Hot Hot Hot!

All is well here, just WAY too hot. I got a cigarette lighter plug doubler for the little solar generator so now I can run a fan and the fridge at the same time but it doesn’t change the fact that the temperature in here is in the 90’s. And the weather forecast still keeps saying low to mid 90’s, right up through the next 8 days! The average temp for right now is only 82. I want 82, I’d probably have to wear long sleeves if it was that cool!!  It’s 93 in here right now and I’m sitting around in underpants and a big tee shirt with the arms cut off. If someone comes I’ll have to hurry and put my shorts on! 

I cut up some 90% shade cloth and put it over two of the windows. It really does help keep the sun’s heat out, but it also makes it very dark in here. And ugly on the outside. Still, I guess it’s worth it.

I got out an old propane camp stove that’s probably 40 years old and fixed it! I can hardly believe I’ve hauled this old thing around with me in all my travels. I’m pretty amazed. It wouldn’t ever keep a low flame, if I adjusted the flame down it would immediately go right back to roaring hot. I found a YouTube video on that problem and was able to remove the knobs and spindles, clean them and now it works great! It still runs way hotter than my little stove in the house and I burned a pot of fresh green beans already (and I NEVER burn anything!) but I just have to keep a close eye on it. It’s been a real game-changer….now I do all the cooking outside and the house stays a good 5 degrees cooler, especially in the mornings. It usually stays below 80 degrees until about noon, then the sun starts hitting the front of the house and it heats up quickly.

A couple days a week we get afternoon thunderstorms that cool everything off but it’s not enough. We are supposed to be in Monsoon season and gets rains daily. We are having a terrible Monsoon season for two years in a row, even though it was supposed to be a good one because of la Nina weather patterns. Huh. Shows how much THEY know. We are back in drought conditions again!! I am so afraid I’m going to lose more of my shady Cedar trees.

I have pretty much given up on getting any kind of tomato crop, but the bell peppers are doing good. Apparently tomatoes are much more tasty to rodents than pepper plants. I had a small San Marzano tomato ripening and then it got eaten. Even the plants on the patio table are getting slaughtered, and it seems impossible that mice or any other kind of rodents could get up there! The legs come up into the middle of the table top, a good 1.5′ from the edge!! And it seems strange that they saw off a branch but don’t really eat any of the leaves. I had no idea we had squirrels and chipmunks here but I saw one of each the other day. Too many rodents!! 

The hydroponic tomato is getting top-heavy and wants to keel over all the time, I’ve got it kind of propped up with sticks but if it’s windy, they don’t work well. It’s looking really stressed and every morning it’s wilted. The nutrient solution goes down almost 2″ a day, I guess it is drinking it?? Or perhaps it’s dehydrating that fast in this low humidity.
I think next year I’ll do some bell peppers and that’s all. I’ll have to buy tomatoes, not try to grow them. I get too attached. The funny thing is, I don’t even like raw tomatoes, only canned tomatoes!! And my few plants were never going to give me enough to do any canning with. So I’ve really wasted a bunch of money on them.

I’m in a Facebook gardening group for this area and a number of long-time gardeners are giving up, due to the drought and the rodent problems. One of the reasons I wanted to buy property and settle down was that I wanted a garden! Boy THAT was a bad idea. 

I think I have Shingles!! Just starting. That’s the only thing I can figure out, anyway. I have a patch about 3×5″ on my side that burns like fire, but it looks perfectly normal. I couldn’t sleep so I got up and Googled it and Shingles was one thing that came up. It said in the early days there isn’t a rash. I have had the homeopathic Singles remedy on hand for at least 10 years, just in case.  It really does help a lot, so maybe that’s what it is. A friend had full-blown shingles with the rash and everything, and the homeopathic made it go away in 3 days. No pharmaceutical would give results like that!  I have a Dr. appt on Monday so we’ll see how it is by then. Hopefully all gone.

Not much else going on here. Roxie is now spending 99% of the daylight hours under the house. Every once in a while she comes out behind the house and barks for me to come and get her; I think she gets lost!! She drinks some water, then wants to go right back out. I wish *I* could fit under the house too!