Had something of a close call today... a near wilting event as the temperature soared to 100 and I wasn't paying proper attention. Actually I was up at dawn to harvest another large girl and she wiped me out after 4 hours in the heat and then lunch and a nap. When I revived I went outside and almost freaked out - you can tell almost instantaneously looking at one of your girls if she's wilting if you've been paying attention for that many months and this girl was crying out. Fortunately I was there to wet her whistle because she would NOT have lasted until morning. She's fine now... the pictures I took today were AFTER she recovered from that event. But it was a serious heat stress event for the girl. I flushed her yesterday morning and in the process removed her water retention tray. Shouldn't have mattered. On the bright side I only have one girl left alive to care for and that makes life easier.
September 29 > Things have really cooled down at night the last few days... approaching the high 40's. Fall is officially here. Time to start thinking about turning on the heat in the house. Those temps have really brought on the purple for this girl. Gave her the last drink of water today... almost seems she's stopped drinking anyway.
She knows what time it is.
Excellent photos and write up. Enjoyed reading this diary from start to finish while im laid up from an injury and can't move, very entertaining. Thanks for the effort.