Intense Summer

And I can see it's going to be a crazy fall.

They're talking frost warnings for Saturday night to the north, in freaking August.

Lake effect rain expected. Yeah, "lake effect"! Ugh...I'm not ready to start saying those words in any capacity!

We got pounded on from storms last night - we lost power once and had wicked straight line winds - but thank goodness we didn't get the golf ball and ping pong ball sized hail they got just to the north and east of us. Lots of cars lost glass. I'll take the deluges of rain and lightning instead, thanks. Ok, so the lightning took a few trees out, but still better than hail that size!

This whole years worth of weather has just been nuts. I know I keep saying it's been like that, but in all of my years growing up on the farm, I never saw a whole years worth of mess like this. Extremes, yeah, but never all in the same year.

It was bad enough that things got shredded with the last round of downpour and hail. I wonder how my melons are gonna handle this next jolt?

:(

For The First Time Ever

I have cut flowers in the house! A full vase of them!

Holy crap. I've never had enough to cut and bring inside before. I've always had an aversion to cutting the few flowers I ever did end up with because I wouldn't have had any left to look at outside.

Hmmm, I feel more like a 'normal' gardener. Imagine - enough flowers to enjoy outside and in!

Tis an interesting new experience.

Stop, Thief!

Ok, I know people can crawl pretty low sometimes, and I have, ummm, well, stooped to, ummm, 'scavanging' seeds. ~cough~

But this is just unbelievable!:

Plant Thieves

Can you imagine?

Lying Down On The Job

The fall before last, on the annual junk hunt, I scored some very nice tomato cages someone had thrown to the curb.

I was so happy this spring while sinking them into the soft soil around the newly planted tomato sprouts - imagine, no staking, no ties, no fighting with wayward branches.

Those cages have always worked so well...until this year. I have monsters in the garden. Monsters! The kids laughed when I told D to get out there and get his own monster under control because it was eating the rest of the garden. (I may plant those cherries, but after that, thay are no longer my responsibility!) I made them go look - they quit laughing.

Tomatos as ground cover. Who would have thunk it? My paths have completely disappeared beneath fallen, behemoth tomato bushes. Never have I had plants this big! Not a single one is anywhere near what could be considered an 'upright' position. (or a normal size!)

I'm not sure if it was the wind or the shear weight of the plants that finally did it, but those stupid cages? - Definitely lying down on the job! They are sooo fired.