thanks, Muddy! I propped things up as best I could. I'll cut the red yarrow back once the current blooms have faded. I had to cut the borage back a lot despite the bloom as it is a very heavy plant and the supports were not strong enough to hold it up.
Muddy, glad you got that silver maple down--what a crack that is!
Holly, I absolutely could not live without my cpap! The sleep apnea runs in my family, so several family members have it as well. It has really been a life- saver for me. Glad it's working for Ric as well.
I agree, Speedie--lovely day yesterday for yard work! I stayed out from about 7:30 am till about 4:30, then decided I was too sore and tired to continue. I'll do a little more this morning, but indoor chores call as well unfortunately (sigh).
Weather Dog Days of Summer
It was so gorgeous! What a great gardening weekend.
My sister came over today and took a bunch of deer-resistant plants I had dug up for her. With those pots gone, my patio almost looks presentable again!
Yesterday was a puppy day of summer - all frolicky and comfortable! It was GRRRRREAT!!
puppy days of summer!!
X^D
getting a bit doggish out there
Anyone else who lives in this area lose power? We went out for dinner and the outage seems fairly widespread. SSG? Happy? Terp? Yehudith?
Hey Cat,
I was out of town for the 4th. We did lose power at some point but I don't believe it was for very long.
Glad you managed okay, Terp, and hope you were somewhere enjoying yourself! Two years ago at the time of the derecho we had tickets for Busch Gardens/ Williamsburg/ Water Country over the 4th. With no power and restoration anticipated to last up to a week, DD and I went down a couple days early for our vacation and had a wonderful time! It was really perfect timing. :-)
That was great timing! It was unimaginably hot that week and it took 4 days for our power to come back. It was unreal. You were very fortunate.
We lost our power that summer, too. After that miserable experience, I bought battery-powered fans, lanterns and lots of batteries. I also bought battery-powered pumps and filters for my daughter's fish tanks. My investment paid off: we have never had to use any of that except for the lanterns (knocking on wood).
If it's any consolation, although we left town following that particular storm, we have had innumerable multiday power outages since moving to this area in 2006. I have honestly never lived anywhere so plagued by power outages! Okay, for comparison, when we lived on typhoon-ridden *Guam* (i.e. virtually third world and not the best infrastructure in the world) in 1969-71, we did not have as many multiday power outages as we've had here in our Nation's Capital 35-40 years later. I remember we even rode out typhoons with only brief outages if any. I do think it's gotten better since the Derecho though--maybe because of the smart meters (the scorching public wrath and calls for congressional investigation against Pepco probably didn't hurt, either...)
Our end of this particular neighborhood used to have more than its share of outages. The rest of the neighborhood was on a different 'line' or something. Eventually after a few years it was said we had a bad transformer serving our end, and it got fixed. Now, outages are very rare.
Sounds like you've suffered a long time with outages though- I hope they fix it for good, soon!
Really glad to hear y'all are ok Terp, and that you weren't around to suffer the outage. Precision timing you got there! =)
We, too, live on a grid that has had more than its fair share of outages, and we had the same issue, too; found out after a handful of years that the transformer needed to be replaced. It used to $uck, sitting here seeing lights on across the street and wonder why we were the only ones without power!! Just on the very edge of that 'bad grid'. (bad grid, no biscuit!)
< =P
Uh oh. Another storm is coming!
They haven't finished cleaning up the fallen branches across the street, and a couple of the large branches are still leaning precariously against their house. Let's hope the winds are not so severe with this storm!
This message was edited Jul 8, 2014 7:20 PM
I had no idea we had another one coming till the sky got dark, the wind started blowing, and it started pouring! :-o
Fingers crossed no power outages or damage this time!
I was not home--but when I got home--in the pouring rain--so many of my
pots and stands were blown over. Some stands toppled to the floor...
My Calla Lily--my Braz. Plume pot---my heavy pot of Pony Tail palms--down
and rolled about 4 feet from where the stand was.
