Due to several forest fires in eastern Oregon, and the wind changing from the usual SW/W to an E/SE, our valley slowly filled with smoke this week.
The light turned into an eerie orange at sunrise, followed by more of a yellow during the afternoon. It almost felt like fall, with that warm, low light ..

The Cascade mountain-range in the east and Mt Hood, which is usually visible on clear days, was completely gone ...

                               

 

As was the same towards the Oregon Coastal range, which was only faintly visible:

                              

Temperatures were high (low 90s), even more so with the smoke which acted like a blanket and prevented the nights from cooling down.
Fortunately it only lasted a couple of days and by now the wind has turned and everything is clear again.

My zinnias don't care about smoke or low light and are putting on quite a show: 

              

They're wildly popular these days, everybody wants them. 
No wonder since they're sturdy, they're flowering reliable and for a very long time and they don't need a lot of water.
And they're so cheerful!

Most of the Teasels are done flowering but I found a few near the pond in town with still some purple color on them.                                      

 

                                                                        

Fun fact: its unique hooked seed heads inspired the invention of Velcro! 

The Ospreys still act nervous when I come around the corner towards the train-tracks. 
One of them landed in the tree I stood under at the pond to check me out and I finally got a decent shot of him:

We have a lot of Leaf-cutter bees buzzing through the Queen Anne's Lace and they fly of and on to my little bee-house to build their individual brood cells in the tunnels:

They line them with plant materials (leaves, resin) or soil, provide them with pollen/nectar, than lay a single egg, and seal them ...

                                                

They're very busy bees!

      

They're very important pollinators for squash and melon.
Case in point:

Yes, that's the beginnings of a Honey-dew Melon! And there are several more! Whoohoo!
Only problem ... they need a long, hot, 90–100 day season. 
So I doubt we'll have an edible product in the end, but we'll see ... it'll be fun to see how far they'll get.

I did pick my first green beans though. How cool is that?

We ate them with some mushrooms and onions, hamburgers and small potatoes. Very healthy!

I also tried my hand at a 'bowl', another highly popular item these days to eat, especially in vegetarian/vegan circles.
I cooked carrots, broccoli, edamame and brown rice, air-fried some salmon, added avocado and drizzled it with a simple mayo/sriracha sauce:
 

                          

Instead of piling everything in a bowl I spread it out on a plate. I think it eats much easier that way, when you don't have to dig for what's at the bottom.

I bet it just tastes the same .... m-m good!

 

As I mentioned in a previous post we are surrounded by fields and fields of Queen Anne's Lace. 
They flower from June to September and I absolutely love them! 
I noticed this week that the green parts of the flowers, the stem and the, very tiny, leaves are starting to turn brown. 
I think it's the drought, since despite the (spectacular) Thunderstorm we had a week ago we're getting very dry around here. 
I've seen some maples that already show fall colors!

The water in the pond is very low. Normally the area where now the purple mint is growing is all under water ...                       

My camera is getting worse lately, it now has problems focusing, still takes forever to take the shot and images are coming out blurry and off-color.
These pictures of the green heron that showed up a couple of times this week clearly (or actually not clearly) show this:

He caught himself a big Newt, which took a while to go down the hatch!

The Goldfinches are all over the big Thistle now, picking at the seeds and the grass around it is covered in fluff. 
I think we'll have lots of plants next year! 
Not quite what you'd want but I'll just mow them all down and probably leave a few as a feature plant again.

              
Again .. blurry pictures and it's not me!

I'd forgotten the color of my Hollyhock .. apparently its red. They look a little ruffled and stunted. Damaged by the wind?

 

I looked at last year's pictures and they also were a much darker red at the time, more like a Burgundy. Oh well, at least they're flowering, I'll take it ..

It looks like my Butterscotch Squash is putting out at least one squash (top pic) and upon close inspection of my Zucchini-plant I found about 3 or 4 that might grow into something as well. Yeah!

                                                     

                                                     

What else? Oh, I got a new office chair! I've never been happy whith the one I had, the seat was too hard and for some weird reason you couldn't move it down low enough, which forced me in a posture that wasn't very comfortable for my back, neck and butt.
So I finally persuaded myself to get a better one (lots of excuses that it wasn't broken and I shouldn't sit too long any-ways and more of that nonsense) and voila  .. Walmart had one on sale:

                                            

                              

                                                               

Ergonomic design, open weave back and it moves up and down. What's not to love .. and yes, I should have done that a long time ago ..                                                 

The parts for the Starlink 'dish', which will provide our new Internet, came in and although we had an appointment for a tech-guy to come out and install it this coming Wednesday, James tried to do it himself:

         

And he did! He had to adjust the angle a little the next day but it was pretty straightforward and he got it to work!
This is the router on the left, which is much smaller than what we had and which sits on the bookshelf:

                                

The 'whatsamethingy' on the right is plugged in under the counter, out of sight.
So far, so good, it is at least four times as fast as what we had so we're happy campers!

Temperatures are forecasted to rise this week, I guess it had to happen, into the high 80s, low 90s with 95 as the hottest on Wednesday, after which we'll go back in the high 70s next Sunday.
So, a little hot flash for the start of August but not for too long of a period ... yet.

I baked a southern tomato-pie:


Very easy, filled with nice, ripe tomatoes, fresh basil from my garden, lots of cheese and mayo (my favorite condiment) of all things!
It's delicious, very summery (and good for 2 meals for the two of us). 
According to James he could eat this every week and could I please make this a staple!
Duly noted ... 

