WEIRD JULY WEATHER

You know how it is when you live in Idaho -- you can't quite trust the weather. Nevertheless, I thought the storm that set in Sunday night and Monday was over-the-top for July. About 3:00 a.m. Monday morning I awoke to the sound of pounding rain. And it continued like that until at least 5:00. There were also a few close thunder claps as the garden gnomes of the sky played ten pins. The storm remained through Monday with cool temps (low 60s), drifting fog, and occasional rain showers. It seemed strange for mid-July. Grandpa Mike was bummed but Jack seemed to cope.

You know, we don't have a tv set here at the farm now, so Sunday night Mike treated Jack and me to a slide show. We began with Murray as a toddler awaiting his baby brother Yancey and then Yancey as a newborn. Then we switched to Milo and Clinton as little ones when Murray and Yancey were teen-agers. As we watched the slides I was surprised to realize how many pictures were taken here at the farm. One photo showed my mother picking gooseberries with the help of Murray and Yancey, I think. (The slides were moving along at a pretty good clip.) That bush, located at the top of the lane, met its demise somehow.

Jack has an astronomical telescope that isn't too effective in the lights of Denver, so last year Yancey sent it home with us so that Jack could use it here on the farm. Jack and Mike set it up on the front porch, and we had hoped it would clear up enough to use it last night, but it was still overcast and even foggy when we got up Tuesday morning. A tired Mike (tired from the day's rafting experience on the Salmon) checked out the stars tonight, but as he pointed out, it's barely dark enough at 10:00 p.m. during the summer to see the stars.

Monday night Mike and I taught Jack to play dominoes, a variation of Mexican train -- at least, to the best of our memory. We all agreed it was a challenging game.

I was delighted to pick five cups of raspberries from my patch on Sunday. I didn't think they would ripen prior to our two-week absence. In fact, I figured I would miss the season entirely. I picked another cup on Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I picked three cups, some of which were not so ripe. I shared the first picking by making a pie, but Tuesday's picking I ate for lunch. I expect I've been working with this patch for at least five years and perseverance has finally paid off. This morning Mike helped me replace the netting over the corn patch with some fencing, and I cut back the old raspberry canes -- something I have never done.

We came back to town this afternoon.