After being woken up monsoon rain, I was woken up again at 2am by loud chirping. I had to investigate, and found these raccoon prints on the back deck. I’m seriously hoping we don’t have a family under the deck now, and hoping there’s not a reoccurrence tonight!

Another good day’s pickin’. I had to leave tomatoes on the vine as there were so many. And then I noticed, back in the kitchen, that Elliott had bought a pack. Hmmm…

An afternoon spent with British friends at a local winery & brewery was a resounding success, even though gale force winds and torrential rain invaded our party.

28 July 2023

The heavens opened at the Beer Museum. We had monsoon rain most of the evening, but it did bring the temperature down.

We lost a great employee today, and it is also his Birthday. Caleb’s going to study engineering, and will likely go on to have a superb career.

Caught the raccoon in the act of leaving its current home under the back deck. It actually had the decency to look embarrassed as it looked at me before climbing over the gate, but I was laughing too hard to take a photo. I was lucky to get these. I bricked up all the spacing under the deck, to no avail. It’s obviously into weightlifting in its spare time, as it was back under the deck before I checked again at four.

The beauty of a Mexican sunflower, with a couple of tiny raindrops from a very brief shower.

I pass this wonderful garden ornament most days, on my way home, at the end of the driveway of someone’s home. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I love it!

More experimental canning. I canned a few tomatoes from the garden with homegrown dill and basil, pickled homegrown beetroot, and pickled homegrown zucchini. A total of 7 jars all done at the same time, multitasking making different brines and water bathing times.

I was working early in the garden this morning, and picked another huge zucchini. This gorgeous flower was blooming on the plant. Zoom in to see the bee inside pollinating the bloom, another zucchini is on its way. 

Malcolm posing in one of the canoes in the garden. He sat still while I took the photo, knowing he looked like he was ‘king of the hill’.

I got up early this morning to pick fresh baby carrots for a girl at work’s pet rabbits. Can’t get much fresher than these!

A big beautiful squash, growing contentedly in the veggie garden. That plank, that it’s conveniently resting on, is 10”w, so I’m not sure when the squash will stop growing, but I’ll leave it a bit longer yet.

The trumpet vine has gone nuts down the side of the garden. It looks tropical, it’s so dense. The hummingbirds love it.

The milkweed bugs are obviously very happy on the thin-leaves sunflowers, and there were plenty of them, all partying in the same manner.

A very patriotic house in Stephens City, where I went antiquing this afternoon.

The front garden is looking so colorful at the moment.

Gave blood on the way home from work at the local Moose Lodge. This was above me, it’s huge!

Old farm buildings near Berryville this afternoon.

I was the first one to arrive at work this morning. That hasn’t happened for a few years!

A birthday lunch for Heron, at work. Blowing out the candles on his cake.

1 of 7 jars that I canned today, using home grown zucchini, and turning it into a relish. It was a very satisfying venture, and I know there will be more canning in the future.

Hanging out with friends at the Beer Museum. This is my saison in front of David’s hop vines at the museum.

I nearly missed these, they were hidden under the huge leaves. My first ever squash! Boot for scale. And there’s at least another 3 growing from the one plant.

Looking up at the ox-eye sunflowers. They’re about 6ft high now.

The veggie garden has run rampant with all the recent rain. The corn has shot up over 15” and the dill is taller than me, about to come into full bloom.

The gate to the bamboo garden at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, from the inside.

Torrential rain filled my watering can in minutes, and we now have a full blown storm, so no fireworks tonight. But at least I don’t have to water the garden!

Crab pot buoys on Maryland’s eastern shore, while out exploring.

I completed the replacement fence panel and gate today. The latch is on the inside, this the view from the front garden. No immediate jobs to do in the garden now, it feels strange…