CONTINUED HOT, DRY, AND SMOKY

What happened to July? I suppose this means Christmas in July is over.  Rats! That disappeared as quickly as the real Christmas! Time just flies, but it seems to me that July always disappears especially fast.

Has it ever been hot! We had another week of 100-degree temps here – or nearly so – and it’s unreal that it should be this hot at altitude. As I recall, back in the day it was unusual if it got to 90 here. And it hasn’t cooled down a lot at night either, and as the days passed, the house became stuffy. The ceiling fans make it bearable. We do our exercise and outside work as soon as we can in the morning and then stay inside in the afternoon. Mike feels the confinement of the house, but at least he can watch the Olympics.

The cold front that came through over the weekend did cool us down a bit, but it was still hot and sultry. The possible thunderstorms did not materialize. We had very little rain. The weather map shows rain to the east of our region.

I just don’t know the effect of this heat on the vegetable plants. Seems like it actually retards the development of the fruit. I’m not sure that watering regularly is really enough. I clipped a dog food sack to the fence to shield the tomato plant somewhat. And my zucchini plants are blooming, but each has just one small squash that sits there growing slowly. They say one zucchini plant is enough for a family of four, but I haven’t had a prolific zucchini plant in years! And remember how fast they grew? You didn’t dare ignore harvesting them or they would be oversized. Those were the days!

Mike observed that his trees in the shade seem to be doing well. And the apple trees are alive and well.

Behind the south end of the pond

Mike got up early Thursday morning (July 29), and rode his “XT” to the town house. We could go in the Jeep, I said. We could go together and maybe stay overnight or something. But he said it was too hot in town and he’d rather be at the farm. He left at 6:00 and returned at 11:00. He had some mechanical issues to check out on one of his motorcycles, and he brought back lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, two containers of yogurt, five Crunch bars, a package of frozen hamburger, and the special birthday card I had purchased for my friend Chris, which I will need to mail before we go back to town. (I had the card, you understand; he just had to retrieve it from the shelf in the sewing room.)

This morning we rode out to the highway on the 4-wheeler to mail the aforementioned birthday card and check on harvest activities. Harvest is in progress on the other side of the ridge, so I expect they’ll be here before long.

The drain on the hummingbird feeders has slowed. I make a cup of nectar every other day or so, and I have steady visitors – just not many of them. The yellowjackets also buzz around, and that’s frustrating.

And the smoke? Yes, we still have it, especially in the canyons. It drifts in and out here. KW