~~~Heat~~~Wave~~~

"A break in the heat
away from the front
no thunder, no lightning,
just rain, warm rain
falling near dusk
falling on eager ground
steaming blacktop
hungry plants
thirsty
turning toward the clouds
cooling, soothing rain
splashing in sudden puddles
catching in open screens
that certain smell
of summer rain."
-  Raymond A. Foss, Summer Rain


That was wishful thinking on my part.  We need rain to water the crops and cool us down but is not in the forecast.  I got this picture in an email and it sums the area up pretty well....




















Nothing much exciting going on since I last posted.  #1, Sir T and Grandbaby O came for a visit and will be back again on the 5th.  Baby O is getting so big, at 2 months he was 14 pounds and 23 inches.  He doesn't look fat as he is so long.  Can't wait to see how much he has grown in a month.


A week ago or so I pulled the kohlrabi which was just making leaf and planted more carrots and lima beans.  The heat has drastically affected their germination.  I hope to start a flat of broccoli where it is cooler and then transplant for a fall crop.  The tomatoes are loaded with blossom and green tomatoes.  We have been eating zucchini and yellow squash for about a week.  Today I froze 6 pounds of it cubed for soups.  Two had harder skins and I peeled and grated them, about 1 pound, for zucchini bread, fritters and mock crab cakes.


We got four turkeys, sixty broiler chicks and two pigs to raise and later put in the freezer. So far there have not been a lot of garden scraps for their consumption but I hope to remedy that soon.


I did some alpaca baby sitting for Kuhn's River Country Alpaca.  They just recently had two cria born within days of each other.  The first mom didn't want to let her baby nurse unless they forced her so I had to go over and supplement with bottles.  When the second cria came the first mom must have looked at how things were done between that mom and cria.  A light bulb went on in her head and she started to let her baby nurse upon demand.


I had been spinning until the heat became unbearable. I knit a capelet and I have been sewing the granny squares together.  My fiber work always slows in the summer and I use to feel guilty about that.  I look at the fiber/yarn and think I should be doing something with it, the mind is willing but the body isn't so I don't force myself anymore because the results are usually disastrous. 


When it is cool in the morning #2 and I have either gone for a walk or weeded the garden.  We worked out there for almost two hours today and are rewarding ourselves.  We are headed out to see Harry Potter in an air conditioned cinema which will make coming home harder so we will have to leave again to go swimming.  Life is so rough.   Sooner or later this heat will break and life will go back to "normal" till then keep cool as best you can.