Sum-Sum-Summertime

Yeesh!  I wonder for whom the "living is easy" in summertime.  I know it isn't me.  The thermometer is on an outside wall that is never in direct sunshine and it pegged at one-hundred yesterday and stayed there until after dusk.  Bessie Anne remembered the routine from last year.  "Bess, want to go in your pool?," and she runs to the right door.  At the pool, she carefully steps over the side and wades around, waiting for me to pour water over her shoulders.  Getting out, she barely shakes off, preferring to drip dry.  The summer influx of ants and earwigs has begun; they come in looking for shade and water.  It's an annual battle.  Squirrels in the barn ignore me and flatten themselves in the dirt, trying to keep cool, and the chickens take a dozen dust baths a day.

Tree Guy came over midday to weed-eat the garden.  Just going outside to show him where the equipment was darned near brought me to my knees.  The sun was like a physical force beating down.  He was done in a half-hour and I don't know how he lasted that long.  I did notice while I was out there that the grape vines (Red Globe and Thompson seedless) are loaded with fruit, more than ever before.  Now that the paths are cleared, I'll have to weed the barrels and hope it's not too late to plant something.  That will have to wait until I can soak the soil enough to pull those weeds, and that won't happen in full daylight.

The summer solstice is not until June 21.  That's what it says on paper.  The thermometer tells me that summer is here now.