Tomatoes again

 After a couple of years off, I planted tomatoes again this spring. This is significant because of the reason I didn't plant tomatoes for two years. A few months after I retired from teaching, the pain from walking was profound. The cartilage in my hips was all used up. I had two hip replacements and had been using a walker to get around for months. This spring, I was determined to have tomatoes in the garden again. I was still using a cane when I planted the tomatoes myself. 

First I found two Super Sweet One Hundreds and planted them. Then a Beefmaster, an experiment for me. Then two Sun Golds, my favorite. 

I got some tips about raising beefsteak tomatoes from the garden center where I found them. I will say, I am proud and at the same time humbled by the mighty Beefmaster tomato. Here are the first fruits as they began ripening. 

I grew up eating homegrown tomatoes, but I have never tasted anything like the Beefmaster. To my mind, there are few summer foods more delightful than tuna salad with tomatoes. 

I will definitely grow the Beefmaster again next spring. Probably more than one vine. It is a slow growing tomato but it is well worth the wait. I no longer need the cane to get around. Bending over takes a toll on my hips, even though it has been five months since the second surgery, so I have to limit how much weeding I do. The tomatoes have rewarded my determination a hundred fold. Every bite makes me think of my father and grandfather. This passion for tomatoes must be genetic. 

 

Matcha's world upside down

 Since Matcha came home, he has made great strides in regaining his confidence and his weight. But circumstances beyond our control turned his world upside down again. First, a tree fell on the house. Matcha has always been afraid of thunderstorms and has several hiding places in the house. Several weeks later the shingles on the roof were replaced, and the pounding just about did him in. He stopped eating wet food or even much kibble. Still, we let him out a couple of times a week with his tracking collar, and that went okay until a couple of weekends ago. He didn't come back and we both could see his radio frequency was somewhere in the woods behind the house. Finally around 3pm, Bob went back into the woods where the signal was strongest and held the scanner over his head. The percentage went up, and Bob looked up to see Matcha stuck at the top of a tree that had fallen on another tree, with two other fallen trees leaning against the tree that Matcha was on. 

 This rescue included the 11 foot aluminum ladder and the cat carrier. As soon as Bob started extending the ladder, the clattering startled Matcha out of his paralysis, and he started working his way down the tree. It was covered with tangled vines, so it took several minutes and a lot of coaxing, but he made it to the ground. Bob picked him up and carried him to the house, with the help of a little scruffing. 

Matcha hasn't been outside of the house since. We had a scare last week that he had escaped, but we found him in the pile of furniture in the middle of the den-- furniture that was moved to facilitate painting the ceiling and walls. 

 Gradually Matcha's appetite has returned and he is doing all the normal things he enjoys-- except for going outside. When all the repairs to the house are finished, we'll see. Meanwhile, there is an extremely dangerous place in the woods where the tree went over during Tropical Storm Hermine, and I am grateful that Bob didn't have to go up the ladder to get the cat. Another episode where no one was hurt. Now, that's good luck.