60% Chance

Tail and Fur

Yesterday we enjoyed a 90% solar eclipse. My husband came in a few minutes ago and said, “It looks like we’re having a REAL eclipse now.” I looked out the window and it was really DARK.

I thought a storm was imminent, so I rushed to take Amber out before the downpour – but it didn’t come. Things have lightened up a bit now, but we still have a 60% chance of rain the rest of the day and night.  I think, once we get through today, we’ll have several days where we just have a chance of the normal pop-up showers of summer.

We might actually be able to schedule getting the ham radio tower pulled up by the crane people soon! I also look forward to being able to get my flower planters under control again.  And NOW the rains have come…

cliparting.com

Heat Index of WHAT?

I just looked up our temperatures today with the humidity and came up with a heat index of 114.

 

Guldehen Photography – Deviant Art

I just came in from checking on my husband out in the shop while walking our 5 month old lab puppy, Amber, for the 3rd time this morning. She jumped in the kiddie pool twice on this outing and then drank a LOT of water when we came in.

I’m hoping that I can catch a break on weather and do some weed spraying this evening.  I’m supposed to watch for a time we have 48 hours without rain. Yeah. Right. Usually in Arkansas in August there would be NO problem – the grass should be brown and crunchy, the ground dry as dust, things dying even with our irrigation system going. This year has been a record on rainfall, I think . It’s certainly the rainiest July and August we remember, and we’ve lived on top of this ridge line for some 30 years.

So – I’m going to go with the flow and read more of my book in the comfort of A/C with a cup of coffee or maybe some iced tea this afternoon.

Hoping to assume my new alias, “Mad Weed Killer” tonight, I hope your Sunday is enjoyable.

Mother Nature’s Gift

We were out walking Amber last night just before dark and saw this sky. I went in to get my camera because this is really unusual. These pics are taken pointing EAST. The last I heard, the sun RISES in the EAST and SETS in the WEST.

Anyhow, the sky was spectacular and I wanted to record it and share it with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eclipse Monday

The Tennessean

My husband says, “pfffft” about the solar eclipse coming Monday. I’m like a child waiting for Christmas. Since we don’t even use the same SALT, this is not surprising.

I started making noises about wanting to be sure I saw it last week. We didn’t start looking for eclipse glasses until this morning. We’ve just come back from looking everywhere in Greenwood, calling several places in Fort Smith, and looking at Amazon online. Except for extremely expensive ones, everyone is sold out. :0(

I was really upset at myself for not thinking ahead, and upset with the world in general that I couldn’t make up for it. My husband suggested that we look for the glass inserts you put in welder’s helmets, since they come in #14 shade, the shade that is safe for viewing the eclipse. Even THOSE were sold out!

We went out to the shop and found a shade # 13 in one of my husband’s welding helmets. We came back in and Googled to see if using the #13 glass would be safe. YIPPPEEEEEEEE! We found several articles saying the #13 welding helmet glass would be fine. Just to be ultra safe, I’ll wear my sunglasses AND the welding helmet when I watch the eclipse.

ClipartKid

Happy Hump Day

National News and Pictures via Inspire Fusion

This is the rainiest August my husband and I remember, and we’ve lived here 30 years. My husband’s favorite grass is brown and crunchy because that means we don’t have to mow. No such luck this summer. We went right out and mowed this morning before the rain started. We’re due to have “scattered heavy downpours” through the rest of the week. I’m planning to try to get some weeding and pruning done in my flower planters between ‘scattereds.’

I just got home from a haircut and errands, but I wanted to say, “Hi” before fixing lunch. I hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday.

 

Mountains

“Bucegi Mountains” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“On Mountain Paths” – Paul Militaru Photography

Inside Day

Fotolia.com

Yesterday we worked in the yard and did the grocery shopping a day early so we wouldn’t have to get out in the rain today. I’m happy we’re getting the rain – in fact, I’ve been walking around in it this morning. But I like to do that when it’s MY choice, NOT while I’m trying to get groceries in the car, return carts, etc.

