I'm melting!

At least it feels that way! We continue very hot and dry, yet still humid. I had to wait for the sun to move behind the house before I could water but even though it wasn't as hot I'm drenched from the humidity and no breeze. There is so much I'd like to be doing outside but feel as trapped by the weather as if it were extreme cold.

Farm update

My parents' farm is only four miles away so they're dealing with the same hot, dry weather pattern. You can see the grass looks very dry and the lettuce is bolting. The peas are far ahead of mine with pods already developed.

Apple trees are holding a good crop so far.

 Flowers still add that incredible pop of color. I couldn't resist taking these pictures.

And I can't pass up the chicks!

The unflappable Zen Chicky.

All black chickens are called Ninja here...crossing my fingers it's a hen.

I love the coloring of this young roo. Check out the tail feathers.

At 4:00 a.m. my mother got up to check on things and spotted a raccoon inside the chicken pen. My dad shot it and the chicks are saved!

Book review

I recently got the first three books from Rebecca Shaw's Turnham Malpas series. I was hoping for another good escape when reality became too stressful, unfortunately these aren't delivering. The first book was quite good over all and I expected each to get better as she developed her writing skills...hmm.

The second book was basically obnoxious when the author took a strong, female character and put her into hysterics over eating a rabbit caught in a snare. Then there was traumatic chest-beating and pulling of hair over her almost feeding rabbit gravy to her babies (who on earth would be feeding infants gravy in the first place??). And why such a furor over the wild animals but not one word about verifying that all the domestic meat they ate was treated humanely? In case you haven't figured it out - I hate when authors use their books to attempt to force-feed their opinions to readers. If the author is against traps and snares, fine; don't buy or eat those animals. But to force others to live by your life choices is absolutely wrong (this is what the character was pushing for and achieved by a contrived plot line).

I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through the third book and I find myself becoming more critical as I go. The line that made me put the book down and write this review was the four-month-old baby's "apologetic wail percolated into the kitchen". Seriously? An infant crying apologetically? And when was the last time a baby's cry percolated (seeped, oozed) into a room?

So, not impressed and I won't be buying any more of her books. In fact, I'm glad these were second hand.

C'mon! Share the rain!

Ah, heck

I've been ill today, but ignoring the garden isn't an option in this heat. I feel like I cheated though, because I couldn't carry the water from the rain barrels to the big garden and used the mains hose tonight.  I just hope I feel better tomorrow.

Warm and dry is back

It looks like I'll be putting the rain barrels to work again keeping the garden watered...

It's going to be another year of weather extremes with some places drenched and others parched.

This, that and the other

Checking out my visitor stats I discovered the blog gets more visits from Russia then from the UK! And never once a comment from there.

The electric bill came today and we've hit a record low in usage!!!! 465 KWHs used of which 400 comes from (as in I pay extra for) wind turbines. I just wish I knew what I did to get it down that low because I can't think of any obvious lifestyle changes.

Tomorrow is the National Kidney Foundation walk. Work sponsors us to attend and I have a couple reasons why I like this one. First: it isn't crowded; kidneys don't get the fancy hype that breasts do so there aren't many participating. Second: my dad died from a rejected kidney transplant so this charity hits close to home.

A raccoon tried to break into the chick's shed at the farm last night. The metal siding was pulled away from the side and if there hadn't been a wood board inside it would have got through. Tonight my son is planning on staking it out with the shotgun. Forget the disney movies - raccoons are cunning and brutal.

While we were over at the farm tonight we spent some time trying to guess which of the chicks might be hens. Always fun. :)