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Summer is back, and it's time to decry the heat again. It's also time to decry my bifurcated sleep schedule, as I nodded off after three o'clock this morning, woke up around ten and got the windows closed (two hours later than I ought to have done) then went back to sleep and didn't wake up until after two o'clock this afternoon. There are two pretty hot nights coming, and three very hot days, but after that the nights are expected to cool off again and the days be only moderately hot for a while. I'll probably survive, but not pleasantly.
At least I haven't had to use the air conditioner tonight. That will probably happen tomorrow, though. Tonight it's cooling off pretty well, despite my failure to close the windows early enough to conserve all of last night's captured chill. There'll be less to capture tonight, so I'm expecting tomorrow to become intolerable before nightfall. Over the next couple of days I should figure on adding another eight or ten dollars to the electric bill. Bummer.
Another thing to decry is the silence I hear outside tonight. Specifically, I don't hear a single cricket out there. This time of year the night ought to be full of their chirps. I wonder what became of them? I suppose it could just be a bad year for crickets. It's certainly going to be a bad, or at best mediocre, year for walnuts. After three years of impressive crops, the tree has failed me. I see only a few dozen green nuts clinging to the branches, and odds are not all of them will survive until harvest time. I think the shortage must have been due to the repeated rainstorms we had when the tree was blooming. They probably prevented adequate pollination.
The individual nuts do, however, appear to be larger than last year's nuts were. I guess I should be thankful for the small favor of big nuts. (That doesn't sound right, does it? I must be channeling Beavis and Butthead.)
As I woke up so late, I haven't gotten around to making my shopping list for the week yet. I should do that now. Then a sandwich, it being too hot to cook anything even on the stovetop. I surmise it won't be so easy to sleep tonight. Oh, accursed season.
At least I haven't had to use the air conditioner tonight. That will probably happen tomorrow, though. Tonight it's cooling off pretty well, despite my failure to close the windows early enough to conserve all of last night's captured chill. There'll be less to capture tonight, so I'm expecting tomorrow to become intolerable before nightfall. Over the next couple of days I should figure on adding another eight or ten dollars to the electric bill. Bummer.
Another thing to decry is the silence I hear outside tonight. Specifically, I don't hear a single cricket out there. This time of year the night ought to be full of their chirps. I wonder what became of them? I suppose it could just be a bad year for crickets. It's certainly going to be a bad, or at best mediocre, year for walnuts. After three years of impressive crops, the tree has failed me. I see only a few dozen green nuts clinging to the branches, and odds are not all of them will survive until harvest time. I think the shortage must have been due to the repeated rainstorms we had when the tree was blooming. They probably prevented adequate pollination.
The individual nuts do, however, appear to be larger than last year's nuts were. I guess I should be thankful for the small favor of big nuts. (That doesn't sound right, does it? I must be channeling Beavis and Butthead.)
As I woke up so late, I haven't gotten around to making my shopping list for the week yet. I should do that now. Then a sandwich, it being too hot to cook anything even on the stovetop. I surmise it won't be so easy to sleep tonight. Oh, accursed season.