I also love it when I’ve mowed the grass, gotten lots of weed whacking done, some weeding, etc. before the rain starts. THEN I can smile at the rain, curl up with a book and enjoy the day – doing inside have-to’s in-between chapters. :0)

I’m reading Book # 35 in the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts. I ordered the last of the available ones yesterday – a thing that gave me a bit of a pang since I’m almost caught up with all she’s written in the series and will have to grow up a bit when I have to wait for the next one to be available.

I’ve had a productive morning so far, taking care of animals, starting the first of several loads of wash, changing the sheets on our bed, starting a roast in the crock pot for dinner, and more. I’ll continue to check off more jobs that have been waiting on me ‘inside,’ while I was giving ‘outside’ stuff priority.

When I went out on the back porch to get Amber to go for our first walk of the day, we were having a pretty good storm. I didn’t much like having to grab the umbrella, trying to keep a rein on the puppy as she did her usual mad dash for the spots she likes to take care of business. AND, of course, we had to stop while she got treats, being a food-driven dog.  It was then a challenge to get her BACK on the porch, put the umbrella up high where she won’t eat it, and get back inside to make her breakfast. Whew!

I’ve had to put her back on the porch for a while, due to hyperactivity around Molly, the old while dog, and Abby, the old fat cat. While I was trying to get her under control, there was much hissing and spitting from Abby and Molly was trying her best to become invisible and go to a different planet. I’ll bring Amber back in soon, giving the animals another chance to ‘visit’ when Amber is hopefully more calm.

I hope the weather is pleasant where you are today, and that you’re enjoying a great Sunday.

This is August in Arkansas?

Love This Pic

 

We’re supposed to have a high temperature today of 86 degrees F. and it’s raining.

I feel as if I’ve been dropped onto a different planet! Usually, it’s in the hundreds, hot, dry, no rain, the heat hitting you in the face the minute you step out the door, unrelenting until almost dark. Day after day of weather that makes our grass turn ‘crunchy brown,’ boiling a lot of our plants even with irrigation systems.

It’s supposed to rain through at least Monday. This is really unheard of here in Arkansas. This is the burn-your-hand-on-the-steering-wheel time of year, and I keep finding reasons to step outside and let it rain on me.

We’re about to join our friends for Friday Lunch Bunch, and I look forward to taking my time getting into the restaurant, enjoying the reprieve from the heat.

We were going to put “Hot Man” on the mailbox on the 15th,

but I’ll choose another decoration this year. This one just isn’t appropriate when Mother Nature is being so kind to us.

I hope the weather is wonderful where you are, too.

Year of the ” “

It seems like each summer we have SOMETHING descending on us.

One year we had ladybugs. We had our home on the market because my husband had lost his job.  We had a gazillion ladybugs – plus or minus one or two – mainly in our utility room and on the back porch. Since we had to be ready for the house to be shown at a moment’s notice, we literally had to VACUUM the ladybugs up right before the people arrived. We had SO many we almost couldn’t handle the problem.

Another was the year of the flies. We bought the flycatcher thingies where you mixed up some stuff in a plastic bottle to draw the flies. We had SO many we were emptying out the containers and mixing more stuff every day – and we had SEVERAL of the traps! We had to sit on the deck, each of us armed with a flyswatter, in order to be able to cook out. UGH.

One really scary year was the year of the scorpion. Living on top of a ridge line outside the city limits, you have to expect to deal with a certain number of ‘critters’ that give you the willies; such as centipedes, tarantulas, spiders, etc. We usually have several scorpions, mainly in the garage or the door to the shop. We just keep our eyes open and kill them when we see them. I spray like a thing possessed so that we see as few of these things as possible in our home or the shop. Each time we see one, I spray everything again. My husband goes into a whole song and dance about how over-the-top I am, but I don’t care.

This year is the year of the red wasp.

The Man of Science

I can’t tell you how much I hate wasps. My husband tells me that wasps are ‘good,’ probably eating or killing something else we don’t like, but I don’t care. I was fine when I lived under the illusion that they would die if they stung you. I guess that’s bees. Anyhow, when I discovered that wasn’t true, my fear redoubled.

