NICE FIELDS!

I finished the mowing and some of the raking yesterday so I allowed myself to take Terri on a fun "exploring" run today. It was only 6 km and 7 minutes driving to my friend's farm. (We arrived at 7:30 P.M.) What marvelous tracking fields she has! Oh my goodness! It's just the most perfect place I can imagine for tracking. We didn't track today but explored parts of the field so I could see potential paths to make. There are some natural spots such as a patch of yellow flowers for making turns.

I must go with Terri tomorrow — some people may think it's weird to get so excited from just seeing a field but other trackers would understand immediately. Terri didn't put her nose to the ground until we got to the edge of the field — I suspect there's a path near the fence where Laura and her dogs walk. (See bottom photo.)

The entrance to a field of tracking dreams!

Terri may be scenting dogs and people here by the fence.

P.S. — You wouldn't think from the green of these fields that we're suffering from a drought, would you? I guess the little sprinkling of moisture we had recently was enough to turn the clover leaves green.

OLYMPIC CLOSING

Everybody has different opinions about the closing ceremonies, particularly the music which was explained to Canadian TV viewers as a pick of the 30 best songs of Britain. Off to a wonderful start with the first part of Bohemian Rhapsody leading into the full length Imagine! After that it was all downhill :-( The mix of Bowie songs was very poorly done and not anywhere near long enough. The only other highlights were 'Wish You Were Here', 'I Am a Walrus', and 'We Will Rock You' actually performed by Queen on Stage. The rest: not musical, no memorable tunes (except for Pinball Wizard which I'm very tired of hearing). No wonder I rarely get excited or even interested in Olympic ceremonies. England has many great musicians; few were given tribute tonight. Pity.

SOME RAIN

I don't consider that we've had enough rain unless the bottom of the wheelbarrow is covered. This has finally happened! Cooler temps indoors too: 72°F/22°C while it is 20°C outside today. Terri enjoys the cooler temps and wants to run longer; I believe her endurance is directly proportional to the cold. She runs only 15 minutes at 25°C but happily plays for 2 hours at 0°C.

A requested book was at the library so I went there to drop off and pick up books. A short drive after that took me to the farm on N. Russell Rd. where I bought some big field grown tomatoes.

Terri and I played outside for a while in our yard. What a disaster the back yard is! The hot dry sun has killed most of the grass but weeds are having a great season. Last year I planted two cedars near the back fence so they would soak up water in that wet corner. There has been very little precipitation since the planting.

DOG GAMES

I've been a terrible dog Mom lately. I can't stand the heat & humidity so Terri & I have afternoon or full morning siestas. I don't want her running in the heat and she doesn't want to run for long when it's hot so we often wait until 7 or 8 PM to play catch/fetch. Nothing terrible about that BUT I've also been too lazy to practice tracking or rally-o.

Yesterday morning I finally made a short track with several turns for her. It had rained the previous day but tracking day was quite windy with breezes from the north. The sun wasn't too hot and humidity was down. I left rewards of thawed (cooked) liver pieces at a few spots.

Terri took a good sniff at the ground starting area and her nose pulled her along the track like a train engine. She turned left, left again, right and then was hanging a couple of feet south of the tracks. Before the next turn she lifted her head and didn't put it down near the grass. I don't know what she was thinking. Perhaps the wind was blowing the scent around too much? I had to encourage her along until she seemed to get the scent again and she was onto the next liver treat quickly. After that, she followed the trail fairly well, though not right on the tracks. She found her way to the next treat but couldn't see/smell the treat itself and was trying to go straight at the next right turn. I had to set her going around circles so she could find the tracks and she finally took the turn after several wrong starts. That was the last turn so she was soon at the stopping point — her toy, hidden by a shrub.

I should concentrate on the positive parts — her first 3 turns were super! I tend to get hung up about her bad parts though, and wonder if we will ever get good enough to bother taking the tracking test. We did once and failed terribly that year due to very dry bare conditions after practicing during a wet summer on green moist fields. Still, the important point is to go outside and play a fun game with your dog, even if she never runs a complete track correctly from start to finish.

WEATHER REPORT

It's not official but one person wrote that the last rain fell June 25th; that's 21 days ago. From the weather maps online and on TV, it seems that we don't have much hope of getting rain unless a storm cloud happens to move across the sky. All forecasts are for 40% chance (or less) of precipitation for the next few days.

I wish I knew what is happening to the water table in this area. I have a deep well but how deep is it compared to the water table? How much water is available from the ground? Since we had very little snow last winter, is there a real risk of running out of well water this summer? Perhaps not in the short term but if lower rainfalls and higher temperatures persist in the coming years, that will affect the water table levels for certain. (See www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/1000/10294255.pdf)

From CBC:

Ottawa: between June 8 - July 8 there were 10 days of 30°C temperatures, compared to 4 days in a typical year. [Did the writer mean 4 days between those dates?]

During the past 30 days less than 60 per cent of the normal amount of rain has fallen. The Rideau River is flowing almost 80 per cent below normal levels, while the Jock River is flowing at only three per cent of its normal levels.

So far this summer there have been record-setting high temperatures across Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces coupled with some of the lowest rainfall on record.

A lack of rain and extremely hot temperatures badly affecting crops mean that Canadian consumers will likely be paying more for their produce.

Tuesday July 17: We got a little rain from thunderstorms passing overhead but not much. It didn't cover the bottom of the wheelbarrow so I'm not impressed :-(

Sunday August 5: T-storms are bringing rain! 25 minutes of heavy rain. If we're lucky, more will follow. Not much since July 17 -- just some heavy mist a couple of times :-(

SNOW CRASH

SNOW CRASH
1992 novel by Neal Stephenson

Whew! That was a whirlwind tour through a futuristic 'real' gritty landscape of corporate-states (formerly America) and 'unreal' Metaverse occupied by realistic avatars. In both places, our hero Hiro Protagonist and heroine Y.T. speed along streets on motorcycle or skateboard and join forces to investigate what destructive plans have been made against hackers.

They meet when Hiro crashes the pizza delivery car he is driving and Y.T. comes along and does him the favour of delivering the pizza on her skateboard. She rides to delivery points by attaching a cable to vehicles that are driven in the direction she needs. Although Hiro's description isn't at all like him, I couldn't help thinking of Hiro looking like actor Masi Oka who played "Hiro Nakamura" on Heroes. Y.T.'s character brought to mind actress Jewel Strait playing "Kaylee Frye" on Firefly because of the similarity of their spunky characters.

Yes, this is cyberpunk but it's not dark like Gibson's Neuromancer. Instead, it carries you along like Y.T.'s joyful though hair-raising skateboarding trips through a fast and furious series of adventures leading to the discovery of who, what and how the evil forces plan to destroy the computer systems that every person and corporate entity depends on.

WEIRD WEATHER

Eastern Ontario. While I was lounging in the heat (28°C) on a sunny Monday, twenty centimetres of snow fell to the ground in Gillam, northern Manitoba (between Churchill and Thompson). That's as much snow as we get in a mid-winter snowstorm. On the weekend, golfball-sized hail, rain and strong winds tore through other parts of Manitoba, including Winnipeg. No wonder my paternal grandparents moved away from Manitoba after trying out homesteading there ;-) The chance of snow in June plus rampant mosquitoes in whatever summer they had must have driven them crazy.

Here, it is hay-making time. We had a few sunny days until today and are expected to have more sunshine this week. For mid-June, it's very pleasant weather. Meanwhile, in the Atlantic provinces they are enjoying their usual mix of warm sunshine and frequent cloud/rain. Is it any wonder I love living here?