Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Forecast - Wow!


The 9th of August

This is the time of year that mosquitoes take to heart the commandment of their Creator when He told His creatures to "Increase and multiply!" And indeed they are obedient little critters. I can't tell the number of bites I got while out weeding yesterday and this morning I wore a halo of high-pitched buzzing companions.

The yard is suffering from the only intermittent rainfalls and the drawn-out heat wave we recently passed through. We have at last been given a respite - for example, tomorrow the high is only supposed to be 77 degrees... can it be?

So I've kept watering the bushes and vegetables in the early morning but possibly not as diligently as I ought to've. The weeds are the neighboring camps that are invading from every side. What weapon to call on next? The weather is on their side; the bugs deter them not. My new idea is consistent and persistent attack - every morning before the heat comes to their defense, I shall go out armed with garden glove and de-cultivator and wage battle after battle until the fields are empty of enemy corpses. This, I believe, is the only solution.

And it is high time. August is the prime for selecting short-season Fall crops and garlic, not to mention cover crops, which I also intend to plant.

In the meantime, here are some recent pictures for you:

Friday, August 5, 2011

Arbor Day Foundation

Mom and I are looking at getting memberships with the Arbor Day Foundation. It was advertised in the St. Mary's Star, and when you join, you get ten free baby trees (of your choice). She's going to let me know tomorrow morning whether or not she wants to go ahead and do it. If we each joined, we get twenty trees, shipped to us somewhere between October and December (whenever our area's seasonally best time for transplanting is).


We really have nothing to lose, just need to think where we'd put them. Here are the choices:

  • 10 Flowering Trees
  • 10 Colorado Blue Spruces
  • 10 Trees Mix
  • 10 Wild Bird Garden
  • 10 Oak Trees
  • 10 White Pines
  • 10 Redbuds
  • 10 Autumn Classics
  • 10 White Firs

Cool Days

Cool is a relative term, but the high temperature in the coming 5 days is supposed to be no more than 94 degrees! That's a good 20 degrees cooler than it got this past week... Today the high predicted is a mere 88! It's delightfully cool right now, although humid. The thermometer reads 74F.

We got a nice rainfall overnight - 1/2-inch total precipitation. The earth looks nice and wet, and it's still overcast. The forecast is a chance of thunderstorms off and on through next Wednesday, Aug. 10th. Deo Gratias!