Very hot today, over 90F.The mosquitoes continue in clouds. I managed about a half hour of digging grass clumps out of my eggplant patch but did not make it down to water the tomatoes. Nancy reached under the potato plants and pulled out a half dozen beauties.
Martin and his friend Brett Shifrin rode their bicycles in the 100 mile loop around Mt Washington. I don’t know how they endured the heat. It is mostly highway riding and not so very appealing. They don’t plan to do it again.
Shireen came home mid-morning with three young co-workers and practiced her viola while one of the boys played the piano.
I am not getting many eggs but apart from that the animals seem not to be suffering.
Ruth Snell brought me 6 quarts of blueberries. She sells them to me every year. What a treat.
July 16, 2012 Monday
My goodness, another hot muggy day. The humidity is so high it turned to a wet mist for awhile. I heard on NPR that most of the bats have died and I realize I have not seen more than one or two. The speaker said this is why we have so many mosquitoes. Each bat will eat 1000 per night.
I feel mean bringing the sheep in at night. It is for their safety and they want to come in but it is so hot in the barn.
I made five quarts of rhubarb sauce this afternoon. I finished digging around the eggplants and now am in a hurry for them to grow. I have a new recipe for eggplant Parmesan that I want to try. I tried a new method of making cottage cheese involving rennet. I don’t think much of it.
DD Sally says they have been catching lots of Sockeye out in front of her house and she is canning and freezing. They are extra big and red this ear. She in on the Chilcoot.
July 18, 2012 Wednesday
On Tuesday the humidity finally curdled into rain which fell for a half hour or so. Then the sun came out and all the plants looked happy but the heat returned undiminished. If the crows or ravens had not eaten my corn it would have been audibly growing. Nancy put in some replacement sprouts she had too many of. We have renewed hopes for them. The folks out west have lost 30% of their crop, so I read. I feel like if we have the conditions for growing corn we ought to at least keep trying.
I finished reading The Devil in the Milk, a discussion of A1A2 milk by Keith Woodford. He has followed the story from the beginning and knows well or has met personally with most of the scientists and dairy people connected with the matter. The book is exhaustively referenced and quotes relevant statements and publications. A1A2 refers to two forms of casein found in milk. The A1 form can cause gastric distress and bloating in some people. If it passes through the gut barrier and enters circulation, it may result in inflammation to veins and prompt destruction of the insulin producing cells in the pancreas as well as other damage. Affected persons need to avoid all dairy products that contain casein; alternatively they can drink milk from cows which are homozygous for A2 casein.
I had a visit from Tracy Wilkerson and her nice kids. She is farm manager at the Gould Academy farm. They are considering adding dairy animals. They arrived early in time to watch me milking.
Dr. Cooper stopped in and I gave him lunch. That is always a pleasure.
The only gardening I did was to harvest my marigold blossoms for drying.
When Shireen returned she brought me a gift from her Grandma Marie, some unbelievably delicious oranges she had brought from California.
I made a pan of scones using granddaughter Helena’s recipe. They were good but hers were better.
July 19, 2012 Thursday
At last, fine weather. It did not get above 60F, the sun shone and there was a light breeze. Dear Cousins Holly and Richard came over this morning and picked currents. What joy to get them picked. Holly brought muffins and we had them with tea and my scones. Here is a nice photo of me and grandkids Hannah and Henry, taken by Holly when they were here last week helping put up hay bales.
Out in the paddock garden, the individual sprouted corn plants, seeds really, that Nancy set out mostly look good. The crows seem not to have noticed them.
July 20, 2012 Friday
Very fine weather again today. The mosquitoes remain bad.
Ella and Milton have pretty well finished the grass in their paddock. I started today to feed hay.
I got tired of not having anything but store bought bread and made a couple of loaves. Shireen and I used it for our hamburgers for supper.
She is pretty tired. She and Roshan and DIL Mitra went to the Batman movie last night at midnight, the night of the Aurora massacre.
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