The fuchsia is enjoying the sun

Good Morning.

It’s another fine, sunny day.

The sound of the early morning is already well underway and the gold finches are flying back and forth to empty the bird feeder.

There are no clouds. They are a distant memory. In fact it hasn’t rained for weeks and the ground is parched and straw coloured in places.

What a summer! 

For anyone who has booked to go abroad, enjoy cooling down overseas for a change. It’s not that it will be cooler outside, they are just more used to having to cope with it.

For anyone who has to travel on the London tube – oh my god, how do you do it?

It is bad enough in the winter, but now, being slowly roasted in your own juices alongside many others, some of whom who were less than fragrant in the first place, is not my idea of fun.

But how does this compare to the summers of yester year.

The “summer” of 1976 is the benchmark. The “good” weather started in March and went through to September. Can you imagine this weather carrying on for that long?

Reservoirs dried up, stand pipes appeared in the street and water was at a premium.

But think about the poor farmers.

Firstly, they have to grow the crops. Then they have to harvest them in 30+ degree heat. And finally, they have to get them to the shops in a state people will want to buy them.

People don’t want to buy flowers at the moment as they don’t last as long in the sweltering heat, and yet the poor growers still have to produce them to make a living, even without any rain. They have to ensure they don’t bolt and they are just ready when they arrive at the shops. But when they arrive, they are now overlooked by shoppers.

In 1976, we didn’t have so many huge supermarkets like we do now. Fruit and vegetables were allowed to be any shape. But these days, we have huge corporations that drive waste through imperfect produce and reduce the rates that the farmers can command to make a living. It’s hard enough to produce the vegetables and fruit, but now they have to be perfect.  Yet somehow they achieve this, most of the time.

This article is interesting. It compares the two summers and gives you a flavour of just how difficult that summer was.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/how-heatwave-1976-compares-summer-14864752

As much as we enjoy waking up to a blue sky, a splash of the wet stuff now and again would really make such a difference. I planted a new photinia in spring and now it spends each week wilting, only to come back to life when I give it a drink. If you think about the animals, wandering the hillsides, they must be in a similar state. There aren’t many pools to drink from, so the farmers have to make sure they have a full trough on a regular basis. 

Invading Insects

If I peer out across the back garden there is something obscuring the view. Instead of a perfect vista there appears to be a haze, a blur, a rippling backdrop.

Looking closer, it becomes clear. The sky is alive with insects. Flying, biting, buzzing, insects.

I have never seen so many.

Gnats floating on still air. Flies alive to the possibility of an early feast. Damsel flies scouring the terrain for somewhere to land. Insects all, and in numbers quite unlike ever before.

Your skin itches to think of them. But that’s just the start.

Lying in wait in the grass is an array of other insects. Beetles, bugs and fleas. Boosted by the hot weather these insects start to breed and multiply. Females can lay many eggs each day and they can hatch in no time.

At first you think you are imagining it, but soon the odd red spot turns into an irritation and becomes an itchy bite. One bite becomes two and then you have a congregation of bites adorning your legs.  

In our neck of the woods, whatever lies outside, comes inside. Our cats are mobile transport vehicles on legs. You can spray them, treat them and comb them, but the tide is overwhelming.  The insects keep coming. The poor animals are as clean as you can get, they groom every few minutes, but this makes things worse with the insects particularly attracted to a clean fur coat and a free ride.

Thank god the weather isn’t like this every year. As much as it is nice to enjoy eating outside, the additional value that the garden provides is not really appreciated by me. Susceptible to insect bites, my legs can resemble a lunar crater at times. Long trousers try to protect me when working in the garden, but somehow the little critters still get through and nibble on my tasty flesh.

We were warned of an imminent invasion of super fleas a month or so ago.  See below.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/super-fleas-giant-penises-invade-12626946

I’m just thankful us male humans don’t mutate into such creatures or we would never get our pants on.

Garden Produce

The garden has suffered in the heat. But actually, without too much watering, we have a crop of various veggies. The beans are doing well, with broad beans and dwarf beans aplenty. The runner beans have scaled the supports and are now flowering in readiness to spawn the pods.

The onions are growing sporadically and we have a few mange tout, but the beetroot has more or less completely failed, I spotted one shoot this morning. The cabbages have been the worst ever, eaten by something almost to the point of extinction.

Our gooseberries are about to ripen, and now need to be protected against the pigeon population who will happily eat them all.

The greenhouse has been simpler this year. I just went for cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries and chillies. We have enjoyed many cucumbers, the tomatoes are fruiting well although none are red yet, and the strawberries have provided a new gift each day to reward the person who waters them.

Not a great year so far, but at least we have some rewards to feast upon.

I have also planted a patch of sunflowers which are starting to decorate the vegetable patch quite nicely. More next time.

