Waiting on the monsoon

Clouds have slowly developed volume but no real rain yet. All I see are short, isolated showers in the valley. I haven't planted a garden yet this year to avoid a huge water bill like last year. I intend to plant beans this weekend and leave it at that. With Kevin's diabetes he has been avoiding all the high-carb foods which are not healthy for diabetics: turnips, beets, carrots. He prefers beans and that's it. Even the tomatoes have been neglected.

The simmering heat seems to have done a fry job on my strawberries, blueberries and grapes. Leaves are drying up. The strawberries aren't even growing runners this year to propogate for another season.

The same goes for the front yard, too. I only planted two new plants this year, two pineapple sages that somehow shrivveled up and died. I won't plant anything new up front. I'm even leaving some weeds to grow for birdseed. Butterflies also seem to like the thistle.

The Chinese date tree, however, seems to have come back to life. New leaves are growing from the main branch. It's developed a new secondary branch that is taking a life of its own.