Survivors

Snoring man and restless dog finally forced me to decamp to the guest bedroom in the middle of the night. Construction workers are all getting an early start in an effort to beat the heat so I gave up and got up at about 7am. A peaceful morning on the porch was out of the question since one of the workers next door interspersed his sawing  with stories loudly told, and heavily laced with the F word. It's not as if I haven't used that word myself from time to time...seemingly more frequently than I used to, but most often muttered to myself, not broadcast to the entire neighborhood. He seemed quite affable, using the word the way some people say 'you know' or 'um'. 

It's marginally cooler today but it's pretty smoky  out there, presumably the result of a fire burning north of Sacramento and a change in the wind. We are definitely in fire season season now and the smoke brings about an added air of uneasiness....

The good news is that Trail House is open again. They seem to have curtailed their food service and are now serving only muffins and scones. Dan and Tobi are driving to a wedding in Montana, so we had a smaller group this morning but it was nice, and definitely more convenient,  to be able to meet there again. Danielle, the former manager and maker of awesomely good and artistic coffee has moved on and it appears that she was irreplaceable on the food prep and ordering front.

Despite not having a very good night's sleep, my brain fog cleared enough for me to get a handle on the current quilt which had stalled out during the extreme heat. I was on the verge of giving up on it, but hopefully I am through the usual sticky spot that seems to happen at the beginning of any project.

The flowers in today's Friday offering,  kniphofia, salvia and Mexican sunflowers are about the only things in the garden that don't look either dead or like they are gasping for breath. John has been doing a good job of giving them some extra water from the big bucket in the shower almost every evening since the extreme heat wave began. The azaleas and dogwoods we planted under a big oak tree in front of the house below the driveway seem to be totally dead. Probably a combination of heat and ground squirrels....