Our crop of sweetcorn is growing ok, and I hope the good weather will ripen them better than ever before.

I have not planted lettuce and other salad stuff yet, but I understand that lettuce doesn’t grow well in 30 degree heat and therefore have been loathed to bother. In fact, the papers are reporting that the shops will be devoid of lettuces in the near future.

[Just as I write this, a five inch spider dropped off the ceiling onto my head and ran down my body, tickling me with its legs. Another visitor to take care of!]

Afternoon Badger

With all the hot weather and it being the breeding season, there comes a time when the female of each species needs to get some nourishment of their own. Tired of providing for their young they appear, usually quite withered, and seek sustenance.

A week or so ago we had a visit from a very tired looking badger – at about 4pm. This never happens and probably demonstrates that she was really hungry. She found a few seeds to eat, but the ground is so hard I don’t think there was anything else to munch on. We never saw her again.

Then a couple of days later as I went to put out some recycling, I spotted a snake slithering behind the paper box. It was only small, part of the latest local brood I suspect. But it had all the right markings of a common grass snake.

White Lily

The colour is still in the garden even though the grass is taking a battering in the sun. However, the flowers seem to come and go at great pace. For example, the white lilies took weeks to grow, only to shrivel and die within a few days. I have been away almost every day for weeks, but I did at least catch a glimpse of them before they disappeared for this year.

Our purple verbena circle has also come back.

The year before last, we planted four verbena flowers and last year they multiplied into 30 or so. We didn’t think they were coming back, as the bed was empty with no sign of shoots, but the bed regrowth is now well underway and a purple ring has formed around the Viburnum.

Unhappily the stone flower bed that we had built a couple of years ago is starting to crumble and will have to have the top rebuilt again. (We have already had the top done twice).

Our Diabetic Cat - Tango

As the weather warmed up and the cats started to venture outside they soon lost their winter coat, and shed a few pounds. This is normal at this time of year and last year it was quite stark how quickly they went from chubby bunnies to lithe feline monsters. 

This year the same happened. But then for Tango, he continued to lose pounds, until his bones started to stick out and his muscles wasted away. This happened over a few weeks and was quite shocking.

We took him to the vets, and they tested his blood and sent him home. They speculated on what was wrong with him, and they saw him a few more times, testing his blood and speculating further. But they did nothing of any consequence.

Eventually, we insisted they took him to the veterinary hospital to have a scan which they seemed to be avoiding. As soon as he arrived there, the nurse immediately put him on a drip and pumped him with various medications. He was very ill.

The hospital couldn’t believe he had not been treated. He stayed for a week or so, while they monitored him and regulated his medications. He is now seriously diabetic and has a potential chronic bowel problem, to the point that he cannot eat normal food, and he has to be injected twice a day with insulin.

He is a skeleton on legs. Finding a non-bony area to stroke is a challenge. He still has love in his eyes but it is now mixed with pain.

Charlie has decided that he is the enemy and someone he doesn’t know. He too won’t eat properly or even come in the house for any amount of time when Tango is about.

This presents us with a challenge. We cannot leave food out for the cats any more, and go out.  We have to feed them and then stand over them while they eat to make sure they don’t swap dinners. We have to ensure Tango is ok, and he has to eat regularly and have lots of water.

This will limit our ability to go out, visit people and holiday anywhere. We cannot leave him for any amount of time. If you have a sick relative you know how it is. This is for the rest of his life.

Weekend trips to far off places are now on-hold. When you take a pet into your house, you are committed to caring for it for life. Never before has this been so apparent to us.

He is not out of the woods yet, we are just coming to terms with it. But he is at least at home and able to explore the garden rather than being cooped up in a cage. His purr has come back slowly and he seems happy that he can wander about. He lives in the shadows and sleeps most of the time, but he is home.

Latest Day Lilies

The topic of the moment, except for the never ending Brexit discussions, is the football. Aren’t we doing well!

First we managed to get out of the group stages without incident.

Then we survived a penalty shoot-out for the first time in a world cup.

Finally, we overcome Sweden to reach the semi-finals.

After all the hype of previous world cups, we had no expectations this time and how it has paid off. How long before Gareth Southgate becomes Sir Gareth Southgate (missed a penalty in 1996)?

In celebration of this, I have linked a song from 1996 that has endured, even though we have never really had anything to celebrate since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM

But this could be our year! Well we can hope.

It is also a time of great festivals.

Last week was the 30^th anniversary of the second summer of love in Ibiza. I didn’t even know there was a second summer of love, but it is 30 years since 1988 and that was when I got married, so I suppose it could be seen as a summer of love even for me!

So here’s a couple of tunes from that time too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J2OlIpQgF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxTd8pkxYLc

Have a great weekend!

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