Amergin and Peter T., good to hear from you. Congratulations on the degree - education can be a great hobby, not just a requirement to get a job, etc. And here is Peter's request for assistance he mentioned.

Mrrzy, you've come a long way from last year if you're able to make a road trip! Is your back feeling much better?

Senoufou, the year-round creek in my backyard has (knock wood) been at a good level for a couple of years now. Sometimes it is reduced to large ponds that are barely connected. I wouldn't swim in it or eat anything I caught, though, because it has too much urban drainage running into it. Lots of wildlife though. Fish, snakes, birds, turtles, fresh water oysters, and the various mammals that travel along it for hunting and water.

It's just plain hot here and this week I sprayed my garden crops with a kaolin clay slurry that acts like whitewash to (primarily) deflect grasshoppers away from the plants (otherwise they eat the leaves, the tomatoes, the whatever they come up to). It also acts like a sunscreen and helps the plants survive better in the heat. Me, I don't wear sunscreen, I'm allergic to some of the ingredients, so if I go out I wear a hat or use a parasol, and I don't spend a lot of time in the sun in the middle of the day.