Monsoon time

Like a horse, with nostrils flaring, we welcomed a couple of rain showers the last few days. Thankfully they delivered good amounts of rain, rather than some miserable piddle and a lot of lightening instead. Yesterday's storm did come with thunder and lightening but gave us more than half an inch.

The garden is doing well and plants that looked to be on their way out happily put on more blooms, such as the melons and eggplant, or were able to fight off a virus that threatened them. I had just put additional tomato plants in the ground and that should keep us in lycopene until the holidays.

Fruit trees are happy too. We have eaten the peaches off the early tree and are awaiting the next batch to ripen in another week. The apples are doing great, in spite of attempted assaults by a javelina and possibly 5 piglets (saw them come onto the property very early yesterday). We fortified the trees with garden panels and so far we have been more persistent than they have. The rain dumped a number of ripe apples which are being enjoyed by horses as well as wildlife.

One casualty however. The agave that has been blooming by the horse barn and has been a favorite of bees and hummingbirds was snapped in the wind yesterday. The bees were not happy this morning as the plant would have bloomed for many more weeks.

Here is the flower in all its majesty.

And here is the sadness.

Cranky

We are all getting a bit short-tempered: hot chickens, grumpy horses, birds fighting at the bird feeders. After the 0.5" of rain about 10 days ago, there has not been any more. As a matter of fact, we went back to cloudless skies and temperatures in the mid to high 90's. We need RAIN! Where is the monsoon? Will it be a "non-soon" this year?

We and Emma are happy enough inside, by the graces of the power company, but it is tough outside. We are watering and feeding as this may be the most difficult time of year, sort of everyone else's winter time.

Somebody not cranky, lounging behind a watering can. He must have just had a meal as he was not protesting too much at being relocated to the desert.

Birthday cactus

It is rather late for a cactus to be blooming, but here you have it. Mom rules! This cactus in our "yard" generally blooms in April, around my friend Kath's birthday, so I call it "Kath's Flower". Frankly, it may have bloomed earlier but as it is hidden by other vegetation, I may have missed it putting on its display. Then again, these fireworks are hard to miss.

Dan noticed it blooming today, and surprisingly, it is another friend's birthday today! Happy Birthday,  Maureen!