We're now in day four of a hot and humid heat wave. Temperatures broiling in the low 30s. And then a small story in today's newspaper, of a heat wave in the Middle East reaching temperatures of 51C, kind of put things into perspective. But it is hot here, not desperately hot of course, as it must seem on the Mediterranean coast, but hot for this part of the world, made all the more so by the Ottawa Valley's constant state of high humidity.

Taking Jackie and Jillie out first thing in the morning to evade the afternoon heat build-up wasn't feasible today, since we woke early to make it to the supermarket just as it opened to avoid crowds. And after breakfast we had to hang around the house to usher in a plumber we'd called because of a clogged kitchen drain pipe. Many years ago Irving had re-routed and installed a drain pipe network from the kitchen to the basement. 

He did that in response to a problem that had surfaced with the original plumbing that had too steep an angle at several points that served as gathering points for any food detritus that might be flushed down the sink by accident. We certainly never use the sink as a disposal for waste, and always take care to remove any waste to the compost bin. We don't tend to use chemicals to free up clogged drains. What I do from time to time is shake baking soda followed by vinegar into the sink drain to free up any possible trapped food buildup.

Nothing backed up to alert us that something was clogged, but water didn't flush quickly down the sink drain, alerting us to something building there. So, in came the plumber. I put my foot down at Irving doing any more plumbing work, though he always has, from installing new toilets and sinks and tap sets and building a bathroom downstairs in the basement years ago. There's no job, electrical, plumbing, construction that he won't tackle. In his mid-80s I think that's enough.

Anyway, the plumber checked the pipes, found the blockage and unblocked it. He said the pipes are all clean, nothing more to be done, so that was a relief. And it was only when he left, of course, that we were finally able to set out for a ravine hike with the puppies. Taking plenty of cold water along with us. Because it was hot enough to stop frequently to offer them thirst-quenching drinks.

Not many people in the larger community appeared to feel that an afternoon ramble through woodland trails spoke to them under these weather conditions, even though the sun succumbed to gathering clouds soon after we entered the forest. This sweltering weather isn't doing much harm to growing things, as long as we continue to have the occasional rainstorm.

We saw cinquefoil in bloom for the first time this year, and thimbleberries are on a flowering roll, alongside the blackberries. Heat and humidity agree with them. There will be a severe deficit in apples from the wild apple trees again this year, but the soft berries appear to be working overtime to compensate. Dogwood shrubs of all types and sizes dominate in the forest understory and they're continuing to bloom as well.

Yesterday during our forest tramp the close-by call of an owl had us craning our necks to try to see the bird, likely a barred owl, since that's what we've seen in the forest previously. But no luck, lots of WHOOOOs, but no where's. The level of the creek continues to fall, and we were more than a little surprised as we approached the creek to see in the near distance the wide wingspread of a Great Blue heron rising from the water and into the forest beyond. 

Like the pair of Mallard ducks that have hung around the forest for months, we cannot imagine what either the heron or the ducks are feeding on. The few fish that we've seen around cannot possibly be enough to satisfy their needs, but it's obvious that they've decided to make the ravined forest their home this year rather than merely using it as a temporary stage in their passage elsewhere, as usually happens.