What's shaking in your neck of the woods? It's fairly warm here. The outdoor thermometer on the deck is not in direct sun, but it does get radiated heat from the house. It's 109F out there. The deck gets the afternoon sun, it's pretty warm out there. Actually, it's unusable when it's this hot. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday of this week that marked the hottest day on the planet, ever.
We are not doing much at present. There is ride to the lake, alternating with rowing machine and lifting weights. There has actually been cooking that requires following a recipe. I would link to the skillet chicken recipe, but it's firmly behind the NYT paywall.
So, here is what we've seen recently.
Sunday, these ladies strolled up the street, videoing the houses in the neighborhood. There was pointing at things, as they continued up the hill. We've never seen them before, they seemed to be enjoying their outing. Here they are on the way out to the gate.
The quail have been having babies. There's a group of adolescents, as well as some new babies.
The babies never stop moving, so it's difficult to get a clear picture of them.
We have eaten three tomatoes thus far. They're not as good as those in Italy or France, but they're not bad. Here is a terrible picture of tomatoes that are living in the interior of the plant.
Time was spent cleaning leaves out of the window wells. The two west facing windows need to be re-caulked. We hate caulking, a lot. I took these of the hydrangea. Google photos tweaked the first photo, it looks like they saturated it some.
Today was very amusing. Starting about 9 am, there were ravens screaming and yelling. They were out there all day, screaming and yelling. The people across the street and down the hill have a giant rock in their front yard. There is a recirculating pump that runs water over the top of the hill and down into a small pool. The ravens were hanging out near the water. I guess it was hot enough that they wanted to keep their feet wet.
That's it! That's all I've got.
a bus tour through the neighborhood? how strange. is that an oakleaf hydrangea? the grackles spent those hot days in one of my bird baths.
ReplyDeletelooks like a good tomato harvest. mine did not ever get big clusters like that but over the season we did get quite a few. my favorite is the black krim. will definitely plant those again.
I think it's a Lace Cap.
DeleteYou can't blame the ravens! Imagine how hot they must get, being black. Those baby quail are very cute.
ReplyDeleteOur BBC gardening program recommends that people cut off some of the leaves on their tomatoes to let sun reach the fruit and ripen it. Have you ever heard that? It might be an option for tomatoes in the interior of the plant. (Then again, in England, it can be a challenge to grow tomatoes and get them to ripen before it gets too chilly.)
Baby Quail are Adorable, but, so are their Parents actually... I feel bad for knowing they taste so good... but, Quail is also delicious. My Tomato plants look pathetic but are still abundantly producing a Harvest, too many for me to eat, but the Birds are now enjoying them when they come to the Wild Bird Feeding Station beside my Victory Potted Garden. They're devouring the Centers of my Sunflowers now too... and, in fact, they set the Seed for those Potted Sunflowers by flinging Bird Seed into the Pots. I got several variety of Sunflower off the Wild Bird Seed and let them grow and then set Seed for their Feathered Farmers to enjoy the Harvest of. Interesting that there were Tourists touring a regular Neighborhood, but, if it was enjoyable, I guess it's no different than us Traveling abroad and walking around Quaint Hamlets and such of Europe.
ReplyDeleteI always think of ravens as northern birds, but I guess they migrate too. I'm sure the water felt good in that heat. Though the noise would be enough to drive me bonkers.
ReplyDeleteThe women's video tour of your neighborhood sounds odd to me. I guess they were interested in the landscaping.
The quail are cute birds. Reminds me of our Hungarian partridges.
Good heavens, I didn't realize the heat had reached that far north. It's been pretty bad down here. Our planet is now happy with us right now.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all the quail. I haven't been to the garden in about 4 weeks, so I miss them.
The women walking through the neighborhood only seems unusual to me, mainly because they were videoing everything. Maybe as Bohemian says, they were simply tourists.
ReplyDelete