This year I’m spraying

• the metal flower we built that is tied to the telephone pole in our back yard. If we can finally kill all of them that have built a nest under the 3-D center of the flower, we’ll bring it in, refurbish the paint, caulk around the center so the wasps can’t get in there, and I’ll figure something else out on decorating the center, rather than the flat glass stones that keep falling off.
• the electrical box beside the shop door – we took the front of the box off and found a big nest inside. We’ve now sprayed that, removed the nest, sprayed again, and closed the box. We haven’t seen any more there.
• the ‘vested popadoo’ bird we built from a small propane can and scrap metal parts. For some reason, the wasps like his NECK. Every time we pass the bird, there are 5 or 6 wasps on her neck. I’ve sprayed that several times, too.
• the door of the well house – my husband goes to the well house door armed with a can of wasp and hornet spray. I don’t know why this is such an attractive place to them.
• under a hydrangea leaf – I started to pull out a weed tree that had the audacity to plant itself in the middle of a nice hydrangea plant in a planter at the front of the house. When I got close, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, finding a small nest and 3 red wasps under one of the leaves. I sprayed it heavily, and will make sure they’re no longer there before I get the weed tree out.

You get the idea that they’re everywhere with a vengeance this year. I don’t know what caused so MANY of them to descend on our home and surrounding area this year, but I’m hopeful it won’t be repeated any time soon…

Sunset

Sergio Dardon Photography

Foy is Still Working

This is Foy Brown driving the tractor up and over the edge of the civilized part of our back yard yesterday. He told us he would be back this morning, and my husband said he would help him air up a low tire on the tractor before starting. He’s out there working in the hot as I type, trying to finish up our fire break today.

Up on top of a ridge line, we don’t have to worry about floods – flash or otherwise. We don’t have hurricanes here, or storm surges from the ocean. We do have to worry about lightning, tornadoes, high wind, and wild fires.

We do all we can to protect ourselves from lightning strikes. One year we lost our whole entertainment center plus a couple of appliances due to a lightning strike nearby. We’ve since built in some better protection.

Wild fires are the next most likely threat. About 7 years ago we hired a nice man to run his bulldozer over things to create a break. He died, and we hadn’t been able to find anyone who had equipment or interest in helping us redo the break until now.

Our view will be opened up, which is a truly enjoyable thing. The peace of mind that we’ve lowered our risks a bit in the event of a wild fire is beyond price.  When Foy is finished, I’ll follow up his good efforts with the weed killer we got recently. It’s a concentrate, and we have a good 3 gallon sprayer to use. Foy did mention he saw a copperhead in the rocks – so I’ll be sure to wear boots and pay attention.

Amber has been upset that she lost her good, high grass for taking care of business; but with 8 acres, we think she can probably find several other good spots…

Feeling We’re Inside the Crock Pot

Pinterest

With the humidity at 54% right now, the heat index is at 106 degrees F., and due to get hotter as the afternoon wears on.  I realize it’s summer, but I’m older than dirt now, and not as able to handle this as I once was.

That said, I’m going to be doing some stuff outside, activity in short bursts with cool down and lots of water in-between, for the rest of the day.

• gather ripe tomatoes
• weed the raised bed square foot garden
• weed whacking around the yard
• pruning the rose bushes,
• weeding the flower planters

This is my list in order of priority. I’ll be lucky if I get ANY of these things done.

Thank goodness we have good air conditioning. If we didn’t, I think all I would do is lie around with wet towels over me…

Secretarybird

This was posted on Facebook yesterday. They said she is called a “Secretarybird.” I think she’s beautiful, and a wonderful sight with which to start the day.

Wasp Magnet?

The Man of Science

Have I told you I hate wasps?

I know they probably do all kinds of wonderful things to make our environment better, but I have to tell you I’m not impressed.

It seems they are EVERYWHERE around our place this year. Not only that, they’re hostile!

