summer heat

Baking hot out in the day, with a nice smog rolling over from Ohio again; definitely rather have a plague of passenger pigeons, wouldnt you ? Corn in the fields is too dry, the leaves look like sugar cane, they are narrow and partly rolled up to slow down transpiration. Hollyhocks that were 5 or 6 feet this time last year are about half that ,I dont water them, or at least I havent been til now.
Bob the goat has grown quite a bit, doesnt seem able to get through or over the fence lately, the loose single strand on top did the trick. When he rears up and tries to put weight on it, it sways and he cant get a good purchase to haul the rest of himself by. Filled up a small pond over by the row of cedars, the water is settling out, and so far no leaks. Tomorrow I'll look for some plants for it, lilies and maybe some water hyacinth, with a few irises and so on for the fringe. Officially it is for "stock watering " which means the geese, but they arent going to be spending too much time there, unless, mind you, they hatch some goslings, in which case they can use it for a nursery pond.