Where oh where did the summer go? I know it’s only the middle of August, and summer isn’t quite over yet but it seems as if it is.The summer has flown by and I’m not quite sure where it went. Maybe it was because Rick was traveling so much at the beginning which made it feel like we had less time than usual for taking rides in Mia and lazy days around the pool.
When I was in grade school it seemed as if the summer stretched out forever. Those few months seemed like years. Or at least looking back on it now it seems that way. It’s true, you know, what they say: the older you get the faster time goes by. Is it because we are more aware of the passage of time than we were as children?
It’s been hotter and more humid this year. And certainly buggier. Lots of little annoying midgey-type black bugs that hover around your eyes, nose and mouth. They don’t bite, thank goodness, but they are a nuisance. We don’t normally have a lot of mosquitoes either, but they’ve been more numerous too. Not nice!
It’s this time of year when the weather starts to change. Right now we are having a lovely cool morning, low humidity and a gentle breeze. For the first time in weeks I have the windows open and the air conditioning turned to OFF. We will still have another round of heat, (we always do), kind of like summer’s last hurrah, but you can tell the summer is winding down. We lose the pool around this time of year too, especially for night swims.
But we aren’t quite done yet. There is still the annual trip down the shore, a visit from friend Carolyn, and the Renaissance Faire (don thy corset, Lynne!) all left to look forward to.
I have to say that summer is not my favorite season so I am not too sad about letting it go. But still ...
This is Thomas. Thomas is a turkey and named with the utmost originality. He is a tom turkey. Get it?
We have many turkeys that visit but Thomas always comes on his own. He usually arrives in the morning just as I am sitting at the computer with cup of coffee checking email. He stands there and stares at the house. Sometimes he even comes up closer to the window to catch my attention as if to say helloooooo! i’m here for my breakfast! And, it works. I get my bucket and put a few scoops of cracked corn and bird seed mix and head out the door.
Thomas trusts me and stands and waits for me to scatter the food. I tap the bucket lightly as a signal he’s going to be fed. He waits patiently. Sometimes he starts eating with me still standing there and sometimes he waits until I leave.
Now I am not saying that I have trained Thomas the Turkey because no wild animal can be tamed, but Thomas has learned over time that tapping the bucket means food. The other turkeys know that signal too and sometimes even when not one turkey is in sight and I tap the bucket, I get a swarm of them coming out of the woods running towards me. It is a sight for sure to see all 13 babies and three or four adults heading right for me! They are smart birds.
Lately our little group has included a few toms, one that is quite large. I didn’t know that toms could be persuaded to be babysitters, but just look at this proof.
They are fun to have around except for when they make their way into the back yard and I unknowingly let the dogs out. The dogs love to chase the turkeys and the poor things squawk and gobble their way out of harm’s way, either by flying into the trees or taking off over the fence. Hailey can sit for hours under a tree with a turkey sitting in it. They amuse everyone in our household.
It’s hot! Temperatures in the 90’s with heat indexes well into the 100’s. Whew! Here are just a few ways some of us are coping.
Sam’s idea is to stretch out his body as far as he can for maximum cooling.
Alex’s advice is to stick your head under the tablecloth while eating outside to shield your face from the sun. Also lay with your back legs spread in frog-style to keep the belly cool.
And here is the best way to cope that I know of. Stay inside in the air conditioning until the sun goes down. Jump in.
Those my thoughts yesterday as I bobbed around the pool. What a perfect day for it! Blue sky, hot and slightly humid, cicadas starting up. The pool temperature was perfection! Here is Rick before I nabbed his hat.
We did get up early though and go into the Warwick Farmer’s Market. It’s a great drive in Mia over all the back roads.
The rest of the day was spent around the pool. Here’s to lazy summer days!
Side note: I know it’s not the Panama Canal but at least it’s something!
Really, I do. I need something or someone to kick start me back to blogging on a more regular basis. Every time I sit down to compose the entry on the Panama Canal I end up staring at my brand new HD computer screen. No words come. I end up playing one of my “hidden object” games instead and zone out for an hour or so. What is wrong with me? Summertime blues? Sheer laziness? Maybe a little of both. To quote one of the blogs I read every now and then, her excuse for not blogging was that “I guess I am living the life instead of blogging about it.” That about sums it up for me, but mine is pretty boring.
My camera is gathering dust. I did go to the Botanical Gardens a week or so ago and what you see in this entry is the result of that visit. But there wasn’t much to aim the camera at and I threw away all but a few of the photos that I did take. I am in a rut there too.
Yesterday I read a book. One whole book in one whole day. (It was a light read.)
Let’s see ... what else have I done?
Last week Rick and I went to a “gala” reception at the Lincoln Center in New York City. We got dressed up, had a nice dinner and then went to the event. A lovely night! Going in to the city is always exciting and fun. Such energy in those sidewalks filled with people!
