Thirsty....so Thirsty

The heat wave continued today with 100F temperatures, humidity, dark thunderclouds but no rain, and no relief at night.  Thank goodness we have solar generated electricity because the air conditioner has been running a lot.

This morning, I looked out our bedroom French doors and noticed that the leaves on the crepe myrtle tree (which is drought resistant) had curled and shriveled.  My lilac looked droopy, dry and half dead.  The shrub roses were brown and even the Jupiter's Beard looked parched.

I checked the sprinkler settings when I got up and they seemed appropriate for summer.  I tried running the cycle and got nothing.  Yipes.  How long have the poor plants been sweltering and panting in the intense August heat with no water?  I turned the sprinkler on manually and gave the plants a long soak.  Brett checked the wiring.  It looks like some animal -- squirrel?  raccoon?  skunk?  Kersey? -- was exploring in the area and ripped apart three or four wires.  Brett now has another project.  As if he didn't have enough already.

Fortunately, the crepe myrtle and the lilac perked right up after their soaking.  I'll have to see if the roses rebound as well.

The Heritage roses are still blooming and my pomegranate came back from its near death experience and is happily growing into a bushy shrubby plant.  It even has a couple blossoms so hopefully there will fruit in the fall.

I'm ready for fall.  It looks like we're going to have a large apple harvest this year.  I'm ready for apple pie, crisp mornings and sleeping with blankets.

 In the meantime, we're enjoying summer berries and plum chutney on pork chops.  There are some benefits to summer, I suppose.