Hey Pat, glad to hear you're doing so well and full of energy. I've been hiding out in the house. The 90's though have seemed like cool weather. Been kind of sad and down. I made a stepping stone today for my dog to go in the garden and ordered a couple of mini roses that will come next week to plant with it.

Other than going out and squashing budworms on the roses I haven't been doing much gardening. I watched one of the two hydrangeas I planted die, can't figure out what to plant in that front corner of the flower bed in front that will live and thrive. One of the lavenders there is doing better, the other was still dieing and I found out why. My Dad came to visit and we found out he turned the sprinkler head that was hitting the driveway some and his new car and aimed it at my flower bed so it watered the lavender instead....

I'm trying to stay away from the garden dept at Lowe's until it cools off a little more:)

DH tomatoe vine bit the dust but his bell pepper plant keeps pumping them out.

Honestly Leslie, I'm really tired of this hot weather! If I could remember I would buy a couple of lottery tickets & hopefully win enough to take off to the beach during these crappy hot summer months. Well that's not going to happen, so we just grin and bear it!.

Hey, it's cooling off! Well, it's BEEN cool here, compared to you guys! We've had 80s, and I feel very blessed for it, while my folks (and you ladies!) were still sweating it out in the 100s. Ugh! But it sure feels like fall today. Highs in the upper 70s to 80!!! Pat, you won that lottery! :D

I've been planting some of the natives which I WAS planning to plant in fall. They just looked terrible while in the pots, and they've perked up considerably. Oct. 6 & 7 (and 13-14), there's the last plant sale before my favorite nursery closes for the winter, so you can guess where I'll be then. LOL

This weekend is the start of most deer season hunting zones, so DH decided he wanted to hunt up in Shasta Co. this year. I'll get to visit with Ma while Dad and DH go traipsing off into the wilds. Btw, I'm so NOT into shooting such beautiful creatures, and I sure don't EAT them (ACK!), but DH is old school, so he can have his fun without me. :D

I haven't tried Salvia from seed yet, Pat, but I'm hoping to try this winter with my indoor setup. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Leslie, that totally makes sense about the water on your lavender! I figured something strange was going on that you didn't know about. :) I would LOVE to see the stepping stone you made for Jackson. What a beautiful memorial for one wonderful doggie.

Brenda

Pat, you're pretty funny:) Would you believe that all 5 of my Fantasy 5 numbers I play came up on Lotto a few months ago??? I started playing them again as Fantasy 5 and I catch 2 and 3 numbers frequently but maybe one day all 5 will hit:) It does feel better at 90 then 106 and it's supposed to be going down to the 80's.

Yeah, you're pretty lucky Brenda, you also were cooling off at night when we weren't. Maybe my elec bill will start coming down now.

The deer hunters used to come up where we lived and we wouldn't tell anyone where to find the bucks:)

I decided I am going to take that one lavender and put it in between two of the butterfly bushes in the back and transplant a rose from a pot that's outgrown it that will take up that much room in it's place in the front. I needed a place to put it, so it'll work for me. Yep, that's my Dad anymore. We found out after it cooled off and we were checking the sprinklers to reset the timers for less water. I remembered him muttering about the water spots on his car and that it would water again before they would leave and seeing him out front the night before it was going to water.

Here's the stepping stone I made. I washed the glass angels off today, it still needs to cure another day. It looks better wet though. It's not setting up as well as it looks here. I'll post another pic of it all done and out in the garden when I get it done with the rose I ordered planted with it. This is the first one I ever made, I'm not very good. I thought about embedding it with mosaic all over but decided to keep it very simple.
{{gwi:497172}}

We went to the coast for a week and then down to our daughter's for a holiday. Had a great time roaming around the Carmel area, and then it was fun to see the grandsons again; but I didn't get any cute pictures like yours.

Returned to find the outer irrigation system isn't doing it's job at night. I'm wondering if someone else is watering at night with big equipment... or refilling their well's holding tank..... thereby taking all the water and leaving our well dry in early morning. I've seen some pretty BIG well units installed lately. We've had a lot of new homes being built out here. Even on 40 acre lots they still each can draw from the same aquifer. I do hope this won't become a problem because it will be expensive to solve.... our well is already 293' deep.

Westelle, I would swear that I replied to your last post about the well, but I guess I had one of those memory/skip/beats. Anyhow I hope that your water sources improve and that your neighbors get information reg. well usage. A longtime ago our neighbors would have translated my saying that our well was 290 ft. deep to meaning that we had 290 ft of water laying down there just waiting to be used. It finally took some legal action against a developer to work out that problem. Hope you have intelligent neighbors that you can work with!

These new neighbors are so far apart that we don't even know each other... each has 40 acres... but in our immediate area. I don't really think the county will/can do anything about water usage except to send out a general advisement letter. The problems comes when city folk move to the country and don't even know how their septic system works much less their well and how it uses water from a common aquifer. They plant acres of lawn and plants that also need lots of water. I don't know how to educate them. And, they probably think they have "290' of water" not pipe.

Leslie, that is a GREAT stepping stone! I like that you're keeping it simple; the little glass angels are perfect. I can't wait to see it in the garden when you're done.

The National Weather Service is calling for a slight chance of rain off and on this week! Oh, I sure hope we get some of that. The cool weather is wonderful, though.

Brenda