He Ho The Wind and the Rain
Well, after the weirdest Spring and Summer I think I can every remember from anywhere I have ever lived (and that includes snow on the tulips in Denver) we now have fall. Of course we went from a very warm dry April to three solid months of rain (I'm not kidding 12 weeks, more than Noah got) then about two weeks of warmish and nice Summer weather. Then about a week ago, all heck broke loose. We haven't had hurricanes, I guess the powers that be that Disaster Cat being on this side of the water that having in the UK would be close enough to count. What we have had is nasty cold rain, wind and pumpkin blossoms?...Yes, that's right, our poor plants are so confused that locals report seeing cherry and apple blossoms in nearby fields and in our own garden we have a lone pumpkin plant that survived when all the rest were drown now valiantly trying to make up for lost time. In my conservatory I have yellow crock neck squash just making flowers and tiny proto-squish scattered among the green and equally flowering tomatoes! The only normal things are the fallen apple tree covered in apples (I guess only at Kilmurry House do fallen trees continue to produce record crops of fruit) and pears that need picking next week or so. I also got marble sized potatoes but that may be due to their growing in a laundry basket rather than the weather - I just added more potting soil and hope they get bigger. Otherwise instead of baby potatoes it may be pebble spuds on our plates.
The barn cats keep looking at me demanding to know where there warm sunshine went and what box did I put it in but the sub-Arctic Elk hound dogs are delighted with all the nice nearly frozen mud and wet gooey ground. The humans are not nearly so excited about this, the more so if we have to go outside for anything. Like taking everything back out to my weaving studio which flooded for the second time a month ago. This time I'm not putting any carpet in, except maybe a throw rug for under my feet until the pump has some time to prove it is really fixed. The heavy rains seems to have upset something inside it and not be a plumber I can tell what...funny I'm not sure our real plumber can either but he seems happy to keep coming over and putter around with it and in between springing leaks it works more or less.
Local gossip is all about the price of turf and heating oil (petrol over here) which have both gone very high. Thankfully we still have some of the first and will be getting more of the second. A report recently pointed out that Ireland could save huge amounts of energy by just weatherizing it's old houses - I guess that's why all the grants seem to be for new technologies like pellet stoves rather than double glazed windows with a known track record. I guess the pellet stove companies look more new and shiny or something?
Anyway, tomorrow's forecast is more of the same. So, in between moving the weaving studio and updating prices on our company website to reflect the fall in the value of the US dollar (and the price of metals) I'll see if I can ramp up operation "APPLE." This operation occurs every year at Kilmurry though some years, like last year it may be a very short one. Last year we collected one small basket of apples in total - this year looks like I could be doing apples for a couple of weeks and still not sort them all. But then, if I can't get to all of them there's always the old standby of putting an electric fence around the tree and letting the horses in for an afternoon.
If this weather keeps up we may have some very happy horses,
Disaster Cat