I spent two days last week with my arm swollen from a sting I got while walking Amber. We were going around the perimeter of the square foot garden and BAM! It took me two days for the hurt on the back of my arm and the itching on the opposite side, and the swelling to start to go away. Thankfully, I’m not seriously allergic – but this reaction is more than enough for me.

I never got stung by anything until last summer. Now it seems the memo has gone out that all the red wasps in the area are on the lookout for this old broad.

I’ve been trying to cut down our weed trees across the back that cut off our view. We have a metal flower we made and attached to the telephone pole in the back. Well, guess who has made a nest under the plastic bowl we used as the center of the flower. When my husband and I were chain sawing some of the weed trees a couple of days ago, we disturbed them and they came flying out with a vengeance. My husband didn’t see them and wasn’t bothered. I almost had to run to the next town to get them to stop chasing me.

 

The weed trees are still pretty thick around this.

 

This we call the popadoo bird and the wasps get inside the metal around his neck and nest.

There’s another next inside the electrical box beside the people door to the shop. My husband and I went to the shop to get a decoration to put up on the mailbox this morning. We opened the door and I started to turn on the light, almost putting my hand on a wasp on the switch inside the door. I gasped and stepped back, and the wasp came right for me. I tried to knock it out of the air with my purse – making probably a funny sight – no no avail. He actually came and sat on my sunglasses on my FACE! I pulled them off quickly and through them on the floor – a little hard on the glasses, but better than getting stung between the eyes. My husband tried to step on it, but missed. He flew off up toward the ceiling in the shop. We got the mailbox decoration and came back out.

I’m making it my mission to rid our place of wasps – as much as humanly possible. I’ve armed myself with

• one can of ‘shoot-them-dead-out-of-the-sky’ spray, and
• another can of ‘ooze-into-their-nests-and-kill-them-while-they-sleep’ spray.

Between the two of them, I’m hoping that I can get to the point I’m not continually cringing, carrying a fly swatter, or running for my life.

 

Progress on our Fight with Weed Trees

The view is opening up!

My friend, Cathy, wrote, suggesting we try a weed killing product she thinks is great. It’s called KillzAll. You buy it concentrated, mix it with water, then spray it on what you want to kill. I ordered a gallon this morning. We can use it while we’re fighting with these and after we finish, plus be prepared to spray again whenever we see their ugly heads springing up. If we spray at the first sign of green in the spring, maybe we can keep them under control without so much work in the heat!

 

Fingers Crossed for Rain

Keeppy

It would be really nice if we get the scattered showers forecast for today and tomorrow. I think we have a 50% chance, and we see some dark clouds gathering from time to time.

It was nice and overcast when my husband and I got home from Lunch Bunch and errands today, so I went to put on my heavy socks and boots, got us each a sweat band and my husband grabbed the electric chain saw. He cut down some of the evergreen branches that were cut off recently and were looking pretty awful, and then he moved to the weed trees!

The minute we got started, the sun came out full force. We lasted about half an hour. We got several weed trees cut down, but we’ll wait until this evening to try to throw them into a pile. We huffed and puffed getting up to the porch again and downed a bottle of water before we even thought about feeling cooler.

We just turned on the a/c out in the shop. I’ll give it an hour and then go out and see what progress I can make with the metal sun/moon wall hanging. I’ll take my camera so I can show you progress thus far.

Meanwhile, fingers crossed for some clouds and rain.

Beware, Weed Trees!

These are what we call, “Weed Trees.” They grow in profusion every year all the way across the edge of the civilized part of our yard, cutting off our view of the valley below.

 

Some of these are over 10 feet tall, and they grow thickly. You cut down one, and you find 5 others behind it.

 

 

The task is pretty daunting, but I’m determined to cut these down and restore our view.

 

The far left side of the picture shows where I’ve been working. I’ve opened up a small amount of the view.

 

This is a part that I’ve cleared down to the place where walking – or even standing – is very difficult.

 

You can see the small area where the tallest weed trees are gone.

