It's just shy of 7 a.m., and it's already nearly 80 degrees. "Extreme heat" warnings are in effect all over the south, with "feels like" temps well above 100 degrees. The humidity is like a wet blanket.
Yesterday morning after breakfast, as The Husband and I were on the back porch, watching birds grabbing food from the bird feeder and taking to their young, he said, "I bet the birds would like it if we put the bird bath near the feeder." I thought it was a great idea. This concrete bird bath is about 20 years old, and for the past 10 years or so has been stashed near the back wall of the house, under a crape myrtle tree. It was full of crape myrtle trash and, except when it rained, never had a drop of water in it. For the past 5 years or so, it has been the repository for the souvenir rocks that The Husband picks up when we travel.
We cleaned out the bird bath and moved it to a spot a couple of feet away from the bird feeder. It looks good there, being at the far end of the new flower bed I planted in the sunny spot where the tree fell last spring. We have not seen any birds availing themselves of the handy water supply. I guess they need a couple of days to decide whether or not it's okay.
After working up a sweat moving the bird bath, I went to the vegetable garden to check on things. The squash plants are growing well, but there was only one tiny squash on one vine. The plants were loaded with blooms - male blooms, most of which should be removed (I intend to get to that later today). The okra is knee high and doing well. The cucumbers look pitiful, as do the tomatoes. Weeds had sprouted along the edges of the rows where there was no mulch. I spent about an hour pulling weeds and then came home (it was high noon by then, and sweat was pouring off of me), intending to go back later to cut off squash blooms and finish the weeding.
I came back to the house, sat down on the back porch to cool off, and found three ticks crawling on my legs. One of them had already begun to drill. Ticks TOTALLY creep me out. I hurried to the shower, where I could do a full-body tick inspection. The sweaty, potentially tick-infested clothes went straight to the laundry, along with the rest of the sweaty gardening clothes I'd worn for the past few days. I did not set foot in the garden again that day.
Today, my niece and I are going to my sister's house. She promised to feed us lunch if we would help her decide "what to do with her yard." This invitation must be a ruse, for her yard is already lovely. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment