Cotton mouth rattle moccasin

Well, the heat (among other things) has taken a toll on my garden. The beans are giving up. The strawberries look bad. The tomatoes never looked good or produced very much. Two baby cukes just dried up. I have replanted the onions from seed heads. The basil and cilantro bolted almost immediately.



This fellow visited Sunday afternoon. Alan said he was a cotton mouth rattle moccasin, but really he is a yellow rat snake. I wanted him dead, but Alan refused. He moved later up into the garden box and stretched out, about 18 inches. He was only a harbinger. Over night a raccoon, or possibly a possum, ate one of my three melons. Another split, maybe from the heat. Only one left. I may not ever grow melons again.

Okra are still producing. I will definitely grow okra again. And Alan found a cuke I hadn't noticed among the vines. Happy to have that because I've enjoyed two watermelon salad recipes lately and one of them calls for a cuke, so I can eat that again tomorrow. Plus I enjoy a cool cuke drink, recipe by my friend Yoko Ueda. It'll be good tomorrow when it is 100 degrees again.

Park Seed fall catalog arrived today. Next!