It's summer and it's a bummer.

[Big Frank]

Here's a view off the porch this afternoon. It's 2X zoom, so my yard is only half as tiny as it looks. After an hour of so I couldn't take the heat anymore. It was ~89 but felt hotter, and I felt like I was going to melt. I'll go out with a machete in awhile and start trimming branches off what I cut. I may have it all bagged and bundled for collection on Tuesday, but maybe not. I still have some tree trimming to finish. I tried cutting branches around where they crossed the fence line, but they were flopping around, so I cut them next to the trunk. I haven't seen my neighbors back there in a month and they may have moved away. Not that it matters. I'm going to do whatever I want, even if I have an audience. A couple of the upper branches were about as big as my wrist. I can see a vine in one tree looks as big as my thumb and has woody bark on it. But most are half the diameter of a pencil and I can pull long pieces off by hand. 

[billt]

I live in one of the hottest cities in the country. This time of year the nationwide record daily high is either us, Palm Springs, or Thermal, California. Sometimes Bullhead City to the north. Or else Vegas. It just depends. Next week it will be in the one teens all week. I've done a total of 34 Summers out here so far. And a total of 38 Winters back in Illinois. (Chicago and suburbs).

I'll take Summers out here 7 days a week, and twice on Sunday. I just can't handle the cold weather in the Midwest. Not to mention the constant rain, sleet, and snow falling. I LOVE the dry weather. My 2015 Jeep, and my 2018 Toyota Camry have yet to be driven on a wet street. The only time they get wet is when they get washed.

I generally use a car duster on them every couple of weeks, and they get washed once a year or so. I don't shoot in the hot weather, and generally take it easy. Any outdoor projects get done at first light in the morning. (Last week I replaced all of my anti siphon sprinkler valves). I was done by 9:00 AM. It's much the same with other things.

I try to do all of my oil changes and automotive maintenance in the Spring and Fall, when the weather is cool to mild. Stuff like grocery shopping, Lowe's and Home Depot, get done early as well. This time of year there is usually a crowd waiting to get in when they open at 6:00 AM..... Usually a bunch of old geezers like myself, with a list of crap to buy to complete some type of project.

[crusader rabbit]

I don't know, but I think I may have discovered the most favorable geographic compromise here in Western North Carolina.  Sure, we get a bit of the white stuff in the winter.  And we get a few days in the 90s during the summer.  But all together, it just ain't too bad.  And the seasons provide a different look four times each year.

I lived in Phoenix for awhile, and apart from the heat, the monotonous landscape contributes to its hellish nature.  Even the houses are painted to look like adobe.  Boring.  When you can't walk your dog for fear of the good boy getting blisters on his foot pads, it's just too hot.  Yeah, I know it's a dry heat.  But so is your oven and I wouldn't want to live there, either.

I spent a good long while in Florida, too.  Humidity and Palmetto Bugs don't contribute to a pleasant lifestyle.

FWIW

Crusader Rabbit

[PegLeg45]

After tomorrow it's s'posed to 'cool' down a tough here....several days of clouds and rain with highs in the low-mid 80's and heat indexes in the 90's.....

[Big Frank]

I was going to bag up the rest f that stuff yesterday but it was raining, so I went out today and mostly filled 3 more paper bags. The back yard is all cleared out now, but I see a couple more branches that I'm going to chop off. They're a foot or so into the neighbor's yard, but if no one says anything, I'm going for it.

I don't know what the super-fast growing tree with green branches is, but I can cut way bigger ones with one-hand clippers than regular trees. When we were kids my younger brother called these nuisance trees cat-pee trees because of the odor that comes off the leaves and branches when you cut or break them. Every tree back there is a garbage tree as far as I'm concerned. Some of the "bushes" in the corner have shaggy bark like a type of hickory, but are only an inch or two thick. If they weren't under the canopy of the other garbage they might grow quite large, whatever they are.

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

I don't know, but I think I may have discovered the most favorable geographic compromise here in Western North Carolina.  Sure, we get a bit of the white stuff in the winter.  And we get a few days in the 90s during the summer.  But all together, it just ain't too bad.  And the seasons provide a different look four times each year.

I lived in Phoenix for awhile, and apart from the heat, the monotonous landscape contributes to its hellish nature.  Even the houses are painted to look like adobe.  Boring.  When you can't walk your dog for fear of the good boy getting blisters on his foot pads, it's just too hot.  Yeah, I know it's a dry heat.  But so is your oven and I wouldn't want to live there, either.

I spent a good long while in Florida, too.  Humidity and Palmetto Bugs don't contribute to a pleasant lifestyle.

FWIW

Crusader Rabbit

I love having all four seasons in the year, and would be bored if every day was the same ol', same ol', even if it was somewhere like Hawaii. I've been in Florida in the winter a couple of times when it was too cold to swim, which seemed to defeat the whole purpose of being there in the first place. It was too cold to swim here. When autumn gets here it's going to be awesome, both figuratively and literally. There's a drive on the west side of the state that's been named as one of the top 10 most scenic drives in the whole country. I think it ranked number 2 the last time I looked. On part of it, the 2-lane highway is like a tunnel of multi-colored hardwood trees that you just can't see anywhere that the seasons don't change. And most places where they do. Spring is almost as nice as autumn, except it tends to be wet a lot of the time. Summer is a bummer and most of my friends are beginning to really hate it. Winter is tolerable, if not enjoyable. It just depends on if you like winter sports like skiing, tubing, snowmobiling, etc., and are willing to drive far enough to find the amount of snow you need to do those things. And it's a lot easier to track a deer that's bleeding on fresh white snow than it is mixed hardwood forests with no snow. A lot of people may not actually pray for snow on November 15th, but they sure hope for it. It doesn't sound like it would happen in Phoenix or Florida.