Wednesday...I guess our spate of pleasant weather is over for now, at least until the next front comes in. I did two things outside, trundled the garden cart over to the burn pile and emptied it and then picked up the piles of pruning from Monday, tossed them in the truck and then on the burnpile and I am hot and sweaty. Checked the weather app on my phone...89˚ feels like 99˚ and high humidity. Maybe I'll just sit in the house and read all day. Or I could vacuum the floors if I get too antsy (I didn't). Another front is supposed to come in Sunday for a week or so in the 70˚s with one night in the 40˚s!
Thursday was SHARE day and a food delivery day and just plain busy. Not so busy the baskets that I refill stacked up but as soon as I was finishing one up they would drop another, all morning long.
Well, this little bird feeder is not working out even with the perches I added. I noticed that the birds were not showing up so I went out and looked and the only thing in the little trough was millet, the sunflower seeds jammed up because the slot at the bottom that feeds the seed into the little trough is not open enough. I shifted the plexiglas sides up and taped them so hopefully the sunflower seeds will fall out but obviously this little feeder is not meant for large seed. I'll have to get a bigger one.
Yesterday evening my neighbor brought me six ears of sweet corn from her husband's brother's garden. I was glad to get them because we'd already eaten the corn she brought me earlier in the spring. So today I shucked it, blanched it, cut it off the cob, vacuum sealed it and put it in the freezer. I was glad to see this little guy as I was shucking the ears, it tells me the corn is safe to eat.
All six ears had a little damage at the top with three still having a little worm. I used to get my corn from a farmer who came to the market every spring. I asked him if it was sweet corn hybrid or GMO. Hybrid, he said, if a worm won't eat it neither will I. That's pretty much my position too.
While I was at it I divided up the family size package of mushroom ravioli into five portions that I bought Tuesday and vacuum sealed and froze those as well. Makes for 5 easy meals when neither of us really feels like cooking.
There was some rain around us Thursday but not on us. The sky was pretty dramatic though with towering puffy clouds and darker ones. (The first picture is through the windshield of my car so the color is off.)
This is from Wednesday I think, the fallow field at the end of my street.
The confederate roses are blooming prettily. One of mine opens light pink and darkens to dark pink by the end of the day and the other, the flowers open white and turn pink as the day progresses.
By end of day it was completely pink.
And the orange cosmos is starting to put on its display with monarch.
Well, dinner is on me tonight (Friday) so I'd best walk the dog and get in there.
Tonight's sky.
My cosmos grew tall and leggy and finally produced a single pink bloom. I hope next year will be better. Our days are warm and nights are cool, just the way I like my weather. HeWho wants the thermostat set at 68, but I feel like I am suffocating. I finally convinced him that 60 is high enough. He has donned his long johns and flannel shirts over a t-shirt. He thinks he will convince me to go up on the thermostat, but I told him layer more, I can only strip down to my underwear! I enjoy a little chill in the air while sleeping.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for planning ahead for days when nobody feels like cooking but you still feel like eating. Those Confederate roses are just wonderful, with the color change. The days of heat and humidity have left us now, bright sunshine where you don't know what to wear, very chilly morning, warm afternoon, chilly again evening.
ReplyDeleteUgh -- that seems hot for this late in the year! I didn't know a worm wouldn't eat GMO corn. (I guess that's WHY it's GMO -- to repel pests?)
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful the confederate roses are. I imagine them inspiring a new piece of your artwork one day soon.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the beautiful skies there. It's been bleak and gray as hell here for days (or has it been years?). The monarch on the cosmos is so lovely. We didn't see very many monarchs this year. Their numbers are in decline. It's such a bummer.
ReplyDeleteThe roses are beautiful, and it is so nice of your neighbor to bring you yummy corn.
Not a rose at all, it's a hibiscus in the mallow family.
Delete"Hibiscus Mutabilis" which I suppose means "changing hibiscus" and they do change color! Mine start out dark pink, and go to light. They are so beautiful. I've never seen one quite like yours.
ReplyDeleteWe're supposed to get some cooler temperatures in a few days and actually, it's far cooler now than it was. I am grateful for that.
I totally agree with you about the worms.
Excellent sky! My corn was hard and sparse this dry hot year, should have watered it. But who waters corn?
ReplyDeleteIncredible photos ! The flower is fascinating- how it becomes rosy by the end of the day, like a sunburned child. Your skies are remarkable , such drama! The little grub in the corn is cute- I do hope that you put it out in the compost where he can have his way munching the left overs.
ReplyDeleteAll three went dutifully into the compost pile.
DeleteThose skies make me sigh - so lovely! And I am fascinated by the changing hibiscus blooms. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI am sure that many people now have a whole new outlook on wormy corn! I remember once going to a pick-your-own farm where one of the attractions was corn grilled in the husk and my daughter wouldn't even try it in case a grub had been baked along with the corn! We told her it would just be a little extra protein, but nothing would get her to take a nibble.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it is much chillier up in Illinois - I had to wear my winter coat, hat and gloves when I went out for my walk yesterday. But the sun is shining and the leaves are glorious so the chill doesn't bother me at all.
ReplyDeleteI will have nothing blooming until Spring but I am not much of a gardener anyway so I will just enjoy your photos instead!
Hmmmm...I'm sure I commented on this post. Spam, maybe?
ReplyDeleteAnd so you did and yes, in the spam folder.
DeleteJust beautiful... You're fortunate to be getting rain. We've not seen a drop, even though we've had a couple of cloudy periods this past week. Take care and thanks again for sharing your life with me.
ReplyDeleteThere's that orange cosmos! It is pretty, especially with that orange butterfly making a visit. A while back, I took a photo of a beautiful seed head at our local Buddhist temple. I had no idea what it was, and waffled about with the ID until I finally figured it out: it was from a Hibiscus mutabilis. A little down the road I'll probably include it in some seedhead posts. Right now, I'm just checking in to the weather sites, watching our chances of rain go down, down, down. We've dropped from 70% to 30%, and for once I hope the forecasters are wrong.
ReplyDelete