Thursday, July 07, 2022

Hot and Humid

Hot 
Humid
Wet
Holiday Weekend

That is the weather this week which is good for the crops and not so good for mowing or enjoying the outdoors. 

I did spend a whole day though cleaning up the upstairs of the house. Both the East Wing and the West Wing [ ~~ tiny little rooms in our story and a half cottage ~~] got deep cleaning. 
I did some purging while I was at it.



My walks have been short and after Charlie nagged me one morning, I decided to take him along with my long lens on a walk to the mailbox. 

This wren kept chattering at us so I stood still and waited for her to land on something. I was pleased that she was singing her morning songs. 


We got to the ridge and I grabbed the mail which was just junk mail. It was a flier advertising a Huge Sale! All mattresses must GO! Store Closing!
That store has been closing for about a year now. 

I tucked the ad under my arm and decided to look at the weeds along the ditch to search for insects.

I was so pleased to find this beauty. I think it is a Spotted Skipper, however I am not sure as the wings in this light almost appear blue tinted.


This one could be some sort of Spotted Fritillary. I call it 'little brownish spotted butterfly'.


However, my buddy didn't think too much of our little side trip.


I wanted to just walk down a ways and look a tiny bit more... and so I called Charlie...and got this...


I agreed with him and turned around to take him home. Once he got in view of the house, he trotted the rest of the way to the porch door and stood looking at me. Little dogs get the heat from the ground and his short nose doesn't allow him to cool off very well. 

My morning walks are the highlight of my day right now. I do it early as the weather is hot and mugg--ly.

This is from my morning foraging walk. Oops! I should have left my camera sitting in a bag on the porch for a while before taking it out in the extremely hot and humid climate.
[This was one of those days where the dew point and temperature were just about the same degree!]

Stupid me. But there it is:


I'd stopped here to photograph a fawn laying down in one of the mule trails but got a fogged lens instead.

I did see this fawn on the way back though!


My morning foraging looked very promising.

This is my creek or was the creek until the drought hit. For the first few years I lived here, it was like this. Then we had some flash floods and for many years water always flowed over the rocks but no more than a few inches deep.

It is almost moist and cooler in this bottom. Beware though, the rocks are like walking on marbled ice.


Yep, marbled ice is a good description. The bruises on my gluteus maximuses will be a good judge of that. 

However, I was more interested in getting some delicious oyster mushrooms for supper and some to dehydrate.



On the way back home with my goodies, I found some chicken of the woods...I think. These did not look appetizing at all with the amount of icky looking gnats and bugs on them. 
But the blaze orange color is hard to miss.



And then more cool bugs. A Hover Fly and an inch worm on the head of a yarrow blossom.


So what is this hot and humid weather good for?
Well.

It is good for short excursions into the woods to find neat insects, wild flowers, and wicked cool fungi and slime molds while picking black raspberries!






6 comments:

  1. We are having overnight thunderstorms and hot humid muggly days. Good for corn, not so much fun for people.

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  2. Very humid here too, but then it is July! It was hot to mow and I had to do that in the afternoon because the grass was dewy in the morning. Poor Charlie, black dogs get so uncomfortable:( Good for you hunting mushrooms...I mowed some down:) :)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, generally our mowing is after noon too. But the heat indices have been upwards of 95, so we've let the grass do what it wants! I could mow with the rider but someone else wants to do it! I am not push mowing the whole yard!

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  3. It seems to be humid everywhere. My dog really doesn't like this weather, she's on Charlies side.

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  4. Your wren picture is awesome!! Hot & humid weather completely zaps me. Not remotely a fan. Our wooded dog walks keep getting shorter & shorter. The horses ask to come into the barn earlier & earlier. Can't blame them, especially when the day starts out with the sticky weather. Nice that you find a way to enjoy it regardless.

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  5. I remember summers in Minnesota when it just never seemed to dry out. Our old house we moved from was also a story and a half farm house. I liked the bedrooms but the realtor was upset that they were too small. It was an old house man. I hope you dry out soon.

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