We're having a heatwave and it's stifling in more ways than one. Today will be the 6th day of triple digit temperatures for over seven hours. The highest temperature so far was on Wednesday, August 31st at 1:30 in the afternoon, coming in at a blistering 112.3º F. Yesterday topped out at 110.6º F. My house is inadequately prepared for these kinds of temperatures on a few fronts but most significantly it's the absence of central air conditioning. Currently, it's 4:20 AM, I've been up for over an hour. The house is about 85º. I'm making an effort to bring as much of a 76º outdoor air temp inside before resorting to air conditioning. When I went to bed air conditioning was on a timer with an outdoor temperature still hovering around 90º F. There will be no walk today. I will only have about a one hour opportunity to get some watering done outside. I suspect I'll be in triple digits before 11:00 AM.
Anyway, since I'm up so early and I have a somewhat cooler breeze being pulled in by a tower fan blowing on me I wanted to take this opportunity to post some pictures. I'm afraid I might not get a whole lot of butterfly photos after this heatwave since it's taking a toll on my few flowers outside. Here are some images from this summer, some of these may have already been posted on this blog. I'm bored and I'm going a little stir-crazy with this heatwave. PS, I just learned...
Stir-crazy originated as a word to describe a prisoner who became distraught after prolonged confinement. Stir is a 19th-century slang word for "prison" that some word historians have suspected to be from Romani stariben, of the same meaning. But a convincing argument of that origin has yet been made. Today, stir-crazy describes any person who has become restless, agitated, or anxious from being or feeling entrapped in some place. (Thank you Merriam-Webster)
Butterflies are, giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Flowers are, Tithonia rotundifolia, Plumbago auriculata and Bougainvillea. There's also a Salvia leucantha plant in here.
In no particular order.
That's all. Hopefully next week provides some cooler climes and less humidity. Mother Nature seems to frequently sneak in an extra little SoCal heatwave in October. We'll see. By the way, despite my efforts, it's still 85º F in this room. In less than two hours I need to close things up.
Thanks for sharing even as you endure the heat. We didn’t have air conditioning until I was 8 years old . Don’t know how we stood it. Hope it cools off soon !
ReplyDeleteBeautiful butterfly pics. The heat is on here too - it was 88F outside at 7am when I started work in my garden in advance of the 15-day outdoor water ban. It's over 99F now but I hope to spread more mulch late this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteExcellent butterfly photos. What fascinating patterns each species has.
ReplyDeleteHere the heat goes on and on and on and it's the 8th already. Hope you have been able to stay cool.