Zoo Talk: Reprieve from the heat

It's cool today, after a number of days of temperatures in the upper 90s. The reason it's cool is because it's thickly overcast and rain is predicted. We do need the rain, and we need the cooler temperatures!

I'm out on my front porch as I write this. I've turned the AC off, have my doors wide open, and Dog is lying contentedly at my feet. She's enjoying this respite from high temperatures, too.

Probably the only drawback to such a dark day is having to use more lighting inside. I'm pretty conservative with electrical usage, so this sort of bums me out. But, I'm not running the AC so that's a trade-off, I guess.

I picked a handful of ripe cherry tomatoes. Some of them are slightly less than ripe but they'll get red in the next day or two. I want to encourage the plants to continue to produce.

I will be cutting and drying herbs today, too. I love having plenty on hand through the winter. Even though Mower Guy set them back pretty severely, I have basil and chives that can still be cut. The rest are still trying to recover.

I also have nice sized chili peppers, although I really could kick myself for not getting Anaheim chilies. I got Serrano chilies instead, which means they aren't big enough for rellenos. But, they'll be delicious in soups, stews, and, of course, chili this winter.

I have a lot of other hot peppers in the freezer and I'm thinking of trying to make a sort of pepper chutney or something with them. I'd bought some jalapeno based chutney awhile back and it's delicious. You just mix it with cream cheese for a delicious dip, so I want to see if I can find a recipe for something similar. I have sugar and jars from when I was going to make the apple mint jelly, so I've got a start on that.