Precipitation
How hot has it been?!Yes, fake news photo, it's part of our kiddie toy set! The plants are happy, though. I've had to water them. I fear a drought this month. (I keep track!)
June precipitation was way down. It's not a good trend. I water the garden judiciously, my hanging baskets daily.
Ticks
That said, ticks are way down. My acquaintance (Val) and I were talking about this on-line. We thought either the cold in mid-winter, with little snow cover, did them in or ... ???? Who knows! We are both happy about it.There is tick prevention medicine we put on the cats, which lasts a couple of months. It kills the ticks on them, we just pluck them off.
We counted 55 by the end of July last year (2017), only 26 so far this year! In 2016 we had 103 by the end of July.
Val had only 59 ticks a couple of days ago, where she usually has 200 by now. She walks three dogs, who pick them up in her rural woodland west of here.
Miscellaneous
I have proof that someone else BBQ'd! That's his story. He only flipped the sausages, once. :-) You'll notice the brown grass. We are in a mild drought condition. The high temperatures mean that all our bodies of water are evaporating at a high rate. Even the weeds are crunching under foot.
I've been told this is a fishfly!
Dobson, Fish & Alderflies are Megaloptera.
It was on the front deck, which isn't a good place for a bug. I checked it the next day (I put it into the planter) and it's gone over the rainbow bridge!
Deerflies remain constant.
Hubby named him 'Ronny.'
He's a frequent flyer, popping out of the woods after harassing the blue jays. I saw him and heard him twice yesterday. Sitting in a tree nearby. The blue jays are my clue. I'm trying for a photo, but, again, the deerflies.
Ronny from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Archival video, on the trailcam... July 6, 2016 We know we have one doe and fawn, but they've been elusive.
Deer fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
