Today it is hot. Okay hotter than it has been, but with little humidity, twenty-two years here, next month, and I am still not used to humidity.
Anyway the tomatoes are in, the cukes and cantaloupe and watermelon are planted, as well onions and strawberries. Cannot wait for the first big ‘mater to be ready to pick.
No sign yet of fireflies, or as I call them Blink-blinks. Our lower field in mid-summer will have tens of thousands of them blinking most of the night.
Over the past weekend, a Hummingbird came screaming up to our deck, hovered in front of me for a second and headed for the nearest tree. We know the drill, she was demanding we put out the feeder. One summer a few years back was dry, so dry there were few flowers, so our feeder had a waiting line. They would land on my hand as I was replacing the feeder after refilling it. We counted at least sixteen hummers at the feeder. What a sight.
A Woodchuck has decided that his back exit needs to be in the middle of the floor of my barn. I have filled in the exit to no avail, he digs it out within a day or two. A cement floor would solve the problem, but at a cost that is nuts, $2k plus and that is not including labor and delivery of the cement. Maybe trap and transport is the answer.
Flys. All I will say is they love bite. I hope they die of a sugar overload. There should be something good come out of being a diabetic, right?
Yesterday I did some bush hogging, and the Pine Martians we having a grand time dancing and diving, catching the bugs I stirred up. They are a lot of fun to watch as I drive the Kubota around that field cutting the wild grasses and seedling trees that want to take over the field.
Some of the trees are supporting Virginia Creeper, think a mild version of Kudzu. And some have Poison Ivy. One vine I see is three or more inches thick. Using a chainsaw is asking for a rash everywhere that is exposed and the vine has no leaves I can reach to use Roundup on. Oh joy. I do take time to thank God for inventing the person who invented Zanfell though. It knocks down a Poison Ivy rash in short order, as in minutes.
My writing is coming along as are sales of my last book, White Hot Skies, Survival and Redemption, If you haven’t bought and read it, please do. If you have, and haven’t yet posted a review on Amazon, I ask that you please do. I also ask that you please tell others about it and recommend they read it, post a review and encourage others to do so.
I hope to have Beneath the New Moon ready for pre-order by late fall. I am thinking of putting this one out as a series. It depends on many things, and volumes of advice from people I trust.