Back into the furnace here.

The good news is, I'm hot.

I have no signs of sunburn, but for the last week and a half, I feel like my skin is on fire.

EVERYWHERE. I've stopped using hot water in the shower. Doesn't help.

But I also don't have a temperature. Well, I don't consider 99-100F to be a fever.

It's only going to be 100F today. It was 105F in town yesterday. One town in Illinois hit 108F.

Trees are beginning to die; older trees, that is. I've lost 2 small shrubs in the yard, where even the plantain and dandelions have died.

I had a large dandelion growing in the middle of my mulch that was 3 years old. I just couldn't bring myself to kill it, it was green all winter long. Now it's dead.

It's pretty bad when sunflowers won't grow, even when watered daily.

The sunsets have been very strange as well. We have Jupiter-like clouds in the evening, and they're all purple/pink/orange as the sun sets - all across the sky from west to east.

I am getting a few tomatoes and hot peppers from the garden, but when you stop and think about how much water went into each one, it's frightening.

try this

lattitude.... 45.589232

longitude.... -123.022585

that is where i am parked right now according to combine gps

so far i have picked 3 oregon spring tomatoes

1 siletz tomato

1 celebrity tomato

3 early girl tomatoes

and few cherry tomatoes

update...

warmed to 88 today

my pumpkins were wilting in the heat....turned on the irrigation box...will need to irrigate spring wheat and clover this week

heading out to move the water in the pumpkins

my daughter in Massachusetts said they are finally getting some rain...they have been on water rationing for a month.

moi621 (imported) wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:08 pm If possible, please share images of your pastoral life and link us to them.

What major intersection or address might we Google map.

Intersection of Jamboree Rd and Eastbluff Blvd. 92660 See the big Back Bay near me.

It is a nature preserve. That's where the coyote hangs before the nite. The bobcat too.

Occasionally the cougar is sighted. (We speak of them as a singular animal, each)

For more insight, try Arbutus St. and Alta Vista 92660

Thank You

last night crews baled all my neighbors grass seed straw....huge piles this morning of 4x4x8 bales all headed to the midwest drought farmers

looks like nice hay this year...help is on the way guys to feed those hungry cows

clouded over marine layer ....cooler today..70s

Genetic roulette:

I dug up about 4 dozen seedling tomatoes I found in the meadow this spring and put them in peat pots. Good thing, too. It froze here when they were about 4" high. Mine were on the porch and warm.

Almost all of them succeeded in at least blooming. I'd say 8 of 10 bore fruit.

Some are round, some heart shaped. Some are yellow. Some are orange. Some are red. Some are flattened and broad and red. One plant is putting out both yellow and deep pink ones. There was even an heirloom Cherokee purple in the mix. Of course, none of them are "Bread slice" size, but...it's free food. The sweet peppers from seed are also producing now that they have some mad-made shade and water from the hose.

The funny thing is, stuff that I bought at the store pretty much all failed. All the volunteer stuff and seed starts from produce I bought to eat is doing wonderfully.

I think I am too kind to my tomatoes. I put them in my garden boxes and before the fruit leaves the green stage the vine dies and the fruit ripens on a dead vine. No very yummy.

Fresh, clean, sea air with full, yet soft sun and 70F or so.

Not to worry. The Monsoonal Flow is returning. I will soon be relatively suffering soon.

Using the A/C to dump moisture out of the house, not because the temp is so bad.

Amazingly, the thermometer and humidity and barometer can all read the same but

it sure feels different between Monsoonal and Coastal.

What meter would detect what is going on? ?

I tried to research ions but, they are not available. WE know of the + ions of the Santa Ana winds.

Just can't measure them. Compared to before the winds.

Ate a couple of Mission Figs off my tree. They were sweet with red flesh. Yummy.

My carrots are growing split, Why? A 3/4" crown branches into two or more "sub carrots".

Suggestions. Explanations.

Planted some, sugar Pumpkin (for eating,not Jack o Lantern) seeds and some sweet corn. The lemon trees are putting out an occasional blossom and the Fuji apples are weighting down their branches.

BTW I had a good time scoping out sdyuck's place with Google earth. West of Portland. Up the East foothills slopes to a place that looks like Iowa. I cannot figure out how else to interpret what I saw.

Or was it still well before the foothills.

I hope others offer up their major intersection, city and zip so we can all look in from above.

Moi

If your vine dies before the fruit ripens, do the leaves get yellow at the bottom first, then go spotted brown, moving up the plant?

If so, it's a fungus.

You can Google up several recipes to make something to spray on them, or just get some nice expensive Daconil spray.

For the first time in years, we've had no problem with it, because the drought has killed off the fungus, and there isn't enough water being put out by the hose for it to take hold again.

Another sign of the times: tomato worms. I found 2 this year. Had 1 last year. When I was a kid, you had to go through the garden every day and hunt them or they'd strip the vines overnight.

And we didn't even get a breeze of that big storm system that blew through just now. In fact, didn't even see a cloud!

Damn P, that storm system hit everybody. You guys have had a very ruff year and I hope you get some rain soon.

River

Our drilled well is over 70' ft. deep and goes into a gravel bed. In the morning, when first engaging the pump, we're getting discolored water and some spitting. This is not a good sign. Hell, there are people in this county whose wells never recovered from the short drought last year.

a patchwork of farms from above

the pictures were from august 5th of last year as i was just starting the wheat field and can see it from the picture

moi621 (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:27 am I think I am too kind to my tomatoes. I put them in my garden boxes and before the fruit leaves the green stage the vine dies and the fruit ripens on a dead vine. No very yummy.

Fresh, clean, sea air with full, yet soft sun and 70F or so.

Not to worry. The Monsoonal Flow is returning. I will soon be relatively suffering soon.

Using the A/C to dump moisture out of the house, not because the temp is so bad.

Amazingly, the thermometer and humidity and barometer can all read the same but

it sure feels different between Monsoonal and Coastal.

What meter would detect what is going on? ?

I tried to research ions but, they are not available. WE know of the + ions of the Santa Ana winds.

Just can't measure them. Compared to before the winds.

Ate a couple of Mission Figs off my tree. They were sweet with red flesh. Yummy.

My carrots are growing split, Why? A 3/4" crown branches into two or more "sub carrots".

Suggestions. Explanations.

Planted some, sugar Pumpkin (for eating,not Jack o Lantern) seeds and some sweet corn. The lemon trees are putting out an occasional blossom and the Fuji apples are weighting down their branches.

BTW I had a good time scoping out sdyuck's place with Google earth. West of Portland. Up the East foothills slopes to a place that looks like Iowa. I cannot figure out how else to interpret what I saw.

Or was it still well before the foothills.

I hope others offer up their major intersection, city and zip so we can all look in from above.

Moi

It rained on us for about 5 minutes today. Didn't even fill the rain barrel 1/2 way, and it collects from 2 sides of 2 roofs.

I was outside when it hit, in town. The frontal wind sandblasted me, and nearly blew me over. Bit of rain, then it was done.

Roads were dry again in under 1/2 hour...wasn't even enough to un-wilt the weeds along the road.