THE HEAT IS ON ...

The month of June has been a busy one around here with everyone working flat out to put together a celebration worthy of Canada's 150th birthday.  I am most proud to say on behalf of the Tourism Board who planned it, the volunteers who stepped up and helped out, and the folks who came out to play slow pitch, those who put an entry in the parade, the gals who provided the sparkle Canadian tattoos for everyone to wear with pride, everyone who supported the Lion's club at the dunk tank - especially the volunteers who were dunked - and the firemen who managed the fireworks display, the day came together as resounding success!  And from the pancake breakfast in the morning, the concession stand all day long, the pig roast for supper, the birthday cake and ice cream and the beer garden to end off the day no one should have gone home hungry either.  It was a good day.

July 2nd I, for one, just laid low.  It was so nice to not have to go anywhere or do anything for the first time in weeks that my biggest effort of the day was spent making the evening meal.  The day ended off with neighbours dropping in for a beer - the perfect start to 'real summer'.

Mother Nature seems to have realized that 'real summer' is here too; the temperature has climbed noticeable in the past two days.  The crops will really start to jump in development with the heat - especially corn.  Pretty sure if a person had the time you could sit and watch it grow hour to hour as long as there is sufficient moisture to fuel it.

Different parts of the prairies have had varied amounts of rainfall so far this year.  Even just an hour's drive away makes a difference.  Our daughter worries that her garden won't survive and yet mine should be okay if we don't get another rain for a while. 

With July here we prairie dwellers get pretty antsy about the weather.  The weather forecasters are always aiming to please urbanites who want hot temperatures and beach weather but farmers look for more moderate temperatures and a regular schedule of rainfall.  Those of us with crops and gardens are leery about really hot days - not only because of the stress it puts on the plants and how much it evaporates what water there is, but because big heat has the potential to brew up big storms with big winds and big hail.  A storm might be an hour long inconvenience for holiday goers at the lake but for a farmer it can be a season ender.  It makes us a bunch of sky watchers.

I'm not the kind of person who loves the heat at the best of times so when the temperature popped up into the 30's I retreated inside.  We don't have air conditioning but if we keep the windows open all night and close them first thing in the morning the house stays pretty cool all day.  Yesterday I picked the strawberries early in the morning and spent the afternoon inside making jam.  I had "water the flowers on the deck" on my list of things to do at some point during the day but as I was doing the dishes I noticed that some of them were starting to keel over in the heat.  How ironic that it was the Forget-me-nots who were in the worst shape!  I must make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Next on my list for the summer is getting ready for visiting grandsons at mid month.  I hope the strawberries are still producing for them - Grandma and Grandpa want to show them all the fun things that happen on the farm that their mommy grew up on.  The other night when we were outside trying to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights through the clouds we were treated to lightning bugs dancing around in the dark instead.  How many other treasures have I forgotten we have since our own kids are grown and gone?  I have less than two weeks to put a list of "things to do" together!