At home we’ve been enjoying the pool which is now above 80 degrees and very comfortable. It’s not even the weather that is making me lazy as the days have been sunny and warm. Delightful. Our last rain/thunderstorm was a week ago.
The fireflies are far and few between now but the cicadas have started up ever so slowly. In fact, as I type there are two going out there now. Ah, the sound of summer.
We have at least three bats in our winnowed-down bat population. They swoop and dip over our heads when we take our nighttime swims. It’s good to see them.
The turkeys bring their cute little babies around almost every day—the end result of all that turkey sex in my front yard this spring. Sometimes just one of the hens with her brood will show up, while other times it looks more like a turkey day care center and all ten or so of the babies.
I also went with neighbor Kim this week to see a litter of six week old Irish Terrier puppies that they will getting a new puppy from. The breeder was halfway out on Long Island and I have to tell you that it’s a nasty drive! Yikes, I won’t be going out there again anytime soon. The traffic! The puppies were adorable though and it was nice to breathe in puppy breath and talk dogs again.
We also had a six o’clock a.m. visitor yesterday. We were still asleep when Alex started barking downstairs. It is not his norm to bark for no reason, so I got out of bed and looked out the front window. Nothing. Rick got up and took a look around too but he also didn’t see anything. After laying there for a fitful twenty minutes more I got up and went down to feed the dogs and cats. I looked out on the back deck and saw that one of the planter boxes that was on our deck railing had been knocked down and the poor petunias were out of their pots, the nearly indestructible Squirrel Buster Plus bird feeder pulled around in an abnormal position, the iron hanger it was on slightly bent. Okay, a bear for sure. A pretty brazen one too to come onto our high deck. It’s only happened twice before in our five years here that we’ve had bears on the deck. It’s not a good feeling. I have to say that I am more than impressed with this bird feeder. Not only do the squirrels not bother it but it held up to the bear mauling with not a scratch!
So, I go to feed the cats and eBay is nowhere to be found. I call her, searching high and low but I can’t find her. She is always ready to to eat so I figure something must be wrong. Finally I hear a tiny mew coming from the laundry room. When I pull out the washer, there she is. She ventures out very tentatively into the kitchen. She peeks around the corner into the sun room and out to the deck where the bear was with her eyes wide and her tail all puffed up. Aha! She saw the bear too and it scared her so badly she was hiding from it. Poor kitty! So, the bird feeder comes in at night and when I am not at home.
One of my daily routines is to water all the outside plants before taking a shower, check on the pool temperature and add chlorine every other day. I slip on a pair of shorts and t-shirt and head out with the watering can. It’s a nice way to start the day, especially with the weather we’ve been having. I don’t even mind if the humidity is high that time of the day. Bella usually helps me with this particular job. Every other day or so I’ll tip all the water out of her wading pool and refresh it. She loves this! The minute I start adding fresh water she’s in there wading around, scooping up mouthfuls of the cold water straight from the well. I’ve also gotten into the habit of letting one of the dogs come with me out in the front as a special treat for them. No leash, just hanging out with mom while she waters. I check on the progress of the figs daily and I have to say I can’t wait until we can eat them.
You never know what you might see while watering. The little clearwing hummingbird moths have started hovering around as I water. I just love them! While I was watering the deck flowers the other day I found this moth clinging to the petunias. Isn’t it pretty? I have never seen this particular kind of moth before so I looked him up. I think it’s some kind of Sphinx moth—possibly a Virginia (hog) Creeper Sphinx Moth. No matter what it’s name is, it’s beautiful.
For those of you that I’ve talked to over the past week, I apologize for re-hashing all this boring, trivial stuff about my life again. Ho hum. Which brings me to another topic of conversation. I have no idea who is reading this blog anymore other than family members and a few close friends and those of you that comment from time to time (thank you Debra, Maggie & Joyce!). I get numerous “junk” comments every single day that I have to delete which is very disheartening. You should read some of them! They always include a link to whatever website selling some garbage. I am so very tired of them. It’s long been in my mind to make this blog private and if Rick can figure out how to do that without too much trouble on the part of anyone then we will do so. If you still want to read all you will have to do is sign up to be a member. You don’t have to comment, you can still continue to read as you’ve always done. The only change will be that not all those crazies out there will be able to read things about my private life anymore. Because this blog really is about my daily life. But, that’s all in the future and hopefully we can make it happen.
Okay, so I’ve sat here long enough this morning filling this entry up with boring tidbits, neglecting my watering duties which are calling me, so I will close this entry now. If you are still awake after reading this, bless you. Hopefully this will kick start me to finish my vacation blogging. Check back in a day or so to find out!
