I know when the skies will cloud over. The Perseid meteor shower is due to arrive between August 11th and 12th, when humans would love to gaze into the sky and enjoy the show. I predict that we will have total cloud cover on August 11th and 12th, and no rain. It seems to be just that kind of a summer!
Relief from this heat wave is always just a few days away, but it never arrives. The weather people tease us with predictions of highs of 27C, but every day the temperature soars above 30C by early afternoon. I remember a friend telling me that when she lived in Minnesota a heat wave lasted so long that every time she listened to the weather report she wept. I understand now. It feels odd to be housebound due to extreme heat, but housebound I am.
The drought leaves only a few hardy weeds alive in the lawns around here. Everything else is brown and crunchy, in traveled areas the plants have desiccated and disintegrated leaving only paths of dusty earth. Trees are dying everywhere, leaves falling, leaving naked branches roasting in the hot dry sun. So far the trees in our yard are surviving, thank goodness. If we don’t get rain soon I can see us out there watering the trees, trying to keep our source of shade alive. Our garden is not thriving. The bean plants are no longer producing much, and we are only going to get a half dozen tomatoes. The Scarlet Runner beans are still alive and climbing, the few blooms are colourful and pretty, but they are producing no fruit.
Attila and I have taken to using all grey water for watering the gardens. Dish water and bath water are saved and carried out to the yard in buckets. If this is a long term weather trend rather than a uniquely dry summer, I will be researching grey water recovery systems for the house, and rain barrel water storage systems to collect rain when it does arrive. Surely it will rain soon!
I was going to try a Tai Chi class this week, but I don’t know if the Church where it is held is air conditioned, so I am not taking a chance that it isn’t, and have postponed attending until the heat wave abates. Instead I viewed and followed along with several beginner Tai Chi videos on YouTube, which felt good.
This morning I was late getting out for my walk, it was already after 8 a.m. when I headed out the door. Oh my it was hot walking! I walked slowly so as not to put too much strain on my system, managed to walk my entire route, and felt overheated by the time I arrived home. My new sun hat helped me tolerate the merciless rays along the shadeless portions of my travels.
Attila continues to work on the garden shed. He is making some headway, but the end is still some way off. It has been a much bigger project than he anticipated, and has been going on for nearly two months, rather than the two weeks he planned, and I expected (how very foolish). I will be very glad when it is finished!
We are enjoying Ontario grown peaches and field tomatoes right now, yum! I make a peach smoothie every day, just a ripe peach and milk, voila! A favourite lunch is a toasted tomato sandwich, there is nothing so lovely as a field ripened tomato! We added a new recipe to our repertoire this evening for supper, Bulgur Salad, which my Mom made last Saturday for the luncheon for my brother. It is very refreshing, and light enough for these hot summer days.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
31°
Date: 5:00 PM EDT Tuesday 9 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy – HA! not a cloud in the sky all day long!!
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 28.1°C
Dewpoint: 14.6°C
Humidity: 43%
Wind: SSE 10 km/h
Humidex: 33
Quote
“Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.”
Epictetus
55 AD – 135 AD
I’m so sad to learn even some trees are dying where you’re at. It amazes me how so many can deny there’s been human-caused climate change. The evidence of climate never-been-experienced-before is everywhere. I hope you get some rain soon. Other areas in Arizona have had rain, but not Yuma…. 🙁
Joan, wishing you rain! We received a light shower this morning, and at least the water hit the ground, but at this point the landscape needs days of rain to recover. Still better a little than nothing. If this is a pattern we are going to be putting measures in place to keep our trees alive! The ones that are dying are on either shallow soil, or very sandy soil. When the trees started to die it was just the smaller ones on this marginal soil, but now we are seeing 40 foot trees that have lost all of their leaves and are standing bare, frightening.
I loved tai chi when I tried it some years ago. Unfortunately, I have balance issues due to my hypothyroidism and that made the slow steady movements hard to maintain without losing my balance.
