Summer in the Canyon

First, thank you so much for your comments. It's so nice of you to both read and comment on my posts after all this time of me not being able to comment on yours.

Today was the day I was taking my computer to the shop at the other end of town, a bit more than 15 miles away. But I have a terrible tooth infection, if that's what it is, so I can't go anywhere. My dentist, who is also a friend, only works three days a week. I was lucky to be able to get there on Wednesday morning when this started to get really bad. The infection seems to be in a tooth that had a root canal done about six months ago. The x-rays showed nothing, the gums look good, so who knows what I have. I got antibiotics and pain meds. Yesterday, the entire right side of my face was swollen, I mean really swollen, the only benefit being that my wrinkles got ironed out. The pain was intense. I think I'm better today, but I can't go anywhere, just stay here and rest.

I finished reading all the library books and most of those I got for my birthday, but I still have the latest Peter Hessler book to read. So I will not be bored, just frustrated.

You may recall all the pretty yellow mustard flowers that covered the fields here last spring. Well, they have all dried up now. I have never seen so many, two large fields full, and so huge. The rescue manager put the cows back in one field, but they haven't made a dent (there's only three of them, after all). Come fall, the weeds will turn into a kind of tumble weed and blow all over the place. I have seen pictures in our local paper of houses covered by these weeds. That should be fun! It's a bit scary right now, as the fields look really dry and like a big fire hazard. But I feel a lot less worried since my husband cleared all that grass and weeds around the house earlier this summer.

When in Los Angeles earlier this week, my husband bought a big bucket of icecream! Then he bought some really nice strawberries in town. The ice cream was just too tempting for me, so I had some. A big NO, NO when you have diabetes and an infection on top of it. (Both ice cream and infections raise your blood sugars, so in combination it is not a good thing.) I enjoyed it though. It is summer after all and I felt a bit sorry for myself. But no more! Fortunately it is not difficult for my husband to eat most of a bucket of ice cream in just a few days.

My husband is in a battle of wits with the gopher in our veggie garden. We sprayed some Critter Out down his hole. He didn't like it, but he just burrowed away to another part of the garden and got going on the roots of our zucchini plants. We are both looking at this little garden as a learning experience and after studying up on it, we know what to do next year for some gopher control. This year, my husband just did a little bit of soil prep and threw the seeds down in a hurry. Then we got frost, but after that several plants came back. We'll see how much will remain when it comes time to harvest. We have a fence around it and it has helped a lot with the rabbits and ground squirrels, but this little gopher is another story. We don't want to poison him, but I am really ready to get him by now. Any suggestions? People around here practise their shooting skills on them, but I don't see that as a solution either.

Summer days in the canyon are hot, very hot, but the nights are cool. Temperatures go from 40 F in the early morning to above 100 F in the late afternoon. We now love to sit outside in the evenings and watch the sun set behind the mountains. As soon as it disappears, a chill settles over the land. It is amazing how fast it gets colder. I do all chores in the morning, take my afternoon siesta, and enjoy our evenings.

The junipers and the few other trees we have around here really benefitted from all that rain last winter. I haven't had to water our trees, the planted ones, much and the native junipers look green and healthy. They are so full of berries this year and will attract coyotes and maybe even a black bear or two come fall.

The dogs are fine. Samson spends the nights outside in the dog enclosure. Soldier spends most of his days out there. His daddy built a nice shady place for him to sleep with thick pillows and every comfort. He likes it outside, but has to come in at noon to get out of the worst heat. Angel is still hanging in there. Her breathing doesn't sound good in the heat or after walking, but in general, she is in very good spirits and good health, and continues to take great care of all of us.

So that's a little about our summer here in the canyon. Hope you are enjoying your summer too. And winter too -- dear  blogger friends in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other points in the southern hemisphere.