Cruel summer

The city is crowded, my friends are away and I'm on my own
It's too hot to handle so I gotta get up and go
--Bananarama, "Cruel Summer"

Get up and go, don't I wish!  During past hot spells I'd take my dolls out despite the heat and take pictures of them reacting to the weather.  Did that twice during Barbie Summer, in fact; posts are here and here.  But I'm not limber enuff for outdoor photography anymore and Mia is stuck on the couch, though that doesn't look like it's bugging her much.

Nothing, repeat, NOTHING bothers Mia.

Yep, it's h-o-t HOT here in Missouri again, and it's the same way for a large chunk of the country.  I've even heard that a couple'a sites in southern Canada are reporting temperatures in the nineties.  For the past two weeks our weather headlines have looked like this.

Here's what our temperatures looked like yesterday afternoon.  94 degrees with a heat index of 109.

Granted, I've seen heat indices that were worse, but it's still pretty miserable outside.  My dogs don't tarry when I take 'em out, and neither do I, for that matter!  The temps have been that way since last Friday, and they're gonna stay that way until at least next Thursday.

Sometimes that forecast shows rain for Thursday and sometimes it doesn't, so we'll see.

Sweeping change of subject now, on Wednesday when I went home to check on the dogs (I do that in the middle of the day) I found this gargantuan egg sac under our wall-mount mailbox.  It's about the size of my thumbnail.

The resulting spiderlings.  Spiders are cold-blooded like reptiles are, so these kids are loving the heat.

Guess what kind of spiders they turned out to be, though?  Y'all might be able to see the tiny hourglasses on their bellies.  Yep, I'm pretty sure that this is what baby black widow spiders look like!  I didn't kill them and I told Mama and Uncle Man-Child to leave them alone, but we'll be keeping a sharp lookout for big ones.  Can y'all imagine how big Mama Spider must've been to lay an egg sac like that???  Pretty wild.

EDIT, 7/25/25:  I saw Mama Spider when I came home from work.  I didn't get a picture because she hid when she saw me coming, but she is indeed a black widow.  She's about the size of a garbanzo bean, very beautiful, and very spry.  I begged Mama and Uncle Man-Child to leave her be, but Uncle Man-Child never does as he's told.  I pray he never sees Mama Spider or she'll probably be toast.  I'd always read though that black widow spiders are shy and prefer to hide from humans, and now I know it's true.

Cheers and spider bites,
RagingMoon1987

Return of the clove of seasons

Yep, it's that time again.  Spring and summer seamlessly meld into one another, as do fall and winter.  But the transitions from the extremes, from winter to spring and from summer to fall, tend to be more in fits and starts.  This summer was not anywhere near as bad as the last one; we did have a few stretches of extremely hot days, but they either were short stretches or were accompanied by low humidity and/or a nice breeze.  Mama and I could take our lunch in the graveyard without risking death by mosquito or by heatstroke.  But just the same, the transition from summer to fall has begun.  We still need the A/C by day, the cicadas still keen in the trees, and the errant mosquito buzzes in my ear, but nights are cooler and a few rogue trees have already begun to shed their leaves.  Last Saturday Mama and I even saw a monarch butterfly; those don't usually start hanging around here until late September.  So yeah, it's the clove of seasons again.  I've referred to this twice in the past, once in September of 2014 and once in March of 2020.

As y'all may remember, there is a field behind the library where I work.  Last year it was left fallow, and the year before that there was cotton in that field.  This year the crop of choice is soybeans, and ever-curious Beryl June wanted to get a closer look.  She held her branch a bit too close to the camera, but y'all get what she's getting at.

This is what soybeans look like during the clove of seasons.  There's still a lot of green in the foliage, but some of the leaves are beginning to darken, as are the bean pods themselves.

I love soybeans!  They're not as visually striking when ripe as cotton or milo, but they have their own beauty.  When they're ready to be picked they turn a sandy brown, not terribly unlike Idalia Gale's hair.

While traipsing back to the library I caught this yellow flower, a member of the "damned yellow composite" category.

Damned yellow composite might be a pain in the posterior for botanists, but I love it.  They're all the same...but they're just different enuff that you're never looking at the same thing twice.  This flower was growing all by its lonesome, by the way.  Contrary to what the Brave Little Toaster might tell you, flowers don't die of loneliness...as far as I know.

Oh yes, the sticker burrs are also growing rank in the grass.  I had to be very careful where I stepped and where I set Beryl June.  I hate those danged things!  Luckily I was able to avoid 'em completely.  There have been times where I spent half an hour pulling those satanic little thorns out of my jeans and shoes.  But all is well today!  Now to wait for the rain.  Like the veronal clove of seasons, the autumnal clove is usually accompanied by storms.  Don't wait up!

