Today's ABDNHA newsletter tells me it's Owl Awareness Day, making my choice of icon obvious. A snowy owl may be about as far from Borrego climate-wise as that pic* is from the Suburbs of Despair weather-wise, but as they say**, YOLO (You Obviously Like Owls).

August started with another round of malevolent soup but I take some comfort in today's thunderstorm short-term cooling and forecast 60's°F night-time temps later this week. Axial tilt remains the reason for the seasons; sad though I am to bid the longest days adieu there will still be a decent amount of light left to close out the summer.

In the garden the tomatoes are starting to outpace chipmunk consumption and the beans are already outpacing ours. Bird-seed consumption is still high but the fledglings at the feeders are looking more adult every day. Southbound migration is just around the corner; I saw a monarch investigating the milkweed today instead of passing through northwards. Time to set those daycation and road-trip plans in motion.

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* Taken in January from the Niagara Parkway.
** Does anybody really say that anymore? Does anybody really care?