Hot!

It has been a hot summer so far, and I think we are in for a steamy July.  Not as bad as the west, though.  Phoenix has been in the 110's for a while, as high as 118.  I can't imagine!

We have been having fun playing in the sprinkler and tossing water balloons with Lily.  As a bonus, my lawn and garden gets watered.  As a non-bonus, my water bill goes up.  Oh well, it's pay to play.  We'll conserve water in the winter!

It's been too hot to take the camper out, we were hoping to go up to Illinois Beach State Park for a few days this week but a high temperature of 95 degrees has me shaking my head.  Even with lovely Lake Michigan, still too hot.  No air conditioning in our hard-sided, A-frame camper, and I am a big baby about heat and humidity.  Best to just stay put and enjoy the park district pools and squirting the hose in my own backyard.  It has a mist setting that feels so good after working in the garden.  Ahhh

I am trying to cut down on gin martinis.  I have been having one every day for weeks now!  Bad habit, because of course I have to have a snack along with the drink, and then I throw all dinner eating caution to the wind as well.  Bah.  Today is Monday, and I am putting the brakes on.  I will toast the afternoons with iced tea.  Good luck to me!

Early Gardening Gift

The past couple of days have been unseasonably warm.  Highs in the 50's, and nice and sunny.  I have been able to get a good jump on my spring cleaning -- garden-wise that is!  My house remains nice and dusty.  Who cares, with weather like this!

I got a lot of dead perennials cut down and thrown away, and did some raking.  It did my soul good just to get out in the bright sun.  Ahhh!  I am looking forward to a wonderful gardening season.

I have been retired for 3 months now.  It is going pretty well, I give myself good marks on getting in the pool just about every day, Monday through Friday.  But I give myself lower marks for general laziness in the lazyboy.  I am hoping that nice weather will spur me out of the house every day!  I tend to isolate, homebody that I am.

Buying Tom B's sweet little A-frame pop-up camper should tempt me out of the house during camping season.  Dan and I are envisioning trips to Shawnee National Forest, as well as to Ergang and up north to Wisconsin.  I don't think we will be taking any drives to California in our 21-year old Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Even though it would probably make it, I wouldn't want to worry about having to leave it at the side of the road somewhere out west.  How sad!