Summertime, and the living is easy by the algae farm

School's out, Memorial Day is past, and it's unofficially time for summer. I just wish we grownups could have summer like the youngsters do, and like we used to have.

You know — sleeping late in the morning, waking with the sound of a curtain string tap-tap-tapping against the window sill in a slight breeze and a bird chirping somewhere in the distance. Taking your time as you get ready for the day and sitting on the porch or patio sipping your first cup of coffee (hey, I drank coffee when I was a kid) as you decide what you're going to do.

It's like Saturday morning, only it's every day of the week for a couple of months. Summer used to be three months, but like everything else the cost of summer has gotten larger while it's gotten smaller.

Since we don't get three months off for summer any more, we just have to make the best of it we can. We can do things such as working on a garden or plants in the evening or early morning, having supper on the porch (better if it's screened in so mosquitoes and bugs don't bother you), going cruising on the weekend either by car, boat or bike, floating around in the lake, or your pool.

We're lucky enough to have a pool, or, as I call it, the algae farm. I've spent the last couple of summers being a pool boy cleaning the pool and battling the algae. This year, we sought professional help, and it seems to be working to our advantage. Granted, I've been told before that I need professional help, but that didn't have anything to do with the pool. I'm waiting for the water to warm up enough to get in, finally get rid of the algae, then spend the rest of the summer floating in the pool, and hopefully be promoted to cabana boy.

While getting that ready for summer, I've also done a little work on this year's salsa garden. We've planted tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos in containers on the patio, and our tomatoes already have produced blooms. They're all growing well, and I hope there's a bumper salsa crop this year.

I've been thinking about getting a couple of containers and planting some green beans or poll beans, too. Lola the Wonder Dachshund gets green beans as a treat — she really likes them, and canned sliced carrots, too — and I've been wondering how she would do with a fresh, off-the-vine green bean.

I'm just glad summer is here, there's no threat of ice or snow, and for at least a couple of months the living's easy.