 

I’m giving notice to the rest of the weed trees – it may take me all summer, but I’m going to cut you down!

Mid Summer Tomatoes

This was a harvest of a few days ago. I harvested again yesterday, but I didn’t get a picture of them.

Each year I’m learning that I don’t know anything about growing tomatoes.

It’s basically a matter of luck. Sometimes I lose the plants because of wonky weather. Other times tomato caterpillars eat them. Sometimes they just die for no reason I can think of. Sometimes things start out great and then ‘something happens’ cutting the season really short.

This year we’ve been lucky so far. My husband and I decided that if  ‘something happens’ and this is the end of our crop for the year, we’ve had a good year. We’ve had delicious tomatoes to enjoy with lunches and dinners, plus more that we could give to some of our friends. To our idea, it doesn’t get any better than this.

• I learned this year that I’m not supposed to let any leaves of the plants touch the ground. I think cutting off the lower branches helps in disease control.
• I also learned from my friend, Laufrain, to find suckers. Before the season is over – when my greenhouse will stay some reasonable temperature and not cook me and my plants, I’ll try to get the suckers to grow. Maybe I can have tomatoes in the fall!

A giant came and sat in the middle of my two tomato plants in the nook planter beside the porch. I can see no other reason that there was a huge depression suddenly in the middle of the plants and things were turning yellow.

I decided that I needed to prune all the dead and dying parts off. What was left I fertilized and then sprinkled with Sevin. Since I was harvesting tomatoes yesterday from these plants, and there are more trying to ripen, I’m hoping that my actions yesterday will save the plants and keep them producing. Fingers crossed.

 

This is the nook planter. As you can see, I had to prune a LOT of the plant on the left.  This is the best I know to do for the poor plants that were looking good only a week ago!

 

These are the tomato plants in the 8 foot brick planter to the east of the house. If you look carefully, you can see the greenhouse in the background. :0)

I’ll prune these plants tonight. They’re not looking bad, as the nook plants were, but they have leaves on the ground and have limbs hanging all over the place.

I’m learning a lot of what NOT to do again each year. This year, though, I’m beginning to learn more of what TO do!

Trees – Take 4

Artist Unknown

 

 

AliExpress.com

 

 

ThoughtCo

 

 

River Gum Trees – Pinterest

Trees – Take 3

“Painting Trees in Watercolour” – Grahame Booth

 

 

“Painting Trees and Foliage in Watercolour” – Marvin Chew

 

 

“Trees Pastel” – Phil Bates

Trees – Take 2

Birch Tree Painting – I’m sorry but I can’t read the signature of the artist – Pinterest

Science All

 

 

How to Paint a Palm Tree

Escape

The Writers’ Circle via Cathy Ruggiero

Today has been the perfect day to read, fall asleep, and read again.

I’m enjoyed Book # 22 of Nora Robert’s “In Death” series.  I only have 4 more in house, so I just ordered 6 more. Such richness to be in the middle of a series I love, having more, being able to order more – I won’t worry about withdrawal symptoms until I get into the mid 30s…

 

Beautiful Rainy Day

Zen to Zany

We’ve had  a very rainy, restful day.

We made a brief trip to get mail and run errands, but mostly we’ve just enjoyed the rain and the relatively cool day because of it.

I got a small start on painting the sun and moon wall hanging today. I’m just trying to get the basic color blocking done first. I have to admit I’m intimidated by all the shading needed on this piece. I’ll go slowly and do the best I can.

Otherwise, Molly and Amber are finally beginning to call a truce to the hostilities around here. They’re definitely moving toward détente.

 

Here are Molly and Amber on the dog bed in the utility room. Molly definitely has a defensive posture, but Amber is slowly making her realize Amber doesn’t want to hurt her.

 

Amber moves in slowly. If she moves too quickly, Molly snarls a bit.

 

Here is a meeting of the minds (and noses) – at least for a bit. Each day Amber is taking less time to calm down after the initial coming into the house chaos.

