Is anyone else melting? I cannot believe how hot it was today. It got up to 85. Now I know some of you from southern climes might scoff at 85, but 85 in western WA is like 115 in Nevada. Trust me, I've been there when it's 115, I know of which I speak. It's so humid today it feels like being slapped with a hot wet towel when you step outside.

I have a friend from Puerto Rico who came to visit a couple years ago. She thought I was kidding about our pesky little 85 degrees. By the time she was to go home she said she'd much rather deal with the heat in PR, than the heat in the Pacific North West.

So anyway, I've been uncomfortable most of the afternoon. It gets really cool at night, so last night I had a fan in every window and the house was actually cold in the morning, but not unpleasantly so. I kept all the blinds and curtains closed through the day. The house stayed pleasant until about two, which was when I headed in to pick up my kids in my nice, air-conditioned car.

I went to Costco first and bought protein, beef and fish and chicken, and also kosher all beef hotdogs, some Progresso chicken soup and shampoo, allergey pills, lens cleaners and a few other items I can't think of. Oh, and a fast and easy Chinese cookbook. I wanted to buy the other Chinese cookbook they had but it was coffee table sized. Not the size to put on a coffee table, but the size of a coffee table. I still might get it in the next pay cycle but it was awfully heavy and I'll have to think about it. It's not going to be an easy one to just whip out and use, but it had some lovely photographs. Spent exactly $127.00 at Costco. It always weirds me out when it comes out to a perfect whole number like that.

So, then I picked up the kids and we came home to a house that was now blazing hot. The outside temp was down to 70 by the time I got home around 6:30. They went down the road to play after helping me put away the groceries. I got the window fans going on the shady side of the house and opened the curtains, then turned the fans around on the sunny side of the house to pull the hot air out of the house and expel it outside, which also helps draw it in from the cool side.

The front road strips of grass were in shade so I went ahead and mowed them. It's been four or five weeks, I think since they've been done. I didn't feel too bad about it since no one else had been mowing their lawns either. Bet they will be now! Anywho, then I did the inside of the horseshoe flowerbed, which was in shade by then. I dumped the grass bag into the compost 3 times and it was stuffed full. To put this in perspective, a normal mow of those three areas will fill the bag once. I hacked down some burdock, too. Stupid stuff will take over if you let it.

I set the sprinklers in the garden to go for two hours. They'll go off at 9:20. It won't be dark until 10:20 and with this heat the plants will be dry by then.

Tomorrow I have to pick strawberries, harvest broccoli and check on the zucchini and squash plants. You should see my bush cherries. They are loaded. They won't be ready until they turn black though, probably another 3 to 4 weeks. They are bright red right now. The raspberries are just starting to turn slightly pink.

I also need to mow around the propane tank and maybe some of the back yard, and weed eat the parts in the front that are not accessible to the mower. I'm also going to cut back the clematis that has finished blooming. It's way overgrown but had too many pretty flowers on it to trim it sooner. It's supposed to be partly cloudy but still pretty hot tomorrow.

We'll probably spend an hour down at the pool as well. I want to set up our quick set pool but I have to mow the lawn in the back first though.