What is it about the first really hot patch of summer weather. Today was the first day where the inside of the house was warm enough not to require three layers of clothing. The attic has absorbed enough heat so that it has finally heated up the leftover winter air. It’s actually uncomfortably warm inside and I’m luxuriating in it.
And outside it’s ninety. Butterflies and dragonflies are flitting around and the birds are tearing around looking for food for their hatchlings. The moist hot grass is breathing water right into the air and you can smell the photosynthesis cranking away. I love this kind of weather. It rejuvenates me. It makes me wax rhapsodically. It makes me babble idiotically. It recharges body and soul.
For the last couple of weeks, on and off, a hatchling milk snake has been sheltering under an old sheet of copper that I put out for snakes. I have been hoping for years for a mouse eating snake to take up residence in the lower driveway wall. We have plenty of mice and moles and voles around here and a milk snake (or even better, a black rat snake) would put a real dent in their numbers. So, I’m cautiously hopeful that this little reptile is gonna stick around. But currently he’s so tiny that nothing but the youngest pink mice could serve him as food. I wonder if he’s presently surviving on insects, worms and maybe very small salamanders. Well, it’s something to think about.
But it’s not all fun and games. I’m still so behind in the repair and maintain chores. I haven’t even gotten to clean the really high gutters. I’ve got a twenty-four-foot ladder and my guilt is slowly driving me to get busy on it. Camera Girl thinks I should hire a handyman to do it but I scoff at this kind of defeatist talk. And likewise, all the other chores. They build character and spare the bank account. So, I’m putting together my schedule and thinking through the order of operations and locating rope and other supplies to set up the ladder.
Today I saw the biggest spider I’ve ever seen around here. Whether people call them fishing spiders or wolf spiders I haven’t done a close identification. But it was a huge bugger. He’s living close to where the exhaust from my heating system reaches the open air. I’m guessing the heat is an attractant for insects in the colder months. I’ll attach a photo here.
Camera Girl says she bought a red coneflower plant for me at Wally Mart. I’m making a row of various perennials but especially coneflowers. They attract butterflies and other insects for my photography. And finally, the other three preying mantis egg sacs that I can still find have all now hatched out. And they’re pretty evenly spaced around the property. Nice how that worked out. Of course, there were another six or eight of the things that seem to have disappeared. Well, that’s on me. Anyway, it’s an excellent day to be out and about. Nothing exciting just the good old summertime. June, moon, spoon, tune. All that stuff.