacation (so far)

All day long: haul firewood in to feed the fire in the living-room fireplace because the house is FREEZING but we turned off the big outdoor wood-burning furnace WEEKS ago when daytime temperatures started reaching regularly into the 80s and it's a royal PAIN to crank up the furnace for just a brief cold snap, which is what we hope this is. Brief, that is.

Every evening: haul ragged old tarps and ground-cloths over the flower garden, both herb gardens, the pepper patch, and the long rows of tomato and sweet potato plants so they don't succumb to the frosty overnight temperatures.

Every morning: haul ragged old tarps and ground-cloths off the aforementioned gardens VERY CAREFULLY so as to avoid traumatizing the tender young tomato, pepper, and sweet potato plants because we REALLY don't want to have to re-plant everything after we exercised SUCH excellent foresight in planting the garden well before the impending grandbaby's due date.

Special bonus activity to remind me that this cold snap won't last forever: harvest asparagus while being serenaded by the lovely morning melodies of orioles and brown thrashers.