Dog Days Weather Report

Last night after midnight I went outdoors to add one more bag to the trash can, already set out on the street. I was wearing light pajama wear and felt a chill go through me. Is summer over now, after all my complaining, I pondered?

Ha. I checked the 8-day forecast this morning. Look at Tuesday 8/7. Here we go again, with night temperatures next week cooling all the way to 74 degrees!

All I can say is some of that rain and indication of thunder and lightning had better materialize.

 And I am so thankful to have that new air compressor in my Subaru!

The Rental House is Listed!

As of Friday night, our student rental house went live with photos on the web! Our realtor (JC) went a little nuts as he was given control over the final details. More new carpet. Air-conditioning! A new toilet! All new doorknobs! New smoke detectors replaced. He knows how to make things happen! He even brought soap dispensers and towels and shower curtains for the baths.

But, I was a little behind on my responsibilities for the yard. I was not ready for a Friday listing! I worked all Friday afternoon, but did not finish the weeds in the corners of the backyard. And the mowing (the husband's responsibility) was not done until Saturday, after the first showing.

Now, I'm thinking of a few flowers! Flowers, with no one on site to water were unthinkable in the 90 degree weather of the past weeks. But I have a leftover flat or so of begonias....

I "wasted" part of a day on a kind of birthday bash mid-week. The 7th annual bash did not get to Grand Haven, sadly. We went to a beer and hymn fest at the Knickerbocker. I put a video of that up on Facebook.

Color and chaos!

But the weekend was work, work, work. I worked on all four properties today (soon to be three!). While the weeds are winning on my uncle's property, the front perennial garden (above) looked pretty colorful today. And the church garden is quite spectacular. I had three helpers on Thursday morning and we whipped it into shape, removing all the daylily stems and other spent flowers. The phlox are in their full glory and the annuals are blooming their heads off. I emptied two bottles of spray-on Miracle-Gro on Thursday night to try to keep things going!

Phlox and friends!

While the husband mowed (quickly--with the little riding John Deere tractor), we spent Saturday evening together at the rental, weeding and mowing and even sprinkling the front lawn while we were there. I was thinking that after a hard afternoon's work a retired person should be having a fun Saturday night. We hired all the other stuff done on the house. Why am I pulling weeds under the dying back yard blue spruce on a Saturday night?? Could there be a more menial task??

 I suggested we (me) at least pick up a pizza on the way home. And I had part of a summer shandy in the fridge. And some Perrin Black. So the thought of pizza, Orphan Black (our new series) and a Perrin Black kept me going, pulling weeds (2 contractor bags full!) until 8:00 PM. And then it was finally couch time. And then bath time.

I surely wish my house was as clean as the rental house (but I am not ready to give up everything I own to make that happen). Every surface has been painted, even the basement (walkout level) floor--and every other room except the kitchen has been carpeted or has new linoleum. All the closets are completely empty and freshly painted. What a dream! And with air-conditioning keeping things cool, fresh and de-humidified! I want to move into a perfectly clean home!!

Maybe this house (the one I live in) will one day be vacant and ready for a new owner. Meanwhile this old house was a little chaotic. A new mattress, and a new 65-inch UHD television arrived this week. The empty boxes are still in the entry awaiting recycling. And a new bed frame waiting to be assembled sits in pieces in the living room.

Pardon all the exclamations! Perhaps I am a little overstimulated from all that late-night pizza and beer after a busy afternoon.

A Steak, a Reuben and a Beer

Reeds Lake garden by Rose's

Birthdays come and go with less importance these days. It is enough to be alive and well another year. But I had another birthday last week and managed a little celebrating! The youngest daughter found the time to send an E-card from her company that does paperless cards and invites. She was hosting a party after work that day on her 24th floor deck and probably had no more than that moment to herself. The oldest daughter managed a long evening phone call in which we discussed important things like her dog's possible gender issues--which made us both giggle. I don't want to talk badly about her dog, but she revealed some incidents that involved some irresistible ears ... and some lavender oil!

