Well, it’s not quite this bad, but we are seeing some serious plant wilt. Last two days, the girls and I have been watering in the evening, trying to keep the trees alive and the garden beds. The grass is a lost cause for right now. It will bounce back quick, so I’m not too worried about it. But I would hate to loose the new trees we planted. 8 in total. And 2 lilac bushes. It’s been a week since our last rainfall. Actually, it’s been 9 days! That’s a bit long for growing plants that are just getting started.

We actually harvested about 10 medium sized red candy onions and 6 or 7 pickles from the garden! It’s really our first major harvest. Another two or three weeks and I think we’ll have beans and peas ready to go. Maybe some radish too. I need to go and pick the last of the strawberries and we have some raspberries that are ready to be picked as well. The tomato plants are all good and strong and most of the popcorn and oriental small corn are doing well. For some reason all my normal old fashion sweet corn has been a germination disaster. Out of three packs of seed, I only have about 15 plants that came up. I know it’s getting late, but I might plant another pack or two that is brand new and see what happens.

It’s really been hot as well. We hit 97 degrees today. It’s baking the Moby and we’ve had our little air conditioners running pretty hard. We have three air conditioners, one for each bedroom and then a big one in the middle area. Normally they do a great job and we don’t have to run them very cold, and the bill is very reasonable. We’ve never gone over $150 for even the hottest month. Normally our bill is around $50-$60, so I don’t think that’s too bad to stay comfortable. Since we work here as well, it’s just not comfortable in the heat and our window situation is still not great. We really need to replace several of the windows and well, that’s just going to have to wait for next year I think. I hope!

We really have to watch both the puppy and Gypsy, our elderly dog. She’s not handling the heat very well and the pup, well, she goes out and is just crazy running around and all, and twice she’s flopped over in the yard and looks dead! We make sure that they both have plenty of water and have been limiting their time outside in the dead heat of the afternoon.

I’d like to report more, but right now, I’m just hustling my butt and working hard. We had a VERY slow sales month, and a very tight budget for the last couple weeks. My car FINALLY came home… yes, it was gone for two months having the transmission redone again. Thankfully, it was covered from the first time it was done, but I still had to take care of some other issues, mainly the front right strut was bad and had to be replaced. It’s running fine now, and thankfully, I got a freon charge for the air conditioner since it had been drained when they put on a new air compressor, so Gunnar runs nice and cool. It drives like a dream and I am a happy gal… but the extra costs are really making things tight. I’m very glad that we have a nice stocked panty and freezer, we haven’t been to the grocery store for major shopping now all month long. Just a couple times to get some basics like butter and milk, and that kind of thing. We’ve finally run out of chicken, so I might have to go and get a bit of that. We have hamburger, sausage and pork steaks left. Don’t mind pork, but we are getting a little weary of it. I’d like a little chicken pot pie or some chicken stir fry… maybe grilled chicken? I’ll have to go and check what sort of chicken is on sale at the butcher shop and go from there!

I’ve been thinking a lot and I think dry times and tight money times, they are a real test of how you’re doing. If you treat them in a panic and with fear, they will get the best of you. If you tighten up the belt, pull in the spending and work hard, you can weather the tough times. I think about how my grandparents and others survived the depression of the 1930’s and it’s just nothing like now. We still have high speed internet, two cars, toys and crafts and a nice full garden. If it keeps up for another month, well, we’ll inch by. We might have to do a little more belt tightening and get a bit more creative with the noodles, rice and beans, but we’ll do fine. Thankfully, our water is not expensive, and we have the time to make sure our garden stays watered and tended. We’ll have a lot more produce in the coming weeks and the farmer’s markets are coming into their flush time and we’ll have plenty of local, fresh and abundant goodies to get through this tough time.

I hope you’re all hanging in there and making do in this heat wave! Stay cool!