Holiday Weekend Updates

Happy holiday weekend, everyone.  I know not everyone has today off, but I took it off to have a four day weekend with the Fourth of July tomorrow.  Anyway, so far I've had a one mow May and a 1/2 mow June; will I mow in July?  I only remember because I noted it here, but I first mowed this year on May 13, then mowed only the back yard on June 4, and it looks like it may be some time yet before I mow again.  The front yard is mostly brown while the back is mostly hanging on to green and all of it stopped growing long ago but for going to seed.

Raspberries are almost done and today I noticed the first several walnuts had fallen in the yard.  But where are the helicopters from the maple trees?  They normally fall like rain later in the spring, causing a cleaning of the gutters, but so far nothing.  I can't even be sure if I see them in the trees or not.  As dry as it's been it may be possible that there won't be any this year, or maybe a very few.  The humidity finally arrived last week, so temperatures that were more than bearable before now require the air conditioning on and outside chores planned around the weather.

All four sunflowers are still alive, two seem to be doing very well while the other two almost died but recovered though they seem stunted, so we'll see how they do.  But the other two are looking very promising.

The bird feeder now requires refilling once a day.  It's gone in less than a day but I will only refill it once a day.  I got the gardens cleaned up somewhat this morning, including digging up the monster oregano plant, leaving just a tiny sprig to live on.   We gave up on the strawberries, they exist only for the critters now.  And I have the new trail camera trained on the stump where I've been putting the extra peanuts from the bird food (since too many clog the feeder) so will have to bring that in soon and see what's been enjoying the feasts I put out.  And I've painted more doors.

Yes, after painting the front door there was still a lot of the quart of paint left over so we decided to paint the back porch door and the side garage door.  And there's still at least 1/3 of the quart left but I think that's enough painting for now.  Henceforth we may be known as the Purple Door House!

I'll put pictures of the doors after the break.

Smoke and Air Quality

Edit: Just noticed the Hazardous spelling :)

Tuesday morning our Air Quality Index number was 198, officially Unhealthy and bordering on Very Unhealthy.  This morning our air quality index number was 295, almost Hazardous  - per the Air Quality Index.

This is all smoke from some of about 500 current wildfires in Canada funneled down in circumstance of weather and winds.

According to the news, being outside here this whole 24 hour day today is the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes.  The haze is noticeable and the air a bit thicker and with a smell of smoke.  The only escape other than quick travel far, far away is staying indoors with the windows shut and the air conditioning on, which we started doing earlier today.

I've had my own issues with it as a former smoker, but everyone will notice to some degree or another.  I took half a day off today, not fully because of this but we were slow and it was noticeable to the point of distraction for me this morning.  I have the time to take and I deserve it, so I did.  But while I took a walk despite the air yesterday I won't be walking today.  The recommendation is everyone stay indoors and use an air purifier if you have one, but I'm sure most people are continuing as normal and doing what they need to do, inside or outside.  Life goes on, just with a new topic of conversation.

Beautiful Day

 Not a cloud in the sky, totally sunny and clear... but for the smoke from Canadian wildfires.

It's been an issue lately, but the next few days are expected to be worse than ever.  Air quality is real bad and I find myself very phlegmy, and can even smell smoke when I step outside.

Just a quick post to share this, now back to work.

Purple Door

The trail camera showed up after I started preparing yesterday and the SD card while I was painting, so I did not try a time lapse of painting the front door purple.  But no matter, the job got done and the results are pretty good, we think.

Two coats went on yesterday and some touching up this morning.  For some reason it never occurred to me that it would take more than one coat, but of course, covering a lighter color with a darker one will do that.  Still, didn't use much of the quart of paint so a shame there's nothing else we want painted purple.  I also spray painted black all the formerly brass hardware on the outside of the door.  I figured that was a better option than leaving them brass and more in line with our black and white outside theme.  Overall, I think it's a good addition of color without being loud or obnoxious.

On my last trip to see my Mom she reminded me of all the different colors she had painted our front door years ago, so maybe we'll change it up in a few years if we tire of purple.