Love,
RagingMoon1987

First day

First day of summer, y'all!  Or would it be the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere???  Here the temperature has already hit the high nineties and stayed there for about four days, but I'm not looking at this summer with the same measure of trepidation.  Mama and I are taking measures to make sure our animals are comfortable, and while they will still have to spend some time in our hot houses a solution is in the making.  We're gonna get a big outdoor kennel, one that has an awning to keep the rain and the sun off, and I'm excited!!!  We're gonna put in some igloos in case they want those, and a little swimming pool for them to drink out of, and...ah, it's gonna be great.  I don't know how much longer Mama's three dogs are gonna be around (the oldest one is probably about fourteen), but I think they'll like it.  We're also working on a catio for the cats; we're down to eight all around now.  Sir Lancelot died of some trippy cat disease, and Mama's Mittens died of old age, so now she's got Vladimir and I've got my bunch.  I have a rhythm chant to keep the names straight, though without Lola and Sir Lancelot it's not so rhythmic.  Allie-Callie-Lily.  Bobbie-Tommy-Chessie.  Adric the oddball.  Seriously, he's my weirdo...in a good way.  Either way the animals will get moved and I think they'll like their new surroundings.

In dolly news, today's post is a short one, of Jettivee keeping cool under the big tree in the backyard.  Y'all can probably see how gloomy the weather has been lately.  It's been warm and a little muggy, but there's also been a fair amount of rain, hence Jet's blanket.

I don't like wearing white myself because I always manage to get it dirty...so I take my American Girl outside in her brand-new white clothes, because I'm a complete idiot.  Hey, at least I remembered that blanket.  Or a beat-up pillowcase, the one I use to wash Cabbage Patch Kids and Magic Nursery dolls when they need it.  Anyway, Jettivee is riding out the heat with papaya and cocoanut milk.  Mmmm, I love cocoanut milk.

Stay cool, 
RagingMoon1987

Another heat wave!

Yep!  I thought MAYYYYYBE we might get to go home, but the Bootheel and most of the Midwest are in the grip of another heat wave.  Temperature is ninety-four degrees, and Susie is traipsing about barefoot on a sidewalk hotter than a match head.

How hot did you say???

Ninety-four degrees Fahrenheit.  Heat index is one-ten.

Note that Wunderground says it'll be equally hot tomorrow.  To add insult to injury there's no rain forecast for the foreseeable future.  Hey, alliteration!

Noooooo, it's gotta rain!!!

It poured weekend before last, Susie!  We've still got puddles here and there.  But yeah, it's warm enuff that Susie's message tag is showing its message without my help.

Granted, it doesn't take much heat to activate the heart.  Usually my cupped hands do the trick.

Batten down the hatches, Susie!  Friday's high is supposed to hit a hundred, WITHOUT help from the heat index.  It's been a devil of a summer...and it's not over yet.

Yours uncomfortably, 

RagingMoon1987 

Heat of the moment

<sings off-key>  It was the heat of the moment, tellin' me what my heart meant!  I'm almost ashamed to admit that that's the only Asia song I like.  I love Yes, but just about all of their side projects flop in my eyes...with the possible exception of Jon and Vangelis, and the definite exception of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.  AllMusic advises listeners to file ABWH under "Yes" and I usually do just that, so I don't know if they count as a side project, LOL.  But ANYWAY it was a scorcher today and it looks to be that way for the next two days.  Mama and I are camping out at Uncle Man-Child's since neither of our A/Cs are working like they should, and I've brought a few friends with me.

Rita Cheryl, of course, and Aimee, and Aimee's friend Emily (a nineties-era Lickety Treats), and Mama's old Barbie.  I don't know how Aimee's managing to hold the smile in those sleeves, but she is.

Barbie:  "She's crazy."
Aimee:  "Am not!  I'm fine!"

I'm kinda with you, Barbie.  Anyone who'd wear long sleeves in this weather is either insane or trying to avoid a bad sunburn.  Poor Aimee, I originally bought her to steal her dress, but she's grown on me.  Right now she's got a human-sized hair band on her forehead to keep her bangs flat.  She looks...kinda cute that way, actually.  I need to get a gold band and see how that looks, since it would match Aimee's dress better.

Barbie kinda needs a hair band too, now that I think of it.

"Motley Crue is my hair band of choice, please."

