Abstract Thursday : : Curves

The star thistles are slowly advancing down the hill through the field from the toward our back fence. The only way to git rid of them, or so we are told, is to poison them when they are covered with yellow flowers and not with vicious pointed spikes. We content ourselves with watching their advance since we are reluctant to bring out the poison. They looked quite pretty this morning with droplets of mist on their vicious spikes (which contrast rather well with the various curves in the picture.

The sun is shining again, the internet is working again, and BOTH Daves showed up this morning. Our windows are now covered with plastic, and although they drove off at 2pm, the Daves did say they would be back tomorrow to start spraying on the primer. Patience is called for. I'm doing my best to summon it up....OilMan owes me dinner because I bet him there was no way they would be finished by tomorrow as promised.

Yesterday's surprise thunderstorm wreaked general havoc and mayhem around here. Not having the painters show up was minor compared to lightning striking a house a couple of blocks away, the power going  out, and traffic lights going out all over town. 

The grape harvest, or 'crush' has been affected by weather extremes this month too. The growers were picking at night during the heat wave for the sake of the farm workers, and the winemakers were testing the brix  (or sugar) level practically hourly. Now the grapes resisted the heat are threatened by mold which collects on them and doesn't dry off because of the leaves that were left  like little umbrellas to protect them during the heat wave. The highway is jammed with trucks piled high with crates filled with grapes, and trucks hauling the blowers that are used to blow the water off the grapes that haven't been harvested yet.  I think sleep is a very rare commodity for anybody connected with the crush....