by Pa Rock
Farmer in Summer
I'm not sure when we last had rain here in Rustwater, Kansas southern Missouri, but it has been at least five weeks or more. My lawn is brown and crunchy. I last mowed three weeks ago tomorrow and there has been very little growth during that time. Normally the yard is desperate for a good mowing every two weeks.
It has been over 100 degrees Fahrenheit the past two days, and triple digits are expected for at least today and tomorrow. At 9:50 this morning the temperature is 90 degrees - and expected to climb to 102 - and the humidity is sixty-two percent - and there ism't a cloud in the sky.
Going outside has been a challenge. I have a large shed, 12-feet by 24-feet, that I am trying to clean out and organize, but two twenty-minute sessions a day are about as much as I can handle. I get out early in the morning and carry water to all of the yard plants, and then make a similar round in the evening. I water a several flowers in pots twice a day, some struggling garden plants (tomatoes, peppers, and sweet potatoes) once each day, and rose bushes and young trees (dogwood, holly, and oak), once every two days. The plants look really nice, and contrast well with the brown yard!
My watering rounds also include filling the watering dishes for the cat and the guinea, and replenishing the birdbath. The new birdbath has proven to be very popular during all of this heat, especially with the robins and bluebirds.
The watering route covers the front and back yards - and somehow I am still managing to get in my ten-thousand steps a day, and, in fact, most days I do at least twelve thousand.
This is the eighth summer that I have been at this location, and this is by far the hottest and most severe. The climate is changing, and not in a good way.
This would be a good day for a cold beer and a good book. It would also be a good day for Steve Martin to roll into town and hold a religious revival!
1 comment:
A reliable weather radar app says you have 22 hours and 50 minutes left in the excessive heat warning. I wouldn't break out the cardigans yet, there is more heat coming.
Easy does it is the rule of the day with heat warnings like the one baking the Ozarks right now. Don't forget to hydrate yourself. I only have the one tomato plant to water, but the birds got a few struggling sunflower seeds to germinate. So I douse those a time or two a day
I didn't challenge the heat yesterday and there was a thunderstorm in progress when I was brewing coffee this morning. The app says we have only got 43 minutes remaining on our heat warning, so I may venture out again in the morning. My other weather app says it is currently 84˚ but feels like 93˚. In the winter they call that feels like temperature the wind chill. Seems like the summer version should be called a convection current or something toasty like that.
Hopefully next week will feel less like Phoenix, weather wise, where in a sad irony it is currently 105˚ but feels like 100˚.
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