Happy Fourth.

7-3-26 VERMONT: We have been prisoners of the heat wave, held captive in the house with cool air from the heat pumps. There has been rain every day 0.75 inches, which has kept everything watered. The bedroom has been hot at night, but the window fan cools it off enough. The cool air doesn’t get upstairs, no ducts above the first floor.

I have had to water the tomatoes on the deck and six milkweed plants that I bought at Browns to add to the milkweed bed on the pond bank. I’m waiting for Hillary and Matt to plant them. They are swamp milkweed ‘Soulmate’ Asclepsias incarnata. That bed has lost a lot of the plants it had last year—drought, maybe. 

Happy Fourth to everyone [except the administration], enjoy the fireworks. We will be watching on TV trying to keep the dogs calm. The dogs have not liked the T-storms we’ve had the past few nights. I haven’t liked them much either. 

New blooms: filipendula, daylily, delphinium, Shasta daisy.

Daylily, the flower of July. This one opened June 30 and the last one will probably be August 1. They are commom and grow everywhere, but are always a welcome sight in mid-summer, another one of my favs.

Red sky at dawn, but don't sweat it if you're not sailing in the tropics.

Judy and I got the buggy out of the barn. It has made it's journey for the year, but looks good in the yard.

Luna Moth on ferns during the day. They only live about a week and don't eat or drink, living only to mate. Check out those lacy antennae.

Shasta daisy. Thjey like the pond bank and full sun.

Maltese cross. Originally the eight-pointed cross was the symbol of the medieval Knights Hospitaller, but now is a symbol for firefighters.