Dog Days

100 degrees outside.  Iris hugs the vent to take full advantage of the air conditioning.  

Clothes line-dry in about two hours, even the overalls.  The only thing I use my dryer for these days is to air-fluff the jeans and overalls.  

 There are loads of tomatoes waiting in the wings.

 Lots of red ones, too.  I should have enough to can in a day or two.  

 They literally grow in bunches.

 The ones facing south are getting sun-scald.  Did you know that tomatoes and peppers won't set fruit when the daytime high temperatures are over 90 degrees?   

 All the grass and pasture is parched and dry.

 The people who bought the house next door are making big progress.  The new roof will probably be finished tomorrow.  As I understand it, they are going to do away with the swimming pool that takes up the whole back yard.  They paid $25,000 for the place, and the man expects he will put about that amount into fixing it up.  

 I have put many pints and quarts of peaches in the freezer, and look how many are still left.  I slightly sweeten the pint batches for us to use on our cereal; I do not sweeten the quarts, because I will use them for cobbler; I'll add the sugar when I make the cobbler. 

 My daughter's mother-in-law is visiting them, and she plans to take some home to Carthage with her.  I'll send her some tomatoes, too, and potatoes if she wants them.  

In spite of the heat, Cliff still spends most of his day in the shop.  He doesn't do much that requires exertion, though.  His cardiologist told him six years ago that he was to stay inside anytime the temperature was over 85, but did you ever know a man to listen to a doctor?  
So that's how things go around here.  
We're living on stuffed peppers and stir-fried zucchini and eggplant in any form.  Free food!  
I have had people tell me, "It isn't free:  you paid for the seeds and you worked hard for it."  
Those people are wrong.  The garden is my hobby.  When it quits being fun, I won't be gardening.  Any expense incurred is spent on my hobby, and if I reap some food as a result, it's free, just a by-product of my enjoyable hobby.  You won't hear me complaining about how hard I worked.  It isn't work to me, it's play.