H.O.T.

Broiling. Baking. Steaming. Boiling. Hell.

It is flat-out HOT outside. Following the two coldest winters in Texas history, we are now deep into the second of two consecutive hotter-than-hot summers. By mid-morning, the leaves on the vegetable plants (tomato and eggplant) are so wilted that they looked like they've been boiled. And they look that way after being thoroughly watered at 7:00 in the morning. The plants get watered again at lunch-time, and they look bright and perky, only to wilt again in mid-afternoon.

For all the time and care that's gone into that vegetable garden this year (mostly my husband's time and care) we've had about 16 ears of corn, four dozen tomatoes, and there's just one little eggplant growing on the largest of the ten eggplant stalks. All of that watering and time? For one little bitty eggplant? When it comes time for cooking, that had better be the best-tasting eggplant on the planet.

I've lost my initiative for vegetable gardening. It's a constant fight with the wildlife (raccoons and skunks and possums that come out in the dark) and the chickens (who scratch up the young plants and make hen-sized resting holes in the shade under the mature plants). Not to mention Gatsby, who has adopted the largest eggplant stalk as his own private umbrella. I've been keeping Gatsby in the house during the hottest part of the day, which he doesn't seem to mind. But as soon as the sun drops and he realizes it's dark outside, he's sitting by the door with a born-to-travel look on that whiskered face of his.

Speaking of whiskered faces..... I had a puppy-moment at last week's July 4th parade in Chappell Hill. As we were talking to our friends there, a young girl passed by holding the cutest little puppy in the world. (But they're all the 'cutest in the world,' aren't they?) She said it was a Peekapoo-- a cross between a Pekingese and a Poodle. Years ago, I had a little black long-haired dog that was a cross between a Lhasa Apso and a Pekingese. He was puppy-calendar adorable when I got him, and he was the best dog I'd had up to that point. So of course, when I saw that little bundle of Peekapoo, the first words out of my mouth were "Ooooooooh, look at the baaaaaaby!"

The first thought in my mind was We need to get one of these little puppies. And the second thought was 'Do I want to be taking care of another dog for the next fifteen years?' Until I can answer that question with a resounding Of course I do! -- then it isn't time for another dog. Oh well.

Until then, we're dealing with the heat. The Heat. The only way is to get outside things done first thing in the morning..... try not to do anything in the sun.... walk slowly to the road after the mail truck comes..... and keep reading. I've read four books in the last seven days. (Two of them were dog books. No coincidence there, I'm sure.)