Flower Friday. : : Kniphofia, 'Mango Popsicle'

It seemed appropriate to post these today as the mercury approaches 100F. The popsicle name is given to this dwarf species of Red Hot Pokers. I want to plant some of the full sized ones if and when we have the water to do it. It's a bit problematic to carry buckets of water from the shower down our steep driveway, although the valve is broken so even the small amount of water to that somewhat benighted strip down by the road has been temporarily turned off. John drove a big bucket of water down there in the car to water the roses and the new Chinese Pistache tree. 

We took our Zoom Pilates class, picked up Dana and drove to Cafe Frida this morning before it got too hot to go out the door. We left Spike at home today because putting him in the car if he got out of hand was not an option! He needs to get used to staying at home by himself anyway. He's been sitting by the door with his Kong looking quite forlorn, but this is not the day for any sort of outdoor activity!

Our buddy Aaron from the outdoor store in Sonoma came by on his way home to check out the umbrella and show how to swivel it easily. That will make it much easier to block the sun at different times of day, especially since the table it covers is part of a log with a concrete top....not exactly portable. Aaron is a nice guy and we are learning a lot about how broken the supply chain is for anything that arrives  from abroad.  He said he flew over the Port of Oakland on his vacation and saw dozens of container ships parked out in the middle of the bay waiting to be unloaded. And since he is a small business he has to wait for cargo for Walmart and other big box stores to be unloaded first. Which is why our other two dining chairs (from France) are now scheduled for July 30th. 

Too hot to sit out there in the summer anyway....