Quiet, restful day here. I hope you’re enjoying a wonderful Saturday, too.

Weed Trees :0(

Weed Identification-Brisbane City Council

This weed tree is similar to the ones I’m cutting down that grow naturally all the way across our back yard. Some of them are over 10 feet high! They grow where there isn’t any soil. They grow right back if you burn them down. We hired a nice young man last year who spent about 6 hours over several weekends clearing them out for us, but I decided I would do it myself this, year, a little bit at a time.

Recently I posted a picture of the little bitty hallway-type opening I had made. I just spent half an hour today lopping more. I’m trying to work when there is as little sun as possible and the temperatures are halfway reasonable.

As I type, I’m still huffing and puffing a bit, plus guzzling a bottle of water. I’m TRYING to tell myself that if I make any progress at all, I should be content. It’s not quite working out that way. In fact, the biggest reason I stopped this time was because the level I’m standing on in order to lop another weed tree, is very shaky ground. There are the remnants of the ones I’ve cut down, plus the ones from last year, sticking up. You can’t really tell where the ‘ground’ is. I lost my balance and sat down. It took me quite a while to lever myself back up so that I could come in

It’s nicely overcast today with a 40% chance of scattered showers, so I’ll rest a bit and then do another hitch while the weather is co-operative. I’ll post another picture when you can actually tell I’ve done more…

Lucky

NMgnCP.com

We had several impressive rain storms yesterday, into the evening, and overnight. Our greenhouse is still standing. We just had a leak on the back porch. People in the Rye Hill area of Fort Smith, AR weren’t so lucky.

The adjuster came early this morning to check us out. Our roof is fine, thank goodness. There is some hail damage on the wind turbines, but no problem with that. After careful looking inside and on the roof, the adjuster said he thinks that some FlexSeal – or similar product – sprayed heavily along the seam where the main roof meets the roof of the porch will stop the leak.  The damage inside isn’t much and we may just ignore it.

The poor adjuster has a long day ahead of him. He had 14 calls to make today. He said he would probably be busy with the calls they got last night for the next couple of months.  At least he has job security…

 

Amber’s New Discoveries – June 30, 2017

Earlier I told you it has been raining hard here.

My husband took Amber out first thing this morning and she took care of business when the rain was just starting. But, we’ve learned the hard way that she really needs to go out TWICE in the early morning to avoid problems on the porch. When he came in from the second time, he said, “Waste of time.”

When I visited her after we got the kitchen cleaned up and coffee made, the rain was coming down hard, but pretty much straight down. When I went out just a few minutes ago, it was obvious that the rain had changed direction, blown in onto the porch, leaving puddles everywhere. It was raining less, so I went ahead and took her out again to see if I could get her to take care of business again.  We were successful!

While we were out, she went over to the kiddie pool. She walked around the outside of the pool, drinking. Then she stopped abruptly when she heard the water coming down the downspout at the corner of the house. She crept up to it   s – l – o – w – l – y, never taking her eye off of it. When she was almost to it, she stopped again, leaped up in the air, and turned so that when she hit the ground again, she was running in the opposite direction. I laughed, and THAT caused a flurry of running as fast as she could to the end of the retractable leash, getting stopped abruptly, then rushing back in the other direction to the end of the run, over and over until she wound down. Since it was still raining pretty hard, I was glad she wound down relatively quickly. She did not want to go near the downspout again.

When we got back onto the porch, there was so much water on the floor I wanted to squeegee it. I didn’t want to put her on the deck leash because she would get even more wet. So I tried to squeegee while she was there with me. WHAT FUN! Amber thinks the squeegee is the best toy ever! She jumps up in the air to leap on it. She tries to bite it, but it’s moving, so she can’t. AWWWWW. We did this over and over. I discovered that my yelling, “NO!” in a stern voice was completely ineffective. I did the best I could and then tried to use a towel to dry her off a bit. Same problem. She LOVES to try to bite the towel, turning around as fast as possible to play the new game.

