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bluesgardenThis whole trapped inside by the heat thing is getting old but, fortunately, it's supposed to give us a bit of a break late today with a possibility of rain and it will hopefully drop back into the 80's after that. Tomorrow the heat index might only be 87°F, yay! Also a 60% chance of rain, which would be good at this point.
So, yes, this heat is making for a cranky Blue. I'm wildly unproductive under these conditions, despite the fact that there are things that need doing inside. It's something about having to be in here that just leaves me rebellious and sulky - very five-year-old of me, isn't it? The pups are ready to do away with summer all together as the heat is even harder on them, especially River and her allergies. Jack usually makes it out for border patrol in the early morning, then they both take a few minutes to sniff around about mid-day (and by few minutes I mean 5, tops, in River's case), and then, if we're all lucky, they actually get some outside time and maybe even a trip down the road to D's mom's house (and her woods) round about 9:30 PM.
Meanwhile, Bangkok approves of me being more conveniently located of late and has taken over the nightstand.
There are things that we've managed to accomplish, though, and I say 'we' because I have to include the fact that D's (FINALLY) in the process of putting up my clothesline. D has the posts and bags of concrete ready! All that's left is digging holes when it's not blisteringly hot out. Since he's working 4 10-hour days this week (this month? he has a new job - same type just different place - so I'm not sure yet), I'm assuming he'll wait until the possibility of rain has passed and maybe finish it up on Sunday. I've managed some random canning - the extra black raspberry juice that was still in jars in the fridge is now shelf stable so that I can make up future jelly batches at my leisure, and some extra cherry juice has been reduced down for pouring over pancakes or ice cream. The cherry juice is from the holiday weekend - I opened a few jars of the cherries in light syrup to make a cobbler for a potluck. I drained off the cherries and added some cinnamon and almond extract to the syrup, then thickened it with a bit of cornstarch before adding some back to fruit, putting pastry cut out in star shapes on top, and baking it. The extra juice/syrup went into the fridge at the time, but now that's reduced a bit further and processed so it's not taking up refrigerator space until I'm ready to use it.
Out in the garden, things are growing despite the heat.
Food for next winter! These would be dry beans. Nothing to do now but let them hang out until fall.
Watermelons (and melons) readily interbreed - meaning that my tangle of three watermelon species are going to pretty much gurantee all the resulting fruit are hybrids. I tried explaining to the pollinators that it would be helpful if they'd stick with one type of flower when they were going about their business, but they just buzzed away. These are one-half Sugar Baby and one-half...?
Another Sugar Baby-ish watermelon. It's quite remarkable how hard these things can be to spot amidst the leaves.
A wee baby one!
This one is at least part Osh Kirgizia. There's enough hidden in the vines that I haven't even tried to count.
A couple rows over... Hmm, I wonder what this melon is? Or, rather, what it's a combination of? These are going to be very interesting melons.
The pumpkin patch - an excellent hiding place from the zombies, don't you think?
Surprise! I found this the other day and was all, "So we have peppers." The plants are tiny but apparently determined.
The Mandan Red, which only get 4-5 feet tall, are putting on their tassels.
This is tomato speak (in this case) for IT'S REALLY HOT OUT.
The culprit: a tomato hornworm. I've killed two so far and I have at least two more that I've yet to find on another two plants (with less damage). No tomatoes touched as yet, which is kinda hilarious, but I will have to say that they are still evil.
Lettuce? Lettuce anyone? The one on the right is going to seed and I've already thrown one out for doing so - the heat has them trying to produce it as fast as possible.
Hot pup, and it's nearly 9 PM in this picture from a few days ago.
Weed control assistant
Tired now!
So, yes, this heat is making for a cranky Blue. I'm wildly unproductive under these conditions, despite the fact that there are things that need doing inside. It's something about having to be in here that just leaves me rebellious and sulky - very five-year-old of me, isn't it? The pups are ready to do away with summer all together as the heat is even harder on them, especially River and her allergies. Jack usually makes it out for border patrol in the early morning, then they both take a few minutes to sniff around about mid-day (and by few minutes I mean 5, tops, in River's case), and then, if we're all lucky, they actually get some outside time and maybe even a trip down the road to D's mom's house (and her woods) round about 9:30 PM.
Meanwhile, Bangkok approves of me being more conveniently located of late and has taken over the nightstand.
There are things that we've managed to accomplish, though, and I say 'we' because I have to include the fact that D's (FINALLY) in the process of putting up my clothesline. D has the posts and bags of concrete ready! All that's left is digging holes when it's not blisteringly hot out. Since he's working 4 10-hour days this week (this month? he has a new job - same type just different place - so I'm not sure yet), I'm assuming he'll wait until the possibility of rain has passed and maybe finish it up on Sunday. I've managed some random canning - the extra black raspberry juice that was still in jars in the fridge is now shelf stable so that I can make up future jelly batches at my leisure, and some extra cherry juice has been reduced down for pouring over pancakes or ice cream. The cherry juice is from the holiday weekend - I opened a few jars of the cherries in light syrup to make a cobbler for a potluck. I drained off the cherries and added some cinnamon and almond extract to the syrup, then thickened it with a bit of cornstarch before adding some back to fruit, putting pastry cut out in star shapes on top, and baking it. The extra juice/syrup went into the fridge at the time, but now that's reduced a bit further and processed so it's not taking up refrigerator space until I'm ready to use it.
Out in the garden, things are growing despite the heat.
Food for next winter! These would be dry beans. Nothing to do now but let them hang out until fall.
Watermelons (and melons) readily interbreed - meaning that my tangle of three watermelon species are going to pretty much gurantee all the resulting fruit are hybrids. I tried explaining to the pollinators that it would be helpful if they'd stick with one type of flower when they were going about their business, but they just buzzed away. These are one-half Sugar Baby and one-half...?
Another Sugar Baby-ish watermelon. It's quite remarkable how hard these things can be to spot amidst the leaves.
A wee baby one!
This one is at least part Osh Kirgizia. There's enough hidden in the vines that I haven't even tried to count.
A couple rows over... Hmm, I wonder what this melon is? Or, rather, what it's a combination of? These are going to be very interesting melons.
The pumpkin patch - an excellent hiding place from the zombies, don't you think?
Surprise! I found this the other day and was all, "So we have peppers." The plants are tiny but apparently determined.
The Mandan Red, which only get 4-5 feet tall, are putting on their tassels.
This is tomato speak (in this case) for IT'S REALLY HOT OUT.
The culprit: a tomato hornworm. I've killed two so far and I have at least two more that I've yet to find on another two plants (with less damage). No tomatoes touched as yet, which is kinda hilarious, but I will have to say that they are still evil.
Lettuce? Lettuce anyone? The one on the right is going to seed and I've already thrown one out for doing so - the heat has them trying to produce it as fast as possible.
Hot pup, and it's nearly 9 PM in this picture from a few days ago.
Weed control assistant
Tired now!
