It’s a 32° day here with rain expected this evening and boy do we need it. It was supposed to rain all weekend, but we only had a bit of drizzle on Saturday so all the growing things are still thirsty. The heat today will only make that worse so I hope the weatherman has it right this time.
Note: Thanks to kestrel for correctly identifying this plant as False Solomon’s Seal.
False Solomon’s Seal, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Stunning Roses from Nightjar: As promised, I’m sending photos of my “black” roses. The dark red one I bought this year as a Black Baccara, the striped one was planted by my grandmother many years ago and it still blossoms abundantly every year. I don’t know exactly what variety it is, but after a quick google search I came up with three different names that could describe it: “Black Dragon”, “Abracadabra” and “Simsalabim”. I don’t know which one is more appropriate, I just know it’s a beautiful rose! I just want to bury my nose in that first rose. Click for full size!
© Nightjar, all rights reserved.
From Ice Swimmer, click for full size!
© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
Bonjour, mon cher…©voyager, all rights reserved
Every time I drive past this house I want to stop the car, get out and go sit down. Preferably with a book and a cold drink. Oh yes, and Jack.
From Giliell, click for full size!
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
Rain! We’re gonna get rain. Click for full size.
© C. Ford, all rights reserved.
Fanshaw pond, ©voyager, all rights reserved
The sunny skies in this photo didn’t last long. Rain clouds have moved in and it’s drizzling which is double good news. The first good news is that the growing things are finally getting a much-needed drink and the second good news is that the temperatures are staying in the mid-twenties.
Click for full size. These are part of the landscaping around the parking lot behind the Cancer Center.
© C. Ford, all rights reserved.
Agnes, enjoying a good gnaw. Agnes was one of the triplets comprising Amelia, Magrat and herself. Like Alfie, Agnes was one of the Super Smartypants™. She was the thinker, and always figured things out first. Like Amelia, she was very outgoing, loved to play and wrestle, and was sweet natured to the core, with a wide streak of mischievousness. Click for full size.
© C. Ford, all rights reserved.
False Spiraea, ©voyager, all rights reserved
The upcoming weekend promises to be hot and humid and neither Jack nor I do well in that kind of weather. We’ll probably need to get up early and hope for the best. Today is gorgeous, though, and we enjoyed a pleasant walk along the meadow path close to the Thames River. I’m pretty sure this plant is False Spiraea and it’s one of my favorites. I’m a fairly tactile person and I really love those fuzzy plants that invite you to touch them.
From Giliell, click for full size!
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
From Lofty, click for full size!
© Lofty, all rights reserved.
The fun way to have a bath,
©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack has been skunked!
I was having trouble sleeping last night and Jack was (mostly) staying awake to keep me company. Around 2:30 am he asked to go out for a pee so I let him and that’s when it happened. Right in our own yard and 5 meters from our front door. He got a big dose too with sticky, stinky skunk goo from his nose to his tail.
There’s a fairly simple recipe that works well to break up the oils in skunk spray and I went around the house gathering supplies. Pails of water, dog towels, Vaseline (to keep water out of his eyes), dish soap, baking soda and….no peroxide. No Peroxide! That’s the liquid into which you add the dish soap and baking soda to make the shampoo. It’s essential, so I got in the car and started driving around to convenience stores trying to find some. We live in a fairly small city of about 40,000 people and none of the big stores are open 24 hours. Finally, at my 5th stop I found 2 overpriced small bottles of peroxide, which was not quite enough, but it felt like I’d just won the lottery.
We bathed him in the back yard and got enough of the smell off that Jack was allowed back inside. It was almost 5 am by the time we were finished and fell into bed. Jack wisely slept in his dog bed instead of trying to get up with us. At 8:30 the alarm went off and I trudged to the drugstore to stock up on peroxide and then I took Jack down to the river, waded in wearing old sneakers and repeated the shampoo and let him rinse himself off with a frolic instead of the unpleasantness of having buckets of water (warm water!) poured all over you.
I still have a stinky pile of towels plus the clothes we were wearing to wash, but that’s just going to have to wait. I need sleep first and that’s exactly what I’m going to do now. Night, night.