Patty, so much going on at once! I looked up pigweed, it's a common name of a number of things - one page says it's expensive in health food stores (if it's the right kind, maybe there's a side gig growing on your property?) I pulled up a list of the organic herbicides on the site where I work - you can supercharge the vinegar by adding a bit of orange oil and liquid molasses to it (I'll email the site with the info). Other organic "fatty acid" products that can do the job (all are expensive, but you are paying to not poison yourself) include EcoSMART, Monterrey Herbicial, Scythe, and Racer. "They are non-selective herbicides that usually have to be sprayed more than once." (There is also an entry there about flame weeding, but I think we both agree, this is not the time of year to be torching the weeds! We don't want to see you in the news for starting a range fire out there.)

Back in my early Forest Service days we still had the big long two-handled scythe as part of the tools for grass and brush control. If you ever find one of those you can cancel the gym membership, that's a full body workout but works a lot faster than a string trimmer. (I see one on eBay offered as "chalet decor" - a seller who can't imagine ever putting one to use in this day and age.) This is just an observation, not advice!

I was going to trim with my battery string trimmer today, then a storm looked like it was going to blow over. Then it veered to the north. Now they say the tail end of the system might come this way. I'll go out and sprinkle dry fertilizer in the garden and either rain will soak it in or my sprinkler will in the morning.

I finished a book and have marked it off in GoodReads and I'm lagging in completing the annual challenge unless I get more time with audiobooks and doing other tasks. All but one of these books were on paper. And one is a dud - I started it and threw it into the recycle bin in disgust, but I am finished with it, so it counts.

Charmion, I struggled for years and paid a lot of interest before I managed to conquer them, one at a time, the final one with the help of a lump sum from my ex's retirement. What we know and what we can do are sometimes miles apart. But the suggestion to now do the big payments of annual bills since I can pay the cards off was timely, instead of paying directly out of bank savings I'm letting it earn a bonus.

I finished the last of the box of amazing Costco peaches. Since deciding this will be dry August I've had a bowl of peaches topped with yogurt and granola at the time I would normally have the before-dinner cocktail, as something to look forward to that time of day. Let's see if I have to buy another box of peaches or if I can go back to my usual strawberries or blueberries. Either way, no more alcohol for the time being.