Slushies for Kids

It being hot outside (see prior blog entry), my youngest grandchild, James, recruited me to bring the crushed ice machine to his preschool today.
It makes tolerably good Slushies, not quite as fine as you get from the big commercial machines, but good enough, especially since I got it for free at a local yard sale.

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Hot Enough For Ya?

After record cold in May, we’re into record heat in June. Right now, at almost 4:30 PM, it’s 88 degrees outside.
I HATE this. I wish all this heat could be deposited on (or, better, in) the skulls of those people who are perpetually cold, or perpetually whiney about winter.
By the way, on Vancouver Island, it’s in the mid-60’s.
Some folks have all the luck!

Offshore Wind

Noticed the wind blowing in from the West around 4:00 this afternoon, the best direction, from land to ocean, as opposed to the killer Nor’easters that feed from the water and rotate inshore.
And, what a mercy, I now have screens on ALL my windows, having put up the last one in no time this evening.

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Gardener’s Diary

I’ve been amazed at the resilience of the seemingly fragile new-growth spring plants, which withstood a brutal Nor’easter earlier this week.
The only casualties were some very tiny Coleus which I’d put in just before the storm. Everything else not only survived, but apparently thrived with all the rain, even though it seems we’ve had maybe 15 minutes of sun since last weekend.

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$16 Investment, $64 Result

Yesterday, after trying without success to fit a programmatic square peg into a round hole, I visited one of our local nurseries for stock to complete a planter on the deck.
The season is very late this year, and even though Memorial Day weekend is not too far off, the weather has been lousy, not at all typical of Spring. Between these two, it’s been hard to find healthy-looking plants: the dampness and cold have resulted in spindly stocks and yellowed or even decayed leaves.

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