Sacramento Valley – Gardens For Goldens

9:09 PM. 94-degrees.

Today is supposed to mark the end of a seven-day stretch of 100+ temperatures in the Sacramento Valley. By some miracle, we are supposed to get to a high of only 95 tomorrow. Someone, please grab my parka!

The flowers in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden are more than ready for some relief.

Pups too. This is Bailey. She’s hot.

This lucky dog has found his relief; not just a shady spot, but a long-awaited home.

Tom came all the way from Taiwan and has been with us awhile. He’s another dog with sight impairments,

but he has no problem following his ball, does he?

He is going home with Kevin next week. A former adopter, a veteran, a man with an obvious passion for this well-deserving dog.

Kevin says he knew the minute he saw Tom that he was the one. He has visited with him constantly while waiting for a family commitment to conclude before Tom can go home.

They both obviously look forward to that day. We look forward to a breeze,

and a much-needed break from this sweltering heat!

Here’s hoping for our promised 95-degrees and a 12 mph breeze. Wind chill of 92 anyone? We’ll take it!

I thought we were done with mid-week evening check-ups on the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden until next summer,

but someone turned on the furnace and decided that it should be high-90’s in the Sacramento Valley in mid-September.

Worse, we added fall plants and moved trees last weekend.

So…one more trip!

The trees were being well-watered, but a couple of my Mums and Snap Dragons were rescued just in the nick of time!

All better now. But I found evidence of creatures everywhere. The Butterfly Weed is hosting an aphid party.

This Lady Bug couldn’t be happier.

Someone helped themselves to the two ripe pears…one bored hole in each.

And some critter had the audacity to knock Maria’s “Tick Free Zone” sign to the ground. I hope they don’t take this as a sign that they are free to return.