And my oldest brother who is disabled managed a (rare) phone call. A day early. That was a bit of a surprise. I called him back a few days later on his birthday for a longer chat. Among other things, we discussed cars and the prudence of replacing the compressor on the old Subaru (which I had ordered ($$$$) the day before. He told me the clutch had likely failed. Who knew a compressor had a clutch? Back in the day he probably could have installed it for me.

On birthday evening with our family of three, I ordered the most expensive steak on the menu at the local Houlihans (after we found that the wait would be over an hour on the deck at Rose's). It took too long and was overcooked (still tasty) so they gave it to me for free! Three dinners, 3 diet cokes and a shared dessert for $38. And they didn't even know it was my birthday.

A gooey butter cake topped with salted caramel and ice cream

I was taken out to a lunch downtown for a Reuben by O. and for a happy hour beer on the lake with J. I also treated myself to a large strawberry shake after my weekly dump run. That slid down so well in my hot (un-air-conditioned) Subaru.

Three nice, real paper cards and one new button-up from the hubby filled out the remembrances. Also, a new very large screen television was ordered (delivered tomorrow) for our viewing pleasure.

 Life is good. Hopefully I will be cool for the rest of the summer. I heard it was 106 degrees in Japan. And humid. Whew! It was 100 when I was there back in the day--and I almost died on the trip from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji when the air conditioning failed in my host's car.

Apparently it is going to be even hotter than that in Southwest USA.

But enough about the weather. It has been raining here and the earth and flowers are refreshed. The rain alone would have been enough of a birthday present!

The Weekend: A Cottage, some Coq au vin, a new pair of Capris, Church, and a Chocolate Candy bar from Kazhakstan

The weekend was crowded with lots of good c-words, including a chillin' good time carpooling with friends and conversing with fellow clubbers at a cottage "up north".

It was the annual book club/golf event on Saturday, six couples participating. I have a short tradition of contributing a 7-layer salad to the after-golf cuisine. The salad was assembled the night before with the help of the vegetable-chopping husband. The ratty recipe card dates back to a 70's Thanksgiving dinner but the salad still pleases the palate every time it is consumed.

It was another 90-degree, deadly dew-point day--and I declined to participate in the annual singing of the national anthem at the ballpark on Friday night. Instead I watered the flowers for a full hour at church, shopped for salad ingredients and purchased a much needed pair of cotton capris.

Rising early to get packed and travel north for the 11:00 tee time, I hastily pulled on my new capris, pairing with a favorite top trimmed in black. When I looked down by the light of day in the car the capris were blue, not black! (I think I had my sunglasses on when I shopped.) I was mortified. I do not like mixing navy and black. When I got to the golf club I pulled a full price polo off the rack in a pretty blue color. And paid for it.

Brats on the grill, baked beans, potato salad and fruit salad filled out the food buffet.

But the dessert by Jeri was more unexpected, and I thought, photo-worthy: a chocolate mousse trifle with a delicious brownie base. So I attempted some creative camera shots:

Dessert on Deck

But the best thing about the day (although I should say fellowship with friends) was the deliciously cool lake breezes that wafted up to the deck and into the cottage! It was amazing--so much cooler than parts inland.

On Sunday morning after church we attended the presentation of our young Russian-speaking friend Jeremiah who we support to teach and work in Kazakhstan. He gifted us with some chocolate from Kazakhstan:

Then we enjoyed a Coq au Vin dinner with cousins D & A. Carrots, too. Homemade pies were peach and rhubarb, ending the string of good things starting with c--but served with coffee! Too bad not peach cobbler and rhubarb crumble!

Oh, and all this deliciousness followed the encounter (close and personal) with that crazy corpse plant! One would hope that a whiff of this disgusting plant would have taken away my appetite for a few days, but no such luck!

One more photo of Putricia!

The "Corpse" Plant Blooms

Amorphophallus titanum - (misshapen penis giant!) aka titan arum

When I heard that Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park's titan arum (easier to pronounce and less sexy, lol!) plant was starting to bloom I immediately determined that I just had to see it! I had been following the progress daily on Instagram.

