Sunday Summer

It's not officially Summer for a few more weeks.  But it's warm here and it feels like Summer.  Bill's atomic clock shows that it's over 100 degrees, when I called the local Time & Temperature phone recording it said that it was right at 100 degrees.

Which to a Texan means that it's time to make chili!  So, I did.  One of these days, I really should measure the amount of chili powder I put in.  I was guessing that it was at least half a cup, but I think it's closer to 3/4 of a cup in actuality.  Bill put a chopped jalepeno in his, along with a large helping of picante sauce (real Texans only use Pace!).  It was pretty good.

Otter's jalpenos are probably going to be harvested soon, there are at least a few that are ready.  They look really good.

The morning glories are doing ok, but not the best.  They have come up and seem to be growing, but they are not growing nearly as fast as they usually do and they are not nearly as thick as they should be.  We are wondering if maybe the problem that came along with last year's seeds might still be affecting them?  We are probably going to plant honeysuckle along the back fence, since the morning glories out there seem to be the weakest.  But that might also be for another reason, Bill thinks that the builder(s) in the area behind us might have sprayed something to keep weeds down not too long ago.  The morning glories were starting to come up really well, until then.

I took a certain big, furry dog out in the back yard a couple of hours ago.  Along with his brush.  He really likes to be brushed out, he more or less melted at my feet when I started it.  It resembles a Tribble factory in my back yard!  Frasier looks much sleeker but he's still leaving a cloud of fur in his wake.  I keep thinking that I'm going to see bald spots, but not yet.  Maggie Moo likes a good brushing as well, but she doesn't shed much so her brushing out was just for fun.  She purrs when she's happy, she could probably be heard 500 miles from here when she was getting brushed.

Baby bird report:  We still have several little beaks in the nest on the front porch.  They have opened their eyes and are beginning to look more like actual birds now, instead of little mutants.  We haven't attempted to take any more pictures lately, so I don't know how far they are in terms of feathers.  But they look like they've grown quite a bit.  Mama bird seems to be constantly bringing food, but she's got 4 mouths to feed and there is only one of her so she's a tad bit busy.

The bullfrog that lives in the dog yard is still out there.  He usually haunts their water dish, but I've also seen him around the rain barrel.  He sometimes hops out of their yard and he was hopping around the side of the deck yesterday.  He's a big, fat one and we hope he stays.  We've seen a few 'skeeters lately, so frogs are always welcome!  There's a slightly smaller one that lives in the front yard, I see him up on the porch sometimes.  He lives under the hosta plants, as far as we can tell.

Otter is off with BF today, for their standing Sunday date.  I was going to an antique store, but changed my mind.  Instead, I've been home and doing stuff around the house.  I cooked a few things to put in the freezer for Billyboy's lunches this week, got my laundry done (yuck!), read the paper, de-furred the dogs and so forth.  I might go take my book and head out to the back deck.  I happen to like this weather, it's not hot enough that I don't want to be outside yet.  But even when it does get too hot to stay outside, I did grow up with it after all.  Before too long, I'm going to start hearing how it's so hot here.  But it's really not! :)