summertime….

…and the livin' is easy -- don't know about the fish swmmin' or the height of the cotton they don't grow in Denton County any more, but the Doak Orchards "Bowie Peaches Guy" is back on station in the corner of the bowling alley parking lot across from the mall, and summer is oh-FEE-shully here! Last year the late freeze did in their crop, and it was terrible. They had east Texas peaches at the farmers' market; they were good, but not the same.

Summertime flowers at the Ridge - the bull-nettles and spiderwort are gone and the black-eyed susans are passing. The tall yellow evening primrose is beginning to make a show. And there's a lot of horsemint this year. It will be showy for a long time.

But the speckled, creamy blossoms that the bees love, hiding under the bracts, will be gone I think by early July.


Got critters. Lots of birds, of  course. Mammals - I saw the gray fox a few weeks ago, first time in years. I came downstairs after I heard a metallic rattle in the front yard the other night, to find a 'coon that had failed to get into the birdfeeder, hoovering up the sunflower seeds underneath it. I see a cottontail in the lane often, especially down in the woods near the mailbox. And one night I slowly followed a young 'possum up the lane for a lo-o-ong way, till it finally went off into the grass to one side.

 This lizard was on the outside of the upstairs porch screen last week. Clearly it has never lost a tail to a cat.



The grasshoppers are very numerous, hopping up in front of the car in clouds, even when I seem to be travelling on a bare dirt section of the lane. They have been getting noticeably bigger the last couple of weeks. Today I photographed some that were posing on the windshield.

Sunday 25 September 2011


It’s coming ba-a-a-ack!

The high pressure ridge that made our lives a misery this summer is going to make a return, just when we thought it was safe to enjoy the weather. Not as bad as before, though, after all it IS late September. (Of course, it was 104°F on September 29 once, too.) Well, anyway, we had a two-week break of what the weatherman called “seasonal” temperatures. I called it downright cold, a few mornings ago when it was 52°. There wasn’t anything handy that was warm enough to wear!

Says Cavanaugh of the FW weather office: “Western continental US upper ridge should expand back east over Texas Friday into next weekend ... This turn of events will likely shut down any rain chances by next weekend with above normal temperatures continuing.” Bah!

It’s depressing that we continue to get no rain - one nice slow 0.6” drizzle last week, and a few drops a couple of days ago, is not enough to pull anything through, and lots of the vegetation is either outright dead or on its last legs.

It does make good weather for the solar oven, though. I used it quite a lot this summer. It’s not surprising it can hit 250° on a sunny 106° day. Today was just about 90° though, and it did that well. Nice clear atmosphere. Yummy supper. Not quite the supper illustrated, which was some weeks ago, and included eggplant.

Tonight was farmers’ market squash, pepper, potatoes, and a piece of chicken, plus some oregano from my tiny herb patch (that has been watered enough to get a big patch of Johnson grass next to it -- better do some weeding before the herbs get overwhelmed).