I struggle to say any nice things about August in the south. It is, after all, HOT, which tends to overshadow just about anything else. Poor little A's face is beet red when he gets off the school bus each afternoon!
One of the few positives about August is that our tomatoes are doing great. They are ripening faster than even I can eat them, although I try my best. J is very popular at work, since he takes in our surplus tomatoes.
Tomatoes that are still warm from the outside are the best. I eat them on sandwiches, sprinkled with salt and pepper, or with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese - it is all good. I say "our" tomatoes but really, my only involvement is eating them - J does all of the work.
J has also been thrilled this year to finally succeed in growing sunflowers. He tried to grow them for many years at our house in North Carolina, but with no success. The birds and flying insects have especially been enjoying the sunflowers, as you can see:
I put up a new hummingbird feeder yesterday and they have already found it. There is a ruby-throated male that has been sitting on the wrought iron holder off and on all morning, chasing away any other hummingbirds that dare come to the feeder. He is so feisty!We had to take down our previous feeder about a month ago because it was overrun with flying, stinging insects of all types. Even the hummingbirds were afraid to come to the feeder. After I took down the feeder, the flying insects continued to swarm around the holder for several days. To prevent the same problem from happening again, I bought a hummingbird feeder that has flexible membranes that fit on the underside of the feeding ports, which supposedly keeps the insects out but allows the hummers to feed. We'll see it works that way or not. I think I will continue to bring in the feeder every night, to keep our curious and hungry raccoons from knocking it down while trying to get at the nectar.
We have seen the neighborhood deer more than usual lately. We have a mommy deer and two babies that particularly like our backyard. It is difficult to get photos of the deer from inside the house but I was able to take a few of the mommy and babies last week.
One of the few positives about August is that our tomatoes are doing great. They are ripening faster than even I can eat them, although I try my best. J is very popular at work, since he takes in our surplus tomatoes.
