Damn this summer flew by! Seriously, I want it back! Where did it go? Some updates on various parts of my life . . .

My vegetable garden seems to have been a craptacular failure this year. I guess I just had too many good years, so I was due for this. I am pretty sure I know what I did wrong. I reused a lot of my soils from last year this year. I thought I had prepared it in a way, with fertilizers and mulch, that would make it okay. I don’t think it really worked out. The plants I grew using new soil did amazing, the reused soil failed. Next year I plan to buy all new soil, and the old soil I will spread on my lawn while using to just reseed it.

My garden wasn’t a complete failure, but two of my tomato plants were. Nothing could save them, they just died slowly. The other three grew huge, but only just now am I getting tomatoes. It’s the end of August, this is getting a bit late! Cold snaps will start, and that will kill the tomatoes that are just now growing. Perhaps I also need to plant earlier next year as well . . .

Oddly enough, my pepper plant, a first for me, did amazing . . . @!#$@%@$#%@$# I would rather have had tomatoes! Last year I had so many tomatoes I was throwing them out because I couldn’t use them fast enough. Oh well, I have live and learned!

With the summer over, work will be starting up again soon. I don’t know how I feel about this. I will be glad for the paycheck, but every semester you don’t know what you will end up with in terms of a class. I am very happy to be teaching my favorite class, “Magic and Religion,” for the first time ever this fall. It became so popular the department added it to every semester (it used to only be in the spring). I love that I’ll be able to cover Halloween in depth! Also it looks like there is a good shot for one of my adjunct jobs to become more permanent in the future . . . we shall see!

For a complete change of topic, in a week I will be enjoying Madonna . . . live in concert! I can’t wait! This is a week before my birthday, and is basically my birthday present to myself. I won’t lie, I have cheated and been watching fan uploaded videos to YouTube a lot this summer. Still, I can’t wait! I think I’m most excited about seeing her do “Express Yourself” again . . . even if it is a controversial “Born This Way” mash-up that’s been fueling fan wars with Lady Gaga. This song along with “Like A Prayer” are up there with my most favorite Madonna songs ever. Oh yes, and we can’t forget “Vogue.”

Finally, for another complete change of topic . . . I have made friends with a local paranormal investigation society. I’ve done several investigations with them over the past year. At some point I really want them to come to my house to check out my own ghosts, but I have to figure out what to do with the dogs. Having two exiting yappy dogs not leaving people alone would not aid in an investigation into ghosts. To get back to the point at hand, in September I will be accompanying them for my first overnight trip to a haunted location . . . Fort Mifflin! This is a local Revolutionary War fort that has been featured on countless “Haunted History” shows on TV. I can’t wait!