Hot! - July 20, 2026

The weatherman says it's going to be 99 degrees today, and 98 tomorrow.  If you're looking for me, I'll be in the house.

This past weekend I braved the heat to do a little yardwork.  It all started when I noticed the fabulous squash plant in the flower bed.; it had been a week since I'd picked it.  I grabbed my clippers and, sure enough, there were several squash too big to use, lots more coming along behind them.  I snipped the big ones off and started toward the compost pile with them.  On the way, I stopped to snip a dead bloom off a rosebush and yanked a few weeds from around it.  Tossed the big squash onto the compost pile and headed back to the house with two squash I'd kept.  

As I approached the porch, I realized I didn't have my clippers.  I had absolutely no recollection of what I did with them.  They were not near the rosebush.  They were not on the compost pile.  I put the squash in the kitchen and went back out to find the clippers, thinking they were most likely in the weeds near the rosebush.  I started there, pulling up creeping charlie, working my way toward the squash plant at the other end of the bed.  Something buzzed my head.  I looked up and there was a swarm of wasps rising out of the creeping charlie.  I took off running for the wasp spray on the back porch.  The can was almost empty.  I abandoned the clipper search for the day.

The yard needed mowing, but I was kind of hoping The Husband would see to it.  About 4:00 when he said he was going to mow Nanny's front field with the tractor, I reckoned he was hoping I would see to our yard.  

Nanny met me at her back porch when I went to get the lawnmower.  "It's too hot!" she hollered.

I waved and hollered back, "Don't start!" and went for the lawnmower.

It took about 3 hours to do both our yards.  The Husband was coming back with the tractor as I was making my last few rounds at Nanny's.  I had been circling what was left of the "vegetable garden" - a few sprawling tomato plants and some sickly okra - debating about whether or now to just mow it down.  The Husband saw what I was doing and asked if I wanted him to mow it with the tractor.  I said, "Have at it."

So much for this year's garden efforts . . . .  

Yesterday, I bought some wasp spray and tricked The Husband into finding out where the wasps had come from.  They'd built a nest in a container concealed in the creeping charlie.  He doused it good.  I'm still scared to mess around in that area. 

Still haven't found the clippers.