There is a lg. dead branch just hanging down from my tree. It has many
dead branches that come tumbling down in high winds...Nature's pruning....
Must have been some serious gusts of wind....I was driving home under this
dark gray sky overhead--like a lid on the world...
When it was all over--there was this yellow/orange glow outside.. Weird...
I went outside and took this picture...amazing that it is in focus--as I had it on zoom.
Nice photo, Gita, and too bad about your plants! We didn't have much wind, or that beautiful orange sky either.
That is quite a sky, Gita!
Nice photo G!
We had a nice storm blast through last night. Only 0.13 inches of rain though :( I saw a bunch of branches down on the way to work.
We didn't get much rain either I was hoping for more. At the first gust of wind we lost the electricity and it just came back on, about 18 hrs I would think. We did lose a small Red Bud Tree of all the self sown RB's it was the one that was best placed.
Holly sorry to hear about your redbud and the power? Did Ric manage OK without power for his cpap?
LOL CatMint, He just went in to take a nap as he didn't sleep very well last night without it.
Big storm came through our place last evening. I had just gotten to Frederick to drop off some plants for Jill when it hit. The wind was blowing the rain sideways. When I left, the two traffic lights that are on the route home were out. My driveway was full of downed branches and our electricity was out too. It finally came back on around 10:45, so it wasn't out more than a few hours. I could look up the hill and see my parent's lights on - the beauty of a "wired in" generator.
Ric and I have given some thought to a generator but we really don't loose our power that often.
I think most people would've swung around the cul de sac and headed back home rather than getting out just as the storm broke! Poor Terri came to the door wet as a... muskrat? Hmm, what kind of critter gets really wet and still looks happy? She has one of the best smiles, all aglow even when the wind is practically blowing her through the front door.
Terri glad you made it safely! I know how tense it can be driving through bad storms!
Our Aspenhill, Is really something special.
Little Joyanna was concerned that the storm door was going to blow wide open in all that wind, so she made sure it was latched (and locked) tight LOL. We stood there for a bit watching the storm through the glass - watching thunderstorms is wild and wonderful when you are viewing through the safety of cover :)
It was so nasty out that we didn't get to do the garden walk about to check out what was blooming, but I did spot the TALLEST lilies I've ever seen from her kitchen window. They looked about 7 - 8'. Jill, you need to dig up the info on what that cultivar is when you get a chance!!!
We had this critter in our creek one time. It was the closest thing to a muskrat I could come up with. I think it is an otter?
Not an Otter, I think it's a mink, want a coat? LOL
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/mink.htm
Yes, definitely a mink. It's so cute! It never occurred to me that we might have minks around here.
It is adorable! :-)
Holly, thanks for the id!
wow a mink!
Wow, that's the coolest thing ever!! Too bad we don't have things like that living in suburbia :( Of course if we did, I'm sure there'd be a bunch of mentals killing them for no good reason...
You may have them closer than you think Jeff. A local trout steam is loved by developers, with few wild areas left. As I sat quietly on a snag retying a lure I saw the small critter bouncing down the far side bank with an even smaller critter in its mouth. So I sat and watched as momma mink moved 3 kits to a new den. They are rather secretive and not often seen. I have seen them locally in 3 different streams, and all while quietly seated.
Wow, that's pretty cool, I guess I need to get out in nature more frequently :)
As a side note, we had a nice storm last night that brought 1.26" of rain to our yard. Sorta makes my hours worth of watering seem silly but who can trust the reliability of summer showers anyway?
awesome Ric!
Wonder what amazing creatures I'll see tonite as I deliver the paper by the light of the Super Moon?
Enjoy all
Terri, that's a really lovely photo... a study in sepia-tones, perfect focus on the mink's face, nice details with the twigs, pretty little creek in the background... you need to frame it!
cropped to an 8x10...
by the light (not the dark but the light)
of the silvery moon (not the sun but the moon)...
Hahahaha, I had started singing to myself, too.
You may see some awesome creatures tonight, coleup!!!!