Back to Summer

I don't know how much closer to perfect this summer could be weather-wise.  

Farmers were able to get most of their hay in without having it sitting soggy in the fields.  
I have plums within about a week or so of needing picking. 

We've eaten corn on the cob from the garden.

People have enjoyed swimming to their hearts' content in a relatively warm lake for several weeks. 

Yesterday, I picked beans from two thirds of one of my two bean plots in the garden and filled the kettle.  Today I'll be picking again.  

We'll eat more than our share of green beans this winter. 

The Festival has pretty much escaped the rain storms, but fields and mountains around the area have received much-needed drinks and baths from the moisture drops from Thursday-Saturday morning. 

The bees have found other places to drink their water, so the water tanks are safe, for a while.  On a negative note, the swarm under my raspberry bushes has refused to leave.

Yesterday's picking was just as disappointing as the previous sessions cuz those bees do not want any invaders, and they actively guard the spots where the prime berries grow.

For some reason the bees have never frustrated my efforts to pick zucchini.  I have several zucchinis sitting inside the garage door, if anyone wants a zucchini.  Several more are popping out of the two squash plants.

And, I'm thinking I may even have a third plant on the north side of the manure pile garden.  

After a couple of years of being unable to entice one squash from my zucchinis, we're making up for lost time this year.

Bees must be just like humans.  When they see zucchinis coming, they fly far away, to the raspberry bushes. 

Anyway, today we're back to summer and warmth.  Looks like it's gonna stay that way for a while too.

So, it's good that I'm emptying and cleaning New Big Blue.  I must not have read the directions correctly when I decided to "shock" the green color from the bottom of the pool.  

We couldn't figure out what it was because we use chlorine to keep the algae out, but the green just kept returning.

So, I went to town and bought a new "shock" treatment kit.  My first clue that I'd probably put too much in the pool came when amber-colored puffs started forming on the pool's bottom. 

I tried to sweep and vacuum them out, but all they do is dissolve and reform into little puffs later.  

So, the pool is being emptied, and we'll start from square one in hopes of having it ready for action when we hit the 90s again. 

I'm also doing my last major lawn beautification for the summer, which includes a couple of days of weed eating.  It's nice to have a green lawn again, especially considering the busy weekend ahead with company and such. 

Nice to have summer back, and it was nice to have the brief moisture break to remind us how much we appreciate the beautiful weather and a clean landscape. 

Happy Sunday.