September 8: Odd year
Sep. 8th, 2010 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neverspentIt really has been an odd year here. The winter of 2009-10 was one of the wettest in memory, and this summer was the second hottest in recorded history. It's had noticeable effects. Some insect infestations are worse, some less bad than usual in the summer. And then there are my dad's raspberry bushes. They produced a few berries in early summer, as they are meant to. But then in mid August, they started producing another crop. Now, in September, we are still eating a few berries.
I remember this happening when I lived in Central Texas. The growing season started quite early, and by mid summer the plants were exhausted and stressed by the heat. If I kept watering them adequately, they would stay alive, but only just, and go dormant. Then when the days got shorter (even if it wasn't much cooler) they would revive and sometimes produce another crop of tomatoes or peppers or whatever.
So maybe it's not unheard of, but it's very unusual here.
Another odd thing: while driving near home one evening last week, my dad saw a whitetail doe and two fawns come out of the woods and trot across a clearing. "Half-grown fawns?" I asked him. No, he said, they still had their spots. I'm sure it's not unheard of, but it seems quite late for such young fawns.
I remember this happening when I lived in Central Texas. The growing season started quite early, and by mid summer the plants were exhausted and stressed by the heat. If I kept watering them adequately, they would stay alive, but only just, and go dormant. Then when the days got shorter (even if it wasn't much cooler) they would revive and sometimes produce another crop of tomatoes or peppers or whatever.
So maybe it's not unheard of, but it's very unusual here.
Another odd thing: while driving near home one evening last week, my dad saw a whitetail doe and two fawns come out of the woods and trot across a clearing. "Half-grown fawns?" I asked him. No, he said, they still had their spots. I'm sure it's not unheard of, but it seems quite late for such young fawns.