Late evening sun striking the hills beyond our house.
As I start this blog late Saturday afternoon, our temp is 55 degrees with a very cloudy, misting sky. Heavenly weather for August 6th! Many years ago friends were married up the West Boulder in an outdoor wedding on August 9th and it was so cold–in August!! I attended that wedding dressed in a long skirt with long john underwear underneath, a sweater and a coat! The bride wore a traditional wedding gown–it was a short wedding ceremony! The last time I planted a garden, I had beautiful tomatoes just starting to show signs of pink–on about August 22 we had a killing frost which froze those tomatoes. No more gardens. This cool snap won’t last long, 90 degrees again by Wednesday.
A very early medical appointment this week had us taking the RV to Billings for the night staying in the KOA campground. It’s a old park filled with giant cottonwood trees. The cicadas up in those trees were so incredibly loud you couldn’t hear yourself think! It was 98 degrees in Billings that night and I felt so sorry for the many folks sleeping in tents dealing with that kind of heat and the noise of those cicadas. Plus the noise of I-90. We were very thankful for our RV and air conditioning!
The Cowboy has been working on various projects–one was literally creating a gooseneck hitch for a trailer. Hard, heavy welding and work but it’s installed and works perfectly! He’s also been mowing a bit and I’ve been on a weed killing mission. I’ve hiked and climbed all over these hills chopping weeds. I don’t like to use chemicals beneath our aspen trees so chopping it is–UGH! And it was so hot on the mornings I chose to wage my war on weeds!
The hummingbirds are eating us out of house and home–there are literally dozens of the little buzzers on the feeder, especially right before the sun goes down. It’s a feeding frenzy!
The cows/calves are behaving these days–I guess it just took some time for them to find their boundaries or the electric fence! 😮
Life is good!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
I remember so many years of growing green tomatoes in Northern Idaho. I can’t remember getting a ripe tomato, but I was good at green tomato relish and fried green tomatoes. We could go over to Spokane and pick ripe ones in the fields, but just 20 miles or so made all the difference. I also remember doing a craft show in …wait…where is the Sweet Pea Festival??? I hate getting old. Anyway, I was sleeping in the back of my truck at night and trying to keep my dog cool during the day at the show. It was 105 degrees. Was that Billings??? I had to look it up; nope, it was Bozeman. Which I thought was even cooler than Billings!! OH well. Memories are fun. I love that day lily; I have a few beautiful ones too.
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I so miss southern tomatoes but we have a friend with a green house and he provides us with tasty tomatoes–not quite southern but almost. People are so surprised when they come to Montana for vacation and fine these 100 degree temps!
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I live the sound of cicadas in the trees, reminds me of Iowa!
Love the mountain photo!
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Geri–these were so intense and loud I didn’t find it enjoyable at all. I think if I had been outside for very long the noise would have driven me crazy!
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WOW…it’s hard to remember what 55 degrees feels like. We celebrate the mid to high 60s. Emmi is all snuggled under her blanket…such a sweetheart. I like your way of weeding much better than mine. I pull by hand as I don’t like to use chemicals either. Not good for the pups or the birds. I remember the Billings KOA well. I believe it is recognized as the first KOA. We needed saddle bags for the Harley so we spread out brown paper and some beautiful lack leather on the bricks so Joe could make a pattern and cut the pieces. He hand laced it all together…they were simple and beautiful and served us well in our adventures. What a trip down memory lane…thanks Janna! Love the bunnies and the mountains…I wouldn’t get very much done if I lived there! Hope you have a wonderful week! Oh, do you think daylillies would grow here? I need to look into that…gay
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Glad I triggered some memories! We have so many weeds on our 40 acres, pulling by hand isn’t an option so it’s the weed whacker to the rescue! Yes, the Billings KOA is the first one and we know the son of one of the original founders of KOA. The son and his wife have a cabin near us. I think I’ve seen day lilies in yards in our AZ neighborhood.
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It’s good you get some breaks from the heat with some great low temps. Something we don’t know. Your patio is so pretty especially with Michael’s sculpture:) You really look uncomfortable in wildlife camera photo. I can feel your heat and sweat. Love the burgundy lily! Luckily, Emmi isn’t spoiled at all!!!
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No, Emmi isn’t spoiled one bit is she! I love Michael’s sculpture!
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Cicadas are SO annoying!! LOL. We had the same kind of wild temperature fluctuations in Southern Oregon in the summer, varying 40 degrees just in one day. It was always so nice to have it cool off at night, even if it was brutally hot during the day. As you said, not good for regular tomatoes, but I always had bumper crops of cherry tomatoes! Emmi is sooooo adorable all snuggled in. 🙂
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Yes, it does cool off most nights–we sleep with our bedroom patio door open and have no need for air conditioning most nights. It seems every time I want to grow something a fun trip pops up and off we go–hate to ask anyone to water for me and we don’t leave our water on when gone for any length of time.
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