Last night Skipah and I were chattin about our Hoosierland gardens, although commiseratin might be a better verb choice.
The spring was too wet, too cold, and too late for gardening standards. If you read me in the spring, then you know that I got sick of the rain, which is no small thing.
Seeds got washed out, displaced, stifled, drowned…
Couldn’t till new beds…
Onions all molded…
It occurred to me that I could quite possibly sow some things now and have a crop, or in some cases, another crop, come fall. If this summer’s heat is a hint, we may well have an Indian summer — I say this casually, vernacularly.
This here summer is one of the summeriest summers I can recall. Right now, we’re in the midst of the dog days of summer, evidenced by the sound of dog day cicadas round the clock. I’ve always thought of them as a warning system, myself. They’re much more honest about it than the meteorologists, who smile while they talk about 91 degrees and sunny like anyone ever wanted to hear that.
How hot is it?
It’s Georgia hot.
Lordamercy.
I can’t breathe my breath.
Phew!
Oh My God, Imma spontaneously combust.
I need a hat.
Well this is just downright unnecessary.
Is my face on fire? My face is on fire, isn’t it?
Lawd.
101 felt like 109, they said. Whatever day that was, my straightening iron laughed at me. Maybe I wanted to look like a muppet until the rain came, you don’t know.
“Much better today,” they say, “Only gonna get to 91 today,” they say, with that same sadistic fucking smile.
So while I think about planting another section of basil, taking a third swing at the lavender, second sowing pickle cukes for a late crop…while I think about tilling and planting echinacea and coneflowers midsummer, hoping they’ll flower and re-seed this fall…y’all know I ain’t gonna work out there when it’s like this. I can barely stand to sit on the porch at dusk. Too hot to do anything but sit in the shade and think about what you would do if it wasn’t ungodly hot. I sit so still, it’s a wonder the vines don’t grow right over me. Maybe they don’t like deet.
Hand to God, that medication label told me to avoid sunlight, so I can’t weed right now.
I heard tell it’s supposed to be coolish and wettish next weekend. We’ll see.
What’s the weather like there? Can you hear cicadas? Are there vines growin up yer porch?
SoCS ‘second’ is brought to you by the always cool LindaGHill
joeyfullystated 
Ugh, the heat…
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Yeeeessssss. Bleh!
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The cicadas are louder and more constant than I ever remember. I think there are some frog sounds two, and other bugs. It’s like a symphony, but I’m glad they stay outside. I just found this fascinating video about them: https://youtu.be/0JJz36rSob0
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That was super neat! I loved that video! Thanks!
We have annual cicadas here, or dog day cicadas, they’re called. We get some of the 17yr ones, but we get more of the 13yr broods, like more than two come here, so pretty much we always have them, just to different degrees of loudness and numbers 🙂
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Same here. I didn’t know about the 17 year ones before.
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I used to think it was every seven years. My eldest daughter asked me about it one time, and boy did I end up learning a lot to teach her, but I wish I’d had that video! 😀
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Other night it was 90F at 9:30pm. 115 the next day. That was a day, went to an appointment at the hospital and they werent going to let me leave unless I had a ride. Now its raining hell. I have people telling me of nearby Clear Lake, WI where a tornado hit yesterday, landed in the park over there, 20 minutes away.
Weathers just been nuts.
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Madness. 115 in Wisconsin. Mother Nature musta been drinkin that day.
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Its been quite the bit of madness lately. BAD storms today, I almost left for better shelter. Powers back on now tho. Craziness.
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This was funny! We will be hitting our dog days here in sunny Florida next month. Ooh, that’s when we get those god-awful, humongeous dog flies that love to take chunks of flesh out of your legs. Ain’t no time to be outdoors, Joey.
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Right? Ew. I’ve spent a lot of August time on Sanibel Island and it’s always just sticky hot there in August. Bleh. Bad enough without the bugs. I shouldn’t complain, every time we go, I get a free babysitter, lots of meals out, and an air-conditioned cottage on the gulf…
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I have always wanted to go to Sanibel Island…..
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Oh it’s quite lovely. We stay at a place called Beachview. And eat…”Honey, where is it we eat at Sanibel?”
“Timber’s.”
Love it there. In August, it’s soooo quiet. Hardly anyone there.
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When it is this hot and humid I don’t go out. Unless it is for something important;like a beer or liquor run. When I do the AC is on high.
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Yessir. Wise. Very wise. We talked about goin out. Moo wanted to go to the park and run. FFS Benson, she wanted to RUN.
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Well I guess you can add kids to that whole mad dogs and Englishmen spiel.
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The fog is now rolling in where I live (Summer Fog in the SF Bay Area – coastal area). Been a foggy summer but I certainly can’t complain when the heat is in the 90 – 100+ in inland and other areas. Have a cool ice tea or brew or whatever wets your whistle and relax. 🙂
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Oh wow. You leave in greenness. Here everything is dry and yellow and unappealing. I have not taken any nature photo in July, I believe. Cicadas are the same though, as are in Greece, and to me they ain’t no warning system, especially since I clearly heard them sing in the rain, while they say they should shut it before rain. And the heat is the same too. I can barely scrabble.
