What is this brightness that comes from the sky?

[ksmith]

No writing yesterday, but major grocery/housewares shopping, followed by cooking, eating, and then in a burst of what-the-hell-am-I-doing, cleaning out and rearranging the rest of the floor-level kitchen cupboards. All so I would have a place to put the canned dog food. It was the kitchen equivalent of cleaning my office when all I wanted to do was move the computer UPS from the desk to the floor. Things just tend to snowball.

Bed at midnight or so, and not up until 10. I needed the sleep, I guess, but I hate losing daylight. I think that means I'm a lark, I don't know. It's my impression that larks arise at 5-6 am, and I tend to sleep a little later than that when left to my own devices. In truth, my own devices veer toward 'bed at 12-1, up at 10,' which seems to fall between lark and owl. Barn swallow? House finch?

Rain during the night, which we didn't need. Today, the sky is...blue--God, it's been too long--with scattered cloud. Much less humidity. 70s. We're supposed to get another burst of heat, then another cool down in time for the Labor Day weekend. I'm taking next Friday off as well, which means four lovely days off. Maybe I'll finally get that damned hydrangea moved.

Everyone's lawn has that overgrown Springtime look to it, with more green than is usual for late summer. I've hear that wet summers lead to bright fall colors, and I hope that's true.

As I was pulling out of my driveway yesterday, I saw a doe and her two half-grown fawns dining in the neighbor's yard. The car spooked Mamma--her tail went up and she herded her kids around the house to the backyard. Kids' tails went up, as well. That spring-loaded deer trot.

I had kicked the pups outside for an hour or so to sleep in the sun. They're inside now, and dozing. Midday siesta. Mickey's taking his in the hallway instead of my office since the tap-tap of the keyboard annoys him. A dog's life is a hellish one.

Comments

[daveamongus.livejournal.com]

Labor Day weekend for me is going to be an epic fit of drywalling--my entire immediate family save my Maryland-bound sister will be in town for the event. Maybe later in September I'll get to moving/removing huge chunks of my front yard flower bed, and I'll be thankful for the cooler weather when I do.

Glad to hear you and the pups weathered the storms okay. Was worried when I heard how bad Chicagoland was getting hammered.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I am hoping it gets as cool as they say it will, and that it remains dry. I really need to move that hydrangea. It was planted too close to the sidewalk to begin with--not by me--and it's exploded thanks to the rains and is currently overhanging half the sidewalk. Add to that the fact that the yews needs trimming, and I'm left with about a quarter width of sidewalk in one area.

Thursday night into Friday was bad. Winds and microbursts downed trees everywhere, and the Fox and Des Plaines (that's "Dez Plaines," not "Dee Plaines," all you national reporters out there) rivers are flooding. Folks are sandbagging and praying. We seemed to have missed the worst of it in my neck of the woods, for which I'm grateful. A quarter million ComEd customers were without power yesterday, and days may pass before some of them get it restored. ComEd was asking for help from surrounding states. Crews from Tennessee and Kentucky were coming in.

Good luck with the drywall party!

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Wow, you get a lot done. I hope moving the hydrangea goes well.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I think I'll reserve that fun&frolic for next weekend. I need to figure out the best place to move it to.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It was TBH (that's Too Bloody Humid) to do what needed doing until around 8 tonight. I'd taken in samples of plants to get imput on -- then I snipped for 15-20 minutes until it was too dark to work.

Thus guaranteeing I stopped after reasonable work.

Is your hydrangea white, or do you feed it to get color?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

This hydrangea is white, with conical flowers, not the round blooms you usually see.

I do have some with round blooms, including one that is supposed to be blue, but which gave pink blooms this year. I think that's due to the pH of the soil, so I could adjust the color back to blue if I wanted to.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

This hydrangea is white, with conical flowers, not the round blooms you usually see.

That's a new one on me.

I do have some with round blooms, including one that is supposed to be blue, but which gave pink blooms this year. I think that's due to the pH of the soil, so I could adjust the color back to blue if I wanted to.

Hummmm...a hydrangea site says that you can change pink to blue, or blue to pink -- but white stay white, unless the Almighty adds a touch of pink or red as they age.

Aluminum is the culprit. Container hydrangeas are easier than ground ones if you want color change....