Today will be the equivalent of a rainy day for me; too hot to venture outside with temps up to 94 forecast, and humid. I'm not minding too much. I've got 3 ceiling fans a-whirring and I'm spending the day as follows:

1. hand washing a few delicate tops in the sink, the kind of thing i never get to

2. catching up on reading

3. maybe i'll whip up a risotto for lunch

4. watching my Netflix movie, Maxed Out, about excess credit card usage. The documentary came about as a result of a lawsuit the Ohio state attorney general brought against Citibank and a sandwich shop which got students on college campuses to sign up for credit cards by enticing them with free food. The suit was dropped against the sandwich chain in exchange for their cooperation in making the film. I learned about this as i was researching a story on aggressive credit card marketing tactics on college campuses. It was never something that was done when i was in school in the late 70s/early 80s, but it apparently really got to be a big thing by the late 80s and from what i've read, every major university has "affinity" relationships with credit issuers where the credit card companies pay big bucks to the schools (a great source of revenue for budget-trapped schools) in exchange for exclusive rights to market to college students. It's really an invasion of students' privacy, as the schools hand over their complete contact information.

Last night i pulled up 3/4 of my little lettuce plants. I figured the heat would make them bolt so i might as well enjoy them now and give more room to the heat-loving veggies which are suddenly growing with great vigor. So i had a great organic lettuce salad with cherry tomoatoes and cucumber slices. I will pull the remaining lettuce today and repeat same. I finally got around with throwing a bag full of grass clippings around the veggie plants as a mulch. If i see a problem with slugs developing, i guess i'll have to remove it, but otherwise, these plants will dry up quickly.

Guess what? If you read my post of 2 or 3 days ago of the baby bluebirds up and atom, out of the box, and of my relief that i could reclaim my front yard without disturbing them, well, they're baaaaaccckkk. I don't know if it's the same adult pair or a different pair, but i saw a bluebird going in and out of the box; i didn't have my binoculars with me, but it appeared it could be building a new nest, as i had obligingly cleaned out the former. Well, god bless 'em. May the world be filled with bluebirds.

They're calling for temps int he 90s all this week, and tomorrow will be the worst at 97 (with humidity, feel like 105!). I'm wearing shorts to the office tomorrow. I feel a little funny doing so, but the guys have been wearing baggy denim shorts and t-shirts for a few weeks now. I will try to dress a bit neater than that, but shorts it will be!