Rain at last (yes, that title has already been used once!)

It has hardly rained at all in the last month. Some sprinkles of 0.1 to less than that but all they did was raise the humidity. It seems contraintuitive but the morning dews have frequently been heavy enough to drip off of the tree leaves but yet no rain. Mr. Fuzzy has been carrying water, 25 gallons at a time, to the big garden for several weeks. In the last week, the ground had begun to crack. Last night, a small rain after bedtime but then a good soaker this afternoon for a precipitation total of about an inch. The trees in particular would enjoy another couple of inches but that seems unlikely.




















 The garden, as is true every year, has been a mixed bag. The great success this year was the yellow pattipan squashes which were attractive plants, with high, erect leaves, prolific huge gorgeous blooms, and extremely fast growing fruits. Tasty? Absolutely. The "Alibi" and "Edmunton" cucumbers were also superb performers although both are now dying with blight (common here). Mrs. Fuzzy is very bored with transforming cucumbers into pickles.

The Hale muskmelons are just about ready to harvest and the Moon & Stars watermelons also may be ready. This rain will plump out the younger fruits for both... the Indian tobacco has done well even with almost no water. Perhaps not quite as tall as previous years but just as many leaves and they are of good size. They began blooming about a week ago and are in profusion at the moment. Various pepper plants are also maturing; Yesterday, Mrs. Fuzzy cooked posole seasoned with Espanola Improved chiles to consume with our Montana friends, Jon & Suzanne, now visiting. Those chiles were not as large as Mr. Fuzzy expected, however, their flavor was excellent. Worldbeater sweet peppers are almost ready to pick.

Tonight is forecast to be 55F. If the night insects (the ones that are nearly deafening after dark) are correct, the first major cooling of autumn should fall about September 10th. Stay tuned.