To finish it off I'd also made some nice, triple chocolate and pecan (I was out of walnuts), brownies.
I think we're eating well ..

                                                

                                                                                      

We started the week with blue skies and temps in the low 80s but the second half has been overcast and quite a lot cooler (70-75).
Perfect summer weather I'd say! 

There's not a lot going on lately although on Friday we drove into Willamina for their yearly citywide Garage Sale:

  

 

For some reason their were a lot less people participating than previous years. 
We live in weird times at the moment, maybe people are holding on to their stuff?

The only thing I picked up was this Wysocki puzzle (for a dollar):

 
                                             

Oh well, it was a beautiful day and it was fun driving around town, strolling through a few garages and talking to some people.
Oh, James (of course) found some pastries along the way, so yes, we took some home.

On my weekly walk to the pond I checked up on the pair of Ospreys that raise a couple of youngsters in a nest near the river every year ...

 

            

 

They started yelling at me as soon as I came in sight and when I approached even further one of them started to come at me ... 

                                

He didn't quite attack but flew very low over my head and kept circling around me ... I made a hasty retreat and he eventually backed off.
In all the times I've been there they were never this alarmed, I wonder if they recently had been attacked themselves .. maybe by some of the eagles or hawks that nest around here as well?

At the pond I came across this female crested duck. It's a mutation some ducks are born with, similar to a cowlick in humans. Very cute!

 

          

On my way back I almost stepped on this Gopher Snake, sunning itself on the path, trying to warm up after a cool night.

 

                            

Gopher snakes are usual docile and very helpful to have in your yard to keep down rodent populations and, most important for me, they deter rattlesnakes!
Not that we have them over here, thank goodness ..

My (wild) honeysuckle is growing and flowering a lot better than last year .. something to be said about fertilizing!
And the Zinnia I sowed from the seeds I harvested from last year's batch are starting as well. A little late, but I take it.

         

The Butterscotch Squash on the left and the Honeydew melon on the right in the next pictures, are finally taking off (also after fertilizing). 
They both had a few flowers initially but didn't make any fruit ... yet. I'm still hoping!

                 

 

Same goes for my Zucchini, only male flowers so far. But look, I do have a few (cherry) tomatoes!                                                   

   

James has a steady stream of appraisals coming in at the moment and is working hard. 
The office he build last year is working out fine, he's still very happy with it.

         

                                   

Our problem of late though is our Internet, over the last couple of weeks it has gotten slower and slower and it's pretty much non-existing at the moment.
We've had a tech-guy from our provider here twice now to tweak things a little and we even got a bigger size dish but it has not helped at all.
Apparently we are at the very end of reach of the tower we're aimed at and we've just been lucky to have had the coverage we had so far.

We've decided to switch to Starlink despite having to deal with the fact it's owned by that total moron of an Elon Musk, but it's just way faster and better than anything out there and it costs the same as we pay now. 
Oh well, it is what it is, without Internet we won't make money ..

 

I finished this puzzle. Definitely not the easiest but very pretty!

We're over a month in summer and although the temperatures have been blessedly 'moderate' nature is starting to look somewhat parched around the edges already.
The big thistle in my 'lawn' is flowering profusely now and the bees are buzzing in and around it ..

                                     

Some of the flowers are already spend and their fluffy seeds are starting to fly in the wind. 
I try to catch some of it before it can spread and I've seen the Goldfinches going for them as well!                                                                 

                    

                                           

The pond is receding rapidly which gives room for the annual appearance of Penny-royal, also called mosquito plant or pudding grass, on the banks:

           

Penny-royal is a pungent mint that spreads rapidly along the ground which grows in flooded or seasonally wet areas. 
Their tiny leaves send out the aroma of mint when brushed or stepped on and its lavender flowers are very attractive to bees.
I picked some for inside but the smell might be a little too pungent ... we'll see.

The first blackberries are ripening. They look better than they taste though, most are still a tad too sour:

                          

The temperatures have been on the rise for a few days now and today we reached 85F.
Thank goodness for AC!
The birds are happily splashing in the birdbaths, from which until now they've mostly only been drinking ... 

        

 I guess they get hot as well ...

                           

                           

We went Blueberry picking at Wallace Farm on Friday, when it was a surprisingly cool, overcast day.

The bushes were overloaded with beautiful, large and ripe berries which made for very easy and fast picking.

                                                                    

It took us only an hour to pick the 2 gallons we'd set our limit to! Despite having a little freezer in the shed, we just don't have enough space for more.
After washing, freezing and packaging we ended up with 12.6 pounds, 0.6 more than last year, which (if we're a little frugal, but hey, I'm Dutch) should get us through the winter.

Talking about winter, I baked something we usually only eat in winter, and very specifically only at Old/New Year's .... oliebollen!

In my hometown of Den Helder in the Netherlands there's a yearly 'Kermis' (Fun Fair) that takes place in July. 
Besides all the rides and other food stalls there's always an 'oliebollenkraam' and I would never miss the opportunity to get some.

Each year I say I'll bake them in the summer, to keep up that tradition, but I never do.
But guess what? This year I did! (Only a little late since the Kermis was 2 weeks ago but who's counting?)

Yum, yum, yum!

I 'only' made half a batch (12 balls), which was a lot faster than the full one I make for New Years, and it was so easy to do that I really don't know why I never did it before ..

Next year .. no more excuses!