July's ups and downs (so far)

We've been very lucky with respect to our daytime temperatures so far.  While another so-called heat dome is still toasting most of California, launching wildfires, our temperatures along the Southern California coast have yet to climb above the mid-80sF (29C) this July.  I'm crediting the persistence of our morning marine layer.  Most days, it dissipates by 8am but last Saturday we were socked in until 2pm.  It was lovely.

View of back garden after 8am last Saturday.  The harbor below us was entirely invisible,

This photo was also taken in the back garden,  The Ginkgo tree and the hedge looked like they were sitting on the edge of the world with the erasure of the homes across the canyon. 

View from the front garden looking northwest into an apparent void 

This front garden view had a more Twilight Zone edge, with a lone garbage bin left behind on the street.  Unfortunately, it also highlighted the surprising decline of Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike' on the left.  I lost 2 branches of that shrub last year and now the rest of it seems to be dying off.  Growing on a moderate slope, I can only guess whether the soil drains too well in that spot or the gopher that formerly resided there was responsible.

This photo was taken around 3pm when the sky was blue and the harbor could be seen again.  A smoggy haze has been present on the horizon since the 4th of July fireworks.  Although private displays are illegal in our high fire risk area, it wasn't evident from the war zone we experienced yet again this year.

A neighbor's cat has paid me periodic visits.

I still miss my beloved Pipig but this big boy has dropped by now and then.  He got stuck on a fence and complained loudly so I picked him up and set him down safely.  He's come back twice since and has been quite friendly.  I don't know his name but I understand that a neighbor 5 doors up the street adopted him when he was dumped in the canyon by someone as a kitten.

Unfortunately, a gopher has also paid me a visit, popping up in, of all places, my cutting garden.

I don't know why a gopher would move in here, where a large area is covered by raised planters and barrels and equal area is covered with a thick layer of gravel, but one did!  When the first hole on the left appeared I poured deterrent granules and water down it, filled it in, and inserted a sonic deterrent spike in that spot.  A few days later the second hole showed up at the edge of a barrel just 3 feet away (shown on the right).  I've looked into the lethal black-hole traps but, after reading the reviews, wasn't sure how helpful it would be.

The Italian Navy also recently paid a visit nearby.  The Amerigo Vespucci, almost one hundred years old and reputed to be "the most beautiful ship in the world," docked at the Port of Los Angeles from July 3rd through the 8th as part of a two-year worldwide voyage visiting fifteen countries.  Visitors with reservations received free guided tours and had the opportunity to participate in a variety of events celebrating the Italian culture.  Although its arrival received some low-key press, by the time I heard about it from a neighbor, all the spots on the tour had been booked.

I managed to get a photo of the ship from my back garden, though.  I used my new camera, which has a 40x optical zoom feature.  This photo was larger and clearer than than the one I took with my Nikon's telephoto lens.

 

Rounding out early July's ups and downs is an event that involves a little of both.  Yesterday, construction and plumbing crews arrived at 7:30am to replace the copper pipes in our 73 year old house and to refurbish our living room chimney.  We replaced the pipe in our kitchen when we renovated it and other parts of the house in 2019 but we didn't think about repiping the rest of the house until we experienced one after another pinhole leaks later.  As three different teams are involved in the process, I'm not sure how long this is going to take.  The kitchen, the living room, our main bedroom, and my home office aren't directly impacted but everything we removed from the affected areas, two bathrooms, the laundry room and my husband's office, have ended up in those spaces.  And there's no escaping the noise!

Even though I knew they had to open up the walls to replace the pipes, I underestimated just how much space would be affected.  This is just 2 of the 5 walls opened so far.

Even the cutting garden is nominally impacted

  

The good news is that, when they're done, we shouldn't have to worry about any more bulging walls, water bill surprises, or a leaking chimney.  A little pain now should save us more in the future.

I hope your July offers ups with any downs!  My sympathy to all those experiencing heatwaves or weather-related floods.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party