Sunday's Putterings
Topics contained herein:
General heat & humidity where I live …
a phenomena called a heatburst where I don’t live…
and how the critters and plants are holding up.
[EDIT] This posted badly at first ... it's okay now. [END EDIT]
Weather / Phenology:
The Heatwave
As it is everywhere, it is here in Minnesota:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM CDT MONDAY.
.HOT...HUMID WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO MONDAY EVENING WITH DAY TIME HEAT INDICES BETWEEN 105 AND 108 BOTH THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN ON MONDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS A BROAD STRETCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA ALONG WITH PART OF WESTERN WISCONSIN. THE COMINATION OF THESE TWO VERY WARM DAYS...ALONG WITH EXPECTED LOW TEMPERATURES ON MONDAY MORNING AROUND 77 TO 78 WILL MAKE THIS A VERY DANGEROUS PERIOD FOR THOSE UNPREPARED FOR THE HEAT.
I find myself a bit confused by all these heat indices. The local forecasters keep saying that the temperature might reach 100 degrees any day now. Despite sweltering conditions, the airport has yet to read above 99 so - despite every thermometer I’ve seen in the last week, MN hasn’t officially registered in three digits. Maybe that will change today.
The Heatburst
Now that I’m noting the weather, I’m reminded that I wanted to record a recent interesting phenomenon called a heat burst. On July 17th, 2006, in Canby MN, just before midnight, within a timespan of about 40 minutes, the air temperature rose from 91 to 100, the dew point fell 38 points and the winds began to blow at 63 miles per hour. Though the whole event happened 180 miles to the west of our town -- and thus we did not directly experience it -- I find it fascinating. I’m weird like that. I’ve backdated the information to July 17th, the night that it happened. Click here for an explanation of the term and some details on what happened.
The Gardens
I haven’t been outside much in this last week or more. This morning, while it was still bearable, I ventured out to check on the gardens. I have some serious weeding to do. The cucumbers got away from me and I must strip a bunch of overripe fruit from the vines. The deer are still grazing on the green beans so the plants have had no opportunity to yield. The cherry tomatoes came in good and need to be thoroughly harvested. The roma plants are thick with green tomatoes, if they all come ripe at the same time, I’ll definitely have enough to can. One of the bell peppers has immature fruits but the hot pepper plants seem too small … almost stunted but otherwise healthy-looking. The lettuce in the herb bed finally achieved bolt. All the leave herbs are doing well. I have a few chamomile blooms and the borage plant is covered in blue, star shaped flowers. The strawberries have either gone dormant or they didn’t take this year. The pumpkin plants are THRIVING! It seems they like this kind of weather. Our grass needs mowing … a situation that instills in me an inordinate amount of pride. Most of the “nice lawns” around here dried up weeks ago but our wild land is still mostly green. The last rain made everything shoot up, seemingly overnight. “We look a little scruffy but we are alive!”
The Critters
Our female rabbit is coping with the heat pretty well. She lays down for most of the day, legs all sprawled, so that her belly touches the ground. We take her a bowl of ice water everyday which she seems to enjoy. She didn’t cuddle up with the frozen cooler block that we gave her so she must not be suffering too much. I noticed that she’s gained a nice big “double chin” this year. She’s a grown-up rabbit now. She’s made it her mission to break out of her home-made cage as frequently as possible. When she does, she makes straight for the fire pit where she enjoys digging. Have you ever seen a rabbit PUSH something forward with its front paws? Utterly adorable. Like any other burrowing mammal, she digs with her front paws and scoops the dirt backward under her belly and between her hind legs. This, however, creates a big old pile of loose dirt just behind her butt. When that pile gets to be too big, she turns around and pushes the pile out in different directions, flattening the whole thing.
The chickens have stopped laying entirely. We have used the hose to mist the flock in the tractor a few times and we have been watching the water supply in all three coops closely. They aren’t eating a lot, though they still get plenty excited about tomatoes and other treats. The nasty turken hens have gotten cranky. They have been picking at the rooster’s feet. The damage isn’t extensive but I put the rooster and the old leghorn hen out into the yard so they can free-range for a while. His feet will heal and become less attractive to the vampire-hens.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we were trying to nurse an orphaned duckling. Though he seemed to do pretty well for a few days, we woke one morning to find him inexplicably dead in his cage. I just thought I should update.
Mood Summary:
Well, you see. There was a long parenting rant here but I decided to paste it off and away from this regular update. Things are better than they were yesterday. I intend to have a pretty quiet day … too hot for much of anything else. I have a book to read and a book to plot so I should be able to keep busy enough. The weather is supposed to break in a couple of days and I’m sure that will improve my mood.
Five Gratitudes:
1) For the non-aggressive honey bees that have take up residence under the bench near the fire-ring. (Moving them hasn’t been very high on my priority list … I can’t imagine even wanting to have a fire right now.)
2) For the competent hair stylist that didn’t flinch when we told her that R- is growing his hair out for locks of love.
3) For Jello which is the perfect summer food.
4) For my daughter noticing something that I thought everyone was oblivious to.
5) For wind. Thanks to a good strong breeze, I was able to comfortably work in the garden for a while yesterday.
