Heat Wave Ends

Saturday, May 22, 2021

The last few days have been very warm, with the temperature on the back porch reaching over 30C by early afternoon. It is predicted to be hot again today, and tomorrow, and Sunday as well. This is not my favourite kind of weather, as I languish in heat and humidity. Each morning when the temperature is still below 20C, the windows are all thrown open and the fans are turned on high, to move the warm air out of the house. The house is closed up when the temperature outside is the same as the temperature inside. The inside temperature falls a little higher each day of a heat wave. On Wednesday morning it fell to 21C, and on Thursday to 23C. Today it fell to 24C. By 9:30 a.m. the outdoor temperature reached 24C, and it was time to close up the house. I anticipate that this evening the air conditioning might be turned on for the first time in 2021, to lower the temperature inside the house for comfortable sleeping.

While it is so hot, cooking on the back porch becomes a necessity. The Instant Pot makes that a very easy endeavor. We also have a Nesco portable oven, a slow cooker, an electric hot plate, and an air fryer to plug into the electrical outlet on the back porch. Tonight the menu consists of Fish Patties, French Fries, and Coleslaw. This type of meal, which uses frozen fish patties and french fried potatoes from the grocery store, and my canned coleslaw, is what we consider a “junk food Friday night”! Attila likes to have “naughty” food on Friday night, to mark the end of the stressful work week. Eventually I would like to make our own fish patties, and homemade French fried potatoes. However, Attila isn’t keen on that at the moment, so we will wait until he retires and has no need of a quick and easy treat to celebrate the end of a week.

An open window welcomes another world inside; bird song, the scent of blossoms and blooms – Crab Apple and Lilac, the cool breeze, a vision of distant foliage and green grasses, all this clamours for attention. Other unwelcome elements fade into background noise, unworthy of perception.

Sunday, May 23

The air conditioning was turned off this morning, and the windows were thrown wide open.

I am writing this from the back porch. The heat wave ended last night. The sky is overcast, the breeze matures to occasional aggressive gusts. The birds are singing. Bees of all kinds traverse the yard, enjoying the blooms, while I enjoy the wonderful scent of the blossoms that they enjoy. In bloom are Crab Apple, Lilac, Dandelion, Wild Strawberry, Wild Violet, Jacob’s Ladder, Black Currant, High Bush Cranberry, and Lungwort.

Ontarians are on the move, the hum from the nearby highway is loud, and constant. We are happily ensconced in our little house and yard.

My back is mending, much better, but it still prevents me from getting a good night’s rest. Attila arose hours before me, which is a very, very rare event. When I finally gave up trying to doze off again, I ventured out to the kitchen to start the kettle for my morning cuppa. Through the kitchen window I could see Attila in his beloved garden, happily at work. He has been busy this weekend, as it is time to transplant all the seedlings that are still in the little greenhouses. A few weeks ago all the seedlings in the first little greenhouse were transplanted into the garden, leaving it free for me! Two of the raised beds are “mine”, built at my request so that I could do a bit of gardening without risking my back. All of the raised beds were commandeered by Attila this spring, to work as little greenhouses for our plant starts.

The little greenhouse on my raised bed was dismantled and put into storage for next spring. I spent a happy few hours preparing the soil in the now available raised bed. I wear gloves, as I get rashes these days, when working with bare hands in the soil. Three rows of Spinach were planted. The day before yesterday little shoots of green began to emerge from the soil. Yesterday, looking out from the kitchen window, I could see faint rows of green in the raised bed. Spinach! My seeds are growing. What a great feeling it is, to see those planted seeds come to life. I understand why Attila loves his garden.

Last week Attila cut down another large dead branch from the Ash tree in the back yard. On Friday night we had another camp fire! The mosquitoes are fierce at dusk, for a few hours until it is completely dark. Thank goodness I managed to treat our Camp Clothes with permethrin last week, just in time! We were able to relax around the fire for a few hours. Attila was dozing off from time to time. The Camp fire is a great way for him to wind down after the frenzy of a working week. There is enough wood left from the harvested branch to enjoy another Camp fire. Then Attila will remove another dead branch from the tree, and we will burn that in our Camp fire. This will continue until the tree is gone, which will take at least all summer and fall, and perhaps will last into next spring. Then the second dead Ash tree will slowly be recycled into ash for the compost bin.

Pandemic Thoughts

Covid Deprivation Indices Factors:
-not being able to work from home-
Source: Professor Phil Spector, ZOE Covid Study App, UK

This is the factor, and there are others that do not affect us, that has been a constant source of stress in our lives since January 2020.
The stress lessened somewhat two weeks after we received our first Covid vaccination shot. We are not fully protected, but now have some protection. Right now we are concerned about receiving our second shots of the vaccine in time. We have heard nothing from the people who provided the first shots, and the information in the news, on the federal, provincial, and local health unit sites is vague, and contradictory. Hopefully it will all work out, but it is stressful. I remind myself how horrendous things are for people in some other countries and count my lucky stars that things are as good as they are here.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Sun, May 23, 11:25 AM
20 °C
FEELS LIKE 22
Partly cloudy
Wind 21N km/h
Humidity 68 %
Visibility 23 km
Sunrise 5:33 AM
Wind gust 31 km/h
Pressure 101.6 kPa
Ceiling 900 m
Sunset 8:36 PM

Quote

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
Thomas Paine
1737 – 1809″