Dog Day Afternoon

 We found Vincent the cat crouched down in the kitchen a few days ago, not moving. David gave him a nudge, nothing. It was then I noticed he had positioned himself directly in front of the air conditioning vent - this heat can be very hard on a little cat and I'm sure that cold air blowing across his back must've felt awfully good.  The heat is unrelenting, the backyard has turned into a furnace by 8 am - I've started toting water out to my garden when I think of it, it's too far from the house to use the hose. Pearl and Reuben do their best to play but I've noticed horsing around only lasts a few minutes, even on Reuben's end.  The grass is done for the year I think, it's burned and dry - everyone just darts from house to car to building, repeat as needed.  I try to get out in the yard either very early or very late when the worst of the heat has passed and from what I can see on the weather we're in for the long haul, relief is nowhere near. I'm glad we got the central air put in. That was an ongoing debate as to whether we would need it or not but I think every one's glad we have it now. I'm currently using my little crock pot for the first time, I've never used one before but with the surplus of vegetables we have I thought I'd attempt an eggplant stew. And no - it's not from my garden, also known as the Wastelands. No, neighbors on both sides are enjoying a bountiful harvest and are sending the surplus over here. I did have to laugh as David cleared up the mystery of how the neighbors keeps the deer out of their garden. David stopped by and he was sitting in the hot tub - with a tripod and a 22. within reach. Nothing like a warning shot I suppose. I've got a few plants that might produce but I think  next year I'll fertilize my garden and maybe have a smaller one nearer to the house. It would've been nice to have vegetables of my own, especially with the price of food going up so high! I've started a new shawl, the next project will either be an afghan or a sweater, but the shawl is doing well after attempt #2. That's why it pays to read the directions because had I read the directions as suggested I would have known I needed to repeat rows 19 -24 five times instead of going straight to chart #2 and bollixing it all up entirely which of course meant it was time to do a bit of frogging. Oh well, the second time around it comes out better anyhow. So we're currently sitting in the living room watching HGTV and we are NOT watching Love It Or List It because those people are so stupid. You would have thought after umpteen episodes they would have figured out how much everything cost but no, she's still forever not being able to give them a second bathroom or a kitchen because she is once again running short. Super annoying and I cannot watch it. I guess I'd better run the crew around the Depths Of Hell for a few minutes, I wish this heat would break.