It's been a record breaking month of sunshine and heat in this month of July. We haven't had rain for the entire month. I think that is supposed to change over the weekend though the rain is not expected to be heavy. The persistent heat can feel oppressive to those of us who aren't used to it. It is also hard on the lawns and gardens since our plant life in these parts is used to much more rainfall to keep everything nice and green.
On my walk to the park this evening, I noticed the lawns in some places are looking a bit yellow and dry around the edges. I took a photo of the sky from the park on my camera photo but can't figure out how to get it from there to my computer. It used to be easy to do but since I went on holiday, unlocked my phone and put back the original SIM card it no longer works properly. I think I need to reset it to the factory settings but am afraid to lose my photos. I'll have to ask someone for help first.
I notice the flowers along the streets are very full and healthy looking whereas the flowers I planted in my garden are extremely slow to grow. The flowers only seem to do okay in containers. The vegetables are looking a bit better but the kale looks a bit skinny. I've probably left it in the garden too long now as it is going yellow around the edges.
I had a rude awakening on Monday morning. I mentioned in an earlier post how I dislike the crows who come to my patio garden because they make so much noise, leave food and feathers in the birdbath, chase away the little birds that I like to watch and are just generally destructive. For two weeks, I chase them away every time I see them land on my bird bath. I guess they didn't like that. Yesterday morning they made quite a ruckus and totally dismantled the bowl of my bird bath until it came loose and topped over. What pests they are but I have to admire their intelligence.
After running errands at the local pharmacy on Tuesday night, I finally started clearing my desk of the many receipts that have been piling up for the last month. I have to sort them by month and date and put them in baggies until I transfer all the information to an excel spreadsheet. I'm not so disciplined when it comes to inputting all the information as it isn't my favourite thing to do. I put this kind of work off until I really feel like doing it. I have been trying to keep a record of all regular expenditures for the last 4 months or so to get a better handle on where my money goes and also see how much I've saved. This is part of my "package" of financial goals for 2013. Although I don't track every expense, I do track most expenses. I don't keep track of meals out or stops at the coffee shop because these are not part of my usual expenditures unless I am on holiday.
I hope your week is going well and that you are making progress on your goals whatever they may be.If you haven't yet read my last post, please read here. I would appreciate whatever you can do to share it on your social networks; especially on Facebook as we need 10 connects to get this profile in the searchable directory. Thanks so much!
20 comments:
I hope you have some refreshing rains over the coming few days, it will make such a difference.
It has been very hot here as well. Thanks goodness we do not have crows in our garden but I do get fed up with the pigeons that come in and eat the food put out for the little birds.
Since we retired we have been writing down every cent spent and it makes interesting reading! We are now in our second year of doing this and it has certainly helped us get our finances in order. Take care Diane
Nice pic Penny - I wish you enough Rain soon ... Namibia had a drought year and many people are reciving aid ...
.. all advice I can offer on your bird problem is to StoneTheCrows! ...
:)
Ha, ha Graham,good one! Actually I told a friend I need to find an appropriate piece of rubber to make a sling shot. I asked him to find it but I don't think he's been looking. I do go out there and make noise which they don't seem to care about. Sometimes I throw a stone or two. This morning there are now 3 crows on the deck. We started with one. I certainly hope they don't keep multiplying.
I'm glad to hear that tracking your expenses is interesting reading for you. It is interesting for me too ;-) but more importantly I think it helps us to stay accountable to ourselves for how we spend.
I hope you get some cooler weather soon. I think ours is supposed to cool off soon but August is typically our hottest month.
It's raining here today. Hopefully you will get some too very soon. Oh those crows! I haven't forgotten to share your appeals and it is next up on my blog and twitter. xx
I just heard on the news that we should get rain tomorrow though I don't think it is going to be much. I can see the clouds gathering on the northern horizon. Thanks so much for sharing the appeal for Elvis. I appreciate it ;-)
Thanks so much! I like rain when it isn't raining heavily for weeks on end ;-) I miss rain when it doesn't rain for a few weeks, lol.
Tracking spending is very practical and that crows are smart is a fact!
They can remember people too.
Better find a way to be nicer. They seem to want a bath regardless of the dummer but prettier birds according to them?
Goals here are to just get back on the mend and it's beginning to work.
I'm so glad that you are getting back on the mend, Heidi. I hope to see more of you and I hope you have a nice August with your family :-)
As a desert dweller, I can agree that a run of very hot weather can leave you feeling exhausted and without energy. By the way, I just reset my iPhone. All of my photos came through intact. I have to say that getting all photos in order on my laptop is one of my goals this year. There are so many, I suspect they slow things down, and plenty of them should be discarded.
Hi ,Thanks for visiting my blog. We have had a good few weeks of summer but now the rain has started.It's very hard to grow things in the garden here as when it rains it pours and when I buy new plants it feels like I'm throwing my money away, so I have decided just to put plants in pots now that way I won't loose so many.
La fotografia me ha gustado mucho y ese propòsito de ahorro creo que en los tiempos que corren todo estamos iguales. Enhorabuena por tu entrada.
un abrazo
fus
hope you get rain, and cooler temps.
Sounds like you're having a pretty nice summer. I don't know the kind of phone you have, but I have an iPhone and I am able to mail my photos to my email address and that's how I download my photos, one at a time. I don't like crows either, we had lots of them in Langley they chased away the pretty song birds. It was hard to find a place where the pretty birds were because of the crows. Interesting that they could dismantle a bird bath!
Have a wonderful day.
Yes the summer weather is real hot in Vancouver for a change. I think last summer was hot too. But hot is not my favourite thing, lol. I prefer a little sun and a little rain but it can't always be perfect. I can send photos to myself one at a time too but that doesn't help much. I take too many for that to be the answer but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Those pesky crows do chase away the nice little birds that I like. I notice the little birds were around once I put the bowl from the birdbath in the garden full of water. The crows don't come around all the time just at specific times. The little birds must have been real thirsty to show up yesterday. You have a great weekend :-)
Thank you Denise. It is cooler today but still quite warm. It rained and thundered last night. I hope your weather is good for you. Hugs.xx
Thank you, Fus.
I do love container gardening. I'm afraid I didn't get around to filling all my pots this year. Oh well, there is next year ;-)
Good luck with organizing your photos Clair!
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