Red Flag Warning

It seems to me that Spring always drags her feet, teasing us with glimpses of warmer weather and yanking it away. Then Summer races in out of nowhere and settles down with hot temperatures before we’ve really gotten used to going without wearing jackets.

Over the weekend, the US National Weather Service for our area issued “Red Flag Warnings.” I’ve never heard of such warnings before, but apparently it means that our hot temperatures (low to mid-90s), winds (10-15 mph with gusts of 25 mph), and little rainfall resulted in a high risk of wildfires. We didn’t have much snow during the winter, and we haven’t had much rain this Spring/Summer so everything is extremely dry. Our grass is turning yellow like straw in some places. We’ve had to water our gardens everyday. We set up an additional garden hose today so we can also water my rose garden near the house, and the fruit trees and berry bushes.

To help out the wild critters during this hot, dry weather, I’ve put bowls of water around–one in my herb garden, one on the large rock, and the bird bath hanging from the bird feeder post. I put a rock in each bowl so the bees don’t drown if they try to drink from it.

I haven’t seen the Mama deer and her baby since I wrote about them in my last post. However, I did see a very fat raccoon climb the feeder post to eat the leftover birdseed. I suspect she is pregnant. I stood at the window, just a few feet from her, shining a flashlight at her and she was completely unperturbed. I don’t see her often, but I know she visits the feeder every night because I find the tray tilted every morning.

I’ve already been able to harvest some of my herbs. In the Summer I cook with fresh herbs, but I also dry some to use in the Winter. The dehydrator generates a lot of heat, which is unpleasant on hot summer days, so I’m glad we moved it into the hallway a couple of weeks ago. Our hallway and pantry were added on some time after the house was built, connecting the house to the garage. The addition is unheated, but there is a door from the kitchen into the hallway.

EJ has been working hard in his garden. He has put in a lot of fencing for beans and peas to climb. He planted a lot of beans and peas this year; we hope to grow enough to last us the year. Once they are ready for harvest, I will be very busy. He’s also trying to grow a patch of corn. He also planted some bell and hot peppers, which I will freeze or dry, and a few tomato plants. He’s also planted some cucumbers, zucchini, and I don’t know what else.

A few years ago I fell on snow-covered ice in the driveway. I broke my left wrist and had to have a metal plate put in. My wrist has been aching for the last week or so and I hope that I haven’t reinjured it. I can think of several possible activities that could have caused my wrist to hurt–moving heavy garden boxes and and planters, crocheting too much…I’ve been taking Ibuprofen, icing my arm, and wearing a removable cast that I was given when I broke my wrist. I actually had several different casts, this was one I could take off to do physical therapy. I saved it, and it’s coming in handy now by supporting my wrist. I’m also trying to not do tasks that put a strain on my wrist, which is hard because there is so much to do at this time of year. Still…I think my efforts are working and my wrist is getting a little better every day.

Besides working in our gardens this weekend, we drove to Petoskey to pick up a kitchen island/cart that we bought on FB Marketplace. We buy almost everything secondhand from FB Marketplace, thrift stores, or garage sales. It saves us a tremendous amount of money. We have been looking for a small island/cart for several months because we really don’t have enough counter space, especially if we are both working in the kitchen at the same time. This island/cart is small enough to fit in the kitchen, and it is on wheels so we can move it wherever we need it.

The drive to Petoskey is very pretty. We took Hannah Joy with us because she doesn’t like being left home alone and usually gets in to things when we don’t take her. We have a seatbelt for her that buckles into her harness, but she always stretches as far as she can so she is sitting between us. Sometimes the seatbelt comes loose…which it did on the drive home. Then she crawled happily up to the front to sit in my lap. She’s very protective of us around strangers, but she is the cuddliest dog we’ve ever had.