![\"070113-cauliflower\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/070113-cauliflower.jpg\")
\n(Natahsa’s first cauliflower of the season.)<\/p>\n
\n(Natahsa’s first cauliflower of the season.)<\/p>\n
I stopped to talk to the Russians late in the afternoon in the forecourt of their 1910-vintage farmhouse. Bisquit the Wonder Spaniel had a new haircut for the Dog Days to come, and Sasha raced around from the front to bang the gong announcing a vistor. The skies could not make up their minds about dumping moisture or teasing us with late sunshine. Natasha was in the garden, and Mattski sadly announced that they were headed back North in just a few hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cNatasha\u2019s company won a $2.9 Billion health care contract, and they are frantic about spending the first $114 million. Meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I am glad ObamaCare is good for someone,” I said. Details of life in the capital seemed to fade down in Culpeper. “Not true in my line of work. War is pass\u00e9 these days, unless you are a coal company.”<\/p>\n
He asked me about the new satellite service that actually makes it possible to spoil the country with city work, and I swore I would look at the dish and let him know.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something bogus- ‘Excede’ Maybe? Nothing exceeds like excess, but there is only one installer- some bandits called Wild Blue in Fredericksburg.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it,\u201d he said pensively. \u201cI prefer to be cut off from civilization down here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would be surprised at the change here on the lane even since 2008 when I bought. Didn\u2019t even use to be a decent cell signal here. Now, I can even stream video off the web. It is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattski looked dubious, but our attention was diverted by Natasha, who came around the corner of the cinderblock garage holding something green.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs cauliflower,\u201d she said. \u201cFirst of season from the garden.\u201d She held it out for our inspection. No pest damage, bright white in color and bigger than my fist, cloaked in protective green leaves. \u201cFor dinner,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Herdon.\u201d She scowled. \u201cNo one up there knows what to do when you win big contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pretty good at it,\u201d I said. \u201cThough the work is going to be harder to get. We have done pretty well lately, but I will have to keep my fingers crossed. I am on furlough through the 8th, and we will see what happens while I am gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI bet cucumbers come in by then,\u201d said Natasha. \u201cWe are going to have plenty.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled. Life is good in the country, and nothing is better than free vegetables fresh from the garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am doing pretty well, too,\u201d I said proudly. \u201cSome of my weeds in my garden are taller than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Natahsa’s first cauliflower of the season.) I stopped to talk to the Russians late in the afternoon in the forecourt of their 1910-vintage farmhouse. Bisquit the Wonder Spaniel had a new haircut for the Dog Days to come, and Sasha raced around from the front to bang the gong announcing a vistor. The skies could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5642,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639\/revisions\/5642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}