Pear Time and Plumbing Hurdle

There's something about watching pears ripen on a tree that makes me particularly conscious of the advancement of the season.  I think it is because it's a process that takes the entire growing season, and the slow change is more obvious than other plants.  I mean, I recognize that I have summer tomatoes now, when I used to have spring lettuce, and that the sunflowers are blooming instead of the columbine, but because the pear tree blooms early, and the tiny pears have been there since the very beginning of the greening, each time I see them I can calibrate my place in time.  

It's like the pears are reflecting the ripeness of the season, and the summer season is almost at it's capacity - the pears look like real pears!  I struggle now not to feel like the summer is escaping me.  Not only do I feel like time has escaped me, and that I'm past the halfway point of the summer, but the vegetation and the insects have passed the point of control.  The pears are ripening, so it's time to make sure I take advantage of the rest of the season, right.  It's time to take stock - have I got my fill of swimming, camping, grilling, digging, planting, sweating, itching, and sunburn?  Not yet!

The apples are turning red, for goodness' sake!  Apples equals pie, and we all know pie season is in the fall. We are progressing in our orbit, and the tilt is becoming obvious.   

Despite our lack of attention, we did make some progress on the little farm house before we were distracted by my job.  I think I like the photo above because for the first time the mess under the kitchen floor has some order to it.  This photo is taken through the kitchen floor, behind the shower.  See how nice and tidy the drains for the shower and the sinks (off to the left and right) are laid out, and how the hot water lines in red, and the cold water lines, in blue, go through the wall in the upper right corner.  

On the other side of the wall, Brandon is fashioning a manifold, so each line to a faucet can be turned on or off easily, from the small closet that will hold the hot water tank.  These pipes represent great progress in my mind.  Once we could see that we were conquering the carpentry and electricity, I knew the challenge of plumbing was the next big hurdle, and we are nearly over it.