Motley Crue!  I didn't think you were into hair metal at all, Barbie!  I guess one can't live in my house for too long without picking up at least a slight taste for hair metal.  For the record, my hair metal band of choice will always be Poison, due to the happy memories I associate with their music.  Anyway, after we all got done piddling in the library's parking lot Emily and Rita Cheryl fancied a trip to the playground.  Yes, the playground, with a heat index of 103.  Y'all think that slowed my girls down?  Well...it slowed Barbie and Aimee down a little.  Aimee still claims that she is fine, but I think the heat finally started to get to her.  Normally she'd be trying to keep up with Emily, but right now she's at the slide chatting with Barbie.

Aimee:  "So, what do you think about them releasing a Barbie movie?"
Barbie:  "...haven't they done a bunch of those already???"

Aimee asked the question I'd been wanting to ask but forgot, LOL.  Apparently Barbie is just as surprised as I was to learn that there was gonna be a live-action Barbie flick.  Looks like the movie's gonna be cute, though.  And get this:  Margot Robbie makes a convincing Barbie, but she's not a twig.  If one watches the trailer one can see that she's got nice, muscular calves and a healthy waist.  That more than anything will tell little girls that you can be a healthy size and still look like our old plastic friend.  Oh, and get this as well:  one of the Ken dolls will be taking the reins as the Fifteenth Doctor soon.  LOL, how a guy goes from Ken to the Doctor is anyone's guess, but Ncuti Gatwa is a hunkasaurus rex and I'm rooting for him.  Rita Cheryl, what has Luciana said about it?

Rita Cheryl:  "She's just hoping Donna gets a happy ending!"
Emily:  "Wait a minute...wha???"

Don't worry about it, Emily.  Hey, let's see how high you two can climb!

"Yeah, Emily, let's see how high you can climb."

"I can do better than Olivia Reese!"

I'll let Olivia know you challenged her to a climbing contest.  She'll like that!  Oops!

Alright, kiddies, get inside before y'all melt!  I must tell y'all, the heat has not been the only thing making my life crazy right now.  Missouri just enacted a new law that supposedly keeps children safer in the libraries, but I think the law was really passed to make things harder for us librarians.  My mother, Coworker B, and I have all had to start our patrons over essentially from scratch with these super-detailed patron forms, and it's just been chaos.  Put that in with the heat, and my mind is about the consistency of half-set Jell-O.  So out of it am I that I initially set the publish time of this particular post for six-thirty A.M. instead of P.M.  LOL, thanks to Michelle Bogart for pointing that out!  I hope I sleep tonight; the mattress I'll be sleeping on is hard as a rock and the pillow isn't any better.

How about you, Rita Cheryl?  You ready to hit the sack?

"You kiddin' me???  It's not even that late!  Care to share that lollipop, Emily?"

Please don't read that book to Emily!  It's one of my tornado books, and it's a scary one.

Udall, Kansas for the win!  I'd been wanting a book about that tornado for years and good ol' Mama came through.  She almost always does.

Stay cool,
RagingMoon1987

The heat is on

It's summer now: the heat is on.  It's summer now all summer long. 
--Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Chapter 9/Flood

That single chapter from Ms. Dillard's book made its way into one of my high school English textbooks, and while I enjoyed the whole chapter, that single line is what stayed with me.  It stayed with me because it made sense.  Summer begins when it begins, and it ends when it ends, with no regard for manmade calendars or timetables.  This year, for my area, at least, summer began today, a full week and a half before the solstice.  After a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary winter and a mild, rainy spring, the summer looks to be a hot one, or it will be if the week's predicted temperatures hold true.  Mid to high nineties are predicted clean through to next Friday, with heat indices in the low hundreds and not a drop of rain in sight.  

Usually on summer evenings my mother and I would go out to the road by Crowley's Ridge.  We'd enjoy the cool that the canopies of the trees provided, and if it was dark enuff we'd marvel at the lightning bugs.  Alas, there will be no lightning bugs for RagingMoon1987 this summer, as I'm stuck in town, where the lightning bugs rarely stray.  I'm perfectly capable of driving myself, but with Mama still out of commission it's not much fun, and with gas prices rising such leisurely drives are increasingly wasteful.  Oh, Mama's home again, with the drains still in her stomach, and she's acting more like herself, but I'm still cautious.  If she has to go back to that hospital again I'm gonna go off on a certain doctor like Castle Bravo.

Since I have no long drives and no lightning bugs at the moment, I busy myself with my dolls...when I'm not doing laundry, that is!  LOL, anyway I went back to Wal-Mart yesterday and picked up the My Life dream team captain.  I chose to name her "Jemma."

Whew, those long pajamas and fuzzy slippers are too hot for this weather!  How 'bout a change, Jemma?

