66 this morning, clear and cool. It heated up as the day went on and was already 82 by 10am.
All I can say is, at least it's not humid.
I have been noticing signs of an early fall. Perhaps it's the heat and lack of rain--no significant rain now for the past 2 weeks--that's causing some leaves to begin turning yellow and brown. Our old wild apple has been dropping leaves and fruit for the past week; first we noticed it was dropping unripe apples, and now it's lost a good many of its leaves.
Another apple tree has few leaves but a lot of fruit, all of it very small. The other three trees look okay but the apples are much smaller than they should be this time of year.
There is a noticeable tinge of yellow to the woods and fields now; normally I don't see this until the beginning of August. I remember, actually, the first time I was struck by the first signs of fall. I was just home from the hospital after having my last baby. It was August 2nd, very hot still, but when I got home I realized that Nature had shifted from full-on summer to the first glimmer of autumn during my 3-day absence.
The lack of rain and the heat is wearing on people too. Town was very quiet today, Larry reported when he returned from getting the van license renewed. Gardens are being left to their own devices as plants dry up and people are weary of the fight to keep things going and growing. We are fortunate that our gardens are still doing very well, but it's been a struggle to get enough water to everything.
Today I did not heat the house up with canning again, thank goodness. Instead I did a lot of eBay listings, something I've been neglecting during these busy summer days, and did some painting. I finished up this little guy,
a rough little thing, painted bright glossy highway-department yellow but now a bit tamer, and got the top of this dresser sanded and ready for paint.
Would you believe we found this on the side of the road, in the trash? One back leg was broken, but Larry soon had that fixed. The only remaining problem is that one drawer that won't come out. I'll work on that this evening. Other than that, it's a real beauty. The last owners removed all the drawer pulls, so I bought these to replace them. A bit of a splurge but since the dresser was free, why not?
Well, I'm off to water gardens again. See you tomorrow.
Hot here in KY, too. I've been keeping the garden going, but the squash bugs have invaded my zukes and yellow squash, so they are about finished. I ended up shucking and cutting all of my fresh corn inside because I didn't want to be outside in the heat. In years past it wouldn't have bothered me, but not anymore. A couple of my summer flowers are drying up in the heat, despite my best efforts with watering. Stay cool and I like that dresser. A nice find.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd enjoy your summers. As your Uncle Ted used to say, with his usual delight in mangling the English language, "Too hot enough!"
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