Special delivery?

Nope, just Loki taking advantage of a cardboard box.

We're firmly in the grasp of a blistering heat wave. It makes for a very long 12 hour shift for my son and not much fun for the rest of us either. The forecast offers no relief for the next week. Saturday I mowed the lawn first; then, foolishly thinking I could take it, split wood. That finished me off for the day.  Today I had no choice but to water the garden, then chose to work inside and canned 12 quarts of dill pickles. These will go down to the basement to mature.

Unfortunately, my window air conditioner has trouble keeping up with the heat and my turning the kitchen into a pickle sauna didn't help! I'm definitely tired tonight.

Old and creaky

But still kicking!

It was my birthday today and besides a definite craving for cake :) it was much like every other day. I worked, gathered eggs, watered the garden, caught grasshoppers for the chickens, moved some wood...

I still want cake.

updating

Ugh. Well, it's been interesting.

First: the tooth. I have avoidance issues with dentists. Which is why, even though I got dental insurance last year after I paid off everything, I hadn't actually gone to a dentist. I average about one visit every decade. This time I learned that an old 'silver' filling had degraded and fractured the tooth causing the break. I've now got a temporary crown and my bank account is $700 lighter (after insurance!).

After that fun I came down with the worst summer cold I've ever had which kept me in all week. I'm down to a irritating cough now. My son must have the immune system of a rock because he doesn't seem to catch anything.

Garden
The marigolds are beautiful. I try to always have them mixed in with the veggies because they make me happy. :) The cabbages look good but the heads feel loose, not tight and solid. I'm not sure what causes that.

I planted a row of cosmos  seeds and ended up with one plant. It would have looked amazing if they all had grown, but even one is nice.

The cucumbers loved the rains we've gotten recently. Oddly, although my parents' farm is only four miles away, on both of the last rains they received 1.5" less than us.

This is my first time growing eating pumpkins. They look impressive so far.

The zucchini/tomato jungle is going strong. The grasshoppers don't seem to bother them.

I moved Astrid and Ninja into the isolation ward last night. Neither seem as happy as Sherlock to be away from the flock even though they were being bullied.

This morning I split wood for an hour and a half. It's heating up now and I'm feeling under strength so will probably slow down for the rest of the day.

An isolation ward

I finally finished setting up my isolation ward for the hen-pecked hens. I expanded the chicken pen, bought a little coop, and fenced off a generous section. Sherlock, Astrid, and Ninja hens will be staying here while they regrow feathers.

Sherlock is the only resident so far because she is the only one who would let me catch her. Already she snuggled into the straw and chased grasshoppers in the long grass. Lonely? Oh no! This is the good life.

Mixed day

It was fabulous to get a surprising 1.75" of rain this afternoon.

Not so great to break a tooth tonight. :(

Embarrassing

I didn't realize just how much my view has been skewed by movies until now. Reading about the embassies closed for safety I was startled to see Madagascar on the list. Over 21 million humans live there! Yet, in my mind, it's still a lush island full of cute furry animals. Yes, I blame Disney and DreamWorks.

:)

Boom!

We didn't know what it was at first but felt it like something massive had fallen in the house. My parents heard it on the farm four miles away and ran outside to see if the cause was visible. Apparently, on a farm just outside of town, something exploded in a fire pit. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt.

I spruced up the bathroom decor a bit with seashells and air plants.

This morning I tackled the polytunnel weeds before it got too warm in there, but I've been dragging ever since so I must have overdone it. At least I got some other things done this week. Six quarts of dill pickles made and 10 bags of grated zucchini froze. I deliberately planted loads of those so I could stock up on them. Bring on the glut!