Welcome to my garden and please help yourself. The mom has been munching on my yard for the last month but I just started seeing the fawns (there are two) a few days ago.

Yap, yap, bark, (more thunder) BARK!, WOOF!, WOOF!

All this thunder but no rain yet. This is the only place in the country where I have seen virga (from Wikipedia.com: In meteorology, virga is precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground. At high altitudes the precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating; this is usually due to compressional heating because the air pressure increases closer to the ground. It is very common in the desert.). It's very unsatisfying to experience.

Thank you Craigslist. I asked for something to build a back yard planter with and you delivered. Tons of free moss rock were there for the taking. Man, was it heavy. The sad-ish part about it was that they were demolishing a sweet little home on 5th Street and a huge mansion will probably take its place. But, anyway, we scored.

Nice downpour, eh? Well, I went outside to enjoy the rain from the porch and now there's a Fox News truck out in the street.

Before the rain, a smokey smell was in the air, then the drenching began. I looked east and saw orange flames coming out of the 2nd story of the house behind my neighbors' across the street. Called the neighbors, Marilyn and Jeff, who didn't have a clue what was going on. Then 911. Then, Honey ran over to get people out of the house, neighbor Jeff started knocking it down. Fire trucks showed up en masse; 2 police cars blocked off the street, an ambulance appeared. The fire was out in minutes. No one was home; the gerbil was saved.

The firefighters thought the flames were lightening induced and said if it had gone for 5 more minutes, the whole side would be burned. The flame was exciting, but short lived. Interesting to see what makes the news trucks come out.

High summer. Tending the grass, cleaning out the ditch but leave the chicory and poppies and those gummy ball plants that are native to the area. Water and cut, water and cut, gnats flying around. We took apart a funky grocery store fountain that never made the right sound and set up a little burbling water feature by the back porch. The sounds is so compelling and all that is going on is water is piping out of a little hose propped on some rocks in a container. We are almost finished with our patio under the elm. The fence just needs painting and trimming. Work, sweat, smell, breathe, listen, then ease into an empty pool to cool off and then read. Great summer days.

It is so Hot. The porch thermometer in the shade reads 95º so I have to wonder what it's like in the sunshine. I've been using the dogs as my role models - find a cool place and don't move very much. Good thing we managed to finish the living room make-over before this temp spike. One thing nice about an empty nest is that every room is clothing optional.

Sugar wanted the carpets cleaned for real so the carpet cleaners came and went. With Honey's move-out and all our furniture off the carpet, I'm getting a sense of space in this house that I've been craving - but not knowing I've been craving. With the furniture gone, there's no excuse for not changing the wall colors in some rooms so I've been working on that. The paint only goes as far as I can reach, though, since I insist that Sug has to do the high parts.

When Sweetie moved out a couple of years ago, we moved into the east bedroom and I love the sunrise and the garden view. The little burble from the solar fountain makes it's way up there. All I want to put back in that room is my big maroon chair over by the window.

We've been sleeping in the living room on the futon which is a nice change but it's a little too eccentric to last. The dogs like it.

I love summer. Raining now outside. Nighttime. Windows open and the fans running. Marvin Gaye on I-Tunes.

This morning we had to get the Subi's tire repaired, get the rental truck back, get all the guys off to work, finish moving furniture & vacuuming for the carpet cleaners, feed and walk the dogs, and help 2 translators for an hour. Sugar and Sweetie went off to work and then Honey went missing "By the subscriber's request, this phone is not accepting incoming calls." Phone calls kept coming in, the carpet cleaners arrived and I entertained the dogs outside by weeding the front walk.

The afternoon was quite a bit calmer.

I love Ed Greene. I never really forgave Larry Green for taking Sam Allred's job at Channel 4. Sure, it was time to learn to point to the blank screen and Sam didn't want to do that, but - really. Larry was O. K. but he got complacent so fast. Ed still seems to enjoy the job and enjoy the people he is working with. Hard to believe I can't find any images to post - he is such a public person. Hope he stays for a long time.

Flip the page and welcome July. 62 more days of my summer and I hope it lingers after that.

This is the first summer in years that I haven't worked somewhere else and I have time to keep up with the yard. We've just about finished the homemade concrete patio under the big elm. The little branches are brittle so there is litter there, but I love the privacy of the place. I've been decorating it - my laughing elephant Buddha, a bird bath and other odds and ends.

Sug and I finished the Mother's Day project that he and Sweetie started before we left for LA. After 20 years with a metal post & wire driveway fence, the wooden one is pretty fancy.