Summertime, and the livin' is ... hot

We had a teaser of a day last Sunday, the promise of fall, when the temperature was in the upper 70s or low 80s and the humidity was something like 50 percent. A day like that is a gift in late July here in the Middle of Nowhere. One day of relief, and it's back to hot, hazy and humid again. Yesterday I started my 6.6-mile loop at about 9:15 a.m. I was soaked with sweat I was glowing when I got back home at about quarter 'til eleven. So today I'm going to try to get on the road around 8 a.m.

We're definitely not in a drought situation this year, and my little garden is doing well. I have far too many banana peppers, and probably hundreds of Roma tomatoes. Of course the tomatoes are green and the peppers are ripe. Last week I also had far too many tomato worms, but I dusted the plants, sucked up my squeamishness when it comes to bugs and picked off all that I could find. [Of course I was wearing gloves!] The day after I put the dust on the remaining worms had turned black. They're very easy to find now. A few tomatoes look like they might have some blossom rot, which was the other thing that wiped out last year's crop. I'm hoping for the best.

Is that not the weirdest looking creature you've ever seen? True confession: That photo was taken last summer. I wasn't messing around this year doing a photo shoot when I had to go raid the garden department for something to destroy the destroyers.

So here's a good thing about losing weight in the summer, for me anyway. I usually don't feel like eating much when it's hot. Yesterday I had a salad for lunch and a stir-fry of chicken, mushrooms, garlic and spinach for dinner, which was supposed to have been served over whole-wheat pasta. It was easy to skip the pasta. I didn't feel like boiling water or eating a heavy carb like pasta late in the day.

Two of the baby hats are done, and I've started the cuff of the third. I found out that two of the triplets weigh slightly more than four pounds, while the third weighs less than two. So one of the hats is very small. They're turning out nicely – much better than the bibs did. Next up will be finishing the Shapely Tank I started mumble-mumble weeks ago, before I got sidetracked with the Diamond Patch.

And then, with any luck, I can break out the wool and start making things for cold weather again. It can't come too soon.

P.S. Did you read Bo's good news?