Vintage 2015: Hot and Humid Weather

We have been having the dog days of summer this week. Hot and humid weather which began this Monday and will continue until the end of this week. Temperatures have been hitting the 90's. We have been going to the land in the early morning and my husband has been mowing the vineyard alleyways. There is not much one can do in this sweltering heat. Grapevines also suffer from excessive heat. Above 35^o C (95^o F), photosynthesis declines as stomata close in response to the excessive heat. That means that the CO₂ that goes into the production of sugars ceases.
My husband gave me a break from working in the vineyard. We both realized that my garden was in need of some serious watering so I have been working in my garden and had an opportunity to catch a pair of goldfinch. It seemed like the male goldfinch was acting as a "watcher" and allowing the female goldfinch to go into the garden to look for food.

Reference:
1. The Science of Grapevines Anatomy and Physiology, Markus Keller, 2010, Academic Press, pg. 20-47.
2. Daniel W Hopper, Ryan Ghan & Grant R Cramer, A rapid dehydration leaf assay reveals stomatal response differences in grapevine genotypes, Horticulture Research 1, Article number: 2 (2014)