Hot and dry

Our new favourite photo

It's been really hot and dry for weeks now. Even with watering every day, some plants are dying. We haven't watered in the vineyard and so far they are okay. The vines have not flowered yet so I am hopeful they can hang on until the weekend when a break in the heatwave is promised. 

The day before yesterday, we had Pim's on 'the beach' by the pond and watched the bees scooping water ferociously and flying off to the hives. It was too hot without shade and we were in the bees' flight path, so we gave up and went to sit on the porch. Yesterday it was so hot that we decided to have our drinks in the vineyard in the evening shade of the orchard. It was quite cool. I am so grateful that we have shade from the trees, the porch, umbrellas, and now the shed. 

Who in their right mind would have expected Mediterranean conditions in Ireland. It is the 6th of June and the stats show no rain (0 mm) and 17.8 average temperature. That's hotter than we've gotten in July. Everyone is walking around town in their holiday clothes. I've been wearing espadrilles for the first time ever in Ireland. I suppose I'd better learn to enjoy it. 

Oh, and by the way, Australia has now followed NOAA and issued an El Niño alert. They say there's a 70% chance of an El Niño developing before the end of the year. NOAA says more like 90% likelihood. As Australia's criteria are more rigorous than America's, it's a high probability alert. Get ready for accelerating climate change. 

Our little bistro in the vineyard...a bit slopey. 

Everything is growing like crazy

Solaris has a ton of buds

This little guy was almost invisible munching on strawberries

0 mm rain and 17.8 average temps for the 1st week of June

 

Full moon rising

Alex took out some willows and opened the view up

Stunning view from the top

Nice place to rest and contemplate jobs

My red bench at the top of the vineyard

Vanessa grapes feeling the heat 

Strawberries are burning in the polytunnel

Fruit trees holding on in the polytunnel

At least I can get out on the water

Heat wave

The heat wave ended with thunderstorms in the S and E

All of Europe, including the UK and Ireland, have been experiencing a heat wave this week. Whereas the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere have shot up into the 40s, Ireland stayed in the 25 to 30C range. Thank goodness. We only hit 18.5 yesterday and 23.5 on Sunday, 25.1 on Saturday, 20.7 on Friday and 19.3 on Thursday. That was quite the change from the frigid temps before. 

We've had to water the gardens daily, but we have not watered the vineyard and the orchard. We should have because the apples are dropping from the trees. Lucky donkeys. 

We have a new bistro set in the vineyard which makes it convenient to sit and ponder the status. By and large, we've made progress in controlling the growth this year and have lots more to do, but it was still nice to take a break and go out on the water in the kayak. 

California woes

February heat wave in California

The drought in California continues and now includes a rare winter heat wave. It was in the 80Fs this weekend in LA during the Super Bowl. The second week of February offered a preview of summer for southern Californians as unusually early heat set records from San Diego to San Francisco. Temperatures 15-20F above normal were seen in southern California from Wednesday through Sunday. Hot and dry conditions mean greater fire hazard. People are saying there is no more fire season as the fire hazard continues all year round these days. They are now praying for rain and no frost. 

California saw major storms in December that pushed parts of the state out of the most severe categories of drought. The storms brought record rainfall and snow – some areas received more than 122in of snow over seven days and reached 159% of normal for the time period. 

Meanwhile, in Northern California, vintners reported the smallest harvest in 10 years. As in other places, they report the quality of the grapes is outstanding even if there is so much less available.