I gave up, using the towel to try to wipe off the table as well as possible with Amber still trying to bite it. I discovered that the ceiling was dripping onto the table. :0(

SO – we BOTH made discoveries this morning. I think mine will be more expensive…

 

Good, Rainy Morning!

Richard Parker via Daily Mail

It’s a gloriously rainy morning here in Greenwood, Arkansas! It has been really hot lately, so today is a welcomed reprieve from what may be a record summer. The forecast is for storms off and on all day and into the evening, with some of them being possibly severe. I can do without the ‘severe,’ but welcome the water and the cooler temperatures.

This will be a good test of the solidity of our new greenhouse, too. We couldn’t figure out a way to really protect it from gusty winds. It has nice, heavy corner posts with the foundation boards screwed into their angle iron. The ribs of the greenhouse have two clamp thingies screwed into the foundation board on each end. The greenhouse cover ends are rolled up with lengths of board screwed into the foundation – but no guy wires, nothing really from end to end. If the winds are robust and gusty enough, my beautiful greenhouse will be history. :0(

I’m amazed we still have Internet right now. The skies are really dark. I just visited Amber on the porch and the rain is really coming down hard. I sat with her for several minutes while she fought with her squeaky purple and pink pig, running around, trying to shake it and break its neck. The fact that she wasn’t even phasing it didn’t seem to bother her. :0)  I’m happy that she doesn’t seem to mind storms, and am hoping she’ll react the same way with the coming fireworks. We’re planning to sit on the deck and enjoy the show that our valley neighbors put on each year.

I hope you’re enjoying the weather where you are today.

 

 

Fashion Statement?

Hotel for Dogs

Arkansas got the ‘summer memo’ about 3 weeks ago. We’ve been in the high 90’s with uncomfortable humidity since then. I have to tell you that spring and the 60s are where I am comfortable, so I visibly wilt as soon as I go outside.

We have a lot of sweat bands we keep on a special hook thingie on the back of the door to the garage. I grab two of them routinely because my husband needs one, too, but never seems to remember to get one. He wears a ham radio hat and I wear a hat that makes me look like a squashed mushroom to protect us from the direct sun.

I’m getting so that it FEELS as if I’m wearing a sweat band even when I’m not. It’s a regular part of how I look during the day and evening when we’re home working.

We grab a sweat band and head out the door. We come in, throw the sweat band in the washer, regular as clockwork.

I doubt if we’ll start a fad, though. You definitely need a sense of humor up here on top of our hill.

Today is a several-sweatband-day. I’m going to

• plant two celery plants in the square foot garden and cut stalks from the largest plant out there
• sweep the pooled water from the latest storm off the floor of the greenhouse
• prep for putting tomato suckers in water out there
• cut down some weed trees
• prune stuff in the trio of brick planters between the driveway and the front yard
• mow this evening when the sun is down a bit

I hope that you’re having a good Tuesday.

Roadrunner

Photo Credit: Christopher Schwarz/Audubon Photography Awards

We saw an amazing sight out the window of our office this morning. A roadrunner much like the one pictured above was standing in the grass with a tiny snake in his/her mouth. The tail of the roadrunner seemed longer and fuller to me than the ones we usually see. It stood stock still, then looked around as we watched. Then it turned around, flew up to the top of our well house, and then walked over the edge where we couldn’t see it anymore. We don’t know if he/she is feeding babies in a nest somewhere, but it was obviously taking the snake to someone else. Amazing sight!

Pink may be Perfect

“Appreciation and Affection” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“Busy Bee” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“Eternal Beauty Rose 1” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“Tulip for You” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“Tulips 1” – Paul Militaru Photography

A Special Treat

IGN.com

On our way to Lunch Bunch this morning, we had a rare treat – a doe was way down the road in front of us. My husband slowed to a crawl. When we got close, we stopped and just looked at each other. (This is not the doe we saw, but it gives you an idea.)  We sat for several minutes and then she went to the side of the road and up the bank.

On the way home, we saw another doe standing by the road looking at us. We went by her very slowly and she didn’t move.

Such a beautiful sight!