There is nothing quite like a drop in humidity to raise one’s spirits. It had been a long stretch of oppressive weather.

The perennial beds continue needing some fussing. Deadheading is the order of the day. Many of the annuals will keep right on going well into October given a bit of attention now. I especially like to cut the cleomes and zinnias down to a V where new buds will emerge.

I have quite a few monarch butterflies this year. I left many milkweed plants last year which seeded all over the place. The monarchs seem particularly fond of the bright-colored zinnias. I’m not sure I noticed in the past.

The vegetable garden is producing like crazy. I harvested two bushels of onions — many were the size of softballs. I had started three packages of seed back in January in my unheated greenhouse — Walla Walla, Ailsa Craig and Copra.

After they germinated, I painstakingly separated them into flats. I think I set them outside in the ground mid-April. I could not be more pleased.

Not so with the tomatoes. They have plenty of green but not much fruit. I think I put too much pro-gro fertilizer on them. Also, I am finding tomato worms. Ugh! One good thing, however, was the discovery of one such worm covered with little white eggs. If you see that, do not kill the worm. The eggs, which are elongated, belong to a parasitic wasp. As they mature, they will consume the worm and produce the wasp to seek out more of the disgusting pests.

As most of you know, I hand-write this column which leads to some interesting typos in the finished product (apologies to my poor editor). Last week’s salvia repeta was supposed to say salvias and nepeta (need pruning — hard to rebloom).

I planted both buckwheat and field peas a few weeks ago and was all smug that I was preparing some beds for next year. Neither came up but plenty of weeds did — I think I had the seed hanging around too long in less than ideal conditions. Such is life. Smugness never pays off!

I’m crazy about the vibrant color of the Goldsturm Rudbeckia which is just beginning to bloom. Check it out in the down-Island Cronig’s parking lot.

I saw something you do not see every day. A young man was sitting on his stoop reading an actual book.

Big news day on Tuesday. Both Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen are guilty of bank fraud, tax evasion and who know what all.

News people are all involved in Cohen’s assertion that the President ordered him to commit campaign fraud (a felony). More will be revealed in the coming weeks and months.

Trump keeps up his relentless attack on Robert Mueller. He called him “disgraced” and “discredited” with a team of angry “democrat” thugs.

Robert Mueller volunteered for Vietnam, was wounded and ran the FBI after Sept. 11. He is a registered republican who serves his country honorably. Donald Trump, with his five deferments, is a coward and a bully (the two always go together).

His never-ending claim of “witch hunt” seems to be producing some witches.