I’m hoping we’ll get some rain these next few days. It’s been about 2 weeks since our last real rain and the grass is starting to go back to brown again. Our trees are okay so far but our poor rhododendron bush is not at all happy. I don’t think it likes our sandy soil.
Today is supposed to be our warmest day this week, 93F(34C). And I’m thinking the humidex will be over 100F. DH is on vacation here and he thought today would be a good day for the beach/pool. It’s looking like he’ll be right!
Your peach smoothie sounds tasty. I don’t know why I can never get myself to use a blender or food processor on a regular basis. It always seems like too much trouble. 🙁 I am, however, very much enjoying icy watermelon water this summer – but, boy, are we going through lots of ice.
Hopefully, you’ll see some rain from thunderstorms that are supposed to be coming through over the next few days. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Teri, the Tai Chi group I found also caters to people in wheelchairs. They don’t advertise this group, I just happened to find out about it when I called one of the Tai Chi places and explained that I could not really manage to move like other people do, and that I was seeking a group that was tolerant of difference, then the woman suggested this special group. I don’t expect I am ever going to look like those videos where people flow along, not in the cards, but I think I will be able to have my own version that i customize to suit what I can do.
It rained a bit this morning, not a lot, hoping for more! Today is already too warm for me to be moving around out of doors, 25C with a humidex of over 30C. Uncle! I hope this weather is not the new normal!
If you can tolerate the heat this would be lovely time for a vacation! Enjoy the beach!
Attila likes to blend ice cubes with fruit juice or milk, loves it. So for his birthday some years ago I bought him one of those blenders that uses a drinking glass to blend the beverage, like a Magic Bullet, but ours is a Cuisinart. I can put a peach in it, some milk, blend it, replace the blade mechanism for a sippy cup lip, drink, rinse, and it is ready to go for the next beverage. Very handy.
That icy watermelon sounds wonderful! I am thinking we should try melons in the garden next year.
There are actually videos for chair-bound tai chi on youtube with a number of different styles. I’ve looked at them but my interest in it hasn’t picked up, again. I guess I get enough movement right now with the things we’re working on at the house.
At 11, we’re currently at 29 with a humidex of 34. Except when standing in cool water, this weather is not what I want to be out in, either. But DH has spent the last 2 days taking out the last of our sideyard bushes and putting in a small ornamental fence, so it’s time for him to have a more relaxing day.
Your Magic Bullet style blender sounds simple to use. More than anything, it’s the clean up and getting the parts to reconnect without leaking that holds me back from those kinds of things.
Am I the only one who could not click on a link to get to this entry in your email notification? I just went to your old one and went forward… anyway, we are going up to 99 F tomorrow with heat index… not looking forward… but especially not for Paul who is out in it working all day. ugh. We did get lots of rain today though, one good thing.
Bex, you are correct, the link was incomplete, sorry about that!
So glad to hear you got rain! We had a little bit this morning, but it did not seem to make any difference, and the sun was shining again. 99F Humidex, that would be 37C Humidex, yikes. Right now at our house the Humidex is 39C, which is 102F, which is why I don’t even stick my nose out the door. If I did not have air conditioning I would be lying on the cement floor of the basement barely conscious with a fan blowing over me. What a summer! Take care in the heat Bex!
Hi Maggie,
I hope you get to see the Perseid meteor shower. They are saying there will twice as many meteors this year. I would love to be able to see it but I bet the cloud coverage will be too thick. Its been raining here a lot and I wish I could send some to you and Bex.
I took a Tai Chi class once and could not keep up with the group. I was the new girl in town and trying hard but wow was I sore the following day. It was not for me.
I saved a link called Xiang Gong that works just with the upper body but gets the whole energy system revitalized. Very easy. I think it lasts 15 minutes. It’s on Utube.
I use the Nutribullet, mama of the Magic Bullet and it is so easy to make smoothies and clean up after. I love it. I gave my blender away. I have a Cuisinart but it is something that is gathering dust. Your peach smoothie sounds like it would hit the spot.
It’s still hot here and too hot to do much of anything outside. I long for fall.