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Maybe the cicadas aren’t as reliable there ^_^
I’m guessing you don’t have the ac? You’re Scrabble-ing well!
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I have the AC but it’s only set to dehumidifying, it refreshes enough this way. It’s outside that’s a b…last.
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Ah.
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I do remember you saying your garden seeds got washed away in all the rain y’all were having. Did some of them come up anyway? Good idea to plant a second round, for a late harvest maybe. … Well, it’s hot here, and dry. We need rain. We’re actually in a cool down this week, only in the high 90s, after a long time in the 100s. The thing is, we don’t have the high humidity here. Just hot, dry, and windy, like a blast furnace. I looked up blast furnace, since that’s what we say, and it melts iron. Guess we’re not that hot, but it feels like it. Stay in, stay cool! 🙂
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Haha, yes, a blast furnace sounds terrifying! But I understand dry heat — still too hot for me, even without the sticky!
Most of my seeds did take. The misplaced seeds have been quite surprising. I had to pull up some carrots before The Mister mowed, since they were in the lawn! Ha!
Some of the garden, the seeds only got stilted, so I had too much and had to thin them out. Stupid wet spring. Next year will be better 🙂
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Yes. On the cicadas, the heat, the sweat, the wilting crops. All of it. Ugh. Come on October. ☺
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Right on. But first, these tomatoes… 😛
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Icky weather. Too hot. Too humid. Too hazy to even consider weeding the garden. This isn’t my time of year.
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Mine either. *sigh*
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Wonderful! I love your description of the heat. I have the temperatures to match, but not the fun flair. This was so much fun to read. I hope it cools off a bit for you.
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Thanks 🙂
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I love your garden Joey, it still looks lovely even if you aren’t able to get at it!
It is too bloody hot here! I actually sat out in it for a bit yesterday with a hat on (God, I must be getting old)! My poor little milk bottle white legs didn’t even turn the tiniest bit darker, still glaringly pasty!
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Aw. Yes, but a hat is so practical! So much nicer than rubbing sunscreen on every 30 minutes! We have a nice collection of milk white legs here. ‘Cept Moo, she’s got my mother’s skin. Tans in the shade, she does.
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Yes a hat is very practical. I did slather on the suntan cream too so am grateful that at least I didn’t burn! Miss Hap is like your Moo, so lucky! 🙂
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90+ and then a huge thunderstorm (warnings streaming across the bottom of the TV screen), then 90+ and more humidity, feels like 100+. I live along Lake Michigan, and it’s supposed to be “cooler by the lake.” Cooler than what? I have to get my chair (and tons of sunscreen) down to the lakefront today, to see if it’s any cooler there than it is on my side of the city. If it is, I’m putting up a tent!
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Right on! Well you know, it is colder, because “lake effect” so there should be a breeze that will feel cooler the closer you are to the water. I hope you have a pleasant day! 🙂
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🙂
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I like a bit north of LA and it has been HOT here. I feel the same way, not much energy in hot weather. 🙂
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Bleh, I hope you get some cool breezes soon 🙂
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Thanks. Me, too. 🙂
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It’s too hot to even get in the pool until after 7:00!
And lol at “only 91.” Our weatherman said that it was going to be 92 this morning and would get “really hot” in the afternoon at 98…uh, 92 is also really hot, weatherman!
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Right? Gah, where are these people from, Venus?
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3 words: Fuck this summer. It’s been hella hot. First the spring monsoons liquefied my beautiful squash and zucchini. Now the awful heat is roasting my tiny tomatoes before they have a chance to ripen. Over it. So over it.
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Mmmhm.
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It’s hot here in Maryland and the news says there’s a code red weather thingie in effect. Still not going to melt me, but I am made of stone. As for the vines growing on the side of the house, thanks for the inspiration – Imma gonna blog about it now.
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Yes! It is freaking hot.
No! I don’t like this heat.
I’m not particularly fond of the cicadas either. They don’t need to tell me it’s hot. I KNOW it is.
The only good thing I can say about having a broken collarbone during a heat wave is I have a guilt-free excuse to do as little as I want … especially gardening which I’m not overly fond of to begin with.
LIke you said, I sit there thinking about all the things I could be doing if it wasn’t so hot … and if my collarbone wasn’t broken.
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I always enjoy how you and I see eye to eye on the heat!
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I LOVE summer … just not the heat. More moderate temperatures work best for me please 🙂
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Hot, humid, sultry, dry, and then every few weeks the rain comes down in sheets for an hour or so and the wind blows like a hurricane. Damned fine weather. My tomato plants are huge but only a few tomatoes on each plant and they don’t ripen. Never seen anything like it.
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That’s nice, that you like it.
I don’t like any of it. My tomato plants are maybe average, and yielding a bit less than usual, certainly the smaller are fewer, but they ARE ripening.
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Big puffy heart for the mention :), although the lords of WordPress never notified me :(. Only 109 up there? We hit 111 last weekend! I’m done with gardening for the year, over, through, the weather whooped my ass in the spring and is now just piling on with this oppressive heat!
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Yessir, it is HAWT.
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It took a biblical rain, but it’s actually not to bad here today.
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Lucky.
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