Can I Talk Too Much About Flowers, Farming, Gardening and Decoraring??? Don't Think So

Morning from Sunny Northern California.  Today is September 5th and it is supposed to be 98 degrees today. Will the heat ever end?? Frank gave me a new sign as a surprise gift the other day.
The tomato canning class went so well, what great ladies come to these classes.  We canned 2 batches of halved tomatoes; and while they were cooking, we made 3 batches of tomato/basil/balsamic jam.  It is fabulous tasting over goat cheese, on crackers.

But I believe the shortage of water has taken a small toll on our yard.  Our oak tree out front of our house just went and died.  It was a smaller oak that was next to our huge oak. One day we were driving into our driveway and Frank said, I think that tree is dead. You know when you live someplace you don't really notice changes happening?  I put the water to it for about a week without any change.

I called a great company, Gold State Tree Company, who is based right here in Gridley.  They cut down a huge dead walnut tree for us when we first moved to this house.  I called in the morning, they came at 1:30 pm the same day. He came out to the house prior to cutting down the tree to inspect and advise me whether the tree was just stressed or dead. Gave me a very reasonable quote. Cleaned up all debris, raked and even took off the dead ivy crawling up the huge old oak next to this dead tree while they were up in the boom. 

Many of our crops are finished as we are getting to the end of our CSA farming season.  But the flowers just keep on blooming.

Right now we are drying any excess fruit we may have, even dry tomatoes.  I have a friend who has an orchard and he is going to give me all the apples that are bruised, worms or any that are not perfect for him to sell, but will be perfect for me to slice and dry.
Here are trays of the peaches and tomatoes drying.

I painted the front porch as it was looking fairly sad.  With that change, I needed to make new cushions and even changed the front door decoration. 

Even Bella and Annie were busy chasing ground squirrels up trees.