Red Hot

I swore to myself that I was not stepping foot outside today.  With temps hitting 102, and still at 99 at 8 p.m., I knew I'd melt as soon as I opened the door.  Unfortunately, the trash and recycling cans do not return themselves to the back patio after being emptied, and the plants were getting pretty darn thirsty.

Being so good at procrastinating (and practicing it ALL day long), I managed to wait until 8:30 to get out of the pajamas and into real clothes so I could go outside to retrieve those darn cans and water the plants.  Fortunately in that extra half hour, the temps dropped another 10 degrees, so I'm not nearly as sweaty as I was Thursday evening!

I had absolutely no intention of taking any pictures, but then I saw the mandevilla blooming nicely and remembered I hadn't gotten a good shot of the re-blooming lilac in re-bloom mode.  So, whether my intentions were solely artistic or not, I forced myself back into the nicely air conditioned house to retrieve the camera.  Forcing myself back outside again took every effort known to man.

But, I'm pretty happy with the pics I got . . . no drama, no extremes, just a couple of nice flower shots, and a bit of speculation at the end.

This is my first try with begonias, and they're in a pot near the hummingbird feeders, which is why they have water on them.  Seems the feeder was right over the A/C unit and was dripping sugar water all over the A/C unit, which in turn attracted ants.  Of course I had to hose down the unit, which ended up spraying water everywhere!

First time trying to grow verbena, too.  It's in the same pot w/ the begonia.  The dahlia in that pot isn't blooming right now, or there'd be a pic of it, too!

One of the Crimson Mandevilla blooms.  There are a lot of buds just waiting to open up.  I think I'm liking this plant, although I wish I'd read a little more about it before I put it in the ground.  Apparently SW Ohio winters are too harsh and it needs to be brought indoors, even if it is a perennial.  Hmmm . . . will think about it when the time comes, I guess.

The overly abundant trumpet vine.  It too, likes the heat and is growing like crazy.  I'll have to get out in the next couple of days and do some more pruning . . .

I like Queen Anne's lace.  Ever since the days of putting them in a vase w/ food coloring added to the water . . .

More trumpet vines; these by the back fence where I'm TRYING to get them to grow over the top of the clothes line.  It's an on-going process, so IF it ever gets to a point that I'm happy with, I'll take a pic.

And now for the speculation . . . this is one of the blue jays, and he's looking a bit worse for the wear.  I'm thinking he probably had a tussle with one of the local feral cats (one of the neighbors feeds them, but she and her daughter also trap them and have them spayed and neutered so I'm not complaining too much).  I'm hoping he makes it.

And what I just noticed?  The pictures I posted tonight are all red, white, and blue (jay).  I tried again to get a good pic of the re-blooming lilac, but I am having a heck of a time with it.  I don't know if I need to try earlier in the day when I'm not tired, or what, but it's NOT getting the better of me!