Alvin mowed the rec field last Wednesday afternoon and suffered a severe allergy attack afterwards; almost migraine-like headache for 4 days. He was supposed to be Santa Claus for the Christmas in July festivities on Saturday hosted by Kate, one of our college age rangerettes. She's studying park management at University of Montana preparing for a career as a park ranger. The other park volunteer stepped in to fill the Santa shoes.
We also had a star party planned for after the Christmas campfire complete with s'mores, but...
totally clouded out. We managed to catch a peek of 5 or 6 stars, not all at once before giving up.
Yet 5 miles from the park had beautiful clear skies. Go figure! Not the first time I've been weathered out, surely not the last. We did get a treat of several big brown bats feasting on the hungry mosquitoes.
Entertainment was provided by a family with glow-in-the-dark hula hoops and a light-up Frisbee that changed colors in flight, pretty cool; I found some neat pictures on the web site MoodHoops.com
Had some good b'flies in the park, Summer Azure and beautiful Cabbage White enjoying the herb garden. A nice Widow Skimmer flitted around the Queen Anne's lace, hawking for lunch.
The bee blossom is in full bloom and the hummers are enchanted, maybe we should call it butterfly bush instead.
The blackberries are coming along nicely. I can see raspberries out in the brush, but there's no path cut though and I don't think I can penetrate the dense wall of shrubs to reach any of them. Hope the red squirrels and chipmunks enjoy them. Maybe they will leave my tomatoes alone.
Picked my first squash today and fried them in cornmeal just for Alvin. It was yummy!
Used the Coleman stove outside, too hot to cook indoors.
Visited Green Mountain Smokehouse in Windsor on Tuesday...
Alvin found locally made beef jerky, I don't even like jerky, but thought this was very tasty. Also found good sausage, bacon, smoked turkey, and ham steak.
Attempted a mid-week star party last night, again cloudy, but we did manage to view the waxing gibbous moon through the spotting scope until thunder and lightening drove us out of the field.
I finally found a spot where I can view the western horizon for good looks at Venus. I'm still looking for a clear eastern horizon for Jupiter and Mars in the pre-dawn sky.
Laundry day this morning, we left home at 5:45 - to beat the 90° temps and 90% humidity we've been having every day. Not only that, all the weirdos are still asleep instead of hanging out at the Kleen. We were back home in the woods before 8 AM.
Took a walk around the park about 9:30. Poor little Red-eyed Vireo feeding 2 Brown-headed Cowbird chicks. Wish I had my BB gun...
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