No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.
The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!
Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke.
Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.
We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes.
We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.
In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”
A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.
My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.
We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.
Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.
If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.
That loaf of bread looks absolutely delicious 🥖 I almost feel like I can smell it!
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It is so good Helen! Wish I could share some with you!
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Even though I know you are a vegan, I never thought to ask what you do with chicken eggs. Do you have ethical qualms about selling them or giving them away?
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We don’t get lots of eggs like we used to when we had the original 4 Dashwoods all of the same age. Then I would bring cartons of eggs to my coworkers and we would also give them to neighbors. Now with the Nuggets approaching 5 years they don’t lay much at all, maybe an egg or two a week if any, and the Witches won’t start laying real eggs for another few months and then they will all stop for the winter. So these days when we get eggs it takes a long time to get a dozen, but we will give them to neighbors or cook them and crush them up with the shells and feed them back to the chickens. The shells are high in calcium so the extra boost (there is calcium in their feed) returns to them some of what they lost laying the eggs. In Minneapolis we are not allowed to sell the eggs for food safety reasons.
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There’s no way the eggs could be less safe than the lettuce right now. 😅 I’m in one of the “explosive diarrhea” states. Our county has a dashboard–so very 2020.
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What a pretty potholder, did you weave it? Your bread looks delish! We just haven’t /knocksonwood had any problems with “our” raccoons. We started having one fellow visit during the brutal storm in March, who continued to come by every night as the weather warmed in spring, and lay on the back deck like a cat in a crescent shape, until dusk, when I would offer a small handful of the sunflower seeds we’d offered during the storm in larger quantity (also to a stoat and an opossum): a good night ritual like cocoa and toast. Then after her babies were old enough to leave home alone, we also had a young mother (of two, who only made one appearance in person, together, when they likely weren’t supposed to be out of the den, playing together with things we’d left outside that are boring for everyone else in the yard-very entertaining!) who came by every morning and was clearly famished. I used to worry that he and she would come at the same time, but they must have worked out a schedule! heheh Anyway, they all have their own thing going on now that it’s full-on summer; I wonder if we’ll see them again when winter approaches, or if they’ve moved deeper into the bush more permanently. As for smoke protection, I do not understand why people behave so recklessly when the air is so obviously polluted: maybe some cannot source or employ the best protection, but for most it seems to be a point of pride to eschew its usage. /sigh Take care!
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Thank you Marcie! I did not weave the potholder, a friend of mine did. She gifted it to me for the winter holidays ac couple years ago along with a second one that is yellow and orange. The bread tasted wonderful. I hope your own bread baking has been going well!
I am glad you had such entertaining raccoons! Perhaps in winter, as you say, you might see them if they are hungry, so be prepared! Other than water dishes on my deck, intended for birds, I do not put anything out for the critters since it would be too tempting for them to also help themselves to what is growing in the garden, which too many already do, so I don;t want to attract or encourage more visitors!
The fire stations have free N95 masks for people who need them, but it is not widely advertised unfortunately. Regardless, not having any sort of mask on and being out like the air was fresh and clean when it was all over the news and social media that the air was unhealthy and everyone should stay indoors, it baffles me.
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I thought about you and all my Northern neighbors during the heat dome/wildfire smoke. I hope by now you’ve gotten some rain!
Oh man, I hope those raccoons move on soon so you get some sleep! No fun.
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Thanks Laila! We got a little rain, but only enough to water the garden for a day before we had to start watering it ourselves again. We are not yet in drought but it is looming.
As for the raccoons, they seem to have gotten bored with their games on our roof and moved on, so that’s one good thing at least!
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Ah, we’ve also had the heat and smoke and I wonder if it stirred up the local wildlife because we’ve had something clawing in our bedroom wall and keeping us awake.
We went to see the new Odyssey movie in IMAX and it was good but I hated the over-loud soundtrack with subsonics and there was a storm at sea scene that started a two-day migraine that hung on partly because of the smoke.
The smoke seems to have cleared out since we had thunderstorms on Wednesday and I hope it stays gone. Among other things, I had to try to keep my grandson inside when he loves to play outside. He had a cold and it turned into breathing problems and he was in the hospital for 24 hours, so it was important to keep him in afterwards.
No little creatures can much stand to smell the burning.
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I hope the smoke has blown away Jeanne and your heat moderated. How scary your grandson was in the hospital with breathing problems from a cold. I hope he is okay now.
We had a few perfect summer days last week and now we are on the edge of another heat dome with forecasted temperatures for the next few days in the upper 90s and possible even 100. I hope that is wrong! I hope whatever was chewing in your bedroom wall has decided to move on!
Thanks for the warning about the Odyssey. I still have not decided whether or not I want to see it. I’m leaning towards no, and your mention about the over-loud soundtrack makes me want to see it even less.
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The grandson is fine now. They can get sick so fast and bounce back just as fast!
I really did like seeing the Odyssey, but we’d driven to Columbus, an hour away, to see it at the IMAX and maybe because it was the first weekend they had the sound turned up so loud. We went to the same theater complex to see Hadestown last night (not IMAX) and the sound was really good–clear and not so loud.
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Hello from the European heat dome! Climate change is feeling very tangible right now as forest fires rage everywhere, and we’re facing two weeks of temperatures around 100F when it’s normally low 80s in summer. Thankfully no forest fires near us though, and the air is perfectly clear. Hope things are better by now in Minnesota!
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