Aerie Report, July 13, 2011

Wahoo! We actually got 27 drops of rain this morning. No. Really. I counted each and every one. Not long after, however, the sun emerged and dried everything up...again. The sun played peek-a-boo all day long with the puffy cumulus clouds gradually thinning until now--coming on 5:30 PM--there's nary a cloud to be seen. At least the temperatures have moderated considerably. Today's high was around 3:30 PM with a reading of 81 degrees. The steady breeze out of the north northwest has brought cooler temps and may result in a low tonight in the 50s--something that's been a rarity lately.

I went out this morning and weeded the perennial bed in front of the main entrance. It really needed it badly. A small clover-like weed had taken over all the spaces between the flowers and, while green, looked hideous. Of course, when I got done, all the bare dirt looked even worse so it was off to Agway for some nice red cedar mulch and four or five new plants to fill things in. As a result, I ended up working through the hottest part of the day with the sun beating down on me.

I'll be outside shortly harvesting more string beans and watering the vegetables and flowers. The lawn is starting to look sere but I'm not going to water that no matter what. If it dies, it dies and I'll start over. THEN I'll water, but not before. (The TV weatherman out of Elmira, NY says we are not in a drought because--get this--we've had 0.4 inches of rain this month! Maybe in Elmira, buck-o! The Aerie has had less than 0.1 since July 1.)

Terry, meanwhile, was inside baking zucchini bread. She got eight loaves of the stuff for the freezer and has enough shredded zucchini for two more. That also went in the freezer--for now. In a couple of days, she'll have another half dozen large zukes to shred and will be able to bake up even more loaves of this savory manna.

The cats meanwhile did what cats do best--imitating throw pillows. Except when it's meal time or when they (very vocally) demand snacks. I like their schedule.