{"id":877,"date":"2009-08-02T08:56:21","date_gmt":"2009-08-02T16:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.wordpress.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2009-08-02T08:56:21","modified_gmt":"2009-08-02T16:56:21","slug":"summertime-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"Summertime Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Summertime we should see deep blue skies, but here the air is pretty heavy with smoke.\u00a0 Even though the fires are a long way from here, this morning you&#8217;d think you were singing songs around the campfire.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_878\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-878\" class=\"size-full wp-image-878\" title=\"smoke-aug2\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/smoke-aug2.jpg\" alt=\"The colors of summer, cool blue sky, deep blue shadows, smokey blue... well... smoke.\" width=\"460\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/smoke-aug2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/smoke-aug2-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-878\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The colors of summer, cool blue sky, deep blue shadows, smokey blue... well... smoke.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So far we&#8217;ve gotten enough rains from the thunderstorms which roll through to keep the hills green.\u00a0 This is a more &#8220;normal&#8221; summer weather pattern this year, unlike the prior three summers we&#8217;ve lived here where the hills were dry and the grasses were crunchy by the end of June at the latest.\u00a0 Summer temperatures have arrived, however.\u00a0 Yesterday we saw a high of 92F (33.3C) and today is forecast for at least that hot.\u00a0 We won&#8217;t see any relief from high heat until the end of this week when more thunderstorms are predicted.\u00a0 Hopefully they will contain rain and not just dry lightning as the green grass we&#8217;re seeing will not be green much longer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_879\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-879\" class=\"size-full wp-image-879\" title=\"serviceberry-mold\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/serviceberry-mold.jpg\" alt=\"Serviceberries are blue when ripe.  These few remaining berries have some sort of mold covering them, perhaps from all the rains we've seen this summer.\" width=\"460\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/serviceberry-mold.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/serviceberry-mold-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-879\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Serviceberries are blue when ripe.  These few remaining berries have some sort of mold covering them, perhaps from all the rains we&#39;ve seen this summer.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Elderberries are also blue, a more powder-smoke blue.\u00a0 Several bushes along the road up to our house are loaded with the berries, a favorite of all sorts of bird species.\u00a0 All sorts of berries are blue this time of year, and my most favorite of all is blueberries.\u00a0 I froze the berries I bought and we&#8217;ll have pancakes and muffins all winter.\u00a0 I smile about that whenever it crosses my mind.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_881\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-881\" class=\"size-full wp-image-881\" title=\"shiny-computer\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/shiny-computer.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;It's shiny, Captain.&quot;\" width=\"460\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/shiny-computer.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/shiny-computer-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&quot;It&#39;s shiny, Captain.&quot;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>My new computer \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Dan is getting it all set up for me.\u00a0 I&#8217;m such a lucky girl, I have in-home tech support and an admin on hand at all times.\u00a0 Yes, I&#8217;m spoiled.\u00a0 This is as it should be.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_882\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-882\" class=\"size-full wp-image-882\" title=\"peaches-2\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/peaches-2.jpg\" alt=\"A half box of fresh totally tree-ripened peaches.\" width=\"460\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/peaches-2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/peaches-2-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-882\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A half box of fresh totally tree-ripened peaches.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>They have a very faint blue tinted fuzz, hence they fit into the category of all things blue.\u00a0 We picked these up yesterday when we made a trip to our favorite fruit stand.\u00a0 We also brought home three small seedless watermelons, Queen Anne cherries, and ears of corn.\u00a0 All of these are more sure signs of summer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_885\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-885\" class=\"size-full wp-image-885\" title=\"bread-recipes\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/bread-recipes.jpg\" alt=\"We were feeling blue until Dan found this cookbook.  This totally solved our feeling blue about a lack of bread in the house.\" width=\"460\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/bread-recipes.jpg 469w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/bread-recipes-281x300.jpg 281w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-885\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We were feeling blue until Dan found this cookbook.  This totally solved our lack of bread in the house.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I love to bake things on Sunday, and that&#8217;s my plan for the day, to play in the kitchen.\u00a0 Yesterday I made two kinds of muffins, a banana-walnut-cinnamon muffin, and a lemon-coconut muffin.\u00a0 They were both absolutely delicious.\u00a0 I still have four bananas which are perfectly ripe and I will make two more batches of muffins for the freezer so we have them over the coming month.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_887\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-887\" class=\"size-full wp-image-887\" title=\"babyhummer\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/babyhummer.jpg\" alt=\"A baby Calliope Hummingbird.  We will be blue shortly as these little guys will leave our mountains within the next several weeks.\" width=\"460\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/babyhummer.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/babyhummer-300x271.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A baby Calliope Hummingbird.  We will be blue shortly as these little guys will leave our mountains within the next several weeks.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The adults are all gone, for the most part, leaving behind the babies to find their way south.\u00a0 Migration is such a miraculous annual event.\u00a0 Truly astounding that these tiny creatures can go so far in such a small amount of time.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_888\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-888\" class=\"size-full wp-image-888\" title=\"summer-kitty\" src=\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/summer-kitty.jpg\" alt=\"He thinks hot weather is interesting.  \" width=\"460\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/summer-kitty.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/summer-kitty-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-888\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">He thinks hot weather is interesting.  <\/p><\/div>\n<p>How does he fit into a blue category?\u00a0 He&#8217;s a Russian Blue, or at least partly that color variety.\u00a0 Last night he was so hot.\u00a0 He was laying flat on the floor unside down and completely stretched out with his paws above his head and back legs stretched out straight by his tail.\u00a0 He looks dead until his belly gets tickled, and then he comes alive.\u00a0 He gives us a dirty look if we disturb his cooling off postures but it obviously takes too much energy to do anything about it.<\/p>\n<p>This morning a Snowshoe Hare came up to the sliding glass door where Mish was sitting, and they got nose-to-nose before the bunny left the porch.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not entirely sure he even saw the cat; it was more like he was admiring his reflection in a mirror or wondering who that really good-looking bunny was.\u00a0 Mish got a hugely fluffed tail out of the encounter.\u00a0 He was feeling blue that he couldn&#8217;t go chase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summertime we should see deep blue skies, but here the air is pretty heavy with smoke.\u00a0 Even though the fires are a long way from here, this morning you&#8217;d think you were singing songs around the campfire. So far we&#8217;ve gotten enough rains from the thunderstorms which roll through to keep the hills green.\u00a0 This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}