One step forward, one step in a cowpattie

I finally finished painting the m*therf*cking dining room ceiling.

Only two more rooms with beadboard ceilings left.

*teeth grinding*

Aw, hell, it's happening. And I'm glad. In the meantime, to quote an acquaintance of mine from college, "Pour some more wine on me."

It's a nice grenache-shiraz mix, actually, and I'm really enjoying it.

(In a Yahoo group I'm a member of, we call this a PUI, or "posting under the influence." Be advised.)

While I've been working indoors this last week and a half, something has happened. A plague has descended on the garden. First there were the leggy, sticklike bugs that sucked the juice out of the tomatoes. Then there were weird shiny black bugs that devoured the leaves of the eggplants and chard. Rabbits ate the leaves off the okra (although, amusingly, not the pods...does any creature except a southern U.S. human actually like them?). Finally, a herd of deer broke into the garden and stampeded through the tomato patch, flattening all the plants and taking one bite from each fruit.

And the weeds kept growing, consuming all in their path.

I can't deal with it. There is only so much of me to go around. And so I've decided...to hell with it. I'll keep harvesting what's harvestable, and I won't stress over the rest. I have to work on the house--the house has waited long enough. And I have my real job to do, too! There will always be next year for gardening. And lots of stuff is still coming: cucumbers, squash, melons, pumpkins, eggplant. I'll find joy in what survives.

Refill, anyone? *clink*