The dog days of summer are here in South Texas...sigh..I am not ashamed to admit I am not a hot weather person! I know,I know, I live in the wrong place! I have to live where Hubby's job is...even though he works in China he is stationed out of Houston. So I spend my summer days hiding indoors...in the lovely air conditioning..only venturing out into the unbelievably humid mornings to tend to critters.Then I repeat the same routine in the evenings, always wet with sweat and needing a shower! Me and The Boy are sweaters,we sweat enough for two or three people! That probably has something to do with us not liking the heat..hmm....maybe that whole sweating thing was too much info.....anyway..Most everyone's gardens around here have gone to weeds, including mine. No one wants to pull weeds in 97% humidity! Sadly, I did not get the tomato harvest I had dreamed of. Unlike last year, where we had heat wave and drought, this year it was too much rain for my tomatoes..the plants turned yellow and tomatoes rotted on the vine or just fell off. Gardening is a cruel hobby! The only good thing about down here is we get two gardening seasons,so I will try again in the fall. Gardening is an addiction you know,no matter how bad Mother Nature slaps you around,you still come back for more!
Last year I had some Butterfly Weed planted around and had a lot of monarch caterpillars come to feast on them.This year the plants didn't come back,maybe because of the freaky cold we had this winter. In one of the raised beds I have some parsnips going to seed and guess what I discovered!
The caterpillars are back! These little plant munchers never get picked off! I counted 8 all together...
They are welcome to eat until they are full and feel the need to make their cocoons...
I have been out of blog land this last week....I have the blahs...nothing new, nothing happening ...same ole same ole! You know how it gets! I need a vacation to get me out of this blah routine! I am figuring it is not going to happen so ....I will just have to get over it I guess,lol! Farmers rarely get vacations," because who would take care of the goats!?!?!?"
***correction..after further research those maybe swallowtail butterfly caterpillars...regardless they are welcome to stay!*****
17 comments:
Ahh, yes, Melodie, summer does kick buns for us tender folk. Heat index in the 100s and I can't breathe. I keep asking myself why I don't just pack my broom? I guess it's because 8 months out of the year, it's not a bad place to live! The other 4 months, it's like living in the devil's armpit!
Yah, even my tower garden isn't doing squat, think they should have made them out of white plastic instead of black. My herbs are dying, haven't gotten a single thing to "harvest".
Not much happening here either. Just waiting on a cool spell.......... (In TN? HAH!)
Hello from a fellow sweater. I hate the heat too!!!!! Even worse, the humidity.Even in Ky, our tomatoes are dieing too. Too hot and humid. That's what I get for living in the Appalachins.
Florida is a wonderland of heat and humidity too! I understand completely! I hide inside for the summer. Going out when I must.
So much was accomplished in your garden when the weather was cooler and it was good.
Stay cool, sip the iced tea, and eat cool cool salads!
Wishing you a cool spot to hibernate....for awhile.
Take care of yourself and the Boy, and critters.
PS: Like your blog changes. I tried to do that and it never worked for me. So then blogger came out with new designs and I used one of those. :)
Ladies perspire and horses sweat! Either way, both end up soaked. I did a few summers in Toronto at 35C and 98% humidity. I couldn't breathe! I'll take our nice temp range of 18 to 25C and 45% humidity!
Hello from the Arctic! Kidding but I feel sure you would freeze here....high today was 20 degrees C or 60 something degrees F. We have 2 or so weeks of real humidity in August and that is enough, thank you very much!
Yes, I too got bogged down last week about 'nothing to blog about'.....so I wrote about nothing.
Yes I can understand that you don't really get a vacation with all your animals, even with just having pets it's sometimes hard to find someone to take care of them. You just have to pretend you are on vacation at your place, we call that a staycation :)
It is very humid here and it stinks. I understand the vacation thing. We don't go either too many animals depending on us. Have a great night. Rebekah
Ain't it the truth.
But I love the heat...not humidity mind you, but the heat.
Mmmm, give me 100* and I am one happy goat.
Ooooh, I can't wait for the monarchs to come here and lay their eggs!! I used to raise them inside to keep them safe for many years when the kids were small. Every now and then, I'll spot an egg on a leaf and bring it in to see it through to butterfly. I love the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis--very COOL! Loved your photos!
We are in the rainy weather pattern now, and it's supposed to be really hot and humid by the weekend. I love the caterpillar pictures. I have swallowtail caterpillars on my parsley all the time. They are so fun.
they are swallowtail-I have them all over my parsley and dill every year, and my daughter names them, raises them, and makes college plans for them.
And then goes off to camp and leaves me in charge of them and that's when the birds eat them.
what an excellent statement on...the addiction to gardening! I do it every year with excitement, then when nature gets the best of me, I hang my head and hope for the neighbor who raises the "Miracle garden" to be kind and share.
No heat here yet, just rain and drizzles almost every day. Seems we have switched weather patterns and now its like Oregon here! Summer is just a hectic time, hope you find some fun and some cool weather soon!!
Stay cool. I know all about those Texas summers, and I lived in central and south Texas!
~Randy
Can't help envying your warm weather when it's chilly and damp here in England. BTW, horses sweat, gentlemen perspire and ladies just gently glow!!
I live in N.Texas and it is pretty hot and humid here but nothing like the intense humidity you are enduring. Your swallowtail is beautiful! They are my favorite caterpillar because they look like they were hand painted.
I don't like the hot either but right now I'd go for a little warmth for my garden... everything is at a standstill with the rain an cool weather we've been having...so send the sun my way! LOL
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