Journal: Monday, 6/15/09

Propane:  I got our 40# propane bottle filled when I went into town last Friday.  Since then, whenever the temperature climbs, the bottle vents propane through the relief valve.  I don't know if the problem is that it was filled on a rainy and much cooler day, the bottle was overfilled, the relief valve spring is getting weak, or some combination of the three.  With the bottle sitting on the front porch in the shade, it tends to fill the house with propane whenever gas escapes.

The cabbage in our garden is beginning to form heads.

I don't think the concentration of propane is high enough for an explosion, but it stinks.  I've taken the bottle out in the yard and opened the valve a couple of times, but it still keeps building up enough pressure to open the relief valve.  (The cost of filling a 40# bottle is up to $29.00 + tax these days.)

Phoebe:  The phoebe is sitting on her nest under the eaves of our porch again.  This is her second clutch of eggs this summer.  Her first brood fledged a couple of weeks ago.  I hope this brood survives.  Her nest is only about six inches below or porch roof.  Now that we are heading into full summer, it gets awfully hot up there.


Garden:  Jo and I worked on weeding beds.  Seems like getting the overgrown weeds and grasses out of our garden beds could be a full time occupation for us.  That's the price we pay for getting so far behind.  I finished edging a bed Jo already weeded  and Jo got all the weeds out of another bed.  Slowly but surely progress is being made.

A couple of broccoli heads are ready for harvesting.

Weather:  High = 90ºF/32ºC.  Low =  75ºF/24ºC.  Partly cloudy and humid.  A moderate south wind helped a little with cooling while we worked outside.

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Journal: Monday, 6/15/09