Good Bye, July

Last day of July,2021. At 10:20 this morning it was 78 degrees, and it was 100 degrees by 1:00. it jumped 22 degrees in two and a half hours. Since June 16^th there have been 44 out of 46 days over 90 degrees. I am SO over this heat! 

Today was also a horse show I was asked to photograph. Thankfully there was a small entry and it was over by roughly 2:30. Between the heat and the smoke from all of the wildfires, I was done in. I packed up and left and when I got home, I unloaded my gear, changed into shorts, let the dog out, put my chair in his kennel and sat with my feet in his pool for about ten or fifteen minutes, brought him inside, and showered and washed my hair. I uploaded photos from the show onto the computer, added the meta data and sorted the photos into files, and that was it.

At 6:35 I’m falling asleep in my chair. Computer is about to be shut down and I am going to bed! 

Tomorrow’s horse show is up in the air; there is a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Might be a good day to stay home and crash on the couch. 

 

Cooling Temperatures

So hard to believe that August is only three days away!  I say it every year - where does the time go?? 

The days are getting noticeably shorter; it’s still dark when I wake up at 5:00 and sets at around 9:15 pm… I hate that. On the up side, earlier sunsets sure cool things off a lot faster, and with this brutal heat wave we’ve had since June 12^th, the cooler temps are most appreciated.

When I checked the National Weather Service a couple of hours ago, the forecast for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week was 85 - Tuesday and Wednesday are now 86. That’s more typical of this time of year, and a damn sight better than 97!  We’ll see how much that changes in the next few days…

 

Summer Snow

 Fourth of July, and snow still clings stubbornly to Lolo Peak! 

There used to always be on the mountain all year round. Not a lot in the summer, but it was still there, hanging on to the highest crags and gullies, and even on the very top. That hasn't been so for for the past eight or ten years, but it's nice to see it there in the summer again!

Front Porch Garden

Finally transplanted my bitterroots this morning. The bottom metal hoop on the old, wooden planter they were in fell off months ago and the planter has been falling apart ever since. I dug up the bitterroots, and transferred the “scrub” dirt from their original pot into the new one.They now have a new, hopefully permanent, home in the planter that should never fall apart.

I don’t think I have ever watered the bitterroots, but I gave them a little drink today, to hopefully get them to plant themselves firmly into the dirt. I’ll continue to give them a little bit of water while the temps are hot, but not so much as to soak them.

Those babies have been in that pot for 20 years or more and I was amazed at how huge some of the roots were! Hopefully they will do ok in the new pot; I’ll be anxious to see if they sprout leaves this fall…

Having one less planter on the deck also allowed me to rearrange the rest of the planters, and now my little garden looks so much nicer and cleaner.

As I rearranged the planters I swept up all of the loose dirt, cleaned everything up and put the leftover dirt in buckets in the spare kennel. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet but it’s off the porch. I went back out onto the porch to admire my flowers, and there were already bees everywhere! They love my little garden! 

A couple of hummingbirds also visited a few times this morning while I was re potting. I have Black-chinned hummers this year! I can hear their wings as they fly up, and I froze each time and was able twice to lift my head enough to watch them sipping nectar from the feeders. The third time I didn’t realize one was there and I scared it off when I stood up. No worries, it will be back.

Once everything was planted and moved to its place on the deck, I sat down to admire the plants and look forward to a beautiful, brightly flowered oasis. 

My little garden makes me and the bees happy..   

Rain, Glorious Rain!!

After almost a month of 90 degrees or higher, today we had some much needed RAIN!!  

The storm last night had a little lightning, some good thunder and strong, gusty winds. A few times it felt like the house was going to be blown off its foundation!  It only rained for about 30 or 40 minutes, but it was a good, strong, much needed soaking rain.

As I drove into town this morning I noticed a few tree branches that had been blown down - winds must have been even stronger than I thought.