Please Be Accurate

The weather forecast is calling for clear and sunny skies tomorrow. Oh please let them be accurate for a change, because I have painting to do, lots of painting to do.....

Suspicions Possibly Confirmed

Lately during our evening walks we have had to watch the sidewalks for more than just toads and frogs that might end up under foot.  Something has been leaving poo shaped "presents" on the sidewalks.  We have been guessing that it is a cat.  Late this afternoon on the way back into the house after picking the garden, I spotted a small cat by the back of the house.  It was in the vicinity of the trash cans, so I don't know if it was attracted by the smell of the cans or the bird water dispenser, that I had brought home from mom & stepfather's assisted living to clean.  (Goldfinches and cardinals don't seem to care that it is labeled for chickens, and filled half full it hangs just fine on the shepherds crook opposite the bird feeder.)  Anyhow, the cat gave the usual shocked four foot bounce backwards that teenage cats usually do when they are surprised and ran off under the trailer.  I must admit that my yard must appear to be a cat's playground in the summer with sunflowers attracting birds and butterflies, good hiding places, mice, voles, and catnip free for the taking.  It would seem that it is time to change the bait in the live trap to kibble, because summer in my yard is nice, but Wisconsin winters are very unfriendly and will return much sooner than we would like.  If we manage to catch the cat, I hope it is someone's lost microchipped pet.  But we'll cross that bridge if we can manage to catch the fuzzy little brat.

Well Technically

it hasn't rained for two days.  However, the weather has still not been very conducive to painting and actually having it dry.  Hopefully, the high humidity will go away.

Yesterday evening, after the Packers won their game earlier in the afternoon, the only sounds in our neighborhood were crickets and frogs singing.  It was eerie.  Usually there is some noise of clunkers, sports cars, Harleys, various other motorcycles, and pickup trucks with loud exhausts heading out of downtown.  Not so yesterday evening; everyone must have been partied out by late afternoon and tucked up in bed early. 

Rain, Rain

please stay away, for a while!  Between a nasty cold and the weather (4"-6" of rain depending on location) last week was pretty much a lost cause.  The fields need to dry out so that the farmers' crops don't rot and they finish maturing enough to harvest!

The rain was so bad that a rabbit might have actually sought shelter inside the live trap.  It dove for the nearest cover and was not terribly excited to be let go in an open field with no roof.

Beans and Tomatoes

With the need to get other things done this summer,

not as many tomato plants were planted.  The original plan was to do work on the house, but you've already heard of the monkey-wrench that fell into those gears - still trying to catch up.

Back to the garden, some of the usual tomato planting locations were used for beans instead.  It seems to have worked out alright, except for the main garden where the dog kennel was relocated to use as a trellis.  Perhaps, if mom and stepfather didn't have to be moved in July there would have been more time to weed and do pest control in the main garden.  As it is, the sunflowers and morning glories took over, and the voles cut off a lot of the bean vines at the bottom.  It also seems like the birds may have been nibbling at the pole bean blossoms in the main garden.  The chain-link fencing on the kennel provides too good a perch for them to wreak havoc.  So the main garden's production has been rather abysmal.  Thankfully, the other patches have picked up some of the slack.

Sunflowers and morning glories running amok in the main garden

Pole beans growing wildly at the former location of the compost pile.  There is a fence around the bottom to keep out the rabbits.

More beans, both bush and pole in the front planting bed.

The downspout from the front porch, self waters this patch, when it actually rains.  (And yes, I still need to weed under the trailer again.)

A mixture of the pickings.

The beans are kicking it up a notch.  I'm not sure why that one tomato ripened first on one side, but no worry - it caught up.

Beans gone wild.

I hope this is the peak of production.

Even with giving some away, once they were all cut-up, they filled a two gallon bag.  With the weather being so weird, I left a whole row of the dragon's tongue bush beans (yellow with purple stripes) to go to seed in dad's garden.  Maybe I should let some of the pole beans start going to seed now too, even though they are still quite tender.  The weather has been unseasonably cool the last three weeks.  The weather forecast is calling for a high of 83 on Tuesday.  I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm not holding my breath.  The city school board is pushing to have air conditioning installed in all the schools.  With this kind of weather, I don't see those proposals going very far.

A Hairy Situation

Hey, it isn't easy to come up with new and interesting titles for Ember's late summer bath and haircut.  So without further ado, here are some pictures of the victim of soapy water torture and assault with a safety clippers; at least that is how Ember would probably describe it.

One clean soggy doggy

Clean, dry and unsuspecting doggy

"Dad comfort me and scratch my ears, and chin.

Mom is so mean!  Protect me please.  Let's wrestle too, for some reason I feel cooler and energized."

"Mom, I know what you did; I'll think about forgiving you tomorrow.  You can hasten the process tonight, if you give me a treat for being a good girl while you shaved my ticklish feet."

The main haircut was done last week, but I still haven't trimmed the topknot and ears yet.  Poodles don't shed, but the trimmings from the occasional haircut sure are prickly and itchy.  I don't know how professional dog groomers stand it.