A C. HANGE IN WEATHER

It's Friday, Aug 27. The last few days have been nice and cool -- 60's in the morning and high temperatures in the high 80's to low 90's. There has been a fall chill in the air in the mornings. Andy and I drove south to Quartz Mountain State Park and we were very pleasantly surprised when we got there. The Lodge is a large conference center with over 118 room and cabins. It was rebuilt in 2001 after a kitchen fire caused the original lodge to burn down. The center also includes an Oklahoma Arts Council facility . The center sits on the edge of Lake Altus and really is a beautiful area. We brought back with us some ideas for mosaics and outside benches made of granite.

AUGUST news

We've put up several quarts and pints of bread & butter pickles from the garden this year and gotten good "reviews". The cucumbers are about played out from the heat, but we may get another harvest. We've also gotten lots of cherry tomatoes. I made an antipasta salad for our church potluck lunch, with our tomatoes, basil, onion, capers, garlic, some goat cheese, and summer sausage. Very easy and delicous. We've also made pesto with the basil we've harvested. The regular tomato plants haven't produced anything, but I think they have suffered from the heat and lack of rain, even though we water the garden regularly. We know the garden area is getting plenty of water because the castor bean plants are thriving and blooming. We are also finally getting a good crop of okra and plan on pickling some today. Andy also made some wild sand plum jelly that turned out good.

In the front garden we have rose of sharon blooming, crepe myrtles, white hostas, black eyed susan, some canna lily, and 4 o'clocks. The grasshoppers have been voracious and have eaten some plants down to the ground, but then there are areas where I've got the same plant and the grasshoppers leave them alone. I planted two burning bush plants and only one of them has survived.

Andy and I helped with the grape harvest for Whirlwind Winery last weekend. We haven't heard yet about the amount harvested but should get an email report this week. It looked like a good harvest, though it was earlier than last year because of the heat -- the grapes were starting to dry up. One of the best wines we like from Whirlwind is the Wild Sand Plum and we're looking forward to that vintage this year.

I am chairman of the Cheese Festival Art Show this year and am busy organizing that for Oct. 8-9. I'll write more about that later. In the meantime, September is a good time to come visit us. Give us a call -- /linda

It's hot, hot, hot

It's mid-august and the hottest time of the year here. We've had over a week of temperatures over 100 degrees. Yesterday's temp of 104 was a record. But we are looking forward to a break in the heat by Sunday evening. If we can just keep the grass and gardens and trees alive until then.

I saw a snake in our yard for the first time this year. It was just a baby, about twelve inches long, and was curled up in the dirt, not moving. Andy killed it quickly. I usually walk in the yard with a stick, and fortunately this snake was in a flower bed where there is nothing growing right now. I just happened to throw a banana peel into the bed and something caught my eye where the banana peel landed. This time of year we have to be extra watchful and careful. Where there is one snake, there are others . . .

We have been busy with guests off and on in July and earlier this month, but this weekend we have no one at the B&B. September is a good time for friends to come see us -- before the "busy" season of October and the temperatures will be cooler. We may even get a hint of fall colors in September.

WE'RE IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER

This past weekend (on Saturday), the temperature got up to 100 degrees. On Sunday it was 102. We are expecting this entire week to be above 100 degrees, but they say it will be a dry heat most of the week, so it won't feel hotter than it actually is. We've had a little rain so haven't had to water daily, but we do have to water a lot!


We picked up a kitten from outside our church on Sunday. It is pretty young, is skinny, but otherwise looks healthy. It hung around the front of the church the entire morning, and when we left at noon, at the urging of many of the congregation, we took her home. We spent a little time letting her and Skeeter get acquainted. Skeeter wanted to play, but Kitty didn't want to have anything to do with a big dog. After just a short time, Kitty let her guard down a little and tolerated being in the same area with the dog.