Digging carrots at 6:30 A.M.

Any sort of physical activity needs to be done early, so while Cliff was still asleep, I went to the garden. 

 A lot of the carrots are tiny, but most of them are big enough to use.  I don't think I ever watered these.  It's amazing they grew at all.  

There are always a couple of oddballs in any group.  

 Because there was an extended dry period, then an inch of rain, the new potatoes started thinking they were seed potatoes and grew sprouts.  This is not a good thing.

I don't know if any of them will be worth keeping.  I had already dug my early potatoes before that rain, so they are fine.  

 The tomatoes are finally getting with the program.  We had our first BLT last night.   

I wish I had paid attention when I bought tomato plants and gotten something like Early Girl.  If these plants were some variety that didn't make such HUGE tomatoes, I'd have been canning tomatoes by now.  You can see there's blight, but I still have high hopes that I will get some tomatoes canned.  I'm sure that I'd have less problems with blight if I would prune my tomatoes instead of crowding them into cages.     

 The zucchini plant that died is still trying to rise from the dead.  

 The younger plant next to it is doing fine.  

I used all my early beets, and planted these later so Cliff's sister could can some pickled beets.  I think they are going to be a gigantic failure, though, because while they seem to be growing lovely big tops, the roots are not growing.  However, according to the University of Missouri vegetable planting guide, beets can be planted for a fall crop around August 1.  I intend to try again at that time.

Heat

This constant heat takes something out of me, even though I spend most of my time inside in the air conditioning.  I feel absolutely uninspired to update my blog.  There's really nothing new to report; I spend a lot of time moving soaker hoses in the garden, and that's my main activity.  Exciting, right?  Cliff decided he didn't want to go to church today, so it's a day like any other.  I don't care for television evangelists, and it really isn't so much the preaching that I miss, it's the idea of seeing actual people from the community who are meeting for a common cause.  I need something once in a while to get me out of my natural hermit-like frame of mind.

Look, its eyes are open!  When I first opened the side door of the birdhouse, the babies were jammed against it and I thought a couple were going to fall out.  I may stop peeking in so often.  They will leave the nest at the age of sixteen to twenty-one days.  I sure hope Mama Kitty doesn't discover them while they are learning to fly.  You can find a bluebird timeline HERE.   
Our tomatoes are still few and far between; we have yet to eat a BLT sandwich, but we're enjoying a tomato a day in salads or just out-of-hand.  We have lots of cucumbers and zucchini, and the eggplants are coming on strong.  

  We have new neighbors in one of the foreclosed homes next door.  They are spending every weekend moment working on the house.  Yesterday they installed air conditioning; today they are re-roofing the house.  I haven't met them yet.  
The other vacant house will likely never be occupied, as it isn't fit for human habitation and really can't be fixed, even though it's an almost-new home.   
I can't come up with anything else, so I'll stop while I'm ahead.