So Wednesday night the resident horticulturalist did a live broadcast after hours, declaring Thursday to be the day to see the plant and "sample" its famous aroma. The spathe was opening and the smell was beginning to emanate. And he was thrilled!

I stood in a long line for almost two hours to see this rare plant, native to Sumatra, on Thursday afternoon.

Was it worth it? I think so. (I also had to pay the senior fee of $11, since I don't have a membership this year).

The spathe was already beginning to close and the smell somewhat diminished when I photographed it around 2:45 PM. A volunteer suggested that if we wanted a proper whiff (she didn't say that) we should stick our nose up close on the left side.

Yup, rotting flesh!

This specimen has been growing from a seedling for 18 years! I have been following the Chicago Botanic Garden and they have had some success and failure, as I recall, with this plant. But now we have one blooming right here in West Michigan!

The 24-36 hour window of inflorescence (bloom), occurring at a convenient time for me was a must-do event. I had to go alone, parked far away in a full lot and stood in a long snaking line just ahead of a friendly woman and her adult son.

I did not know that there were (reportedly 5,200) other folks crazy enough to travel and wait in line for over an hour to see this plant. That's how many people passed by the stinky plant between 9-5 on Thursday! And there were a surprising number of children.

I suppose I should have taken a selfie with Putricia (a perfect name!) but I had hat hair and was hot, so declined the offer from the friends I made in line.

These children made a much cuter pic:

These children give some perspective to the size of this rare specimen.

New Word for this July

I have traded HOT for DRY.

I know there are many things happening in the world and I am paying some attention to things besides the weather...

The World Cup is entering the final games and my guessing game has gone to pot. I have England winning today in the family on-line game.

Trump made his second SCOTUS pick this week. The new justice-to-be seems like a winner out of central casting--brilliant, personable, family man, church man--and still young, with a cherubic altar-boy face. He could serve 30 years! The libs are shuddering that the court could shift to a majority who actually interpret law rather than inventing it.

And the soccer team in Thailand has been rescued by Navy Seals from their flooded cave. We all needed a feel good real life drama!

However, even as the swamp of high dew point heat has drained from West Michigan (if not so much in D.C.) it was replaced with a hot dryness. Things have gone from moist to crisp, drippy to crunchy.

I see thunderstorms in the weekend forecast. I will take the humidity back, if it means a little rain!

I was at the church gardens for an hour last night, until 9:45 PM. It was peaceful and I don't see all the emerging weeds at night!

And I saw a recently opened Oriental lily growing tall through a Kousa dogwood shrub. I watered it profusely--it has some more blooms to produce!

But, yes--the word of the day is DRY!

Earth's Fever Finally Breaks (Briefly)

Heavenly temperatures arrived here on earth last night, even as I was returning from the church gardens after a late night watering session. I opened my Subaru windows and let the cool air (around 70) blow up my sleeves.

I'm discouraged ... not only with the recent heat wave, but also with the lack of rain. I have allowed my front lawn to go half-brown, but I have been desperately trying to keep the potted flowers here and the hundreds of dollars worth of annuals at church happy. A few are thriving. Some are struggling. Next week looks to be another pretty hot week, maybe not with the dew points that put us at feels-like-100-plus, but 90 degree highs that keep me locked into air-conditioned spaces.

In other news, I finally felt like I had the energy and time to donate to Michigan Blood. After a brief Thursday morning church team weed and water session, and a brunch coffee and hearty breakfast sandwich at a local bakery, J. and I went for (my) annual blood-letting. My hematocrit level was at an all time high of 45 (and I think I was quite hydrated for once) so I may have to consider donating more frequently!

I took it easy for the afternoon, but did not feel as lightheaded as usual. The only glitch was, the stupid phlebotomist couldn't find a vein (even after brutalizing her arm) on J. and I had to identify the cities where I stayed (for over 24 hours) in Colombia last year--to make sure I wasn't in some Amazonian malaria zone. The phlebotomist had to use his own phone to zoom in on Villa de Leyva to see if was in the safe (mountainous) zone.

Anyway, the cooler temperature (even if for only a few days) renewed my spirit, enhanced my sleep and made me ready to face a new day with a better attitude.