lazy hazy crazy days of summer

Put a nickel in the jukebox (25 cents now), push E11, return to 1963 with a dripping wet glass of lemonade and relax to Nat King Cole's "Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer."  Our mountain temperatures have been ranging from 64-71 degrees when I get up around 6:30, more often around 67 degrees.  Maxine and I open up and have our coffee on the porch steps but have to close up again by 9 when the air becomes a damp sponge.  At night the cicadas begin their cacophonous concert at dusk and continue throughout the night with their last few clicks as the sun comes up.  Our days are not as brutal as the rest of the country.  Temperatures rise well into the 90's but so far we have been lucky enough to avoid the triple digits.  Farms that depend solely on rain for irrigation are beginning to show the wear and tear as scorched leaves wilt under the punishing sun and the arid clay cracks further exposing roots to the elements.  Our tomato plants are looking tired but supplying us with a half dozen tomatoes a day right now.  The cucumbers are taking over the mountain.

  Trying to give cucumbers away is like being a telemarketer or trying to collect for March of Dimes.  Neighbors lock their doors and pull down their blinds when they see me approaching with a bulging wal-mart bag, but I just leave the bag at their door and head to the garden for more. 

Just recently as I was at the kitchen sink washing more cucumbers, one of my hummingbirds hovered close to the window for about 10 seconds like he was challenging me.  He flitted from the red bee balm flower in the front garden straight to my window.  I have bright red geraniums all over the porch and other hummingbird attractants in the garden and two feeders always fresh and full of sweet water hanging on the back porch.  Later that day when we went to town, I bought a really cheap feeder from wal-mart, filled it with home-made "nectar" and hung it at eye-level outside the kitchen window.  Within 20 minutes both the male and the female were competing with each other at the feeder.  One would sit in a branch waiting for the other to feed so it could dive-bomb its partner as soon as it inserted the long beak into the red flower.  I am amazed at how they loved this feeder and I'm privy to their energetic antics.  We find hummingbirds to be the most entertaining creatures during the summer.

Heading down to the garden now with my scissors and my mother's old aluminum bowl to see what's matured and ready to be harvested.