DOG DAYS

Another week of summer has flown, and I am not sorry to see the back of this one, because oh baby, the dog days are here. 

How much do you love this face? Drove over to the Western Shore on Saturday for a get-together of Mike's fraternity brothers, and met Frodo, an Irish terrier. Had a great time catching up with old friends, and photographing our host's beautiful gardens.

Hollyhock.

Hollyhock and friend.

Stayed over so we could visit Harper's Ferry and Antietem on Sunday.

The view from Bloody Trail, at Antietem.

Fortunately, you can do a self-guided auto tour of the battlefield, because it was much too hot for hiking, and it has gotten hotter and muggier every day since.
Back home, I've been very busy helping our girl with the "secret" project. Here's another hint...

Abby graciously agreed to let us use her wash-stall as a dye room, though I won't say she was entirely happy about it...

Spending a lot of time, keeping Abby showered and as comfortable as possible in this awful heat.

Except for horse care, I try to do all my outside chores early in the morning or late in the evening. It's only slightly cooler then, and the mosquitoes are horrible, but what can you do?
Picked my tomato crop this morning. Don't laugh. I don't think the local farmers need fear the competition.

And yes, this is the whole crop. Won't break out the canning jars just yet.

 Because of all the mosquitoes, we still have lots of dragonflies, and I am still obsessed with photographing them. Here's my fave from this morning...

My fave from yesterday had this lovely pinkish tone from the bricks in the background. 

It inspired this...

Well, that's us all caught up. One more day of this stinking weather, then tomorrow, at some point, the storms roll in and by Sunday the temperatures will drop. A little. Or so they say. 
Stay cool, blog friends. XO.