Our Independence Day holiday was quiet. We had a simple bar-b-que and Dad came over to eat with us. The heat has been so oppressive that we only work at a slow pace, and we just stop working if we begin to feel the slightest bit ill.
The other day while we were out in the field, I saw a BIG snake gliding over the garden area. I never knew snakes could move so fast; it looked like it could fly. I think it was a fox snake and it must have been 4' long. Of course I froze on the spot. "OMG," I said, "Look at the size of that snake." Tom grabbed a shovel and ran to chop it up. I would have let it go because it was obviously in a hurry to get across the garden and down to the creek, and, because it was a BIG snake I was sure it was finding plenty to eat in the field, but that was me.
We had another snake incident, too. Tom had just left the house to drive to town when I saw him suddenly stop the car in the driveway. I thought he had forgotten something so went on doing my housework. It turns out that there was some sort of snake, another large one, that had somehow gotten inside the car and started slithering on the dashboard toward him! Tom grabbed it and threw it out of the car and into the woods. All I can say is that it's a good thing I wasn't driving!
I finished planting the perennial flower seeds in the forest garden, and while I was doing that I found a little patch of wild strawberries. I took them in the house and split them between Lara and Ed. I told Lara that I had found them in a fairy's garden beneath a balsam tree branch. She thinks the fairies like our forest garden because we leave them cornmeal near the foxgloves on Midsummer's Eve and she didn't think the fairy would mind us eating some of its strawberries. They tasted great, too!
Grandpa Ott's morning glories are starting to climb their trellis. The Scarlet Runner Beans aren't far behind them.
It's refreshing to find some plants thriving despite the hot weather. I wish I could handle the heat better. Some days are better than others. Tom actually bought a little air conditioner that we put in a living room window and turn on when the heat gets to be too much. Lara's air conditioner is on pretty much all day and she likes staying cool in her "cave". Ed likes sitting in front of an open window when we have the whole house fan on. Mostly I try to get everyone to drink lots of water and just take it easy.
Tomorrow if the heat does not unduly bother me, I'll get out to the field and hill my poor potatoes. They were drowned by the same rain storm that flooded Duluth, Minnesota, then they were baked by the ungodly heat wave that has seized this country, and now they are devoured by hordes of potato beetles. I doubt I will get any amount of useful harvest. Big sigh.
Take it easy, Everybody!
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