Thompson Manor

We’ve had Jeff and Tanner here since Thursday.  They will be driving down the Coast and ultimately to Las Vegas where Tanner will spend some time and then fly home to Idaho.

On Friday we had the Seattle crowd over for hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, baked beans and potato salad; a regular 14th of July with no fireworks.

Apples, Peaches, Plums and Pears are growing well.  We should have enough to supply the world with Apple Butter and Plum preserves.  There should be enough Peaches and Pears for eating well into the fall.

This has been an unusual summer for the Pacific Northwest.  June had 11 record setting days for high temperatures.  We had almost a solid week where the daytime high was over 90.  Coming from the desert we spent the money for central air conditioning when we had the heating system replaced.  The neighbors all thought we were being silly.  Heh!  We have been comfortable.  They’ve all been sitting on their patios until 11pm.

How hot is Las Vegas?  All the comedians who still live there say “But, it’s a dry heat.”  So is an oven.  Look at our Las Vegas front porch at 10am.

Another unusual weather event has been no rain.  The month of June only saw a little over one inch, which is very dry for this area.  As a result, the front yard has turned brown which usually doesn’t happen until September.  Water cost is too high to be using city water for grass so we’ll look like the rest of the neighborhood.