NOW IT'S SUMMER; NOW IT'S NOT

Little Canyon

Forty states of these United States have been suffering great heat this summer, but it’s still not happening here in the Inland Pacific Northwest. And we’re grateful for that, but maybe it could be just a little warmer.

Yellow crooked-neck squash

We arrived at the farmhouse yesterday (Tuesday, July 23) before lunch with the temp already at 90-degrees. After lunch, Mike mowed and trimmed the lawn, and before he was finished, the wind came up. No, not a breeze – a windstorm. And it blew and blew into the evening, ceasing about the time we went to bed. It felt still and stiflingly hot for a while, but then the wind came up again and we snuggled under the covers. Today, it’s cool again. Seems to be the weather pattern for this summer.

We found one fresh cow pattie in the yard near the kitchen porch. Oddly, we found only the one, but that’s a clue that they definitely came to call. The hummingbird feeders were empty, but I could see and hear the hummers, and they were glad of a refill. We had no new gopher mounds, but this morning, we had a mouse in trap in the kitchen.

Pear tree

Last night at dusk (8:30), Mike and I watched a doe and her leggy spotted fawn eating the green pears that had blown out of the tree, probably the same ones I’ve seen of an evening over the last month. The doe is quite brazen in approaching the yard, tiptoeing in and listening to see if Bess will care. They seemed more curious than wary as we watched them. Perhaps the pears were such a rare treat that they just couldn’t resist. They sorta wondered about the clicking sound Mike made, but it did not deter them. Perhaps I could have taken a picture, but I was afraid that stirring around with the camera would startle them off, and it might have.

Mike and Bess went for a walk around the pond and discovered that a rattler in pieces. Evidently Mike hit it with the lawnmower yesterday. He says he didn't see it.

KW