Lots of crunchy, brown grass around here.

We're used to this heat here in AZ, so this stuff is second nature to us AZ natives.

Also.......it's good to freeze large jugs of water in your freezer in case the power goes out in your area because of unexpected peak power usage you might have a brown out, so it's good to have ice to put in your powerless fridge or keep yourself cool with.

104 forecast for today, triple digits through the weekend. And dry, dry, dry.

They're predicting comparable weather down here for the next several days. Not good, since we're in a severe drought.

Off to give some of my plants a drink, too...

I'm trying to figure out the best approach. I watered heavily on Wednesday night. Soil around the shrubs and perennials was still moist yesterday evening, so I didn't water then, but got up early this morning and watered at dawn. I'm prepared to water this evening but I don't want to waterlog them. Advice welcome!

Big garden (beets, squash, melons, beans, basil, cherry tomatoes) - heavy watering in the mid morning - touch up in the evening if needed - definitely for the squash, beets, and tomatoes)

Driveway and deck (all pots) - heavy watering mid morning (9 AM) - spot watering of tomatoes only around 2 (eggplant and peppers should be OK - but check anyway). Touch up watering in the evening around 5-6 if plants look wilty.

We shall see how that works - what I don't want is my tomato plants - which are heavily laden with green fruit - to have an extended wilt from dryness - blossom end rot will start occurring if that happens.

We are in kinda uncharted territory!

scurrying home right now to water the potted things! Thanks for the tips!

Saturday and Sunday too. I'm used to the humid hot but this is ca-Razy.

we have honeybees swarming around the drainage holes in the pots. Thirsty bees (not bothering with me at all). In about a month we may be looking at a TON of tomatoes (literally - 200 plants at 10 lbs/plant) or more.

Getting the Ball jars out and washed and ready - roasting pan...tomato recipe cards. Seed saving materials. Check!

In a year or so start looking for headlines on wingnut blogs about how global warming is the fault of "evil libruls!" since the "evil liburuls!" didn't warn the repigs strongly enough, or some other insane "reason".

Just impossibly hot out there. Chilling out and making yogurt!

I just polished off 1/3 of a Marie Callendar's Key Lime Pie. Should hit the Greenway for a ride or take a walk around Shelley Lake, but that *ain't* gonna happen. At least I'm working on indoor projects...

our two labs are getting abbreviated evening dog walks these days! Shelley Lake - you aren't too far from us (we are north of 540 near Falls lake)

Love Falls Lake, too, especially on crisp fall days with a chair and good book down near the water...so pretty and peaceful.

here in east central Illinois, with a heat index of 111. I'm thankfull we don't have an outdoor thermometer...I don't want to know what I'm walking into when I go outside to water my garden later this evening.