We'll the remnants of Alberto haven't arrived yet. I watered all of the smaller pots just to make sure they didn't get too dry before the rain comes. We still expect it today and overnight. I decided it was time to harvest sweet basil, peppermint and rosemary. I worried that I might not have enough to fill one try each and wound up with 2 of each. Nice to have the dehydrator going again. In the process I checked over the rosemary and decided to do the annual repotting and root pruning. Just as well I did because it was way too dry. Luckily rosemary doesn't mind being a bit dry for a short time. I think I will look for a nice slightly larger pot for it next spring. I also spread a bit of fertilizer on the strawberries and other plants. I figure any rain will wash it into the roots.

By the time I finished all that the temperature was uncomfortable and I was done for the day.

Ronni Bennett asks, often, why time seems to be so variable for older people. It is a question we also often ask here and I had noted our days are so much alike that we simply lose them as they melt into each other. Evidently, there is some evidence that that is a real phenomenon and not just us getting forgetful. It also dovetails into the prescription for avoiding dementia: keep learning new things.

Of course I decided to go back out the the gardens for a quick look since it is still dry. I reset five of the strawberries because the soil had settled and raised them a bit in their pots. Nipped some of the damaged leaves off the hibiscus. The cats thought they were tasty until we started spraying them with a bit of very dilute lemon juice. Gave it a good soaking as well. I think next spring, when I move it back outdoors after its winter inside, I will prune it on the top and on the roots as well and repot it in fresh soil. I walked into the house to the smell of basil, peppermint and rosemary drying. That is one of the great pleasures of growing and drying herbs.

An interesting little piece at Grist on the predicament climate change poses for California orchard farmers. It is interesting because it deals with a complex problem without oversimplifying it into nonsense.

The rain has finally arrived--in monsoonal style. It is now a little after 2 pm. Most of the day was sunny so I did get a bit of work outside done. But we do need this rain and it is a soaker.

I can relate to this piece at Root Simple. Once, some years ago, I owned a lot of books. I once tried to create a card catalog for them but stopped after some 10k entries with a few thousand yet to go. That was in spite of culling the mass three for moving to new houses and after realizing that my I no longer had any need for a fair number of books on specialized subjects. For the last 20 years the culling process continued (and continues). I noticed that I had a very large number of books that I would never read again, had read parts of for classes but had no interest in reading fully, or acquired because they sounded interesting but the interest dissipated before I actually got to them. My collection is a pale shadow of what it once was and gets smaller every time I start dusting and notice something that I can easily do without.