General heat & humidity where I live …
a phenomena called a heatburst where I don’t live…
and how the critters and plants are holding up.
[EDIT] This posted badly at first ... it's okay now. [END EDIT]
Weather / Phenology:
The Heatwave
As it is everywhere, it is here in Minnesota:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM CDT MONDAY.
.HOT...HUMID WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO MONDAY EVENING WITH DAY TIME HEAT INDICES BETWEEN 105 AND 108 BOTH THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN ON MONDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS A BROAD STRETCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA ALONG WITH PART OF WESTERN WISCONSIN. THE COMINATION OF THESE TWO VERY WARM DAYS...ALONG WITH EXPECTED LOW TEMPERATURES ON MONDAY MORNING AROUND 77 TO 78 WILL MAKE THIS A VERY DANGEROUS PERIOD FOR THOSE UNPREPARED FOR THE HEAT.
I find myself a bit confused by all these heat indices. The local forecasters keep saying that the temperature might reach 100 degrees any day now. Despite sweltering conditions, the airport has yet to read above 99 so - despite every thermometer I’ve seen in the last week, MN hasn’t officially registered in three digits. Maybe that will change today.
The Heatburst
Now that I’m noting the weather, I’m reminded that I wanted to record a recent interesting phenomenon called a heat burst. On July 17th, 2006, in Canby MN, just before midnight, within a timespan of about 40 minutes, the air temperature rose from 91 to 100, the dew point fell 38 points and the winds began to blow at 63 miles per hour. Though the whole event happened 180 miles to the west of our town -- and thus we did not directly experience it -- I find it fascinating. I’m weird like that. I’ve backdated the information to July 17th, the night that it happened. Click here for an explanation of the term and some details on what happened.
The Gardens
I haven’t been outside much in this last week or more. This morning, while it was still bearable, I ventured out to check on the gardens. I have some serious weeding to do. The cucumbers got away from me and I must strip a bunch of overripe fruit from the vines. The deer are still grazing on the green beans so the plants have had no opportunity to yield. The cherry tomatoes came in good and need to be thoroughly harvested. The roma plants are thick with green tomatoes, if they all come ripe at the same time, I’ll definitely have enough to can. One of the bell peppers has immature fruits but the hot pepper plants seem too small … almost stunted but otherwise healthy-looking. The lettuce in the herb bed finally achieved bolt. All the leave herbs are doing well. I have a few chamomile blooms and the borage plant is covered in blue, star shaped flowers. The strawberries have either gone dormant or they didn’t take this year. The pumpkin plants are THRIVING! It seems they like this kind of weather. Our grass needs mowing … a situation that instills in me an inordinate amount of pride. Most of the “nice lawns” around here dried up weeks ago but our wild land is still mostly green. The last rain made everything shoot up, seemingly overnight. “We look a little scruffy but we are alive!”
The Critters
Our female rabbit is coping with the heat pretty well. She lays down for most of the day, legs all sprawled, so that her belly touches the ground. We take her a bowl of ice water everyday which she seems to enjoy. She didn’t cuddle up with the frozen cooler block that we gave her so she must not be suffering too much. I noticed that she’s gained a nice big “double chin” this year. She’s a grown-up rabbit now. She’s made it her mission to break out of her home-made cage as frequently as possible. When she does, she makes straight for the fire pit where she enjoys digging. Have you ever seen a rabbit PUSH something forward with its front paws? Utterly adorable. Like any other burrowing mammal, she digs with her front paws and scoops the dirt backward under her belly and between her hind legs. This, however, creates a big old pile of loose dirt just behind her butt. When that pile gets to be too big, she turns around and pushes the pile out in different directions, flattening the whole thing.
The chickens have stopped laying entirely. We have used the hose to mist the flock in the tractor a few times and we have been watching the water supply in all three coops closely. They aren’t eating a lot, though they still get plenty excited about tomatoes and other treats. The nasty turken hens have gotten cranky. They have been picking at the rooster’s feet. The damage isn’t extensive but I put the rooster and the old leghorn hen out into the yard so they can free-range for a while. His feet will heal and become less attractive to the vampire-hens.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we were trying to nurse an orphaned duckling. Though he seemed to do pretty well for a few days, we woke one morning to find him inexplicably dead in his cage. I just thought I should update.
Mood Summary:
Well, you see. There was a long parenting rant here but I decided to paste it off and away from this regular update. Things are better than they were yesterday. I intend to have a pretty quiet day … too hot for much of anything else. I have a book to read and a book to plot so I should be able to keep busy enough. The weather is supposed to break in a couple of days and I’m sure that will improve my mood.
Five Gratitudes:
1) For the non-aggressive honey bees that have take up residence under the bench near the fire-ring. (Moving them hasn’t been very high on my priority list … I can’t imagine even wanting to have a fire right now.)
2) For the competent hair stylist that didn’t flinch when we told her that R- is growing his hair out for locks of love.
3) For Jello which is the perfect summer food.
4) For my daughter noticing something that I thought everyone was oblivious to.
5) For wind. Thanks to a good strong breeze, I was able to comfortably work in the garden for a while yesterday.