Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Monday, June 20, 2016

Baking like a "toasted cheeser"

At 7am, the heat is already bad.  I should be out there soaking the garden, but wanted to get a quick post in first.  The "beast" died a few days ago (our computer), so I'm using a laptop for the time being.  I am just trying to figure out how to get the photos loaded (picassa is not on here, so I'll work on that later maybe).

 What ever is doing this returned the other day.  Both porches were attacked like this.  My two pots of comfrey were put safely inside the garage for the night.  I can't afford to lost them, as I have lost all the other herbs. 

I swept up the dirt, filled the pots, put out a trail camera, and it decided to not return last night.  Of course that's how it works.
  

I can't figure it out. We've never had raccoons destroy anything here.  The other day, one daughter saw something large, with a bushy tail jump from tree to tree, during the daytime.  Raccoon?  I guess we'll continue to watch.  

The saying in my blog title comes from the movie "Sandlot" I think.  Where the kids are playing baseball in the heat of summer and decide to go to the pool.  I love that movie, and that saying always sticks out when the heat rises here.  We still do not have the last window air conditioner installed either.  

Yesterday, we took a 2 hour road trip for Father's Day.  When we returned, we were tired, had a porch cookout in the muggy evening, and retired.  We were all too tired and hot and sticky to even think about getting that unit in.

As for the road trip, we went to purchase a leather trunk for Hubby's Harley.  He wanted it pretty badly, and the sale price was very good for the value of it.  The seller was a 70-some year-old, dedicated Harley rider who didn't need it on his motorcycle anymore.  His wife could not ride anymore due to health reasons, and he didn't want the extra weight on his bike.  Now, once this is on, it means short road trips, overnight for us.  He just has to get the hardware to install it now.

Again, no rain for us.  Our grass is brown and crunches under our feet.  The flower pots have to be watered two times a day or they almost die.  This isn't good for the wild raspberries either.  The garden awaits.  I must go water before the heat bakes it away into dust.

8 comments:

Mama Pea said...

I can't believe the destruction that "critter" is doing to your potted plants! I would be beside myself with frustration and angst. What in the world does he think he's going to find by digging up everything?

We had a big storm roll through last night with warnings of damaging hail, high winds and heavy rain. Fortunately, it just missed us (we got only 2/10th of an inch of rain and a little wind but 40 miles from us they have roads washed out and closed because of trees over them. Power outages, too. We were so lucky. I don't know what it would have done to the garden.

Hope you get a good drenching rain soon. And that it cools off for you.

Sandra said...

We were suppose to get rain today...still hopeful!
Stay cool!

Sam I Am...... said...

It's hot here but I go out early and water and the humidity isn't too bad and there's a little breeze each day. I think it's been hotter up North than here...weird! A bushy tail jumping from tree to tree sounds like a squirrel but they're usually not out at night. I hope you get some rain!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, it is very frustrating. Whatever it is came back, but only attacked that same pot, and not the pots on the back porch. It really makes a huge mess, and only attacks the same pots over and over. No rain yet. The grass is brown and cruchy.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Sandra, no rain yet. It looked like a possible storm last evening, but then it cleared away.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Sam I Am, it was bigger than a squirrel, but we've never seen a raccoon in a tree either. It continues to put havoc on my porch. We'll be looking at photos to see if we caught it on film.

RB said...

I'm pretty sure you're getting plenty of rain now. At least that's what we're seeing on the radar. We're to get it later tonight and into tomorrow. Praying for all in the paths of the storms.
I don't believe coons jump from tree to tree. I'm thinking that's some kind of a squirrel, and they'll dig up pots to get at the seeds, bulbs, etc. they can eat.
As for your plants, this will sound mean, but you've already tried everything else, so here goes...I remember a long long time ago, to keep male dogs from digging into the pen with our Dad's female beagles, he dug a foot wide and foot deep trench around the pen, invited the neighbors to toss all their glass rubbish into it, filled it nearly up with that broken glass, then covered it with a few inches of dirt. Any male dog that tried to dig into the pen after that cut its paws and stopped, and I'd suggest about an inch thick layer of broken glass on the top of your herb pots would accomplish the same thing. Good luck!!!
God bless.
RB
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Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, thanks for that tip. We have not gotten rain as of today yet.