Turkey Mornings

Mid May and the mating season for wild turkeys is in full swing. Their gobbles reverberate in the early morning air while I'm out watering. Like most of the animals around here, they seem to be creatures of habit, every morning they come down from the hills and strut across our road to put on their show of tease and pursue. I took wonderful shots of the males fighting yesterday, but unfortunately, my skill behind the digital camera is not the best when it comes to live action shots, and the photos came out blurred. We are in the middle of a record breaking heat spell for May. It's been in the high ninety's for the past two days which reeks havoc on the garden. My icebergs are melting! On days such as these, I am out for a good two hours hand watering the landscape, in addition to the water the drip system normally provides, just to keep all my pretties from burning up. Tomorrow, Jan and I have plans to harvest armfuls of roses to use in arrangements at her daughter's graduation party in the evening, so the heatwave has come at an an inopportune time. Still, I think we will manage to come up with enough roses for a few bouquets. Here's my hedge of iceburg roses under the living room window and down the garden path.

Looking down that path in the opposite direction, you will notice the pluot tree ( a 75% plum and 25% apricot hybrid) is bending like an umbrella. I've thinned it twice and it's still hanging heavy with green globes of fruit. What a harvest of pluots, plums, apricots and apriums we will have this year! A branch on the pluot tree, ripening its way to becoming the best homemade preserves in the world.