Cool, Ah!

When the sun quits shining every single day and when we get a generous dose of North Idaho gray, we'll be longing for sights such as last night's color show.  

The forest-fire haze adds a nice touch but a sad reminder of what's happening in the woods virtually all over the West. 

Those of us not out fighting fires enjoyed a break from the intense heat yesterday, and it was very nice.  

In my case, an afternoon horseback ride on Lefty and a bike ride with Bill after dinner rejuvenated my spirit, reminding me that usually these activities can happen on a daily basis during most summers.

In yesterday's case, the opportunities were more appreciated than usual because we've not felt like being outside with the heat and the bees more days than not this year. 

The big summer events for Sandpoint end today with the last night of The Festival and today's post script to the county fair where exhibitors pick up their displays and ribbons for another year.

High school sports will begin.  We've already seen football games on TV, and talk of the new school year will start dominating conversations.  

With all this happening, however, we still see no signs of rain in long range weather forecasts, so the fires are likely to get worse in size and quantity before they get better.

It's been a summer of contrasts.  Lots of complaining because of the heat and dry weather but no complaining with the garden yields.  

We've been eating fresh cucumbers and tomatoes for the past week, and that's likely to go on for some time with the season's jumbo crop-----note the final photo below. 

For now, the cooler weather is most welcome, and if the cuke growth slows down, so be it. It's been a great garden year, along with a phenomenal year for the neighborhood wildlife. 

They're happy even if the humans who've been their thievery victims aren't.  Actually, the turkeys haven't really stolen anything; they just leave evidence of their daily trips through the the woods and pastures and roads----feathers and lots of droppings. 

The bunch below created a virtual turkey wall across our hay field last night before some sergeant in the group saw me and my camera and ordered the troops to head elsewhere for beddy bye time. 

I'm sure the same scene was playing out on pretty much every farm in the area. 

All pretty cool, for sure, and the best part of cool this morning is my reduction in force to just one whirling fan overhead.  

Nice. 

Happy Sunday.  

Just a pretty scene at the old Hart place, taken during our bike ride last night. 

Garden Giants:  that's a regular dinner plate, not a saucer.  I've never seen a cucumber or tomato that big. Both are pretty solid too.

Don't know if it's the layer of black gold from the manure pile that I dumped on the garden last fall or the continued heat or both.

I'm thinking these two could feed a whole family and then some. Both make my other large 'maters and cukes look like dwarves.