this is the last day we are open for strawberry picking. the season is ending with a sputter, the rain has done the berries in. There is a few out there and will continue to be, but it isn't worth being open. It is currently 85F with 77% humidity, so the real feel is at 90 although there is a good breeze today. Tomorrow and tuesday will be worse. The air is so thick. Raspberries and blueberries are ripening early, the first blueberries have color already even though they weren't ripe, same with the raspberries, so we'll need to be ready to open for those. 

I helped my dad lay plastic in the field this morning and it was still almost too wet to get the machine in the ground, it's wild how much rain we've had. We got extremely lucky, there was a storm that came through just east of us, traveling south east in a line that fully missed us. But it was likely to be a couple inches of rain if it had hit us. 

I have a fan in my little building so I'm fine while I do computer work and wait for the stragglers to come and pick. Bonkers that people are coming to pick right now. Not many but still. 

I'm planning to get up early the next two days, work for a while and take afternoons off to go sit in the creek. 

Yesterday, we closed the strawberries since there wasn't a lot ripe and I went and did a fun thing. I drove up to The Shire of Sterlynge Vayle for the Spring AEthelmearc Academy and had a nice time. It was a very low key and chill event, with classes being decent and I chatted with a bunch of random people. Lunch was delayed for an hour and I'll admit, it was running low by the time I got to line, so it wasn't super filling. I got really tired around mid-day as well, so I spent some of the extra time dozing a little bit. I learned about how viking sails were made, silk spinning and accidentally learned fingerloop braiding. I also was the only person to stop in for the Sign Herald class, and learned a bunch and also that might be a thing I could commit to trying to do. Mistress Gytha taught me and I felt a bit bad for her since she said she was the only one doing sign herald work in the kingdom more or less. So there's a need and I have the basics down. So I might try and brush up on it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for court to see Mistress Gytha sign. With the lunch delay and how tired I was, I headed home after the fingerloop braiding class and got home around 5:30pm and was so tired. I met some nice people in the kingdom that I might see again at other events. I want to go to the A & S Faire but I suspect it's too soon to get another saturday off farm work unless it rains that day. Which it might given how the weather is going. 

A mistake I made was wearing my binder the whole day. I usually wear it all day and it's fine and I felt fine when I put it on, but I forgot that something about my truck seat makes the binder uncomfortable. Regular seats are fine, standing is fine, just my truck seat. So lingering coughs from the illness were aggravated and my seat irritated my chest. Next time I'll bring something to change into for the drives out and back. 

I'm hoping the Chatelaine for the local group gets back to me soon, but if they don't, I'll need to find some other way to contact them. I would really like to get involved with the local SCA group....

I think the illness I had might have been the new covid strain. My mom tested negative, but it's possible her tests were expired. But it sounds a lot like what I had and also it's lingering in a way that most stuff normally doesn't. The snot continues and the cough is still going although it might be aftereffects. I'm pretty tired still in a dozing off in the evenings before bed. But also there's a lot going on and the weather is hot, so it all might be contributing. 

After we close at 5, I'm going to do some mowing with the little stinker (has a roof) and then go down to the creek to dunk myself. Lots of water and electrolytes. Napping.