The idiots have been raising hell the past month. I’m not talking your everyday idiot, but the spam idiots who have nothing better to do than clutter blogs with nonsensical and otherwise unwanted spam.

So I’ve set the comments to monitor. I’ll post. You post. When I see it’s a friend commenting, it’ll go through.

That was August. Short thirty one days.

I can’t believe it’s September. I don’t like September. It signals that fall is just around the corner, and it is shorter than August.

Already somebody mention today that September was nearly half over. 😯

My scenic calender shows a landscape dressed in gold and bronze leaves. What’s with that? Those are OCTOBER colors!

This is September, and for most of the US that means green leaves on trees. Majority should rule here — not the few states in the North that welcome an early fall.

Ugh, time goes too fast. I’m not ready for fall and I sure as hell won’t be ready for winter. Yes, this is my refrain sang every year.

Please tell me how to slow down September before it’s a memory.

Labor Day is here, and I’m laboring. 🙂

All good stuff though. I finished my final line edits (FLEs) for my debut Harlequin Presents today. It was a good thing to revisit this story, because I always have these big doubts. But I got weepy at the ending which I hadn’t expected to do. Hope the readers are equally moved.

Since spring (or longer) I’ve been whining about my kitchen and my great desire to paint the horrible walls. It was way overdue, in part because of putting it off during Mom’s long health ordeal.

I jumped in yesterday, and got the job done late afternoon. I told my cousin it really could’ve used three coats, but I ran out of paint. 😯 So two will have to do for now.

Well, “now” as in when I get around to it again. Now it’s back to finishing up Conquistador for Presents. Then I’ve got a cowboy Hero demanding HIS story be told.

Yeah, it never ends.

I have five rooms that need painting inside, and I have the paint on hand for two of them. So why haven’t I jumped in and got at least one job done?

Hmm, well, writing deadlines for one. Full time day job for another.

I swear I don’t know where the summer went. I swear. Seriously.

I’d like to have another month between July and August. I’d like to call it Breeze. As in breeze through a month without care instead of counting minutes and knowing you damn well don’t have enough.

It’d be an easy going month. A vacation month. No taxes paid out, none gathered. There’d be no time clocks in Breeze.

Hell, it could be three weeks long instead of two, like an abbreviated February.

Yeah, I like the idea.

And sure, it ain’t gonna fly.

But it’s one of those ideas that if I ruled….

I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to jalepena peppers.

There are just a few meals that won’t benefit from having a pepper (or two) as a condiment. I’d enjoyed Santa Fe Grande peppers for years, but the high salt was beginning to bother me. Not in a raise in blood pressure, but retaining fluid. Ick. Plus, I don’t like really salty foods in excess

So I switched to jalepenas which didn’t seem as salty, and packed more punch. I’m one who has always liked hot spicy foods, a preference inherited from my mom. I don’t care how hot it is–bring it on!

So as my addiction grew, I started trying out the various brands of canned jalepenas. There is a big difference.

About four summers back my mom remarked about liking the canned peppers she’d “put up” far better. So that spring we planted jalepenos and canned them–17 pints that first year.

And oh, my God, they were so much better. Hotter, crisper.

So a tradition began.

With my mom’s passing last November and my hectic schedule, I debated long and hard about planting a small kitchen garden this year. In the end I did.

I’ve loved the fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, and the jalepenas I’ve harvested. So far I’ve canned 5 pints of peppers and feel damned proud of it.

True country living is just too deep in my soul to ignore. I enjoyed the break from the “business world” to connect with nature, and I’ll sure enjoy the fruits of my labor this winter. 🙂