July 17, 2006

• Feelin’ hot hot hot!

   

  
  

  

  
  

  Feelin’

  
  

  HOT

  
  

  HOT

  
  

  HOT!

  
  

  

  
  

  The New Jersey summer is upon us with a vengeance.  Excessive heat warnings were posted beginning at 9 AM (!!) today — the heat index is supposed to reach 107 degrees farenheit!

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Needless to say, I am feeling a bit like this guy:

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  But I am moving slowly, drinking tons of water, and staying indoors for the hottest part of the day.  I am still terribly behind in taking care of my yard because of the injury I had earlier this season, broken lawnmowers, excessive heat and rain, and plain old inertia.  So I have been getting out early in the morning, and in the evening just before the sun goes down, and getting some stuff done — mostly trying to cope with the overgrowth of weeds! 

  
  

  I guess that is the bad part of having a ‘green thumb’ – I am so good at making things grow, even my weeds! Sometimes I wish I was better at killing things.    But this hot weather can be an asset there, I have sprayed 3 gallons of Round-Up™ weed killer between yesterday and this morning, and the weeds in the driveway are already starting to brown. 

  
  

  Poison ivy has been a really big problem this year, mostly because of a big vine growing in one of the spruce trees out front making so many seeds, which have been spread by the birds literally into every corner of my yard.  But the guy who comes out to help weed-whack the front creek now and then sawed through the vine for us (it was a big hairy thing about the thickness of my forearm!) and it is  dead now. So when this crop of seeds is gone, hopefully it will be easier to keep the poison ivy out of the yard.  The nasty little seedlings are literally carpeting some of my mulch beds out front, and I have had itchy outbreaks on my hand twice so far, despite being careful and wearing heavy gloves.

  
  

  Thats okay, though.  I am after it with a vengeance, and when I run out of Round-Up™ there is plenty more at the store!!  No noxious weed is going to ruin my enjoyment of the fruits of my hard work in this ongoing (three years now) landscape project.

  
  

  

  
  

  The backyard is by far the nicest part of the property now.  We spend so much time out there, with the dogs and the cats, and it is hard to resist puttering around here and there when we are out.  A new ‘oasis’ has sprung up in the one corner of the yard where I had not done much so far.  It is shaded by the spruce trees against the back fence, and one day I put 2 Adirondack chairs out there to relax, and it has just grown from there.  I had planned on putting in a pond in that corner, but it is evolved into something a lot more fun, a real touch of whimsy and a focal point in the ’far corner’ of the yard.  And at certain times of the day, it is much more comfortable than the patio, which fries in the sun for most of the time.

  
  

  In this corner of the yard, there is now a little ‘conversation area’ with a low redwood bench, the two chairs, and a foot rest.  A big galvanized washtub (that used to hold beer kegs in a ‘past life’) is now a container pond/fountain, with some potted plants around it, and there is a little square bed with a big Elephant Ear Caladium and some cheerful little vinca flowers in it.  I am covering the ground with a ‘river’ of pebbles dotted with round terracotta step-stones.  This is taking a while, because I am gettting 4 or 6 bags of stones each trip to Home Depot or Lowes, rather than having a truck deliver a big pile of them.  And this corner now has a 6 foot purple wading pool, with an elephant head molded into it — the trunk holds a sprinkler!  I love cooling my feet in it, and the dogs really enjoy it too. Even the cats like to sit on the bench and stare at the sprinkler or the tub fountain. 

  
  

  I promise photos soon – I still have to take some.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  But for now, since the heat index has reached 93 already, I will be sitting here in front of the Airconditioner, wishing I was here instead:

  
  

  

  
  

  North Beach – Brigantine Island, NJ

  
  

  I might even get some more books listed on eBay. Right now I have 62 titles up, mostly new books at buy-it-now prices, but I am starting to list some of my own collection in 7-day auctions.  It just takes so long for me to write up the listings, I have to be in the right frame of mind to do it.

  
  

  Have a great day, whatever you are doing, and KEEP COOL!

  
  

  

  
  

   

  • 12:00 pm
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