Friday, July 24, 2020

Earth and sky

It's cool and quiet and all I want to do is take a nap. The nights have been short; Brian is getting home late and leaving early. Not early enough, mind you; he's been late to work a few times and has threatened to skip his chores because they're going to make him late. I corrected his narrative; it wouldn't be chores that would make him late, it would be sleeping in too late. Personal accountability has become an endangered species; it doesn't help when the person holding the highest office in the land exhibits none, but it will not be allowed to go extinct in THIS house.

Back to the weather (sorry; once a mom, always a mom). Yesterday and today a push of ocean air has given us cloud cover for much of the day and a delicious break from the heat. We lose it tonight; tomorrow will be 'normal' summer weather and then we climb into triple-digit extremes for at least two days. If we had a bigger well, I'd be running hoses 24/7 to give everything a good soaking, but I have to prioritize. The rest of the marionberries will probably burn up. I picked earlier this week and got two more boxes; they were showing the effects of the heat then. Poppy came to see what I was doing – and joined me!

I caught this bumblebee napping on a golden raspberry leaf:
This is one of my cherry tomato plants. It's foliage is affected by herbicide carryover, but it is COVERED with flowers! 

My Red Kuri squash hill is looking good, although there are no blossoms yet.

I am admitting garden envy here. I drive by this house on my way to work; this is the front yard. Two tall beds in the middle, surrounded by lower beds with walk-through gaps. I love the design and construction; so beautiful, so manageable, so productive!

Poppy is in the doldrums again. Her agility class Thursday evening was cancelled (it will start next Thursday), the neighbor boy got 'tutored' this week, and her sister is still in quarantine with her COVID humans (one tested positive, one negative). She needs a good romp! This morning, however, she did get to hunt a mouse in the tack room. She didn't catch it, but it kept her keenly interested for awhile!
How many of you have gotten out to see the comet Neowise? Rick and I drove up the hill to an unobstructed spot last Saturday night to spot it. We had to wait awhile for it to get dark enough, then I used my binoculars to locate it. Once I did that I could spot it with my naked eye. Rick took a ton of photos with his big camera, but I don't know if I'll ever get copies of what he shot. I don't know how Sara captured such a great image with her iPhone; mine sees nothing.

Last night, I decided to see if Neowise was visible here at home. I walked over to the other side of our island bed, found the Big Dipper, looked lower, and there it was, over our woodshed. With the binocs I could see that it had moved; there was a star visible in its 'tail' that wasn't there Saturday night. Fun!

That's it for now from . . .

9 comments:

Retired Knitter said...

Wow, that is a beautiful looking garden. I love the design as well.

thecrazysheeplady said...

I was barely able to find it last night, but I did with the binoculars and said goodbye and thanks for stopping in. I have an iPhone 11 with that stupid automatic long shutter speed that you have to manually turn off every time you want to take a low light picture without it. I stabilized my phone and then let the shutter stay open for 3 seconds. I should have done longer, but hindsight... We never got another clear night while it was still blazing through.

Michelle said...

We can all dream, can't we Elaine?

That makes more sense, Sara. I have an iPhone 8, and I hear the newer cameras are amazing -- but so are you as a photographer! (and shepherd, and friend....)

Mokihana said...

Oh my gosh, garden envy is right!That's absolutely beautiful! Your garden looks great, too; I wish we could plant stuff in the ground, but our land is too steep, and everything goes in pots or wine barrels. They just don't do as well as they would if they were in the ground, but I am grateful for what we do have.

Hasn't the cool weather been wonderful? I'm dreading the 100° days coming up. I'm glad it won't be longer than a week, though.

Great post..thank you.

A :-) said...

Even I am enamored of those raised beds!! Wow!!

Will Brian be living at home and commuting to school (if in-person classes happen) or living on campus?

Michelle said...

Mokihana, could you build some narrow rectangular raised beds around your house? Maybe they wouldn't have any advantages over your pots and barrels, though. And yes, I've been reveling in the cool weather, even enjoying being cold, know the heat is coming.

A, the college where Brian is enrolled is five hours away, so he would live in the dorm. Right now they are still planning in-person classes, but I'm not holding my breath as we all know how things can change these days.

JeanneY said...

We haven't seen the comet. I hope we can, yet. But my daughter is gone this weekend, so that cramps our chances.

Was Poppy actually picking her own berries?? My mini Schnauzer used to pick and eat huckleberries when we were out in the woods picking them for ourselves. She was so cute, doing it!

Your garden looks good!

Michelle said...

Yes, JeanneY, Poppy figured out that there was tasty eating on those prickly plants!

Mama Pea said...

It's quiet and HOT here and I feel like taking a nap. That's about all I've felt like doing for days now. At first I was wondering if I had something wrong with my body, but since husband (and daughter) feel the same way, we're putting it down to the oppressive heat and awful humidity.

That front yard garden is amazing. And no lawn to mow!! It might look at little less attractive in the winter time, but still. Gorgeous.