Letting the heat out of the heat dome

Here along the Kansas-Oklahoma border we have managed to escape the heat waves taking over the Southwest and the East Coast. It’s hot enough, but not the usual 100 degrees it should be. The medium term weather forecast calls for some cooling and then back to near 100 degrees. Now if can just get a little more rain, maybe we can get out of severe drought status.

Garbage time

One of the biggest problems living in a rural area is garbage disposal.  Just finding someone to pick up your garbage is a challenge.  The fees are outrageous if you can find someone. I currently pay a quarterly fee that amounts  to $80 a month.  In most rural areas you can haul your own garbage off to a landfill or a transfer station for free or a nominal charge.  Unfortunately our county’s landfill was taken over by a private company that charged $90 a ton with a one ton minimum ten years ago.  Most people burn their garbage and more will if fees increase any more.

AFL traffic jam

With five games to go in the Australian Football League regular season, just two games separate 5th place from 14th. With eight teams going to finals, nobody clinching a finals berth, and only two teams mathematically eliminated; every game this week has finals implications. It should be interesting to see Fox Sports decide which games will be on FS1,FS2, and which get dumped to Fox Soccer Channel.

Planting late summer crops

I started some late peppers and okra yesterday. I hope to find some indeterminate tomatoes to go along with the ones I started ear.ier in the spring. After this month, I will try for some late season beans and peas, followed by greens and radishes in September and October. I am hoping to make better use of covers this year and extend the harvest season into January.

Still in Drought

According to droughtmonitor.unl.edu we are still in severe drought I spite of the fact that we have had at least a half an inch of rain every week for the last six weeks. I would tend to doubt the website, but I went to the local spring and found out the flow rate has dropped from 1.5 gallons per minute to .5 gallons per minute over the same time period. It rained last night and should do so tonight and tomorrow night as well. Maybe we can improve to moderate status next week.

Not Prime

Amazon Prime Days are over and I didn’t buy a thing again. This is partially because I am on a Walmart wage that doesn’t leave a lot of discretionary income, partially because I have too much junk as it is, and partially because they don’t have anything I would want. If I want something, I prefer to go somewhere that specializes in what I need. Whether on or offline, I prefer to deal with fewer unrelated products so I can get to what I need and get out quickly.

Clearing out the freezer

I am ordering a half a hog this year. Unfortunately there are no farmers raising feeder pigs around here. The only source of pigs are  the 4-H kids. County fair season ends in a month, so I will have to get delivery no later than Labor Day. I don’t have a lot of frezzer space and I have a lot of the beef I ordered last year.  I know what I will be eating the next month or so.