That's better.  Airy is ready for the heat too, Elton John glasses and all.  Neither of these outfits came with shoes, but that bothers Airy and Jemma naught.  Indeed I'd probably be barefoot too if my yard didn't have so many thorns.  Doesn't that dress of Jemma's match her hair perfectly?

Etsy couldn't have done better, and that's saying something because Etsy has no end of nice things for dolls this size.  There isn't much else to say about Jemma since she's everything Airy is, shocking blue eyes, tight joints, and all.  Indeed, if Cititoy hadn't started tinkering around with hair colors then these dolls would all be one and the same.  Here's a closeup of Jemma's hair; as I noted a few weeks ago she's got mostly purple hair, with some green and blue mixed in, and some yellow that I initially missed.

The roots are about the same as Airy's, but Jemma's got longer hair.  

So that's my brightly-colored little pair!  I'm glad Cititoy is stepping up their game with hair colors.  Now if they'd vary up their head molds like Our Generation has then they'll really be fun little dolls!

Love y'all,
RagingMoon1987 

Back to school?

Yep, it's time!  The bulletin board at the library has changed, and that can only mean that the season is changing too.

SUCKAS!!!  I don't have to go back!  Haven't had to go since 2006 (college doesn't count because I loved college).  Yeah, as I've heavily implied, school starts in Malden today.  Some of the surrounding towns have already gone back, and a few lucky souls start later.  Even though Zoe, Sadie, and Justine-Marie don't have to go to school I'll share their cute dresses anyway, since it's like something I'd dress a kid in for kindergarten.

Zoe and Justine-Marie made it clear that while they like their new Lilly Pulitzer dresses, they'd prefer to save those for special occasions.  So they and Sadie spent most of the summer in these cute sundresses that their grandmother (my mama) bought for them.  Justine-Marie's dress has lemons on it!

I solemnly swear that Mama's purchase of this dress was NOT politically motivated.  Justine-Marie's dress is way cuter anyway.  All three of these dresses are halter-style, and thus her neck strings are on full display...or they would be if Justine-Marie didn't wear her backpack all the time.  She carries some necessities in there, stuff like an epi-pen and some foodstuffs that won't aggravate her shellfish allergy.

The orange dress just screams Zoe's name, so that's what she's got.

Orange and green are perfect for her, though yellow and pink would've worked just fine too.  But since Sadie is blonde it's kind of an unspoken rule that she wear pink.

Her dress is flowered like Zoe's is, but the flowers are smaller. 

If the rainy weather we've been having keeps up, these dresses may be the only colors we'll see this autumn!  It's been nothing but on-and-off rain since last Wednesday.  I had to use my freshly painted but unswept carport to take these pictures.

Happy Back-to-School Day (I'm so glad I don't have to go),
RagingMoon1987

Happy Independence Day, every day!

"Sriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...POP!"  I never have understood the allure of bottle rockets.  This Independence Day looks to be a little more festive than the last, since fewer heads are exploding over the coronavirus crap.  For my family the holiday hasn't been the same since Daddy died, but we manage.  It does mean a day off from work if the holiday falls on any day but Sunday, but today just happens to be Sunday.  So what did I decide to do?  Putter around with my dolls, of course!  Zoe, Camille, and Kyle all got their red, white, and blue on for the occasion.  

I would've liked to have taken them outside, but the weather has been extremely contrary lately.  Hence my trio is inside, perched on a shoebox instead.  I'm not really certain what else to say, except that all three of the outfits (and Zoe's shoes) were gifts, and as usual I have my mother to thank for them.  She likes to joke "If I can't have grandchildren, I'll have grand-dolls!"  I need to think of something to do for her in return.

That's all for today.  I'm gonna pull the covers over my head and debate whether or not to go see fireworks tonight.  I like fireworks...but I also like my bed!

Happy Fourth,
RagingMoon1987

Beach babies, for real this time

Happy first day of summer, ladies and germs!  Natalie and Gracie may not have had their timing right, but Kissy and Adam know when to trot out the sun clothes!

Too bad I can't name a beach anywhere near here that is good for dolly pictures.  My dusty backyard, with its copious molehills and sand burrs, will have to suffice.  Seriously, I like to joke with my mom and my neighbors that I have more moles than I do yard, and my dogs are not vermin-hunters so they're no help.  The good news is that I made it out into the yard without dropping Kissy, who could probably not stand such a fall.  She's a big doll, but not very robust.  Today she's wearing flamingoes.

Flamingoes are special to several of us here in Malden, as they represent a friend that we lost to cervical cancer a couple years back.  For some reason this friend loved flamingoes, and every time I see a flamingo I think of her.  Combine flamingoes with a yellow background and you've got the perfect summer getup.  This outfit is too big for Kissy, by the way, just like the watermelon dress is.  I think the crotches of these dresses are big to accommodate a diaper, but Kissy doesn't have one so that's that.  I just get a safety pin and pin everything up out of sight.

