Fall weather here for good?

Sept 16, 2012
This morning and yesterday give me hope that cooler weather is finally here.  It is 64 degrees and raining a nice straight down rain. Has been for several hours.
I am glad to have a reason to stay inside.  The house work has not been attended to in a couple of months.  My 45 year old vacuum cleaner (Hoover) is finally repaired. It needed a new switch. 15 dollars and good to go.

Yesterday, I trimmed back tree branches that keep on trying to cover the house and the street.  Never, Never, NEVER!! plant live oaks in the front yard.  They are 30 feet away from the house and not nearly far enough!!! Talk about live and learn.  They are about 15 to 20 years old now and just getting started.

With the hot, hot weather, the trimming had to wait.  Now, there are wet piles of branches here and there that will have to be moved.  My lovely green garden cart is standing out there in the rain and I am not fretting that the bottom will get soggy and rot the way the wooden carts did (do).  The cart/wagon has a mesh type bottom with openings about 2 inches.  The nice surprise? The wheels (just like wheels on little kids wagons have) are narrow enough to pull through my gravel pathways. This is the last gasp for the wooden one as it is falling apart.  I will use it to haul branches to the burn pile and might pull the tires off and add it to the pile.

I failed to mention before that this is from TSC Farm Store; the brand is Ground Work utility cart.

Fall,sort of

Ok, so two mornings were "fall like". I actually wore a sweat shirt for a while.  The temps were low 60's and highs mid 80's. Still dry however.
I took advantage of the cooler morning and redid the fencing around the cone flower bed. Doesn't look very good, but should keep the little buggers out. I really can't tell if anything has been nibbling on the plants.  The leaves get ragged looking.  It could be caterpillars even?
The reason for redoing the fencing was that in my frantic rush to "do "something!!" when I discovered rabbits had gotten inside the fence. I slapped up the landscape fabric and borders without too much planning. So, the make shift "gate" was such a pain to get opened and closed that I let the weeds get the upper hand.

My "fixing" the gate is not pretty since I used what was at hand.  I can at least get inside and tend to things.

Labor day 2012

Saturday September 3, 2012 Labor Day (joke) I worked harder  

I have solved the mystery of the mummified peaches.  It is brown rot, which is a fungus.  My suspicion all along.  The "stab" marks of many is from the oriental fruit moth.  The description of the small puncture and then turning brown bruises and finally mummified.  Whether the rot/fungus is a result of the moth I don't know.

I heard the weather forecast for the week will be in the 100's with "cooling" this weekend.  Could this be the beginning of cooler weather????

My husband and I took down a tree (sort of) this AM..  He hates, hates to take down a tree with green leaves on it. I, on the other hand can see next year and this tree needed to be gone.  It was the graft host of the Ranger peach tree that was so abundant this year.  The fruit of the "host" is about the size of a large plum.
When it ripened, there were hundreds and hundreds of small peaches on the ground.  I spent hours cleaning them up.

Never again!!!

The rest of this week will be in the 100's and no rain.  The weekend promises a break in the heat..................I can only hope that fall is officially on its way.!!