July 27 Thursday.

 Another quiet morning in the garden, snipping and clipping, stretching and stooping.  All good things happen in the garden.  I looked again for the third caterpillar.  One of two things... hiding or maybe a bird found a Swallowtail caterpillar.  I'll continue to look. Monarchs are safe from birds.  Because they eat milkweed, birds have learned to leave them alone.  I learned last night that Rita is going to take care of the two caterpillars I found.  A good diversion, I would say. I hope this doesn't unnerve her. 

        I found the third caterpillar after supper.  Can you find three friends that have been reconnected? 

While in the garden a far neighbor walking her dog stopped to talk.  We had a grand tour of the garden.  Sharing lots of talk and enjoying the early morning very tolerable breezes.  Her in-laws lived in our neighborhood when our children were little.  She shared lots of memories.  

                                                                    A morning surprise.  

The morning because a little toasty so I called a halt to garden work earlier than usual.  A couple of buckets full of throw-away flowers that were finished blooming and an armload of ornamental sage clippings got a tote to the big blues.  One job coming my way after vacation will have to do with daylilies.  There will be digging involved.  I can't ignore them anymore but want to make them look better, bloom better, and just enhance the garden to look their best. Right now, that is a problem.

                                  Black-eyed Susans, Lambs ear, Artemisia and some Autumn Joy Sedum, and some ornamental grass.  No place for weeds!. 

Doug and I took another trip to the drugstore.  The medicine I was waiting "to come in on the truck" was on the shelf for days.  I'm just happy to add it to the stash going north.  I had an all-knowing drug assistant waiting on me this afternoon. She knew where to look. Not a hard skill to hone for some. 

So this afternoon the main aim was to stay cool.  We shut up the house and rain the fans.  I can say as we heard an old-time miner say at a Calumet, Mi restaurant while on vacation years ago, " I see you have the air on". Yes, they were running the fans.   A hot-water baseboard heating system doesn't provide vents for air conditioning.  So we have the air on. There are solutions but the heat is only here for a short time.  I love our summer electric bill.  

                                                        Tall beautiful marigolds.  

I remember as a child, canning all summer on the hottest of days.  The copacker steaming on the stove sitting with buckets of sour cherries pitting as fast as one could.  Then there were peaches, red beets, pickles, green beans, tomatoes and corn and it just went on and on.  When we got to the plums, we were almost through with canning season.  Then the freezer came and life we thought was a little easier.  Talk about child labor laws!  

                            Here is the culprit taking a lot of time just munching and looking. 

This evening after supper my window picture showed me the deer was at the neighbors munching on the sunflowers.  I grabbed the camera and here is the culprit. About two minutes later a hawk flew in landing in the arbor where there is great cover looking for a meal.  It's wild life evening.  

                                There was a beautiful cloud overhead.  Don't forget to look up.

I've thought of a few last-minute camping add-ons.  The empty spaces are filling and what we forget, we probably don't need or can find a way to "make it work".    

                                            One can never have enough Becky Daisys.