Eternally happy Adam is wearing a tie-dyed onesie from Cranky Baby Tie Dye, and a pair of pants from DudisDesign, because who wants to wear a onesie without pants???

A baby's wardrobe simply isn't complete without at least one tie-dyed piece, and as luck would have it, some of Cranky Baby's items come in Kissy's size.  But where I'll find a pair of bell-bottoms in her size, I'll never know.  But then again, Adam isn't wearing bell-bottoms.  His gray leggings make his tummy bulge a little, so next time I order a pair of these I'll go up a size.

So my babies are ready for summer!  It's only become honest-to-God hot in the past week, and even then it wouldn't have been so bad if the humidity weren't high.  I've been out on ninety-degree days with low humidity and it was downright pleasant, but when the humidity is high ninety degrees is miserable.  I loved the rain that we had during the first week of June, but it only made the humidity and the mosquitoes worse.  C'est la vie when you live in a swamp.  I complain, but I wouldn't trade living in the Bootheel for the world, and I don't think my kiddies would either.  Adam's seen a few other places, and I think he's happy anywhere as long as he's got a lap to sit on.  As for Kissy, she told me she prefers it here.  Being a doll, the heat and the mosquitoes don't bother her.

Stay cool,
RagingMoon1987

The flavor of the year?

Lemme see...so far this year I've seen watermelon Dole Whip, watermelon Mountain Dew, and watermelon green tea.  The last of those is delicious!  Yesterday Kissy decided to get in on the act with a new summer dress.

It's actually a size too big, LOL!  I had to pin up the crotch so it wouldn't sag so terribly.  Mama gave it her stamp of approval so that's what counts.  Now all Kissy needs is a hair bow.  Everything's better with a bow!

Y'all enjoy the flavor of the year...unless you're allergic to it like one of my high school teachers was.  Then be afraid.  Be very, VERY afraid!

Hugs, kisses, and Dole Whip,
RagingMoon1987 

The ol' 'tater wagon

We're having a heckuva thundershower right now, or an "ol' 'tater wagon," as my grandmother would say.  Dig this rain!

Shot through the window of the library, so it's not the best quality.  I think y'all get the drift, though.  This is one of my favorite things about this time of year, though; you get random thunderstorms at random times of the day (or night).  They make a lot of noise, drop about a quarter of an inch of rain, and usually that's it.  As they say about the weather, if you don't like it just wait fifteen minutes.  That holds true for much of Missouri AND her surrounding states.

In dolly news, Freya's eyes came and they look very nice.  I chose green ones in the hope that they'd provide a nice contrast to her purple plastic, and I think that proved to be a wise decision.

The downside of doll eyes like this is that they are harder to place than eyes with round pupils.  Most of my ball-jointed dolls have eyes with rounded pupils and I can just fasten them in with eye putty and call it a day.  Not so with cat pupils!  I had to take out and reposition these eyes four times before I was finally satisfied with their position, and they're STILL not perfectly straight.  But...name a ball-jointed doll in this world that DOES have perfectly straight eyes!

It's a slow day at the library due in part to the storm, so here's a glimpse of what my dolls' living space looks like.  Freya is with her usual companions, Usaggie and a Dreamtopia Chelsea doll that I renamed "Calypso." 

Not much of a living space, just a pile of books and cards, plus some other odds and ends that I crammed into the shelf and never pitched.  I need to clean this space out and make a couch for the girls to sit on; at the very least it'll make the patrons smile.  I don't make a habit of showing off my dolls to my clients, but every now and then a patron sees this trio and makes some good-natured comment.  So a nice couch might liven the space up a bit.

The ol' 'tater wagon is moving off to the southeast now, though it's still raining and thundering here in Malden.  Hey, as long as lightning doesn't hit either of our houses I'm happy.  That's happened twice in the past, and God willing it won't happen again!  I'm praying it won't, because that's scary!

Much love,

RagingMoon1987

The clove of seasons

When James Hurst wrote about the clove of seasons, I'm almost certain that he was referring to September.  In our neck of the woods September usually begins hot and ends cool.  It's the beginning of Birthday Season in our family, and it's also the time when we start thinking about Halloween.  I'm slowly pulling together a collection of costumes for my girls, but that's for another post.  Today I decided to take advantage of the shifting weather and brought my Madame Alexander girls out for a frolic.

Too bad they lack better jointing!  LOL, at least they look cute in their summer clothes.

Happy Dog Days,
RagingMoon1987